I'm a NOOB, please school me NOW!!

[Legacy808]

I'm a Subaru NOOB,
with my first Legacy Wagon.....

I'm also stranded on an island
in the middle of the Pacific Ocean........

Shipping from the 48 states usually
cost 3x more than the part itself...........

Please school me and tell me where to start
on getting the engine back to stock form......
basic tune up, etc.

I've heard nothing but great things about
the technology behind this vehicle....

So I'd like to give it a tune up and go from there.

the car runs great, but you can smell a hint of oil burning.
but its not dripping on the ground or anything.
not overheating and seems to run fine.
there is a slight visual leak on the pasenger side valve cover.
Any suggestions?

the tranny shifts kinda sluggish,
any suggestions? oil flush, etc.

The muffler is rusted all the way thru,
I'm replacing it this Thursday.
Any suggestions as to style or brand of muffler?
should I change the piping while I'm at it?

The brakes are weak and fading,
I'll check those when I replace the muffler...
Any suggestions on where to start?
as in, any well known problems with Legacy brakes?

As for suspension, I read on this site
that 04+ WRX springs will fit on this wagon........
any suggestions for struts?

In the area for wheels and tires,
any suggestions for OEM replacements
from other years/makes/models and sizes?

thanks in advance,
Legacy808

[Manarius]

http://bbs.legacycentral.org/search.php <--- you shall find all your answers there my friend. Just a few words of wisdom:

AND is a very useful word in the search.

Your car is N/A (normally aspirated).

Brake upgrades are very common, so are exhaust upgrades.

[PRT]

I'm also stranded on an island
in the middle of the Pacific Ocean........

Shipping from the 48 states usually
cost 3x more than the part itself...........

The hell with US stuff, Japan is as closer to you then anyone here ! That's where all the good stuff is !

[Brat4by4]

Change both valve cover gaskets. The design of the boxer engine means these will fail eventually, regardless. This will also probably eliminate the burning oil smell.

Changing out the muffler with a cheap glasspack is always a fun option and will get you a very useable 1/2 horsepower across the entire power band. The sound is very nice, it will NOT sound like a muscle car but the glasspack lets out some of the boxer growl.

Get 4 speed bleeders for your brakes. Replace the fluid. Check the pads. Hopefully you don't have ABS because you could have a whole different problem.

KYB GR2 are some very nice struts. Or you can put in the same OEM WRX struts. Other WRX struts will fit with a handful of cheap parts.

'02 WRX wheels seem to compliment the shapes of our cars nicely. The tires overall diameter are close enough, too.