where do I find shop manuals for my 98 Forester?

The 98 Forester was a unique Forester. It's the only DOHC Normally Asperated version 2.5L found in the Forester. The 99-2002 manuals would help in other areas, Transmission, body, most electrical etc. But a complete manual for the 98, to the best of my knowledge, is from the dealer.

 

You may also want to try the online downloads often refered to on this board, where you pay $20 or $30 for a period to try to download as many of the manual sections you can find. the only drawback to these I see are a very strange naming convention, like MSA5TO124A27489 which is how to check the 2 dipsticks on the A/T.