Danbob

How bad is it to drive around with a rusted ball joint...? My car feels very slow..... For example, the RPM's in 4th gear go past 3k alot earlier than they do in my wrx.....Like 4th gear feels like 3rd gear in most other stick cars.... Is this just because of the awd and because the 2.2 L is not a powerful motor, or is it because there is something wrong with my gearing on the car? Thanks a lot guys....it just seems wierd to me that the car hits like 3500 rpms in 5th gear when it's only doing like 70-75MPH ...Timing maybe?

That is one beautiful turbo leg. I love how stock it looks and how mich of a sleeper it is. I bet it could put my wrx in it's place. Maybe I will swap my wagon one of these days:headbang:

My mechanic said it was tranny seepage, and only ever so slightly - he said to wait until it gets worse to reseal everything. These four tires are all pretty much new...problem is that two of them have a slightly different tread.... I definitely I am going to do the ball joint and an alignment soon though I think the tires and brakes will have to wait for a couple of months

Yikes sorry guys...I didn't mean to upset anyone by saying that about the timing belt...I just figured since it's a non-interference engine that if it did break before I replaced it, I would just replace it and not worry about anythign else being messed up from it...should have phrazed it that way... What about the other things I was asking though?

I wish it was rusty brake pads.... the front rotors are completely rusted/warped....the guy who had the car before me literally wore the brakes down to nothing and then let it sit after that so it f'ed up the front discs. The back brakes are drums and the shoes are brand new so they are fine. What about the timing belt??? wait till it snaps, or change it now? Water pump is fine I think because I have been stuck in traffic with this car in 90 degree weather and it never goes past the midline on the temp gauge. For now I am gonna do the ball joint and alignment....I will worry about the front brakes as I get closer to winter. Also what do you guys think about the other set of new, non-matching tires? Put them on after the alignment? They are all the same size...just 2 different tread patterns that match fairly closely.

So many have read my threads on the shifter and tranny woes that I was having with my car (95 legacy L wagon) Turns out.... The shifter bushings being shot were the cause of a significant amount of the transmission noise that i was getting. Once those bushings were replaced, everything made a lot less noise. My friggin mechanic had to replace the bushings after a failed attempt at me doing it (the pin was fused inside the boss and he had to destroy the thing to get it all apart and replace the bushings.... He said it still makes a bit of noise in first gear, but I am not too worried about that.... Here is what he found when he put the car up and did the work... (He did love the car and say that it was a beauty though:banana: ) -One of the ball joints up front is shot and has play -The car needs new front brakes because it sat for a long time and the old ones are completely rusted -The car has 100 k on it...he thinks I might want to replace the timing belt soon...can I wait until 105k??? -ever so slight seepage of tranny fluid, but not a real leak at all. -needs an alignment...tires are worn on the inside. My question is in what order should I have him replace these things? I can't afford to have him do it all at once so I need to know what to do first. Also - The car came with an extra set of tires...they are not matching tread, but they match almost exactly in size and they have more tread left on them then the others. Should I change the tires over to the better ones even though they don't match perfectly, or should I leave the partially worn/warped ones on and run them into the ground? I guess I am just wondering which set of tires will have a more megative effect on the drivetrain/transmission. As always, your answers are much appreciated. Dan

Hawk HPS for me, but they squeal like crazy sometimes. Good stopping power though.

Okay, sorry I was unclear lol. It was late... I want the car to be my daily driver, but also have the capability to do some light offroading like mostly dirt roads and playing in the snow. I want it to be reliable, with good cheap parts. It's going to see a lot of time on the highway as I work about 35 minutes from home. What do you mean the struts are probably shot? The car only has 100k miles on it....Don't they last longer than that? Seems to ride fine to me... I like KYB's...it'd be nice to have a set of those. I'd rather not spend that much on an 11 year old car though.... Keep the tips and advice comming guys! Hopefully I explained my goals for the car a bit more thoroughly.

OKay so I was wondering what you guys think of this for my 95 legacy wagon... WRX rear swaybar/endlinks OUtback struts/springs wrx 16" wheels and tires or outback wheels and tires what do you guys think of this for basic upgrades? I feel like these newer parts will make the car last longer and handle better.... I am open to suggestions and I need parts that are direct bolt-ons and do not need to be fabbed at all. What's good and cheap to do yet effective in terms of suspension? I searched and came up with not much for legacy wagons...Thanks - Dan

Awesome car! Wish my 95 wagon had that setup! Maybe someday....good luck with the sale.

Yeah the HP is just rated differently. The car is every bit as powerful as it was last year so fear not. It's a great car and you guys will love it. Thank you for wanting a manual tranny! Both of my Subarus are manuals...I hate the way automatics drive, especially with awd. If you get this car and are interested in more power, let me know because I am avid in the wrx/turbo community and can point you in right direction for performance parts. -Dan

THANKS SO MUCH!!!!!! I can't even explain how apreciative I am! - Dan:headbang:

I would love for you to do this....I can wait....Just post up a link when you do it so i can find it! Thanks so much! I'd rather pay my mechanic to do other stuff liike the throwout bearing and timing belt than these little stupid bushings that i should be able to do myself.

