'95 legacy wagon help

Hi, I'm new to the site, new to the world of Subaru, and technically, new to the world of driving.

I'm 16 and I got my license a couple of months ago, and I've been stashing money from my summer job for months in order to buy a car. Last sunday I put a $100 down payment on this Legacy L Wagon, and I go to get it this next Monday. I plan to change the oil, oil filter, and air filter the day I get it home. Now, I know this isn't a Legacy GT, but I was hoping that we all could kind of look past that since I'm 16, and there is no way I could afford a GT, or the insurance for it. So, my question is, What all should I look over on this car? I know that Subies are rust magnets, and I also know of some problem areas that already exist on my own Subaru, I was just wondering if there is anything else I should look over, like any major problem areas that these cars were know to have and what not.

I'm almost positive that it has the 2.2L engine, but the previous owner said that they put a rebuilt engine in 60k miles ago, so I can't be sure. It's a manual transmission, and it seemed to shift pretty well when I took it for a test drive. Steering and suspension seemed pretty tight for a car 14 years old and 225k miles.

Also, where can I get a whole new headlight assembly? One of them is cracked, and they're both yellowed from being so old. I really like the headlights that are on sybir's outback (see picture below) Anybody know which ones they are and where I could get them?

I appreciate any and all help, and I plan to be an active member on this forum. Thanks!

Sybir bought an expensive set of Morette headlights. I don't think they are still making these for the 2nd generation Legacys. From time to time someone offers a set up for sale, and they do sell for ~ 300.00+ even if used.

You can use a mild polishing compound to remove some of the yellowing and light scratches on your headlights. Many aftermarket autopart stores sell such a compound specifically for your plastic headlights and this is a much cheaper option than a set of Morettes.

While Subarus built in the 60ies, 70ies, and 80ies certainly were "rust magnets" this is no longer the case. Your Subaru wagon is highly rust resistant. That being said on a twelve year old car that has been exposed to road salts, there are a few vulnerable spots. Check the rocker panels and the space behind the rear bumper where it meets the rear fender wheel arches.

One of the first things I would do, if I were you would be to lube all the door hinges (preferably with an aerosol white lithium spray grease). On older cars many people forget this simple step.

Also check out your coolant. Is it clean ? Maybe spring for one of those testor things with the little balls that float to let you know what temperatures your coolant will take with out freezing ? Getting the coolant properly flushed, if it needs it might not be a bad idea.

Do you have good service history on the car ? You might want to set up an account on My Subaru.com that will let you view all subaru dealer work performed on your car, and the site will suggest certain key things that might need doing.

Your transmission, and rear differential fluids if they have not been done recently might be in need of a simple drain and re-fill. Also you might be due for a timing belt service.. Since changing the timing belt involves taking much of the front part of the motor apart, if and when it is time to change the timing belt, it is also a very good idea to replace the water pump, the cam seals, the pullys, the thermostat, and all the belts and hoses that might wear out at some point. It is a lot easier to change these things when the front of the motor has been removed than waiting for these things to fail as well.

After a while, if the car checks out mechanically, and you are confident you want to keep it, you might want to look at some basic low-cost suspension pieces that will make your "L" wagon handle like a "GT".

Thanks a bunch, I'll be sure to look over as much of that as I can when I bring it home on Monday. I'll be sure to lube the hinges, I've actually never heard of doing that, so I'm glad you mentioned that. I'm not sure what the service history is on the car. I have that on a list of questions that I plan to ask the owner when I go to have the taxes, tags, and title done on Monday. I appreciate you taking the time to go over all of that.

I've done some research on those morettes, and they seem to be all but extinct, so I guess I'll go with something else, and if I ever see a set of them down the road, I get them then. One of my headlights is cracked, and when I say cracked, I mean destroyed, so at least one needs to be replaced, and if I'm going to do one, I'm going to do both. Are there any other head light assemblies that you know of that look nicer than stock, are well made, and won't cost me an arm and a leg? Also, where should I go to price out suspensions? Are there any good online stores, or should I go to my local pep-boys?

rather than going full retail prices, it makes more sense to go after someone elses used parts. An Outback rear anti-sway-bar, a nice set of Subaru 16" tyres and 5x100 rims. Maybe struts, springs you will want to get new.

