Chip

Made a bunch of phone calls.... NAPA.(Canada)..$207 each for the back.$162 for the front.(KYBs) Dealer..$245 Fr...$307 Rear..(each)..(I told them I didn't want the whole car..just the shocks).

I'm looking for struts for a 98 O/B here in Canada,(Que). Has anyone had any luck ?? I've called a couple of autoparts places and they don't list them. I haven't called the dealer yet to find out what their price is....I'm scared.

My steering has become kind of stiff. It'll turn smoothly for about 1/2 turn then it hits a stiff spot...if I keep turning the wheel in the same direction it'll hit another stiff spot. It does it in both directions. If it wasn't -30°C right now I'd crawl underneath and take a look at it......any ideas ?

I think subaru wanted a slice of the huge SUV market. To do so they needed something that looked more truck than car. The Rav4 and CRV were their direct targets. The Forester fit right in. Subaru has obviously been reading all the articles in car magazines about their products. Every article on the OB makes mention of the lack of acceleration. With the introduction of the new and upcomming motors we can finally we can use "quick" and "Subaru" in the same phrase. The normally aspirated North American OBs,(2.5L), are still one of the slowest cars on the road. I'm reminded of it every time I pull out to pass.

Now if they'd only add a timer or a light to the heated mirrors. I don't know how many times I've noticed that they've been on for who knows how long.......in the summer.

Being a big Porsche/Volks fan I have to wonder why you wouldn't go with a modified aircooled VW motor,(not that there's anything wrong with the Subie engine), for the sake of simplicity and originality. No electronics do deal with. No liquid cooling system..(rad, hoses, fans,overflow etc...). Extremely easy to modify. Parts availability..(cheap too). Going the liquid cooled route you'll have to mount the rad in the front,with the fan(s), and run plumbing all they way to the back of the car...(unless of course you were going to build a front-engined porsche....God forbid). For a few thousand $$ you can get yourself a real solid, dependable bug engine with about the same HP as the Subie....(and it'll sound like a Porsche too) !!

Blizzaks....Although they do make the car "wander" a bit.

My 98 OB has one of those defrosters at the base of the windsheild which melts the ice around the wipers,(I imagine all 98b OBs have it ??). Anyway, it stopped working. The light on the switch doesn't go on and the defroster doesn't work. The owner's manual makes no mention of a fuse or relay for the Damn thing...neither does the Haynes manual. I've looked under the dash in the fusebox there and also under the hood. Any idea ?????

My 98 OB is starting to make clicking noises in the front when I turn left or right . I'm thinkin' it's the CV joints. The car has 190,000Kms on it. Has anyone tried rebuilt joints as replacements ? Is it a do-it-yerself kinda job ? How much $$ are we talking about ?

Here's another road test link..http://usastreetracing.com/library/archive.htm I'm willing to bet that there are very few pre-1998 cars,(other than exotics), which would out-accelerate the STI. The only American would would be the Viper. Even a 96 vette would lose a 1/4 mile race against a STI..13.3 vs 13.1 for the STI.

DON'T use synthetic oil until your motor is completely broken in or else your rings won't seat properly. I use Synthetic in my 89 OB only in the winter. When it hits -30° around here, regular oil turns to molasses. The synthetic stuff stays closer to it's normal,(ambiant), viscosity and the motor cranks over MUCH easier. Other than that I see no advantage.

Just an interesting note about head gaskets.... The old VW beetles didn't have head gaskets !! They didn't have oil filters either !!! Some of these cars would turn the odometer around a couple of times before the motors would go south. Ah...simplicity !