Pleides

Update over a year later on these: The front right one was replaced under warranty and is currently doing fine. Koni warranty was pretty easy to work with, all things considered. Front left doesn't compress or rebound properly anymore despite not being blown, so no more weird squeaks, but the shock doesn't move up and down linearly anymore. It moves very slightly side to side, causing its premature failure. The bottom part of the housing is tightened down. I'm still considering some other suspension options. I'm a single guy and don't care if the car isn't as cushiony as it was with the H&R + Koni combo. I'm considering plopping the money down for KWs or RCE T1s, but wondering if anyone has tried the Bilstein B8s with H&R springs. Thinking I could make keep my springs and top hots and hopefully keep the cost down. Also, my trailing arm bushings failed after 47K miles... Guess those fail often on Subarus, but they didn't even make it 5 full years!

So many of these cars have been lost to time - crashes, rust, mechanical totaling, etc. I gotta wonder how many 200K cars are still out and about within our already small pool of cars!

Hate to one up ya... But here's my new odo.

They can be safely driven on as a commuter, but they're gonna be loud and liable to hydroplane driving in wet weather with a modicum of breath on the go pedal. I would agree that the tires should be "free" in the grand scheme of this deal. Nonetheless, those are some beautiful wheels and whoever gets them will be very lucky. GLWYS.

Yessir, him, Walker, and I all came up from Portland. Met a new guy named Brandon with a low-mileage white auto wagon who lives in Cornelius, too. Gang's growing, even though fewer of these cars seem to be on the road anymore.

Whew, what a time! Wagonfest was a blast, despite the wetter weather. Glad to meet many new folks and see several familiar faces. I realize now I didn't take any pictures, but trust me - it was fun! I did hear a regular around here took a big nap before showing up though!

Ah man, I think I neglected to mention that I'll be meeting up with some friends for breakfast in the morning (both local to me) and we'll drive up in a convoy together. I don't know that I can convoy with all of you guys this time, but I'll let you know if plans change.

So I FINALLY got this on my car. Had Surgeline install it for me and they got it in and out quickly. Here are my thoughts. Right when I started the car (warm) I noticed less vibration from the engine making its way into the car. I idled the car for a bit while I made a phone call and definitely noticed that the whole car was marginally quieter. I also noticed that, when I did eventually take off, I didn't need to give the car as much throttle to get it moving smoothly. It's way easier to creep with just the clutch pedal now. I drove the car largely with the A/C on yesterday - normally something that makes getting going from 0 MPH a bit of a chore - and the car was so easy to get going in. Loved that! Also the false knock triggered by the A/C compressor cycling no longer happens. My car has always had something that falsely triggered the knock sensor at around 2K RPM. Lots and lots of people report this happening to them as well, finding that they need new O2 sensors, AVCS solenoids, fuel system mods, etc. None of these have ever worked for me or made a real difference. I've had my car tuned probably 10 times by now and different tuners have never been able to cure it. My false knock often made the car nearly undriveable in stop-and-go traffic around this RPM in second gear with it bucking like f***** crazy. I also would get something at 3500 RPM that seemed dependent on load. That 3500 RPM stutter is totally gone. The lower RPM stutter still exists, but it's way, way less noticeable. I almost exclusively noticed this stutter during cold starts and driving afterwards. If I warm started the car then it was a lot less bad. During warm starts now I don't think I really notice much of anything stuttery now, but the cold start stutter is still noticeable. Also, the car feels like it has quite a bit more torque from 2500 RPM and higher. I haven't hooked up the Accessport to log before and after, but I'm sure much more timing is being pushed. It literally feels like I have a different turbo, or the difference between the power delivery from my old 214K-mile block versus when the new engine went in. Very, very much enjoy driving the car hard with this thing! Overall, I wish I had done this mod sooner. Zero downsides, apart from being a nearly $500 crank pulley.

Had a friend with the same issue in his Outback. Just got really goddamn hot, I guess. In my car's news today: got two new washer pumps and a Fluidampr crank pulley. Man, that pulley is nice! Didn't completely stop all stutter from my car but it's substantially less noticeable. The car idles a bit quieter now, too. I noticed how much more timing the car gives me from 2500 RPM and up. It's very, very potent!

Guess I'll be seeing you there?

It's pretty uneventful. The oil did thin out a bit and I didn't need to top it off, really, but I was down maybe a half quart when I changed the oil. If I were to have gone longer on the 5W-30 Amsoil SS it would have needed topping off.

This happened a month or two ago now, but I've been quite busy. I bought a 6-speed Legacy Spec B transmission from @boxkita. As my shed is full, his shed still keeps it warm I have a new washer fluid pump going in next weekend. I think Surgeline ordered a Fluidampr crank pulley for me as well - a mod I've been sitting on for months and months. Hoping it'll smooth out the power delivery a bit and quiet the car down a bit inside. I'm excited to be able to spray the windshield clean again, but definitely itching to get that pulley in.

Eh, I think people exaggerate how bad going X mileage on these cars is for an oil change. I have oil analysis to prove that my oil is good as new at 3750 miles with recommendations to go 5K next time. I have no doubt that my oil will still look fine when I send this round of oil in for analysis at 5K. If you did notice MPG improvements after running the injector cleaner, perhaps it's time to have the injectors professionally cleaned? Might make itself up in value with how high your fuel prices are up there.

We already post around here about Wagonfest?

@DickyWould love some progress pics or anything of the sort for the work on the car! Last I heard it had a few issues that made Byron drop the car. How is it holding up?

http://www.cars101.com/subaru/keyless.html Take a gander there.

Changed my oil back in June and got my oil analysis results back. Looks like I'll be extending the drain interval to 5K for the next oil change!

I have never been in a situation where I could romp on the car right up to my parking place in my car. I can't imagine driving normally for 30 seconds wouldn't be enough to "fix" any hot oil or coolant temps.

His car may not be fast but his driving skill is way better than me and he outruns me in my 320 WHP turbo'd car. Ask me how I know

Now do the guide where you can get rid of the inevitable CEL caused by switching to deleted TGVs after doing the conversion and find out that Cobb can no longer do that for you

Unfortunately, as a meager dealership employee, they need me that Saturday so I'll have to pass. Another time though!

I've driven many Audis with CrossClimates. They're really a true *all* season tire and are better in the snow that most cheap winter tires but they do not inspire sportiness. Softer sidewalls and shorter tread life if driven aggressively are definitely not gonna make for a good tire choice for a car driven for fun. A Pilot Sport AS4 or the like would be better for that sort of driving, and many top summer tires do excellent in the rain.

FWIW I've spent thousands of dollars in time and money trying to figure out my stutter and never have. I think it's just a fixture of my car. No matter who tunes it, it always comes back the second the car is driven off a dyno.

Might is just be worth buying another auto LGT? Plenty out there that just had a motor rebuild.

The VF40/46 that come with these cars are smaller but the low end boost response isn't much better, maybe 100 or 200 RPM difference down low when the power starts to kick in, and the VF52 holds power for a wider RPM range than the VF46. You aren't going to get boost at 1500 RPM like a modern turbo car. No twin scroll turbos with trick exhaust setups and direct injection on these old cars. Upgrading the fuel system will only really help at the top end. I might be able to dig around for a dyno chart on the home PC somewhere but I don't recall there being any torque gains when I went from STi topfeeds to ID1050X. The trick is to spend time in the range of 3000-3500 RPM driving around town a lot more than you're probably used to. Avoid lugging the engine by downshifting. These cars are pretty easy to heel-toe!