Hey all, I'm new here to the forums. I've had some experience helping my father-in-law work on his 98 Outback (rebuilt the engine and replaced the transmission), and now I'm a first-time Subaru owner. I just bought a 96 Outback for $100 from a coworker who just wanted to get the thing out of his driveway. Good body, drives nice, runs fine (pig rich at the moment, though), looks good - just needs some work. It has an exhaust leak near the rear muffler, has bad tires, could use brakes, needs a basic tune-up, and needs the timing belt replaced (it hasn't broken - it's just due for one).

My first question is where do all of you folks get your parts? I've been a hard-core watercooled VW enthusiast for close to 15 years, and I have great hookups for VW/Audi parts. For Subaru parts, I've found a few decent online places (thepartsbin.com, stopshopanddrive.com, autohausaz.com, etc), but I haven't really found any specifically for Subie parts. Any suggestions?

My second question is what do you guys use for shop manuals? I really don't want to have to resort to the Chilton/Haynes books - I'd rather use whatever it is the dealer garages have. I'm used to being able to buy the factory Bentley books for my VWs for fairly cheap, and they're the same thing the real garages use. That has kind of spoiled me, I'm afraid. What are the odds of me getting my hands on the real, official set of shop manuals for this thing?

I'll probably start up a thread to track the progress of my work on the Outback at some point. I really need to get some parts ordered though.

Thanks in advance folks!

 

Subaru actually has online access to factory service manuals for <$20 a day, last time I checked. They're in PDF, so you can download them, too

For parts, there are a couple of Subie-specific retailers, but they're focused more around the newer cars, and don't have a good online ordering system unless you have the specific part (it's email for a quote). Most are just the parts departments of local Subaru dealerships.

Welcome to the family!

 

sybir is easily the best guy to ask about BG/BK OB parts, especially wheels!

 

sybir, those wagon mafia decals are sick. I just ordered one.