Okay I have officially given up and I am gonna let my mechanic do it when he replaces the throwout bearing. The second of the two pins is just completely fused to the tranny arm. I drilled, hacked, smacked, and used all the tools suggested and the damn thing just won't come out. I think he's gonna have to heat it off. I don't have anything that gets hot enough to get it off. PLus having a lift might help get more leverage on the pin....I suggest to anyone that is going to do this to make sure you have access to heat and a lift because I am very mechanically inclined and I just could not free up this pin without a mechanics tool set. *DEFEATED* Sniffle

Okay....I got the smaller pin out...BUT....I worked on the larger pin with a hammer and a goddamn pin punch.....FOREVER....It won't budge.....How the hell can I get it out quickly???? Drill? Heat? really strong stuff that eats metal? This is the first time in my life that PB blaster is not working

All I have to do is replace the two bushings on that piece where the pin is attached to....I don't technically need the whole assembly to come out of the car....I wish there was a way to unbolt the driveshaft and push it over and out of the way so I could just change the bushings and be done with it....It'd be so easy if I could just move the driveshaft like a quarter inch....oh well I guess my night will be spend under the car hammering the damn thing tomorrow. I am replacing that pin with a screw/nut like in the picture so I don't ever have to deal with it again LOL. I could kick the stupid car right now.

uggh this is a ***************...I tried to do it without taking the pin out...doesn't work....how do I get a pin punch all the way up to that pin from under the car? doesn't seem like it is long enough.... If that thing were a screw instead of a pin...I'd have been done in a half hour! This thing is so simple and so easy to do yet getting that pin out makes it damn near imppossible.

Someone knows....

Bumpers for me:banana:

Hey guys - quick question.... I am fixing my shifter slop tomorrow onmy 1995 legacy. I have saved the corresponding threads to doing this procedure, and have ordered the bushings and spring that I will need. My only question is this: Do I need pin punches or not? I cant seem to find a straight answer to this question...like can I replace the bushings with the linkage still attached to the car or does it all ahve to be taken out and pulled apart? I have no pictures of the actual installation process because there are no photos with the thread that has the instructions. Can someone help and just tell me what tools I will need to do this? THANKS!!! - Dan

LOL thanks suby94 for the gas milage calculation. I will let you know how the shifter slop repair goes. i am not going crAZY with new parts....only replacing the bushings and the spring that is missing. Hopefully itill make as big a difference as they say. I just hope that pb blaster works well to free up the rusted bolt that holds the bushings in otherwise I wont be able to do it.

I don't exactly know.....I have gotten 250 to about 12 gallons....Pretty good....The gas gauge is not reading right so I am gonna put some techron in the tank because I think that will clear it up. Maybe seafoam treat it too....but yea about 25-26 miles per gallon

rattle can job with Honda paint LOL....they discontinued the color in a spray can for this car so I had to be creative....it's the driver's side front fender....you can see it, just not in the pics which I like. Looks like the car has a bandaid on it that is a shade darker than the rest of the paint....I don't care though...I just wanted to stop any rust from showing up where the fender had been hit by a shopping cart. I also have to take care of a little rust by the gas tank/fender in the rear,but I need to take care of other stuff first.

Well she's my daily driver and nothing special, but I finally snapped some pics after a complete detail, and taking care of some front fender body work that had to be done. I wish I had before pictures, but the sight was so bad that you guys would have wondered why I paid 2 grand...but I saw potential:brow: The paint was in such bad shape that I had to bust out my porter cable and go to town with compound, then polish, and finally a coat of wax!!!! It was a seven hour process! She's got 100k, lots of new parts, and the tranny noises that I have discussed in my other thread...I love her though. Future plans/mods include: -recharging the A/C -new timing belt -Fixing the tranny noise -Outback wheels/bigger tires -Outback struts/suspension odds and ends -Rebuiding the shifter to get rid of the slop (happening tomorrow) :headbang: ...The WRX in the background is my toy...used to be my daily driver...modded a lot but still needs to be even faster...

Hey Nipper, Car has a brand new clutch that was put in right before I bought it ironically enough. It does have a throwout bearing issue though because that was not replaced with the clutch.:-\ I am just going to take the car in and have the tranny dealt with...if it needs a new one, I am gonna pick one up for a couple hundred or so and have it thrown in. If not, then lucky me and I will have it resealed. Yippie:-\ I do LOVE this stupid wagon though. It's big, it's red, it's nothing special, smells like old upholstery even after cleaning the interior for four hours, and I LOVE it hahahahaha:headbang: :headbang: