Figured I'd tell you guys about my super sweet first Subaru ever. 1998 Subaru Legacy L Wagon. 2.2L (no headgasket failure here) AWD 4speed auto (zzzzzzzz).
I found my wagon, which I called the White Whale, but my gf named it Scuttle.
on craigslist in October of 2015. Picked him up for $600. He was pretty beat up, but what is the fun in a build if it needs no work?
Here is when I first got it:
180K miles. No real options besides P/S and A/C i guess?
Issues:
Hubcaps ruined, 3 bent wheels, 1 out of round tire, right rear caliper doesn't work, A/C doesn't work, seats ripping, rubber trim peeling off under windows, hooted dented and rusted, front brakes scraping, harmonic balancer wobbling, key barely worked in all doors, front bumper was resprayed with overspray on the headlights, blinkers, and 2 bolt holes on the right side of the bumper, headlights pointing straight at the ground, HORRIBLE torque binding when turning the wheel, grille missing. So bad I had to put the car in FWD mode to get home. That is all I can remember when I first got it.
bumper damage:
My first steps were to fix the torque binding, replace all 4 wheels/tires, and do brakes all around.
I flushed the trans twice, and torque binding is 90% gone. Replaced 4 wheels and tires with 15" wheels from another outback, and put outback 2pot brakes on the front, new RR caliper, pads/rotors all around. This was taken right after grill was replaced, and I also got an outback hood, why not?
Here it is with the 15" wheels and hood:
I had to re-drill the headlight mounting holes, and get some headlights from the junkyard because they were all BROKEN. I think each side had 1 bolt holding them in! The A/C had dye in it, so I easily found the leak on the driver's side A/C line. The O ring was shot, replaced that, A/C now works after a re-charge.
My GF's bro was driving it, and he said "hey, I just lost power steering". I thought no big deal, probably pump. I get to my GF's parents house and see...
Oops. Looks like person before me who did Tbelt forgot to torque something to spec.
Crank was OK thank god. Replaced balancer and belts. Back to normal.
I had to flip a 95 wagon I found to sell to my GF's boss. It needed 4 tires. I figured screw these 15" wheels, I'll put them on the other wagon and get some nice wheels and tires for my own wagon
I went around and replaced all the window trim. I decided that since the speakers suck, ill upgrade them.
Before
After
These are rear ones. In the front I put ones with separate tweeters. Sorry, forgot a picture. Thanks to a
phenryiv1 on legacyGT for the brackets!
Also installed an Alpine Type-R 15" sub in the trunk. So much for wagon trunk space, but I made it easy to remove. (this done early 2016)
Upgraded to outback leather seats, fake wood trim in the interior from a limited, leather door inserts.
JDM tails with my 16" snow tires/wheels I got from a saabaru guy. (winter 2016)
Also pictured is a 2005 honda pilot rear wiper blade. mine was rusted and spring was shot. Found out these fit perfectly.
I managed to get a bumper for $30, had my friend repaint it. Got a JDM grille and had him paint it black as well. Had morimoto H1s retrofitted (thanks brian) into new depo headlights. (5/25/2017)
Few weeks ago (06/02/2017),
Car smelled like gas during start up. Didn't run 100% while cruising. I did plugs/wires/MSD coil when I got the car (Maybe early 2016), so I figured it's either a bad injector, or bad compression.
Easiest thing to test is compression.
Cylinders 2, 3, 4:
Great!
Cylinder 1:
****.
I drop a little bit of oil in the cylinder
my reaction:
So I said **** it. What is the worse that can happen at this point?
I ran
Motor Medic through the car twice, and put a drop in the cylinder.
I didn't take a picture, but now its squeezing ~174psi!!!!!! Car runs much better now. It has been going strong for 3 weeks. will check compression again soon just to see.
Performed a snorkulectomy? recently. Removes the big ass silencer contraption that is in the passenger front wheel well. Car has a good engine note now when punching it. Gotta let everyone know I am TRYING to accelerate
Got a set of sway bars from Harry's U Pull It in Pennsburg, PA on 6/24/17 from a 1997 2.5L Outback. Outback 2.5L sway bars are 20mm front/18mm rear vs my 19mm/15mm, so a nice OEM upgrade.
Decided to make my own "white"line sway bars.
Going to head back this Saturday to grab a hood off the same car, and trunk off of another. I went solo, and my luck, i'll ruin them both trying to carry them back to the truck lol.
Also scored these on 6/14/17:
$850 coil overs, brand new. $350, new in box.
Coil overs, sways, and new rotors/Hawk HPS pads on the front brakes should be going on this weekend.
Still waiting to go in:
JDM trunk spoiler
On the to get list:
cheap stock 02-07 wrx/sti exhaust
possibly swap out the motor for a refreshed 2.2 with a delta cam regrind.
maybe another trans, or convince the gf to let me 5 speed swap it.
Super fun time!
White Whale "build"
.
