outback_97

luca_brasi: Try this: http://www.scoobymods.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4213 Or this: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=518787 It's in the thread that SVXdc already posted. There's a lot of good info there, and it's not limited to wiring only, but some of it is in the form of links to other sites. IMO if you're upgrading the deck, you'll definitely want decent speakers. For front speakers, this might be helpful: http://www.scoobymods.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1520 If you aren't registered at scoobymods... you should be You can view the info here if you're not: http://users.sisna.com/ignatius/subaru/mods/index.html The stock speakers are pretty poor... upgrading them is a big improvement in sound quality. Guess which one is the stock speaker? Steve

Any recommendations of a shop or someone to check out a Soob for a friend of mine in Salem? I posted earlier looking for someone in PDX but this car he's looking at now is a little ways away. Thanks in advance. Steve

Neil: A google search netted me this, it has a couple of good photos to illustrate. Note that the pictures are not of your engine nor the new 2.5 turbos, but you get the idea: http://www.legacycentral.org/library/literature/deck.htm Steve

http://users.sisna.com/ignatius/subaru/mods/fogs/ Not too difficult. This link should do it. Scroll down to step #3. Steve

When I posted about a buddy of mine shopping for a subie in PDX, Richierich (USMB member name) was highly recommended by another board member. Here's his info: Superior Import Repair, Inc Subaru Specialists 4443 NE 82nd Ave Portland OR 97220 503-288-8634 Steve

Welcome Neil. Your 2.5 is the same displacement as the new 2.5 turbos, but they're totally different and distinct engines. The 2.5t is a semi-closed deck and the 2.5 n/a is an open deck IIRC. What that means to you is your engine + extra psi = good chance of broken engine. Your car is on the heavy and slow side, yes, and you'll not find a lot of "performance" parts for it I'm afraid. If you want to investigate the turbo option further, I'd recommend this link: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=185230 It's the FAQ's in Nasioc's Aftermarket Forced Induction forum, meaning cars which did not come standard with forced induction but had it added after the fact. Good info there or at least enough technical stuff and problems to scare the idea out of you. Steve

http://www.desertrides.com/reference/images/terms/camber.gif Blitz: L.D.D.V.86 already answered the question, but I had to add another slick way to find things like this: Google's image search. I typed in "camber" and lo and behold several very clear depictions of it, such as the one above. I definitely subscribe to the "picture is worth a 1000 words" idea Steve

mwatt: Cool, thanks! I just thought of another suggestion for the original poster: On http://www.edmunds.com in the Town Hall Subaru forum, at one time SOA had a rep that would post and respond to customer problems. Her name was Patty IIRC. You could try checking that out and seeing if she can get you in touch with someone to help you out. Apologies if this info is out of date... I haven't frequented Edmunds in a long time... USMB and Nasioc are sooooo much better IMO. Steve

bishop087: I was pleasantly surprised to see the procedure for my OB was in the owner's manual... have you checked there? On mine, it requires the removal of the center grille, then three screws for the headlight housing, then pull the housing straight out. But that's on a Legacy OB, not the Impreza. You might look at Scoobymods or Ravensblade to see if they have any info on the Imprezas. Steve http://www.ravensblade-impreza.com/modifications/lighting/morette/morette.html EDIT: Took my own advice... does this help? It shows exchanging the stock headlights in an RS for Morettes (projector beams).

http://www.cars101.com/subaru/subaru_maintenance.html RJC: Sorry to hear about your problem... it must be very frustrating. WJM: Where do you find the 15K change interval? The link above is info taken from Subaru's scheduled maintenance and there is no mention of that, even under "severe driving conditions". Just curious... I have done mine at 30K miles, but I don't even have a transmission fluid filter, at least not an external one that can be changed out like an oil filter. Do 2000 L's have this? Steve

