New to the Board, Picking up a 92 Legacy Wagon :)

[Buffman]

Hello From SouthWestern Michigan. Picking up a 1992 Subaru Legacy Wagon tomorrow. 2.2L AWD, Auto trans. 150K. Two owners, have all service records. I believe it to be a LS model? It has a moonroof, driver's and passenger(?) air bag, rear pass through on the seat. It's Tan/Tan.

It had the adjustable height suspension but 2yrs ago it was acting funny, so the owner had the suspension replaced with standard suspension to the tune of $2k @ the Dealer.. Timing Belts were replaced at 60K at the dealer also. Have to go through the rest of the service records, but it's in good running order. It needs TLC and some maintnenance, but it will be a good winter car. Definately needs new tires and brakes, as there was a lot of pedal travel and the rust on rust grinding noise when driving. (not sure how long it's been sitting) Not sure what else it needs until I get it home but it drove good on the test drive.

Had a few questions. I see the ABS light is on. Being this is an older model is there any way for me to pull the ABS codes myself, or will I have to pay a shop to get them?

The rear hatch doesn't open. seemed like something wrong with the handle? Is it a fairly easy fix, or would it be easier for me to go to the junk yard and pull a good working hatch?

Do these cars have a single key for the door locks and ignition, or standard keys; one for ignition and one for door locks. He only handed me one key when I test drove it so I was curious..

I also noticed the gas door is currently popped open, and doesn't stay closed. Easy Fix??

Any recommendations on engine oil based on any UOAs? Rear differentials like conventional gear oil or synthetic? I take it the front differential uses gear oil too? I'm new to subies and overall powertain layout so forgive me.

One last question. What is the widest tires you can install on these cars? I know they come with 185/70/14s, but want something a tad wider. 185 is too skinny for me even in the winter. I was thinking either a 195 or 205 if those would fit?

Ended up picking up the subaru as I've wanted an AWD car for the snow for awhile. I've been impressed with subarus, so it was nice to find this one, as even the beat up ones go FAST. It's replacing my 1991 Ford Ranger that had over 230K on it. IT got hit the end of july (turning into the gas station, guy hit me going 30mph), and with all it's rust, caused a lot of damage (ripped motor from motor mounts and bent control arm, etc)

I wish I could drive my summer car all year round, but I know the subaru will put a smile on my face

Summer Car..
http://videos.streetfire.net/video/Exha ... _81348.htm
http://videos.streetfire.net/video/LT1- ... 142476.htm

[entirelyturbo]

Welcome.

Pimp Buick! I always called them the Roadmonster

Be glad the air suspension was swapped out. I had it on my XT. What a nightmare.

ABS light could be a number of things. You should be able to pull the codes yourself. Ask Josh (Legacy777) if he has that page of the FSM posted on his website.

There should be one key for the whole car, unless a cylinder has been changed somewhere.

Stuff not staying closed, latches of course, and cables. Never replaced them, and rarely hear of them needing replacement.

Oils... I don't recommend synthetic. In any older car. Subarus already leak oil bad enough. Synthetic will just exasperate the problem.

195s or 205s will fit, so long as you don't get too tall of a profile.

Feel free to search, as there's volumes of info already posted on this site.

And get us some pics of the Subaru

[evolutionmovement]

The rear hatch problem is probably just the handle. I can't remember the exact fix, but the handle can be easily removed from under the tailgate garnish (everyone will try to sell you the whole thing) and accessed by removing the interior trim on the inside. I think there's a pin or something on the handle that can eventually break. It's one of the very few minor engineering faults. The inside door handles are the same way (a plastic pin fails, releasing the return spring for the handle so that it pushes against the lock switch, forcing it into the locked position and requiring you to hold the button open while pulling the handle to get out), but they can be pretty easily fixed with a piece of stiff wire.

Roadmaster's cool. Did you make the lights? I like it when people do something with the unexpected. There's too much conformity among the non-conformists that customize cars.

These Subarus are among the best cars ever built in terms of reliability, durability, ease and cheapness of repair, and fun to drive. The only bad point is that they're getting old now and there's nothing comparable to replace them with. My Mazda3, with all its rave reviews from retarded car magazines, is a complete POS compared to my 1990 wagon in every single way except that it holds the road better (at the expense of suspension travel, ride quality, and durability and thanks to much better tires which makes up for its worse weight distribution) and gets a couple mpgs better mileage.

[Buffman]

Thanks for the information. I'll have to get some pics when it stops raining. been raining for 3days non stop here in MI. Hopefully I can get started on working on it this week.

Yeah I got the key to work in all of the lock cylinders except the one in the hatch. Wouldn't turn, but probably for the same reason the handle is all messed up and won't open..

Yeah the lights on the car are custom. Although I probably could have fabricated them, my friend who developed the same style lights for the Impala SS/Caprice (94-96), did them. The most time consuming part was clearing the stock lenses. They use the very powerful Hella 90mm Projector (low) and free form reflector (high) that uses the h9 halogen bulb. I ended up putting HIDs in the lows as you can see in the picture.

[evolutionmovement]

I did the same exact thing with my wagon except used the Hellas for all four lights. How did you clear the lenses? I spent way too much time trying unsuccessfully to do that and eventually just cut them off and plastic welded a clear piece of polycarbonate in their place (which looks pretty decent). Trying to clear them just resulted in a wavy lens with small stress cracks around the edges. Maybe the lenses are an easier design to work with on the GMs? Were I to do it again, I'd get a single hi/low combo lamp since fitting it into the body would require a lot less fabrication.

[Buffman]

Im not sure how he cleared the lenses. I know he did a lot of sanding on his prototype he did on the Caprice Lense. Mine looked flawless when he sent them to me. I wish they had a projector setup available for these wagons. I've drviven around so much in my RMS with 6000 lumens of properly placed light, driving other cars at night is just horrible...

Matt

[ultrasonic]

...I wish they had a projector setup available for these wagons. I've drviven around so much in my RMS with 6000 lumens of properly placed light, driving other cars at night is just horrible...

Matt

Matt

European Legacy headlights are available, and are probably the best improvement for the least amount of work. They can be somewhat expensive, but the results are worth it. I installed the EDM glass units on my 91 SS and I'm working on acquiring a set for my 94 TW.

I agree, once you've driven a car with improved headlights, it's actually more distracting going back to a stock set up.

Search this forum for "EDM glass headlights" and you should find plenty of info.

[evolutionmovement]

Actually, on a facelift car, the Hella headlight conversion would be much simpler, but still more or less requires a plastic welder.

[Buffman]

Yeah I searched and found they had the glass equvilant for eurospecs that uses the h4. Similiar to the SS/Caprice got T84s in Europe Using the H4 (9004 over here) For the cost and minimal improvement, I'll probably just throw a low/hi set of HIDs in this car or some good fog lights with 100w bulbs