1 Lucky Texan

seems like a lot, I bet there would be some rubbing in the front but, I have noexperience with that. and you'd probably want aftermarket mud/rock guards....

fox - why does the mechanic suspect the cats? what symptoms do you have? car running poorly, CEL or ?

could be 2 different issues. Is there any correlation with temperature or moisture? any oil on the plug wire boots? At that age, you could have old plug wires that arc and cause misfiring, maybe correlated with dew or cool temps. Does the shaking, misfiring settle down as the engine warms up? Leaking valve cover gaskets can cause misfiring too as oil gets on the plugs. How old are the spark plugs? Bad, corroded ground wires can cause issues. Or rodents can chew wires - in addition of course to the possibility of a bad temp sensor.

what about putting the bolts back in loosely, then 'juking' (technical term) the car back and forth? accelerate a few feet, slam on the brakes, etc. ? would that break the rust-weld loose? I know it won't work with those studs now, but could that work?

the logistics seem like they could be a nightmare - but i have read of people packing their car super- tight, shipping it on a train, and meeting it near the destination. They took the bus or flew....not sure.

you might also consider shipping some stuff - if you have no friends/relatives at the new location, ship it 'will-call' or 'hold for pick-up' w'ever , to the nearest UPS facility near the new digs. if you have clotes/bedding/pillows/cushions - check into those vacuum packing bags to reduce volume.

what size is that bolt head?

did you visit the Forester forum I linked above? Is brake noise now a common complaint on Forrys? were you able to demo the sound for the service writer? Sometimes, folks with complaints about failures "on cold mornings" or "after it sits for a while", have had to leave a car at a shop, then meet the tech in the morning to demo the problem. You could try that. If the dealerships seems reluctant to pursue this, call SOA. Dealers often won't pursue oddball stuff without assurance from Corporate that they will be compensated. you said you love the car, unless a bunch of other Forester owners can lead us to believe there's a design flaw or poor materials/workmanship involved, I think you should take another shot at warranty service.

you might try discount tire and tirerack online - see what reviewers are saying?

it all starts with Hans Ledwinka via Tatra from Nesselsdorfer. 'probably' the NW type C from 1902 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NW_C ) from wikipedia; ********In any case, of Ledwinka, Porsche admitted "Well, sometimes I looked over his shoulder and sometimes he looked over mine" while designing the Volkswagen Type 1.[1][2][3] There is no doubt that the Type 1 bore a striking resemblance to the earlier Tatra.[1] Tatra launched a lawsuit, but this was stopped when Germany invaded Czechoslovakia. At the same time, Tatra was forced to stop producing the T97. The matter was re-opened after World War II and in 1965 Volkswagen paid Ringhoffer-Tatra 1,000,000 Deutsche Marks in an out of court settlement******** and it seems reasonable that he would have pondered taking the 2 cyl horizontal Benx engines and add 2 more cylinders. Ledwinka was a very innovative designer; http://gulfnews.com/the-legendary-hans-ledwinka-1.1199592 http://www.curbsideclassic.com/automotive-histories/automotive-history-hans-ledwinkas-revolutionary-tatras/

pressure test could help here - even clean under the hood and use UV dye in the coolant, pressure it up, then search with the UV light and yellow glasses. Parts store can loan that stuff out. not impossible, but very unlikely the coolant is going into a cylinder. these cars sometimes need to get their noses up to burp out air. how old is the radiator cap? try putting a coupla small zipties to act as clamps on the overflow hose at its radiator neck nipple connection. does the overflow bottle's level change? which direction?

front-right (bank 1) O2 sensor or its wiring bad. clear codes and see if the same one comes back quickly

sorta wondering about the cap/o-ring on the fuel pump...but, Forester may not have that style of FP...?

soobs also seem to need fuel line clamps tightened-up every 5-10 years.

engine temp sensor? knock sensor intermittent? do you still get a CEL? what's the code?

oooh - clogged cat 'might' show on a vacuum gauge test.

whoa - how about trying a set of Centric Posi-quiet Ceramic pads instead of selling the car? or StopTech Street Performance if you actually drive in a ;'spirited' manner those don't squeal on my soobs. or, a 'bedding in' procedure of the current brakes? (at least, in a safe area, try left-foot dragging the brakes while maintaining 40mph or so for 2-3 blocks of travel, followed by a half mile or more of cool-down - DO NOT stop the car immediately afterwards without the cool-down run so, choose your road carefully!) you could also ask/search around at http://www.subaruforester.org/

did the engine come out of the car for the work? do you still have the OEM filter? put it back on to be sure about that. (even WIX 'could' have a bum filter come off the assembly line) no dents in the trans pan? maybe whoever was in there before used too much sealant and a chunk has broken off - blocking a passage??? try a battery disconnect 'reset'. try a bottle of TRans-X ? that's all I can think of right now, sounds like you know what you're doing so, this is likely something kinda odd.

trans fluid level checked while idling? it's the only one you check with the engine running, many folks forget and under-fill. best to check after moving the shift lever thru each gear if you are re-filling. filter OEM? many aftermarket filters seem to be built like oil filters - the OEM on is really more like a screen - could be an issue??? maybe cam/crank timing is off a tooth? pull the covers and bring the crank to the belt install mark, do a tooth count (search on line for that engine)

cool video fairtax it occurs to me, it might be a fun project to adapt an auto a/c compressor and make a steam engine out of it!

as long as there's a valve/'pill' correctly oriented in the brake booster system and connections are tight , etc. should be fine.

not that it couldn't be done, but I have never read of anyone rebuilding the compressor. HAVING it rebuilt might be an option for some folks in some locales, but they are so reliable, a used one from car-part.com is a superb value for most folks if it comes to a 'bad' compressor. I suspect some folks have been ---uh, ---unethically ? - sold new compressors when they just needed o-rings or maybe a hose.

Subarus are often out driving in conditions that keep other cars in the garage and they have just odd enough features in 3-4 areas that can cause improper/overlooked maintenance, leading to more severe problems.

seems like oil and maybe coolant analysis from a lab might be helpful. I have read of really odd problems when breather hoses get misrouted, even affected oil pressure! make sure the breather hose is correctly routed too (this is just the left side, there's one from the RS as well - #4 is the PCV valve));