1992 Legacy Similar to later years?

[Ravenwoods]

There is a 92 Legacy for sale here in Alaska for $300.

This is what the owner says:

“1992 Subaru Legacy Wagon w/260k miles 5spd Manual transmission. All lights work.
Has studded winter tires with lots of tread. Starts right up, sounds and idles great, but currently doesn’t drive. I believe it’s the clutch. Will take trades of all sorts.. or any offer is welcome.”

My daughters have 95 and 96 Legacies. Maybe we should pick this one up as a parts car?

[1 Lucky Texan]

maybe cracked clutch fork?

[Ravenwoods]

2 hours ago, 1 Lucky Texan said:

maybe cracked clutch fork?

So I'm assuming you need to pull the engine to fix the clutch. I've never done a clutch job or pulled an engine, but am willing to give it a try.

[FerGloyale]

very similar.  2.2 with manual trans is a great combo.

Automatic seatbelts are annoying though.

[Ravenwoods]

Are there any differences in the engine?

[lmdew]

Minor differences in the engines.  Great parts car or fix it and drive it for years.

[el_freddo]

Drive trains between your legacy’s and this Gen1 are identical from the exterior. Some minor “interior changes” were made to the head setup on your legacy’s. 

Diff ratio may be different but other than that it would be plug and play for the drivetrain. Interior is different, although certain things will cross over to your legacy’s, but I can’t really see anything you’d want from an earlier model...

Cheers 

Bennie

[montana tom]

If your one daughter's 96 is an outback it "could" have the 2.5 dohc

Pulling the engine on one of those years is very straight forward.  1-2 hrs 

[Ravenwoods]

2 hours ago, montana tom said:

Thanks for the information. The 1996 has the 2.2 SOHC.

The seller has finally responded that the car is still available. He wants $300. I asked him if he would take $150 but he hasn’t replied yet.

[Numbchux]

90-94 and 95-99 are different body styles. No body parts will work, and very little interior. There are lots and lots of little mechanical changes, but at the same time, there are a lot of parts that will work. It's not an ideal parts car, but for the right price, if you've got the space, could be totally worth it.

The '95-'96 are OBDII, which means a lot of electrical differences. 96 has single exhaust ports on the heads, whereas the 92 and 95 have dual. Should be the same brakes, suspension, axles. Assuming they're both AWD, drivetrain parts could be swapped, but diffs are likely a different ratio (so you'd have to swap transmission and differential as a pair). 

 

If it's not a total rust bucket, and is AWD, I'd fix it (I bought a pretty rusty '00 Outback last spring with 313k on it and a badly failing clutch. Put a clutch in it, and I'm at almost 325k now). Unless you have a hoist and a transmission jack, I DEFINITELY recommend pulling the engine.

Edited April 5, 2019 by Numbchux

[el_freddo]

4 hours ago, Numbchux said:

Unless you have a hoist and a transmission jack, I DEFINITELY recommend pulling the engine

Or use a set of car ramps and a motorcycle jack. Works a treat for me. 

One difficulty depending on the vehicle is that you may need to drop the gearbox off the jack once it’s at the lowest setting - otherwise you won’t be able to get the gearbox out from under the car. But if your just doing the clutch you’ll have enough room to do what you need then slip the gearbox back on. 

Cheers 

Bennie

[Numbchux]

On 4/5/2019 at 5:19 PM, el_freddo said:

Or use a set of car ramps and a motorcycle jack. Works a treat for me. 

One difficulty depending on the vehicle is that you may need to drop the gearbox off the jack once it’s at the lowest setting - otherwise you won’t be able to get the gearbox out from under the car. But if your just doing the clutch you’ll have enough room to do what you need then slip the gearbox back on. 

Cheers 

Bennie

It is possible to do it that way, but not better, IMO. If just using ramps to support the car, it's a PITA to get the front axles off the trans, far better to put it on stands so the ball joints can be popped out and axles taken loose. I've done it both ways many times. The higher the car off the ground, the better. Did it in a 4" lifted EA82 once, that wasn't too terrible, but if I were doing it again, I'd still pull the motor.

Pulling a Subaru engine is so easy. The only way I remove/install a Subaru transmission from the bottom, is if I'm JUST replacing the transmission.

[Ravenwoods]

Thanks for all the great advice. The seller is a miserable communicator. The advert says the title is missing and he hasn’t responded to requests for the VIN and why the title is missing. His last email was that he would accept $150 and said I can come and get it, but did not give an address. Maybe the vehicle is stolen.

[Numbchux]

Yea, I'm always really wary of cars for sale without a title. It's usually pretty simple to get a duplicate (in MN for sure, I've done it) if it's actually in your name.

