Legacy Sport Sedan?

What can the GRM community tell me about the Legacy Sport Sedan?

I found a 93 5-speed car for ~$1500 and it has my interest piqued. I know the manual transmission models are harder to come by and the car itself is not the run of the mill legacy. Any parts interchangeability with newer models? Easy to make more power? Ticking time bombs?

For Example:

The Subaru Forester is the #1 car choice of lesbians. I know that doesn't help you with the Legacy, but I found it interesting nonetheless.

Like any other early 90's Japanese car, look out for rust. They were the Subaru equivalent to the Mitsubishi Galant VR-4, minus the wacky 4-wheel steering. These have the 2.2L closed deck turbo block, which is sought after by Subaru guys because it can handle serious boost. I don't think they are intercooled, but they can be with minimal effort. Some WRX parts fit with minimal modification. They are very rare as well, and they made them in wagon form. I've seen exactly one of those (the wagons), and sadly it was in the junkyard.

If it's rust free, buy it!!!

If it's similar to the Legacy turbo that one could find in the UK, they have an air/water intercooler that's actually pretty good.

Get it, and then push all the boost.

I would love to have one of these.

They are intercooled from the factory (see the hood scoop?) just like the later WRX. Pretty much anything from a WRX will bolt on. Parts are common and you can make lots of power cheap. They are tough, too. As noted, rust is the real enemy. If it's clean, buy it - otherwise I might

Silverfleet wins, everybody else gets 10 point each deducted from gryffindor Usually I don't expect this kind of mis-information to be spread on the holiest of car forums.

If it's rust free, don't buy it, I'll sell my jdyam STi, fly down, and buy this. Factory 160hp, and the only person who used to do tunes for them went out of business :( No intercooler (yes, europe/japanland DID have a water to air intercooler, but they also had twin turbo models making 250hp).

Adding a TMIC is a pain, do a front mount (also a pain, but might as well suffer the same for more gain). As said, the EJ22T is a good motor... most people don't really think it's THAT much better than an equivalent EJ20G (it is stronger). They are about 3200 pounds, so 400 heavier than a wrx of similiar era. That price is insane cheap if no rust!

Found a video of one getting rallycrossed quite enthusiastically, gonna have to send an email.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJR1LRRlTd0

My dad has a 96 legacy with about 380k on it, we replaced the engine because it was getting pretty tired and there was one with half the miles on it in the junkyard, but it has been a pretty reliable car, and pretty easy to work on. Many of the parts are surprisingly expensive, so I wouldn't want to pay a lot of money for one that needed a timing belt, suspension rebuild, brakes, etc.

I sold mine last year. The car was great! Built like a tank, would get some serious air without damaging things. The thing you have to watch out for is overspinning this tiny turbo, and the hydraulic lifters. The rocker shafts have teensy holes that can get clogged which will smash the F*** out of the hydraulic lash adjusters. The turbo is good for MAYBE 13psig before you are heating the air to dangerous levels. The good news is that the knock sensor will DEFINITELY let you know this. It's a turbo sized for LOW-end torque.

Since it's a turbo model, you'll be able to swap most Subaru engines/transmissions from later models, dealing more with the wiring. Some of the intake and cooling stuff is a little off from the later model stuff, but it's not hard to fix. Mine even used STi group N engine/transmission mounts and other various bushings.

This site is a wealth of info on these cars http://www.legacycentral.org/

Had mine not ALWAYS gotten 23mpg (city, highway, hypermiling, or full boost) I would have kept it, but the commute was too far :(

I had one early this year, '92, 5spd, sport sedan turbo model, 330k km on it, paid 1600 for it all said and done (selling spare parts and such) and that was too much money, thing had a really crappy body, leaky sunroof, thing ran like an absolute champ though! loved it but i can't justify the lack of performance (aside from straight line..) and getting terrible mileage.

I tend to average 26 mpg or better out of my LS1 so I'm not looking to downgrade from that, maybe I'll get bitten by the need for boost another day.

I was typically averaging 10.5-12.5L/100km, on 91 or 93 sunoco, which works out to be 22-18mpg. it sucked, and that was me trying to drive as gingerly as possible.

The turbo is super torque, spools around 2800?? anyhow, it runs out of steam quick, redlines at 6000 or 6500? I cant remember. Does 100km/h at the top of 2nd gear (fuel cut).. the wrx turbo is a good upgrade, bit bigger, bolt on (have to do a little bit of spacial modification though.