john in KY

Check the mounting brackets that hold the rack in place. When the bushings go bad, the rack can shift .

Check the For Sale section. Rob is currently parting out an XT6. I have seats but live a long way from you.

Seat from an XT6 will bolt right in and is a better seat.

Jump the front solenoids and the compressor and note if the front struts inflate. If they don't, either both have cracks or the compressor is too weak to inflate. The "computer" is located between the driver's door and seat. under the carpet Have to pull the seat and that trim piece above the rocker panel to gain access. Usually when something fails in the system, a warning light in the dash flashes. Sometimes if you jack the wheels off the ground this will "kick start" the system.

Only glanced at the 1st photo and thought 1st gen Legacy which explains my wheel size question.

Open the driver's door and the data/manufactured date will be found. Are you sure it has 13" tires. Seems very odd.

If you have air tools and don't run into problems, easily can drop the whole thing in 45 minutes or less. I think for some reason I may even have that "crossmember" around here somewhere.

Impressive.

For some reason thinking the negative cable for the battery terminates at one of the starter mounting bolts. If so, either now making a poor connection or you overlooked it when you pulled the starter.

Pads are always making light contact with the rotors. This contact generates heat that gets transferred to the brake fluid. Brake fluid absorbs the heat and expands as a result. The increased volume has to go somewhere and the somewhere is the master brake cylinder. If the heated/expanded fluid can not get back it will push the calipers pistons out. All this does is generated more heat/more expanded fluid until eventually the brakes will lock up. Been there, done that.

A new brake master cylinder will fix this.

Once the drum is removed, you will see what was causing it not to want to come off. There will be a "lip" on the outer circumference of the drum that the shoes hung up on. Back the shoes off to remove the drum.

Before buying a new pump, pull yours and verify the pump to block gasket didn't get sucked in.

Be very careful when reinstalling it the TC is FULLY seated. Get it wrong and the transmission will end up junk.

Are the battery cables clean and tight? I think there is a fusible link in the fuse box under the hood. May want to check it.

Had an 85 XT turbo once. Similar problem. Problem in my case was a poor electrical connection. Look for a grounding wire on one of the intake manifold bolts, passenger side. Also have a good AFM for this model. Removed from an engine with 60k miles and stored for many years. $50 plus shipping if interested.

$4K is a lot of money but this is a lot of car. Had a 90 turbo wagon that had 0ver 300K miles on it when I sold it. They can run for a long time regardless of what some folks say. Car also has the 4EAT transmission, which is great, and almost certainly has the rear LSD. In my experience an old radiator will cause more engine problems than just about anything else. Also this engine will have the generation lll cylinder heads which means less likely to crack. If I was in the market for another wagon, I would seriously consider this cream puff.

Could be bulbs if the circuit suffered a massive voltage strike.

Stopped in a local wrecking yard today and gained access to an area previously denied and stumbled onto a turbo Peugeot. Wheels are probably an 8.5 on a scale of 1 to 10 and even still have the center caps. Wondering what someone would pay for them.

Next time it dies on you, check for spark. Still have a strong spark, suspect a weal fuel pump. 16 flashes means you have a transmission problem. Won't hurt to pull any stored trouble codes. Most auto part stores will do this for free.

Ignition timing retarded/clogged exhaust/weak fuel pump/clogged fuel filter?

Turbo cv axles and NA axles are different.

Won't it just be easier to hotwire the radio?

Pinhole leak in one of the heater hoses?