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Just got my awd wagon and plan to get alot of use out of it.

Planning a 2700 mile round trip this summer and want to set

it up right. I plan to do alot of camping, hunting, fishing with

this one.

 

First questions:

 

Can I change the wheels to 15 inch (stock 14s now), if so

what tires do you recommend for the above usage?

 

Where is a good place to find parts and/or a mechanic when

needed? I am in Orange County, CA.

 

I plan to set it up with a cargo box on top and a full size spare

hangin off the back. BTW I like heavy duty trucks and I'm building

a vintage 1 ton truck that will look like an old tow truck. I would

like to have a somewhat agressive looking tire.

 

Jay

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Congrats on your purchase and welcome to the board. I'm pretty new here myself and this place is a fantastic resource for information on these cars.

 

List your mileage and recent service history as far as you know it and people here will give you a good idea of what you should do. Most likely you're looking at a timing belt and assorted goodies which will run anywhere from $200 and up depending on the quality and quantity of parts you purchase. I would say the timing belt operation has the most subaru specific "need to know" details. Otherwise, it's all the same stuff you would do to any car, ie - inspection of brakes, tires, and cooling system. Wouldn't be a bad idea to change your T-stat (using and OEM ONLY as the aftermarkets are too small) and coolant.

 

Others will correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe you have the 2.2l non-interference engine, so if you both have a socket wrench and know how to change it's direction, then the timing belt swap should be totally do-able. do a search here or just look through the last few pages of threads as there are a number of people that just went through this listing all the info you will need.

 

Good Luck and have a fun time!

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yes 15" wheels are fine - or better yet go to 16", that's what i put on all of mine. better selection and nicer looking wheels though the tires are a bit more expensive than 15's.

 

at 10 years old and using it for long trips i'd want to do a complete tune up - timing belt, water pump, and any leaking seals (if not all of them), spark plugs, wires, PCV Valve, air filter, and fuel filter. sounds like a long list but isn't that bad of a job.

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Congrats on the new Sube and welcome to the board. People here are great to help you out in times of need. This site is worth at least five times the membership fee to join.

 

Anyway, I'm currently driving a 95 LSi Legacy wagon, so our engines are pretty much the same, I believe, so yours is a non-interference 2.2. I've currently got 225k on mine and still going strong, so if you do regular maintenance, you should be driving your Sube a long time. I don't do any serious off-roading in mine, as it is my everyday transportantion, but it has seen it's days in the woods and through the mud on several occasions. The biggest drawback to Subarus is ground clearance. These things are nothing short of amazing in the snow.

 

My car came with 15" wheels, so they will work for sure. Check eBay for some used Subaru wheels. If you aren't wanting bling, you should be able to pick up a set of the steel Forester wheels that still look decent after a shot of fresh paint.

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My second Subaru, only have about 50 miles driving so far.

173K miles and I think the timing belt was done last year.

I will go thru everything before the trip. Any Subaru parts

that I should carry as spares? What's the biggest tire that

works without interfering? This will be my daily driver and

weekend mountain driver, no real offroad stuff, then again

I have taken a Pinto and Tercel on "4x4 only" roads (it's

all in the driving).

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these are the equivilant tire sizes for the stock legacy L tires.

it is safer to 'cheat' wider than this than it is to 'cheat' taller, unless you put on outback struts.

 

legacy L, GT

 

(inches)

tire size .........height % ..... circ....... radius...... dia............. rev/mi.

195/70/14 ......70 ..............77.7 .......12.37 ......24.75 .........815

205/60/15 ......60 ..............77.6 .......12.34 ......24.69 .........817

205/55/16 ......55 ..............78.2 .......12.44 ......24.88 .........811

 

 

 

 

http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

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Just noticed my posting was moved to "New Generation of Subarus"

My guess is that anything 1990 and newer is the New Gen.

 

Is there a chart of models, definitions of all the "codes" I see looking around the site?

 

Seeing a ton of info as I slowly peruse the site, just trying to make heads or tails of things.

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