Tlag

WOW!! That looks a great car. They are indeed very rare and it wouldn't surprise me that it's the only one on the road. I had not heard of any classic Subaru either and I guess the best place to market it would be a classic car forum rather than a Subaru forum.

Certainly one of the best trips I've ever done. We stayed in a lodge at the Canyon and opened the curtains in the morning to find a family of Elk grazing about 2-3 yds away. Amazing. I think it was even better for the fact we didn't take a package holiday off the shelf. I decided exactly what flights we wanted, hotels we wanted etc. I then went to the travel agents and asked them to book it. I could have booked it all myself but travel agents get discount on certain things that I can't and I also get the ABTA insurances built in. If anyone's interested, I've moved on to sorting out a trip for September 2015. We will be driving through about 10 European countries over 14 days and covering about 2000 miles. It will include the Stelvio Pass and the Col de Turini. It won't involve any track time at any point. We learnt from the original Epic Run in 2011. We are trying to keep driving time to mornings only so people can explore the new town/city in the afternoon and evening. 2 of the places we will stay at will be for 2 nights so as to get a full day to explore. If anyone's interested, I can add more detail as we go. The original Epic was 9 cars, 16 people. All were Legacies. This time, it is open to any car.

It's probably in the wrong place but I'm sure someone will move it if it is.:) Well, we made it to the end of Route 66 and what a drive! It wasn't in Subarus as we deliberately went out of our way to try an American motor. To that end we hired these bad boys. We flew in to Dallas so couldn't pass up the chance of visiting the gas monkey bar and garage. (Fast and loud show on TV). A good night at the bar with live music. Then we did Amarillo, Cadillac Ranch, Albuquerque, loads of Route 66 specific things. Once we got to Williams: We gave the cars a rest and went by train to the Grand Canyon. Back at the cars the following day, we ate at the famous roadkill cafe. Thankfully they have stopped grilling actual roadkill these days:). Then on to Hoover Dam and Las Vegas. That's a bit of an eye opener. We rejoined the 66 at Barstow and made it to the end which is the pier at Santa Monica. We even dipped our toes in the Pacific. We then drove along the Pacific Coast Highway to San Francisco and spent 3 days and managed to take in a baseball game (looked like rounders to me :)). We dropped the cars off in San Francisco once we had driven over the Golden Gate Bridge and driven down the zig zag road that is Lombard Street. After the 3 days we flew to New York for 24 hours. We managed to see Times Square by night and day, go to the top of the Empire State Building and visit Ground Zero. From there, we came home. A totally amazing action packed holiday. I need a holiday now to get over it. Oh, and the cars? V6 3.6L Camaros. They don't rent out the V8 versions for one way hire. :(

Big end taping nise should come from the centre line of the engine, not one side. Before you dive in to a rebuild, get a second opinion. Failing that, drop the oil into a container. Check the oil for glittery flakes or sludge. Engine rebuild will cost from £2000 and up. You will find places offering it for a lot cheaper but beware. The cost of the new parts alone will be almost £1000 and there is a lot of labour time in a rebuild.

The 2.5L engine is the same power unit in all of the cars you mention. The early 2.5 engine does have a habit of eating head gaskets but was sorted in cars from about 1999/2000 on. The 2.0l is the same power unit across the range too but dosnt suffer from head gasket issues generally. The Legacy and the Outback of the age you are looking at are basically the same car with suspension and bodywook differences. Of the three you mention, I would be looking at the Outback in 2.0l or 3.0l form. The boot is bigger than a forester and slightly more room inside generally. The 3.0l is a thirsty car and I've only ever seen them in auto so it should be easy to find one. Look for one with as much service history as possible. The 2.0l and 3.0l are very reliable. At the age of car you are looking at they won awards every year for reliability which is always nice to know. Good luck and test drive as many as you can find. Spec levels vary a lot.

Get a sniff test done first. It will confirm the head gasket diagnosis. To start with though, top the coolant up as normal. Drive the car until normal temperature is reached. Then pull over, lift the bonnet and pull the yellow lid off the expansion tank bottle( the one fixed to the rad). What you should see, is the coolant at the 'hot' level (marker on outside of bottle) and a small amount of bubbles. If the level of coolant is significantly higher and bubbling lots/frothy, the head gaskets have gone.

