2004 JDM Subaru Legacy GT
Discussion
Hi all, after having a tempremental R56 Cooper S I was looking for something quick and a bit unusual. I've always liked JDM Legacy's as you don't see many around and they're a great sleeper. Most imports online were later manual cars and were going for well over my budget, and the UK spec cars didn't really interest me as much. So I started looking around at other cars until this one came up on Facebook. It's a prefacelift automatic saloon, with part leather cream interior, so not the most desirable but perfect for me. 70,000 miles and 260bhp.
It was advertised as 'Stunning inside and out, with full history'. Yeah right! A 2 hour train journey later and I was stood looking at a filthy Subaru at a garden centre. It looked like it had been sat under a tree for a while. However under the grime it looked very tidy. History wise though it did have a very full folder of Japanese service stamps, recall work, and stickers all over the place in the engine bay with various dates on. I went around the car with Google translate on my phone and was very happy to see a relatively recent belt change, ATF fluid changes etc so paid the chap and went off happy.
The first picture I have of it.
I couldn't bare how filthy it was so I didn't take many photos but just got stuck in. A bottle of APC lasted 20 minutes. I even spent a few hours over lockdown cleaning and polishing underneath the spoiler, but I blame lockdown for that. So here's a few clean shots. Ignore the cheap GT badge, the previous owner had superglued the L on so it's left a nasty mark, machine polishing and glue remover couldn't shift it so out of sight out of mind!
The little JDM touches were great (to start with...). A little toll card reader in the glove compartment, a stereo that seemingly knew everything about the car and could take you to any location or point of interest (in Japan) and we discovered a huge K Pop library on it too. What I didn't appreciate was the little assistant that would randomly tell you the date and time in Japanese. All day. Everyday. So I gutted Suzy the assistant and whacked in a cheap double din DAB unit. I kept one of the two big stick on radio antenna's to remember her by. Now we don't have to listen to Radio 2, which was all those two huge antennas could pick up.
The front end was let down by the lights I gave it a go over with Auto Glyms headlight restoration kit and they came out really well. I've tried different methods before and for the time it takes vs the finish I'll definitely use it again. You can see the minging engine bay here too.
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The discs were another thing that stood out when I brought it. So a coat or two or Hammerite freshened them up. More on Hammerite later.
I prefer the look of the facelift front ends as they're much more aggressive looking with the mesh grills and neater lower opening. I toyed with wrapping the grill centre bar in gloss carbon but ended up buying a spare grille and cutting it down and making my own mesh grille. For a DIY afternoon jobby it turned out brilliantly, and saved me a few hundred on an aftermarket one. Happy!
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While I was at it I wrapped the fog light surrounds as they were more banana yellow than white pearl and wrapped the lower bumper opening. I think it makes it look a lot more modern and mean.
For now that's the looks tidied up a bit.
It was advertised as 'Stunning inside and out, with full history'. Yeah right! A 2 hour train journey later and I was stood looking at a filthy Subaru at a garden centre. It looked like it had been sat under a tree for a while. However under the grime it looked very tidy. History wise though it did have a very full folder of Japanese service stamps, recall work, and stickers all over the place in the engine bay with various dates on. I went around the car with Google translate on my phone and was very happy to see a relatively recent belt change, ATF fluid changes etc so paid the chap and went off happy.
The first picture I have of it.
I couldn't bare how filthy it was so I didn't take many photos but just got stuck in. A bottle of APC lasted 20 minutes. I even spent a few hours over lockdown cleaning and polishing underneath the spoiler, but I blame lockdown for that. So here's a few clean shots. Ignore the cheap GT badge, the previous owner had superglued the L on so it's left a nasty mark, machine polishing and glue remover couldn't shift it so out of sight out of mind!
The little JDM touches were great (to start with...). A little toll card reader in the glove compartment, a stereo that seemingly knew everything about the car and could take you to any location or point of interest (in Japan) and we discovered a huge K Pop library on it too. What I didn't appreciate was the little assistant that would randomly tell you the date and time in Japanese. All day. Everyday. So I gutted Suzy the assistant and whacked in a cheap double din DAB unit. I kept one of the two big stick on radio antenna's to remember her by. Now we don't have to listen to Radio 2, which was all those two huge antennas could pick up.
The front end was let down by the lights I gave it a go over with Auto Glyms headlight restoration kit and they came out really well. I've tried different methods before and for the time it takes vs the finish I'll definitely use it again. You can see the minging engine bay here too.
[url][url]The discs were another thing that stood out when I brought it. So a coat or two or Hammerite freshened them up. More on Hammerite later.
