Fixing up some modern Japanese shite

[504GL]

Was wondering if the wifes Subaru qualifies as shite in the eyes of the wise people on this forum

 

http://oi55.tinypic.com/voxsec.jpg

[trigger]

 

Oh i love them, Looking at the bonnet with the flare, Is it a Turbo?, The ultimate Q car Autocar once called it.

 

Not sure I'd call the Turbo Shite but if it's just a normal 2.0 GL then yes! Still a nice car mind!

[504GL]

 

Oh i love them, Looking at the bonnet with the flare, Is it a Turbo?, The ultimate Q car Autocar once called it.

 

Not sure I'd call the Turbo Shite but if it's just a normal 2.0 GL then yes! Still a nice car mind!

Yep it's a turbo. Goes like poop off a shovel

[saabhappy]

I like that.

[Milford Cubicle]

That's a beauty, so understated for its power potential.I have looked for Legacy Turbos in the past when I occasionally want a fast car, but it's hard to find an un-shagged one.

[brammy777]

Yep, I love these. My parents bought a 2.2 GX Estate in 1994 to replace the Sierra after yet another poor traction 'incident' and it was faultless and so quick! The best car they ever had. It was traded in for an Impreza estate in 1997 and was scrapped in 2004 apparently. The saloons are lovely, very rare sights now.

[r.welfare]

I would walk a considerable distance over hot coals for a well-looked-after Legacy 4Cam Turbo estate of that vintage.Your saloon looks excellent.

[Mr Lobster]

Very nice! That looks a really nice car, I'd be more than happy with one of them.

[dollywobbler]

Overlooked by morons who'd rather have an Impreza. Their loss is our gain. Definite shite!

[504GL]

I would walk a considerable distance over hot coals for a well-looked-after Legacy 4Cam Turbo estate of that vintage.

 

Your saloon looks excellent.

I would almost go as far as to say it doesn't matter all that much whether it's been taken care of. The mechanicals really are pretty solid and most things are interchangeable with Impreza bits so it's not too difficult to get parts for it. But of course you don't want a thrashed one.

 

One for sale here and the guys from uklegacy are usually pretty good with their cars

 

http://www.uklegacy.com/forums/index.ph ... pic=100578

 

BTW if anyone ever does get themselves one let me know and I'll upload a parts catalogue for you and give you a link to an Impreza parts catalogue so you can crossreference bits. Engine, floorpan, subframes, suspension arms, bushes and loads of other bits were carried over to the impreza so it's a piece of piss to get bits

[boobydoo]

I used to sell them new!! Well, didn't sell that many saloons actually...the estate version was far more popular.

 

The range at the time was

Justy

Impreza (newly launched in '93-hatch only. We thought it looked quite weird at the time!)

Legacy.....

 

...and these little beauties for £6995 new. Yes they were 4wheel drive!!

 

A signed photo of Bella Emberg for the first person to name it!!

[504GL]

I used to sell them new!! Well, didn't sell that many saloons actually...the estate version was far more popular.

 

The range at the time was

Justy

Impreza (newly launched in '93-hatch only. We thought it looked quite weird at the time!)

Legacy.....

 

...and these little beauties for £6995 new. Yes they were 4wheel drive!!

 

A signed photo of Bella Emberg for the first person to name it!!

Vivio I've seen them rallied :D:D:D:D

[r.welfare]

Vivio. You can keep the picture of Russ Abbot's right hand woman, mind.

[boobydoo]

You're too good!!!

[Milford Cubicle]

What is the Vivio like? They were very rare even when new.

Were people put off by the diddy engine?

[brammy777]

Wow, I was trying to remember the name of those weird little Subarus the other day. Ive only seen a few, and they were limited to Aberfeldy. Might be some left there now, but they cant have sold more than triple figures I imagine.

