St.Jude's Road To Perdition - A 2003 Subaru Legacy // L’Road Trippe Completé

[St.Jude]

Slowly getting things together to start the garden. Work often have pallets and I’ve nabbed a few.

Dont know what it is, but the pallets here fit in the car better than they did in the Land Cruiser. If it weren’t for the tool case they’d be flat. Rear seats seem to fold down near flat which is great too.

Setting up the 3D printer later and will attempt printing a double DIN thing so I can have a better radio. Then hopefully at the weekend I can fashion some feet for roof bars. Not with the 3D printer of course but I’ll be using it for part of it.

The car is going well though. The sun makes a difference as I caught myself smiling thinking “fuck yeah this is great” this evening as I put the foot down to join the traffic.

Wife doesn’t like it as to her the passenger seat is uncomfortable. Feels like the base has a bar across it and she’s apparently got a precious arse that can feel it. I told her to get a cushion or sit in the back. She didn’t appreciate it.

[camryv6]

Do you want visiting in hospital ?

[St.Jude]

26 minutes ago, camryv6 said:

Do you want visiting in hospital ?

Yeah but bring whisky, not that Lucozade bollocks

[St.Jude]

I'm looking at getting roof bars for the Legacy, as well I need them to be honest. I have the bars from the Land Cruiser still, but the feet they have are for cars with raised bars. Mine isn't that at all. Some rails there but they're, I would imagine, raised fixpoints?

I was going to make them, I may still do that hands permitting. But I'm also looking to see if I can get some foot packs that will fit the rails I have. I've seen these:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/124847118481?_skw=subaru+legacy+estate+roof+bars+foot+pack+fixpoints&itmmeta=01JR8MMG79J4YH5M36MS5W2SRQ&hash=item1d1177d891:g:5usAAOSwOL5nq1j1&itmprp=enc%3AAQAKAAABEFkggFvd1GGDu0w3yXCmi1esjo5%2Fso0nfVAygTyaFq3daPTSzvqdhEueYGIQ0807KJrRWnLV1cTE%2FRw3%2FlxPa983ChIKM7UjL62B1COJaIkijRFhbTf4UfzqbVqeeBlCks9Jfh0nAyWqLsVlWy6dyKSd67BHiB0bC5wyxDbD7rNRGNpfXc5ltPqr0skVbV6ycNd0D51beNRQ%2FVaJml1yKbWC8XloXvoQD3yuBO2ETxgZxTAJpteDXgwEwVhT37cOiuI3s%2F0njC%2F1fQ5%2F8fQmY%2By18J7PNPKd59YZQy6DNBxy9FL95Ve2cVvP--9qbJEwkNxLTzRAJuMJ9ENvk2SnzGkbf4dHbra61WFpnvT1k7lV|tkp%3ABk9SR-SD0pTCZQ

I find this all confusing. I know that on the rails there are 4 caps which when I remove them show 2x M6 (I think M6) bolt holes. Hence why I was going to weld up 4 brackets. But if a foot pack is only £40 and I can make it fit the bars I have then it feels like £40 well spent. 

But if anyone could help point me in the right direction I'd appreciate it.

[warninglight]

Not sure what bars you already have and whether they'd be compatible with these feet,  but this is what the kit for your car from Thule consists of.

I've had good luck in the past buying used Thule parts by part numbers from sellers who don't know what they fit 

[Metal Guru]

On 08/04/2025 at 15:48, warninglight said:

Not sure what bars you already have and whether they'd be compatible with these feet,  but this is what the kit for your car from Thule consists of.

I've had good luck in the past buying used Thule parts by part numbers from sellers who don't know what they fit 

There’s a lot of used roof bars on eBay etc just because of the variety of fittings for different cars. Change your car, and your roof bars ( or most of the fittings ) are redundant.

[Westbay]

On 31/03/2025 at 18:19, St.Jude said:

Slowly getting things together to start the garden. Work often have pallets and I’ve nabbed a few.