For now just tape up the cracked headlight lens, look out for a CHEAP junk yard 95-96 ONE PIECE headlight assembly. If you polish up both sets they will both look like new.. no need to purchase these in pairs.

We don't care that you don't own a GT... I don't own a GT, and there are many other members without the GT option that get along just fine here. http://www.LegacyGT.com just kinda sounds better than http://www.Legacy25i.com or http://www.LegacyL.com, you know what I mean?

Anyway, congrats on your purchase! I for one am glad you got a 2.2L engine, since it has a closed deck and is far less likely to go through head gaskets every 75-100K miles. If you have any questions feel free to ask!

I for one am glad you got a 2.2L engine, since it has a closed deck and is far less likely to go through head gaskets every 75-100K miles.

Thanks Jonathan & Platinum. I have off work this next Saturday, and I plan to use that day to drive out to a salvage yard and look around for a new headlight, a rear anti-sway bar, and an outback hood and bumper. Hopefully I'll find what I'm looking for... anything else that I should try to pick out while I'm there?

Edit: Also, how hard is it to pull a sway bar off an outback, and put it on mine? Is that something that I could do by myself at home? and along with that, if I do find one and bring it home, will it just fit right onto mine? Is the suspension on any outback from that generation the same as the one on my legacy, or is there any specific year(s) that I have to look for?

Glad you like her! Keep her well maintained and treat her nice and that 2.2 motor will last you past 230K miles.

Of course, treat her nice doesn't quite mean you need to drive it like a grandma, but it doesn't mean you can drive it like you stole it either. Drive it like a Subaru and you'll be fine...

Looks good though, less rust than mine at least. You should get some pics and post them on the site. If you don't have anywhere to host them you can always create a vBGarage by clicking the vBGarage at the top of the page....

Yeah, I found a nice place, last week, where I want to take her to take some pictures. I'll do that either Tuesday or Thursday. (Wednesday I have a Driver's Ed Class after work... oh joy) When I took her out for a spin today I got out on the highway and she seemed to drive fine at 65-70 mph, but when I started getting past 70 and nearing 75 the revs really started getting high and all and I was afraid to push her anymore. Is it normal for a 2.2 to only get up to around there? What all can I do to get some more power out my engine so that I can get up to some higher speeds? I'm not talking about zipping around at 100+ mph, but it would be nice to be able to stomp on it while I'm on the interstate so I can pass those freight-liners. At this point it seems like the engine would blow on me if I pushed it all the way to 80 and kept it there for any length of time.

Edit: I plan to put a tow bar on her in the future to pull a little trailer I have, for carrying camping stuff and the like, and I would definitely need an extra little boost in engine power to be able to tote that around...

I've read that you can put the cams from a 2.5 onto a 2.2 and it can increase your bhp to about 180, but that seems a little bit too good to be true...

Oh you just hit the motherlode.....

MSD ignition swap with some nice spark plugs and wires aren't a bad idea. A lightweight crank pulley would improve throttle response slightly. A cold air intake would make it sound a little more throaty. All I have for performance mods is a short ram intake... Basiclly just a custom MAF bracket with a $25 cone air filter from Autozone. Doesn't really increase performance all that much but it makes it sound cool without the possibility of getting pulled over. Our cars have the same engine, if you want I'll take some clips of driving around, but keep in mind I have a small leak in my exhaust at the header gaskets, so that will make it sound a little loud too. These mods won't increase HP by any great amount, probably 10 horses MAXIMUM, but the cold air intake will also raise the torque and horsepower to a higher RPM level slightly.

For now I'd say do the oil change, change the spark plugs and wires with decent quality ones (Be careful of Autozone wires, they suck and they'll probably try to sell you the wrong ones. It happened to me). After that flush the tranny and put in a new tranny filter. If the guy is true to his word and you do have a rebuilt motor, remember to do a timing belt in 40K more miles. I hope he replaced the clutch too, or you might have to do that soon. Radiator flush couldn't hurt, neither could a differential flush. The diffs take GL-5 fluid. I used 90 weight in mine just so the seals won't leak anytime soon.

I've put over $1,300 worth of new parts in my Legacy, some needed to be replaced, others were replaced as a precaution, but what I'm looking at doing in the future are rebuilt fuel injectors (The ones on the right cylinder bank are a littly noisy), OEM headers (One might be cracked) with a new catalytic converter, new O2 sensors,and a few other parts here and there.

