2002 Subaru Legacy Outback

[ayykimber]

Hello All,

 

I finally am getting around to telling the story of my daily, and laying out my plans for what I want to do with it in the future once daily duty is over. 

 

I am currently the proud owner of a 2002 Subaru (obviously) Legacy Outback Wagon Rocky Mountain Special Edition (I don't know what "Rocky Mountain Special Edition" is either don't worry). It has the base EJ251, and while it's a factory 5-speed car, it now has the 5-speed from a Bugeye WRX added by a long past owner. I'm not entirely sure what the rear diff is, one would assume it is WRX as well, but I have yet to check. As far as other mods go it's pretty tame for now, it has a polyurethane transmission mount that was put in when the original unit wore out, and my stepfather for what ever reason put on an exhaust from a Blobeye STi that has a sloppily welded cannon suck on the end and a dying catalytic converter. Everything else that has been done has been general maintenance, my stepfather did the head gaskets, timing belts and water pump when we first got it, I did the O2 sensors last year, and some more thorough suspension work the year before that (replaced both ball joints, and a new passenger side control arm and bushes). Everything else is fairly stock, stock wheels with Subaru recommended BFG's, stock interior with a new head unit,  a body with some rust in the rockers and passenger side rear quarter, and its fair share of dents and scratches from daily driver duty for the last 15 years or so. 

 

This car was my family's gateway into the world of Subaru, my parents bought this car 5-6 years ago from a transmission shop for $1.5k, put a new clutch in it and tires on it. At the time they were going through bankruptcy, and needed something to drive while my stepfather was going back to work. It served as a daily for my stepfather for 4 years until they got back on their feet, and were able to trade up to something newer. He got himself a widebody Meaneye WRX hatch, and my mother got herself a later model Outback 3.6R. Rather than letting this car be wholesaled by a dealer, they kept it around and sent me off with it to college, which is what it has been doing for the last 2-3 years. 

 

It's currently sitting at 174k and change miles, and I absolutely have no intention of getting rid of it. My plans for it right now consist of making it the best daily it can be until I'm finished with school in another 2-3 year's time. Once I have the job and the time to do it, I very much intend to modify it. I'm leaning towards a rallycross/WRC offroader build with either a frankenengine, or just going the more expensive route and building an EJ257 from the ground up. Either way I will be bolting a 6 speeder to it, and uprating the suspension for high speed use and offroad duty. Expect more posts on this thread with updates, and posts from me asking questions as I'm still somewhat new to the intricacies of these cars. The last car I dailyed (and still have) was a '92 GMC so I have a ways to go and lots to learn before Im a Subaru pro. 

 

I hope y'all enjoyed my ramblings and this story. I look forward to posting more and reading more about these cars.

 

-Ayy

 

[=CC=]

Always cool to see one get passed down through the family. 

[holmes47905]

Have one myself. I'm always surprised how easy they are to work on.

[ayykimber]

Have one myself. I'm always surprised how easy they are to work on.

 

I am too, compared to other Japanese makes I've had the chance to work on over the years, this is definitely one of the better ones in terms of maintenance. However it isnt as easy as it could be most of the time since previous owners seem to have taken a "that'll do" approach to maintenance, and I've been having to undo all of that when I go through and do my work. That and occasionally parts are expensive and hard to find, but that said It genuinely is a joy to work on.

 

-Ayy