Winter Beater Overhaul

I started my automotive journey with a 1993 Pontiac Sunbird. My dad bought it for me a year before my anticipated driver's exam for $1000 and he expected it to be treated like a typical teenage vehicle and end up... wrapped around a tree. Ten years later it's still around and became the basis of my wrenching ability. After a large amount of time and money put into stopping the cancer on the bodywork, it was time that I divided the work load between another car to handle the Canadian winters.

I've always had this idea of building a wagon, more specifically, a Z24/5-speed conversion on a Cavalier wagon since I have a huge parts collection for that body style. I was looking for one over 2 years and went to see two that were both out of province, a late model maroon one in British Columbia and an older blue one in Alberta. If I could have worked out the transport for the BC car, it would have been my next project but things just didn't work out.

In the fall of 2013, I stumbled across a car that ticked all the boxes on my wish list. Wagon body style and manual were my only two must haves but the colour, drive train, 4 cylinder engine, and hitch were just bonuses that made me go out on a limb and buy it with little insight on how much trouble it may cause me.

I like my American junk but this wagon was pretty much exactly what I was looking for and my first taste of what Subaru is about.

This Legacy was a farm vehicle, I would have thought the Outback model would be a better fit to that purpose but the GT trim worked for the highway kilometers it’s going to see. The car was found within the province and was a 3 hours drive from where I was at the time. There was something that spoke to me about the car aside from its physical attributes. The previous owners bought it used from Honda West in Calgary, Alberta 12 years ago and kept a meticulous record of its service history and were honest with everything. If the car held up better to some of the hard work it did for them, they would have kept it.

Outside, there was nothing out of the ordinary, a few dents and corrosion like a lot of older cars have but the condition of the interior was the one thing you could not ignore. I've been in plenty of houses with dogs and pet messes but this car topped them all in all sorts of bad. The amount of hair and odour over absolutely everything made me nauseous. I wore a respirator to get this car home.

The engine bay was the one thing I was impressed with, it was reasonably clean and had lots of major work done on it at the local Subaru dealer over its life

The rest of the car showed its age, the exterior full of flaws:

Rust, and lots of it:

The interior, where pictures are only mere visual memories and not olfactory:

When I got it back into Saskatoon, my rose-tinted glasses wore off and I had to make a plan of where to start and how far into it I needed to go, I got worried. There was only one answer: A complete tear down.

This was a grueling process and the weather always kept me on my toes. Every panel was covered in dirt, dust, hair, and other fluids that lingered even after the entire inside of the car was sprayed down and scrubbed. There was also evidence that there were rodents living inside this car.

Dog hair under the rear seats.

Chewed up tissue, carpet insulation, and pet hair all packed in the center console makes a warm home for mice.

Is that urine dried into the seat belts?

I lost a lot of my enthusiasm half way through, questioning my decision on my purchase but when things started getting put back into the car, it started to make sense.

With half the interior in, I took the opportunity to tackle the bodywork since I could access it without the trim pieces in. The rust was cut out and sanded down, metal treated and still working out what will work best to patch the holes up. They are big...

While the paint and patches were underway, I needed to address the mechanical issues I noticed on the test drive, and more so after driving the car around the city. There was something horribly wrong with the suspension and steering. The car would not track strait or predictably, there were loud crunching sounds over bumps and steering from side to side, and the car was very sloppy on the road, feeling like I was on an exercise ball with no balance.

I tackled the fluids first, and the check engine light. New oil, trans/diff fluid, and power steering gave me a piece of mind and a new knock sensor fixed and vacuum lines fixed the CEL issue.

By mid October, it was getting chilly so working outside in the driveway wasn't ideal anymore. I was able to convince a friend to lend me his garage while I got to work on what little work I originally thought I had to fix the suspension issues.

I took off the wheel and surprise!

