The Return to the Legacy

Hi All,

I have returned to the Legacy community.

Unfortunately it's not as welcoming with the car.

When I first joined I had an 05 OB LL Bean edition then shortly after traded up for a 05 LGT Wagon 5MT in addition to my 89 MK3 Supra ( Which I no longer own ) .

So, I sold my supra and went on a hunt for another Legacy GT Wagon found one in SoCal contacted the guy he seemed cool. Made my way down and took a look at the car and everything seemed fine on the drive. Went ahead and made the deal.

Price : $9500

2005 Legacy GT 5MT

163k miles

7/10 Black Leather Interior

9/10 Brilliant Silver

Came with a few goodies

BC BR Coilovers

Whiteline sway bars

Whiteline adjustable upper and rear control arms

Perrin Pitch mount

SPT Intake

Cobb Catted Downpipe

Prodrive Catback

V3 Cobb Access Port

18x7 Prodrive Wheels

06-07 WRX Brake swap. 4Pot/2Pot

Kartboy Short Shifter

Kartboy Rear Diff Mount Inserts

Yakima Roof Cross Bars.

Other whiteline Items uninstalled.

So paperwork gets signed and I start my way back home.

Stopped to get coffee and fill the tank.

Get through Los Angeles and start headed up the Grapevine and I dont know what happened but the car turned off and would not start again.

Of course I contact the seller and he offers words with no support, I mean of course it's Craigslist, just didnt think it would happen to me.

Luckily I have AAA although my membership wouldnt allow me to tow it home for free no membership would unfortunately.. over 300 mile trip. So I have it towed to the nearest Subaru dealer to have it diagnosed.

Subaru gets back to me the next day saying the timing belt busted and I'm going to need a new motor.

FML right. Just spent 9500 for a giant paperweight.

Of course I try to contact the Seller for some help in this situation hopefully i can get 1-2k back or anything and I guess the guy has no morale or empathy for me in this situation, pretty much tells me "Deal is done." Well I hope karma bites him in the ass.

I honestly wouldn't want to feel that way knowing I just sold a car and not even 100 miles / 1hr after sale the car takes a shit.. I would've offered more help than just saying, "Oh, thats never happened to me.." BS responses.

Anyway,

Im stuck in SoCal but luckily my cousin lives right next to the dealer so I have a place to think about what the next should be. Thank goodness it failed close to the LA area and not in the middle of the 5.

I'll be renting a U-Haul Truck and trailer and bringing the car home and Decide from there to motor swap, build a new motor, or something. Ive always thought a 2JZ LGT Wagon would be cool but no one has a build for it so idk...

If any of you guys have any contacts for part sourcing in California or next to CA let me know.. maybe a nice fresh EJ257 or a good shop to recommend for Subaru work in NorCal

Heres a pic of the car... on the side of the road..

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=245091&stc=1&d=1487398885

Whether or not he asked for receipts isn't going to help him get the car back on the road.

How mechanically savvy are you, and how much time do you have to have the car down?

If you take it to an independent Subaru shop they'll have their own plan and advice that you can go on. If you can do most things yourself, I'd take the engine out to see what the heads and pistons look like.

For fresh new shortblock you can rebuild it yourself with much attention to detail and patience. Or just buy a new shortblock shipped to your front door for like 1900 from a dealership. Most people say use heuberger in CO.

Then it would be a matter of replacing damaged parts on the heads. Hopefully it's nothing more than a valve or two. Have a shop do a rebuild of the heads and have them checked for cracks, warping etc. Most head shops have a checklist they like to go through. Really try to find a shop that specializes in Subaru heads, not a generic machine shop.

If it were me I would also take the time to replace any hardened/cracking rubber hoses - fuel, oil, coolant, crankcase ventilation, etc.

People these days are recommending aisin brand timing belt kits.

Head over to the cardiac icu section to see various engine builds and how people are going about making a plan and executing. Of course I've grossly over simplified everything here. But it should help you get started with a plan of action.

Nice 5mt wagon!

Timing belt should have been replaced at 105,000 miles. I'm assuming it was not.

or at 10 years. Whichever comes first.

Sorry to hear OP. Buying these cars and getting a busted engine a few hours later seems to be an incredibly common story on these forums.

I had mine rebuilt by Infamous Performance down in Escondido. Don't know how close you are to them.

LIC, FW Motorsports, RBMS, Garage one, GST. Mann engineering, EQ tuning, TD Garage.

There are a lot around here. I personally (on this forum, hear really good things about FW and RBMS).

However, I know I am missing a few shops. Start calling around and talking with the shops. If you find one that your like go with them.

Thanks everyone for the input and thoughts,

Finally home with the car parked in the garage.

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=245139&stc=1&d=1487487381

I did ask the previous owner about the timing belt.. He said he only had the car for a couple years and didn't get any paperwork from the owner before him. Don't know why he didn't think to have it done just to be sure. Guess he wanted the problem to fall in someone else's hands. Smh.

I'm not too savvy with Subarus. Since I mostly tinkered with my supra.

I think the plan as of now is to just get it back up and running. Probably gonna have a friend or two come by with some drinks and pull the motor and see what we have to deal with.

Goals as of now I'm thinking is 350-450whp. Do you guys think this is possible? What are typical upgrades to get to those numbers?

Also if you order a block from Heuberger does the block come pre-assembled?

Well my return to the legacy journey is gonna start with a bunch of researching and forum digging. Lol.

