firstwagon

They have them listed here along with some other suspension upgrades.... http://www.pdm-racing.com/products/subaru_corner.html

Yeah, I remember hearing about those now. Never seen one though, they weren't available in Canada. I seem to remember the goverment studying them and deciding the weren't as safe as a conventional seatbelt. My 91 Legacy just has the normal belts.

Just curious, what do you mean by an "automatic seatbelt"?

The factory size was 185/70R14 by my owners manual. An 80 series tire is taller and bigger in diameter. Thus you will have lower revs at hwy speed the with a 75 series tire. You won't notice it on the tach though as you will be just going a little faster for any given rpm (that's why you speedo was off). I run 195/65R14 on my 1st gen Legacy wagon, same diameter as stock and a little better handling.

Interesting. How bad is it wrecked and how much can you use?

My wagon is a 91. However since I am replacing everything, I don't see any reason why I can't use the newer (and easier to find) parts.

No problem with the top diameter as I have no springs right now.... air suspension. I'll have to buy strut mounts, struts and all the assorted nuts and bolts in order to assemble the struts (i.e. this picture.... http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic.php?t=2153 I like the idea of lowering it a little (inch or so but not "slammed"). Since I will be replacing the entire suspension, might as well see if I can improve the handling to better then new.

I've been living with a wonky air suspension for a couple years because money has been tight and I keep finding ways to fix it. However it's acting up again and I think since the weather is nice I should change it now before I end up doing it in the driveway in the winter. I was thinking of Whiteline springs from here.... http://www.pdm-racing.com/products/subaru_corner.html For $320. Then I found these for less... http://www.boxer4racing.com/ $249 for Eibach or H&R Sport. Anyone have experience with any of them?

I agree with the O2 sensor suggestions. A few years back I owned a 91 Trooper. It normally got 18 mpg (city or hwy, didn't matter). It suddenly fell to 12 mpg but no CEL. On a friends suggestion I changed the O2 sensor and right back to 18 mpg. On my 91 Legacy, I consistently average 10 L/100km in the winter (24 mpg) and 9 L/100km (26 mpg) in the summer. Normal Hwy is 8.0 L/100 km (30 mpg) at 75 mph and all time best on a slow drive to Whistler is 7.1 L/100km (about 34 mpg?) (B.T.W. still miss my old Trooper, best beater offroader I ever had, only weak part was the absurdly underpowered 2.8 Chevy V6.)

US gallons or Imperial? The US uses their own size gallon (4 quarts) instead of the Imperial gallon (5 quarts). 35 MPG works out to 28 US.

So far I've checked Canadian Tire, LordCo and Walmart. No luck. Is Techron the name of the product? My guage reads empty after 400 km (250 miles) but I can only put in 40 litres (holds 60 litres) at that point. I have never seen my low fuel light come on because I'll only run around on empty for so many days before I chicken out. Most I have put in at one time is 53 litres.

Where do you get Techron? I can't find anything called that (or claiming the ingrediant) at the local auto parts stores.

If they have no wheel play, how do you tell which one is bad? I too have a "bad bearing like noise" coming from the rear of my wagon but I can't seem to tell which side the sound is coming from. I jacked up the rear of the car and found no play or roughness on either side. Without taking everything apart, how do you tell which one? I suppose it could be both bearing but I'm hoping for one only. It could be the diff but there's no clunking sounds, just a low rumble like an off road tire.

91 Legacy LS wagon. 210,000 km (mostly city). Original automatic, no repairs. (I'd still rather have a manual though)

Here's a good site to read... http://www.legacycentral.org/library.htm

ERICEM's from Ontario so I think he's referring to KM (not miles) and CDN buck (85 cent US). Also the price varies depending where you are. Check out what 1st gen Legacys go for in British Columbia.... http://www.buysell.com/search/resultsvr2.aspx?pshcat=keyword&qu=subaru%20legacy&id=2126&id=2128&id=2130&id=2132&id=2134

Sorry if someone posted this already but does anyone know any details on this new engine? http://blogs.edmunds.com/Straightline/Comments/2422

I very consistantly average 9.0 L/100 km (26 mpg US) in the summer and 10 L/100km (24 mpg US) in the winter during my daily commute. Putting the fuse in made no difference and running on premium made it slightly worse. My best at normal hwy speeds (75 mph)was 8.2 L/100km (about 29 mpg) and my all time best on a long slow country drive was 33 mpg going up to Whistler and back last summer. 91 Legacy LS AWD and auto

When we got a foot and half of snow last November, I spent a bunch of time experiment with the ride height. With air suspension raised, I have at least as much ground clearance as an OBW and lowered I'm more like a WRX (in height, not handling). Even in snow that I plowing with my bumper, the high position didn't make as much difference as I thought. I have good winter all season tires and the car has so much grip that it went through everything regardless of height. It did cut down on the scary scaping noises you hear under the car when driving through frozen slush snowbanks though.

The long haul is a tough thing to say when you are driving a 16 year old car. This car has already done "the long haul" and while I could easily spend a few thousand on preventative maintainence (just to be safe), it's not always worthwhile on cars that only cost a few thousand. The best thing to do is to prompt on the regular maintainence (i.e. oil changes, tire pressure, brake pads) and worry about the big things when they happen. Like I said too, I'll change the timing belt next summer ( when it warms up, I don't have a garage). I agree records would add to the value of the car but this one was completely rust free, no accidents (checked with insurance company), local, aircared (has never failed since new). It's fully loaded and everything worked. No scatches or dents and original paint. It looked and drove like new unlike everything else I had looked at in the same price range. It just happened to be at a dealer that gets their cars wholesale from local new car dealers, thus no maintainence records or anyway to talk to the original owner.

Trouble with that comment is when you buy one used. Unless it comes with service records, how do you know if has been changed and when? I bought my 91 with 100,000 miles on it. It should have been changed once but I don't know for sure. I could just go ahead and change it anyway but that's a lot of work (or money) wasted if it was just done 10,000 miles before. I plan to change it next summer as part of routine maintenance but at least I don't know to worry about destroying my engine if I guessed wrong.

I was reading through all the "positive comments". It must have took them and their friends quite a while to type all the B.S. compliments. Crap like that tries to trick the sensors to make the engine put out more power. It has little or no effect despite what all the "thrilled customers" say.

Advantage of the Laser over the SVX is it was half the price and came with a 5 speed manual trans.

Rotating the tires is a good suggestion. They are due anyhow. I was about to go out and try feeling the coil springs when I gave myself a slap in the head. My car does not have coils. I can check for vibration in the air struts but I doubt the rubber bags would transmit as well.

I also have noise that sounds like a bearing in the rear of my 91 Legacy. Trouble is I can't tell which side it's coming from. I jacked up the car and put it on jack stands. None of the wheels had any play or roughness when turning. I suppose I could change both rear bearing but I would rather just do the bad one. Without taking everything apart, how can you tell the bad one? (Unless of course both are bad)