As I tore deeper into the car, I realized that this was becoming a prime example of heart over head decision making. It was getting closer to snowfall and I was holding up space in my friend's place where he needed to park his Mustang. I dove into the mechanicals full steam while leaving the body work and rest of the interior for later.

The torn boot was something I didn't expect but as it turned out, 3 out of the 4 boots in the front were trash so it made the decision making easy when it came to new parts.

While trying to get the ball joint out to change the axles... ERGHHHH

I spent 8 hours over the span of 2 days trying to work my head around Subaru's way of doing ball joints (unlike anything American) only to split the knuckle and ending up taking the control arms out to deal with the knuckle separation. Lucky for me, the control arms turn out to be passed their due date as well...

Moving on, new parts made the money go away but brought in a smile, at least a little one. The Legacy was always going to be built on a budget because of its purpose as a winter car. The axles were new but I picked up a set of used struts for the 04-07 WRX sedan(70,000kms) and springs for the same generation off a local member. A lot of sanding, rust treating and a re-spray made them look like new, I also got a set of spacers to make up for the rear drop I was expecting from using sedan suspension on a wagon.I knew something was wrong with the factory suspension and everything needed to be replaced, full original wagon suspension was hard to find and expensive.

The new parts list also included ball joints, inner/outer tie rod ends, coolant hoses, master/slave clutch cylinders, O2 sensors, complete ignition system, reverse light switch, filters, belts, battery and rear hatch struts.

After the brakes, knuckles, axles, and control arms were out of the way, the struts were the only thing left hanging in the front wheel wells and what I saw answered all of my suspension questions. A broken spring. Actually, not only a broken spring but BOTH front springs lost a coil or two and the rear looked like they were close to follow.

Which caused the noise and this was the damage:

No matter how much I clean this car, there will always be evidence of the previous life this car lived. When I went to change the clutch master cylinder, I got more than just my own hair in my face.

To address the split steering knuckle, I had to look at salvage parts. There were none at the local yards at the time so I kept myself busy with body work until after 2 weeks of phoning around and driving across the province, I landed a salvage Outback. The knuckle I pulled had a bad wheel bearing so new ones were pressed in, ERGH.

I pulled the knuckles, control arms, brake dust shields and thanks to this forum, the thicker rear sway bar. Everything was sanded down, treated for rust, and painted.

Completed front suspension with the addition of new rotors, pads, brake hardware.

A look into the paneling and filler.

...and another individual apartment for the rodents, this room came with sufficient heating.

When the Legacy finally drove out of my friend's garage on its own wheels, the ground was snow covered and 180 hours were spent in that cold garage. He put up with me coming in and out at all hours of the day and taking up space for almost a month and a half all the while the seasons changed.

After driving the car around and feeling how a car handles when all 4 wheels are powered, another problem appeared. The rear tires were being chewed up from the fenders and ride height.

A larger spacer was put in and it leveled out the ride height perfectly. I was cold while doing this, VERY cold.

The suspension issues were solved, wheels were aligned, and I drove the car around with half the interior and no audio over the winter.

The chewed up tires weren't doing too well on the snow so I got rid of the steel wheels and tires that came with the car. I have a collection of GM wheels which bolt up with 1mm hub centering rings so newer tires were mounted on them.

Flashy chrome doesn't look very good on imports but it should work for now.

Over the course of the winter, I collected a huge stack of interior parts for this car. The massive clean I did in the fall made it nicer to drive but the damage on the carpet, door panels, and trim was something that could not be restored.

When I first needed salvage parts in the fall, I was ecstatic to find that one Outback that saved my bacon but over the course of the winter, more and more of these cars popped up making it way to easy to get carried away with fixing the Legacy.

In memory to all of the Legacy’s that donated parts:

Lots of odds and ends were taken from these cars, all of the rear hatch trim, carpet, sound deadening, door panels, sun visors, rear seat belts, weather stripping, and such. I was also ambitious enough to take some of trinkets off of the one Limited Outback like the leather/heated seats, tweeters, and faux wood trim pieces.

