98 Legacy GT-B Limited, or the cheap ass JDM twin turbo wagon.

[klapasch]

Man your car is freaking awsome. So nice to see something like that on Germany.

Loved every bit and eventhough I'm no fan of painting the engine parts your's gold an black combo is subtle and nice, it's slowly growing on me.

Cheers from Argentine and Belgium (my both countries).

[Shepherd]

Didn't do much on the Limited lately, as I bought another 98 EDM Legacy GX 2.5 for spares to fix up a rust free 97 Legacy GX 2.5 that has been parked at my garage for almost a year now.
With the GX up and running though, I finally had some time to spend on the Limited again.

Started off with a small mod at the back.
While I love the sound of my modified stock exhaust, I never liked how lost the tailpipe looked in that big bumper opening. I'm also not a fan of everything chrome/silver, so clearly that tip had to got.
On Aliexpress I found some cheap knockoff Akrapovic exhaust tips that looked pretty nice.
So once they arrived from knockoff motherland China, the Limited went up our new (used) Zippo lift for the first time.
While at it, I also fixed the melted bumper up a little and positioned the fog light a little higher, so when it's folded up now, it's hiding completely behind the bumper.



things got a little more complicated when I discovered that the tip's inlet diameter was a little too tight for the original tailpipe that was under the chrome tip.
I simply cut the old tailpipe off and welded a fitting piece of pipe to it, then put the new tip on.
It's only a small mod, but imho it does look a lot better than the original tip.



Last weekend then I finally had the time to install the HEL 19 row oilcooler set that I bought.
Fitted the cooler right onto the bumper bar.


A little bit of the cooler is covered by the bumper, but it still sticks out enough (you can barely see it behind the number plate).



...of course I had to give the bracket a little personal touch (especially as they sent me silver brackets instead of black ones ).


The 60° fittings just point out between the manifold and the belt cover with the hoses not touching anything and having enough space to wriggle around freely.
This never would've fit if I hadn't installed the sandwich plate for the pressure and temp sensor in the first place anyway.


Finding a way for the hoses to the front then was easier than I thought, so the whole install didn't take too long.


Finally I covered some sharp metal edges of with some old rubber hose to prevent the oil cooler hoses from rubbing through.




I'm quite happy with the outcome, didn't have to modify anything but the bumper bar and oiltemps now dropped from ~115°C to 100°C during normal driving and from ~145°C to ~118°C when you're pushing it.
Only problem I had was that the DASH fittings they delivered with the set wouldn't fit for the sandwich plate...the 90° ones always had contact with the exhaust manifold or the belt cover and with the straight ones the hose would've bent to much and would've been squeezed up against the radiator fans.
I got myself some 60° DASH fittings then who now do the job perfectly, fittings and hose do have enough space in every direction. Only thing I might change in the future is going for a bigger cooler as 1/3 of it is covered by the bumper.
Thanks to the sandwich plate with the 90°C thermostat going for a bigger cooler shouldn't be a problem really.
The engine has been running flawlessly for over 12000Km now, just did the first regular oil change a week before I installed the oil cooler and the oild oil came out just like you want it... black but no shiny bits in it.

With the oilcooler crossed off my list now, I hope the next thing to come will finally be some coilovers so that I can fit the my new wheels. Fingers crossed.

[becausephilchow]

Good stuff! Oil cooling is definitely a nice mod!

[Shepherd]

It was fun, but guess I'm not allowed more than 5 months of fun.

[244Brick]

nooooooooooooooooooooooooo

[becausephilchow]

That doesn't look too bad though! Any frame damage?

[Shepherd]

That doesn't look too bad though! Any frame damage?

Yes, unfortunately the frame is bent some on the right side. Will have to go on a rack and get pulled some.

@Topic
Right...so the story continues!
Didn't update this thread in quite a while, mostly because I'm lazy as fuck and because I had a longer hospital and rehab stay. But now I'm all back and did quite a few Things on the Legacy!