350 you can do stock block. 400, something something its all in the tune, until its not. 450, forged bottom end and then some.

If you got e85 near you build for 350 pump then add teh corn.

You will need:

Catless UP

Equal Length Headers

Intake

Dom 1.5-2.5xtr, 20gxtr, Some multcolored FP

Aftermarket Turbo Oil Feed Line

1000-1300 cc injectors

More powerful fuel pump

top feed tgv deletes

Top feed Rails and lines

Probably an upgraded FPR

Probably A BOV

Maybe an EWG

Catless DP?

Killer B Oil Pickup

Your wagon is sweet. I'd look at this as an opportunity to make a forged engine imperial grocery destroyer. Spend all the money and do a twin scroll efr 7163. Watch us all get boners.

If you are going to be doing this in you garage I'm in Vallejo and more than willing to come help you out. PM me if you need help.

Yes a short block from hueberger comes assembled ready for heads to be put on. Unfortunately due to the timing belt breaking you'll need a significant amount of head work done so long as your valves hitting pistons didn't destroy the head castings.

Fyi ... "just get it back up and running" and "350-450whp" are not really in sync with one another. As others have mentioned, stock block can handle 350 (maybe), but you are looking at a boatload of cash to get this thing back together. Going directly to stage 3 with a bigger turbo, intercooler (which is a particularly expensive low ROI hard part) and a whole host of other supporting mods that will be expensive ... and a tune. Dyno tune might be recommended for that power level as well.

You have the downpipe you need. Do you have an uppipe as well? You need a catless uppipe for reliability and engine safety reasons. That intake is not useful for the car's current stage 2 spec, but if you do go built motor and big turbo, it might have some value.

Do you have another car to drive while this one is down? If you want built power, I would not try to do it as fast as possible for as little money as possible. That may not end well. Slow down and spend some time researching your options and reading on LGT.com before you make your decisions and plans ... if you can. These cars are awesome, but they are finicky and require maintenance. 250,000 mile naturally-aspirated Honda 4-bangers these are not. Good luck!

Really sorry to hear about this. I ended up spending a lot more than I meant to on my car even without anything catastrophic happening.

On a more positive note, you have a rare wagon there and it looks fantastic!

Welcome back to the Legacy Community. Sorry you had to return in classic Subaru style with a blown up car.

Sorry to hear about the situation. I would definitely post an add on C.L. with his number for some free goats... People ALWAYS call about free goats and it will irritate the seller. But that wont help your car I guess..

Sorry but I can't agree with this behavior. While I'm sorry to hear about the OPs situation (I've been there) unless the buyer defrauded the buyer or offered some form of warranty the seller is under no obligation to do anything to assist the buyer. If the OP feels the seller somehow defrauded him or is not following through on some type of warranty then the correct way to deal with it is to pursue legal action against the seller. It is not to harass him by posting information on CL. Doing so is likely to result in legal action again you, not the seller.

Sorry but I can't agree with this behavior. While I'm sorry to hear about the OPs situation (I've been there) unless the buyer defrauded the buyer or offered some form of warranty the seller is under no obligation to do anything to assist the buyer. If the OP feels the seller somehow defrauded him or is not following through on some type of warranty then the correct way to deal with it is to pursue legal action against the seller. It is not to harass him by posting information on CL. Doing so is likely to result in legal action again you, not the seller.

Remind me not to invite you to my next party.

Remind me not to invite you to my next party.

If you disagree with my position then by all means provide us with your address and phone number so people can create fake CL postings selling goats.

Fyi ... "just get it back up and running" and "350-450whp" are not really in sync with one another. As others have mentioned, stock block can handle 350 (maybe), but you are looking at a boatload of cash to get this thing back together. Going directly to stage 3 with a bigger turbo, intercooler (which is a particularly expensive low ROI hard part) and a whole host of other supporting mods that will be expensive ... and a tune. Dyno tune might be recommended for that power level as well.

 

You have the downpipe you need. Do you have an uppipe as well? You need a catless uppipe for reliability and engine safety reasons. That intake is not useful for the car's current stage 2 spec, but if you do go built motor and big turbo, it might have some value.

 

Do you have another car to drive while this one is down? If you want built power, I would not try to do it as fast as possible for as little money as possible. That may not end well. Slow down and spend some time researching your options and reading on LGT.com before you make your decisions and plans ... if you can. These cars are awesome, but they are finicky and require maintenance. 250,000 mile naturally-aspirated Honda 4-bangers these are not. Good luck!

Yeah I meant that my goals in the long run for 350-450.

Coming from the supra 2jz community where supposedly stock internals are good for 700hp. And the way subaru modding is, is much different . Lol.

EJ255 ain't no 2JZ.

I should put one in then. Lol.

Yes. Yes you should. I believe you'd be the first to do it.

Nah I wouldn't be the first. I know someone that has done it. Just not on the forums ? Or just hasn't shared it.

Update.

Did my first engine removal with my buddy.

got the motor on the stand and started to break it down..

removed the timing belt since dealer said that was the issue...

and yay....!

Wow! Those bearings are long past their service life! I've seen one idler fail but not all 3!

Yeah the waterpump was seized and the tensioner was difficult to spin.

Removed the intake manifold and the wiring harness. And most vacuum lines.

Sucks a lot of the hoses are pretty hard and brittle. As well as the wiring looms..

Busted a couple vacuum lines and wire connectors tho...

Probably gonna remove the heads next weekend..

Hopefully they aren't wrecked too bad and can get away with just a head rebuild.