Dont know what it is, but the pallets here fit in the car better than they did in the Land Cruiser. If it weren’t for the tool case they’d be flat. Rear seats seem to fold down near flat which is great too.

Setting up the 3D printer later and will attempt printing a double DIN thing so I can have a better radio. Then hopefully at the weekend I can fashion some feet for roof bars. Not with the 3D printer of course but I’ll be using it for part of it.

The car is going well though. The sun makes a difference as I caught myself smiling thinking “fuck yeah this is great” this evening as I put the foot down to join the traffic.

Wife doesn’t like it as to her the passenger seat is uncomfortable. Feels like the base has a bar across it and she’s apparently got a precious arse that can feel it. I told her to get a cushion or sit in the back. She didn’t appreciate it.

Possible ?

[St.Jude]

9 hours ago, Westbay said:

Possible ?

I don’t think so, I think they were all UK ones.

Also I have gone out and bought bits that are required, not just for this car but for all cars. A dog guard, a tyre pump, and a badge.

You know, just in case someone wonders what it is. 

[warninglight]

I have the Swedish equivalent on the Amazon. Has to be done!

[St.Jude]

Everyone is building. I wanted two bags of ballast for the weekend but can’t get it anywhere. The place I usually use have no bags of any size, so had to go to B&Q.

Theyre only 10kg bags apparently, and I got 21 of them.

 

Low, ri, der.

Low and also upside down.

[St.Jude]

Erm, just googled. They're 25kg. Not 10kg. So that's half a ton of weight in the back of it. Yep, makes sense why it both looked like that and drove like it did!

Also in terms of roof bars, ended up getting one from Poland for £75. Couldn't be arsed fucking around making one, and the closest one to me was in Portsmouth for £75 but he wouldn't deliver.

[andy18s]

32 minutes ago, St.Jude said:

Everyone is building. I wanted two bags of ballast for the weekend but can’t get it anywhere. The place I usually use have no bags of any size, so had to go to B&Q.

Theyre only 10kg bags apparently, and I got 21 of them.

 

Low, ri, der.

Low and also upside down.

The Mrs did something similar with 25 bags of compressed Sunflower logs.

She thought they were 10kg each but were 25..

Tbf the Bulgarian helpers that loaded up the Scoob didn't bat an eye she claims,and I'm sure they've done worse.

[grogee]

On 15/03/2025 at 08:21, Dobloseven said:

There was a Subaru dealer in Leicester until a couple of years ago.Unity, formerly Heritage.They went on to Fiat and Jeep, though I think they've got other branches that still do them.Subaru and Ssangyong seem to go together because I believe both were imported by the same company at one time, International Motors,IIRC.

Yes, IM did Subaru and Suzuki as well. Not sure about Ssangyong but it sounds likely. 

I don't know what the arrangements are these days, but Subaru as a UK presence are TINY now. Haven't seen an advert or a dealer for years. 

[grogee]

On 01/04/2025 at 18:36, camryv6 said:

Do you want visiting in hospital ?

I'll do it

[St.Jude]

So ended up buying a brand new set from eBay for £75. There was one selling an aftermarket set of bars for a Legacy in Southampton for £70. It made sense to me to do it this way. Came too late for me this weekend but oh well.

Then I bought a roof box for ~£35. 

Had a weird pang of feeling all grown up buying it and placing it on the car.

[St.Jude]

Have a little time in the next few evenings so thought I’d give the radio a bit of attention. I thought I’d take the fascia off and compare it to the 3D printed one.

Waste of time. The PCB isn’t split in two, there is no way to split it in two either. So it’s a dead project, dead in the water. So the only route I have to getting an after market head unit is to buy the JDM fascia from eBay.

Oh well. Still, it’s driving really well. Which is nice.

