Mr B

I prefer early ones . all weather also includes front screen wiper heater, they also tend get other useful extras such as headlight lens protectors, mud guards, boot liner rear bumper guard, coloured trim & alloys . Don't bother with one with corrosion advisory . Lot of people are crazy on year, chasing what newest, DON''T Old is gold, the 2003 to 2005 is best of the SG range . 2004 sounds best bet but look it over real well . SG looks good in the red colour too. £3K is top money but you should be able knock couple hundred off that minimum, getting closer to winter so demand on these gets high . If it really good order it will last for years & be no hassle with bit of basic care, good engine oil changed regular & rear subframe area wax oiled along with arches wax injected & arch well stone guarded will see it through for years .They real easy drive & super manoeuvrable with good visibility (easier park than a tiny 206 hatchback) .

If doing short trips you don't want a diesel full stop really . You need do a lot of annual mileage see real savings . The 2.0L pertol tends pay you back on fuel by lower service cost & fact it super reliable . Sticking with 2003 to 2005 could be wise to help potential risk of future road tax changes etc and less ellectronic hassles . The 2.0L petrol forester is superb, SF forester being best rugged long life vehicles subaru ever made. I prefer the early SF shape over SG & revision SG. On SG check rear arches righ up into turret and front edge to sill as rot easy due to thinner metal over the early SF (reduced weight) rear subframe needs looking at too & front wishbones for rust. Early SG like 2004-2005 will be fine & most important thing is buying good example which not worked hard. Be sure buy All Weather model as worth it long term . Auto is okay and generally find cleaner bargains are always autos . Rear SLS suspension not major concern, replacing with KYB struts is cheap . Parts in general are CHEAP . Reliability is exceptional if take time buy a good one . Red green and silver is best colours, silver most forgiving & looks nice with black or chrome protection trimming . They a good buy, super versatile and good at everything plus demand always high so easy sell on in future .

impreza, legacy outback same ...

They would fit but if your trailing links in good order I would just rebush them with strongflex bushes . http://www.strongflex.eu/en/subaru-forester-sf-97-02/361-rear-tie-bar-to-hub-front-bush-5902553515077.html would do the hub bush too if looks poor .

wants a good check over & run on rollers really, loads of minor things cause poor running from det sensor, afm, simple air leak etc . I expect stress from removal & refitting finished the old oil pipe off as if had been running long like that mains would of been shot. oil pressure seems about right, oil pressure, boost & wideband are 3 must have gauges really . Hopefully just simple niggles and all will be good .

I wouldn't waste over £150 in the killer b one, it the other extreme and totally over engineered & over priced . I wouldn't repair yours but indeed you could. What we do is cut some 1.5mm walled tube in half and braze to flange and pipe covering the weak joint area then add a 1.8mm tapered gusset from flange edge to past first bend in pipe & braze that on . another gusset on pick-up filter end goes up and feeds into top gusset. we change flange bolts to 12.9 allen sockets as easier fit with reduced room of gusset & welds near flange (also add drop of threadlock on them). Windage baffle plates quite good for these too especially if likely do some track or do speedy road work on twisty b roads. material cost isn't £5 for oil pipe & result is several times stronger than plain oem . Money best spent on a good oil pressure gauge with memory & settable low pressure warning .

you were warned about oil pickup. hopefully got away with it but I suspects some untold damage been done if oil pressure been that bad since first start . is quite easy improve standard pickups with bracing to stop the fatigue cracking they get, was poor design by subaru on a critical part :-/ new oem ones being same design .

yeh that the one, they help speed up oil temp from cold as water heats faster than the oil, also handles bit of oil cooling when full running temps reached. If water temp seems normal I would not be too concerned at present, calibrated oil gauge is more important than a cooler to start with, once seeing accurate temps for prolonged periods around 100<>105 then time look at a sensible 85<>90-thermostatic oil to air cooler .

standard cooler thermostats tend be 80 which still little low really when road only . If not seeing prelonged over 100 on road no need for a cooler . It just more weight & more work for oil pump when not really needed . Does your 97 model have the oem oil to water cooler on it !?

worth checking gauge accuracy & radiator system to be sure all A1 . 90 to a little over 100 is nothing to worry about in oil temp & about ideal as cleans out some of the moisture deposits once hot enough. Quality full synthetic 10w40 can handle 115 & 120<>130 short term if has to.Too cool an oil is more bad than too hot, going higher viscosity than needed sucks mpg, hp & creates bit more heat . Oil coolers are okay when really needed ( ie: you getting 120+ & want keep it around 100), oil cooler is extra work for oil pump so be sure it fit & can still provide volume flow required .

Euro 5 is potentially better but they still not a great buy unless do lot of miles & longer journeys . If you doing lot of short trip driving modern diesels are useless & not cost effective due to service & maintenance costs being high . Lots of problems are possible and they all super expensive . Emissions have killed the diesel reliability, we have an old pug 206 hdi90 before the dpf days and that close to 60mpg & never been a bother in 12 years. If it had been dpf diesel would of been scrap by now with our constant short trip use. If want try the diesel go for it if like it but do research on the subaru EE diesel & also check out car well including extended test drives on B roads, also worth getting a diagnostics readout of dpf regen & current soot levels . Injectors, heater plugs, dmf/clutches, self reprograminng mode are all known common issues which can really strain an owner mentally & financially so have some paracetamol & spare £1,000+ on hand .I personally will not buy any modern diesel with dpf system as they are a ridiculous concept . search diesel crank, glow plugs, heater plugs on here for more reading ...

