Red92

That car would sell for twice that price any day of the week in my area. I'd consider it a great deal!

Ok, thanks. So I would be looking for a spoiler from the Legacy GT or Outback, from... around the 95-99 year range? Is that correct?

Looks great!! Mine doesn't have the dust deflector, so I would either have to use the double-sided tape, or drill some holes I suppose... Do you know what year the car was that your wing came off of? Not sure what to tell you on the color. I would lean toward gloss black I think... match the trim and keep it subtle. :cool:

The Touring and Touring T2 appear to have different tread life ratings - 70,000 vs 50,000 miles respectively. So if you mix them, the new tire might wear differently over time...

Since the new ones are hard to find, have you considered a used tire which matches your other three? Here is one on eBay with 11/32" of tread left. You should be able to measure your current tires, and see how close this tread depth is. http://www.ebay.com/itm/ONE-Firestone-225-60-16-TIRE-AFFINITY-TOURING-97T-P225-60-R16-11-32-TREAD-/310338512125?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr&hash=item48419de4fd (ebay item 310338512125 if the link doesn't work) Otherwise, you might be able to find a matching used tire on Craigslist, or by calling around to the used tire shops.

It was earlier in the post: ...and I would think that question #2: is the one which applies.

Yeah, don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to knock the kit or say that you shouldn't use it. But if the grease only catches "most" of the shavings, then there are still metal shavings inside your engine. And if you don't pull the heads, then you can't know for sure that the shavings didn't get in unless you use a borescope to look inside. Perhaps it is safer to say that the shavings that get inside don't typically cause enough damage to be noticed over the remaining life of the engine... But if it was my engine, I would pull the head if I could.

Yeah, I think it might be helpful to know how the car is driven. 191,000 miles over 14 years is ~13,643 miles/year or about 37 miles/day. Depending on where you live, this could be just an average city commute. If any problem comes up, and starts needing attention, you can have it taken care of at your local trusted service shop within a few days time before the mileage really racks up. On the other hand, you could imagine a car being used in a traveling salesman type of scenario... where the car makes 2,000+ mile loops across the country every few months. In this situation, even a problem that gives you some advance warning could appear AND fail before you have had a chance to stop and fix it. And finding a repair shop in an unfamiliar place with a loaded car is always a nightmare. :-\ We also don't know if "stranding" means "I was a half hour late for a meeting which cost my client millions", or if stranding means like mikec03 says - broken down in the middle of nowhere. Regardless, I would think that krystolo has a huge leg up here by being the original owner, and knowing that the car has been properly maintained. Any time you get a used car, even if it is a newer car, you take a bit of a risk if you don't know its history. For the peace of mind, for the cost of a newer car, I would think that you could do a LOT of preventative maintenance on this one.

How can you do this with the head on the car, and not get a pile of metal shavings inside the engine? The website says it is an "over the fender" kit, with no need to remove the engine, and to use grease or WD-40 on the tap to help catch the shavings. But then the video shows them cleaning the shavings out with a spray cleaner and a rag underneath to catch the shavings!

Thanks for checking that! Mine is just a smidge under 25" in front, and about 26 1/4" in the rear. The rear springs look to be in good shape. So it looks like my car is sitting about an inch lower up front then.

Thanks. Yeah, I think I'll make some measurements, and try to determine just how much lower than stock the front end is sitting right now. I'll put it together with stock (full-height) springs for this winter, and then maybe pick up a different set of springs for next summer to get it back to this ride height. :cool:

^ Agreed. I suppose the fix-or-junk decision hinges on this: If you were already looking to switch cars, you'll have to make the decision. Normally, this sort of repair is well worth it if you like the car, have kept up on maintenance, and plan to keep it for a while. But if you're planning on getting rid of it, then the repair might not be worth it. The car is only worth so much as scrap or parts... and you know (approximately) how much it would cost to get it fixed, and you also can check how much a similar (running) car sells for in your area. If you do the math and you won't recover the cost of the repair (end result less than or equal to the scrap/parts value), then it isn't really worth messing with.

