project: beating a dead horse

So i started a new job at the beginning of January. I'm now community based mental health crisis intervention and housing specialist. Over a 5 county area, with occasional travel requirements to all corners of the state.

 

I was driving my 2002 Mazda protege5, that had stiffer struts, bigger brakes, poly bushings, upgraded stereo, long tube, exhaust, etc done. Fantastic and pretty quick little hot hatch. The first week on the job made me realize just how hard on the car it was going to be, and how quickly the Mazda would meet its end. Altogether too nice of a car to beat to death.

 

My wife had been wanting a new car to replace her aging Subaru (that i had bought for me when our daughter was born. She just turned 7. The wife stole it 3 months in when her Camry started giving her shit, and i never got it back). She decided that a new car for her could be my Mazda, so a no cost solution there. Which means i got the Subaru back.

 

The thought i had was that the Subaru was too nice to beat to death too. So i was going to clean it up and sell it, buying myself a $500 s10 4x4 for work. Something i could beat to death and not feel bad about. I figured the Subaru. With 172k on it, would be worth about 3500, and i could turn a profit.

 

So i started driving it a couple of weeks ago for work while i cleaned it up and looked for an s10.

 

I realized a few things pretty quickly.

1.There are no longer $500 s10 4x4’s worth buying.

2.My wife had pretty much beaten this thing to within an inch of its life.

3.I felt bad for my Mazda now that my wife and daughter are using it.

4.There was no way in hell this car is worth 3500.

5.Id rather dance with the devil i know than the devil i don't.

 

So i decided that id just use the Subaru for work. No guilt in beating a dead horse. And it fits the bill (for the most part) that my work car needs to fill.

 

I know most guys like pictures, so ill start with some. This is AFTER cleaning up its as delivered to me state. I swear, ive seen meth labs in better shape and cleaner. Absofrigginlutely TRASHED.

 

2002 legacy 2.5gt wagon with an auto, stone stock except for the head unit. 172k on the odometer.

 

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g108/dusterbd13/subaru/20160201_161344_zpspnxhihcu.jpg

 

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g108/dusterbd13/subaru/20160201_161339_zpsme5tttjy.jpg

 

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g108/dusterbd13/subaru/20160201_161415_zpsz4ylpmsf.jpg

 

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g108/dusterbd13/subaru/20160201_161421_zpsge8rdcee.jpg

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g108/dusterbd13/subaru/20160201_161531_zps8octr3ts.jpg

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g108/dusterbd13/subaru/20160201_161547_zpsigc5a08p.jpg

 

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g108/dusterbd13/subaru/20160201_161550_zpswastotp0.jpg

 

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g108/dusterbd13/subaru/20160201_161354_zpsmubi9g5g.jpg

 

So what i received was a car that was tagged on ever panel in some fashion, with a trashed interior, and some neglect from my wife never telling me it needed anything. Found that the headlights were useless, one speaker worked, head gaskets leaking externally, needs ALL fluids flushed, tires on wear bars, was not inspected, interior mangled beyond repair, rear sway bar end like broken, needs brakes, driver side CV boots split, steering rack boots torn, and in need of a tune up.

 

That's still a hell of a lot better than any $500 s10 i could buy. And probably less work and money.

 

The first week i drove the car about 600 miles. I didn't hate it. Except for the seat. I hate that.

 

I was also on the forums and craigslist to start addressing issues. Biggest for me to start with is safety. That's brakes, folks. And tires.

 

Fresh falkens on all 4 corners. $405 mounted and balanced.

 

Fresh rotors and performance friction pads on the front. Right at $100.

 

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g108/dusterbd13/subaru/20160205_155431_zpsuuhvgrno.jpg

 

The tires are fantastic. Love them. The brakes arent that great yet, but i believe they are just taking forever to bed in. I've used these same pads and rotors on other cars (the p5 for example) and have always loved them. Still need to do a full brake fluid flush, and check the flex lines for signs of swelling under pressure. Just to be certain.

While at a training in Winston Salem, i got an alert that pull-a-part had just gotten a baja in. I jumped in the car and booked it down there with a quickness, as i wanted to pillage everything from it i could.

 

Someone beat me there.

 

All i managed to get were the aluminum colored window switches. The rest of the interior was junk, and the seats were already gone. But down the way was a 2000 Brighton sedan. So i grabbed the non-wood grain dash pieces and grille. Also scored some kenwood 6.5 from an acura. Grand total for the trip was 71.

 

In the parking lot of the junkyard, i surfed craigslist on the smart phone. Found a guy parting an outback sedan up towards asheville. Called him, told him i wanted the whole interior. Everything from the paint job in. He informed me that a guy was getting the seated power leather seats as he was talking to me, but the rest of it could be mine for 100. Sold!! Minty leather door panels, usable carpet, mint leather steering wheel, and everything else, including some pretty fubar headlights.

