Fixing up a cheap '93 Legacy Wagon in Oregon

I did post a new member message in the welcome area but thought here is where I should post what I have been up to.

So I bought a '93 Legacy wagon that had the crank pulley, A/C and alt belts and the crank bolt in a box. Before buying it I had read here about the crank bolt not being tightened enough after a new timing belt or whatever it was removed for, and causing this damage.

I did get lucky and a piece of the Woodruff key did hold the TB sprocket in place, so all I did was clean up the crank, use some JB weld to fill in the tore up key way slot, put in a new Woodruff key and a used pulley and this thing started up. Did not even take the covers off the front of the engine. Well thats the short story.

I would like to try and tow it behind my "Classic" Winnebago that I also paid $300 for about 7 years ago. You can see my Blog at http://the-handier-man.blogspot.com to see how that turned out. At least this Subaru is smaller and lighter than the motor home to work on.

About 400 miles on this wagon so far and I really like it. Never drove a Subaru before this one. The price was right, and with all the help I get from this site, oh yea there are a couple of ones in a wreaking yard close by, things should work out OK.

Hey, congratulations man I'm glad it's running good

for you!

It seems to be running good, but I still have a CEL on from the Purge Solenoid. It doesn't come on every time I start the engine. I have read the forums about removing the Solenoid and installing a resistor, but will wait and see if I can get this one to work all the time.

Took the wheels off, rotated the tires and looked at the brakes. The rear ones could use some work. The rotors had a small area being used and most of the rotor was covered with rust. Now if the weather would warm up I would dig into the brakes.

Oh this Purge solenoid.................. Yes I have been trying resistors. Some small ones, 35 Ohms, some large ones up to 200 Ohms and the CEL comes on every time I start the engine.

I have read posts on these resistors being 1/4 watt up to 10 watt and understand enough about resistors, and even that some of the older cars used different values but has anyone here fixed a CEL on a '93 Legacy 2.2 with one?????

With my old Purge Solenoid connected I only got the CEL some of the time and it measured over 600 ohms.

just change the solenoid

heres the stock location

http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa474/sqc151/93%20SS%20turbo/photobucket-4732-1323135264778.jpg

i relocated the purge valve to the top of the intake manifold for easier access next time.

http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa474/sqc151/93%20SS%20turbo/photobucket-4772-1323135265301.jpg

I stopped by the local wrecking yard and found a purge solenoid that was not bolted down, and it had the newer part number on it, checked the resistance and it was around 40 Ohms. This should work but after plugging it in I still have the CEL and a code 35. The wiring under the hood seems good, with power to the solenoid when the engine is running, and the other wire from the solenoid is good to the connector by the battery. So the next step is to check the wiring from the connector to the ECU.

Anyone have other ideas?

I have now put around 600 miles on the car and it runs great.

Here is some of the info I have collected about towing my car.

My '93 Legacy has the 5MT. I also put info on my Blog .

Can I tow my Subaru Wagon?

One of the reasons I bought my wagon was to tow it. So can it be towed? Here is the info I used to make that decision.

Remco towing info

Even Subaru said this

And some brackets to use. I plan to make some like these

http://www.roadmaster-tow-bars.com/mounting-brackets/roadmaster-classic-tow-bar-mounting-bracket-906-1

And mounting instructions

instructions

i never understood why people tow there car like this. towing this way puts unnecessary mileage on a car that is not beeing driven. atleast get a the front wheels off the ground and pull the driveshaft. saves mileage on the car and removing the driveshaft is 4 little bolts and it slides out. same thing going in. slide it in, bolt it up.

just my .02 cents.

thehandierman, thanks for the links. The remco link doesn't go directly to a subie page so I didn't bother entering the make, model, etc.

My dad has a 90's Winnebago, but they tow a Geo Tracker (bleck) w/one of those thingies that pushes on the brake pedal of the tracker when the Winnebago brakes. Its kind of a crap car, but I drove it for a few days and it was all right I guess. But it is a lot lighter than your subie, so less gas and wear and tear on the Winnebago.

Do you want to tow a subie because you like subies, or because you got it so cheap? You could always get a cheap first gen sedan that would weigh a little less. I'm not knocking your choice. I'm just curious. First gen wagons are super cool. You could always swap your subie engine into a VW bug which would go along with your RC planes!

i never understood why people tow there car like this. towing this way puts unnecessary mileage on a car that is not beeing driven. at least get a the front wheels off the ground and pull the driveshaft. saves mileage on the car and removing the driveshaft is 4 little bolts and it slides out. same thing going in. slide it in, bolt it up.

 

just my .02 cents.

Most people using a motor home are lazy, me included. Even though the idea of getting a tow dolly, driving up on it, strapping the car down, getting under and disconnecting the drive shaft sounds like fun, I would not want to do it every day or two. We don't drive across the country and then stop for a week.

Then if you ever take a wrong turn down a street, that you can't turn around on without backing up, the fun starts all over, including moving the dolly around.

And the thought of a trailer to haul the whole car on would sound better than that.

That's my reason to flat tow. It's easier.

