DerFahrer

Well, it was raining all day in Orlando today, but that didn't stop me from taking a few pics of my Ginger. Careful, they're hi-rez...

Yeah, those are 03-up Forester XS wheels. They were probably optional on the X, but I've never seen it.

Not slamming gears around like a rabid orangutang... I find it really hard for synchros on an STi transmission to go out any other way. Every gear in the STi transmission has double-cone synchronizers except 2nd, which has triple-cone synchronizers. It would take some serious abuse to wear those out in 20k miles...

The same applies to nonturbo heads too doesn't it? My 88 XT nonturbo has the line under EA82.

Scoobaroo, you do NOT want to wipe away that gunk!!! That is the sealant that Josh was talking about in his thread. I presume it seals the throttle plate when shut. If you clean that away, logic would suggest that too much air would make it through the throttle body at idle, and that would make your idle raise significantly. I can tell you as well that the throttle body (and in my opinion, the IAC valve also) are set to certain specifications from the factory and are non-serviceable. Do not try to clean, adjust, or disassemble them in any way. If you do, you will have all kinds of problems and end up having to replace them anyway. I have replaced both the throttle body and IAC valve on my Legacy because I tampered with them both when I was a stupid little kid. Now that they're both good, un-tampered-with units, I have no problems.

Are you sure about Cross? I always thought it was World Rally Xperimental. I could be wrong though...

It only does it when you push the clutch pedal in right? It sounds like your throwout bearing has come off of the clutch fork. So now what's happening, your throwout bearing in its entirety will now spin with the pressure plate whenever you push the clutch in, and it drags on the clutch fork when it does this. It's not a pretty sound, you're right. I have no idea why your engine bogged down, that's something unrelated. But if your clutch is on its way out, you can drop the tranny, put a new throwout bearing and clutch fork in there (they both cost about $25 each new at the dealer), and put the new clutch in it.

I actually think you guys might be overestimating the damage... I'm going to say that only the strut is bent and needs replacing. You might hear a wheel bearing noise later on, so if they fix it, you might want to take an insurance adjustor for a ride to show him that it's not making the sound now, but might later. Trust me, when it gets hit like that, the wheel bearing doesn't like it. Overall, I don't think it's that bad. The car is definitely not totalled, and if the body shop knows what they're doing, they can get it back in factory alignment specs and it shouldn't wear tires out fast or anything...

Get a well-maintained 1st-gen Legacy and it should be as reliable as any new car. Seriously. The old Volvos and Mercs are great too, and while the old Saabs were pretty tough, their drivetrain layout scared me ****less

The only way they will work would be if you did an entire XT6 hub swap. The XT6 was the transition from old-gen Soobs to new-gen Soobs, so they for the most part have the old-gen suspension setup with the new-gen hub setup, including the 5 X 100 lug pattern of the new Soobs, unlike your 4 X 140 pattern.

Damn! I was genuinely curious too...

Manual or auto? If it's a manual, you know that little shiny metal snout that sticks out of the input shaft? That has to slide into the pilot bearing in the flywheel. If you don't have it lined up enough, that snout will just hit the pilot bearing instead of sliding into it.

The XT's had the highest HP rating of any NA EA82 at 97hp. The rest were 90. The disty on my XT NA is the knock-sensor equipped one, with full electronic advance.

Agree with the luckiness. It's understandable, I've made all kinds of idiotic errors, especially when I'm tired from work and all that. But yeah, if you had done any serious damage, it would have probably shown up as a serious problem by now. Just learn this lesson well!

It probably was a headgasket. Any 96-98 EJ25 (2.5-liter) was DOHC and they were notorious for blowing headgaskets. In that case, the heads should have been mildly rebuilt, and the oil seals in them should be new, as in cam seals, valve cover gaskets, valve guides, etc. Check the back timing covers behind the cams. If you see oil there, then your cam seals might be leaking. Also look at your valve covers. If they're covered in oil then the gaskets and/or grommets are leaking. The oil dripping onto the exhaust could be the oil pan gasket (your oil pan and crossmember will be quite nasty), or also, your front differential sits right above there, check the axle seals. None of this REQUIRES pulling the motor, but the oil pan gasket might be easier with it out.

I bought a complete timing belt and front oil seal kit off eBay for $30.

Did the bolt break flush with the block? Or did it break further out? If it broke further out, you might be able to grab ahold of it with pliers or something and work it out. I've broken several bolts, and I've never drilled them out or anything. I always find a way to work them out, then I don't have to re-tap the threads.

