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trying to keep my "new" first gen going


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Hey guys I’m excited to finally make a post, I created an account but the admin didn’t activate it forever.

 

Bought a 93 legacy 4wd with 266,000 miles on it

 

So far I have replaced the fuel and air filter, done a radiator flush and bought a new cap, and paid for a full tranny flush. I’m going to be replacing the front right axel today (clicks on turns) does anyone have any advice on items that I should be replace to really prolong the life of this car? The belt and water pump was changed with in the last 5000 miles (or so I was told)

 

 

I have not yet looked at my fluid in the differentials

 

 

All maintenance aside........ Does anyone know where I can get a nice brush-guard for a first generation legacy? Do they even make them? I want one with skid plate on the bottom

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The engine, trans, diffs haha

 

Well, I'd go through and replace any leaking

seals on the engine, transmission or diffs. Then

I'd do new fluids for the brakes and diffs. Make

sure your steering rack boots aren't ripped and

if they are, clean the areas, regrease and replace

the boots. If it's an auto and they didnt replace the

trans filter when they flushed it I'd drop the transmission

pan, save the fluid, replace the filter, clean the magnet

and refill it with trans fluid. Check the brake pads to make

sure the calipers are working with pretty close to even

pressure on both sides and make sure the boots on the

pistons on the calipers are intact. I'd check ball joints and

outer tie rod ends to make sure they are in decent shape.

You can bounce the car and see if the struts are ok. With

that many miles they've probably been replaced before so

you're probably good there.

 

I'm sure someone else will chime in with more stuff, but that's

what I can think of off of the top of my head.

 

Unfortunately all brush guards are custom :/ There is a "skid

plate" you can get from the early 90's Subaru GL that I believe

will bolt right up, but as I haven't seen any on these cars and

have only heard about the skid plate I cant verify that, but I've

been looking for one myself.

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The engine, trans, diffs haha

 

 

Unfortunately all brush guards are custom :/ There is a "skid

plate" you can get from the early 90's Subaru GL that I believe

will bolt right up, but as I haven't seen any on these cars and

have only heard about the skid plate I cant verify that, but I've

been looking for one myself.

 

there is one for 180 shipped in the fs section kinda pricey

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so my 93 legacy had the entire bottom seam of my radiator give out ( radiator flush was to strong?) this happened at the beach in tilllamook oregon, and evey autoshop said it would take them a week to fix. so i got a ride back to Portland, bought a new radiator ($109.00) and im going to go install it today myself and drive it back.

 

has anyone ever had the bottom seam give out on a radiator? any idea what would cause this?

 

how hard is that radiator to swap out, ill be doing it in a parking lot.

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It's a piece of cake to swap out. Disconnect the two fan harness plugs, remove the bolts holding it on the top, disconnect the upper and lower hoses, and it comes right out.

 

When you are filling up the new radiator remove the air vent on the passenger side of it (looks like a black plastic screw head), remove the radiator cap, pour in the coolant slowly (helps if you have a long neck funnel), and fill up the reserve tank. Squeeze the upper and lower hoses to help get air out. Put the vent plug and cap back on, run the car for a few minutes and add more coolant if necessary. You can jack up the front end of your car as well to make it the high point in the system which can help.

 

Don't freak out if your temp gauge shoots way up. It just means you still have some air in your system. Burp it again until the problem goes away. Don't take the rad cap off if the coolant is still hot, of course.

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So the swap went well and I completed it in a shilo inn parking lot. I did not realize that my transmission cools itself using the radiator and I had to buy some zip ties to replace the old ones from the swap (should I get hose clamps?)

 

My question is did I lose a lot of tyranny fluid in the radiator? I jacked the front end up when I did the swap so virtually no fluid spilled from the hoses but I wasn’t sure about how much tranny fluid the radiator holds itself.

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i think hose clamps are a good idea,

 

start the car let the trans fluid circulate and then just check the fluid levels.

 

for radiator install make sure all the air is out of the system, let the car run a while and re-check coolant levels

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Transmission fluid in the coolant radiator? I don't think that there is any. However, the 4EAT trans has it's own radiator so as far as I know you won't lose any trans fluid when you swap out the coolant radiator. Do you have an AT of 5MT?

 

edit: I re read your post. I guess you meant you also swapped out your trans radiator hoses? I bet zip ties would be a good temp fix, but not the best way to go.

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Might as well replace the ignition coil if you find yourself with an extra $120 or so. A flat-terminal MSD coilpack from an Eagle Talon can be made to work very easily and gives you hotter spark for the same price as a stock replacement.

 

Tires, brakes, struts, strut tophats, sway bar bushings, sway bar endlinks, tie rod ends, u-joints (If AWD), and anything else that's rubber in the driveline or suspension. Be selective. This car has the potential to bankrupt you if you let it.

