legacycentral bbs

Hey guys,
So I've just stumbled on a local 92 Turbo Legacy for sale and would like your advice.

My plans for this car would be fun semi-daily with RallyX and track days, with a moddest mod budget.

Just checked the car out last night and its rough, but I'm sure it has potential. It's a 92 factory turbo Legacy sport sedan, with auto trans and 220k miles showing. The guy selling it said he bought it from the original owner 5yrs ago. Asking $1100, and said $950 would be lowest he'd go.

Upon test driving it, I was not very impressed with the stock output (based on reading stock turbo specs of 160hp/180lbft). It was hard for me to tell if its not boosting right or just not as fast as the specs show it is. Truth be told my N/A 97 awd 2.2 auto Impreza felt as fast if not a lil faster than this car.

Mechanical issues that seller said it needs upfront:
-front rotors and pads
-front drivers side CV axle
-Valve cover oil leak
-general tuneup, plugs n wires
-CEL on for knock sensor

Other issues:
-suspensions seemed pretty floaty, needs struts
-Needs both left side doors and rear right side door (3 doors total)
-sunroof doesn't work (seller didn't know if motor or switches bad)
-paint well weathered for its age all over

So with that in mind, I have a couple of questions for the Subaru experianced:

What what be a reasonable power goal that the auto trans can withstand? (And cost wise about how much would it take to get there?)

I know Subarus are known to last a long time when maintained, but long term history with this car is somewhat unknown but engine did sound good, car tracked straight, and drove fairly well. How concerned should I be about modding at 220k+ miles? What's general lifespan on motor/turbo/trans, until rebuild or replacement is necessary?

Least importantly but for daily driving pleasure, how hard do you think sunroof would be to fix? It seems like it could be a PITA but I know eventually I would definitely like that to work.

Really appreciate any advice you guys can provide. I would love to own another Subaru but just want to make sure this one is going to be a good and capable platform for my goals. cheers

Its in limp mode because of the knock sensor at least iirc how that works

400 for struts, can find a whole sunroof assembly if you need to, knock sensor is 60. I'm going to rebuild my 22t to get 300whp or so and i'm probably going to spend 10k including the 3500 for the 05 STI 6 speed. Not sure what the autos can handle but iirc its a metric fuckton if you build it. Great for drag racing

I also have a spare auto if u need it

These are tremendous money/maintenance pits. At that mileage it is a ticking time bomb. If you're OK with that, they are fun cars. But they will steal your free time and empty your bank account on every possible occasion.

But at 220 i agree that its a time bomb, pay 6 and rebuild the motor and mod it while ur doing that...

Welcome to the BBS.

As the others have mentioned, you will spend a bit of time fixing or dealing with all the "little" things. To fix the things you mentioned yourself....I can see easily dumping another $1,000 or more. Just make sure you're ok with spending the time to work on it.

The auto trans really is an unknown....their life depends on whether fluid changes were done regularly and how the previous owners treated them. It could last another 100k or crap out tomorrow.

These can be very fun cars when everything is working properly....but will require some time and money to get them there.

well the guy just reposted and down closer to $900, but I think its still too much now all things considered.

totally don't think he'll take 6 either. I may offer 700, but then again i'm still reluctant to take on a "ticking time bomb and potential money pit"

my plan now, if I still did get it would be to build it, rally it, race it for as CHEAP as possible!

with that being said, only things I would really care are that its running good. I was reading what this guy had to say about his experience and it definitely seems money-pit-ish:
http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.p ... afad83&amp

however, I would be totally okay with ghetto-rigging and doing custom things to make it work, and stay on the cheap. with that being said, can many of the issues that come up be fixed this way? Or is legacy SS stuff really that hard and specific to find and replace?

Like in that link, he mentions hoses and turbo elbow and such. all sounds like things it would be possible to custom fix. anyway, would appreciate your guys' input again

Some of the issues can be ghetto rigged to work. The difference between fixing them properly and ghetto rigging them typically is that you are doing ghetto rigged fix multiple times vs. properly fixing something once.

If you consider your own time to be worth anything, then there's no such thing as racing on the "cheap".

James614 wrote:If you consider your own time to be worth anything, then there's no such thing as racing on the "cheap".

check yo self foo:
http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/events/2012challenge/

All cars built under $2k, many have been tracked too. multiple times. and that comp is run EVERY year. no such thing as racing on cheap huh

also local RallyX doesn't cost very much at all, and it takes more skill than a killer setup to win at that. Regardless of platform.

what may be "cheap" for your is just another way to be resourceful for me

burnt_toast wrote:Hey guys,
So I've just stumbled on a local 92 Turbo Legacy for sale and would like your advice.

My plans for this car would be fun semi-daily with RallyX and track days, with a moddest mod budget.

Just checked the car out last night and its rough, but I'm sure it has potential. It's a 92 factory turbo Legacy sport sedan, with auto trans and 220k miles showing. The guy selling it said he bought it from the original owner 5yrs ago. Asking $1100, and said $950 would be lowest he'd go.

Upon test driving it, I was not very impressed with the stock output (based on reading stock turbo specs of 160hp/180lbft). It was hard for me to tell if its not boosting right or just not as fast as the specs show it is. Truth be told my N/A 97 awd 2.2 auto Impreza felt as fast if not a lil faster than this car.

Mechanical issues that seller said it needs upfront:
-front rotors and pads
-front drivers side CV axle
-Valve cover oil leak
-general tuneup, plugs n wires
-CEL on for knock sensor

Other issues:
-suspensions seemed pretty floaty, needs struts
-Needs both left side doors and rear right side door (3 doors total)
-sunroof doesn't work (seller didn't know if motor or switches bad)
-paint well weathered for its age all over

So with that in mind, I have a couple of questions for the Subaru experianced:

What what be a reasonable power goal that the auto trans can withstand? (And cost wise about how much would it take to get there?)

I know Subarus are known to last a long time when maintained, but long term history with this car is somewhat unknown but engine did sound good, car tracked straight, and drove fairly well. How concerned should I be about modding at 220k+ miles? What's general lifespan on motor/turbo/trans, until rebuild or replacement is necessary?

Least importantly but for daily driving pleasure, how hard do you think sunroof would be to fix? It seems like it could be a PITA but I know eventually I would definitely like that to work.

Really appreciate any advice you guys can provide. I would love to own another Subaru but just want to make sure this one is going to be a good and capable platform for my goals. cheers

Dude, i have a 92 SS its got 300k + on the clock, and use to be an autox car, and now does rallyx. I bought new struts, springs, brakes, and skidplates. AND THE CARS A BLAST! Ticking time bomb lol depends on its history but, its a car so its really a 50/50 split. If you take care of it, it will last my goal is to get this car to 500k before its done. ive only spent about 3k total on parts. And honestly most of that is shipping rates for Hawaii. Worst thing that happened to me i blew up my center diff, and when i say blew up i mean like chunk of metal came out of the tail case. found an outback trans bought it for 200 and used the center diff and now have a spare trans incase i sheer some teeth.