Yeah... um... I fixed it... I finally got around to taking a look to see what was wrong. I put the front wheels in the air and put it in 1st and let the wheels start spinning. I didn't hear a thing, so that told me that it's only something that happens with weight on the car, which suggests something inside the hub. Great, I thought :roll: I took the wheel off, and check a few things. Everything is in order visually. I scratch my head for a second and then remember a suggestion that Mike (Flowmastered) gave me: Check the axle nut... Sure enough, it was hand-loose. So I took the pin out, and hit the nut with my handy-dandy impact wrench, and just for safekeeping, I did the passenger side too, which wasn't loose but needed some tightening nonetheless. Put the wheels back on it and went for a drive. Haven't heard the sound since... And to think, I hadn't driven this car for months because I thought it was something big and that I wouldn't have the time to deal with it...

I need to revive this thread to correct myself and set the record straight. Apparently, JDM-only XT6's WERE available with ABS. Read the article here: http://xt6.net/forum/files/july_2087_20motor_20magazine.jpg This is one more indication that the XT6 was really in-between the EA and EJ series cars, as ABS was introduced on the USDM Legacy in 1990. No USDM EA Subaru ever got ABS.

The EG33 is actually not an interference engine. Yes it is DOHC, and if the cams turn independent of each other on a DOHC Subaru engine, the valves will contact each other. But the EG33 is the only DOHC Subaru engine to have one cam gear-driven off the other. So, unless you shear teeth off the cam gear which is highly unlikely, needless to say, then you shouldn't ever have pistons touching valves or valves touching each other... I'm as curious as you are, snaffle, to see what happened. If you can, tear your old engine apart and take pictures...

Wow. I am in love. I got the chance to drive a Spec B today (number 322 of 500), and I drove it right too. Nabisco had another Orlando meet today, and one of the local dealers sent a guy out in one. I honestly don't think he was supposed to let others drive it, but I know the guy, so it's all good The car handles amazing. Wow. Those Bilsteins don't play. I've seen many new GT's have some pretty nasty body roll, but this one doesn't have near as much of it. It's a very neutral-handling car, it doesn't want to understeer as bad as other Soobs I've driven. The Potenza RE050's hold on tight too. The seats are über-nice. Many aren't digging the red color, but I like it, and they feel really nice and they hold you well. Can't forget the oh-so-yummy 250-hp boosted goodness either :-D I'm not sure a set of Bilsteins and fancy seats make the car worth 10 grand over the regular 2.5GT, but I still love the car, just as I do all other BL/BP Legacies I've driven.

Seconded... The evap box is right behind the glove compartment. I dunno what else it could be.

I have an 00-04 Outback on my block, and the owner is a total biatch too...

I read through most of this thread and I'm still not seeing one good reason why this engine blew up. 7500-mile oil changes? Definitely not the problem. Subaru engines (while it is definitely advisable to change the oil often) seem to get away with long oil-change intervals, especially the EJ22. If you're using Mobil-1, then that just helps your argument. Beating on the engine? I doubt it. I know of EJ22's that have been beat on hard practically the whole time they were running for 150k miles. Hell, there's a guy on the 90-94 Legacy board with a 91 turbo with 424,000 miles, that he boosted up and continued to drive hard. Timing belt? Nope. EJ22's went interference in 97. I have the EndWrench article to prove it. Sensors? It would have to be something like a cam-angle sensor coming loose and advancing timing a whole bunch, or a knock sensor going dead like Emily suggested (which argument has its own holes, because as best I know, the ECU defaults to a static retarded timing curve when it doesn't get a knock-sensor reading) or the O2 sensor not reading AFM's correctly and leaning the fuel curve out... None of this happens on a regular basis either. I seriously can only explain this as a freak accident, a one-in-a-million incident like others have suggested.

I'll give my own thoughts on this... I just replaced my Monroe SensaTrash's that I had installed not long after I bought the car. They weren't worn, they just handle like rump roast. I replaced them with GR2's, which are new obviously, and considerably stiffer. I've also noticed that my car sits higher now... I think what's happening is the struts are stiff and new enough that they're bearing some of the weight that the old springs should be bearing, and now the springs are moving around inside of the struts thanks to that freedom of movement that they now have. Thusly, I have all kinds of thunks and creaks when I drive now, because the springs are moving around inside the struts. I've done all the troubleshooting on this, the struts are installed correctly, the springs are installed correctly inside the struts, strut mounts are new, all bolts/nuts are tight, etc.