So not too long after the '91 blew a head gasket, the truck again left me stranded until it cooled off (it's an ongoing thing I keep thinking I've fixed...), thankfully I hadn't make it to the landfill yet :lol:
Not having a 'proper' 4-wheeled secondary ride started making the uncertainty/anxiety procrastination fueling stress level rise... until I happened to mention to a friend "I should have bought that Subaru when I had the chance..."
I had pondered the idea when I thought it was AWD, it'd had been parked for a while and had the feeling it'd be cheap.
But sure enough his buddy that was supposed to buy from him wound up driving it for a month with expired tags, never paying him, and just returning it with a new battery it.
And now it's mine!
It's a '94 Legacy 2.2L FWD, power options, possibly even working A/C once I put a belt tensioner pulley on it. Even though it's not AWD I'm sure it'll do me better in the snow, especially since it has ABS. I also noticed it still has a front differential even though it's only FWD, hopefully giving me some of that "wheels that grip" action.
It's got almost 200k, but the timing belt was recently done, the suspension all seems to be in good shape, even the CV boots look fresh and the transmission fluid is clean. It burns/leaks oil like they all do, but not nearly as bad as some!
It needed 4 tires, luckily I was able to swipe a good set from a junk Caddy. They barely fit but don't rub, after I worked on the fender dent in front of the LF wheel
The driver's side has a couple rusty battle wounds, the clear coat is in that awesome half-gone transitional phase on the top panels, but the passenger side looks decent.
The trunk lid tension rod is broken, but strategic placement of two drum brake hold-down springs lets it 'pop' enough from the interior lever to stay un-latched enough to open (the trunk key cylinder is bad)
The hand brake button/spring were MIA, rendering it useless, but some observational analysis and 'stare-at-everything-in-the-Lowe's-hardware-trays' type brainstorming made quick work of that.
The driver's auto-retracting shoulder belt was stuck forward, but I was able to manually crank it back to where it needed to be to use it. I had to unplug the motor too, since it has no problem going back to the forward position :lol: I learned that the seat belt module has four relays in it that like to go bad, two for each belt. I might dig it out one day...
The lower radiator and bypass hose were pretty swollen from oil contamination, so I replaced them and all the topside ones (originals) in one swoop, hooray RockAuto for their cheap rubbers.
Neither passenger side speaker works, the rear one isn't getting an audio signal, so hopefully slapping in an old aftermarket deck will solve that.
This is one of those cars where the whole center dash is a stack of DIN-width goodness, and I think I'll have room left to also try to slip in one of those thin 1/2 DIN size pop-out coin trays you find in some 90's Fords :banana: (I love those things for some reason...)
I think my favorite part about it is the center console and other random flat spots and little cubby holes to put stuff Also there are a few pop-out blank plates here and there for easy installation of switches and other such goodies.
This thing glides down the road effortlessly, and 10 bucks of gas lasts a week instead of a few days. Since I've been driving it, my desire to fix the 91' has reached an all time low. I know it's not a terrible lot, but I just can't see putting the money and time into it, to have two land yachts that I won't be driving daily... I still love the car, but I've recently learned that attachment to things ultimately only brings sadness
And I generally loathe working on cars these days, doing it for a living really takes that spark out of you lol... But fiddling with this Subaru gives me that fizzy feeling again, especially since it seems that parts are still plenty available and cheap, and since this thing doesn't seem too hard to work on.
I have a friend that's always liked my cars and seems much more interested in replacing its head gaskets than I am, so I'll probably just give it to him if he really wants it to drive. If that falls through, I'd be glad to extend that offer to anyone here that wants to come haul it away. It's in about as good of shape as you could hope for except for faded paint and raggedy top, the transmission is fairly fresh too. I'd be keeping the stereo and P71 airbox (it has a HO upper/TB on it), and putting stock steel wheels & crap tires on it.
Worst case, I'm pretty sure my old high school automotive school (where it all started) still takes donor cars for the kids to practice on.
Not having a 'proper' 4-wheeled secondary ride started making the uncertainty/anxiety procrastination fueling stress level rise... until I happened to mention to a friend "I should have bought that Subaru when I had the chance..."
I had pondered the idea when I thought it was AWD, it'd had been parked for a while and had the feeling it'd be cheap.
But sure enough his buddy that was supposed to buy from him wound up driving it for a month with expired tags, never paying him, and just returning it with a new battery it.
And now it's mine!
It's a '94 Legacy 2.2L FWD, power options, possibly even working A/C once I put a belt tensioner pulley on it. Even though it's not AWD I'm sure it'll do me better in the snow, especially since it has ABS. I also noticed it still has a front differential even though it's only FWD, hopefully giving me some of that "wheels that grip" action.
It's got almost 200k, but the timing belt was recently done, the suspension all seems to be in good shape, even the CV boots look fresh and the transmission fluid is clean. It burns/leaks oil like they all do, but not nearly as bad as some!
It needed 4 tires, luckily I was able to swipe a good set from a junk Caddy. They barely fit but don't rub, after I worked on the fender dent in front of the LF wheel
The driver's side has a couple rusty battle wounds, the clear coat is in that awesome half-gone transitional phase on the top panels, but the passenger side looks decent.
The trunk lid tension rod is broken, but strategic placement of two drum brake hold-down springs lets it 'pop' enough from the interior lever to stay un-latched enough to open (the trunk key cylinder is bad)
The hand brake button/spring were MIA, rendering it useless, but some observational analysis and 'stare-at-everything-in-the-Lowe's-hardware-trays' type brainstorming made quick work of that.
The driver's auto-retracting shoulder belt was stuck forward, but I was able to manually crank it back to where it needed to be to use it. I had to unplug the motor too, since it has no problem going back to the forward position :lol: I learned that the seat belt module has four relays in it that like to go bad, two for each belt. I might dig it out one day...
The lower radiator and bypass hose were pretty swollen from oil contamination, so I replaced them and all the topside ones (originals) in one swoop, hooray RockAuto for their cheap rubbers.
Neither passenger side speaker works, the rear one isn't getting an audio signal, so hopefully slapping in an old aftermarket deck will solve that.
This is one of those cars where the whole center dash is a stack of DIN-width goodness, and I think I'll have room left to also try to slip in one of those thin 1/2 DIN size pop-out coin trays you find in some 90's Fords :banana: (I love those things for some reason...)
I think my favorite part about it is the center console and other random flat spots and little cubby holes to put stuff Also there are a few pop-out blank plates here and there for easy installation of switches and other such goodies.
This thing glides down the road effortlessly, and 10 bucks of gas lasts a week instead of a few days. Since I've been driving it, my desire to fix the 91' has reached an all time low. I know it's not a terrible lot, but I just can't see putting the money and time into it, to have two land yachts that I won't be driving daily... I still love the car, but I've recently learned that attachment to things ultimately only brings sadness
And I generally loathe working on cars these days, doing it for a living really takes that spark out of you lol... But fiddling with this Subaru gives me that fizzy feeling again, especially since it seems that parts are still plenty available and cheap, and since this thing doesn't seem too hard to work on.
I have a friend that's always liked my cars and seems much more interested in replacing its head gaskets than I am, so I'll probably just give it to him if he really wants it to drive. If that falls through, I'd be glad to extend that offer to anyone here that wants to come haul it away. It's in about as good of shape as you could hope for except for faded paint and raggedy top, the transmission is fairly fresh too. I'd be keeping the stereo and P71 airbox (it has a HO upper/TB on it), and putting stock steel wheels & crap tires on it.
Worst case, I'm pretty sure my old high school automotive school (where it all started) still takes donor cars for the kids to practice on.
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