JDM Subaru Legacy

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Discussion

Spantney

Original Poster:

334 posts

155 months

Friday 20th March 2020
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Greetings all,

What better way to brighten the current situation is there aside from new (to me) car day? Just completed a 500 odd mile round trip to pick up this absolute stunning Spec-B Legacy. I'll drop some pictures and then bore you with the facts...











I acquired this fine motor vehicle from a company called Torque GT based down in Devon, and I would recommend them highly. Absolutely stacks of incredible JDM machinery in stock, and really knowledgeable and friendly guys.

This particular car is the fairly rare WR-Limited version with the World Rally blue paint, gold wheels and half leather/alcantara interior. It has a decently low 73,000 miles on it and is a manual car.

Whilst the car was in their custodianship they fitted Tein lowering springs to it, Cosworth panel filter, full cavity protection, de-limit and a Sigma Cat 1 alarm/immobiliser fitted. I have a set of Enkei wheels off a Legacy STi making their way over from Japan to me as we speak so I'm looking forward to getting those fitted.

The car drives really nicely and the paintwork is beautiful, its definitely been cared for by its previous Japanese owner/s and well prepped by Torque-GT.

Cheers,

Ant

supacool1

372 posts

179 months

Friday 20th March 2020
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Noice! WR Blue is an awesome colour. I'm massively biased as I've got Forester Sti in the same colour. beer

peterattheboro

1,362 posts

183 months

Friday 20th March 2020
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Awesome smile

Get yourself on the UK Legacy group on Facebook. Helpful bunch thumbup

carwynd

33 posts

176 months

Saturday 21st March 2020
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Gucci as fk! Very jealous! Just picked up my own JDM Wagon but in a much less nice (more boring) colour combination! Be interested to know how the Legacy differs from the Impreza both mechanicals and practicality wise.



Carwyn

d_a_n1979

8,392 posts

72 months

Saturday 21st March 2020
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That's stunning cool

I often find myself looking at one of these or a Forester STi to be my next motor; just not sure I'd cope with a pudding stick after driving auto BMWs since 2011 laugh

MDMA .

8,900 posts

101 months

Saturday 21st March 2020
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d_a_n1979 said:
That's stunning cool

I often find myself looking at one of these or a Forester STi to be my next motor; just not sure I'd cope with a pudding stick after driving auto BMWs since 2011 laugh
You can get the twin scroll Legacy with the 5eat auto box with paddles.

Cambs_Stuart

2,871 posts

84 months

Saturday 21st March 2020
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Fantastic car, the best colour and spec of the gen 4. I had a 2006 blitzen, which was as close to a "do it all" car as I've ever owned...

Spantney

Original Poster:

334 posts

155 months

Saturday 21st March 2020
quotequote all

supacool1 said:
Noice! WR Blue is an awesome colour. I'm massively biased as I've got Forester Sti in the same colour. beer
Awesome! Always loved the Forester STI, Torque had a couple of lovely examples! Enjoy it smile

peterattheboro said:
Awesome smile

Get yourself on the UK Legacy group on Facebook. Helpful bunch thumbup
Will get signed up shortly, cheers!

carwynd said:
Gucci as fk! Very jealous! Just picked up my own JDM Wagon but in a much less nice (more boring) colour combination! Be interested to know how the Legacy differs from the Impreza both mechanicals and practicality wise.



Carwyn
Very nice! Being an Essex boy I've always loved Impreza's. Getting a rarer sight down here though! I take it as yours is a Hawkeye, its the Ej25 engine? If you are ever in the Essex area feel free to drop me a PM and we can can do a car comparison! The legacy is definitely up there practicality wise. I've owned a V70 and Saab 9-3 sportwagon before and the Legacy is somewhere in between those 2 I would say.

d_a_n1979 said:
That's stunning cool

I often find myself looking at one of these or a Forester STi to be my next motor; just not sure I'd cope with a pudding stick after driving auto BMWs since 2011 laugh
I think either would be a good buy! Driving a manual is like riding a bike, you never really forget wink

Cambs_Stuart said:
Fantastic car, the best colour and spec of the gen 4. I had a 2006 blitzen, which was as close to a "do it all" car as I've ever owned...
Very nice, I love the Blitzens! Those must be mega rare over here smile Was the Blitzen a 2.0 Twinscroll too, or did it have a different engine setup?

Thanks for the kind words all :-) I'm very chuffed with it and am looking forward to making small improvements and generally tidying it up like I like to do with my cars.

I snapped a couple more photos this morning, including some interior shots to show off the half leather, half alcantara. Sorry for photo quality, they are on a phone. I'll try and get some DSLR shots soon enough.











For those wondering, these are the Enkei wheels I have on the way:



Thanks again all :-)

Ant

peterattheboro

1,362 posts

183 months

Saturday 21st March 2020
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^ Same colour as mine


Cambs_Stuart

2,871 posts

84 months

Saturday 21st March 2020
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My blitzen was a 2.0 twinscroll
If you're in north essex then I'd highly recommend Tim Farmer. He's a hugely experienced subaru specialist mobile mechanic. He'll do everything from servicing to massive power engine builds.

tvrfan007

413 posts

174 months

Saturday 21st March 2020
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Lovely car chap. Liking the interior. smile

Spantney

Original Poster:

334 posts

155 months

Sunday 22nd March 2020
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peterattheboro said:
^ Same colour as mine

Lovely looking car! I think if I hadn't got the WR blue, the dark blue like yours would have been my next choice!

Cambs_Stuart said:
My blitzen was a 2.0 twinscroll
If you're in north essex then I'd highly recommend Tim Farmer. He's a hugely experienced subaru specialist mobile mechanic. He'll do everything from servicing to massive power engine builds.
Awesome thats good to know, thanks. I try and do most jobs myself but nice to know there is a localish Scooby specialist quite close in case I get stuck!

tvrfan007 said:
Lovely car chap. Liking the interior. smile
Thankyou kindly smile

threespires

4,295 posts

211 months

Sunday 22nd March 2020
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Congrats OP, that looks lovely.

rossub

4,450 posts

190 months

Sunday 22nd March 2020
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Lovely Legacy smile

Didn’t see the Impreza R205 there that’s soon to be mine (if we don’t get locked down) did you?

Spantney

Original Poster:

334 posts

155 months

Monday 13th April 2020
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rossub said:
Lovely Legacy smile

Didn’t see the Impreza R205 there that’s soon to be mine (if we don’t get locked down) did you?
I didn't notice it I'm afraid but I hope you managed to get it picked up what with the lock down and everything! I know at least some of the guys from Torque GT were working from home when I last spoke to them.

As expected, the Subaru has barely turned a wheel since the government mandated lockdown. I have however made use of the recent good weather to give the Scoob its first clean in my custodianship and start accruing a few bits for it. The power steering pump has been whining a bit on a cold start and supposedly this is a common fault remedied by a simple rubber o-ring. I've grabbed a new one from Subaru, and will fit this along with the new A/C & Alternator belts when I'm next poking around in the engine bay. The car had a cam belt done in 2018 and very few miles ago so at least there is some time before I need to get that done.

Forgive these terrible pictures, I just recently got a new Canon EOS M series camera and I'm still getting used to it as I've had Nikon's before! Also forgive the stonking great skip taking up my valuable parking space, I'm in the middle of having a new roof put on the house!

















amongst the bits and pieces I've recently acquired are these calipers off of an Impreza STI. This weekend I freed up the stuck pins and removed the old pads the calipers shipped with. I don't see anything massively wrong with the calipers mechanically and all the pistons seem to move freely but I'm going to get them all shipped off to BiggRed when I get paid and have them fully rebuilt & powdercoated. I'm in no rush to fit these as I'm still waiting on my Enkei alloys anyway which have been delayed due to the lockdown. Gives me time to source new disks, pads, hoses and fitting hardware also. I do have a set of KartBoy brackets coming over from the USA which should enable me to fit the rear calipers without needing to butcher the dust shield. The front's are apparently a bolt-on fit.



Cheers, Ant.


Edited by Spantney on Monday 13th April 18:16

TheAngryDog

12,407 posts

209 months

Tuesday 14th April 2020
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Very nice OP, I quite like the Legacy, though I prefer them in saloon flavour.

Enjoy!

Cambs_Stuart

2,871 posts

84 months

Tuesday 14th April 2020
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I had a few issues with PS pump on my legacy. As well as the o ring in the top of the pump being a bit crap, the hose clips subaru use are rubbish, they lose tension and let is tiny amount of air (after about 10 years), so replace them with jubilee clips. Also, replacing the PS fluid is really easy to do on the drive way (30 minutes, max) and can make a big difference. Just don't let the pump go dry when you're doing it.

Spantney

Original Poster:

334 posts

155 months

Thursday 9th July 2020
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Hi all, all is well mostly in Legacy land.

My Enkei's finally arrived last Friday. Truth be told I was a little bit downtrodden when the wheels arrived as they were in much poorer condition than I was led to believe they were in and the tyres although in good condition were the wrong size/load rating for the car.



I was initially quite frustrated with this and did consult the seller to enquire about a refund, which to their credit they offered, but after speaking with them and taking the fact that these are quite rare wheels which are approx 15 years old into account, I decided to keep them. I ordered the wheels before picking up the car so it seemed silly to just send them back after waiting for such a long time.

I ordered 4 new Falken FK510's which arrived on Monday, and dropped the alloys and tyres off at my local refurbishers for a full strip down and refurbishment job, and have the new boots put on. I got the call today to say the wheels were ready and I'm now MUCH happier (although almost £700 lighter for tyres and refurb!). But whats the point of doing something if you don't do it properly? smile











Credit to the refurb company, an outfit called Rapid Wheels who are based near Southend-on-Sea. They did my Abarth Punto alloys a good few years back and they are still in perfect condition with no corrosion or anything.

Next couple of months will be me getting the Brembo calipers sent for refurb and accruing the discs, pads, hoses needed for the conversion. Then next year if all goes well, I'll maybe look at extracting a bit more power out of the old girl. Nothing too crazy though as I don't particularly want to blow the engine up!

Cheers, Ant.

AceKid

281 posts

55 months

Thursday 9th July 2020
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Thats looking spot on now, liked it with the gold wheels, but those new ones really suit the Legacy.

trails

3,717 posts

149 months

Thursday 9th July 2020
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Wheels look like they worth the investment...car looks much nicer. Black wing mirror caps would suit it smile