My dad has a 90's Winnebago, but they tow a Geo Tracker (bleck) w/one of those thingies that pushes on the brake pedal of the tracker when the Winnebago brakes. Its kind of a crap car, but I drove it for a few days and it was all right I guess. But it is a lot lighter than your subie, so less gas and wear and tear on the Winnebago.

 

Do you want to tow a subie because you like subies, or because you got it so cheap? You could always get a cheap first gen sedan that would weigh a little less. I'm not knocking your choice. I'm just curious. First gen wagons are super cool. You could always swap your subie engine into a VW bug which would go along with your RC planes!

Why would I want to tow my wagon?

There are some smaller, lighter cars out there to tow, but as I get older the idea of more protection from the other cars or trucks sounds good. I did think about getting a '73 VW bug to tow behind my '73 MH but was scared everytime I drove one.

Then the airplane thing made a wagon my choice. I looked at some Toyotas and Hondas but they were too much money. So the Subaru found me, and so cheap too.

I never even drove a Subaru before this one, and my planes fit in just fine. The largest plane has a 2 meter wing, thats 78" for us americans. Try that in a VW bug.

So that's my reason to get the Wagon and tow it.

Awesome! You are a pretty good RC pilot from what I have seen. First gen subies are awesome too. And 2 meters is more like 79" if you round up. lol.

The safety thing is a good consideration. If I ever see your Winnebago towing a subie I'll know who it is.

Awesome! You are a pretty good RC pilot from what I have seen. First gen subies are awesome too. And 2 meters is more like 79" if you round up. lol.

 

The safety thing is a good consideration. If I ever see your Winnebago towing a subie I'll know who it is.

Thanks for the metric conversion info. Working from memory I think of 1 meter as 39" not 39.3700787 inches . Did I mention I suffer from CRS.

You should pull the winnebago with the car !!

I think the Bago is to heavy to tow with the wagon, so how about pushing. I never read anything in the owners manual about pushing limits, lol.

Looks like steering bellows (boots) replacement are next on my list of things to do. The old ones are torn up but the rack seals seem to be OK and the inner tie rods feel good, so it's new covers for now. I bought some cheap ones on Ebay.

Anyone have a suggestions for the cleaning and re-greasing of the inner tie rods? I think just wipe the old grease off and apply new wheel bearing grease?

Then to try my hand at a DIY alignment of the front end. Just checking the toe adjustment.

That's all I did. I freakin wiped the living crap out of them

til I didnt see any old grease or any more dirt and just packed

them full of grease. Wiggle it around and use more grease...do

it til it's running at the seams and then throw that stupid boot

over it. It was a flippin pain when I did it. The boot I bought was

so tight I could barely get it back there. I had to heat up a punch

with a torch and shove it in the small side til it expanded without

cooking the rubber and hurry it over while it was still pliable and hot.

Then the back side...that was terrible. Took me like an hour to slip it

over and then I just zip tied it with one of the big 3' zip tie from Harbor

Freight. The 10 for $2 ones. It's been fine for well over a year now

I hope yours goes smoothly though!

Took me like an hour to slip it

over and then I just zip tied it with one of the big 3' zip tie from Harbor

Freight. The 10 for $2 ones. It's been fine for well over a year now

I hope yours goes smoothly though!

Thanks for the info but I am having trouble finding the 3' zip ties, lol.

My boots came with metal cable ties so I am good there.

I did decide to work on the rear brakes today. Bought some cheap rotors to put on, but they will come in tomorrow. I have pictures on my BLOG.

Well, they're actually only 2' but here they are.

I never did like the metal ones personally.

I tend to

http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u306/bradreedjeeper/a4d38d62.jpg

The rear brakes turned out great. I did a write up on my BLOG with pictures, but one thing that was also needing adjusting was the Hill Holder. My brakes would lock up if I was backing up and hit the brakes, even on a level parking lot. Then they would not release until the clutch was let out past where it engaged. It was like really working the drive train to get going.

I found it easier to adjust the HH by removing the spring from the HH, and that lets the cable pull out of the clutch fork some below where the clutch cable attach's. That let me put an 8 MM deep socket over the end of the cable, then with a 14 MM open end wrench hold the other nut to loosen it.

That really made a difference of when the HH releases the brakes. And it looks like you need the HH hooked up to hold the clutch throw out bearing back from the clutch fingers to keep it from turning and wearing out faster.

Dang...that sucks. But you got it to function properly?

I cant remember exactly how it works. It holds the

brakes gently for you during rollback from when you

engage the clutch or something?

Yes I did get the HH working good now.

The way it should work is if you stop while going up a hill, you push the clutch peddle in, stepping on the brake, take foot off the brake to step on the gas and the brakes are automatically holding you from rolling back down the hill. Neat huh .

And as you let the clutch out to take off again the brakes release as the clutch engages, double neat.:)

Now a question about the rack bellows, and I haven't tried this yet but.....

Instead of removing the outer tie rods, can I just unscrew the inner tie rods from the outer tie rods and slip the new bellows on???? This would be done just to keep from removing the outer tie rods from the steering knuckle.

Just asking if this will save me from getting a tie rod puller or save damage to the tie rod?