1991 Legacy GT
Discussion
Ive liked Subarus for some time, I've had a WRX Sti for quite some time, but wanted something bigger that could run on 95 octane as you cant get premuim everywhere in NZ.
Some of my mates have older BC5/BF5 Legacies which seem to be undestructable, and I've always liked the retro (well... retro to me) look of them.
So about a month ago, me being bored at work I stumbled upon a 1991 Legacy GT which had a rediculously low mileage of 118000kms, was two-tone (yay JDM :P) and had the super comfortable electric leather seats. It looked pretty tidy, if a little dirty. Also doing a check, it would appear to not have turned a wheel since 2004.
Spurred on by tales on here of bangeromics and buying cars unseen I decided to take a punt. If the bottom fell out of it, I could strip it. If it wasnt as described I could walk away, and it had a full MOT and TAX so it cant be that bad, right........?
1600 NZD later, and I had bought myself a car
...that was 35 miles away
The next day I rolled up to collect it. Worryingly the place was a breakers yard. The car was not quite as clean as it looked. The paint was a mess and ive never seen a interior so dirty
but in some odd part of my brain I felt sorry for it, So against my better judgement I gave the guy my cash and I had myself a car and headed home, where the top rad hose got a pin hole leak on the way back (go electrical tape) I also noticed a HORRIBLE rattle at anything over 3000rpm. Suddenly my brain started seeing images of big end bearings needing doing, and gearboxes needing replacement. I rued the day I saw it on the internet and cursed the damn thing.
After getting it home and sulking, I decided to get on with it. First job was to do an oil change, sort the rad hoses, thermostat just in case and make it drivable. The old hoses were FUBAR'd. Im glad they went when they did. Now it drives fine, and stays at temp regardless of how much stick its getting, so I'm a happy chap
Second was to clean it. The inside was dirty but a sponge solved that (enough dirt to blacked the sponge and enough dust to dry it out!) The outside was worse. Having a white car, swirl marks were never to much of an issue, and this was covered in them. Luckily I had a Meguires Paint Resto kit in the garage so I set to work claying and polishing.
Before (it looked worse close up!)
During (The middle bit was a bit I taped off. The left is polished by hand, the right by machine)
After
So now its looking great. The paint still has some blemishes, but for a sub 1k GBP car :P I started driving it to work, with it rattling away but driving great. It held the road well, the coolant held steady and all the 90s leccy bits work.
Then one of the "kwali-T" Barun tyres developed a bulge and so I installed a set of STi TE37s I had in the garage off my WRX
Yes its nose is up in the air.... That brings us to pretty much this week. Tidying up my garage I found an old OEM Lamco boost gauge I used to have fitted to the WRX, and having nothing to do, I chucked it on, and went to see what kind of boost it was running.
0.7bar. Which is what it should be running standard
Doubly happy chap was I 
But now I noticed that the rattle was only when I was pushing boost. That means it isnt the gearbox.... That means it isnt the engine.......IT HAS TO BE THE WASTEGATE!
So I pulled over and took the boost hose I had spare and tied down the actuator arm and drove on.
NO RATTLE
Call to a mate sourced a TD04 to replace my VF10 and the rattle is gone! And now I know how to replace a turbo.
So yea, project bangeromics is a success! Including everything Ive spent about 2000NZD which isnt a heck of a lot. The mileage shows as genuine, and it would appear that the scrap yard did a fair amount to the car, replacing seals and stuff to get it ready. So far its the only Gen 1 Legacy that I know of that hasnt got an oil leak
Next step is to get new suspension sourced as its a bit high and the rears are a bit soft having sat for so long. Then some normal road tyres rather than trackday tyres and jobs a goodun
Ive already had my mate offer to buy it, but I've grown attached now
Anyway, TL;DR Sometimes a shot in the dark can work
Some of my mates have older BC5/BF5 Legacies which seem to be undestructable, and I've always liked the retro (well... retro to me) look of them.
So about a month ago, me being bored at work I stumbled upon a 1991 Legacy GT which had a rediculously low mileage of 118000kms, was two-tone (yay JDM :P) and had the super comfortable electric leather seats. It looked pretty tidy, if a little dirty. Also doing a check, it would appear to not have turned a wheel since 2004.
Spurred on by tales on here of bangeromics and buying cars unseen I decided to take a punt. If the bottom fell out of it, I could strip it. If it wasnt as described I could walk away, and it had a full MOT and TAX so it cant be that bad, right........?
