[Rob Brownfield]

Clutching at straws here, but my 2.5 petrol Subaru Outback is due a cambelt change. I begrudge the £600+ the garages want to do it and on downloading the Subaru workshop manual and investigating the process, it has been suggested that it is a job that can easily be done at home.

YouTube has loads ofl vids on how to do it on a Scooby 2.5 SOHC, and yep, it really does look straight forward. Remove fans from behind radiator, remove auxillary belts (10 minute job), remove cambelt cover, remove crank pulley (needs a holding tool, but this can be fabricated easily) remove tensioner, remove belt and pulleys, replace in reverse order ensuring timing marks line up. Being a toothed belt, impossible to not line up correctly...everything needs to be "at the top", on the crank and cams.

Have any of you boy racers (same engine layout as Impreza, Forrester and Legacy) done this?

A cambelt kit ia around $300 in the US for everything whilst in the UK it is £300 for the basic kit...so Cass will have a heavy suitcase on her return from Houston!

Cheers in advance

[Ben Dixon]

Rob,

If it really is as simple as you have listed above then just go ahead and do it.  How long do Subaru reckon it takes in their workshop manual / job guide?  Kev & I changed the head & all belts on my Surf last March and apart from taking a long time it was not too much grief.  I won't pay a garage ever to do the timing belt on the Surf again.  Happy to give you a hand if you want, although I've never changed one before it is always good to have someone else about when doing a potentially shit / hazardous job for the first time.

Cheers

Ben