Flowmastered87GL

Completed height. 10.5 inches at rear diff. Had to trim a little bit of the fronts of the rear wheel wells just to be safe (at the very bottom) Tires are Hankook I-Pike 205/70R15 straight off a 1996 Outback.

Winter mode picture. Running studded 205/70R15 Hankook I-Pikes. 10.5 inches of clearance at the rear diff now!

I got mine lifted with the help of a fellow board member. It is a 1996 Impreza Outback 4EAT 2.2L. All four struts are 1997 Legacy Outback. On top of those are 3/8" Anderson Design and Fabrication strut top spacers. I (we) also installed the Outback rear trailing arm mounts, rear sway bar with mounts, rear Whiteline camber bolts, Kartboy STi rear endlinks were mounted up front and we had a heck of a time getting them to fit. The stock bushings will not work as they show up. I figure the easy way would be to order new lower bushings to fit the suspension arm, but instead of doing that we just ground down the bushings to make them narrower and then drilled the hole in the suspension arm to a larger size. These are not the final tires for the car, the wheels will end up on my Baja. The car will end up with 205/70R15's from an Outback for now. I may end up going bigger, we will see how it does with the ones I have.

Lifted! It is running 1997 Legacy Outback struts, rear trailing arm mounts, rear sway bar and mounts, 3/8" Anderson Design and Fabrication strut top spacers front and rear, and Kartboy STi rear end links up front (which we had to mod a bit to fit)

I didn't see it listed above, but turn over the engine by hand with a breaker bar / socket BEFORE you try to use the starter... you want to make sure it turns over several revolutions and nothing is binding up before you hit it with all the torque from the starter.

Yes!!! Finally a picture of the woodgrain wagon! I actually saw one in a junkyard in Washington state (I forget what the interior looked like though) I saw it around the year 1999 if I recall correctly.

Nice find... its like my $1 Impreza that had "bad AWD clutch packs" A fluid change and some additive fixed it. Your find is cleaner than mine though.

Love the 95-97 Outback wheels on it. I have a set of them for mine with snow tires on... still working on getting a second set for the rest of the year.

Emergency oil change today. I had been talking to my parents on the phone and I asked them about the oil change sticker that said NEXT change due at 92356 miles on 4/7/14. Soooo the oil in the car was two months shy of being three years old! The car currently has 97,800ish miles on it... so it means its around 8444 miles. Needless to say I bought oil immediately and did a change today. Hopefully this helps the MPG a bit... my last tank was 23.1 MPG. I plan to do fuel filter and injector cleaner once I get over to a dealer. The good news is I never saw an oil light, the oil was still within the normal range on the dipstick and I have not had any funny noises. So hopefully I got it changed quick enough. I plan to change this current oil right at 100K so that I can hopefully clean some of the junk out with a shorter change interval.

Passed emissions, took it to get the transmission fluid changed and additive added. Torque bind is already decreasing. Hopefully it goes away entirely. Here is how it looks today. Baja turbo wheels and NASIOC plate frames are the only mods on it right now .

Yep... my parents were looking at Imprezas and Crosstreks and ended up with an Impreza for $21544 out the door. I have seen USED ones asking $24000+ (yes I know its asking price not final sale price). Same goes for Crosstreks. Find a dealer that is willing to sell at or under invoice then add on a $500 Subaru Ambassador coupon and you have a killer deal. If you want factory navigation you will need to get one of the limited models as the lower models don't come with it. Be aware that SOME of the early models 2012-2013 or so can have issues with excessive oil consumption. I vote you get a new one though. If you dealers won't play ball, contact some in Oregon, fly up and road trip it back.

Woo hoo, got my rear camber bolts (Whiteline) and my new front sway bar end links (Kartboy) Both look really good. Especially the end links... they are super beefy! Pics of the car once its lifted... which will be after I get the strut top spacers as that is the last piece of the puzzle.

Depending on how bad the rust is... it might be worth less... Us Oregonians are scared of rust... if there is any hole in the body I'd go $500 tops personally.

Bought most of my lift kit... I sourced the struts, rear trailing arm brackets, and rear sway bar and brackets from a 1997 Outback (along with 2 full size spares for my future tire size) for $200 (and that included a bunch of other parts that friends harvested such as the carpet, HVAC, control arms, knuckles, etc...) I still need to get the rear camber bolts and strut top spacers front and rear. Pics once its lifted... or when we reseal the engine / swap the tranny... whichever happens first.

Depends on what is more important to you. If you want pure good on road gas mileage get the Legacy. If you are willing to trade 1 or 2 MPG for better bad weather and off road performance get the Outback. I'd take the Outback personally.

I bring the Baja to WCSS though... and I can't convince my wife to come to the show.

Interesting story on the car... it was bought new on the last day of 1996 by my parents back when I was in high school. I got my drivers license in this car in 1997. I took it on a camping trip for spring break my first year of college. 20 years later... it needs some transmission work, the power steering is leaking but the car is overall solid. Two best parts. I paid $1 for the car, and its a 1 owner car since my parents bought it new so it only has 097084 miles on it!! Yes 5 digit mileage! It has the super rare high rise center console too... the lid is cracked, but I can glue it. Job 1... make the car reliable. So it gets new accessory belts first as they are cracked and making noise. Job 2... figure out if the existing 4EAT can be salvaged or if its better off just changing it.... also look at rear hatch harness as it has issues with 3rd brake light and power hatch lock. Job 3... oil seals and timing kit as its leaks everywhere after 20 years. Job 4... mods!! LIFT KIT!!!

My Freightliner Business class at work is 35,920 empty... any 4 wheeled car/truck feels light and nimble compared to it.

Pictures!! I didn't take any myself, but Andy got this one of my driving Galens Brat.

So.... is this car going to venture North to the West Coast Subaru show this weekend??

I always found the electronic parking brake scary. Gladly I don't have it on my Baja or my future 1996 Impreza. I once had the horn short out on my 87 GL which led to me having to pull the battery and go in and repair the wiring before I could drive the car. What happens if the parking brake shorts out?? Is it going to pull the parking brake on while you are on the freeway and hit a bump, wires touch right and you go spinning around?? To answer your question I don't think this is a common occurrence as Subaru likely would have issued a recall or something... though maybe there is a TSB on it. Maybe ask your dealer.

I think the issue was addressed above by BratWarrior. What I did on my EA82 manifold was grind down the little pipe that comes into the base of where the carb adapter goes (to make it flush. Then I filled that hole as much as I could with JB weld and sanded it smooth. The way I dealt with the coolant hose that wanted to come into the base of the manifold was to insert a stud into the hose and clamp it down with a hose clamp (so its a plug)

I heard that CCR has retired and they are no longer rebuilding engines.

Most recent post other than thanking the sponsors. Hey Subaru fans! We're going to close down the merchandise part of ticket sales this weekend (Saturday night) so we can get our order put in! Go get your tickets and merchandise if you haven't already! http://tickets.thefoat.com/…/West+Coas…/tickets/event-33982/

Gen 3's are getting more rare now, but I have not really seen their value go up yet. I have seen an increase in Gen 1's for sure, Some Gen 2's are starting to go up, but I really can't see paying something like $5000 for a cherry gen 3 like you might pay for a pristine 76 GL or something.