bhazard Posted August 25, 2011 Share Posted August 25, 2011 Well I'll just cut to the chase, heres what I started with. A '97 Impreza Outback Sport with 230,000 miles. Bought for $400 running and driving, but not well. The guy was driving it into the ground. Someone had cut the coil springs pretty much in half. The rear half of the driveshaft was in the back, destroyed. All tires were shot. Dash lights were non-functional. It really was ready for the boneyard. Click thumbnails One of the first things I did was ditch the cut springs and struts that were probably blown from being bottomed out for who knows how long. Got a full set of loaded struts from a '98 forester for $180. This pulled the rear wheel forward, so I got trailing arm brackets (actually the whole arm and all since my bushings are shot) from a 96 legacy outback. Also grabbed the illumination control module and entire radio harness since my dash lights were out and the radio harness was gone... Old module... see the damage? At the same time I grabbed the entire intake setup from a 98 legacy gt wagon (CLEAN car, blown EJ25 DOHC...too bad it was junked!) to replace the autozone chrome plastic "cold" air intake that came on it... oh yeah grabbed the MAF harness too since they jacked it all up. Somewhere in there I got a replacement driveshaft in. Got it on ebay from a bmw wrecker for $75 shipped. Then I saw a local craigslist ad, someone parting out another 97 OBS. $25 for the driveshaft... DOH. Since I had to get tires I figured I would go up in size to match the lift. I wanted some aggressive all-terrain tires but settled for a used set of minivan tires. Theyre 205/75-15... BIG ballooney things, but the tread was nice and very evenly worn and the price was decent. Car should ride very smoothly lol. Doubt handling will be good though. Thats my current daily driver in the background, my Mazda BPT powered '93 Ford Festiva. Best 1/4 pass was 13.03 at 106.6 mph, gets around 35 mpg. The OBS is going to replace it for winter driving and probably a lot of summer driving too as I've put around 8,000 miles on the festiva since I last got it going again in May (used to be B6T powered). Its good on gas and goes fast but is not very comfortable with 220lb coilover springs, KYB AGX struts, and low profile tires. Anyway, I've taken the front end back apart for new tie rod ends and ball joints. Upon disassembly I've found both inner tie rods to be very loose. The outers not so bad but I already have the replacements. The drivers side ball joint was fair but the passenger side was ready to come apart, very dry and a few mm of play up and down. I just got the parts today from rockauto but Im waiting on replacement steering rack boots to come. I also have to do a timing belt job. At 230,000 miles and under complete neglect for at least the past two years I expected it to be in poor shape, and I was right. I pulled the cam gear covers and the belt looks like its ready to break... cracks throughout. As a lucky owner of the first year of interference EJ22's... Im not gonna chance it. So there you have it, those last two paragraphs show the two ways I've saved the car from the grave. It was either 16 bent valves or a wheel falling off. I'm hoping to see it to at least 300,000. After the new front end parts, and a timing belt job, I should be able to get it aligned and start shaking it down. Either way, its gonna be a fun winter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olnick Posted August 25, 2011 Share Posted August 25, 2011 Great first post! Nice job--and welcome aboard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subruise Posted August 25, 2011 Share Posted August 25, 2011 nic wag! nicer festy!!! man, i miss mine soo much. i had a 91 same color, honda killer. welcome RV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bhazard Posted August 29, 2011 Author Share Posted August 29, 2011 Small update, its registered, I took it to my alignment guy (got new ball joints and inner/outer tie rods in) and he pointed out that the drivers side front knuckle, and possibly control arm, is bent. I was wondering why I couldnt get the camber as straight up as the passenger side. Then my dad reminded me that the wheel that we pulled off there had a bad bend in it. So it looks like I need to find another knuckle, and maybe even control arm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bhazard Posted August 31, 2011 Author Share Posted August 31, 2011 So I filled it up today, only to find out that it needs a new gas tank.... It took $47 to fill too. I dont know how much its dumped. I let it sit for a while til it was done dumping out and then drove it around a bit. The gauge went everywhere from 1/4 to 3/4. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
97preza Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 did that illumination module fix your dash lights?? i have a 97 OBS and the brake light, high beam indicator, check engine and so on work on the dash, just not the back lights!! where exactly is this module? thanks for any info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bhazard Posted October 6, 2011 Author Share Posted October 6, 2011 Yeah, it was behind the radio on the right side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
987687 Posted October 6, 2011 Share Posted October 6, 2011 Looks like quite the project you have there! It would be cool to put a dual range transmission in this and use it for offroading! Since it's already a little rough around the edges you wouldn't have to feel bad about some more bangs The fuel leak is probably just the fuel filler neck, common problem. Not to hard to fix. Doubt it's the fuel tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
97preza Posted October 6, 2011 Share Posted October 6, 2011 ok thanks. i will check it out on my car to see if there is any visual damage. thanks for the info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bhazard Posted October 8, 2011 Author Share Posted October 8, 2011 The fuel leak is probably just the fuel filler neck, common problem. Not to hard to fix. Doubt it's the fuel tank. I'm pretty sure its the tank. When I filled it up it was leaking all over the place, not just at the filler. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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