caught in a bind...

[badbasser98]

Well, I was planning on ordering some headers for my car today, but yesterday I was talking to a friend of mine that has a 1st gen Leggy Turbo AWD he was willing to sell to me for $500. Problem is, the tranny is dead. Plus it is an auto. My first question to you all is, would it be worth buying? and if so, how hard would it be to to convert it to a manual tranny? Parts needed? Or would it just be easier to re-build the auto... He told me that you can't find auto trannys for those (why he's selling it) because they all blew up. If its worth it, I am thinking about making that my project car. I still wanna do work to the BE, but maybe not as much if I can score myself a closed-deck turbo. :twisted:

Most important question, would it be money better spent on the 1st gen turbo, or on my BE GT?

-BB98

[Huffer]

Buy the car, take the engine and rebuild it. The block alone to the "swaps" community is probably worth a grand.

Converting to a manual would be difficult, but not impossible. If you could find another car that is manual, you could just create a mirror of it. Or swap the engine into it.

Sounds like fun. :)

[badbasser98]

hmmm, good idea...

anyone else have input on this?

thanx,
-BB98

[ooberdoob]

go for it. just make a nice place you can store it and work on it, and you have a new pet!

+1 for the swaps community, that engine alone (if it runs good now) is worth more than what he wants for the whole car.

[badbasser98]

+1 for the swaps community, that engine alone (if it runs good now) is worth more than what he wants for the whole car.

true, but if i buy the car i'm not selling the engine... :P

[ooberdoob]

pssssst rebuid, boost, swap into your current car :lol:

[Reason]

It's junk, don't buy it!! What is your friends phone number?? :twisted:

[badbasser98]

It's junk, don't buy it!! What is your friends phone number?? :twisted:

its (518) 56... hey... :?

its was a good try anyway :thumbleft:

[Wiscon_Mark]

:lol: @ Reason

Hey! This is a great opportunity at getting a Turbo into your BE :D I'd say go for it, and get the motor, take it out of the car, learn a lot about it, and then when you're ready to swap (in like a year, or 5 months, or w/e) DO IT! Remember what you said about making your car like haplesspete's? THIS IS YOUR CHANCE! I think everyone will say the same as me, oober, and Huffer did.

you are one lucky dude :twisted:

[phi11]

I'll say the same.
That's the block to do it with.
just helped readymix_wrx of MnSubaru.com take out a EJ22t last weekend.
I say buy it. I would if i could.
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2005/09/ej22t4-1.jpg
good times!

[badbasser98]

well it would be sick to boost my BE, but for newer vehicles here in NY, the emmissions are very strict. However, if I buy the Leggy SS, it's a 91 so they won't test it for emmissions output. Only visibly check to make sure every part is in place. So i could have a nice "high flow" cat on the 91 and not have to worry about it passing inspection. Plus with the gas prices, I'd like to have a reliable fuel efficient car. A turbo kills gas mileage... And to go along with everything else, I have always wanted a first gen Leggy. So why not get the best.

I am going to talk to him again on Monday, so I will hopefully learn all the little details on it then.

-BB98

[scottzg]

its worth considering the condition of the body. Front fenders and doors are just the labor in replacing them, but rear fenders are a biotch. New bumper skins run 150$ ea. The gc 2.5rs stuff makes for a decent interior replacement.

Swapping to a 5mt is quite a bit of work, but worth it if you have the mechanical fortitude. You will need to either swap the rear diff or find a trans with a 3.9 center diff- not that easy. WRX drivetrain will drop in, but you have to change the axles too. NA stuff will drop in too, but the trans is slightly weaker, and the clutch mechanism is much different. Expect to spend 15-20 hours completing the swap, if you're comfortable dropping drivetrain parts. The pedal box will have to be changed too, and some of those bolts are really annoying.

The best thing you could do would be to buy a wrecked legacy or impreza or something, and pull the parts and drop in accordingly. That can save you untold headaches (where does this go?), and unused pieces can be sold to recoup your investment.

What year is the car? The 91's have an oil cooler and an LSD. Those old turbo legs have a pretty nice brake set up. It is kind of expensive to extract serious power out of the stock fuel and electronic systems, it appears 200whp is kind of a wall. That's still a fair bit more than a wrx though, and a lighter chassis to boot.

I can assure you that the suspension is probably shot, and the already soft chassis can only get softer.


I guess what im saying is that the old legacies don't lend themselves to being monstrously fast and nimble, but if you excersize a little restraint they can perform quite nicely.

imho it's a much better option than monkeying with the BE; you can go out, have fun, and not worry that your modifications or driving habits will ruin your pretty new car. bbs.legacycentral.org has quite a few turbo leg enthusiasts, so a lot of the pioneering work has already been done for you.

[SubaruGenki]

buy it. great little side project car.

[2deadlegs]

If you are thinking about doing the 5MT swap go ahead and read the following info:


http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic.php?t=18370

[badbasser98]

buy it. great little side project car.

my thoughts exactly..


If you are thinking about doing the 5MT swap go ahead and read the following info:


http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic.php?t=18370

sweet, thanx for the link 2DL!

I talk to the guy on Mon. I'll let you guys know how it goes.

-BB98

[badbasser98]

Well the rio red one with the blown tranny was sent to the junkyard... :( BUT :-D I have a lead on a black one with a 5MT already in it. However its from Canada (everything in Km)... Says he'll take $1800 cash. Any of you guys with first gen turbos, can I get some input on how that price is? Has the equivalent of 130k mi, some rust on doors and rocker arms, Remote starter (disconnected). Other than that its stock and in decent condition.


thanx,
-BB98

[Wiscon_Mark]

Swap in a USDM cluster, do some bondoing and your'e all set! :D

If the body is in that bad of shape, take the engine and put it into the Rio Red one :D