1600 NZD later, and I had bought myself a car
...that was 35 miles awayThe next day I rolled up to collect it. Worryingly the place was a breakers yard. The car was not quite as clean as it looked. The paint was a mess and ive never seen a interior so dirty
but in some odd part of my brain I felt sorry for it, So against my better judgement I gave the guy my cash and I had myself a car and headed home, where the top rad hose got a pin hole leak on the way back (go electrical tape) I also noticed a HORRIBLE rattle at anything over 3000rpm. Suddenly my brain started seeing images of big end bearings needing doing, and gearboxes needing replacement. I rued the day I saw it on the internet and cursed the damn thing.After getting it home and sulking, I decided to get on with it. First job was to do an oil change, sort the rad hoses, thermostat just in case and make it drivable. The old hoses were FUBAR'd. Im glad they went when they did. Now it drives fine, and stays at temp regardless of how much stick its getting, so I'm a happy chap
Second was to clean it. The inside was dirty but a sponge solved that (enough dirt to blacked the sponge and enough dust to dry it out!) The outside was worse. Having a white car, swirl marks were never to much of an issue, and this was covered in them. Luckily I had a Meguires Paint Resto kit in the garage so I set to work claying and polishing.
Before (it looked worse close up!)
During (The middle bit was a bit I taped off. The left is polished by hand, the right by machine)
After
So now its looking great. The paint still has some blemishes, but for a sub 1k GBP car :P I started driving it to work, with it rattling away but driving great. It held the road well, the coolant held steady and all the 90s leccy bits work.
Then one of the "kwali-T" Barun tyres developed a bulge and so I installed a set of STi TE37s I had in the garage off my WRX
Yes its nose is up in the air.... That brings us to pretty much this week. Tidying up my garage I found an old OEM Lamco boost gauge I used to have fitted to the WRX, and having nothing to do, I chucked it on, and went to see what kind of boost it was running.
0.7bar. Which is what it should be running standard
Doubly happy chap was I But now I noticed that the rattle was only when I was pushing boost. That means it isnt the gearbox.... That means it isnt the engine.......IT HAS TO BE THE WASTEGATE!So I pulled over and took the boost hose I had spare and tied down the actuator arm and drove on.
NO RATTLE
Call to a mate sourced a TD04 to replace my VF10 and the rattle is gone! And now I know how to replace a turbo.
So yea, project bangeromics is a success! Including everything Ive spent about 2000NZD which isnt a heck of a lot. The mileage shows as genuine, and it would appear that the scrap yard did a fair amount to the car, replacing seals and stuff to get it ready. So far its the only Gen 1 Legacy that I know of that hasnt got an oil leak
Next step is to get new suspension sourced as its a bit high and the rears are a bit soft having sat for so long. Then some normal road tyres rather than trackday tyres and jobs a goodun
Ive already had my mate offer to buy it, but I've grown attached now Anyway, TL;DR Sometimes a shot in the dark can work
Edited by Serin on Monday 1st April 12:59
So, updates!
Well, its been a while since I bought the car, and honestly its surpassed what I expected of it.
After the turbo fitting, the car developed another horrible noise, which while sounding like the gearbox was going to fall off, turned out to be the heatshield hitting the subframe mixed with the intercooler hitting the firewall as "someone" didnt reattach it properly....
Anyway, ive done 10,000km in the car since, and its done all the things wagons should do, like taking things to the tip, towing trailers etc.
In the end a mate of mine had some adjustable KYB struts sitting spare in his shed and so those were promptly fittid, which along with the fitment of some Nolathane bushes for the front roll bar has made the car handle tonnes better.
I then spent the best part of 6 hours sitting there picking at the side stripe until it relinquished its grip on the sides of the vehicle, which aside from normal things like oil and coolant is pretty much where we are today.
So in conclusion, putting a joke bid on random stuff on online auctions can sometimes work out
Well, its been a while since I bought the car, and honestly its surpassed what I expected of it.
After the turbo fitting, the car developed another horrible noise, which while sounding like the gearbox was going to fall off, turned out to be the heatshield hitting the subframe mixed with the intercooler hitting the firewall as "someone" didnt reattach it properly....
Anyway, ive done 10,000km in the car since, and its done all the things wagons should do, like taking things to the tip, towing trailers etc.
In the end a mate of mine had some adjustable KYB struts sitting spare in his shed and so those were promptly fittid, which along with the fitment of some Nolathane bushes for the front roll bar has made the car handle tonnes better.
I then spent the best part of 6 hours sitting there picking at the side stripe until it relinquished its grip on the sides of the vehicle, which aside from normal things like oil and coolant is pretty much where we are today.
So in conclusion, putting a joke bid on random stuff on online auctions can sometimes work out
I love that so much!
I don't know why but squarer cars are so much cooler than modern stuff, looks like it was a great find and it's amazing what a small amount of cash combined with effort can get you.
Looks lovely on those wheels and how it's sat now, wouldn't change a thing if I were you OP.
Congrats
I don't know why but squarer cars are so much cooler than modern stuff, looks like it was a great find and it's amazing what a small amount of cash combined with effort can get you.
Looks lovely on those wheels and how it's sat now, wouldn't change a thing if I were you OP.
Congrats
Ive got loads of photos, but im not much of a photog.