[St.Jude]

Sat down for lunch at work today and a lad at work who I've not seen for a while goes "How's the Subaru treating you?". 3rd time in the last 10 days I've been asked this. Every time I've touched wood and been honest - it's been really good. I like driving it, everything is doing what it ought to do. I've got a double DIN thing to replace the cubby hole above the head unit while I work out what I'm doing with that (would prefer to keep the cubby hole). I've got a set of wheels to put on it so I can paint the others. Friday is pay day and I'm inclined to buy the tint to have a crack at it before I fuck off on holiday on the 14th June. Had a little bit of a grumble last week when picking up my lad from nursery with the driver of her husband's new Defender. Cunt can't park for toffee, so I squeeze in. Only space in the car park. I'm struggling to get my lad in the car, she's still in the car either oblivious to her shit parking or ignoring me. The thought occurred to me out of nowhere - a Berlingo has sliding doors, this would never be a problem. That is the only niggle I have with the Subaru really, it's not a Berlingo. It's not a bad car, but I don't know. Feel a bit like Cat and Lister on Red Dwarf discussing the virtues of Betty over Wilma.

In to my 10th week of trouble free motoring, other than the key fob shenanigans of 8 weeks ago? I didn't report on that but basically I went to work one morning and the car wouldn't lock. Then it wouldn't start without the alarm singing it's tits off. Both keys needed a new battery and I had to reprogram them. 

The last week I would say, possibly 2/3/4 weeks it's gone to lock and unlock. I'd press the button, and it'd do it very quickly. Every time it happens I check and it's not locked. So I press it again and it locks. Fine. Today was troublesome, it wouldn't lock. Then it would lock. Got to nursery to pick my boy up and I get to the car and the car will not unlock. I'm thinking fuck, what do I do? Oh yeah I'll open the door with the key - alarm starts singing again. Great. I have to throw my lad in the car who decides at this opportune time to dawdle going "why is the alarm going off?" while I'm wanting to close the door so I can sort the damn thing out. Mad search for the book which I found, mad search for the key code and the instructions about how to disarm the alarm with the keypad. All the while all the yummy mummies who aren't bad to look at are looking at me, my head down in the drivers seat, visibly fiddling with something between my legs. The keypad. But they don't know that of course.

Found the code, kept throwing the code in until it all stopped. Then the fucker wouldn't start so had to remember the sequence of turn the key, bash the code, turn off the key, bash the code, turn the key start the car. Or some shit, I don't know. But it started. Great. Back home I go to try the lock on the car again - no good. The key won't work.

I go in, get my lad fed, and I find the spare key and try that - the spare key works. Good!

So fuck knows whats happened there. The key can't be dead already? I'm ordering two new button batteries for it anyway as the spare key was changed with the same battery. Just very odd, and on the way home had me seriously considering the removal/bypass of the Smegma alarm to avoid this shit next time.

[Datsuncog]

It's sorcery, I tells you.

If you can have that Sigma alarm out without bricking the car, I absolutely would.

 

 

**gibbers**

[St.Jude]

Not changed the key in the other fob. I will before I go on the holiday.

For the holiday though I thought I’d fit the head unit I have but fit it above the current head unit, replacing the cubby hole. 

Useless POS. Doesn’t at all match the vents like it ought to. No matter, I thought I could gaffer tape the surround once the radio works.

I have the ISO harness and radio adapter. Everything plugged in to the radio, and some wires left for the OG head unit as it still controls the air con.

A success?

 

Fuck no. The radio works fine. Great! But the HVAC controls don’t. Absolutely dead. Deader than a can of Spam. The air con worked but obviously set to the temp I had it at with no control.

So I took it out and put it all back in. Only alternative left is to buy the double DIN fascia and HVAC specific for it but I think I’ll just give up on it and deal with the shitty Bluetooth adapter I have. Might dig out my old one that I had for the Land Cruiser and see if that’s an improvement.

Rather disappointed with it really.

[St.Jude]

I’m off on my travels on Sunday morning (can’t fucking wait). So made an effort to get the clock fixed so I know what time it is when travelling.

Took the clock out and brought it to work. Chap here is very good but said it can’t be fixed by him at least. It’s a four layer board, can see power is going to the CPU but it’s deader than a can of spam. Going to just get some sort of clock off of Amazon.

