Kilroy

The fender flares out quite a bit, hence my vote for the Skyline.

:eek: Wow, that bottom side must have sat in a salt bath for some time!

Thanks for the info, I'm hoping to pick up an LS model and it may come in handy! That being said, keep your eyes peeled for a Legacy (1990+) in your area for me. I've got a friend in Seattle that I want to visit and buying a car in that area would be a good excuse to go.

The car is in phenominal shape, there is not a spot of rust on it and the interior could pass for new. I've posted photos of it on a thread or two in the past. Bear in mind that I am in Canada, the insurance rules may be different than those in the United States. Those were the two options they gave me, $2790 and I keep it to recertify or $3100 and they tow it away. I showed the Insurance Adjuster (inspector) all of my receipts, including the transmission receipt. I told the Adjuster that the wheels and stereo (~$4500 together) would be coming off of the car, so he was not to figure that into the value of the vehicle. I mentioned that I still had the original stereo and he could have that and he said that he would like it in the car (not hooked up) if they tow it. I'm not too sure why they would care about the stereo if they were going to crush the car, I think it will be sold to a wrecker for parts first. I am going to find out and, if so, I may try to purchase the car from the insurance company for the same price the auto wrecker will give them (I would be surprised if it is over $100) or find out which wrecker it is and go and pull the transmission ($80). I've considered taking the $2790 and pulling the engine/transmission in my driveway and selling it, but it's a PITA and messy to boot. I don't have the proper supports, it's around 0 C for a high in the daytime and I would have to pay someone to take the rest of the car away when I am done. At least at the wreckers they provide an engine hoist and it is already high enough off of the ground that I have plenty of room to work and won't have to worry about the mess. The flip side to that is there may be 1' of snow on the ground before public has access to it at the wreckers. Lots of options to be considered... It is now recorded as written off, so it would be illegal to drive it at this point. I would gladly take the $2790 and sell the the car to someone else if they wanted it, the damage was only cosmetic and they could drive it home if they wanted to take the chance.

Wagons rh00L!!! Wow, this must cost you a small fortune each weekend you hit the track!! Is that a Skyline behind you in the last picture?

They will either give me $3100 (the max allowed for this year/make/model) and tow it away or else they will give me $2790 ($3100-10%) and let me keep the car, but it is already written off. Just the inspection to have it recertified is $500-600. I have spoken with a guy who recertifies vehicle (there aren't very many around here that do) and he cherry picks the vehicles that he will recertify due to the liability involved. He gave me an estimate of ~$2500 to do the body work and have the recertification done, but this is with me supplying the front and rear bumpers (plus the hardware underneath them that may need replacing) and without fixing the dents in the rear hatch. I told him about a 1990 Legacy wagon that I had found at a wrecker with perfect bumpers, I had already pulled the passenger headlight from it to replace mine. The other estimate I have for the full repair (not including recertification) is ~$4200. I pulled the stereo and new battery out of it today, the tow truck should be here by the end of the week to take it away.

They will either give me $3100 (the max allowed for this year/make/model) and tow it away or else they will give me $2790 ($3100-10%) and let me keep the car, but it is already written off. Just the inspection to have it recertified is $500-600. I have spoken with a guy who recertifies vehicle (there aren't very many around here that do) and he cherry picks the vehicles that he will recertify due to the liability involved. He gave me an estimate of ~$2500 to do the body work and have the recertification done, but this is with me supplying the front and rear bumpers (plus the hardware underneath them that may need replacing) and without fixing the dents in the rear hatch. I told him about a 1990 Legacy wagon that I had found at a wrecker with perfect bumpers, I had already pulled the passenger headlight from it to replace mine. The other estimate I have for the full repair (not including recertification) is ~$4200. I pulled the stereo and new warranty today, the tow truck should be here by the end of the week to take it away.

I've been using 'Village Photos' to host my sig on various forums for about 4 years. As long as you log in once every 60 days, they stay active. They send you an email a week before the 60 day period if you haven't logged in.

Blizzaks have my vote as well, I run them on my Acura RL and my Honda Odyssey and they will also be on my next Subaru. I have purchased 3 mag wheel/tire sets from Tire Rack and even with the US-->CAN dollar conversion at the time and shipping on top of that I couldn't find a Canadian dealer who would come within 10% of the price. Winter tires pay for themselves the first time you stop 2' away from hitting that guy in front of you.

This needs to be stickied!! Great post and awesome photos, thanks guys!

I just knew a thread like this would pop up soon! Why? Because I have a rebuilt 4EAT transmission in my 1990 Legacy with 5 months left on the warranty and maybe 4000 miles on it since the rebuild. Why is this a bad thing? Because the insurance company is writing off my vehicle due to the cosmetic damages required to repair it costing more than the value of the vehicle. I've asked about keeping the transmission (just in case I purchase another Legacy or this year or find someone willing to purchase it), but they want a complete vehicle when they tow it away (although they say that it will be crushed!). I've considered finding one in the wrecking yard and swapping it out with the rebuilt one, but that's an awful lot of hassle.

I just read through all of the posts and I have to agree with what Manarius said, with the exception of the sound being exceptionally loud this is the way my (and Manarius') engine acted when the MAF sensor bit the dust. It was very unpredictable, you could drive 100 miles with no troubles and then the car would jump and buck or just have no power. Sometimes it would die when you pull over and others it would just calm down and idle. A short wait time (15-30 seconds) and it would fire right up again with no indication that there ever was a problem. MAF sensors are an easy swap and they are cheap, couldn't hurt to give it a shot. GL with the detective work, I look forward to reading the eventual outcome.

