Test Drove a JDM 1990 Legacy GT Wagon & have questions -- thanks!

[RutRohSubeeDo]

Aloha from Oahu, USMB! 

New member here....I have long been a Subaru fan and recently an opportunity has come up to purchase a JDM 1990 Legacy GT Wagon 5-speed that is all factory right down to the non-airbag 4-spoke Momo steering wheel (per WIki this was a JDM factory feature...?) The mileage on the vehicle is about 86,000 miles (the dash is original JDM in kph) and it has the turbo 2.0. I have a lot of experience with turbo cars having built and raced Buick Grand Nationals for nearly 20 years, so I was intrigued when this Legacy came up.  

I test drove the car and it solid, tight, and smooth. All gauges read normal and I didn't her any piston slap at idle or notice any funny smells. The clutch was a little stiff, but not overbearing. Aside from hitting the wiper stalk on the left side of the tilt steering wheel thinking it was the turn signal (which is on the right, by the window) and an AC control unit that read in Celsius, I quickly adapted to the RHD. However, there was a button marked "Steering" that was located right below the tach to the left of the rear window defroster button (see photo below), and it was illuminated. I did not push it during the test drive, but can someone tell me what it is "supposed" to do? Secondly, for those that have owned these cars, would this be a worthwhile buy? The primary use of this car would be for Costco trips and hauling my mountain bike and surfboard, etc. to the beach, something my 2015 Mazda Miata power hardtop is not very good at. 

Mahalo Nui Loa ("thank you very much" in Hawaiian) for your time! 

[el_freddo]

G’day RutRoh, 

I love these older Subarus. If you’re after an old school ride this is the one - but beware that parts are hard to come by to say the least. That said there are many mods that can be done while retaining the original look. 

AFAIK the JDM models were all auto - this info goes by all the JDM units imported into Australia being auto only. For more info check out rslibertyclub.org/forum - LOADS of info there for you to churn through. Lots of sh!te talk there too… 

Have fun with it if you ge through with the purchase. Remember it’s a 30+ year old car and an exotic in your country/state! 

Cheers 

Bennie

[RutRohSubeeDo]

Bennie,

Thanks for the reply; I will check out the site you suggested. Attached is a pic of taken from the back seat showing the wheel and gearshift; I just saw that the front seat needs a deep cleaning! 

Edited March 2, 2022 by RutRohSubeeDo
Typo

[el_freddo]

No worries mate. That’s one super tidy conversion or you’ve found a real unicorn in the Gen1s there! 

Does it still have the water to air intercooler or has it had mods done under the bonnet? 

Do the cam covers have lines above and below the spark plug holes? If so this is the original heads. The block will have some cross hatching on the block where the start motor points forward to and under the alternator too. This depicts the engine being the original closed deck block. 

That steering switch on the dashboard is probably a sports setting - off is most likely easier to use the steering, on gives you heavier steering (or vice versa) for more user feel/input. We didn’t get that feature over here in our models. I believe later model WRXs had a similar feature that was ECU controlled at a certain speed. My knowledge on this is sketchy at best as I’ve only seen pics of the rack with the sensor/restrictor solenoid in it and even this is hazy now. 

Here’s my RS, waiting for the chance to be cleaned up and put onto club rego (cheap registration that’s got a restricted number of drive days, logbook and must be part of an approve car club): back when it was in one piece with a shot engine: 

 

And what it’s looking like now: 

 

Down the rabbit hole I’ve gone with one cosmetic issue rolling into another one! And I’m putting an engine together for it since I purchased it with a very shot one, this seems like the easy bit atm. 

The second pic has the original rims to the RS, yours should be the same too. Your interior looks like grey colour, ours are black for the RS, the standard Liberty (Legacy) here has a grey interior. 

Cheers 

Bennie

[RutRohSubeeDo]

Bennie,

Thanks for the info and pics; that looks to be quite a project! 

Here is an exterior photo of the car; from your post above it would seem the wheels are not factory. The second photo is a sample I pulled off the Web of another 1990 motor; the one in this car had the same intercooler/engine cover with the same graphics. I wish I had taken a high resolution shot of the engine! 

 

[RutRohSubeeDo]

Underside of the vehicle:

 

Edited March 3, 2022 by RutRohSubeeDo

[el_freddo]

The underside looks pretty tidy! 

And I wouldn’t mind that engine cover, ours didn’t come with that over here. 

Definitely a JDM GT with the rectangular headlights up front there. Any 5x100 15+ inch Subaru rims will fit if those rims aren’t to your liking. 

I see you made it to RS Lib too 

Cheers 

Bennie

[GeneralDisorder]

Other than it will be painfully hard to get parts for and it would be a shame to use for those purposes in the salt air of Hawaii being somewhat of a collectors item - looks like a nice piece. 

You do understand what repairs cost on 30 year old JDM cars where parts (if they can be found at all) must be imported from Japan? STUPID amounts of money. I would know since I'm the guy writing the invoices when we work on them - which is a lot. R32 Skyline on the dyno today along with a Cressida. Another R32 coming next week for turbo and fuel system upgrades.....

GD