What do you want to see? Heres some random ones, starting the day I picked it up,
After paint resto and uber clean;
Retro dash. Ive installed the spare Lamco boost gauge off my V3 STi and installed the fancier modern HVAC unit for the external temp reading. However whoever designed the controls needs a talking to as the labling on the buttons is just printed on, so at night you have to play lucky dip :S
Found a BF5 in the exact same colours as mine in the local scrap yard, but this one was all JDM bodykitted up,(shame it was in there really...) and nabbed the OEM Spoiler. Test fit as it needs painting.
And more towing and random stuff
Hope thats enough/not too many XD
What do you want to see? Heres some random ones, starting the day I picked it up,
After paint resto and uber clean;
Retro dash. Ive installed the spare Lamco boost gauge off my V3 STi and installed the fancier modern HVAC unit for the external temp reading. However whoever designed the controls needs a talking to as the labling on the buttons is just printed on, so at night you have to play lucky dip :S
Found a BF5 in the exact same colours as mine in the local scrap yard, but this one was all JDM bodykitted up,(shame it was in there really...) and nabbed the OEM Spoiler. Test fit as it needs painting.
And more towing and random stuff
Hope thats enough/not too many XD
Edited by Serin on Saturday 9th November 10:14
Bulk update time!
Its getting warmer here in the southern hemisphere, so I decided to try and repair one of the things that has been bugging me about the car.
When I bought it the front grill was rattle canned silver which was done badly, flaking off and completely wrong so at the time I replaced the badge that was over sprayed and did it black for the mean time.
Well, I managed to find a new grille in the scrap yard that had the right gunmetal coloured interior piece, but boned silver areas. Much sanding and many coats of paint and its done. Its not "quite" right, but its pretty close especially in day light
As it turned out, while cleaning the car from the gravel bashing I did in the above photo I noticed that the outer CV boot had previously exploded and the joint was now fubar'd. So bits bought and I cracked on with the job which was actually not too bad to do. Hardest part was getting the hub nut off, luckily my new massive breaker bar came into its own there
Yuck! Took two cans of degreaser to shift it!
Now more recently i've been starting to find the issues of commuting in a black car with leather seats! Its goddam warm in there!!
So I went to have it looked at by some guys I deal with at work. They came back with it saying that they had put a little gas in it, but the compressor was shutting off all the time and they couldn't go much further without wanting payment...
http://youtu.be/8WTOzPy8jKI
As you can hear its not sounding happy. Theres relays clicking all over the place and if you try and drive it doing this is feels like someones repeatedly removing and refitting half the engine.
Other than that, when it works its actually quite cool, which leads me to believe its not actually the air con system that is at fault. And after asking some mates on Subaru forums here I was told to try cleaning the Idle control valve.
So today I took it out, pretty much hosed it with carb cleaner and went at it with earbuds Now left with a much smoother operating IACV I fitted a new gasket and gave it ago.
So far so good. The system seems to work okay (though the climate control is dumb as a brick!) Happy Days. now just gotta stop myself using it till I can get a new drier condenser and converted to run on r134a gas!
Its getting warmer here in the southern hemisphere, so I decided to try and repair one of the things that has been bugging me about the car.
When I bought it the front grill was rattle canned silver which was done badly, flaking off and completely wrong so at the time I replaced the badge that was over sprayed and did it black for the mean time.
Well, I managed to find a new grille in the scrap yard that had the right gunmetal coloured interior piece, but boned silver areas. Much sanding and many coats of paint and its done. Its not "quite" right, but its pretty close especially in day light
As it turned out, while cleaning the car from the gravel bashing I did in the above photo I noticed that the outer CV boot had previously exploded and the joint was now fubar'd. So bits bought and I cracked on with the job which was actually not too bad to do. Hardest part was getting the hub nut off, luckily my new massive breaker bar came into its own there
Yuck! Took two cans of degreaser to shift it!
Now more recently i've been starting to find the issues of commuting in a black car with leather seats! Its goddam warm in there!!
So I went to have it looked at by some guys I deal with at work. They came back with it saying that they had put a little gas in it, but the compressor was shutting off all the time and they couldn't go much further without wanting payment...
http://youtu.be/8WTOzPy8jKI
As you can hear its not sounding happy. Theres relays clicking all over the place and if you try and drive it doing this is feels like someones repeatedly removing and refitting half the engine.
Other than that, when it works its actually quite cool, which leads me to believe its not actually the air con system that is at fault. And after asking some mates on Subaru forums here I was told to try cleaning the Idle control valve.
So today I took it out, pretty much hosed it with carb cleaner and went at it with earbuds
Now left with a much smoother operating IACV I fitted a new gasket and gave it ago.So far so good. The system seems to work okay (though the climate control is dumb as a brick!) Happy Days. now just gotta stop myself using it till I can get a new drier condenser and converted to run on r134a gas!
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