Mr B

I done a fair few at 9 to ten years and under 30K and all been surprisingly good, the UK market timing belt service is ridiculously low . Top quality components last well, the run of the mill aftermarket garbage is biggest culprit towards failure stories with poor fitting methods coming in second .

Gates kits are not great, we don't use them . Get the ICP kit which all oem manufacturer parts made in Japan Link below is for eBay, they do 10% off quite frequent & you may get better price/discount if call them and do order . Price is proper good for quality you getting . If want do water pump and it the naturally aspirated engines then the GMB water pumps and an original genuine metal gasket is good quality answer at sensible cost. Aisin pumps not what use to be unless sourcing from Aisin Japan factory and getting cast impellor versions like RCM stock . Being ultra fussy on water pumps only really needed for turbo cars, just avoid common 5h1te from ebay eurocarparts and your average motor factors . ICP do stock the GMB water pump (40quid'ish) and also the OEM metal gasket (7 quid'ish) https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/284985258754 Timing belts on the NA Forester X ej201 is super easy pleasant job, even more so when using oem quality parts .

the answer s obviously yes and if Subaru engineers (well Toyota too) been smart they could of incorporated an emergency jump mode to get people out of the jam. Unfortunately they not even smart enough make a car with acceptable parasitic losses during parked-locked sleep state . Due to fact you still under warranty any alterations will effect the warranty . The smartest thing you can do is get rid of this garbage ASAP before it nothing but scrap value . These vehicles are inept engineering, sloppy computer software, poor quality components, questionable build assenbly and come with a dealership technical support that can't really diagnose real world faults or offer real solutions to known repeat failures & TSB highlighted issues . Unfortunately I get deal with lot of this garbage and it really is generally pointless misery spending time and money on most of it, they stopped making decent cars about 15 years ago , Newer you go the bigger the hassles and bills and worse the reliability & true environmental impact as the vehicles fill waste bins with massive amount of parts prematurely & the whole car is environmental joke to produce and has an appalling short lifespan potential . A Japanese engineer (Izuzu Diesel projects) once told me if want be environmental buy an older diesel, maintain it sensibly & keep your annual mileage low as sensibly can, no EV or hybrid gets even close to a good vehicle from late 90's to late 2000's for life to death true environmental impact evaluation once you take away the EV marketing BS . Real environmental solutions don't make money easily but the current marketed environmental wonders will drain your bank account just as good as it drains and ruins the auxiliary batteries lol .

They both BH generation outbacks so should be easy swap . Just look for any visual component differences and swap components/ sensors/wiring harness if find some differences . Do engine only assuming your transmission in good working order . It fairly easy process pulling engine on these, work on donor car first and learn from that . Few stubborn bolts and actually getting engine moving from transmission is the usual hang ups .

Just pick up a used pair of original OEM alloy arms from newage wrx/sti and rebush/ new balljoints as needed . Pair on eBay for 100 quid . If doing balljoints consider Subaru OEM (50 pound a pair) quality difference is night and day, current aftermaket is mainly garbage for suspension parts (well most parts unless super fussy and got current knowledge/experience on what half decent from what brands) .

Denso direct fit is 80 pounds range, universal denso (you re-pin or solder old plug connector) is about 48 pounds . Only ones we use is Denso purely as other options too high a further complication thus come back, and we don't want come backs or less than perfect function just to save 30 to 60 quid . don't know what ICP stocking or prices currently but Denso easy source online via eBay or part specialists .

Alloy ones are more rigid/strong design and don't rot, it a good upgrade .

I would assume it likely the replacement clutch used not the right spec pressure plate or faulty/damaged (any noise when operating the clutch !?, obviously pedal adjustment and hydraulics need visual inspection/checking before pulling a clutch a second time. You got be fussy on what pattern part clutches you use, lot are garbage, only ones we use for general basic subaru model replacements is LUK or Exedy . Fraction more part cost but saves me and the customer a lot of ballache and disappointment .

the centre diff (viscous coupling) is fairly easy replace, they come complete with bearing normally as a unit, not that cheap, you best looking up part numbers and searching for good price from that . I've had new oem units with bearing from 280 to 350 in past (not from dealer parts counter), not done a spec B so not sure how relevant that price range would be without looking at part data .

it not a MOT failure for noise, only for rubber boot damaged . Well worth sourcing a nice used one, over 300 for a new one and back order is just stupid money/hassle .... Or try sourcing new one from ICP or Amayama ...

you get what you pay for within reason, what exactly wrong with the joint ? does it really need replacing ! If the joint is bad I would consider genuine used over pattern part . loads of these diesels in the salvage system so pretty easy source used parts . They super easy replace so no bother for half decent local mechanic .

do all the vehicle tyres natch brand/model and wear ? Could undead be centre diff issue if tyres all as should be, it will stress the transmission & driveshafts severely if is ...

