1982gl4's 1992 Legacy L (pic heavy)

[1982gl4]

Hey new here, this is kind of an intro, I've been a huge subaru fan, loving them all. I picked up a Brat as my first car (still have it) and I haven't stopped adding to my collection yet. This is my 1992 legacy L My Dad picked up off from craigslist. He found the car needing some work, but it was originally from the Northwest and had only spent one year in VT leaving the car in pristine condition. When I found this out I ended up selling my old legacy (a sad day) leaving me money to purchase this (a steal at $500) and do some modifications to make the car a bit more me.

Here is the mod list as of right now.

Exterior Mods:
Gt Lip kit
Gt Badging
Forester S 16" wheels
Red Rally armor UR mud flaps
Hella Fogs
custom painted badge
1997 LGT hatch spoiler
Blacked out tailgate
JDM'D tails
1982 GL skid plate
Projector Headlights built by me
Turbo Grill

Engine/Drivetrain mods:
Cat back W/ wrx muffler
Modded intake
Five speed swap
1997 outback 4:11 gears

Interior Mods:
02 WRX front seats
02 wrx rear seat
Forester Compass
Kenwood Stereo
JVC 6" speakers
1991 Legacy single color door cards
1991 five speed center console

Brakes:
Stock rears
LGT Front dual piston

Suspension:
Wrx Kyb Gr2'ss
stock springs
1997 OB rear sway bar

My Old legacy that I sold to get this one, had a few mods including a cat back, and outback suspension.


This is it the first time I saw it. Vw wheels and all.





It was auto to start with the first thing done was fixing the front fender followed by getting another fist gen legacy wagon with a five speed to swap into mine. I didn't use the trans as I wanted to use a spare 4.11 outback trans I had. But I got all the trim pieces along with other bits. I also got a pair of color matched GT mirrors, along with GT badges off from another parts car I picked up.



Too bad it was so rusty I love the flat fronts!


Up Next Rally armors were added followed by hellas and a GT lip kit off from the other parts car.



Up next the five speed

[1982gl4]

Wrx Seats followed in the front. They fit in well with the Blue interior.



Took the orange out of my Tails


New kyb Gr2's for an 02 wrx followed along with forester s wheels and dual piston front calipers.


Shortly after I blacked out my rear hatch, and put an lgt spoiler on. Breaking my rear window in the process as I welded the dust deflectors holes shut. A piece of slag fell on the window. Oddly enough it didn't break but when I came out in the morning most of it was on my cargo cover...



I was happy with the way it looked out back, so I started focusing on the front making my own projector headlights and buying a turbo grill off from a local forum member.



I then got a new stereo. The foz compass was one of the first things done to the car as I had it in my last legacy which I swapped all the good parts on to my new one before selling it



My most resent mod was an 02 wrx rear seat which involved a bit of modification, but fits very well.






And that about sums it up. I do have a few more plans left. including making a scooped hood using a spare I have and a 97 outback hood. I also just picked up a rear diff skid plate I'll be installing. I also plan on making a front light bar/skid plate to protect my front end a bit better. And I may do something with the engine eventually. Most likely that will be a 2.5/2.2 hybrid.

[HomeSlice]

some nice subarus there. i like those custom tails! cool compass pack. i wanna do that in my gf 93gc. keep up the good work!

[Legacy777]

Yeah, looks good!

Got any detailed pics on what you did for your headlight projector conversion?

[1982gl4]

Thanks guys. I do have pics of my headlight conversion. It was a pain, and they don't have as good of a cut off as I would like, but are a vast improvement over the stock lights (not that it would take much...)

Started by baking some spares in the oven and removing then lenses.


Then spent hours sanding down the fluting on the back to make the lenses clear, getting the corners semi smooth was a chore in itself. Ended up using a combo of a dremel and a 90* grinder with a fiberglass pad on it along with some hand sanding including 80 grit to start and 180, and I think I finished with 400.



Then I used a 3m headlight buffing kit on both the inside and outsides of the lenses.


These are the projectors I ended up getting.


I had to grind out the back of the bucket to fit the new projectors.


Painted the chrome black along with the projector housings.




Then I put them back in the oven to reheat the glue, and put the lenses on after epoxying the housings into the buckets. I also ran a beed of silicon along the bottom of the housing, and between it and the bucket to prevent vibration.


And thats about it besides some wiring.

[Legacy777]

Looks good!

I actually used a similar method to clear the exterior of the headlights, which you can see here:

http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=739

I think clear coating them provides a little clearer lense than just using the polishing kits. I know you don't probably want to open them up again, but just a note for anyone else that may try it

[1982gl4]

Ordered some UEL headers for this! I'll have to swap the cat with the one on the outback in order for them to work, but that should be very doable. I also met up with the owner of my old legacy, she's working at the state now, and can hook me up with some road signs, so this will hopefully have some bash plates for this winter!

[Danny-G]

I hope those projectors aren't super close to the lense like mine are, mine have started to melt the lenses from being so close. For a skid/bash plate, I found the wrong way sign to be a good fit overall. A bit long but a saw can fix that, and its not too wide so it clears all the suspension bits. I had one on my sedan untill it caught the ground while I was backing up in the mud, that did it in. Theres a few pictures of it in the "What did you do to your Subie today?" thread, a few pages back.

[92wagon]

Looks good man! How did you do the custom tails? I really like those!

[1982gl4]

I haven't had an issue with the lenses getting hot yet. Thanks for the pointer though. I'll make sure they aren't going to melt! For signs i picked up a bunch of them. One is so large it will not fit in the back of the car, I had to use the company pickup to get it back to the shop! I think I'm going to settle on the merge sign, as it seems the most appropriately sized. I'll post pics in a few weeks when I build it.