 

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g108/dusterbd13/subaru/20160130_205232_zpsmxrlwplc.jpg

 

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g108/dusterbd13/subaru/20160130_205258_zpsigievg9m.jpg

 

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g108/dusterbd13/subaru/20160130_205344_zpsopozillp.jpg

 

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g108/dusterbd13/subaru/20160130_205809_zpsonsfy3lk.jpg

 

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g108/dusterbd13/subaru/20160130_210126_zpszqcbdy2m.jpg

 

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g108/dusterbd13/subaru/20160130_210321_zpswty5wf7b.jpg

 

Also in these pictures are new rear sway bar bushings and endlinks, as well as a turbo baja 17mm rear sway bar. And a power seat switch (seat wont move forward anymore with the switch) that was 171 at the dealer.

 

First order of business upon getting home was to swap the mangled wheel for the new one. Not hard. I did change over the cruise switch and horn stuff, as the parts car had the airbag blown. But, huge improvement.

 

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g108/dusterbd13/subaru/20160129_133907_zpspnvgi0yw.jpg

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g108/dusterbd13/subaru/20160201_150522_zpsh6pu8emq.jpg

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g108/dusterbd13/subaru/20160201_150518_zps8iyzoqy9.jpg

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g108/dusterbd13/subaru/20160201_150525_zpsc3jczjjj.jpg

 

Best money ive spent on the car yet.

 

This past weekend, i got a few minutes to swap the front speakers to the “new” kenwooods. Well, it snowballed.

 

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g108/dusterbd13/subaru/20160206_105805_zpsct9svwuw.jpg

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g108/dusterbd13/subaru/20160206_105850_zpsj2j6hzu9.jpg

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g108/dusterbd13/subaru/20160206_105858_zpsfjgesefd.jpg

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g108/dusterbd13/subaru/20160206_111310_zpswkdzpztk.jpg

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g108/dusterbd13/subaru/20160206_121449_zpsec5jwam2.jpg

 

So much better than blown speakers and busted door panels. Should have dynamatted the doors and lubed all the guts while i had it apart, but apparently im not that bright. Ill have to yank the panels and do that another day. Probably when i do the rear speakers.

Up next was the miserable headlights (and where im at today). The problem is three-fold:

1.My night vision is worse than Steevie Wonders.

2.The headlight lenses are so far gone its not even funny.

3.The bulb wattage and beam pattern blow goats.

 

The easy solution is to go HID. Now, having done the HID conversions in normal halogen housings, i know the downsides to this for both myself and other drivers. They are bad news. So this time, i wanted to go full on bi-xenon hid retrofit. But im cheap.

 

$46 later, i had ordered the $20 h1 projectors from the retrofit source, $10 gatling shrouds, $10 5000k h1 xentec bulbs.

 

I have never done this before.

 

So i practiced on the junk housing with good lenses i got from the interior donor.

 

First step was to strip everything that wasnt housing or lens (including the screws that hold the two together) and toss them in my wifes oven. 250 for 12 minutes (she came home as i was on the second housing. That was an interesting explanation....)

 

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g108/dusterbd13/subaru/20160207_122416_zpsiyjvprjg.jpg

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g108/dusterbd13/subaru/20160207_122411_zpsgjufhs0h.jpg

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g108/dusterbd13/subaru/20160207_122407_zpsxef5iszo.jpg

 

I then proceeded to make it up as i went. Used a unibit to bore the halogen low beam hole out to where the stud for the projector would fit through, and milled the extra crap off the back with a dremel so the nut and washer could sit flat.

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g108/dusterbd13/subaru/20160208_155225_zpsuhpzcc3a.jpg

 

Tossed the shroud on, hooked it up to a spare ballast and my cordless drill battery and tried it out.

 

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g108/dusterbd13/subaru/20160208_155221_zpsmbe6n6lj.jpg

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g108/dusterbd13/subaru/20160208_155114_zps2vin6bs8.jpg

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g108/dusterbd13/subaru/20160208_155158_zpsocejefik.jpg

 

Yeah, that should work. Now to get a free full day to do it to good housings. Not nearly as hard as i expected. Ill be using these parts i bought, the good lenses, and my good housings. Factory high beam coupled with the bi-xenon high beam once i figure out the wiring.

 

 

So, that's where were at on the project. Already done 2000 miles since taking this car on. I've got a long way to go to get it caught up on maintenance and repair though.

Nice work! And welcome to LegacyGT.com!

I just listened to an episode of Car Talk in which they were going on how many women treat cars like this. A guy I worked with has 3 daughters that drive and his wife they all had the same opinion of cars and treated them like this, to top it off he was anal about his vehicles.

