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Chris buys a purple outback


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Here she is:

IMG_4471.jpg

 

I payed $900.

Has come cosmetic issues, some mechanical ones.

- The clutch slips REALLY bad. It was a bit dicey of a 85 mile drive home

- Blown head gasket, but not bad enough to overheat or anything

- And a bad RR wheel bearing. Which, I found out are unit bearings and extremely easy to replace. So that's good.

- Has a bit of rust. Nothing bad, I have pics.

 

Yesterday, I took the engine out, got the heads off, flywheel off, etc.

Heads are going to the machine shop to be surfaced.

Also, I repaired the window switches. The contacts were just burned. The switches weren't designed for the loads they see.

Then I fixed the rear gate handle. It was rusty and stuck when you pulled it. Took the whole mechanism apart. Derusted it, greased it up. And now it works mint.

 

Here are some pics:

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Driver's side rust:

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Pass side rust:

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And this has been poorly fixed already, which is too bad. It just makes more work for me to re-fix it...

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The PO not only liked to ride the clutch and abuse 3rd gear synchro, but she also liked curbs. Yummy

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Has a bunch of miles, but it's the smoothest running 2.5 ever. It's quieter than the 150k 2.2 in my other legacy. All the backlight bulbs are burned out besides the one behind the top half of the speedo. Expect an LED diy...

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The lump is out. It was one of the most stuck bell housings I've ever dealt with on these. Which is odd, considering the engine has been out before and one head gasket has been replaced. At least, that's what it looks like.

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The flywheel, not as bad as I expected. It smelled like well roasted clutch by the time I made it home.

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Everyone needs a pic like this, too bad it's blurry. Maybe I'll do a reshoot.

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LOOK AT THAT CLUTCH DUST

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Pass side head gasket looks fairly new. The head wasn't stuck at all, and it didn't leave any residue on the block or head:

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DS head gasket... You get the idea. Head was stuck. It's a mess to clean up.

Forgot to get pics yesterday until it got dark. And since my shop is dark and dingy, I couldn't get a good pic with it out.

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So that's where I'm up to now. Tomorrow I'll bring the heads to the machine shop and order all the gaskets. I already have the clutch stuff and a new oil pan, which had a fierce leak.

 

Also, when I bought the car, it had a weird stumble at idle, and threw a cyl4 misfire code. It seemed to go away cruising at rpms, though. It was really hard to tell what was going on because the clutch was so bad. I just figured it was the cracked looking ignition wires or crappy plugs, and didn't let it bother me.

Well... When I tore the engine down, not only did I find bosch platinum plugs, which my 96 really hated, bad wires.. I found. The cam gear on the driver's side was one tooth retarded. Just like the mechanic who installed it.

The arrows on the belt were facing the wrong way, too. Pretty much new WP and tensioner, the rest of the idlers are loud.

Probably did one HG, wp, and the tensioner. It probably drove more like crap after, still had problems, and they just gave up on the car.

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Congratulations, that is a Good Lookin' Subie which will be improved by You, a really Nice Project for Diy. icon14.gif

 

I Like the Colour but I don't see it Purple, I see it like Ochre Colour.

 

I have a writeup about that rust in body restoration, maybe you find it Helpful: ~► Here.

 

Kind Regards.

Edited by Loyale 2.7 Turbo
misspelled word, fixed.
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I've seen your writeup, and you do fantastic body work. I wish I could do it as well as you!

I've started grinding the rust off, cutting the bad metal out. I've welded in a few patches on the pass side already.

Also, I stole all the bulbs out of an old GL cluster I have. The bases and everything are exactly the same. So now it lights up.

Also, I ripped the interior apart and vacuumed all the dog hair and crap out of it.

It's going to be nice once I get it on the road.

 

Tomorrow I'm buying all the gaskets and taking the heads to the machine shop. So whenever the head gaskets get here, there's be another major update.

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Just take your time with the body work, do good prep, and finish work, and then seal it up, and it will be all good. But patience is key! You can't rush body work and expect it to be done right and look right.

 

That's why I liked fixing the GL. I absolutely didn't care how it came out.

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And that's why I hate doing body work, because I always care how it comes out, so it takes forever.

 

yea, but I don't care on an offroad/rally car. It's gonna get smashed up and dented anyway. On this thing, though. I want it to look nice.

I'm doing everything else properly.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well, engine is in, it runs and drives!!! I had fuel rail issues that wasted a bunch of money and 4 hours of time, but I got it all sorted out. I'll updated with pictures and stuff later (tomorrow after I clean up the mess in my garage).