[el_freddo]

7 hours ago, Numbchux said:

It is possible to do it that way, but not better, IMO. If just using ramps to support the car, it's a PITA to get the front axles off the trans, far better to put it on stands so the ball joints can be popped out and axles taken loose. I've done it both ways many times. The higher the car off the ground, the better. Did it in a 4" lifted EA82 once, that wasn't too terrible, but if I were doing it again, I'd still pull the motor.

There’s no need to pop the ball joints with the gearbox on a jack. Pull backwards until clear of the engine. Either push box one way, remove one shaft, move the other and remove second shaft. Or slowly drop box out, removing the shafts as you go. 

Do the reverse as you put the box back in. Make sure you’ve got the cotter pin hole line up correctly. The cotter pin can be knocked in before you go any further so you know it’s all sorted. 

For me, if it’s gearbox/clutch or rear main related, it’s box out. Much less to deal with and I don’t have to split the cooling system - which means I don’t have to catch and possibly replace the coolant. 

 

And yeah, if you suspect the car is stolen, walk away. Or you could try offering $200 if they have the title - that extra $50 could be that little bit of an incentive to get their A into G. 

Cheers 

Bennie

[Ravenwoods]

That is what our local DMV told me. The owner comes in and pays only $15 for a new title. It is possible the car was totaled by an insurance company and the owner decided to keep it, but never got the new reconstructed title.

[heartless]

On 4/5/2019 at 12:46 PM, Numbchux said:

90-94 and 95-99 are different body styles. No body parts will work, and very little interior. There are lots and lots of little mechanical changes, but at the same time, there are a lot of parts that will work. It's not an ideal parts car, but for the right price, if you've got the space, could be totally worth it.

 

just as an FYI - the seats from my old 90 LS worked a treat in the 95 L i had.. did have to swap out the seat-belt buckles, but that was easy to do. the seats themselves bolted right in and were WAY more comfortable. =)

[Numbchux]

18 hours ago, el_freddo said:

There’s no need to pop the ball joints with the gearbox on a jack. Pull backwards until clear of the engine. Either push box one way, remove one shaft, move the other and remove second shaft. Or slowly drop box out, removing the shafts as you go. 

Do the reverse as you put the box back in. Make sure you’ve got the cotter pin hole line up correctly. The cotter pin can be knocked in before you go any further so you know it’s all sorted. 

Yep, I've done that. It's a B****. I'll do it with a rear diff, but not a transmission, thanks.

16 hours ago, heartless said:

just as an FYI - the seats from my old 90 LS worked a treat in the 95 L i had.. did have to swap out the seat-belt buckles, but that was easy to do. the seats themselves bolted right in and were WAY more comfortable. =)

Yea, seats swap (back seats are pretty specific sedan to sedan, wagon to wagon, but even that can be dealt with). Carpet fits OK. But that's about it.

[el_freddo]

6 hours ago, Numbchux said:

Yep, I've done that. It's a B****. I'll do it with a rear diff, but not a transmission, thanks.

Fair enough. I love it. Less work. Car not on jacks, coolant lines remain sealed. And with the gearbox strapped onto the motor cycle jack I find it a safe operation. 

23 hours ago, heartless said:

just as an FYI - the seats from my old 90 LS worked a treat in the 95 L i had.. did have to swap out the seat-belt buckles, but that was easy to do. the seats themselves bolted right in and were WAY more comfortable. =)

That’s odd. Unless you’re going from and up-spec Gen1 to a budget/low-spec Gen2.

Cheers 

Bennie

[heartless]

12 hours ago, el_freddo said:

That’s odd. Unless you’re going from and up-spec Gen1 to a budget/low-spec Gen2.

Cheers 

Bennie

yes, it was about the higher end seats into the lower end car..

the stock seats in the 95 L were just shot and like sitting on bare plywood. the side bolsters were flattened and unsupportive, upholstery was pretty worn, too. kind of think that someone very large had owned the car for a long time before I got it, altho the people I bought it from were not big people (but they were not the original owners, either).

the seats from the 90 LS were in much better condition all the way around.

[FerGloyale]

I personally think they really cheapened out on the second gen legacy platform. (1st gen Outback)

1 interior color, black, ugh.

Cheap, unsupportive seats.

Plastic door handles

NON_FOLDING SIDE MIRRORS!!  Just stupid.

Sucky interior lighting.

Eliminated acessable shift lock defeat button.

The one thing that they improved was to get ride of the stupid Automatic seatbelts, and implemented dual airbags.

By contrast, the first gen leagcies were really, really well made cars.  Subaru really made an attempt to step up the quality to compete with Honda and Toyota after the shall we say "quirky" reputation of the EA series 80's cars.  It was good for their sales and reputation, but cost alot.  The Imp and Second Gen Legacy cars were an attempt to cut costs on the new "EJ" platform cars and expand the line.  They stepped back up a bit with the 3rd Gen Legacy/Outbacks from 2000-2004.