98 Leggy Build

Hey guys. Bought my first legacy yesterday. But my girlfriend has had a 3rd gen outback for a few years now. I’ve owned a 98 forester and just sold my 2005 wrx. Picked this gal up real cheap and gonna post here to keep record of things I do and want to do.

My forester

My blobeye:

Now my Leggy:

Note I removed the stick shift know as it was super small in my hand and so worn down it was shiny and didn’t even have numbers on the shift pattern anymore.

After driving a wrx with a short shifter for so long. First thing to do to the Leggy was change out the stock shifter for my stock wrx (factory optioned short shifter)

You can see height differences immediately and the next picture shows how much higher the fulcrum point is in the wrx shifter

Surprisingly didn’t have to modify the metal plate for the shifter cutout in floor.

Couldn’t be seen rocking the Carter Subaru plate covers. So pulled this off the parts shelf.

Typical plastic headlights need work:

Before:

After:

Engine wise. Threw new spark plugs in. Changed all the coolant. New oil and filter. Air filter.

My white cat would make such a good shop cat haha:

Replaced the trans mount as it was shot. Likely need a new pitch mount also so I might just buy a Perrin one.

So all in all. Not too bad for a couple hours work. I also recharged the AC lines so we will see if leaks. But works for now. First day of ownership was a busy one.

I also have ordered some things that it’s missing. Like ash tray is gone. I also have some parts coming from Japan...........

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If you find your AC lines leaked all the freon, I have an awesome way to detect and find the leak without buying harmful stop leak or dye detector.

I have a set of cheap $50 Harbor Freight gauges and a $20 vacuum pump that connects to my air compressor. What I do is vacuum out the system so that it shows a good negative pressure. If you shut the valves and see the pressure neutralize to 0, you have a leak. I have an attachment that screws onto my feed line on my AC gauges and connects to my air compressor. If I detect a leak, I will close all my valves and connect my feed line to my air compressor and slowly add pressure on the low side until it reaches about 100 PSI (which is about the max the seals will hold). Open the valves enough to keep the pressure around 100 PSI. Take soap and water in a spray bottle and spray around the areas commonly known to leak. Spray around the compressor connections, near the dryer, where the lines go into the evaporator on the firewall. Look for bubbling. Once you found the bubbling you found your leak. I keep assorted o-rings on hand for repairs.

If you find your AC lines leaked all the freon, I have an awesome way to detect and find the leak without buying harmful stop leak or dye detector.

 

I have a set of cheap $50 Harbor Freight gauges and a $20 vacuum pump that connects to my air compressor. What I do is vacuum out the system so that it shows a good negative pressure. If you shut the valves and see the pressure neutralize to 0, you have a leak. I have an attachment that screws onto my feed line on my AC gauges and connects to my air compressor. If I detect a leak, I will close all my valves and connect my feed line to my air compressor and slowly add pressure on the low side until it reaches about 100 PSI (which is about the max the seals will hold). Open the valves enough to keep the pressure around 100 PSI. Take soap and water in a spray bottle and spray around the areas commonly known to leak. Spray around the compressor connections, near the dryer, where the lines go into the evaporator on the firewall. Look for bubbling. Once you found the bubbling you found your leak. I keep assorted o-rings on hand for repairs.

I bet its gonna be an o ring type leak if there is one. The previous owner bought the car at 30,000 miles and I am the third owner. He said he disconnected the AC because he didnt like artificial air in his car. Weirdo but it might just be fine. It worked immediately when I filled it. Time will tell

Audio upgrades.

Need a new shift boot badly. Anywhere to buy an oem styled one besides eBay?

New double din. Maybe wire my sub in the future.

Mic positioning:

To be continued. Still need to clean the human slime out of this thing. Lol

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

MCM. Probably won't chop anyone with ours.

[emoji1308]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Some interior work:

Redid the HVAC bulbs, seem to be a common issue on these legacys

Need two of these part number

And one of these guys

Super small bulb for the hazard switch. Ordered it from subaru as my dealer didn’t have any in stock.