 

I feel for ya, good going on the renovation.

 

The side sill cover damage is amazing to me.

I don't get it either. I guess it's just us having mechanical empathy vs them looking at it like an appliance to be used up and replaced.

 

Or a different set of values.

 

Or different priority sets.

 

I dunno. If I think too long and hard, my brain starts to hurt. So I just file it under it is what it is.

 

But I'm looking forward to seeing how it all turns out with this thing.

I think it's different priorities.

 

The Baja brings back memories, I worked maintenance on the line from start to finish, from Japan for the equipment buy off to the end of production.

Oh yeah, the Duster in the background looks nice. I had a plain Jane '70 with a 318. Fairly reliable, put over a hundred thousand miles on it.

Should I link to the build thread on it? Or the 64 elky?

 

Figured nobody would be interested in them, this being a subaru site and all.

 

The duster started out as a plane Jane 70 with a 318.

I noticed the '64 fender corner, I had a built '67 chevelle, had a lot fun with it. A high school buddy had a 340 Duster, it was impressive for stock. Wow thinking back we had a bunch of fun in what is now cool cars.

That projector headlight conversion is awesome! I'm just about to do that with my other car and hadn't seen anyone else do it with our Subarus. Bookmarking this page

Great to see some Subaru love I have a 96 legacy that just keeps going and going good luck

 

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

That projector headlight conversion is awesome! I'm just about to do that with my other car and hadn't seen anyone else do it with our Subarus. Bookmarking this page

 

google it. theres a few other guys that have done this as well. mine is not the only way, with the only parts. I also don't want people to copy it until I prove it works correctly and is durable.

That projector headlight conversion is awesome! I'm just about to do that with my other car and hadn't seen anyone else do it with our Subarus. Bookmarking this page

 

 

have a look at this thread, i have done these myself a few years back so if you need help let me know.

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/bi-xenon-hid-retrofit-3rd-gen-00-04-legacy-walkthrough-249471.html

o, small update.

 

Polished the headlights. I wanted to be able to compare a good set of stockers to the projector retrofit. The originals were so bad that I assumed there would be no saving them. I started with 120 grit and worked my way up to 3000 before two stages of rubbing compound. They actually turned out incredibly well. I also swapped in the legacy L grille. That didn't turn out so well.

 

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g108/dusterbd13/subaru/20160210_165010_zpsystwusec.jpg

 

Still going to try the HID vs restored stockers. I want to see a side by side comparison of them before I decide the route I want to go. These headlights no longer suck, so its not a major priority to get the projector swap done before I get killed.

 

The family and I took a trip to DC and back this weekend. For the long drive, I tried an experiment. At family dollar I found a memory foam mattress pad for 15 bucks. Its a bout an inch thick, and a very light density for memory foam. So I made a double layer and duct taped it to the seat. So, so much better. Needs a third layer and some more aggressive bolsters to be perfect. But I now have a battle plan there.

 

I also had the head gaskets get significantly worse on this trip. Like a quart of oil and coolant are hitting the ground in 300 miles. So today I ordered the felpro head gasket set from oreilleys, and decided that im also going to order the timing set with next pay day. Ill do a full tune up, fluid changes, and that pesky cv axle/rack boots at the same time.

 

Lastly, I put the legacy L dash trim in. I like it better than the woodgrain, but think im going to plastidip it black so it may match the interior better.

 

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g108/dusterbd13/subaru/20160210_171114_zpsbrfobxwv.jpg

So when we left off last time, I had polished headlights, aggressive leaks, broken rear sway bar, parts strewn around, and about 174k on the clock.

 

Well, heres where ive been at.

 

First up is the leak: not all the head gaskets fault. Somehow the oil filter loosened up. Either the gasket shrank, I didn't put it on tight enough at the last oil change, or the magnetic field of the earth rotated perfectly around the canister. I don't know. But one full turn, and oil consumption back to normal. Which buys me some time, hopefully until I get the duster back on the road so I have something else to drive while I yank the engine out of this. Or summer, when I can steal my mazda back from the wife while her and the munchkin are out of school

 

But, this is a build thread, so lets get on to some building.

 

As with all builds, some wins, some losses, and some smacking yourself in the head while saying “aw, shit!”

 

First head smacking win came with the headlight conversion. Its done. 55 watt 5000k bulbs and ballasts, relay harness, all sank into a factory housing. Looks pretty good. Unfortunately, due to the head smack, they don't work right. You see, when I mocked them up, I didn't reseal the housings. Which left an extra ~1/2 inch or so between the projector lens and factory clear lens.

