After one TSD in his 06 STi and a DNF due to a transmission problem, we decided to look around for an older Subaru we could beat up a bit, and not take a high hit, should the worst happen.
In March I think it was of 08 we purchase a very well maintained 91 Legacy SS from a vendor on our local forum. He had aspirations of making it a rally car, but a family, and lack of parking is what I think brought this beauty to our hands...
Here are pics of the car before we bought it:
Along with the purchase of the car we received two BRAND new fenders and two new Struts for the rear. The car was in VERY good shape for a 17 year old car pushing 300,000 kms. The only mods done to the car was a WRX downpipe and Injen 3" exhaust. This alone was enough to make the car sound mean, and run quite well. Here are a pic of the engine bay as we got it:
and the exhaust:
The interior was in decent shape but most of it would eventually be getting gutted anyway:
So now we had the car in our hot little hands...
The rear struts were ok, but we had a rally coming up and we had the struts so that was the first thing we did:
Then we prepped it with a few decals because we all know DECALS=HP+5... lol
and with that we were off to another TSD rally:
The next big project inspired by 94ss_Canada was a TD04 swap and TMIC from an 06 WRX... as many of you know, one of the issues with installing a TMIC is the coolant reservoir needed to be relocated, some lines ran and a 90* elbow added for the turbo inlet.
So after several days up on jacks on elbows deep in dirt we got the old VF-11 out, the TD04 in and realized we didn't have the oil return line... so off to the dealership I went. A week later we finally got the turbo in, and began working on the 90* elbow and mating up to the charge pipes on the IC... it took a couple of Vibrant elbows, a little patience and what we had was a new(er) turbo (with stock heat shield) and a TMIC in our Legacy:
Relocated coolant reservoir:
Heat Shield and TMIC:
One thing we weren't able to complete initially was the adapter for the BPV to attach to the IC so we just jammed it in there RFT...
it worked... but then a good friend who is now our official welding sponsor made this little beaut:
You can see where we tapped for the Boost gauge in the above pic, and with the boost gauge, also came a TurboSmart MBC:
and here is the current finished engine bay:
Pretty happy with the results. Car is boosting about 10-11psi and seems to run quite strong. There is a small oil leak I think on the oil feed line, so that'll have to be checked this winter when we start working on the car again.
Since these pics we've removed a couple decals and replaced one of the rear brake calipers and done some regular maintenance...
Still in the works are a custom skid plate a light bar and likely a rad shroud. And if we can find these; some shifter bushings, some beefier sways and maybe a strut bar (the old one won't fit over the TMIC and is for sale!!!)
And here's how you might see one of us driving around town with my 05 Legacy wheels on it:
We've got a set of Kumho KW19 in 185/65/15's we use for the gravel/mud/snow events that are not too bad, but we're starting to look at proper gravel rally tires.
Our next rally is Sept 20th and is an over night rally... running loops on rutted gravel oils roads... good times!
If all goes as planned, we'd like to start stripping the car down over the winter to cage it, and who knows what will happen from there!!