The car is pretty much sorted, needs a RR wheel bearing and the hood bolted back on. That's about it!

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Thanks!

Ok, so I went out to the garage to look at this beauteous thing, and brought my camera back with me.

Fuel rail issue....

So I had the longblock assembled except bolting on the intake. I flipped it over to clean off the mating surface, and saw this :|

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It really kinda ruined my day for a little while. It meant a 45 minute drive to Norm's, and $25 for another one. Yes, I know there are cheaper routes, but I wanted it done NOW.

I cleaned everything up, and put it all together. After everything was in the car, turn the key, and hear a weird noise... The weird noise was fuel spraying out of the fuel rail. At this point, I should mention that when I took one of the fuel rail bolts out, it took the threads with it. So I had to source a longer bolt so it could grab some un-used threads. That's another part of this that wasted my time...

It turned out that when I put the fuel rail back together, one of the top o-rings was a bit hard, and crunched out of shape when I put it together. Just friggin' fantastic. It was 4.50, I couldn't make it to napa in time. I figured out I still had a bunch of o-rings from an AC job, one of those worked. YAY.

 

I once again turned on the key with the intention of cranking with no ignition until the oil light went out. The oil light was already out. It took me another 20 minutes to track down the wiring issue.

 

In the end, it fired up right away and runs really smooth. It ran with a really loppy idle before and misfires. That would be due, in part, to the pictured injector. The driver's side cam being a tooth retarded, and a plug missing the electrode...

 

Here's how the car sits now. Just needs the RR wheel bearing done (I have the parts), and the hood bolted one. It should be sorted by the end of tomorrow :)

IMG_4521.jpg

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I replaced the wheel bearing today. Not a job I'd want to do again in a hurry. When the guys at FHI were sitting around, I think they decided to make it as difficult as possible to get to the rear caliper bracket bolts. Overall, it wasn't a terrible job, though.

 

I drove it another 10 miles today, it's running and driving great, I'm really happy. Tomorrow or Friday, I'll get it insured and registered.

 

Disclaimer... Before someone rants at me for driving an uninsured vehicle, consider where I live... In the middle of nowhere in Maine, I drive on roads where I'm unlikely to see another car

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So the PO had screwed up paperwork. When I tried to register it, turns out the car isn't mine. It doesn't even technically belong to the guy I bought it from.

So now I have to drive 2 hours south, deal with him, spend probably $100 in fees and lots of money and time driving, and wait a month for title paperwork to be processed. This is best case scenario.

 

And I'm stuck driving everywhere in my lifted GL until this crap goes through....

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Yea, I'm not in a good mood about it. But what can ya do, hopefully being polite and nice to the guy will increase his chances of going through the paperwork asap, and make this an easy fast process. Then I can :Flame: his <> :brow:

 

Haha, not gonna resort to violence, I'm sure he'll follow through and this will turn out right in the end, just sucks.

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Yeah, it is generally always better to take the higher road just really hard, as you know all to well. GOOD for though Chris, regardless you will come out on top just knowing you did the right thing, I think that is part of what makes a good Subaru owner:headbang:

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I talked to him tonight, I'm gonna send out the paperwork to him tomorrow. He'll get it some point next week, probably take a day or two to send out the title application. Hopefully by the week after next the state will start working on it, and send him the title. Then he can write me a bill of sale and send the paperwork back to me. I'm probably looking at mid december at the earliest, hopefully by christmas to have the car registered.

 

I'm glad I just got new front brakes for the GL, and it's running and driving great. Because I'm gonna be heavily relying on it until this goes through.

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  • 2 weeks later...

So I finally got around to fixing the fuel rail leak, drove it around a bit, and it's all fine.

And the couple I bought it from dropped the title in the mail today!!!! Which is sweet, I'll most likely have it by Monday, which is fine. My town office isn't open on Mondays anyway, so it'll be Tuesday before I can register it regardless. :D

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So I got the car registered and stuff today. Which is awesome. I went for a ride to fill it up with gas and just drive it around.

It's gonna need front brakes at some point, feels like there's some air in the system.

It needs another damn back wheel bearing.

It runs and drives awesome and perfectly straight.

It already threw a p0420 code, but I don't care because I'm not in cumby county.

Within the first 10 miles of driving it, the hydraulic clutch system failed.

I have no idea why it failed, but I have the old master/slave from dan's rs. I bench bled that system and installed it. Apparently the outback is more fat and bloated than a 2.5rs, because the hardline was too short. I bent it a bit and ziptied the mount on. It works again... Stupid subarus.

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