Doing only one side is false economy. I would think £800-£900 for the entire job. The engine has to come out, be stripped, all parts cleaned, heads will need to be measured prior to skimming to enable you to get the correct thickness head gaskets to maintain the compression ratio.

Well, we failed the mot :( Only on emissions though which was expected. I've done some diagnostic work and discovered a bit of a schoolboy error. I have to confess to something. When I fitted each component, I thoroughly cleaned them all before fitting. I guess when I reassembled the idle control valve, I forgot to fit the 'O' ring in the top. This has led to a massive air leak which I found this morning. That's sorted now and we are leak free. As I am off on holiday on Thursday, the mapper has very kindly offered to take the car to his and have it up and running properly whilst I'm away. I'm not sure yet if he can get it mot'ed as well but in my book, the offer alone is above and beyond. It does mean that he will be able to talk to ESL direct whilst the laptop is plugged in and get the best possible outcome. It will save him having to do a 60 mile round trip each time I call him too. It will also mean I have something exciting to look forward to when I get back :)

Looking super clean now. I know the feeling. Once you start cleaning a small area, hours just flash by. :)

Can't see why that would happen unless it chose that particular moment to split a coolant pipe. The emissions test usually means they rev the car up to 2500 to 3000 rpm but that's all.

Could be a number of things but usually just running rough. Sensor usually cracks and the crack opens when warm and closes when cold so until it's up to temp, everything can sometimes appear normal. Even when hot, the gap can close and give periods of normal running.

It goes just under the pale green dot:

Its bolted to the deck of the short motor. Gambit is thinking of the right area. It's almost directly under the idle control valve. You may see the wire/plug easier than the actual sensor. It's usually a single black wire with a white plug. You will definitely need to take the top mount off to change it.

What symptoms are you getting that have pointed you towards head gaskets?

I've tried the brake cleaner trick, found a couple of leaks. Tightened those and things improved but not perfect. I've not found any other leaks but my back is limiting me in what I can do. Seeing a neurosurgeon on 2nd October and things are improving slowly so hopefully not out of action for too much longer. Cheers for asking :)

It still has the MAF at the moment. Once it's run in and the full map done, I will be mafless

It was probably a couple of minutes after a cold start. Once at normal temp, the revs rise and drop a tad which I think is still an air leak in the intake/IC pipework, but I can't find it . Anyway, the mot is booked for Monday morning so we will see what happens with a few miles on it. :)

On the radiator is the coolant expansion tank, to the right of the rad cap. It has a yellow plastic cap. Make sure the coolant is topped up to normal levels. In the expansion tank, that's quite low. It has a mark on the outside of the tank. Go for a drive. As soon as the temp starts to rise above the normal, pull over and open the bonnet. Pull the yellow lid off the expansion tank. If you can see a obviously raised level of coolant and its bubbling, it's worth going to a garage and getting a sniff test done. It's possible the head gaskets have gone and the sniff test detects combustion gasses in the coolant if they have (generally, Subarus don't mix their oil with water when the gaskets go)

Is it the actual silencer box that won't fit because of the curved metal plate above it? If so, I wouldn't advise removing it. It's there to keep the heat on the boot floor down. Trimming a it off it may be ok if it's only a small amount. If it's the metal bar that goes across the width of the car, behind the bumper, that's basically your crash protection. To make it quieter, not something I hear too many requests for :), you can get a bung which goes in the end. Measure the hole size and see if you can get one online somewhere. My Jap exhaust actually came with one and it's my option to leave it out, although I put it in when the dogs are in the car.

Sorry, other way round. Got myself confused for a second :)

It may be that the centre pipe of the NA is smaller in diameter to the back box of the turbo so that could be the reason.

Should do. All things being equal and not messed around with, they will fit

Smart as! The white writing is a bit subtle on the yellow but that could be the light

Next step is mot. Hopefully this week if he can fit me in. Then the running in can begin :)

Well, the mapper paid a visit and re wrote the map to the ecu. Re calibrated the injectors and turned the key. And from the back; The exhaust note is not too impressive to be honest but I'm only stuck with this system until after the mot ;) So, got a bit more fettling to do yet before mot, but it isn't far away now :)