It’s been lugging loads too. I squeezed 5 pallets from work in the boot with 3 on top. Would’ve had more but only had the one ratchet strap.

And 10x 4m scaffolding boards…

The bars did not like that.

[St.Jude]

Preparing this wagon for the holiday, well trying to, but I’m being made to fit in around the wife. That’s another story.

Id have liked the radio to have been sorted but we all know how that ended. I’d have liked the headlights to have been sorted, but I’ve not had time. The tints would’ve been great but nope. No time.

You know what I have had time to do?

I got pink Subaru emblems made up to go over the badges. We see Subarus with these pink badges and thought it was garish but there is symbolism behind it apparently. The Subaru logo is meant to represent the cherry blossom tree which you see a lot of in Subaru’s home town of Fuji. I got these made up and tried them out - and you know what I think they look great on the car.

Ive had the car washed quickly and it looks even better.

Hit a problem with the roof box though. This dickhead didn’t think to check the U clamps to see if they fit. They do not. Halfords have none in stock, useless fuckers. So I’m relying on Amazon being right in the listing they have for a universal U clamps to kit. I am going to source some threaded bar tomorrow just in case and fashion some of the Amazon ones don’t work.

I set off at 2:30am Sunday morning to be at Dover for 6:30am, with Radio LeMans for company.

[St.Jude]

Should say actually that while I didn’t polish the headlights, I did upgrade the bulbs to the Phillips Night Vision EXTREeeeerMe - or whatever they are. 200% brighter, Auto Express recommended. Will report back later how it goes.

I am going with the wife, child, MiL, SiL and SiL’s BF. Not all in the one car, they’re flying. I’m taking the bags.

I swear people take the piss when it’s not their car, or time. Look.

I am the owner of the hold all. The four suitcases are the wife’s side. The MiL feels important enough to have a little pink one too.

My bag is in the roof box. Because fuck it, it’ll be easier on the stop over.

Its ready.

Fully branded.

[St.Jude]

The lightbulbs are great, so much better than the Osram Night breakers I’ve used before 100% recommended.

[St.Jude]

So for anyone playing along at home…

This car, with the boot full of suitcases packed by women who think travelling light is leaving the big suitcase at home - a big fuck off roofbox with the aerodynamic properties of a fridge freezer designed by a one armed blind man, travelling at 80+mph for 4 hours at a time - 33/34mpg. I think that’s great, I’ve not been nursing it at all.

But, I am done after 3 hours. Knees are struggling after that, it’s just slightly too small of a car for me on long journeys. Never got this in the 107 and I’ve done a lot of long jaunts with that. Which is a shame. It’s great other than that.

Likely this will be gone by the time I am due for another holiday, so this time next year!

[St.Jude]

I am back.

I have had no sleep last night, and even then the night before I had shit sleep. So I’m pooped.

I’ve learnt more about the car. You would if you drove ~14 hours a day in it and completed 3,700 miles in it.

A roof box, a boot full of suitcases packed by women who can’t pack, toys, and 80mph will return 33/34mpg. For a period. It will then drop to 30mpg - because the oil is burnt to fuck. I checked it before I left and it wasn’t burnt but, well it’s warm on the continent and 80mph+ will do that. Plus I think since February I’ve stuck 8,000 miles at least on it. So I need to do an oil/filter change on it.

My comment about the knees is a little misplaced. In my usual driving position I can’t do more than 3/4 hours. But putting the seat back, I can do it easily. My wife pointed this out: the way things are going I won’t be driving anyone to the tune of my bladder or the car being empty of petrol. It’ll be 2 hour trips if that.

The car really is fucking wonderful for holidays. The roof box I got for £30/40 is great, the boot held the 4 medium suitcases and a small one without issue. If the dog guard I have fit the car I’d have packed the back. And then there is a tow bar.

If it were a Berlingo then it’d have the diesel and double the MPG. But at the moment the car is doing everything I need, and it’s doing it well. Minor hiccups aside, 4/5 months in its turning in to a great purchase.

 

 

 

watch it shit itself now.