I would suggest stick with standard if look good, the front bush could be swapped to a poly bush but rear tends be best left if just road use . New Moog or 555-Japan balljoints would be good & droplinks (Meyle HD) if ones on it look old, parts are pretty cheap and those brand items are tough ... Job jobbed & won't need touching in years .

as for exhaust review how solid it is as may have some life left, pipes can look real scabby but still last couple years+ if solid ! Best option on these is get a section made at a local longlife or powerflow centrer. It will be stainless, built to spec & quite affordable generally ( centre section quite cheap knock up )

Best bet is used alloy arms off the jdm forester . They don't rot & are much more rigid & less unsprung weight too which all good ... Impreza newage fit and can also pinch alloy ones off sti..2,,0 & 2.5 same ... Can't buy pattern steel arms for SG, plenty for old SF at about £55 each new but they don't rot like the later ones lol . We source used steel and alloy, alloy being best match for a decent xt ... Here's a set on ebay at potentially VERY sensible money > http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Subaru-Forester-XT-Turbo02-05-Impreza-Alloy-wishbones-lower-arms-wrx-sti-/391559843471 link to another thread on subject here >

Lot of variation/opinion in run in techniques, we run mineral for 600 miles max. after initial crank to prime oil system we start car & let idle and check for leaks & top up coolant as required, once that passed checks we raise revs on & off to about 2,000rpm until up to temp. then take it on road drive for about 25-30 miles on b road on and of throttle driving up to 3.250rpm max and light boost only keep eyeon oil pressures & log readings. Back to shop oil is drained/checked for debris and everything else visually checked, filter removed & check for metal debris, after this it run for 150 to 200 miles with similar style driving but more revs 4,250 and bit more boost, change oil again and run for around 400miles using more agressive as each 100 miles pass. if you don't push it a bit you never will get good ring bedding on all side of the bore, if you don't rev it to almost read line you also never get full stretched sweep of bore. If you see how they bed in engines in dyno cells most owners would faint. We built a sr20det for a hill climb car, owner went to dyno cell for run in and power run & I was invited for the show. they run it in in about 75minutes using a run-in dyno procedure gradually increasing stress & bringing revs on and off. was whipping it right off red line in last 20 minutes, quite frightening to watch :-) engine good & been used hill climbing for over 3 years now. With modern tolerances real long run in not needed, most ring bedding is done in early miles so if to soft you don't make most of it .

Yep that a sensible viscosity & spec ester oil at sensible price too . 5L around £30 to £34 pending on discounts . ej25 can be hard work lol ... al be worth when rumbling right ;-)

^ yep up to temp & monitor oil pressure & leaks before road bedding in . want get it on RR ideally to see all healthy, at minimum want a good wideband and see afr's are good . Hope goes sweet . if lucky won't of cost too much (& you got rid of the clay pistons :-P ) & to be honest most people with a used 2,5 going have serious engine wrench work of some level :-D we probably done more 2.5 engine builds/part builds in last 8yrs or so than all 2.0 2.2 & 3.0 in 16 years ...

Yeh any top brand ester based full synthetic would be good, 5w40 10w40 10w50 .. Give it run in and flush at least twice on mineral, don't be to soft on it or rings don't bed in before bores glazing .

For initial break in you want use a mineral oil. Rings will not bed in on a full synthetic, Were bores cross hatch honed. Get 2 or 3 oil filters and dump oil after first 100 miles and check for unwanted debris, cut filter open too .

SFSM > http://jdmfsm.info/Auto/Japan/Subaru/Impreza/ Make sure cleaned block proper & check the block restrictor gallery to head EXTRA carefully. Also check cams & caps on sourced heads plus all valve collets look seated correct & valve ports for cracks & seats for condition.

XV is a looker, well toyed out & practical, not overly spacious but better than a saloon. supercharge it and add some chassis bracing, brake upgrade & you have something interesting & different. Shame they didn't do a 2.2l (2.2 engine was great compared to 2.5 series) as the 2l is a bit weak for awd suv, 2.2 would of been nice blown either by tc or sc .

You can leave it as is You could pull plug from mainbrain just in case fault has any parasitic power drain . It no harder remove other wires really, just case of trace them through & rejoin originals when been a cut splice & disconnect & insulate ones that been standard splice . big chunk of wiring is what goes to siren, ultrasonics & keypad, pull all that out & not huge amount left - door switch feed, bonnet switch, central locking trigger, acc ignition trigger, indicator feed trigger left&right, power, earth . We don't remove many as can fix most issues quickly for £60 to £100 with spare used system parts or mainboard relay swap or siren battery refresh .

Won't do any harm if simply cut & isolate power to mainbrain but quite easy (little bit time consuming do neatly) follow wiring from main brain & disconnect everything, pulling wiring, sensors, siren, bonnet switch, keypad .

Good job ... That all you need do get it running & usable ... You either look at it further in terms of checking power to main alarm brain & board inside & either source another used alarm in uk (breakers sell them as set with a fob or pin code so can code your key fobs to it) or completely remove it & go without or install different make perhaps ! if you search on here for M30 alarm or alarm problems you should find a few posts I done on the M30 inc instructions on reprogramming keys & relay faults in main brain . least you got the rumble back :-)

If it the Subaru sigma system it very easy remove or bypass or repair using second hand alarm units plugged in and programmed to your fobs. Confirm alarm type. Pic of remote and sensors on car (you have keypad ?) Also supply fault details , do doors unlock/lock via fob , dash lights on when ignition on etc ....