I am a new subaru owner and just want to share my working progress. A friend gave me this car for free and needs some work. Am planning to take it on a 2100 mile trip. I have a few months to get her ready. I replaced one steering boot, 1 CV joint, front break pads, broken head and corner light, polished the taiIights and used rims/tires. Engine runs very very nice and transmission shifts smoothly. The engine was rebuilt around 50k miles ago and the car has about 165000... Any suggestions are welcome!am going to upload more before and now pictures on the gallery...

Edited November 25, 201312 yr by Otxilac11

Welcome aboard USMB--you found a great place to help you with your Subie.

 

Good looking wagon.  Love the rims.  Is it FWD or AWD?  Auto or manual?

 

Just a word of caution--if it's AWD make sure your (used) tires match within 1/4" circumference (not diameter) or you could suffer torque bind and eat up your center diff.

 

Good luck--and keep us up on your progress.

Hello!

I am trying to upload new pictures of how its looking now but the site doesn't allow me to. It is a AWD manual transmission. Its so smooth shifting and handling is great. Am not sure about what you mean about the tires but the front ones are slightly smaller than rear...two are 235 and two are 245...am planning to put all 4 the same soon...

Olnick here are new shots

Olnick here are new shots

If I were you I wouldn't drive the car with mis-matched tires.  Sure way to ruin the viscous coupling that connects the front and rear diffs.  And that is a very expensive repair.

 

Search "torque bind" here on USMB (or Google "Subaru AWD torque bind") and read up on it.

Hey, looking gooood!  Nice job on the headlight & fender. 

Ok i read quite a bit about it. My 245s in the back are worn down alot but to be safe i will order two new tires to match my front ones. Thanks for the heads up!!

Ok i read quite a bit about it. My 245s in the back are worn down alot but to be safe i will order two new tires to match my front ones. Thanks for the heads up!!

 

Depending on how worn the fronts are, mixing new and used is not the best idea either. It is generally best to replace all 4 at the same time with matching tires all the way around - matching in brand, size and treadwear.

 

measure the circumference (tread) of the existing front tires, and a "new" matching tire (mounted and aired to proper psi) - the measurements need to be within 1/4" to be safe from damaging the AWD system.

Edited November 30, 201312 yr by heartless

I got all new tires on it the following day! Thanks a lot! I am happy with the car but need to work on some things before my long trip. I took her for a 260 mile trip this week with 4 people in the car and she runs like a swiss watch. I was doing 70-78 mph on 5th gear at 3000rpm depending on the wind. I did mostly highway and when I got home I still had gas in the tank so am probably doing about 280-290 miles per tank. I need to change the suspension in the rear and the muffler. The muffler has some holes that I poked checking the rust and its very loud and it rumbles very deep. I like the sound but I don't want to have that for hours on the road. I am thinking of putting a magna flow oval muffler. Any suggestion on the suspension and muffler? Thanks!

Installed a muffler. Happy with this Magnaflow because it sounds nice and is not loud. Now i need to find a suspension...i dont want to pay 700 for a strutmaster but i dont know what else to do...advice anyone?thanks!!

Thanks for the update.  Is she still running good?  Ready for that long trip?

 

I'd suggest you ask your suspension questions in the New Generation forum--you'll get more response there.  KYB struts are generally considered the best replacements.  Or maybe you could find used at a Pull n' Pay yard--or at the used parts website.

 

Good luck!

Thanks Olnick! She is running better than ever! The only thing stopping me from taking her on the trip is the winter and the suspension. As soon as it warms up in the northwest and i have my suspension in i am taking off! Thanks!