And I think your car should be able to go WAY faster than 75 if you wanted it to. Fastest I've had my 92 2.2L was 115 MPH, and that's with an auto tranny. She didn't really want to go much faster than that but she probably would've hit 120 with a long enough stretch of road with no cops. It was getting a bit wild at that speed though, I mean she is 17 years old and all.

Yup, I'll never do that again! I just wanted to see what she could do.

As far as cams, you could do that, but I don't think you'll be getting 180 horses. I mean, the EJ25 has 170HP in the 2010 Legacy, why would a 14 year old EJ22 get 180 horses with EJ25 cams. Probably somewhere in the range of 150 horsepower on a good, clean running motor with good compression. If you wanted to go that route might as well get some aggressive cams and make that motor lope like a dragster. It would throw the power curve off a little bit on stock internals, but you'd still have more power up high on the RPM band. I can tell you how to build one of these engines from the bottom up and make it bullet proof, but without thousands and thousands of dollars to spend there's really no point. It's just something I've been dreaming about for some time now.

Sure, I'd like to hear some clips of your engine. I do like the nice purr of my engine, and I'm not going for anything that sounds like all these crap ass ricers that we have around town, especially this crappy little Honda Del-Sol running around. Sound like he just cut off his whole exhaust and decided that sounded cool. Well I'll get on that oil change, and also on those spark plugs and wires. For now I think I'm just gonna keep the engine the way it is (for the most part). The body needs some looking after if I want to pass inspection this February. I took her out today by myself (my dad was with me yesterday) and she seemed to accelerate better, and I got her up to 80 as well, but I stopped there cause I didn't want to really push her, but I bet she could get up to 100;). My dad weighs around 260 lbs and I weigh a little over 200, so it is a bit of weight for the Subie to be hauling around. Here are some pictures that I took today:

The bumper stick came with the car, along with about 6 others. I got all of them off, except for that "don't postpone joy" one. It keeps coming off in little pieces, and I didn't have the patience to sit there and finish it, so I'll do it later.

Here is some of the rusty spots...

If I ever get around to pulling the whole engine and taking it apart, I'll be sure to give you a call for some advice, but I don't see myself doing that for some time. Also, I have a question. I keep hearing people say "that'll be a nice sleeper" or something along those lines... what exactly is a sleeper?

I'm thinking a new door and some Bondo for that dogleg. You should cut out the damaged section on the dogleg and rivet or weld in some sheet metal in it's place. Some Bondo and sanding and you'll never know it's not Subaru sheet metal. The door looks like a lost cause. You could fix it, but you'd be better off buying a new door. New belts couldn't hurt on that motor either.

One more optional request..... Get rid of the "Don't Postpone JOY" sticker.... :lol:

Unless you like it, to each his own.

Other than that rust she looks pretty clean. I'd say the bodywork should take no longer than 2 hours including installing a new door.

Yeah, the bumper sticker and the dealer sticker are both coming off. There were a bunch of other bumper stickers and window stickers on the car that I already removed. That "Don't Postpone JOY" sticker kept coming off in little pieces, and I just got tired of messing around with it, so I decided to work on it again another time. I'm going to see if I can't find a door at the salvage yard when I go on Saturday. At least my plan is to go on Saturday. With my luck, I'll get called in to work mandatory overtime...

Also, another engine performance question... Do these engines work well with Turbos or are they N/A? If I found a turbo on the engine of a car at the salvage yard would I be able to pull it off and put it on mine? Were there any Subaru models that came standard with a turbo that would fit mine?

They did make a turbo 2.2L engine, but not in that year. The engine in your car is an EJ22, the turbo version is the EJ22T. They are similar engines, but the EJ22T had a lower compression ratio, a fully closed upper deck, different ECU, and several other changes. The EJ22T was only available in phase 1 form, from 1990-1994. The best way to accomplish the task of turbocharging the car would be an engine swap with an EJ22T closed deck engine, but this could be difficult since the EJ22T was made in 1994, one year before Subaru switched to the now standardized OBDII system. Law requires that any vehicle equipped with OBDII compliant electronic equipment must retain OBDII compliant equipment in the event of an engine/transmission swap, meaning the 1994 OBDI EJ22T engine would be an illegal swap into your OBDII car. The car might not pass inspection if the inspection station finds out about it (IE: Tries to plug the car into a code reader for some reason). You're car might even be the EJ22E, which really isn't all that different from the standard EJ22.