Two more things about the car: It has a bit of a rattling sound from the rear end when you drive over bumps in the road. I can't find anything obviously lose or worn out, aside from the two linkages on the ends of the rear sway bar. Would this be enough to make the noise, or is there another common wear point I should look for? The swaybar links don't look too hard to replace... Also, I've noticed that while the two front tires are unevenly worn, the rears look to be almost new, with a significant amount of tread left. The tires are marked "Fisk Classic", which appears to be a store brand carried by Discount Tire, reportedly manufactured by Michelin. The size is 185/70/14, and they have a Mud + Snow rating. I know I need to replace the fronts due to the uneven wear, and I know that all four have to be the same diameter (within a tolerance) for the AWD system... but it is looking like I might be able to just replace a pair if the tread depth is close enough on the new ones.

PM sent. :cool: I just jacked up the car and checked out the drivers side strut... it too has a broken spring! It broke right at the very first coil on the top, so the spring stayed centered on the perch OK. That's probably the reason why the car doesn't look lopsided, even though the passenger side strut has the spring broken in two spots. Hopefully this thing doesn't look like a lifted 4x4 once the suspension is fixed! Might not be too bad going into winter, but still... the ride height is pretty nice right now.

Would these lights have the correct beam pattern for left-hand-drive cars that drive on the right side of the road? If you have the pictures, or links to the threads on Legacy Central, please post 'em! (For all the parts too - tail lights included)

In addition to what everyone else has said, I would save: * spare tire * jack and any factory tools * rear cargo cover * all the relays & fuses * battery * starter * owners manuals * speaker grilles from the doors ... etc.

Exactly. We had a VW in at a dealership for an oil change a while back, and when we came to pick up the car they gave us the same story - front brakes were almost completely gone, rears were at 20%, and if we didn't change them ASAP we were going to crash and die and kill all the small children and puppies in a 50-mile radius. Of course, we declined the service, and had the brakes changed a few months later by one of the "expensive but well worth it" independent specialist shops.... for HALF the price! I'm pretty sure that the "zero brakes" line is just to make you panic and get the service on-the-spot. If they tell you it isn't urgent, then you have time to shop around, and realize just how high the rates are for dealer service work.

On a related note, does anyone know where I can get cans of touch-up paint for the "Cranberry Pearl" paint color, code 428? I checked with Dupli-Color, but they only have Subaru matches back through the 2000 model year... and the only "Cranberry" color they list anywhere else is a Chrysler "Deep Cranberry"... :-\

Thanks, that would be great! :cool: Yeah, I'm really leaning toward the gunmetal now. :cool: Either that, or I could keep it dark and metallic but mix in a bit of dark bronze or that sort of color: I'll have to pick up a spare set of wheels though, otherwise I'm going to be painting them one at a time by swapping out the spare. I will also have to figure out the sequence... I need new tires before winter, and I've heard that it is best to paint the wheels with the weights removed (in case they need to remove weights to balance them). But obviously you don't want to drive too much on wheels without weights! So it would all have to happen pretty fast. I think finding a spare set of wheels would be the easiest way to do it. So it might be a while before I get around to painting the wheels. :-\

So cutting the mounts off is what the modification is? That doesn't sound so bad then! I was picturing a sectioned part with a bunch of fiberglass work. zzz Also, I can't quite tell... is the spoiler on the red Legacy different? It almost looks bigger and curvier than the one on the burgundy car... like it has an air gap between it and the body, while the other one doesn't. I think I like the one on the burgundy car better. (By the way, if you have any good pictures of the red one, please post 'em up! I'm starting to lean toward gunmetal now for the wheels, just because of this car. )

Rats, I hate making decisions like this. I did ask, and thanks (seriously) for the opinions.

Thanks, I appreciate it!

Awesome! Tell your friends they have two the coolest first-gen legacies out there. The red one looks great, and the burgundy one looks sweet with the flared fenders and the new wheels! I might have to pull some ideas from these two. The blacked out chrome on the red one looks really sharp, and I think it paves the way for other wheel color choices - particularly the gunmetal grey. :cool: I'm also digging that rear spoiler on the burgundy one. Modified from a 98 lgt is what they said? Do you happen to know what kind of modifications it needed or how it mounts?

Thanks McBrat. Subaru has historically been pretty bold with the use of gold wheels on other cars too (particularly the blue Impreza WRXs). So it isn't that uncommon on the newer models to see the gold wheels... Another option would be to give a nod to the old-school, and paint 'em white. But that might look even more cheesy than the gold? I couldn't find any red ones, but here are some pictures of a burgundy colored first-gen Legacy with white wheels: Pictures from: http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=44684

Haha. So we're still at 50/50. Anyone else have an opinion? I suppose I could paint them something different...