[rant] Can you blame this poster for being nervous? *Immediately* any time someone posts up about considering purchasing anything with the Phase 1 2.5l engine, someone vigorously waves the HG red flag. Granted it's not the same people doing this that are now saying the car is a good deal, but if you look at the voice of the USMB as a whole, the Phase 1 2.5l is pretty thoroughly s*** upon. I'm afraid for the time to come when I might want to sell mine. No one will want to buy it if they spend five minutes on this board. My $.02: Buy the damn thing and drive it. If it breaks, get it fixed. If you're driving a high mileage or older car, expect that things will break, and be prepared financially to fix them. [/rant] Steve

Jeff: That info should be in your owner's manual... it's around 2 gallons or so of usable gas. As far as how far you could "push it" before filling up... that's a good question. Your car weighs around 3000 pounds. How strong are you? But seriously... why would you want to? I've seen my low fuel light exactly once in several years of ownership of the car, that was intentionally letting it get down to see if the thing worked. I'd rather not push it, literally or figuratively. We get around 23 MPG city and 29 hwy with our '03 Impreza... personal best of 33 mpg on a long highway trip with a tail wind. Steve

geogolf: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=10217&highlight=105k+valve+clearance This thread has a lot of information about what you're asking about. I'm at 112K miles now and still haven't had this done, but I've wondered the same thing too. Steve EDIT: did you ever resolve the overheating issue you described here? http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=33402

Some of this of course has been discussed before: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=10229&highlight=CAFE Is insurance in fact higher because of the different designation? Or is it just higher because you went from a '98 to an '05? I'm curious, having a '97 myself and I like the new ones. Steve

I don't have an '02 H6, but the first gen Outbacks tend to have a lot of warped rotor issues. I've had to have mine cut and replaced and they're warping again. Another thing that can cause that is tightening the lug nuts too much. Are you aware of the torque to which yours have been tightened? If someone put them on with an impact wrench that would cause warping. Steve

Yup, classed as a truck mainly for CAFE. Your particular car should get *better* mileage than last year's models... but it's for the turbo 4 and the H6 that they did that. There was a lot of grumbling about it in the press last year when it was announced, more for the sedan than the wagon though. Steve

First, thanks for the info everyone. John was very impressed with the USMB. Well, I talked to him last night and he passed on the car. He drove it with a more critical eye (or ear) and it made some noises in tight turns (CV possibly) and most importantly had a bad case of ticking or tapping that didn't go away when the car had been driven for a while (piston slap or valves?). He did take it to Richie who advised him that the noise was above acceptable levels. He appreciated Richie's advice and I think he will be going back there again in the future when he does get a car. John also mentioned that he had learned a lot in the last couple of days, and being an informed buyer is a good thing. I hope he'll keep looking, I suggested considering first gen Legacies or second gen Outbacks as well, and Richie also mentioned the improvements made with the Phase II 2.5, on 2000's and higher. I think he's hesitant to pick up a first gen Legacy due to the higher miles that are on almost all of them... he wants a lower mileage car and reliability and is willing to pay more for something newer I think. He was an avid skier when he lived here in SLC, hasn't gone as much in Portland (spoiled by Utah snow perhaps), but he is very into outdoor activities like mountain biking and camping. I personally would miss the higher ground clearance of the OB model when taking it on rough roads and through deeper snow, but I agree that for day to day driving the regular Legacy is just fine. I think he's pretty set on an AWD model. Thanks again, good luck in your search John if you're reading this. Steve

It's hard to improve on this website for a lot of information in one place for comparing the different Subaru models: http://www.cars101.com This link from Nasioc has some good comparos too, although it's Forester vs. Legacy vs. Impreza: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=689844 Steve

Don't hold back sregor13... tell us how you really feel I couldn't disagree with you more. But you're certainly entitled to your opinions and I did ask for opinions... it seems you have several non running Subarus in your stable, have you had any positive experiences with Subarus at all? Steve (owner of a '97 Outback running great ) EDIT: Curious why you posted this in a thread about someone's GT... do you really think it's that different from an Outback? Some different trim, paint, and suspension makes that much difference?

northguy: Thanks for the heads up, I PM'd richierich to see if he's interested in that. Steve