Ahhh yes, I missed the raised roofline. What makes the rear seats obvious that it is an Outback? The two-tone color? I can't see any difference from my Legacy rear seats other than the color. I imagine that paint will start flaking off of the trim rather easily with a little bit of body flex.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200173111989&ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:MOTORS:1123 Have a look at this eBay listing and tell me if this was originally released as an Outback. Due to it all being one color, it looks like a Legacy with Outback front and rear bumpers added. Also, there is no badging on the rear stating that it is an Outback model. I've emailed the seller and he has replied that it was originally an Outback, but I've never seen one that looks like this.

Unique, huh?

If you are concerned about the battery you can always purchase a 'battery blanket'. It wraps around the battery and plugs in, just like a block heater. It will keep the battery warm enough that it will not freeze. I worked on the oil rigs and everyone had block heaters and battery blankets. We worked 12 hour shifts and it would get down as low as -56C on some nights, at least -45C most nights in January and February. After a night working outside in that kind of cold, you can bet your @$$ all we wanted to do was get to our lodging and crawl into a warm bed, so we took all the precautions possible to be sure we could leave.

The trouble with his first setup is that he doesn't have a spare tire and he is going to overheat his amplifier with no venting. The second setup is even worse as he has lost the ability to fold down his rear seats and use the extra space for storage as the new subwoofers are now in the way. Plenty of earth shaking fun, but not very practical. http://www.villagephotos.com/pubbrowse.asp?folder_id=1927349 I've included a link to my current setup, the amp case and sub box were both made from one sheet of 3/4" MDF. I lose 6" in depth and have access to my spare tire and can fold down my rear seats to use that extra space. I still have to install the thermal fans on the topside of my amplifier cover, but that may never be completed as I expect to hear any day now that the car will be written off due to a collision. The fans were to have a temperature trigger installed with them to turn them on once the temperature in the case reached a set point. The subwoofer is a Rockford Fosgate 12" shallow mount DVC, the only shallow mount DVC subwoofer available at the time I made the box. Only the right side of the box is being used now. I calculated the dimensions so that the box is split in the middle to allow an identical second subwoofer to be mounted on the left should I find it necessary. The subwoofer hole is cut and wiring is installed, I would just need to cut the port hole to the proper size once the frequency that the subwoofer was to be tuned to was decided. The box is covered by 1/4" foam and a 1/4" perforated 20 gauge stainless steel grating. The foam is to keep the grating from vibrating against the box. The HU is a JVC AVX33 DVD player with 24-bit digitial surround sound processing and Bluetooth for my cell phone. When someone calls, I simply press the phone button on the stereo and I hear the caller over my speakers and I have the mic mounted on my dash to pick up my voice. Another nice feature is that it will play XviD/DivX encoded video, so you can watch your downloaded shows on it. If the 3.5" screen is too small for you, there is video out that you can hook up to a screen of your choice and dual zone capability if you want to listen to music while driving and have your passengers in the back watching video (using headphones, of course). To top it all off, the sub box sounds phenominal! I used the THX Digital intro at the beginning of a DVD movie to set my gains and each time I play it for a passenger their jaw drops in amazement. Everything (with the exception of the head unit) is stealth, nobody has a clue what they are in for until the car starts shaking. A second subwoofer simply isn't necessary, but it's certainly an option I would like to exercise in the future. This shows that it's possible to have all of the bells and whistles without sacrificing the storage space that you purchased a wagon for in the first place.

I've pulled two engine/4eat Legacy combos (1990 and 1992) in the wrecking yard using an A-frame with chain hoist, they took about 2.5 hours each (on average, the second one went much quicker as I had all the correct tools). As long as everything is disconnected (including halfshafts) they should come out rather easily.

It's so easy to give advice of what to do when a large animal is in your path, but reflexes tend to take over and thinking back to what someone told you to do doesn't typically occur. The typical reflex is to avoid, which is the case here. I used to be the shop foreman for a company called 'The Truck Outfitters', they sell aftermarket truck accessories. Those deer whistles came in one day and I thought they were pretty tacky, so I checked them out online. It turns out that the noise they make can make an animal curious as to what it is, which can actually attract them to come and see. Oops. Sorry about your ride m8, time to start shopping for the BBD!

Same thing with my '90 Legacy, it worked great until a few months ago and then it started going down twice as fast as usual. I just wait until I am at ~500 km. on the trip meter and then I fill up. I'll look into that additive trick, it might just fix this problem.

Many manufacturers are simply refusing to create a 'Recall Clearance Letter' for a potential Canadian purchaser. This document is necessary to get across the border, so this is the simplest way they can control the sale to Canadians.

Most times it will be wrapped up so tightly it will be darned near impossible to move them around to connect them. A 10mm nut driver or ratchet with extension will allow you to remove the nuts on the TCU/ECU and take down/out the ECU or TCU, which will give you a lot more room to move around under there.

Here's a quick and easy way to make your photos smaller, either in physical size or file size: http://www.shrinkpictures.com/ If you want the photo to stay the same size, but the file to be smaller, choose to lower the image quality. Or do it yourself quickly and easily on your own PC (choose Image Resizer in the box on the right): http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx If you don't have a 3/16" punch (7/32" is the exact size required), look for a long necked Robertson #2 screwdriver. The neck will usually be the perfect size and the head will catch all 4 corners on the spring pin.

Brakes can take awhile to break in (no pun intended), new pads still have little ridges on them that need to wear down. Try getting up to highway speeds and come to a controlled quick stop (making sure nobody is behind you). Several of those should take care of things, I had a guy at a brake shop tell me it can take up to 200km before they are smooth, but that a few stops like that can really speed up the process. If you cleaned the brake parts and reinstalled them properly there should be no other reason that they are dragging.

Once I had a Subaru securely in my possession I would shoot for a Jaguar Mark II. What a gorgeous car!!