Have you ever seen a box from Japan so perfect after being shipped? I dont know how but I ordered this three days ago and it showed up today. That’s quick

The packaging is soooo jdmmmm

As funky and cool as the in-dash cupholders in the 90’s Subaru’s, they just cause soda to spill and get into the vents, causing major human slime

Before:

After:

Got the dash back together for the most part. Waiting on bulbs from subaru for hazard light so that’s not in. Also one of my speedo bulbs is out so I ordered a bunch of those too. I also got my ash tray installed as the car had its old one stolen before I owned the car.

Going to pick up something tonight. Next time I roll by the dealership I’ll pick up some valve cover gaskets and grommets.

Still waiting on more parts from Japan so stay tuned...

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Front end shots

Makes me miss mine:

Teaser:

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Was going to just clean the Leggy seats but these popped up for only 100$. So of course I had to. Everything bolts up. Swaps over easy just used original seat buckle assemblies. These are out of a bugeye wrx. I wish they were black. Maybe one day I will spring for some RS ones. I’d like to black out the entire interior but that’s way down the list one day.

Curious as always.

Need a good clean but I shampooed them really well and they cleaned up super nice for 100$ seats.

Ahhh yeah boi. Got working lights for my HVAC. Can’t wait to fix the speedo lights and hazards and have everything ok again

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Cut and buff and polish job for the whole car. Came out damn good for a 20 year old paint job.

Before:

After:

Seats still need another round of shampooing but they’re gonna come out mint:

Meow:

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Certianly a good idea to cat scan the seats before you install them.

Lol. I’m gonna use that joke often now

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I got it from Uncle Doug on youtube. He rebuilds vacuum tube amps and really old cars. When he gets new mail order parts he scans them to see if they are ok.

Around 3:00...

Lol. All the work so far and it looks like any other plain jane subaru wagon. Soon tho it’ll start to be cool once parts arrive

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

May not look so special to some, but it's in great shape. My clear coat has failed on the hood and certain spots on the roof.

But it's really about what is under the hood...

May not look so special to some, but it's in great shape. My clear coat has failed on the hood and certain spots on the roof.

 

But it's really about what is under the hood...

True. In this case that doesn’t do me favors either haha. A 22 is slowww. I thought the 2.5 was slow. But dang. That’s ok. It’s simple and cheap and I have had the fast cars and I like reliable and practical wagons.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Just a little body paint. Might try and get paint matched and do the door trims in the green. As well as the mirrors. Or source gt ones.

Figured this gives it an OEM plus look and covers some damage. Plus gotta make things blackkkkkk

Poor lighting but yeah. Now it’s practically an EVO with this black nose.

Picking up some locally source jdm parts tomorrow. Oooooo ahhhh

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Jdm door sills and eyelids. Not sure if I’m gonna run the eye lids but maybe if I get the car looking just right and they work with the style

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Goals for the wagon are something about like what these two wagons have going on. This style. I could car less about the gt hood scoop but I would pick one up if it came along as my hood has a dent. I’m also not going to go super stance with it like the bottom picture. But something along these lines.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'd get in too much trouble with a fast car. But solid I can dig.

I never got pulled over in my blobeye. Which is surprising. Cuz it was one loud car. Bright blue. Slammed. Shiny wheels and exhaust. But I never drive more than 5 mph over the limit if I can help it

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Working on the jdm eyelids. Still not sure if I’ll run them but at least I’ll have them ready for paint when my paint gets here:

Got my jdm bg5 sills in and installed them

Gotta keep it classy with some stainless door sills. So jdm I can smell the soy sauce on them.

Jdm parts are dope. But so often they don’t fit our usdm cars. So often some dremel or custom zip tie work is needed. In the case of my grill, I wasn’t aware that the jdm ones were much different, they didn’t make a “tall” grill. So I am left with this gap in my bumper.

I could probably live with it. But I like to learn and grow new skills with each car I own. This cheap legacy, which is no longer becoming cheap, is a good base to mess with things and learn. So I’m gonna try my hand at fiberglass work for the first time in my life.

Step one: basic template to fill gap:

Foam over the template:

Will shave this down and glass over the top.

Should be a good learning experience. I’m excited. I have a ton of parts for this thing can’t wait for them all to arrive