my $200 battle wagon

[downest]

I posted in the new member section as well... here are some more pics of my $200 '96 Legacy Outback. I replaced the upper and lower radiator hoses yesterday, removed the thermostat (getting a subie one soon) and it turns out the headgasket isn't blown :P I also removed all the stickers and cleaned the inside out. I found that it has a block heater plug too which is nice, especially with no thermostat right now.


http://wickedinnovation.net/downest/Legacy/DSC02760.JPG
http://wickedinnovation.net/downest/Legacy/DSC02761.JPG
http://wickedinnovation.net/downest/Legacy/DSC02762.JPG
http://wickedinnovation.net/downest/Legacy/DSC02763.JPG
http://wickedinnovation.net/downest/Legacy/DSC02764.JPG
http://wickedinnovation.net/downest/Legacy/DSC02765.JPG
http://wickedinnovation.net/downest/Legacy/DSC02766.JPG
http://wickedinnovation.net/downest/Legacy/DSC02767.JPG

[Huffer]

That windshield rust is worrying... either fix it soon or drive the car till it dies. Good deal!

[97legacygt]

I was going to say the same thing Huffer did. Fix the rust around the windshield ASAP or drive it till it dies completely if it doesn't bother you and doesn't leak. Had to go through the ordeal with my car, noticed the rust and didn't think much of it. I thought more of it the first time it rained and I was getting water coming in the A-pillar.

[Huffer]

Yeah, don't end up like me:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v643/ ... reen15.jpg (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v643/Huffer13/Legacy/051210_RustunderWindscreen15.jpg)

[downest]

It doesn't leak at the moment. There's a chip in the windshield and it will need to be replaced eventually, when I do that I'll grind out all the rust and fix it with a friend of mine who is a body guy. That's really the worst thing about this car right now. Other than wheels and tires, and starting on my roof rack, I'm not going to do anything major to it until the summer. Once I can drive my CRX all the time, I'll get that taken care of and do the WRX swap.

[downest]

Been driving this thing around all the time, loving it! I went grocery shopping with my gf last week and it was COLD out, and all the close parking spots were taken... except this one!

http://wickedinnovation.net/downest/random/wagon%20on%20snow.jpg

Hard to see in the pic but it's a decent sized ice pile.



I'm pretty sure the headgasket is blown now, at some point I'll have to do a leakdown test. I'm losing a little bit of coolant, and I can see some dripping out the timing cover occasionally. Still, it drives fine and never overheats with the thermostat out. I'm over 500 miles and it hasn't passed operating temperature once.

[MyogiNightKid]

The fact that someone has their Hummer in the spot next to you is what MAKES this pics :smt023

EDIT: AND it has vanity plates w/ custom pep boyz chain frame :smt043

[downest]

Yup, that's why I took it :P

[4n70n1n0]

Dude nice find. Fix that roof rust and the HG and you'll have one hell of a car.

I'm posting ur Hummer ownage on another forum. That's priceless

[2.5GT]

Not bad for $200 :smt023

Hope you get the HG fix..then you're golden :lol:

[downest]

Haven't updated in a while...

A little over a month ago, I let my friend borrow the battle wagon to go to the New England Hardcore and Metal show in Worcester. On his way back about a mile from my house, the dash lit up and the power steering died :( Got to my house around 4AM and took a look, the crank pulley bolt backed out, and the pulley was just hanging there on the alternator/PS belt. The timing belt was fine and it seemed that the key was a little mangled, holding it in place... so what did I do? Drive it the ~6 miles to the shop, just on battery with lights on and everything. A friend of mine followed in his Civic with the highs and fogs on. About a mile into it, the gauges pretty much gave up and the lights started to dim. It ran fine the whole way but on the road to the shop the headlights were more or less useless. Parked it and came back the next morning, it started right up with no hesitation and I drove it into the shop to have a look, then drove it around back and parked it for a while. The woodruff key wore the inside of the pulley so it wouldn't stay on at all, and of course the bolt was nowhere to be found. Reason hooked me up about a month later with a new key, bolt, and pulley. When I got the pulley I was on the phone with the DMV, and of course on hold (for ~40 mins), so I decided to make the best of the time and see how the crank and key looked. I figured I would have to pull the radiator and somehow get the key out, and possibly weld the notch in the crank. It turned out that the old key was fine, so I just cleaned it off and popped the new pulley on, torqued it down, and the damn thing started up AGAIN with no hesitation despite the drive and sitting for a month with no charge.

So I've been driving it again for a week or so, collecting more mud, and this weekend I took a long trip to NH for my sister's graduation from UNH. Just over 300 miles round trip with no problems, and I got 31 MPG. Today I went up to Reason's place and picked up a full 5MT swap, so once I get a new clutch I'll be doing that.

http://wickedinnovation.net/downest/Legacy/5MT%20swap.JPG

Also found a couple forester XT suspension setups, so I'll probably pick up one of those and do them at the same time as the 5MT.

[Reason]

Are you going to have the tranny in and the Forester suspension in before the June 6th meet?? :smt023

[Okin DaVanh]

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/



:smt011 Gauddamm thing was a PITA to get out! Good luck on the install... and some pics for a DIY maybe???

[Reason]

Yea I was telling him how we strong armed that bitch. Engine and tranny out as one :naka:

[downest]

I probably won't have the manual swap done before then, we'll see though. I have to get a clutch and find time, I've been swamped at work lately (which is a good thing) and right now I'm scrambling to get some stuff done. We'll see how things pan out though, I hate driving autotragic and I want to get this thing done asap. Either way I'll be bringing up some nice SK mud for you guys. If I can get some WRX wheels before then that'd be sweet, throw some Grabber ATs on there and call it good :)