I prefer the look of the facelift front ends as they're much more aggressive looking with the mesh grills and neater lower opening. I toyed with wrapping the grill centre bar in gloss carbon but ended up buying a spare grille and cutting it down and making my own mesh grille. For a DIY afternoon jobby it turned out brilliantly, and saved me a few hundred on an aftermarket one. Happy!
[url]While I was at it I wrapped the fog light surrounds as they were more banana yellow than white pearl and wrapped the lower bumper opening. I think it makes it look a lot more modern and mean.
For now that's the looks tidied up a bit.
Edited by SaturnsPattern on Saturday 12th December 15:12
Edited by SaturnsPattern on Sunday 17th January 09:11
I knew before buying it that Japanese Legacys really need mapping to suit UK fuel, even if you use 99ron. The car had been imported in late 2019 so it had been in the country 5 months or so and hadn't been mapped by the seller. But looking at the mileage and knowing he had a few cars it seemed he hadn't used it all that much so hopefully it'd still be healthy. I couldn't have someone work on my car and face this...
So threw some cloths n that at it... Nice.
I'd planned on servicing it before hand but I have a receipt for a very recent service. Putting in Cosworth panel filter I found a very clean filter already in, and by the state of the fluids I thought a full service can wait a few months or so.
I chose to get it mapped on 97, not ideal I know, but as it's my only car I need to be able to fill it up anywhere. I had Duncan at Race Dynamix map it down in Caldicot. He stopped the first run as it was having boost issues above 4k
Panic. But a while later he was happy he'd got the car running nicely and got it back to somewhere near 260bhp. Panic over! I'd be nursing it since I had it, but now it feels a different car. That road back up to the M50 made me smile, a lot, even with the sometimes lazy auto box. A month later we had a trip up to the Peak district and I could have a play in the car. I learnt that cattle grids need to be passed with more caution, and a lot less speed, but also that the suspension was all ok, especially when bouncing up and flying through the air four wheels of the ground. Fun.
Next up was giving the calipers a go over. On my Mini I used calpier specific gloss yellow paint but it took so many coats to build up the coverage that I wanted to try something else. The finish wasn't great either and they went dull very quickly. I've read a lot about people using Hammerite (on a budget here!) and getting good results. I went for satin gold as a kinda oem+ look and brushed it on in 2 coats, they're still looking fresh 6 months after doing it. Don't worry I cleaned the paint off the pad!
I wanted to change the wheels to something more suitable for the shape, I thought it desperately needed a 10 spoke style. But being on a relative budget I stayed relatively standard and found some Impreza wheels on Facebook and later had them powdercoated in bronze. 18's are on the list for later on, but these 17's with a 50 profile tire ride very well and they may stay.
A before and after...
No I didn't. Honest.
So threw some cloths n that at it... Nice.
I'd planned on servicing it before hand but I have a receipt for a very recent service. Putting in Cosworth panel filter I found a very clean filter already in, and by the state of the fluids I thought a full service can wait a few months or so.
I chose to get it mapped on 97, not ideal I know, but as it's my only car I need to be able to fill it up anywhere. I had Duncan at Race Dynamix map it down in Caldicot. He stopped the first run as it was having boost issues above 4k
Panic. But a while later he was happy he'd got the car running nicely and got it back to somewhere near 260bhp. Panic over! I'd be nursing it since I had it, but now it feels a different car. That road back up to the M50 made me smile, a lot, even with the sometimes lazy auto box. A month later we had a trip up to the Peak district and I could have a play in the car. I learnt that cattle grids need to be passed with more caution, and a lot less speed, but also that the suspension was all ok, especially when bouncing up and flying through the air four wheels of the ground. Fun.Next up was giving the calipers a go over. On my Mini I used calpier specific gloss yellow paint but it took so many coats to build up the coverage that I wanted to try something else. The finish wasn't great either and they went dull very quickly. I've read a lot about people using Hammerite (on a budget here!) and getting good results. I went for satin gold as a kinda oem+ look and brushed it on in 2 coats, they're still looking fresh 6 months after doing it. Don't worry I cleaned the paint off the pad!
I wanted to change the wheels to something more suitable for the shape, I thought it desperately needed a 10 spoke style. But being on a relative budget I stayed relatively standard and found some Impreza wheels on Facebook and later had them powdercoated in bronze. 18's are on the list for later on, but these 17's with a 50 profile tire ride very well and they may stay.
A before and after...
No I didn't. Honest.
