legacycentral bbs

Hey there, it's my first post, and i just recently purchased a 91 Legacy L N/A EJ22 from a family member. i've already cleaned up the headlights thanks to Legacy777 and got a new stereo put in already as well.... what i'm looking for in this post is a couple of things...

In 3 days i'm moving to North Carolina, and i'm moving away from all my friends that make up my knowledge-base of car stuff... so i'm going to be relying on all of you for all my subaru based questions..

My second objective is... what else can i do to my car? kind of a broad question, and i know that with over 100k topics on this forum there's already a wealth of information to choose from... my problem is for the most part i'm used to working on jeeps and trucks, so this little sedan is somewhat of a mystery to me. i know how to use the search function and i can find answers to a lot of questions, but i'm just wondering if one of you who has already spent some time upgrading a similar car could tell me what you've done so that i can know what topics will apply to my particular vehicle.

thanks a ton in advance!

Myles

if you want it to go faster, there's very few things that can be done to get any noticable gains.

it dosnt necessarily have to go faster, upgrades to sound, handling, looks or just minor increases in performance would be good enough for me...

Marbles wrote:it dosnt necessarily have to go faster, upgrades to sound, handling, looks or just minor increases in performance would be good enough for me...

Oh, I like this guy!

Handling is an EXCELLENT choice! It'll change the feel of your car dramatically, and, with the right components, you can make that infinitlely tuneable. (camber plates, etc)

If you don't yet have wheels/tires, do that. Brakes are a good upgrade, too. You can't put a price on real stopping power.

Oh, I'll be a mentor if you like, I'm good at corrupting others.

91legacy_sleeper wrote:I'm good at corrupting others.

rofl, right on! my girlfriend and my mom would probably tell you that i dont really need any more corruption when it comes to moving vehicles... but i'm always up to new and exciting ways to spend money on cars

Best things you can do is get some decent cheap wheels like WRXs or Forester (more $) and some good tires with KYB GR-2 struts. Other than that, just make sure everything's in good shape. The stock brakes are pretty good, but if they bneed work, I recommend cryo-treated rotors and high performance pads, plus make sure the brakes are bled. It's easy to make these cars a lot of reliable fun with fine gas mileage. Going the next level takes a lot more money.

Steve

Welcome to the 1991 Legacy L club. Population: You, me, and Josh.

If I were you, I'd start with the grounding mod. It worked wonders on my car. I'd also suggest you seafoam the manifold...it's very worthwhile.

Manarius wrote:Welcome to the 1991 Legacy L club. Population: You, me, and Josh.

Ahem...

My Legacy is a 1991 L, and Josh's is a 1990.

Josh and i are in the '90 club. w00t.

Struts and a few select bushings will really make the car feel better. I have a lot of fun with my very lightly modified L. There's not a lot out there for go fast goodies that will make a real improvement.

Change all the fluids, check the brakes and cv joint boots, do the plugs and air filter.

scottzg wrote:Josh and i are in the '90 club. w00t.

W3rd h0m3z

woot, thanks for all the awesome advice. i'm driving off to NC now gonna tack on another 3000 miles onto my car.. when i get out there i'll set up the internet and be back online. looking forward to setting my car up all sorts of new gear once i get settled in

talk to you all later, i'm hitting the road!

subyluvr2212 wrote:

Manarius wrote:Welcome to the 1991 Legacy L club. Population: You, me, and Josh.

Ahem...

My Legacy is a 1991 L, and Josh's is a 1990.

Pssh...no one can tell a difference between my 91 and his 90. They're the same color. I do have a '91 L though. And it is AWD with an auto.

Woot! i'm in North Carolina now! my little subi made the voyage of 3000 miles like a champ! it's an automatic, and with overdrive on, i never went above 3500rpm at 90mph.

so, down to business, since money is a little more than just tight, i probably wont be springing for any major enhancements just yet. i still need to find a job first but i'll ask some questions and see if i can get some information out of the new 91 club i'm a member of for suspension... any brand i should look into in particular? i'm planning on getting some 16" '02 wrx wheels next spring if i can afford it..(hopefully without the RE's) but i figure i'll get rid of the stock suspension as soon as possible. also, any idea how much the suspension would cost?