You could do it, but it would be taxing on the engine and driveline, moreso the driveline since the engine was rebuilt 60K miles ago and the transmission, differentials, and u joints are still 240K miles old. Power output from the phase 1 EJ22T was 163 HP

Nice pick-up! We don't care that it's an L, in fact I just picked an L because of their superior reliability over the DOHC equipped 2.5L. You're making me want a wagon

My recommendation on power mods: save your money for something that will actually be fast. Save, save, save. You're going to be pissed at yourself if your saving for your next car and could have a lot more money had you not put cams into your Subaru. It's a great car for what it is, but it is not a fast car.

One thing I would take care of is maintenance items. Are the drive belts cracked? When was the timing belt changed? How do the CV boots look/sound? There's plenty to take care of before you start modifying it for power and/or handling.

As for the headlights, I would look into wetsanding them. I have seen this done and it looks brand new when it's done. There are kits online if you Google it.

The first generation Legacy "Sport Sedans" used a special 2.2 liter closed deck engine block... these motors were seriously "over-built" for use as production car... In stock form I think the produced something like ~ 160 BHP but could be tuned easily for 2 or 3 times that power. These motors in stock form if taken car of would last ~ 400,000 miles with no problems.

While your motor is highly reliable, it was never built to take the stresses of the Turbo motor. Yes at one time several after-market suppliers did turbo and super-charger "kits" for your motor, installing them on such an older, high mileage motor isn't an especially wise thing to do.

You're making me want a wagon

Thats because you and I both know wagons offer the most practicality for only a few extra added pounds, plus, they just look damn cool.

My recommendation on power mods: save your money for something that will actually be fast. Save, save, save. You're going to be pissed at yourself if your saving for your next car and could have a lot more money had you not put cams into your Subaru.

Umm.... no:D

If anything, I'd save for a new motor and drop her in. Now that I'm thinking about it... that's just what I might do.

One thing I would take care of is maintenance items. Are the drive belts cracked? When was the timing belt changed? How do the CV boots look/sound? There's plenty to take care of before you start modifying it for power and/or handling.

drive belts are fine...

Timing belt was changed when a rebuilt motor was put in 60k miles ago. and I'll give you a little background on the engine swap while I'm at it... I just bought the car from a girl who just graduated from college. She drove the subie from her senior year in high school until her graduation day in college, which was when her parents gave her a new Honda Accord as a graduation gift. While she was in college, the engine blew, and her dad (who is a mechanic) bought a slightly used engine, rebuilt it from the ground up, and put it in the car. Now, I'll bet any money that he made sure everything was perfect with that motor for his daughter, and I would presume that would include the timing belt...

As for the headlights, I would look into wetsanding them. I have seen this done and it looks brand new when it's done. There are kits online if you Google it.

Yes, I went to pepboys, got some 2000 grit sandpaper for doing just that. and I also got a solution that I will have to buff on after wet sanding. Everything cost a little over $8.... Now I just have to get off my butt and do it...

 

While your motor is highly reliable, it was never built to take the stresses of the Turbo motor. Yes at one time several after-market suppliers did turbo and super-charger "kits" for your motor, installing them on such an older, high mileage motor isn't an especially wise thing to do.

My current motor only has 60K.... but what I think I'll do, rather than tune the 2.2, I'll just run it stock for now, fix up the body on my car, and eventually down the road (and I mean, waaaaay down the road) I'll get a WRX motor and tranny and drop it in the wagon....