The plan is to repair the wagon and of course to make it better!
Unfortunately on my last drive to a friend in Belgium, the power steering decided to break down right in Brussel rush hour traffic. Steering suddenly went firm, more firm than it would be with the engine switched off and the car parking.
I did control the fluid levels on the next gas station and noticed that the coolant reservoir was leaking too... not the cap, but the part ontop the reservoir the cap sits on itself.

I checked for a new top and oh joy, you just did get the whole part new in Japan...
So here is what ~130Euro (+Shipping + Import Tax) will get you.


Painted black of course and fitted, looking good again now.


Next up were the break pads. Wanted to go WRX two pots, but the pads did wear out first.
I guess the uneven wear came from the guides being a little to tight fitting.
With the new ATE pads I grinded the guides down a little, till the pads moved a little more freely.


I also replaced the steering as replacing the pump didn't fix my steering issue. Had to replace the pump anyway. I guess it blocked and the pulley sheared off the axle.
So the new (used) pump worked fine, but the steering issue was still there...so on to replace the whole rack.
Luckily on a Subie that's an easy job.
Old rack out, installed the new Whiteline rod ends, new boots and of course I gave it a good clean.
Adjusted the lengths to fit the old rack and in it went.




Next thing that went bad was the A/C compressor. We filled the system, but the compressor immediately blocked when it was switched on. Guess it was laying around too long with no hoses connected and rustet on the inside.
Of course it was a JDM part only, but luckily I found a used compressor from a BH5 (they have the same part number) in Japan that had the connectors blocked and looked good overall.
So I gave it a try and ordered it...


Had to clean and paint it too, of course.


Installed, A/C filled...works like a charm!



Finally I blackened the headlights last weekend...
It was the end of my week off work and I figured I would do something fun for a change, as I mostly did stuff I "had to do" that week.
Figured I would get both sets of spares out and paint the ones for the daily black, too.


Gave them a 7-10min bake at 140°C to get the glue soft and open them...


All 4 headlights finally opened.


Further taken apart...the orange caps went straight to the trash.


...and painted black. Painted the metal lens frames with a heat resistant paint.


Headlights done, time to install them!




Love the new look of the front!
I also got all the parts together now to fix the accident damage, but that'll prolly happen next year.
For now I'll just install a new bumper next to fix it up a little.




So what's keeping me busy was my hospital stay and my new Daily Driver...
I had a black auto Legacy GT-B wagon that I got for cheap with german reg, but in the end it had so many problems that I partly got parts for to fix them, but I just lost interest in it.
So in the end I was looking for a new daily... smol, econimic and easy. Like a K10 Micra.
During my hospital stay a manual Legacy GT-B Limited popped up for sale though. Direct import from Japan, it was just auctioned off there, sold from an Importer with legal mods done, german reg and one year used car warranty, mostly original except for cheap aftermarket wheels and a Turbo Timer..
So long story short, I bought it:


This is replacing my black GT-B now and the plan is to keep/make it all stock (except for the Turbo Timer and some paint mods) as a daily driver.
The only thing I'll install as an extra is the removable tow bar I have in the garage.
Not as cheap, reliable and easy as a K10 Micra, but damn fun and lots of space!

[Shepherd]

Oh.. hey friendos!
I didn't update this in quite a while it seems.

Let's make a short update about what happened since the last post.
Hab doch tatsächlich den Fortschritt nicht gepostet seit letztem Jahr.

Installed a removeable tow bar to my daily driver, so I took the old bumper and threw it on my Summer Limited. Looks way better already.
Had another fake Akrapovic tailpipe, so I threw that on as well. The Attrapovic fits pretty well.




Last year I finally received my custom BC Racing RM. Max shortened dampers and harder/more short springs right from the factory.








Swapped the China MAF for a refurbished OEM one... runs way better now and not super lean on full load anymore.




Before I sent the Legacy off to winter sleep, I gave it a good layer of Liquid Glass and a final drive for the year.