Edited by SaturnsPattern on Saturday 12th December 16:18
Edited by SaturnsPattern on Saturday 12th December 16:18
Edited by SaturnsPattern on Saturday 12th December 16:20
The preface autos came with sport shift buttons on the steering wheel and though they are useful they're quite awkward to use, well compared to how comfortable paddles are. So I brought paddles! They're aren't too many sets online so I ended up buying a set off a 2012 Impreza and modified them slightly to fit. I basically drilled 4 holes to match the clock spring mounts and screwed through into those. Very sturdy and easy. Then it was a case of splicing into the up and down signal wires and finding a good earth. A bit of mess for a relatively simple job.
With the buttons now redundant I glued some plastic inserts in to blank the holes, skimmed over with filler and wrapped over the top to finish them off.
The other thing that bothered me was the lower steering column cover. Others I have seen have just cut the original so the paddles stick out but I had to cut a lot out of mine and it looked naff, possibly because I modified how the paddles fit I don't know. So for now I've bodged together a cover out of fabric but I'm suprised at how neat it looks so again it'll probably stay.
It might be unnecessary to some but I think it changes the way I drive it, and I use them tons more, and they're cool cus racecar or something.
With the buttons now redundant I glued some plastic inserts in to blank the holes, skimmed over with filler and wrapped over the top to finish them off.
The other thing that bothered me was the lower steering column cover. Others I have seen have just cut the original so the paddles stick out but I had to cut a lot out of mine and it looked naff, possibly because I modified how the paddles fit I don't know. So for now I've bodged together a cover out of fabric but I'm suprised at how neat it looks so again it'll probably stay.
It might be unnecessary to some but I think it changes the way I drive it, and I use them tons more, and they're cool cus racecar or something.
Edited by SaturnsPattern on Saturday 12th December 16:38
Nice Caffeine and Machine shots 
Underrated cars really. Not a fan of autos in any guises tbh but you've got plenty of torque to play with.Its come up well,always wonder how people just let cars go so much when they look so good with a bit of TLC,don't have to be a detailing guru to keep a car looking tidy.
I bought a JDM Honda Accord earlier this year,great car as I love my JDM stuff.Radio still picks up radio2 but that's okay,got a factory 6 CD stacker in the dash unit so there's usually a bit of Hendrix or the like on anyway,ha. Not got much in the way of torque like the FI Legacy has but 220bhp and the VTEC is a hoot.And still got the 4 door comfy bit like yourself,even the coilovers on mine aren't too harsh either.
Smart looking cars the Legacy's. Was almost tempted by a big Spec B at one point.Lot of car for the money.
Underrated cars really. Not a fan of autos in any guises tbh but you've got plenty of torque to play with.Its come up well,always wonder how people just let cars go so much when they look so good with a bit of TLC,don't have to be a detailing guru to keep a car looking tidy.
I bought a JDM Honda Accord earlier this year,great car as I love my JDM stuff.Radio still picks up radio2 but that's okay,got a factory 6 CD stacker in the dash unit so there's usually a bit of Hendrix or the like on anyway,ha. Not got much in the way of torque like the FI Legacy has but 220bhp and the VTEC is a hoot.And still got the 4 door comfy bit like yourself,even the coilovers on mine aren't too harsh either.
Smart looking cars the Legacy's. Was almost tempted by a big Spec B at one point.Lot of car for the money.
Carrying on with 'cus racecar' I was looking at splitters online and found a few hawkeye ones that may fit. I decided to try an £8 rubber lip off ebay instead, because I'm cheap! But to be fair it looks great, not as great as an STI splitter, but it does the job. It was as simple as cutting a few slots in it to match the curves and using some self tappers into the bumper. I used quite a few screws to stop it from sagging but it's neat enough for me under there.
With Autumn approaching I wanted to get some underseal on the car to prepare it for the salty winter. I saw Lanoguard come up on youtube a few times and ordered a bottle to try. The £60 bottle is enough to do 3 cars and probably have some spare. I don't have any spare as I knocked the bottle over and rust proofed the tarmac below the car instead. Removing all the undertrays and degreasing the arches took the longest time. It only took 10 minutes or so to get under the car and spray everything and get in all the nooks and crannies and it dries like a clear wax too which is a bonus. I'm really happy with the condition of the arches and floor pan. I'll probably have to redo it in a year or two but it's not that bad of a job at all.
![](https://thumbsnap.com/sc/iyEoPk9p.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="https://thumbsnap.com/SwVkpv2c" Target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[img]https://thumbsnap.com/sc/SwVkpv2c.jpg)
With Autumn approaching I wanted to get some underseal on the car to prepare it for the salty winter. I saw Lanoguard come up on youtube a few times and ordered a bottle to try. The £60 bottle is enough to do 3 cars and probably have some spare. I don't have any spare as I knocked the bottle over and rust proofed the tarmac below the car instead. Removing all the undertrays and degreasing the arches took the longest time. It only took 10 minutes or so to get under the car and spray everything and get in all the nooks and crannies and it dries like a clear wax too which is a bonus. I'm really happy with the condition of the arches and floor pan. I'll probably have to redo it in a year or two but it's not that bad of a job at all.
