subysouth

I appreciate the reply wahoo and I think that explains the why there FIRST but I'm concerned as I was intending to pass this car on to my child. I guess what I am looking for is reasonable level of confidence if I repair/upgrade the lines at the rear is that the reasonable end of the problem? It seem like the lines are simply made of garbage material. My logical mind says while I can understand the circumstances of the first failures at the rear, forward failure is likely to be just delayed unless as you say there is effectively no exposure at the front. I'm old - driven plenty of cars - used a 69 F100 as a daily driver/work truck for more than ten years(on its original hard lines - sold on its original hard lines - still in use on its original hard lines with a drywall contractor) and I have never had a hard line failure on a car - ever. I have looked at the rear lines and for lack of better word they are simply disintegrating from the outside in. I am in the camp this is too young a car for that level of failure on a basic system like the brake lines. The durability there should be on par with unibody rust-through. These lines are too important and too buried to be effectively serviceable. The lines should be dying with the expected interval of use of the car. I'm gonna call that 20 years. I don't have a problem with worn anything moving including engine, suspension, calipers etc but these hard static lines should be built of materials to punch in and do work for the lifespan of the vehicle effectively untouched. My thoughts. ss

Mild revival here - has anyone had a brake line failure in an area other than the rear of the cars? Are these lines only failing at the rear? If so any speculation as to why? ss

I found this thread to be a huge help. The "brackets of death" are a time suck. http://www.wrxforums.com/forums/11-subaru-wrx-do-yourself-help/22796-fuel-injector-install-diy.html ss

I did the spark plug swap on my 07 OBXT Thursday and I have several observations. First off, the job took me 6 hours total. I used almost every length extension to get the job done and I got several busted knuckles in the process. It took me longer to do this than to install my coilovers. I ended up removing the battery and airbox and ultimately bending the plastic air tube on the drivers side back far enough to lodge it under some of the wiring harness. The tube is squarely in the way and while the front portion is fairly easy to detach the rear was unreachable for me. I have large hands so it was all the harder. It is doable of course but very very tedious. Thanks for all the hints on removing the coil packs posted up in this thread. Having owned both I can tell you this job is harder than on the 2.5L 2nd gen Legacy. The difference is the coilpacks. On the second gen you just have to pull the plug ends and then it gets tedious. This is tedious for both halfs. Secondly, installed in my car were Denso Iridium SK20HR11s. The gap on them was clearly visually higher than the stock replacement NGK SILFR6As I put in. The NGKs are supposed to be .031". I measured one of the plug gaps on a Denso at .044" and just looked them up and they are supposed to be .043". The color on them was good but I was experiencing some stumbling under hard acceleration and wanted to do this job before I put the AP tune on it. Do you all think the higher plug gap could have caused the stumbling? It does appear to be gone now. Lastly, why oh why didn't Subaru port the unibody frame rails so you could get to these through the wheel wells? ss

Just get yourself a new seal and go ahead and replace it and just be gentle inserting your new axle, its low cost insurance. ss

Yep I think the axle on my car when it arrived was the wrong one the more that I think about it. ss

The old cv axle you are replacing. They refund your core charge when you return it to the store. They rebuild it and sell it again. ss

Wanted to add some thoughts as I just finished the passenger front cv axle swap on my new-to-me 07 OBXT with manual tranny and 160k+ miles. The car was delivered to me out of CT and it was making the characteristic cv axle failure noises when I picked it up at the shipping facility in Pensacola FL. I made the decision to try and drive it the 115 miles home but in my first several miles of interstate driving the car began jerking on the highway so violently I was convinced I had blown a tire. I got out and looked the car over - tires were fine and lugs were all tight. I limped to the next exit and jacked all the corners up and the bearings appeared fine. I weighed the pros and cons and decided to leave the car at the truck stop and went back the next day and trailered it home. I was not sure what was afoot and did not want to do more damage. At home I decided the passenger front axle was definitely beyond it and figured I should start there. First as always thanks to all of you that contributed help here it made my job much easier as until today I was flying blind with no manual yet for this car. I am firmly in the swap the whole axle camp and I got 2 7336s at Autozone and OEM seals for the job but have only done the passenger side so far. I have a pretty good bit of experience with used subies that spent their childhood in the NE so I knew breaking the connection at the ball joint was no small task and the joints seem in good order so I elected to take Apex XT's approach listed on page 8 of this thread and break loose the inner LCA mounts. Worked like a charm thanks Apex. There are several things I thought I might add in the overall experience column. 1. Upon pulling the axle loose at the transaxle I got at least 8 ounces of gear oil dumped on the floor of my garage. I don't jack my car that high so that could have contributed but I will have a oil drain pan in place next go round and would offer that as advice as well. Enough comes out to make a mess and it stinks up the garage. 2. My axle unsnapped and slid about 2 inches out of the transaxle and then caught on something. I tried everything within reason all the way up to and finally including brute force to get it to finally come out. And come out it finally did with half of the sheered circlip falling on the floor of the garage and me having to fish the remaining piece out of the tranaxle itself. I do not know what the circlip got hung up on or how just wanted to share that it happened. Lastly, the axle I removed was clearly not OEM and lacked the three lobes on the inner cv joint housing characteristic to both the OEM driver side unit and rebuilt Autozone 7336s. I don't know if somehow someone got the wrong axle fitted onto the car and that was contributing to the violent binding it was doing but again just figured I would share it at face value. Thanks for all the help again ss

Several things: This is the best mod thread I have read in a long long time - possibly ever. This swap goes to the core of what a car guy is - overcoming the engineering to produce a practical superior product - much respect. I think the 3.8 as others have said is an unlauded hero engine - I spent several years trying to destroy the one in my fathers hand me down 76 Buick Skylark. It survived over 300k miles at his and my hands and was parked in the back yard for a couple of years when I got my 200SX turbo. A fresh battery and an interested passerby and it drove to its new home - it may still be out there somewhere today. I do not currently own a Subaru for much of the reasons you have listed above. The 05 Legacy GT wagon with the manual was that car I (and I think others) were waiting for Subaru to sell. I guess they didn't sell enough and I didn't have the funds to buy one new when they were. I scan the classifieds looking for one and maybe I'll find it but this thread gives I think a lot of people hope outside that box. There is a lot great about Subarus but you iron out all the bugs in your swap and you have built the better mousetrap. A Subaru with an engine that matches the chassis and I'd put long odds that engine is not gonna be the weak spot moving forward. Were this a 3.8l in a manual(that could engage the driver and survive too) 05-09 Legacy wagon - you'd have built the ultimate mousetrap IMO. One question: what do I need to do to view the vids? They come up as private even though I am logged in. ss