jboymechanic

There is nothing wrong with my car, I just hate driving an automatic. Not to mention my '96 Brigton averages 27 mpg while I only get 24 mpg out of the '95 with auto. There is a first gen legacy wagon in town, really rusty, that I could get super cheap, it has stick in it. After hearing opinions, I'm not going to attempt this (at least not any time soon).

Would the transmission, rear diff, drive shaft, pedals, crossmembers and other 5MT components from a first gen legacy (1990 to 1994) swap directly into a second gen legacy like my 1995? If so, what parts are needed?

You can call your local dealer and they'll give you a part number based on your vehicle's VIN. Just get the ECU somewhere else.

Those 3.8 V6s are pretty good motors. I have two of them in my life time, put well over 250,000 on both. Had friends that had them too that put well over that mileage as well. When I was in high school we took my friends 1988 Buick with 3.8 down to St. Louis and back to Milwaukee area, it had 388,000 on it at the time, had no issues. Pretty solid transmissions in those cars too.

What's up with the frowny face Ben?

Hey, I'm another Mopar and Subaru fan. I have two 2nd gen Legacy wagons, both with the bullet proof 2.2, I have a '98 Dodge Ram quad cab 4x4, and my baby is my '56 Chrysler Imperial Coupe for which I'm building a 354 cubic inch Hemi.

Email sent. Once you get up to 10 posts you can receive private messages through the USMB.

Are you looking to sell those wheels? I'm in Waterford, just off highway 164 closer to Tichigan.

If you are able to do it yourself, about $200 to $250 for the all the gaskets (head, intake manifold, exhaust manifold, valve cover), seals (crank and cam), timing kit (belt, water pump, and pulleys/tensioners) and maybe even radiator hoses. It is not very technically challenging work, but it can be labor intensive. If you take it somewhere to be done, it can be rather expensive (pushing $1000 in my area).

Don't be surprised to find you transfer clutch drum is notched, may be a good idea to have a spare shaft/drum assembly ready just in case. I learned this the hard way when I went to replace my, my hub was actually sheared off the shaft and I had to leave the car on my friend's lift for a week while I sourced the parts. You may want to check you rear speed sensor and try a trans fluid flush first, but at 177,000 miles you're probably ready for a new solenoid either way.

Those are 14" Subaru "Snowflake" wheels, they were optional on first gen (1990 to 1994) Legacies (not sure if available on all model years). If you clean up the back side of the hub area you will find the Fuji Heavy Industries logo and some casting dates and part numbers. I have the same set of wheels on my '96 Brighton wagon, pretty classy. By the way, are you in Lake Geneva, WI?

RockAuto.com has the RHD rack and pinion for $242 with a $125 core charge. Unless you can find an old used one, that's probably the best price you can find.

In the past week I have done the following to my 1996 Brighton -Put the proper upper radiator mounts in -Added a coolant overflow tank -Painted Tom's hood from black, white & orange to a red that is closer to the car's color -Bought and mounted some early 90s Subaru snowflake wheels with good Widetrack SR tires (no more terrible steering wheel shake!) -Completely replaced all of the rear brake lines from under the back seat up to and including the rear wheel cylinders -Replaced the missing stick shift centering spring -Added a tachometer and proper 140 mph speedo -Ordered my pedal switches to complete the addition of cruise control

I did this job once, not to bad other than space to work with when disconnecting and reconnecting the power steering lines and also the steering knuckle (and getting that back on so the steering wheel is straight). The car is old and nothing ever goes smoothly on an old car.

I'm not sure, but I'd go to a dealer and find out. I had an air bag recall on a Honda I bought at 10 years old and it was fixed for free. Worst thing that can happen is the dealer says sorry, can't do.

PCV valves and all related tubes fill up with oil over time and clog up, leading to excessive oil consumption. Quickest, easiest, and cheapest place to start. Take out the PCV valve and all the tubing and clean one by one and I bet you see improvement.

Ball joints on these cars look like they should be easy to do, but people let them go so long to the point that they're a real pain to remove. I have two Legacy wagons, had to drill out 3 of the 4.

I'm a bigger fan of "Dark Side of the Moon" personally.

I knew a guy that got his hands on a real train horn and installed it and the compressor in his old chevy pickup. People just about ************ themselves when he hit the horn!

Put a new oil fill neck o-rings in in both my '95 and my '96, old ones were so hard they snapped during removal. No more oil leaks there. Put a new oil pressure sensor in my '95, no more oil leak there either. Finally, put new plugs and wires in the '95 and to my shock I found the current plugs to be in finger tight! Needless to say the car runs much better and has more guts, the previous owner was a real gem!

Oh, and I did get the transfer clutch back together and the AWD is working great!

http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums/99-do-yourself-illustrated-guides/27878-4eat-tail-section-rebuild-without-removing-transmission.html

Finally got my transfer clutch solenoid and clutch pack replaced along with the broken transfer clutch hub shaft. Finally have working AWD!

Hi, putting my transfer clutch back together and I need to confirm the orientation of a spring that popped out when I removed the tail section cover. I tried to be slow and careful, but the cover was stubborn and I had to tap it a bit with a hammer and block of wood. Any way, here is a picture I found on an Outback forum and I want to know if this is correct before I put mine together the same way (kind of annoyed that my FSM doesn't show it). I hope to finish this job today, so if it is correct please let me know ASAP. As usual, thank you to all those that help!

Took my off the same Outback in the junk yard that I got the cruise control from. Rockauto has them new for about $12 to $18 each under the "body - exterior" section.