next, changing the sound. i've read all these articles about de-snorkeling the intake.. but the links to the pictures on how to do it are a little mystifying. i found a short ram air intake from dragon (Weapon W model i think) and it says it fits my car.. should i just convert to one of those and reset the ECU? or should i go about a little more home-brew methods to change the intake volume at speed.

those are the two pressing questions i have at the moment... but i'm sure i'll have more later...

i'm off to go find work

My suggestions as far as suspension are whiteline springs and kyb AGX struts. If you have the money, group N top mounts, if not, junkyard top mounts from a 92-94 legacy. A swaybar will do loads to help keep understeer in check as well, a very worthwhile investment. RE tires are not all bad, it's pretty much just the re92 that's pure garbage. I have RE950's on my stock turbo wheels(they're all season versions of the RE750s) and they're great tires. I have a fair bit of trouble getting them to break loose at autocross events.

As far as an intake goes, it will do next to nothing to performance, but rather just make your car sound like a honda, and make your engine bay shiny. To desnorkify your intake, jack up the car, pull the passenger side front tire off, pull the fender liner back, and you'll see an oddly shaped white plastic box. rip that out, put the fender liner back in, replace wheel, lower car, and you've just desnorkified your car.

Do you have 40-50 bucks and want to struggle below the car for a while. Then you need to pick up Whitelines steering rack bushings and a shifter bushing. Odds are your OE bushings are in rough shape if they even exist anymore. The shifter bushings go for 10bucks all day on Ebay and the steering rack bushings can be found at quite a few suby-e-tailers. The rack bushing is a pain but soooooo worth it.

Marbles wrote:In 3 days i'm moving to North Carolina

If you're short on cash, instead of doing stuff TO your car, you could do stuff WITH you car. That's more funner and more cheaper.

How about the RallyCross in Four Oaks, NC this Saturday?
http://www.thscc.com/rallycross/events/ ... 7info.html

Me and a friend will be there. Good place to meet other NC Subbie addicts, too.

Rallysam: wish i'd seen your reply when i could have made it... how far away is four oaks from boone? because i'd love to head out to a rally, if not to compete, just to watch other people and see what's happening. i was thinking about heading down to that subaru convention in maggie valley on october 1st.

Laurel:
thanks for the help with the de-snork... now i just have to find someone with a jack i'm going to go price out whiteline springs today... should i buy the new suspension before or after i get new tires... i probably wont get either till next spring since it's about to start snowing and i got 14" A/T's on there right now and i might as well stick with em untill the pavement clears.

G-Reg:
thanks for the tip on the bushings... as soon as my internet at my house gets hooked up i'll probably get that started... i'm not afraid to do something difficult to my car, as long as i can find some friends in town that have a jack i can use

The next rallycross is Nov 19th. Not sure how far away it is from you. You could always Mapquest it.

whew! just worked my first week at my new job.... took me a month to find one out here... dont need to worry about finding a friend with a jack anymore though... i work at the subaru dealership! i'm working in the parts department right now... and with good behavior i can get moved up to sales...

So, if any of you need to know the exact part numbers for any year/make/model.. i'm your man

anyways, back to work, i'll post again tomorrow or something

It took you a month? I heard there were jobs a plenty down there. What is it like?

congrats!!!

so do you get to use their garage and tools?
or get sweet deals to get work done, not that that is as much fun...

rock on man, you should know more than most of us (but not be wiser ) about subarus fairly soon...

Maybe I'll get a job at the Subie dealership That would be sweet

Tleg93 wrote:It took you a month? I heard there were jobs a plenty down there. What is it like?

Yeah, apparently there isn't i put in like 30 applications, and i happened to stumble in to subaru just on a whim.. and they were like... we need a parts guy. It took like a week and a half of pushing on them to finally get a job.
and let me tell you, it freaking rocks to work here... i'm in subaru heaven!

Busdriver wrote:congrats!!!

so do you get to use their garage and tools?
or get sweet deals to get work done, not that that is as much fun...

i havn't asked to use the garage yet, since i've only been working here a week.. but i do get 25% off on all services and i get all parts at 10% over cost.

I looked up Boone. Not exactly near any big cities, are ya?

Asheville and Charlotte are the closest... Asheville is like an hour and a half... and Charlotte is about 2 i think.. i havn't been to either yet