JDM Subaru Legacy

[Spantney]

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

[Spantney]

supacool1 said:

Noice! WR Blue is an awesome colour. I'm massively biased as I've got Forester Sti in the same colour.

Awesome! Always loved the Forester STI, Torque had a couple of lovely examples! Enjoy it

peterattheboro said:

Awesome

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

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

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

I think either would be a good buy! Driving a manual is like riding a bike, you never really forget

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 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

[Spantney]

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.

Thankyou kindly

[Spantney]

rossub said:

Lovely Legacy

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

[Spantney]

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?











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.

[Spantney]

AceKid said:

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

Thanks very much Yeah I think so too and the added bonus is that they'll fit over the Brembos once fitted!

trails said:

Wheels look like they worth the investment...car looks much nicer. Black wing mirror caps would suit it

Thanks! Yeah I wouldn't be against black mirror caps, I'll keep an eye out.

Jaaack said:

Great car, if my Legacy knowledge is correct it's not just a Spec B but also a WR-Limited?

Just such a good all round car, great performance, looks cool, really nice interior and loads of space. I've been fancying one of the older twin turbo versions for a couple of years, just not in a position to be buying any more cars until I've built a garage.

Looks like you've got a real good one there, and the colour is amazing. Torque GT are one of the best in the business, never heard a bad word said about them!

You are very correct. WR-Limited Spec B so I get the nice Bilstein dampers along with what I think is a much nicer interior! Its definitely spacious but it never feels massive to drive. I had a Volvo V70 and that felt like an absolute tank. The legacy practically wise is not a whole lot smaller but feels it. Yeah I feel your pain, I'm pretty much maxed out on cars until I can get my garage fit to put one in there! If you are in the market for JDM then Torque GT I would say are definitely worth the trip down to Devon. You can tell they are all proper petrol heads and their after care has also been brilliant.

S100HP said:

Nice Leggy. Quite a few owned by people on here it seems.

Thanks! Yeah they do seem to be a popular choice amongst the PH massive, although I guess probably a bit more niche for regular people after a decent sized wagon with some poke Hows everything going with your Legacy? I'm enjoying following your thread too.

SVX said:

Lovely looking bit of kit, I've had quite a few Subarus over the years, including two Legacys first a 2.5 4Cam estate and latterly a 3.0Rn saloon. Would definitely buy another when my current Mercedes lease arrangement runs out. It's a shame we don't get the 3.6 / 6 saloon here in the U.K. A friend in South Africa has one, and it's such a capable vehicle.

Thanks Yeah thats the Tribeca engine isn't it? If you are familiar with the Youtube show Mighty Car Mods, Marty has a Legacy wagon which they converted to run the 3.6 Tribeca engine & turbo'd it. I think its running about 500 horsepower at the wheels! A friend of mine has a 3.0R and thats a fantastic engine too.

Cheers all!

[Spantney]

About a week after I picked the car up, I was driving down a dual carriageway at 70mph and the drivers side wheel arch liner came loose and got absolutely mangled. Torque GT with no fuss at all sourced me a replacement arch liner which was a bit delayed due to COVID and this arrived last week. I fitted it this afternoon after work and then gave the car a mini detail, including dressing the plastics, a coat of wax and giving the headlights a compound and polish.

I'm really liking how the car is looking now and I'm really eager to get my Brembos refurbished and fitted asap.













Cheers

Edited by Spantney on Tuesday 14th July 22:19

[Spantney]

Wow, apologies that I missed the activity on this thread a few weeks back!

I'm pleased to report all is going well in the land of Subaru! It's just had its first MOT under my custodianship which it passed with flying colours and I rewarded its efforts with a good service. First time servicing a new car is always fun as you never know what a pain in the arse its going to be, but I'm really pleased to report that this old Japanese beasty was an absolute pleasure to work on. Took longer to get the tools out and the car in the air than it did to replace the oil & filters. I've gone with the seemingly highly recommended Millers Oils Nanotech in 5W-40 flavour so we'll see how we get on

The car performed valiantly in the snow a couple of weeks back, although a few consecutive days of ferrying the Mrs to & from work in it meant that it became extremely filthy and covered in road salt. Weekend just gone was lovely so I spent a good few hours out the front tending to it!

Couple of pics:




I've got a fairly major house project going on at the moment but if all goes well, around summer time I'm going to get the brake upgrade installed. The Brembo calipers are sitting on the side in the garage reminding me I'm an abject failure every time I go in there.

Cheers, Ant.

[Spantney]

Many thanks all!

I do agree, she is a looker! Something has to balance out the driver

[Spantney]

Cambs_Stuart said:

Thanks to this and a couple of other reader's cars threads i've now got some legacies on various watch lists. Just need to sell my barge first...

Awesome, you won't be disappointed! If you are ever down Essex way, you are more than welcome to come have a nosey round mine