This year I had to pass inspection again, so I had to fix the leaking exhaust. From the crash, the whole exhaust crumpled and twisted a little. To fix this I welded a flex pipe into the downpipe of the first turbo.
I tried to reuse the old gasket and it was way better than before, but not completely fixed. Will have to replace it with a new one.






Succesfully passed the inspection and since I had parts ordered anyway, I got new pedal covers. Was about time.


With the inspection passed, I fixed the damage on the front from the accident.
At first I wanted to fix that one cut in the bumper, but it ended up in a full fix and full respray of the front bumper.

















Fitted a US license plate frame to my german tractor license plate. The plate isn't legal as they didn't sticker it, but looks better than the EU-plate imho. The US frame did fit height wise, but was too wide. I simly cut it to size, plastic welded and glued it back together, then gave it a matt black spray.
It's not fully finished and I might go for a different US frame, but I like the result already.





Smol interior update after that. Got myself an HKB-Boss kit and threw in the old OMP steering wheel and my new Cobb shift knob. Not final, but finally the wood was gone!

[Shepherd]

Magnets for the legal plate, this way I can just remove it or attach it quickly.


Tried a suede gear gaiter with yellow stitching... nope... too many colours.


Gave the wipers a quick refurb.




...and then finally, prepared the rims for paint.




I did build a makeshift paint booth to paint some body parts of the daily and also finally painted the rims.




Before I threw the coils in and wheels on, I had to prepare two other things... first the Impreza WRX STI alloy wishbones. Got them for cheap on Ebay, of course they needed a little workover, even if the bearings are in great condition.


Cleaned them up, sanded them down and painted them in Subaru BBS Gold.




New coupling rods as you need different ones for the alloy wishbones anyway, the Whiteline ball joints I still had from the Whiteline bump steer correction kit.


Before the new wishbones went in, I painted the calipers gold though. The fronts gonna be updated soon anyway, but till then they look nice now.




After installing the wishbones, only thing left to paint now is the gearbox, driveshafts and prop shaft... I might have to install an uprated clutch soon...




With everything prepared, I finally could install all the fun stuff...



First things first.. gave the interior the final update. Momo Mod. 69 in suede, gear gaiter in suede with black stitching for an impreza.




...and then it was on to the coils and wheels finally.

[Shepherd]

The original dampers had a welded on, closed holder for the brake lines, so you had to open them anyway to install new dampers...hence why I went right for braided brake lines.


The coilovers had uniball top mounts all around, but only adjustable ones on the front struts.... so I got some adjustable Impreza ones from Silver Project in Poland.
Ofc blue didn't fit my colour scheme, so I gave them a quick respray in gold.
The Impreza rear top mounts do fit the Legacy, but you'll have to make the holes in the body a bit longer as they are a bit more narrow on the Impreza.




Then I replaced the upper bolt on the strut for a camber bolt to get all the negative camber out again.


...only did that to get some more space between the damper and the wheel, otherwise i would have had to run spacers.



After winding the coils down for the first time then...still some to go, but was before I rolled the arches.






The plan was to wait for a friend to visit and then use his fender roller to make the arches flat...but that didn't work out and after I week I was tired of waiting and simply used a hammer.






Did wind the coils down more and set the dampers to a more soft setting.


This is how I passed the german inspection. All mods are approved like that...





...though I did lower it a little more right after and added 5mm spacers on the rears, lol

[Nagah]

I like that subi a lot.
How did you fix the crack in the front bumper? What is that black stuff?

[Vadius]

Will it be lower? )))

[issa_m3]

Love the level of detail with the pictures

[CSBolger]

Just saw this on Auto Addiction's YouTube channel. They caught you on their corner-cam at 6:03. https://youtu.be/E1zRDv_0whc

[TheTynosaur]

Have you had any problems with the magnets holding the front plate? I may be moving to a place that requires front plates and I thought about making a magnetic mount if I move but wasn't sure how reliable the magnets would be on bumpy roads and stuff so it's cool to see someone who has tried it