Edited by SaturnsPattern on Saturday 12th December 16:41
I was really happy with how the car was going, driving and looking. It's nearly where I want it to be so I can start saving for more serious bits, or plan to at least. The next thing to sort was the ride height. The best value for money solution in Legacy land is to use Tein springs with the standard Bilstein stocks, for £160 the ride is still very good. They drop the front 25mm and 30mm on the rear.
A few before photos.
The plan was to just swap the springs over but one top mount nut was not budging at all and started to round, so I sold the whole struts on and brought a set of struts with relatively new springs in instead. It could of been sorted easily by someone with more knowledge and tools than me doing it on the drive, but it was great timing that someone was selling exactly what I wanted that day so it all worked out and I ended up making a few quid on the old struts too.
A few afters.
It left the rears really tucked into the arches and looking lost (picture above). I was unsure about using spacers on the back because it looked really tight to me, but a few people online recommended some 15mm hubcentrics and they were right. I had to cut 3mm off the studs so to make them fit with the wheels and had to change a stud in the process. But it's another thing learnt and I'm happy with how they've fit. There's no rubbing at all so I'm really happy with it. I'll have to get some new fancy photos!
A few before photos.
The plan was to just swap the springs over but one top mount nut was not budging at all and started to round, so I sold the whole struts on and brought a set of struts with relatively new springs in instead. It could of been sorted easily by someone with more knowledge and tools than me doing it on the drive, but it was great timing that someone was selling exactly what I wanted that day so it all worked out and I ended up making a few quid on the old struts too.
A few afters.
It left the rears really tucked into the arches and looking lost (picture above). I was unsure about using spacers on the back because it looked really tight to me, but a few people online recommended some 15mm hubcentrics and they were right. I had to cut 3mm off the studs so to make them fit with the wheels and had to change a stud in the process. But it's another thing learnt and I'm happy with how they've fit. There's no rubbing at all so I'm really happy with it. I'll have to get some new fancy photos!
Edited by SaturnsPattern on Saturday 12th December 17:18
brightmotiv said:
Great work. Lovely looking motor at a bargain price. Not gonna see many like that in the UK.
Did the original owner lose lots on it? Importing must have cost £1k minimum surely?
Thinking about the figures I don't know how he made money on it. He imported it, but then didn't know much about the car. I sat down and translated every useful document, service stamp and receipt it has. Very strange he didn't do his homework Did the original owner lose lots on it? Importing must have cost £1k minimum surely?
Thanks all. Peter I'm in the Facebook group but don't post much, but some useful stuff on there!
Bit of a front end update today. I noticed it doesn't have a lower grill and a lot of cars online don't seem to have them either, maybe it's a Subaru thing. Having modded the main grill with mesh I thought how hard could the lower one be? For the first time taking the bumper off, it went very well and took about an hour from start to finish. Nice.
This is what it looked like before. A bit of a weird open space.
Taking the bumper off. 1 clip in each arch, 2 under the too grill and 6 or so underneath going into the various under trays. Hello Polly Styrene, nice to meet you.
I brought the mesh off Amazon, but its decent quality. The plan was to glue small cable tie mounts around the opening out of sight then cable tie it to the mounts, but I could get away with drilling small holes out of sight instead and cable tieing it nice and neatly that way.
I finally took my plate off and succumbed to a Jap sized plate so I don't get picked on by the 'scene lads'. It makes the car look like a rabbit with its teeth out but I like it and it matches the rear.
Bit of a front end update today. I noticed it doesn't have a lower grill and a lot of cars online don't seem to have them either, maybe it's a Subaru thing. Having modded the main grill with mesh I thought how hard could the lower one be? For the first time taking the bumper off, it went very well and took about an hour from start to finish. Nice.
This is what it looked like before. A bit of a weird open space.
Taking the bumper off. 1 clip in each arch, 2 under the too grill and 6 or so underneath going into the various under trays. Hello Polly Styrene, nice to meet you.
I brought the mesh off Amazon, but its decent quality. The plan was to glue small cable tie mounts around the opening out of sight then cable tie it to the mounts, but I could get away with drilling small holes out of sight instead and cable tieing it nice and neatly that way.
I finally took my plate off and succumbed to a Jap sized plate so I don't get picked on by the 'scene lads'. It makes the car look like a rabbit with its teeth out but I like it and it matches the rear.
Edited by SaturnsPattern on Saturday 19th December 16:53
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