[boobydoo]

We really hardly sold any. We used them as service courtesy cars but people used to complain and refuse to drive them. We had 2...a froggy green colour and an equally horrid lilac.They were kind of fun but very buzzy...the picture doesn't really show how tiny they were...almost Fiat 500 size!! And at nearly £7000 they were ridiculously expensive!!Do ANY survive??

[Mr Lobster]

Always quite fancied a Vivio actually. Went to the motorshow at the NEC when they were launched. Always had a bit of a soft spot for them since.

[Milford Cubicle]

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1994-SUBARU-VIVIO ... 0495245153

 

Here's a fairly battered one. The ones I've seen don't appear to be rusty, so I imagine expensive parts write them off more than anything.

 

I'm a fan of the 3 cylinder Justy but I looked out for Vivios too - sounds like they might be a bit of a 'mare over long distances though.

[Mr Lobster]

Do ANY survive??

They do!http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1994-SUBARU-VIVIO ... 4a9f015761(Dammit - beaten to it )Bet they must be a reasonably handy thing in urban snow situations though, skinny tyres and 4WD must be fairly useful?

[504GL]

Always quite fancied a Vivio actually. Went to the motorshow at the NEC when they were launched. Always had a bit of a soft spot for them since.

You should hear a supercharged one really wound up when it's being driven hard I swear people at Rally Australia were cheering almost as much for the Vivio as for the World Rally Cars

[504GL]

thought I'd resurrect this thread.

 

I'm the process of getting the Legacy a bit tidier and functioning a bit better.

 

For no reason other than I was bored and they were cheap on Ebay and the brakes are cack even though they've got new discs, pads and fluid, I bought some 4 pot front and 2 pot rear calipers off a more modern Subaru. They definitely won't fit under the standard wheels though, so the wife has a choice of putting some 8 spoke period speedlines on or simply keeping the standard brakes. need to replace all the seals as they were looking a bit worse for wear even before the calipers got blasted and the pins as they were rusted to hell. Pushed a piston out of a couple of the calipers and they look completely rust free which is a spot of luck.

 

Came to me like this a week and a bit ago

 

Stripped them down and got them blasted and got the fronts primed up as they're cast iron and would just rust again and they look much better now.

 

If the wife doesn't want them on the car due to the wheel change I can still sell them on at a profit so I'm not all that bothered.

 

The speedo's not worked for almost a year now and is an absolute prick of a problem to resolve. The sensor is quite firmly corroded into the box so taking it out and testing it really isn't an option, I've tried another instrument cluster but that didn't work, someone from a forum sent me a sensor but turning that will a small cordless bit driver didn't seem to do anything, I might try a corded screwdriver as it might need more revs. The sensor is £150 + VAT so it's sadly not the sort of thing you can break and replace just for fun.

 

The ABS light is also on which I think is either a sensor or a tone wheel which shouldn't be too hard to sort.

 

A spot of luck is that the place that blasted the brakes also does cars (as well as bridges of all things) , so if the car behaves itself and passes its MOT in the middle of this month then we'll see about getting the bits of rust blasted and getting some new metal put in.

 

My plan is to more or less take the thing to bits down to the last bolt and get things like the subframes and suspenstion bits blasted and then painted or powdercoated and renew all the bits like suspension bushes and engine/transmission mounts replaced as they're likely to be knackered after almost 20 years.

 

I think a respray in a metallic grey is in order, the wife wants it to stay green.

 

It should look rather nice when/if it ever gets done to the standard I'd like

[Albert Ross]

Your ABS light is likely coming on because of the inoperative speedo. The ECUs require signals from the wheels speed sensors and the speedo sensor itself.... Time to bite the bullet and remove the seized speed sensor. Get ready to catch the teeth.

[504GL]

Your ABS light is likely coming on because of the inoperative speedo. The ECUs require signals from the wheels speed sensors and the speedo sensor itself.... Time to bite the bullet and remove the seized speed sensor. Get ready to catch the teeth.

 

It was actually coming on before the speedo stopped working. So the ABS is actually doubly borked