silverton

I still don't see where anyone was inherently rude; facts from knowledgeable randoms on a public forum that is accessed for free is not rude. If I told you you were a fucking idiot for even having a subaru and attempting to modify it at all, that's rude. You need a good baseline car to modify it safely. You did not have a good baseline car to modify, and we're just telling you that. rereading your original post I'm kind of weirded out why at 120k your shop would recommend a rebuild. between 90-120k it should be getting one of its first fluid flushes if following the "it came with some from the factory why should I change it" maintenance schedule. My first gen impreza's 4eat, afaik, was still original when I sold it at 260k and it shifted perfectly. My third gen legacy's 4eat didn't fail until 220k with unknown service history, all gears still worked, just sometimes reverse loaded up but the car didn't move like the parking brake was on. The rebuild did not fix the legacy's delayed shifts, so I don't see a rebuild fixing yours either. It all comes down to what the TCM is seeing for data/load values and if the incoming data/load is incorrect, it will shift incorrect.

transmission and/or rear differential mounts.

I haven't heard the 2-8 one before. 9 and 3 will find play in the ball joint, tie rod end(s), and control arm bushings, from there it's easy to visually inspect each component individually while someone plays with it.

Fel Pro products belong in the garbage. Glad your car is running again though.

What has been said isn't rude, it's a fact. If you think that's rude well... tough. Since the original issue is still present, every thing you've done in between is a bandaid. HolUp, your shop reverted your modified vehicle back to its original mapping AND told you to worry about errant shifting "later"?? I'd find a new shop.

Yeah you probably should have gotten that sorted while the car was still under warranty my guy. Maybe revert to pre-stage 2 status and see if your transmission still shifts funny. If it doesn't then whatever tune you have isn't mapped correctly as the TCM is obviously seeing load values that aren't accurate.

While I was at a dealer in 2019 I was able to figure out how to update my 2001 impreza, no one there could remember how to do it, I had three things all daisy chained together with their own power sources and sketchy cables, I was sweatin BULLETS hoping it didn't fail. A year later when I acquired my 2001 legacy, which needed the same update, but we had gotten newer laptops in that time and it could no longer interface with the older SSM box needed to update the car. The flashwrite I have at my independent only goes back to 2003 or 4... kinda sad as I'm pretty sure it's a handmedown from the dealer and I'd love to update my legacy.

My 2001 delays shifts and it's annoying AF, even after a rebuild, guy said he hadn't seen one as bad as mine LOL. I drive these second/third gens all the time and I haven't come across many that shift like mine, but they are out there. No idea what it is... probably an ecm/tcm update at some point that's too late to do now

If you grab at 12 and 6 and there is play, it's the wheel bearing.

Engine support bar, attach it to the upper two bell housing bolts. The rusty hex head in that photo is the bolt for the rear mount of the control arm, which is likely why they failed you as that rusty hole is very close.

It's been awhile, 10+ years, since I've had MMO in my hand, is it thick or thin? You'd only need 4-6oz for the size of our tanks, so that's probably half or less of the bottle? If it's thin, it likely wont matter if you put too much in, if it's thick that could have plugged a pickup.

I know @Sonder's car is a bit newer, but seems to be a similar issue;

We get quite a few cars that have light roughness, nearly immeasurable but felt, at idle and are just fine as soon you give it any gas. It will be interesting if this is a common problem at this mileage.

six star is another option for the head gaskets themselves. If you don't go all OEM I would stick to Victor Reinz and Mahle

#subieflow

we prefer if you trawl for the information, we don't take too kindly to trolls around here.

the coil packs on those are waste spark so when you have a failure it affects two cylinders, as the paired cylinders fire together. 1 and 2, or 3 and 4 You could be losing compression through a bad thread fix and would cause an occasional misfire, like sprank said... your best bet is finding a good set of heads to put on it.

just leave em black, it'll give the car some character

they aren't windscreen sprayers, they're headlight sprayers

According to the service manual, that is the battery for the 3.6L model, interesting!

if your car can crank no start with the WOT switch, that's a fine method. Hopefully they aren't clicky axles! personally not a fan of used parts, but i understand the allure of the factory CV's.

I meant the service manual, but that spec may be in the owners manual as well. Yesterday a customer called asking what the little car going uphill meant..... that's a RTFM moment.

According to the manual the battery spec is 356CCA 48AH. 48AH works out to about 115 reserve capacity.

While an AOS can help with blow by, if you have a healthy motor and dont track it regularly, they aren't necessary. They add a shit ton of complication and basically zero benefit to a street car. You're right about the cylinder 4 'cooling mod', as it just helps keep things regulated better. I can't confirm the science on this one, but it's easy enough to do and relatively cheap as far as 'mods' go for the car.

I've always been disappointed when using mevotech branded things. we use 555 brand bj's at my shop, I have zero qualms.