Turbo Palooza or My Turbo Farm

[All_talk]

OK, I’ll be the first to admit that a major reason for posting this thread is to gloat about my current collection of turbo Subies. :-p Hate me if you must, but I’m also seeking some advice about what to do with them.

 

 

From left to right:

 

’92 Legacy Turbo SS, 4EAT. Very nice and clean, I will most likely be selling it soon to fund some other projects and maybe a decent car for my kid.

 

’91 Legacy Turbo SS, 5MT. Pretty rough interior, a little rough exterior, runs and drives well but needs a clutch, an axel, front struts and quite a bit of other stuff to be really nice.

 

’87 RX 3-Door. My daily driver, runs great, a bit of an oil leak and a little HVA tick here and there, but not bad for 299,850miles (will be 300,000+ tomorrow… knock on wood). Rust in the hatch and a bit of body damage.

 

’86 3-Door Turbo, 4WD 5MT D/R. Runs and drives well, has major damage to the drivers side from a rollover, I got it for the body parts to fix the RX (and a spare 4WD turbo drive train is never a bad thing to have around.)

 

 

I love the RX, Its not as fancy as the Legacy but I think it handles better, just needs more power, which is why I bought the ’92 SS, for the engine (it had a bad trans). But when I got it home it was just to clean to part out, so I put a good used trans in it. Then I bought the ’91 SS for the swap into the RX, but I’m having second thoughts about that because it too could be saved (and I’ve got a bit of flack for the idea on the boards). I would really like to have an RX with a full EJ22T drive train and the ’91 SS 5MT (sorry I’m greedy), so I think the current plan is to sell or part trade the ’92 SS for yet another Legacy Turbo swap car and fix up the ’91 SS and the RX.

 

Any thoughts or advice?

 

 

Thanks for listening to me think out loud.

Gary

[tizzle]

NIce collection! I must say my legacy handles much better than the RX, but it has spo rear swaybar, kyb agx adjustable struts, and a Cusco rear strut tower bar, and better tires. The RX is awaiting new bushings, so we'll se what happens then.

[All_talk]

Hey tizzle

 

I’m sure with a bit of tuning either car could be made into a good handler, in fact, if I do the EJ swap into the RX I’m considering modifying the body to accept the EJ suspension too, cross members, sub frames, A-arms, trailing links… the works. More like everything Legacy Turbo with an EA body swap.

 

There are three other things that make the RX a better driving experience for me.

 

First is weight, the Legacy is about 500lb heaver than the RX and you can feel it, the RX is just more nimble and that’s the number one thing I like about the car (shorter wheelbase helps here too). Also, getting the 270hp required to push the RX into the 10lb/HP range I’m hoping for is pretty easy to get from the EJ22T with reasonable mods (maybe even stock ECU). Moving the Legacy into that range will require an expensive jump into some heavy mods and further loss in reliability. Note: adding the full EJ drive/suspension will add some weight to the RX.

 

Second is driver position, you sit lower in the RX and the steering wheel (and dash) are higher, putting you in a much better position for leverage and control of the wheel, the shifter is also closer to the wheel. The Legacy almost feels like I’m sitting on top of it, not nearly as connected and my head kind rubs the headliner with the seat in a comfortable position.

 

Third is style, let face it the Legacy sedan is pretty generic (specially the ’92 and later), the Turbos have a nice stance and look sharp, but not much of a stand out. While the 3-door with factory cheese body kit has a bit of the “what the he|| is that thing” look. And I like the idea of real power and performance in the ’80 something bubble hatched econbox, should surprise a few people.

 

OK, that’s enough, thanks for reading more of my babble, but it does help me sort out all the craziness in my head (I tend to over analyze things). Ignore or respond as you see fit.

 

Gary

[Myxalplyx]

Any thoughts or advice?

Thanks for listening to me think out loud.

Gary

 

If you aren't in a rush to do anything to any of them in particular, keep them all. Work on one at a time.

[tizzle]

Gary, I agree with you fully. The RX does have all those pluss's. I just wanted to make sure you knew that It only took a few minor suspension modifications on the legacy to make a huge difference in handling.