CVT fault, that what the screech is (CVT belt screeching) CVT transmission are garbage in the long term ...

yes, I can't see easy way do a euro 5 to 6 unless perhaps just used the 6 short block .

The general method I used on EE20 engine swaps was keep the original engine sensors and common rail system including the injectors . We done euro 4 to euro 5 engines . Don't do many as far too expensive and too many repeat failure areas without 100% fix solutions .

More a case of buy only quality made bearings from proper manufacturers (OEM ODM manufacturers preferably) The after market parts is full of complete garbage so you got be a bit smart or you bolting on more problems than removing . contact ICP (Import Car Parts), they on eBay and have own website and are well established . SKF or Blueprint are fine but avoid the cheaper euro/german stuff as lot of it chinese made garbage ... Japan mainland made bearings are very high quality .

lots of lowest cost sourced electronics and very little sensible gumption engineering thought is all you get for your money these days, newer the car the more garbage you got . amazing how they meant be good for environment yet you got drive the long way or you be waiting for the RAC van and contributing far more to waste with short life batteries and components 🙂. Like I keep saying, only thing newer vehicles good at is emptying owners savings accounts ...

job jobbed, now have fun putting some miles on it ...

the fuel octane mapping of factory tune make no real difference really to MOT emission test (it all mainly ignition timing tables at higher rpm/boost and wider throttle positions).. good order cat and oxygen sensors and the JDM grey imports passed Euro 3 emissions pretty easily when all components present and in good order . One thing worth noting is MOT emission testing is harder for the tester to get a pass result as MOT body has very recently changed the setup so the emission result feeds directly to the system while your vehicle logged in for it's test and you only got a one chance run for the readings so ideally operator wants be sure vehicle nice & hot and no obvious likely issues prior to doing the test run as you can't do like before of nursing it through multi test runs until get a good enough reading manually input .

they are correct, it a chain . chain stretch is quite common on these with higher miles or poor oil servicing . pretty easy job replacing chain, guides etc & parts pretty sensible money .

If engineered correctly and control module software good it should not lock wheels if used in emergency. reality is it a complete waste of manufacture complexity and a massive pain in the butt and wallet for owners in the long run ...

they only sold the petrol as the diesel proved itself to be garbage ... certainly can be expensive issues and more so if intending on long ownership .

you could put stainless braided sleeve over the fuel pipe but issue is they may move to something else and more expensive resolve like wiring harnesses in difficult spots and finding the fault/damage can get difficult and costly . I do a fair few vehicles for farmers/smallholder and done fair few faults that turn out rodent damage and on the newer cars with loads of modules and networking it soon gets serious in running issues and cost . Worth looking at all options available to limit from hassle and expense .

sounds very much like roof bar seals gone. The good news is the roof linings are pretty easy remove with bit of finesse and the bars can be removed and resealed if needed and with headlining out should be easy test and find the source of water entry .. If head lining ruined probably not too hard find a donor lining given bit of time and get it back to immaculate .

Above info not that complete to real world importing a passenger vehicle that not over 10 years old. First thing you do is pay import fees/vat to customs (you pay vat on the shipping cost too) Once that done you need individual vehicle report approval inspection or a model report if DVLA already has one for your model (unlikely but worth checking) Emissions, safety, lighting has meet requirement . If your vehicle built in Japan factories it likely better equipped and better component quality than if in country specific built that likely change lot of things for cost purposes and local component sourcing . (Thailand for example always had buying preference on Japan produced vehicles compared to local/malaysia built as spec, quality difference night and day) You can check things like heating and demist equipment and things like factory glass not a tint level that likely a problem . It will be a fair cost and hassle so be sure educate yourself on process before making final decisions ... Knowing Thailand, I would expect export process could be a ballache of unclear requirements/costs, certainly not as easy as from Japan where it a common and clear process .