legacycentral bbs

hi guys i'm new to the site and had a couple of questions but had no freaking idea on where to post them. so here goes. i'm want to buy a 91-94 legacy, but don't know what to get. i could get a touring wagon but would prefer a manual tranny, although i prefer the touring wagons looks and engine. i really don't want a sedan for cargo purposes.... and wagons just kick ass. also i was wondering how the 4eat's handle in the snow as i love to slide/drift and don't want to own a car i can't have fun in up here in montana. like can i use the e-brake in the auto's to initiate a slide/ control it, and how easy is it to control a slide in the auto's. i know that in my friends 97 legacy that the e-brake locks all four tires but was wondering if thats the same for these earlier models.
any help is going to be awesome. and sorry for the noob questions... i'm an rx-7 guy and have never owned anything else.

oh and mods if this is in the wrong section would you move it for me.

Tony

Touring Wagons are 92-94 only and they don't have 5MT's.

4EAT's work just fine in sliding and drifting in snow.

Our E-Brakes only lock the rear wheels.

Legacy Touring Wagons and Sport Sedans all have the same engine, the EJ22T, so no worries there.

If you can find a manual SS, grab it. They rare.

A "built"4eat is worht considering.

Manarius wrote:Our E-Brakes only lock the rear wheels.

While this is true, it is NOT recommended to use the E-brake to initiate a slide, or any other general fucking around, in an AWD vehicle. Rear tires are still linked to the fronts.

^^ it shouldn't matter if the clutch is depressed though correct?

It'll still put a lot of strain on the center diff

if you can find a touring wagon, get it. they are pretty rare.
yes, legacy wagons rule for carrying capacity. I could rattle off all the huge loads Ive carried but Ill spare you.
4eat's are ok for messing around in the snow, but the kickdown is really annoying. you can leave it in 1st gear for 50/50 torque split and no shifting, but then you arent going very fast.
However, I definitely wouldnt mind a built 4eat with hard shifts and full manual.
wagons have stiffer rear springs than front, and more weight over the rear also so they step out pretty easily.

Binford wrote:

Manarius wrote:Our E-Brakes only lock the rear wheels.

While this is true, it is NOT recommended to use the E-brake to initiate a slide, or any other general fucking around, in an AWD vehicle. Rear tires are still linked to the fronts.

Well of course not. I never have done an e-brake slide. I just know that it only locks the rears.

IMHO The e-brakes on these cars are crap, they don't really lock the wheels, but I am guessing that could cause problems since they are AWD.

Mine will roll if I park it on a moderately steep hill.

Imprezive wrote:Mine will roll if I park it on a moderately steep hill.

That usually means that something's wrong with it.

Imprezive wrote:IMHO The e-brakes on these cars are crap, they don't really lock the wheels, but I am guessing that could cause problems since they are AWD.

Mine will roll if I park it on a moderately steep hill.

replace your rear brakes.

keep the car in 5th gear + rear brakes = car no moving.

(or reverse, depending on which way the car is facing down the hill)

E-braking isn't THAT bad for the car if you do it in moderation. But people are right about one thing, in my Subaru 5MT's, the e-brake was never that great at initiating a drift becacuse the center diff re-distributes the breaking force to the front. Fresh e-brake pads would probably help, but that center diff is still going to try to keep things tame.

Now AT is totally different and cooler in this respect. I remember hearing that a couple people on here ran a wire from the e-brake to the FWD fuse to instantly disconnect the rear wheels and allow them to lock whenever you pulled the handle. I've never tried, so I can't vouch for whether that does anything bad, but that is super cool.

Anyways, e-braking is cheating. It's more fun to use the pedals and weight transfer to get oversteer or understeer or whatever you want. These Legacies are pretty nice and neutral anyway, much more neutral than my impreza, so you don't need heavy-handed tactics to get oversteer.

scuzzy wrote:
keep the car in 5th gear + rear brakes = car no moving.

why 5th? I think the best choices woudl be 1st gear or R. The car should have a much easier time rolling away in 5th due to the gear ratio.

Agreed, I would use the smallest gear available to me for the direction of potential motion. Of course, not much thought given to this sort of thing when there's no hills.

The engine would have to turn over many more times for a single tire rotation in a lower gear = harder for gravity to do from the tires.

My 5MT SS has a FWD fusable link; is this only active on the 4EATs? I've never thought there'd be a useful situation other than limping without a driveshaft that I'd have to use that FWD fuse... but linking it to the e-brake is a damn good idea. Cheating with the e-brake is very fun in FWD cars, I'd never done it with the Legacy...

free5ty1e wrote: My 5MT SS has a FWD fusable link; is this only active on the 4EATs?

That's my understanding. The fuse works on the 4EATs because they have a electrical solenoid that runs the center which can be disabled. The 5MTs have a viscous center which you have no control over.

Rats. I was hoping Subaru had figured out some magical way to disable the rear output. That's still not a good enough reason for me to want an autotragic...

rallysam wrote:I remember hearing that a couple people on here ran a wire from the e-brake to the FWD fuse to instantly disconnect the rear wheels and allow them to lock whenever you pulled the handle. I've never tried, so I can't vouch for whether that does anything bad, but that is super cool.

won't you end up saying good bye to Duty Solenoid C in a very short time? not like it won't be fun though

rallysam wrote:

scuzzy wrote:
keep the car in 5th gear + rear brakes = car no moving.

why 5th? I think the best choices woudl be 1st gear or R. The car should have a much easier time rolling away in 5th due to the gear ratio.

yes, 1st and R are the best, and the parking brake should hold the car on any hill if it is working properly. It definitely locks the rear wheels on my car! But I've only done that once, won't do it again, I dont' need the e-brake to initate a slide in slippery weather, the rear wheels do the trick fine

corsair wrote:

rallysam wrote:I remember hearing that a couple people on here ran a wire from the e-brake to the FWD fuse to instantly disconnect the rear wheels and allow them to lock whenever you pulled the handle. I've never tried, so I can't vouch for whether that does anything bad, but that is super cool.

won't you end up saying good bye to Duty Solenoid C in a very short time? not like it won't be fun though

Well, normally you use that fuse trick for hours at a time for towing purposes, right? How is would the e-brake trick be worse than that? The wire would just make the car think that you swapped the fuse for a *split second* while the e-brake is up. Now, you might have to find a way to disable thisthing when you want to park the car with the e-brake

But like I said, I have no clue. I've never tried and I'm not even very familiar with 4EATs