Plastixx

Ha, no jinx needed. That's par for the course with those bolts. I torched the inner sleeve with MAPP (caution: flaming rubber), gripped the sleeve with large vicegrips, then hit the bolt with my Hercules Ultra Torque. They actually didn't give me too much trouble considering my subframe was so rusty I recently had it replaced. I laughed and told the mechanic I should get a discount because I already did the hard part for him and even used new bolts/nuts.

I did buy the Mevotech arms with solid rubber bushings. The ones I received had the OEM type, even though the part numbers were correct on the box. I contacted Mevotech support and they were basically like "Supply chain issues bro. Sorry not sorry, lol". Really pissed me off. Rockauto wanted me to pay return shipping and a restocking fee. F#€k both those companies. Anyway, I went with Siberian Bushing for the solid poly bushings. They claim the durometer is the same as OEM rubber. I don't generally care about increased NVH though. I replaced every single last bushing on a 2009 Outback 3.0R with either poly or rigid spherical joints and even that didn't bother me.

Heh, those look pristine compared to how mine were before I replaced them. The center was completely torn free on both sides. I replaced them with solid poly bushings so that can't happen again. Hopefully the bolts don't give you too much trouble. They can be a major PITA. Your car doesn't look too rusty though.

Yeah, I bet. What a coincidence.

I would have, but didn't have time to order one. Realistically though, this car will probably be in the scrap yard before it becomes an issue again anyway. Edit: Attached pic of car. Bumper paint isn't a 100% match, but can't complain for $350 painted and shipped. A local shop would want at least that much just for paint.

Got my car back today. Clutch feels waaaay better than it did before. There was hardly any wear on the old parts other than the demolished fork. You can still see the factory machining marks on the pressure plate and flywheel. There's a strange band of clutch material on the flywheel, but it comes off easily with a carbide scraper. I think they could have been reused, but the shop never even gave me the option or let me know their condition. It has an OEM dual-mass flywheel in it now. Honestly, I like it better than the solid it replaced. They also replaced the front subframe. I did some repairs on it last fall, but never finished. There was still a section I knew wouldn't pass inspection and I just didn't have it in me to get it done before the end of the month. Total damage: $3900 Also put a new front bumper cover on today (snow bank incident), new chinesium blacked out headlights with clears side markers/turn signals, and new budget LED fogs that I covered with yellow VViVid Air-Tint. Forgot to get a pic.

The wheel/tire combo I have is slightly smaller than stock. My car being NA, I figured even a tiny bit of acceleration gain would be welcome. 235/45 on 17x8 +35. Went with 17 because the roads are trash here.

I have a shift stop, brass cable bushing, and short throw adapter (modified OEM). There's no cure for feel of the DBW + manual trans though. This is my first car with that combo and it's a horrific thing.

I'd like to get another ~2 years out of it. It's only at 92k right now, but it's getting pretty old for a salt belt car. Also need to do a lot of other things to it. Struts, timing belt, and the passenger side of the engine started ticking lightly about a year ago. Hopefully it just needs the lash adjusted and it didn't drop a valve guide. I just hate paying someone else for something I can technically do myself. I'm just not in a position to be able to do it right now. Hopefully it shifts and feels a little better at least. I've driven manuals all my life and this is the first one that I actually loathe having to drive.

Had to call a shop today to get a quote for a clutch job. Clutch fork snapped right when I got home from work. Talk about being lucky and unlucky at the same time. I don't know if the clutch itself really needs replaced, but if I'm already paying the ridiculous labor charge, might as well replace it all. $2175 total.

I don't think it's the problem here, but the solonoid/control valve can be found aftermarket (not a dealer part). It can be difficult tracking down the exact one you need though. Sometimes they just get stuck and a whack on the case with a screwdriver handle can free them up. I wonder how much experience OP's mechanic has with these systems. They don't act like a traditional system. They will cycle the pressure hi/low if there isn't a heat load even if you have the criteria set per the FSM. Temps are still fairly cool in most parts of the country.

I know the point of a variable displacement compressor is efficiency. I was refering to the fact that Subaru still uses the clutch-less variety.

Interesting. Just looked at the compressors being used on late model Subarus and they're still clutch-less. Most other makes use clutched ECVDCs. It has to be a desperate cost cutting measure by Subaru. Can't think of any other reason for it.

I would guess that they chose not to use the ECVDC on the GT because of the performance aspect of the car. Another easy way to tell is if you have a bi-directional scantool. A system with a standard compressor is "dumb", so there's no control module with live data available for it.

That doesn't look like a variable displacement comp. I don't see a control solonoid on the bottom rear corner.