This really lets me get into the details of this car.

First, none of the HVAC lights worked. I always thought there weren't any lights put behind the control unit because of how opaque the white symbols were but some reading on this forum told me otherwise. A lot of the buttons were also worn out where the illumination wouldn't be dispersed.

The sun visors were no good.

The doors were next on the things to deal with. I never bothered taking the panels off when I stripped the interior in the fall because I knew I wasn't going to keep them so I didn't bother. While the door panels were off, it was a great time to address the blown speakers, the non functioning front passenger door handle, and the dirty switches:

With the speakers installed, I found a used, budget head unit that had adjustable backlighting to match the rest of the illumination. I took it apart to paint it so it didn't stand out as much in the center console.

The hitch was taken off to ground down to bare metal and restored. Most of the heavy rust on it is now in my lungs.

Before any of the cleaned, salvaged interior was put in, I did all of the wiring I needed, including the D-pillar tweeters and heated seats. I pulled all of the correct colour coded wiring from the assortment of Outbacks to piece together my own wiring harnesses.

Some of the other details that waited all winter to be looked at were the power antenna, scratched up gauges, and soggy, warped rear hatch floor(added cargo hooks from the Outback).

There are a few more pieces of the puzzle to complete this nightmare of a car but it's been quite the experience working on Japanese Lego versus GM Lego, or Mega Bloks I should say.

Here is how the car it's as of today and by its 1 year of ownership with me, it should have the last 10% of this build done.

The rear quarters were a little bit of a hack job. You can sort of see the shiny metal through the cut out when the car was on jack stands in the garage. The rust was cut out (large gaping hole through the wheel well, quarter, and drain holes behind the bumper) and then thin gauge sheet metal was cut to size and riveted in. There isn't any rust left to continue rusting but structurally, it isn't welded in proper gauge metal. In the near future, I'll learn to weld and give proper body work a shot.

I've been really happy with the car and look forward to to getting in over my head with this Subaru.

I have another set of GM wheels with winter tires mounted on them and can't wait for the snow to fall again.

The rear quarters were a little bit of a hack job. You can sort of see the shiny metal through the cut out when the car was on jack stands in the garage. The rust was cut out (large gaping hole through the wheel well, quarter, and drain holes behind the bumper) and then thin gauge sheet metal was cut to size and riveted in. There isn't any rust left to continue rusting but structurally, it isn't welded in proper gauge metal. In the near future, I'll learn to weld and give proper body work a shot.

 

I've been really happy with the car and look forward to to getting in over my head with this Subaru.

 

I have another set of GM wheels with winter tires mounted on them and can't wait for the snow to fall again.

why does NOONE make a patch panel for the classic body rot? they'd make a crap ton of money. as far as learning to weld, go get a 100-150 dollar wire feed that runs on 110v and like the casing to a washer cut some chunks out and start practicing. don't use flux core for body work, get a small gas bottle "most expensive part of welding" you can rent a bottle from places like "air gas" or if you're in new England "maine oxy"

It has been a long few months worth of work and this car is on the final stretch! Over the summer, it developed a severe rear end vibration and clunking when varying the throttle, I figured it was the rear differential and was able to find a viscous LSD from a newer 5-speed Legacy.

I could not do this swap in the back yard so the car spent another week on a friend's driveway.

I thought the car was done about a month ago but I should have known money pits are never ending. After putting in the diff, the problem was still there!!!!!! With most of the drive train being refurbished or new, that leaves very few options left, unbalanced wheels, wheel bearings or... the center diff...

With the mileage on it, oil leaks were expected and I spent a weekend tackling the very common gasket leaks.

I'm very happy to see that the previous owners kept up with oil changes.

Over the last few weeks, my hunt for the new interior is over, all the plastics are cleaned or replaced, all the lights work, and the wiring for the optional extras that came on the Outbacks is done!

I got a lot of information from this forum when I tackled the interior.

