Kenny's 99 Outback Limited

And so it begins....

I finally got it registered and moved it to the garage.



Over time I will be slowly repairing it's issues and adding a few upgrades here and there. I have no crazy special plans for this car. It's just going to be my backup car, that I take on trips and take off road and such. So I won't be attempting to make it perfect or anything.

So far, I have about $1,200 into it with the purchase costs and parts.

I have replaced the battery, some ground wiring, the trans filter and did a few fluid changes, some broken interior plastics, and the door panels.

In the next few weeks I will be replacing:

head gaskets (Cometic 0.027")
radiator and fans
timing belt and pulley
water pump
oil/air separator plate
front speakers (Kenwood's)
adding an additional OEM sub
the head unit
front LH axle
brake pads

Beyond that stuff, I hope to be able to get the transmission fixed and then start moving on to the upgrades.

Future mods:

UEL headers
Delta cams
high flow cat pipe
custom catback with a Borla muffler
JDM headlights
window tint

I'll post up some more pictures later this week. I'm going to fully detail the car, inside and out.

I knew you'd be back!

i always have secretly loved the first super-clean session in every new car i get... heh

Nice catch! Looks clean!

Today I swapped out the radiator and fans, swapped out a wheel with a non-leaky tire and then took her out and drove EVERYWHERE off road. This car is SO much better off road than my GT's.

I freaking love this car! It's a piece of junk mostly. It's got a thousand things wrong with it and it handles like a boat. But, I don't even give a crap!

Kenny - as long as you are having fun with it and it is reliable, I d call that a win in my book.

did you actually make it over the crest of that hill in the last pic?

Originally Posted by Hemingway

Kenny - as long as you are having fun with it and it is reliable, I d call that a win in my book.

Well, it's not very reliable yet... I'm driving around without a thermostat because the gaskets are shot and the motor does have a slight knock. So, she will be sitting around quite a bit for the next few months until I can get the motor completely rebuilt.

Originally Posted by twisty

did you actually make it over the crest of that hill in the last pic?

I got up to the top, but that crest is much sharper than it looks.

thats why i asked, ive done those in my old chevy and had problems, was wondering if the outback could power over that and not center up on it

Well, from a dead stop that's how far it went up before it just didn't have the traction to keep going. The tires don't have too much tread left to them. I hit the breaks and held the car there so my buddy could take a picture. It's a much steeper angle than it looks like. Earlier in the day I went up and over a larger hill that had the same angles and made it up and over no problem, with a running start.

Question, do you have the external trans filter? Being you have a 99 I would assume it does. Reason I ask is because you should only use the Subaru filter, the aftermarket ones aren't designed the same and there have been some people having shitting issues after installing them. A few months back I installed a aftermarket one before I knew about them being different and had some trans shifting problems so I bought a Subaru one and it went back to normal.

yep, I've got the Phase 2 trans with the external filter. I only used OEM Subaru fluid and filters. I replaced both the spin on filter and the internal screen (Subaru swears there isn't one, but there actually is. It's the same as the Phase 1 screen/filter). My transmission has had shifting issues since I bought it. It hesitates to shift into gear from park, reverse, and neutral. It's also slams into 3rd if you attempt to use the throttle to downshift and slips while shifting into 2nd if you're giving it too much gas.

The issues started when the PO had a shop do a trans flush. The mileage was higher when he had it done and it was probably the first time it was replaced in the cars lifetime.

I have to completely rebuild the motor at some point, so when that's out the trans is coming out as well. My dad and I will tear it apart and see what's up. If there's no fixing it, I'm just going to swap in a replacement. I might do a 5MT swap because it can be done for half the cost of a Phase 2.

Yeah at my shop we tell owners that problems can occur if they've never changed their trans fluid and its very dark and burnt smelling. I've had many people still want to flush the fluid and a couple of weeks their trans starts acting up. Basically the gritty clutch material in the fluid was helping the trans work normal and when you replace it with fresh slippery fluid all hell breaks loose. LOL.

Mother effing motor knock is getting worse.. It's not too bad, but it's definitely there. I thought the Phase 2 lower ends were supposed to be better. Bull.

So, now it looks like that will barely move until I can come up with about $500 to completely rebuild the engine from the inside out...

Originally Posted by Kennyfvholla

Mother effing motor knock is getting worse.. It's not too bad, but it's definitely there. I thought the Phase 2 lower ends were supposed to be better. Bull.

So, now it looks like that will barely move until I can come up with about $500 to completely rebuild the engine from the inside out...

They are supposed to be much stronger. However, they suffer the same exact head gasket problems as all of the Phase 1 2.5s, so they're bound to have the same rod problems as well.