92wagon, the tails are pretty simple. You can heat them in the oven (would recommend this method), or use a heat gun to warm up the glue that holds the lenses to the rest of the light. Once it is warm enough you will be able to separate the two sections.





You then remove this section.


Simply warm it back up to reactivate the glue, stick the two sides back together, and you're done.

[oldscoobyturbo]

is the back seat you swapped from a wagon?

[1982gl4]

is the back seat you swapped from a wagon?

Yes it is. The sedan rear seats attach differently from the wagons. It would be hard to make a sedan seat work due to the attachment points, and the fact that they don't have enough support without the supporting metal behind them.

[kimokalihi]

Tail lights look way better without the orange lenses. I did a writeup on this a while back. Vast improvement in the looks of the car I think. I put mine in the oven but the heat gun might be easier and less risky. I melted one light the first time since my oven only went as low as 250 and I left it in too long.

[1982gl4]

I'd do the oven if I where to do it again, it takes a while to do with the heat gun, and you have a higher risk of breaking them, ask me how I know....

Here's a pic of the goodies I just got in.

New headers


My underside protection


I need to take the cat off my outback parts so I have the right type of car for the header. I'll have to make it work with the rest of my system, but that shouldn't be an issue as I work at an exhaust shop

I also have to grab a few other things of the outback, I think I can make the tweeters work in my doors, I also still need to make that hood I have been planing on for ages...

The car needs a bit of work before winter, I'll have to change all the fluids, needs hoses this year, touch up the little bit of rust on the hatch, fender, and door. I also have to reseal the oil pan as I never got to it last year, that cork gasket sketches me out. I have no idea why anyone would have put one of those in. So a fair amount of work before winter, but it should make for some good thread updates!

[1982gl4]

Put a new oil pan on tonight. Unfortunately there was some clearance issues between the larger style oil pan and the headers so some modifications where made (hammer). The headers went on pretty easy after that after modifying the new style converter (The flange was rusty, so I replaced it) I also have a wheel bearing on its way out. Really started making noise today, I'll be putting one in the right front in the next few days.





I have a video as well if anyone wants to give it a listen. Current set up is UEL headers, new style cat, glass pack in the center pipe, and a 2002 wrx axel back.


http://s1207.photobucket.com/albums/bb4 ... G_0890.mp4

[SiCkSTi04]

Put a new oil pan on tonight. Unfortunately there was some clearance issues between the larger style oil pan and the headers so some modifications where made (hammer). The headers went on pretty easy after that after modifying the new style converter (The flange was rusty, so I replaced it) I also have a wheel bearing on its way out. Really started making noise today, I'll be putting one in the right front in the next few days.

Did the larger oil pan come from a newer style subaru?

[1982gl4]

The larger oil pan came off from a 2.5 outback around a 1997 or so.

I've done a bit more work since my last post. Last nights project looked a bit like this.

It is so much nicer with the new bearing installed. I only drove it with the bad one for a day before I couldn't take it anymore!

Also I snapped a quick photo when I got home. Fall colors are really setting in around here...

[Someperson]

where did you find those headers?

[1982gl4]

where did you find those headers?

I got them off from ebay, for $139 they seem to be very well built. They are by no means a direct swap, but with a newer style cat, and some welding work it fits well, and I'm happy with the results.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/97-98-05-Subaru ... ed&vxp=mtr

[1982gl4]

I will say I did in no way steal the sighs I'm using. They were given to me by the state garage down the street from where I work for this purpose.

Tonight I stayed after work for a while and decided to mount my road sign. Came out pretty well. I still have some more mounts to make for it and attach it in a few more spots. I also may add another small section that goes from the current skit plate to the transmission crossmember. Over all I'm very pleased with it.



These are the rear mounts I made tonight using some square stock, nuts, and plate steel. They mount to the plate below the power steering rack.


I also undercoated this last week. I'm doing my best to keep the rust and salt away. I used a new product I have never used before. Its called Fluid Film. I'm interested to see how it hold up over this winter. So far I'm very happy with how it sprayed, and how it has stuck to the car.

[1982gl4]

Got some snow last night. The roads were quite bad, a lot of people were off the road due to ice even the plow trucks were having issues, as usual the Subaru had no issues at all

For some reason this car always looks better in the winter.

[1982gl4]

Started working on this getting ready for winter/ an upcoming trip. I have a bunch left to do in the next week or so. But tonight I started by replacing the starter contacts, and buffing it as the paint was looking pretty sad.

Very worn starter contacts


Contact kit.


New ones installed


Cleaned up a bit, I have legacy turbo wheels on it for now as I have no need for studded snows for the trip I have planned.





I still have to do the timing belt, plugs and wires, filters, all the hose clamps are looking rusty, radiator hoses trans and diff oil, touch up a couple of rust spots, and I now have to fix the passenger side seat belt as that stopped working the other day.

[1982gl4]

Got the timing belt done, tune up stuff all taken care of and undercoated the front half of it. I also changed the diff and trans oil, and put a new fuel filter in. Took me forever to do the timing belt because the bracket for the tensioner stripped out and I had to come home to get another one. It was a good thing due to the timing covers all being broken, I was able to grab the spare set I had at home. It should all be set now. I'll I need to fix is the seatbelt and it will be set for the road trip!

All new parts!


Picture with the SS

[1982gl4]

Thanks to this forum I fixed my seat belt. I was checking the wiring using diagrams I found on here, and tracing the wiring and found a bad connector at the door, some waterproof connectors later and we are good!

[Legacy777]

Glad to hear the wiring diagrams helped and you got things working again.