Mtsmiths: Thanks for your reply, I agree the price seems a bit high... but if it has new HG's then one could see that as an advantage too, vs. other ones out there where it's an unknown element. Anyway, compared to the other '97's for sale in that area (on autotrader at least) it's actually on the lower end of pricing. There's one for $10K with 66K miles... $8K with 96K miles... $8K with 115K miles... the others either omit mileage or price so I guess there's only the three other ones to compare it with. There's a '96 on craigslist for under $6000, but with more miles IIRC. Oh, and I haven't been able to email him, the email bounced back, so he doesn't know about the tire thing or other info I sent him from this board Gonna try to contact him tonight though, he sounded like he was pretty sure he wanted to get it. Steve EDIT: Good advice on the chalked tires test. Would also be an opportunity to do some tight circles and check for torque bind. It's a 4EAT (automatic).

Update: He passed on this one, but is going to keep looking. Thanks for everyone's advice! http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.jsp?car_id=179633284&dealer_id=49578644&car_year=1997&make=SUB&distance=50&lang=en&max_price=&model=SUBOUTBK&end_year=1997&min_price=&certified=&address=97062&search_type=used&advanced=&start_year=1997&isp=y&cardist=8 My good friend has wanted a Subaru wagon for a while, he's been keeping his eye out for one and found one he likes. I talked to him this morning... here's some details: Headgaskets were replaced (don't know much detail, or if heads were machined). Radiator has been replaced, mechanic said it looked like some stop leak had been used in the past. * My speculation: Overheating problem, tried to fix via other means (stop leak, radiator replacement), eventually had to replace HG... sound reasonable? The Carfax the dealer provided looked ok to him... although at one point it failed emissions in NY, then three days later passed after repairs. Don't know what repairs. Most of mileage was put on at the beginning of the car's life... it seems like it sat around a lot in the recent past. Car is very clean, low miles (60K)... he said they'd sell it for just under $8000, with a 45 day warranty on engine and tranny. I told him to check the wording of the warranty to see if it covers "gaskets and seals" on the engine. He noticed the tires aren't very new.... when I looked at the autotrader ad it looks like the front tire differs from the rear, on the passenger side at least. I suggested he check into that, mentioned Subaru's fussiness over tires. No oil leaks he can see, he likes the car, seems really solid and smooth. Anything else he should check out? Advice? Thanks in advance. Steve

http://www.geocities.com/hobiegary/hesitation.htm Anyone else here see this site before? I was reminded of it in reference to the knock sensor... the page was last updated in '02 and I have no idea if this guy is making these anymore. Any possibility that this would help? Steve

http://www.kslcars.com/VehicleDetail.htm?vehicleid=1884772&sellerid=23075361&vehicleType=car#mainpic Here's a local '96 OB w/ 5 spd, 105K miles, for $5695. No idea if that's a good deal or not, just an example that would be in keeping with the advice given above. There's a lot of Legacies and OB's for sale here at any given time, take your time to shop around 'cause they're everywhere. Steve

Another Salt Laker, welcome to the USMB! This will answer a lot of your questions about which engines and features came in what years: http://www.cars101.com/subaru_archives.html You'll find a lot of great information there, I'd spend some time reading. I've been very happy with my '97 OB with the 2.5... could the HG blow, sure. But on message boards like this, you'll hear about problems more often than a lack of problems, so I'd keep that in mind. How many Phase 1 ('96-'99 2.5l) Legacies were made? 300,000 or so? Have all of them blown headgaskets? No. Will all of them? No. Have / will many of them? Sure. There are around 350 people listed on theotherskip's head gasket failure page. That's a long list of unhappy people, but it's not every car made. The fact is we'll never know exactly what % had problems at mileage xyz. That being said, if lower cost and reliability are your highest priorities, you probably will be safer with a 2.2 which means Legacy not OB, except for the not as common '96 manual trans. Sorry, rambling! Welcome aboard, good luck finding a Subie... they're expensive here but still a good value IMO. Look on ksl.com and the SLC craigslist, occasionally they have Subies for sale. Steve