l75eya

I covered the rear most floor with a moving blanket that fits the width and then put the foam matting over that. Might get some Velcro to hold it down in the back. Either way though, this wagon continues to impress me. Think I'll 5 speed swap it if and when the auto trans goes though. The trans is at 177,000 miles now. The engine is not original and I have absolutely no idea how many miles are on it. I had a picture of the odometer of the car I removed the engine from years ago (95 Impreza), but I can't find it. This engine came out of the donor car and straight into my 93 Loyale no maintenance, absolutely nothing but an oil change. I beat the snot out of it in that car for a year or so and then it sat without being run for about 2 years. Then I got that car going again for one last hoorah and beat the snot out of it again for a few months. Then I put it in this wagon and changed the oil again and I've been daily driving it now for 4 months or so. Impressive.

But despite the exterior of the car being a little rough and the edges, the interior of the car is pretty damn nice. Not perfect, but nice enough that you wouldn't want to ruin it needlessly. So this padding should help a bit in the protection department.

I didn't have much time to make it fit perfectly and at the rear of the car it wasn't wide enough to cover the whole floor...

One of the things I had crammed in the back of the wagon was this roll of thick foam padding my father gave me when we were in Jersey. When he offered it to me I had planned on using it to line some tool box drawers but then I got to thinking about just how much it a pain it's been to keep laying out moving blankets on the floor in the cargo area to protect the carpet any time I need to load stuff that's dirty. So I got to work.

Last weekend, trip to see family in New Jersey. Myself, my partner, our 2 year old son. Loaded with luggage, (to the point that the rear seat was split folded to fit more spoob back there from the floor to the ceiling could not see out the rear window) and two roughly ten foot tall cast iron porch supports on the roof. Clocked 596 miles in 4 days. Ice cold a.c. helped through the 90 degree heat.

Plenty of room to spare!

Barely evens squats (that engine is around 600lbs) Ran this 30 miles back to work over the mountain doing 80 with the AC on.

The Dodge 4.7 V8 I think would have been a bit too heavy for the roof though.

Couple planks of wood and a door frame. Funny enough that's a Subaru next to me getting wood strapped to it's roof too.

After installing the racks I naturally had to tie something to them

Test fit of the racks and also some later model Forester wheels

Been a bit! Nice old school photo dump coming up! Oem 1st Gen legacy roof racks ready to go!

I would like to take a moment to thank this early model legacy station wagon for it's one cargo cover retainer, the roof racks, and the windshield wiper switch I snagged from it. Thank you for your service.

Thanks for the suggestions on the springs. Now that I threw some wheels at her finally (not exactly what I'm after but the price was right and I hate steelies) I may need to bring her down some.

What springs do people typically use to drop these a bit? This wagon has definitely been fighting me a bit, keep having to replace things, but that's how it usually goes for a car that wasn't driven much or maintained and then just starting to throw the miles at it. Either the rear caliper itself or the brake hose is failing (or both) as the brakes are dragging on the right rear. Had a coolant line develop a pinhole. Replaced most of them with silicone hoses. I took a crack at the TCM board, I can't see anything obvious. Gonna have to look at the joints with a magnifying glass. Front left window starting to jam up. Regulator has sounded bad since I got. Old man that owned the car before me basically soaked everything that moves with white lithium grease so the regulator in that door and all the guides are all gummed up with 20 year old dirty sticky grease.

It does look good. I bet it's enjoying stretching it's legs again.

Replaced the TCM with an unknown junkyard unit, same part number as the original, all is well. Kinda inclined to crack open the O.G. computer and see if I can spot anything wrong. My suspicion is it has a cracked solder joint somewhere that would intermittently make contact and allow everything to function properly. It's so nice having more than just 3rd gear. The original computer would cause all sorts of random problems as well, sometimes it would get stuck in 1st, sometimes it would lock the torque converter and I wouldn't be able to stop without the engine stalling, it wasn't pleasant.

Alert! Alert! Another 1st Gen wagon saved. Though this is a post facelift model, she deserves some love. Older gent owned her since the late 90s, he passed on. Family friend drove the car and blew it up. Sat for a year and was given to me free of charge. Dropped an engine in it, threw new pads and rotors at it (front and rear), new radiator, replaced the ball joints, in the middle of tinting all the rear glass yet. The 4 speed auto operates in limp mode more often than not and I'm fairly certain it's a faulty TCM. The interior is a little dirty but it's pristine. With a good steam vac the interior will look new again. The body is pretty straight, ding here, little spot of rust there. The clear coat is flaking off in some spots unfortunately. But I love the storage room and it's a lot easier to cart my kid around in than the 2 door Impreza. Needed yet: Front coil spring (drivers side is broken) Resolve transmission issue shocks front and rear Fix exhaust leaks Find roof racks Tint remaining rear windows Find nice 16" alloys (looking for the later model legacy snowflake wheels)

Got it seated. Turns out the smaller diameter shaft sticking out of the transmission of the two in one style input shaft was the problem. It itself wasn't seated properly and was preventing everything from being recessed the way it was all supposed to be. Thanks for all the kind words all.