Hi all, I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this, but I'm trying to find a good mechanic in the Raleigh/Durham/Cary area to do a head gasket job on my 97 outback.  I took it to a dealer who just tried to get me to trade it in, so I want to find someone who wants to repair the car, not just sell me a new one.  Any recommendations? 

Ask around the local parts stores see who buys lots of Subaru headgaskets and goto that guys

Ivan brings up a good point, asking around can often lead to good results. There aren't many members here who live down through that area that I know of. So your local guys, other subaru owners, might be more helpful.

My brother in Raleigh has used this guy to work on his Saabs for years . He doesn't mention Subarus on the website but it wouldn't hurt to email him.

Wouldent hurt to ask around the machine shops and see who works on Subaru heads to they should know someone and are good spot for getting local info on shops and what they work on. I get many referals from machine shops and parts stores

I could only find one shop here that specialized in Subarus.  Most "imports" mechanics who claim to work on Subarus don't even want to touch the thing.  They say it's not even worth it.  There's just not a lot of Subaru drivers in this area, and I think there is somewhat of a "throw-away" culture where people would rather just buy new stuff than fix an otherwise perfectly good car.  I don't really get it.  I posted the car online, and am going to leave it with my sister, who may try to get it fixed.   

I'm finding a decent number of independent shops that look to enjoy working on scoobies:

 

http://www.waspautomotive.com/ (some decent Yelp reviews)

http://www.nealsgarage.com/manufacturers/import/subara-car-repair/

http://www.turbotime.us/ (Cary)

http://www.importperformance-nc.com/Subaru_Service,_Subaru_repair,_Subaru_machanic.html

http://www.jjimport.com/import-auto-repair-raleigh/subaru.php

http://importmotorwerks.com/subaru/

 

You have nice low miles for that vintage...it should keep running for another 100k (unless it spent too much time in the 507 salt).