JDM Shed content - 2004 Subaru Legacy GT-B Twinscroll Manual

[artois7]

Well... Believe it or not, I've secured a *manual* Subaru Legacy GT-B Twinscroll, for shed money! I'm sure this is the cheapest in the country (potentially by a long way).

The rest of my garage: Peugeot 309 GTI (x2), Peugeot 205 GTI, Peugeot 406 Coupe 3l V6, daily shed VW Passat Estate and a Kawasaki ZX9R. Lot of money pits and all in various states of disrepair

She 's a 2004 JDM Import, GT-B Twinscroll model. That makes it 280bhp, all wheel drive, and the same EJ20 / flat 4 boxer engine as the Imprezas of the period. Few pics from the previous owner:










These are quite rare to find in manual, and this is a good spec one being GT-B and with the McIntosh sound system. This means an amp under the passenger seat and a 6x9 sub in the boot, with a six disc cd changer. The whole system is useless speakers all worn, and a JDM radio that won't tune past ~90fm so can't pick up any UK stations. The replacement double din adapter is notoriously expensive on Legacys as well!

Overall the body / paintwork is excellent for the age, there are a few dents on the bonnet and some paint wear on the driver's side skirt. The interior smells badly of Dog, so it's booked in for a full valet next week!

The clocks are reading approx 245km, so it's a bit leggy / high mileage, however it had a full engine rebuild in 2013 (with receipts). The previous owner purchased it in 2013, with a receipt for a cambelt having been done a few months before, but the belt snapped a week into his ownership. Turns out the garage had charged for a belt replacement and not actually done it! So he hit a £5k engine rebuild bill right at the start of his ownership.

It does need some work, of course. It hasn't had a cambelt since 2013's engine rebuild so I'm not driving it much until I've got that belt done, and the AC hasn't worked since at least 2015 judging by invoices for attempted diagnostics. After my first spirited drive, I had smoke bellowing from the offside front brake; the slider pins were the most seized I've ever seen! So some love to the brakes all round coming up as well. It's also not so happy at idle, very lumpy and hunts quite badly.

Despite the lumpiness at idle, it drives exceptionally well. Super planted thanks to the AWD drivetrain, and far quicker than I need my daily estate car to be. Genuinely handles like nothing I've ever driven before, it's so easy to forget you're in a large estate!

I definitely didn't need a new daily. I love my beater £400 passat estate; it does 45mpg everywhere and wafts around brilliantly. I've fancied a Legacy for ages, but couldn't justify the money on a good one. No idea why but I had a sudden desire to join the owners club on Facebook and ask if anyone within a few hours of me was selling anything (expecting some overpriced 2.5/3.0L UK spec to be offered) and a guy not 20 miles from me sent me a message with this beauty, that he hadn't even advertised for sale! He was about to retire, and no longer needed a second car. He decided I was clearly an enthusiast (i.e. idiot) and would spend the money it needs to keep it going.

So.. the bit everyone cares about: £££££. A good BP-5 Legacy Twinscroll will set you back somewhere in the £4-5k range, and you'll likely struggle to find one for sale that is a manual.

This 280bhp, all wheel drive, manual, completely standard example in a very rare colour cost me a whopping... £1500.

[egor110]

I used to have previous model gtb , have you joined uk legacy ?

[supacool1]

You stole that at that price! Well done. Is a nice car.

[anonymous-user]

Always wanted the b4 risk, do these suffer from valley of death as well?

Looks nice what needs doing on it?

[supacool1]

The Spruce Goose said:

Always wanted the b4 risk, do these suffer from valley of death as well?

These aren't twin turbo like the B4 RSK's so won't suffer from it. They are twin scroll so will spool up quicker than the comparable 2.0 Turbo...

[anonymous-user]

supacool1 said:

These aren't twin turbo like the B4 RSK's so won't suffer from it. They are twin scroll so will spool up
quicker than the comparable 2.0 Turbo...

I could Google it but twin scroll mean, is that variable vane ?

[Hol]

I had a 2004 Twin Scroll Impreza back in the mid noughtys and they are one of the stronger Subaru engines.

With that big boot, that is one heck of a practical car Point to point car.

You did well.

[Hol]

The Spruce Goose said:

supacool1 said:

These aren't twin turbo like the B4 RSK's so won't suffer from it. They are twin scroll so will spool up
quicker than the comparable 2.0 Turbo...

I could Google it but twin scroll mean, is that variable vane ?

They have twin inlets fed from a more refined/split exhaust manifold. This allows for a faster spool up, compared to single inlet turbo set ups.

When they came out in 2003, they had a mixed review from owners as they had less noticeable lag, but because the associated exhaust design had equal length headers, the cars lost the ‘burble’ that the prior STI cars had.

[Roboticarm]

Great choice ! I got myself a 2003 twinscroll back in Jan, mine is on 116km, I bought it from a member on uklegacy, got mine during lockdown so first time is saw it in person was when it arrived in the back of a truck.

I can't think of anything better for the money (although mine wasn't shed money it was still a good price) it's great for carrying kids and dogs about in, the 4wd will be excellent in poor weather and it's really fast and fun to drive. Insurance is reasonable, tax is cheap enough, the only downside is the fact that it likes to drink fuel... And has to be ran on vpower
Has yours been mapped for UK fuel ?

Mine would benefit from a bit of paint on the front bumper when I caused some damage with a pressure washer but otherwise I would say it looks fresh for its age

Enjoy... And if you need parts as performance and ICP are good people's to speak to

Edited by Roboticarm on Saturday 31st July 09:56

[unbiased]

So you've had it a few months, realised it's fked and are now trying to flog it for £2k more than you paid!?

Good luck to you fella.

(for sale on FB Marketplace if anyone is in the market)

[anonymous-user]

unbiased said:

So you've had it a few months, realised it's fked and are now trying to flog it for £2k more than you paid!?

Good luck to you fella.

(for sale on FB Marketplace if anyone is in the market)

2k is some good going.

be 10k by xmas..

[Cambs_Stuart]

To be fair, if he's fixed the AC, the brakes, the lumpiness at idle, changed the belts and not uncovered anything else unpleasant (rusty rear subframe, oil leaks) then I'd say it's a 3500 to 4000 car.

[unbiased]

Cambs_Stuart said:

To be fair, if he's fixed the AC, the brakes, the lumpiness at idle, changed the belts and not uncovered anything else unpleasant (rusty rear subframe, oil leaks) then I'd say it's a 3500 to 4000 car.

In fairness to him, he's done belts and put a new alternator on it.

But it's still idle hunting, the front brakes still require attention, and there's now "a noise from the drivetrain that's yet to be investigated"

[anonymous-user]

unbiased said:

In fairness to him, he's done belts and put a new alternator on it.

But it's still idle hunting, the front brakes still require attention, and there's now "a noise from the drivetrain that's yet to be investigated"

So still a bargain?

[pti]

I'd be tempted at £1500

[anonymous-user]

pti said:

I'd be tempted at £1500

2 months MOT I think most would..

Fair do's to the op, someone might pay it, Japanese stuff does have the stupid tax on it with all the fanboys.

[Cambs_Stuart]

My twinscroll legacy had idle issues. I cleaned the throttle body, refreshed intake hoses and did the idle re-learn procedure, but it still idled at 2000 rpm when cold. Which was a pita with an auto box.