You could turn the EJ22 into a WRX motor too, which would be way more reliable and way stronger. You can buy an EJ22 block that has the cylinders bored out and thick sleeves inserted that are the same size as the new STI cylinders. The new motors are decked, aligned, honed, and retrofitted with STI internals such a crankshaft, connecting rods, and pistons. Some nice ported/polished heads with oversize titanium valves and a 3 angle valve job bolted to a ported and polished intake manifold with cams and decent injectors with an MSD ignition on top and you're gonna be gold. The result? You get a 2.5L engine out of a 2.2L engine with thicker cylinder walls, high performance lightweight internals, closed upper deck, and a nasty rumble. Run NA and your car will last a loooong, looooooooooong time (300,000 miles quite possibly more. The first things to wear out would probably be the piston rings), run turbo and you can boost the bejesus out of it until you reach 4 or 500 horsepower, then just pay for new transmissions and driveshafts for the rest of the cars life and you'll be golden! This would be EXTREMELY expensive though...

You finally got a little taste of my pipe dream...

You could turn the EJ22 into a WRX motor too, which would be way more reliable and way stronger. You can buy an EJ22 block that has the cylinders bored out and thick sleeves inserted that are the same size as the new STI cylinders. The new motors are decked, aligned, honed, and retrofitted with STI internals such a crankshaft, connecting rods, and pistons. Some nice ported/polished heads with oversize titanium valves and a 3 angle valve job bolted to a ported and polished intake manifold with cams and decent injectors with an MSD ignition on top and you're gonna be gold. The result? You get a 2.5L engine out of a 2.2L engine with thicker cylinder walls, high performance lightweight internals, closed upper deck, and a nasty rumble. Run NA and your car will last a loooong, looooooooooong time (300,000 miles quite possibly more. The first things to wear out would probably be the piston rings), run turbo and you can boost the bejesus out of it until you reach 4 or 500 horsepower, then just pay for new transmissions and driveshafts for the rest of the cars life and you'll be golden! This would be EXTREMELY expensive though...

 

You finally got a little taste of my pipe dream...

Hmm... Well, that sounds like a plan... That would be the ultimate kick ass mobile:icon_mrgr. If you think about it, buying an engine like that, popping a turbo on it, and then paying for new transmissions and driveshafts every 200,000 and some odd miles would still probably be less expensive that buying a new car every 6-10 years like most people do, and over time, you would still have a more reliable car than anybody else who buys these crap cars with their computers and spiffy what-nots. On top of all that, an old Subaru is much easier to work on than any of these newer cars that are coming out that are engineered to make you be unable to do your own work, so that dealers can make money doing the work for you.

Hmm... I think what you said is exactly what I'll do, but first I need to fix the body so that the car is around long enough for me to be able to do all of this:lol:. I guess I better start saving money now!

Kinda. Unless you got some drag spec cv shafts from somewhere you'd probably be burning through shafts more often than every 200K miles. The tranny can be built up, but with that much power it might be more streetable to swap to a fully built 4EAT automatic tranny. A 5 speed would be sick, but you just might strip out gears on it with street use.

As for easier to work on... Spot on. Have you seen the brake bleeding procedure on the newer style Legacy's? They're a project all by themselves!

That's exactly how I see it too. I can finance a newer car for $300/ month, or just drop a rebuilt engine/transmission in the car every 6 or 7 months for the same price. $300/month, or $2100 in parts every 7 months. I don't know about you, but I've never had a car that went through $2100 every 7 months for 5 years straight.

So by this logic, $300/month for a decent used Legacy for 4 years, or way more than $300 a month for a new Legacy, or a couple hundred bucks in parts every so often to keep my clunker going. I'm happy with the clunker. Cars rarely ever appreciate in value, they're never worth as much as they were when they came off the lot (With a couple exceptions). Why would I buy a new car when I can slap parts in a used car and pay less money in insurance anyway? Besides, I don't have to worry about passing emissions anymore, all I have to worry about is making sure the car doesn't have any visible smoke out the exhaust, the tires and brakes are good, and the rust is covered and I'll keep on passing my inspections every year. I don't need a new car that bad (It would be nice), afterall, I have power windows and locks (Sometimes). Sure, AC would be nice, but even if I put a new AC compressor in the car and found somewhere to fill it up with R12 refrigerant I'd still save money over a single car payment, with all the same amenities of a newer car.

Not to mention if you bought a decent used car and financed it for four years, you'd still be paying the same amount in three years when that car starts to rust and have problems... So you'd still be paying the same amount of money to drive a car that's deteriorating. By the time you're all payed off you need new brakes, bodywork from surface rust, a timing belt, struts, and a bunch of other parts. I'd rather drive my $700 car into the ground and get another one...