The HVAC illumination How-To: http://legacygt.com/forums/showpost.php?p=4212647

The heated seat switch illumination How-To: http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/replaced-seat-heater-switch-bulbs-pics-guide-183315.html?t=183315

To the few more cars helped with the odds and ends that finished the interior:

Over the course of September, the car sat in the back yard with the rear end blown apart again to have the wheel bearings done. I was lucky enough to get the long bolts out that hold the hubs in from this rusty Canadian car but not as fortunate with the ABS sensors. Regardless, while everything was taken out, new parts went in as a last attempt to cover all my bases. Struts, emergency brake hardware and shoes, rotors, and pads along with the wheel bearings, and previous rear differential and axles.

Another great surprise was the shear amount of rust trapped behind the thick, cracking undercoating on the strut towers. That put a stop to reassembly for sheet metal reconstruction.

And after all of this, I have come to the conclusion that no matter how confident I am in this DIY hobby, sometimes you just need professional help, and a trustworthy mechanic to look at your vehicle.

I threw in the towel when the car was back together and had my mechanic diagnose the vibration. I had exhausted my "blindly throw parts at the problem until it is fixed" thought process only to end up with the same broken car I started with and no more money.

It needs a new driveshaft.

The very first thing I ruled out is what cursed this vehicle for 5 months.

It fixed the vibration! The car is finally ready for winter.

Catching up on your build this morning. Great work buddy! Makes a me think I should do a write on my build.

Curious, did you fit a gasket for the oil pan? Looks like you have a cork gasket in a photo. Or was that gasket from a parts store?

The oil pan gasket is from a parts store and is made from cork. I only went this route because it was the cheapest option at the time and I am familiar with using them. This is only because I cut my teeth on old American garbage and after reading about the install, both online and in the service manual, I believe that you are much better off using the grey gasket maker with nothing in between. Cork is such old technology that it'll probably start seeping on a few months.

I got lucky with the LSD when I found a 2001 Outback 5-Speed. Very few of the wagons I run into here at manuals so I grabbed this one when I could. It is a little tired out though and barely catches like a working LSD should.

RRH, the carpet was never replaced. Anytime I attempt to take out a good carpet set from the wrecker, the one seat bolt that runs through into the drive shaft tunnel has its captive nut break loose and am never motivated enough to get at it from both sides to remove the seats. The original doggy smell, cigarette burned, carpet is extremely clean and is good enough for now.

This winter came in late but hard and the Legacy hasn't been as sweet as it was last year, even with all the new parts.

Over the past 2 months I've been tackling some of the big issues the car has had and I got a good dose of a saying we've all heard before: You get what you pay for.

When I first drove this car into the garage just weeks after I bought it, I replaced a whole whack load of parts to get it running and driving better, but I did all of this with the mentality that this car didn't deserve anything more than the lowest cost item.

After the drive shaft replacement, the rear end started vibrating again just weeks later and I was able to see the rear CV axles falling apart, grease was seeping out of the boots and the inner joints were clunky and had lot of play in them. This is only after 9,000kms of driving! People have said on these forums that OEM is the only reliable choice and I am now a firm believer of that.

It wasn't very fun doing this on the driveway in mid-winter temps.

Two weeks later, my ball joints started clunking(again, economy line), throwing off my alignment and I started to see cupping on my tires. This pushed me to put in the aluminum control arms with factory ball joints on the cold drive-way once again which I was really wanting to wait until summer to do.

The pièce de résistance was the oil pressure sender. This failed catastrophically making 4 liters of oil leave the engine over 50 km's of driving and smoke poisoning highly likely in the cabin. Luckily, the poor EJ25 seemed to run fine after I limped it home and replaced the sensor and topped it off with oil.

After all of this, I want to tell anyone who is strapped for cash, buy the best parts you can for what you can afford. I never took this seriously before but my freezing fingers and asthmatic lungs have changed my mind.