falconer315

I'll be checking my oil levels before I leave work to go home, and hope that whatever may be damaged isn't leaking too badly. Just hope to make it home so I can do all of this in the comfort of my own driveway rather than having to call a tow...

Any pics of the bumpers?

Driving into work hit the plastic splash guard coming up from a dip in the pavement, now I have what appears to be oil covering the bottom of the guard with droplets forming near where the guard ends by the driver's side front wheel. Oil filter and such are more towards the center/pass side, anything oil-related on the driver's side of the car that could have caused this? 2005 Baja Sport.

Seems like everyone these days is out to make a quick buck off the backs of others. Can't even leave anything in a car overnight anymore without wondering if someone's going to try and take it. I don't even lock my car. Locks only keep the honest people honest, and give the unhonest people a reason to break my windows. So, I leave the car unlocked, and leave nothing in the car worth stealing. If they want the car bad enough then the insurance company will get a call in the morning if my driveway is empty. I'm with Dinky, changing your own oil is the best way to make sure that people don't rifle through the belongings in your car. If you can't do it at home, find a buddy who is willing to let you do it at their place. If anyone out there is in CNY and needs a driveway to change your oil, drop by and I'll gladly lend you the space/tools/help.

Looking good.

That's my plan once I've got the time/money. I need to be careful though. A lot of the places around here are basically just mud pits. People strip the doors off so the interiors are left open to the elements. Also had to dump any money I'd set aside for this back into the wife's van over the weekend. So it gives me more time to look around for the best opportunities while I recoup funds.

I appreciate the feedback all. It's a daily driver/project/family car. I should have thought better when I bought it, but I can't complain about the utility I've gotten out of the bed (as small as it may be) already in the short 2 months I've owned it. I just need it to fit the whole family without strapping a kid to the roof.

If anyone out there has a Legacy/OBW from 2000-2005 and is willing to lift the backseat and take a picture of the seatbelt mounting points for me I would certainly appreciate it. Doing a conversion from a 4 seat Baja to a 5 seat (already have the go-ahead with the Dept of Motor Vehicles, and the insurance company) and am doing a bit of recon before I move forward. Don't know anyone in the area who has one, and am not about to ask a stranger on the street if I can take a look around their backseat. Might get me into a bit of trouble if that question was to be taken the wrong way.

The insurance agent finally came through over the weekend. Here's the response I received from the Underwriting Department: If the vehicle meets the NY state registration and safety requirement, then there is no insurance issue, as long as he is not carrying passengers for remuneration, or acting as a livery. So it looks like I'm all set, unless I'm charging passengers for the ride. Now I just need to determine if it's best to replace the entire bench seat, or build in a seat after removing the cupholder. I'll have to check around to see what I can get for parts.

Alright, so I'm not sure yet, but with every day this looks more and more like it's dead in the water. My insurance agent is waiting for written confirmation from the insurance company on changing out the back seat. They've been waiting for about 2 weeks now. So...I hope to pick this up and make it a build thread, but we'll see what happens.

Put in 10 gallons the other day, and usually go about 250 miles on that. Fuel light came on about 275 miles but only took about 13.5 gallons on a 15 gallon tank. 2005 Baja Sport, mix of hwy/city, could call it appx 25-27 miles/gallon. (Heck of a lot better than the 18-20 I was getting with my Hyundai.)

jmoss, I just looked at those links you'd posted. Wow...Jay Leno looks horrible.

I just got off the phone with a representative from the Department of Motor Vehicles. They state that there is no law on the books prohibiting me from modifying the back seat of my vehicle to accomodate an additional passenger. So long as the modification is completed in such a manner to ensure the safety of the passenger, and that the modification passes a New York State inspection there would be no violation of any law in adding a lap/shoulder restraint for a fifth person. I've asked my insurance company some more pointed questions. Just because "there would be no change" in my insurance does not mean that they'll cover it.

Makes sense, all the dealer did was slap new brakes onto old rotors. Good to know the idle rpm's are normal though.

I got an email back from my insurance agent this morning. I'm still waiting to hear back from the DMV, but that'll take a couple of days longer I'm sure. Anyway, I emailed back for confirmation, so once I have that I'll post the end result. At the moment it looks promising though. As of right now my insurance agent has said that they have checked with the insurance company, and changing out the back seat to accomodate 3 people would cause no change in insurance. Although she did wish me luck with the DMV. So, we'll see what happens.