 

This 1/2 inch doesn't actually exist. If anything, you're a few thousandths shy of things working properly. When resealed, and I went to do adjustment against the back wall of lowes, I found that the projector bulbs slightly touch the lens in one spot, making the factory adjusters useless. I may have stripped them before figuring it out. Im not sure. The headlights were aimed way too low, which should have sent a red flag for me. But, in the interest of needing the car to go to work the next morning, I shimmed the whole housing up with some 1/4 washers under the lower inner bolt and longer bolts. The aim still sucks, the pattern is suffering, and they are worse than the halogens. Hopefully the 60 hour workweeks will be done soon, and ill be able to redo the install. But, in the interest of providing educational proof of don't be a dumb-ass, measure, heres what they look like.

 

You'll also note that I discarded the orange reflectors that were glued to the lenses. This was an accident on the first one, and intentional on the second. I like the looks, and will find some clear/orange bulbs to put in there at some point.

 

 

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g108/dusterbd13/subaru/20160304_200111_zps5bzgn8u2.jpg

 

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g108/dusterbd13/subaru/20160304_200113_zpsoginohxi.jpg

 

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g108/dusterbd13/subaru/20160304_200117_zpsr3sv4fgg.jpg

 

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g108/dusterbd13/subaru/20160304_200136_zpsv6gvvw6c.jpg

 

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g108/dusterbd13/subaru/20160304_200139_zpsyxm77f4m.jpg

 

Next is the cold air intake curtsy of lowes racing products. Its some fernco fittings, a pair of 45 street elbows, and about a foot of 2 inch pipe. The original flex coupler was shot, as well as the rubber isolation mounts on the stock setup. I figured id try this. Nice noises, maybe a little more power at lower rpms, possible a little more throttle response, and no MPG change. Still averaging a low of 23 with AC on, and 25 mostly highway with ac off.

 

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g108/dusterbd13/subaru/20160304_200635_zpsz4piapoz.jpg

 

Next is rear sway bar. Its a 17mm off a baja turbo. I was told it would be a direct swap. Its not. You have to pull one of the cross-member reinforcement bracket bolts out, and kind of force it into place. It rubs and squeaks. But the turn in was a LOT better, and the car is more predictable overall than with the stocker. Much more better. Granted, a not broken sway bar would have also been much more better.

 

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g108/dusterbd13/subaru/20160221_143705_zpsjn3d3kwx.jpg

 

Lastly of the things I have pictures of: I tinted the car. I noticed the frequency of my migraines increasing, and was trying to think of what changed. Only thing I could think of was that this car wasn't tinted. All my others have been since it was recommended to me to try. So I did it, and I went back to my standard frequency. I went 35% on the front windows and rear glass, 20% on all the rest of the side glass. None on windshield, and 5% on the sunroofs. I will say that I accidently bought the static cling tint for the 20%. Not impressed, but it was non-returnable by the time I realized my mistake. So I used it. Well see how it holds up, but it is not nearly as clear as the normal tint. From the inside it looks like the windows are fogged. Cant see it from the outside. But don't buy this stuff.

 

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g108/dusterbd13/subaru/20160306_173737_zpssxlvbu6h.jpg

 

That brings us up to today. No pictures from today.

 

I found when getting tires rotated that my passengers side tie rods had a bunch of play. This coincided with vibrations in the wheel at highway speeds, and VIOLENT vibrations under light braking. No vibrations under heavy. So I swapped in some import direct inner and outer tie rod ends on that side, as well as a masterpro rack boot and went for a drive. The vibrations are drastically reduced to the point of almost not being there. Still some though, and I checked everything else on the front end out. I found excessive movement in the rearmost bushing in the front lower control arms, as well as seriously degraded rack bushings. Suggestions on this front are encouraged. What should I buy, and from who, and why? Anything I may be missing?

 

Up next is installing the alpine components I found in pull a part last week ($12!) and rebuilding the drivers seat before I can no longer walk.

 

 

Oh, 178k as of the way to church this morning.

Michael

Second on where to get good rack bushings and the rear lca bushings looking to replace mine this week as well when I reboot it. And don't want to go full urethane like all the aftermarket ones i see recommended.

Can't really help. I'm going urethane on the rack. Still up in the air on the lca bushings.

Where'd you get the urethane fronts from?

I too been debating and think am just going with the amazon one for $22 over the $90 oem.

amazon for 22?? care to share the link? I haven't orderd whitelines yet, and id really like to save 80 bucks.

Legacy GT L Base

 

Right... https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00DMA76D4/ref=ox_sc_act_image_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A6JK0PO3GJYXY

 

Left... https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00DMA73XW/ref=pd_aw_fbt_263_img_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=0DAQQBS512CQRKNXBA0X

 

Outbacks

 

Right.... https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00DMA6AE0/ref=ox_sc_act_image_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A6JK0PO3GJYXY

 

Left.... https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00DMA6AE0/ref=ox_sc_act_image_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A6JK0PO3GJYXY