 

Best part about these cars is that if you have a friend to tow you when you break down you can just let the timing belt go until it breaks. Unless the motor's revvin' 7K RPM when it snaps you won't bend any valves or punch any pistons. You still break down just the same but at least you don't have to second guess the last owners too much on their maintenance history.

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so i huge headache could have been saved if i just simply replaced the tubes going from the transmission to the radiator. one burst on me yesterday while i was driving and didnt know. it was like a murder scene, and there is a clear line in the road for over a mile. ( ill try and get a picture)

 

i didnt even know anything was wrong until it slipped and started rolling backward at the end of my street.

 

i dont know how much fluid i lost but i cant even get a reading on the dip stick. luckily the dip/fill tube is super easy to access :(

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  • 2 months later...

went to a local brake shop for a $88 brake job. was later quoted at over 1500. :lol:

 

how hard is it going to be on a scale of 1-10 to change my front and rear calipers and rotors.

 

im going to buy "fully loaded" calipers( includes hardware and pads) and new rotors from napa for $360

 

just wanted to ask people how bad its going to be.

 

plan is to just fallow the repair manual .

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has anyone ever had the bottom seam give out on a radiator? any idea what would cause this?

 

how hard is that radiator to swap out, ill be doing it in a parking lot.

 

Not quite, but I had an entire element column from the radiator in my old Jeep Grand Wagoneer fall out while at the subaru dealership looking for a new car lol.

 

I managed to drive it about a mile down the road and park it in the Lowe's parking lot, got a ride to Advanced Auto Parts and bought a new radiator, and back to the parking lot to replace it. Time under the hood was probably about an hour, tops. Not sure how hard it is in the Legacy's though, Grand Wagoneer's are quite spacious under the hood.

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do you have a legacy turbo or na? what size wheels? I ask because you could always buy used wrx front calipers and new set of rotors and pads for the front, but you would need 16 in rims.

 

Did the shop mention if you need new ebrake hardware? I ask because replacing ebrake shoes and springs and such can get a little difficult. But, as far as replacing calipers and rotors all around it shouldn't be that bad just we aware that some bolts might be a bitch to remove due to the age of the car. You will need to bleed your brakes after you replace the calipers which will require a second person but not difficult if you understand the process.

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^+1. The L brakes have much to be desired. The turbo calipers are a huge improvement. My '95 L is my DD and I gave my wife my turbo SS to be her DD. Her brakes are much, much better. Now that I swapped 16" wheels on my '95 I can't wait to do the wrx brake swap. But if you are keeping your stock brake setup nice pads will make a big difference.

 

Replacing rotors and pads is really easy. Why do you need to replace all the calipers? You can get rebuild kits for your calipers for about $8 each if you want to save some money.

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Maybe a 2 or 3 if you have done them before, and maybe 5-6 if you never have. You can easily watch Youtube for step by step really....I have done this for various things with my Subie Wagon.

 

that's normally what i do but not many results for Subaru calipers. there is a video about how to look for faulty remanufacturered calipers though

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Not quite, but I had an entire element column from the radiator in my old Jeep Grand Wagoneer fall out while at the subaru dealership looking for a new car lol.

 

I managed to drive it about a mile down the road and park it in the Lowe's parking lot, got a ride to Advanced Auto Parts and bought a new radiator, and back to the parking lot to replace it. Time under the hood was probably about an hour, tops. Not sure how hard it is in the Legacy's though, Grand Wagoneer's are quite spacious under the hood.

 

it was an easy swap. i do recommend replacing the hoses that run to the transmission as well. i didn't and regretted it later...:mad:

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do you have a legacy turbo or na? what size wheels? I ask because you could always buy used wrx front calipers and new set of rotors and pads for the front, but you would need 16 in rims.

 

Did the shop mention if you need new ebrake hardware? I ask because replacing ebrake shoes and springs and such can get a little difficult. But, as far as replacing calipers and rotors all around it shouldn't be that bad just we aware that some bolts might be a bitch to remove due to the age of the car. You will need to bleed your brakes after you replace the calipers which will require a second person but not difficult if you understand the process.

 

i have the non turbo and stock wheels. i need to get new tires so i was considering upping in size on the rims but i think im just going to stay stock for now. my boots on my rack and pinion are torn up too :( so my repairs are adding up.

 

my calipers are all compressing unevenly and rotors well below the discard measurement

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sorry Gteaser ill post some pics soon. my parts are in at napa and i think i found a good air compressor and some used impact tools on crieglist.

 

i have finals this week but im excited to start the project. i think im going to do the first 3 and for the last one make a youtube video.

 

i have read alot about the bolts that hold in the calipers snapping in the imprezas so im assuming i might see a similar problem?. is there anything i can do to avoid this? ive read to try acetone+atf or PB blaster.

 

im also going to try the torch

 

id really like to just impact these bolts off that is why im buying an air compressor for this project

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