I was getting off the highway this morning after my normal 20 minute commute to work. I released the gas, put on the brakes and felt the car shudder as I decelerated. (I've been wondering if it's normal for the car to shudder when decelerating quickly from high speeds, but that's a question for another day.) I'm sitting at the stop light for about 15-20 seconds when I see my RPMs drop from about 1,000 rpm's a minute to just below the 2nd hash mark on the tachometer. I think that should put it about 750 RPM's a minute. Is this low for this model, or is there something I should be looking into? Just bought the car about a month ago, recently found out that it was previously owned by a Subaru mechanic out of Buffalo, NY, timing belt was changed, but I don't know much more than that. I'm waiting to get a hold of the previous owner to see if I can get any maintenance records on the car. As of right now the only thing I know for sure is that the oil was changed about 200 miles ago and the transmission fluid looks good.

I just bought my Baja last month, and as of right now it gets over 250 miles to a tank. As long as it's in good condition there's not much the vehicle can't do. Like the one you're looking at, it has about 150,000 miles. Going back to what jseabolt said, depending on the condition they can certainly catch more than book value. When I was researching mine I saw '03's and '04's with 185,000+ still clearing the $10k mark. There were a couple of recalls on them, so you'd have to check with the dealer to see if they've been handled. If I'm remembering correctly it was something to do with a gas line breaking down at a pump. (I'm not exactly mechanically inclined, so I don't know all of the the specific parts/terms.) You probably could get the Outback/Legacy/Forester for a cheaper price, but depending on the care you put into your winter warrior, you could have a vehicle that'll get you a higher retail value if you ever decide to trade it in. Or, if it dies, you can get a good price for a lot of those parts that Baja owners can't find elsewhere.

I've got an inquiry in with the NYS DMV. I'll update the thread once I get a response from them. I'll also be emailing my insurance company to get their take on it. Maybe with some luck I'll even be able to open a project thread and post some pictures.

I'm probably not going to end up doing the mod, for the simple fact that my wife will most likely not be comfortable putting all 3 kids in the back seat of a vehicle I've retrofitted to fit 5 when she knows it should only be 4. And if it comes down to it and I can't get it to be legal and accepted by the insurance company then it's out of the question all together. But in the meantime, it's worth looking into how it would be done. That way I can convince the wife if it becomes a viable option in the future. You make a good point jmoss, I'll check with the DMV and see what they say.

I've also heard the same, that the backseat is interchangeable with other models in the same timeframes (2000-2004/5 or something like that). I'm not really concerned about the folding rear seat because I do not forsee having to open the back doorway to the bed portion of the vehicle. I've also seen threads on other forums (I don't recall which, or where), where the owner has removed the center cup holder/armrest and built in a cushion. The seatbelt I was thinking about just putting in a simple lap belt, doubling up where the other belts mount in, but I've heard that the load would be too much for those points as they're not rated for the additional weight. I know there are ways to do it, but I want to make sure that I choose the most legal course of action.

This is probably a stupid question, and I'm not even really sure why I am asking it. Maybe it is simply for the fact that I so desperately want the answer to be "yes" that I'll risk the embarassment of asking the question. Anyway, here it goes. Is there any LEGAL way to take a 2005 Baja, rated for 4 passengers, and modify/replace the back seat in order to accomodate a 5th passenger? There are 5 of us in my family, my wife really doesn't care that it has 4 seats. It would just be convenient if we didn't have to take 2 vehicles all the time if we were going somewhere that required the truck bed function of the Baja. It would also be convenient to go places her van cannot travel. I'm beginning to think I should have just went with the Forrester, but I just couldn't pull myself away from the Baja's innate abilities as an instant conversation starter and unique appearance.

Looks like fun.

Making me wish I'd just tried to part out my Santa Fe when she kicked the bucket, rather than selling her for 400. At least then I could've kept the tires...

Gotta love the pick-n-pull.

Evergreen also sells another kit that includes 2 Valve cover seals... http://www.amazon.com/Evergreen-TBK307VC-Subaru-Legacy-Timing/dp/B00NCJZG50/ref=sr_1_70?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1428418750&vehicle=2005-13-53-141-85-53-6-6-167-108-1-1-2784-18-1-0&sr=1-70&ymm=2005%3Asubaru%3Abaja