coco26

Mud flaps sold, everything else still available! 

Unfortunately sold my Legacy GT a few days ago. I posted a few OEM parts I have been hanging onto in the classifieds if anyone is interested.

I owned the car for almost exactly 6 years and about 50k of its 96k miles. Never broke down on me and felt like it could easily go another 100k. I really didn't want to let it go, but it was too nice and became a garage queen. I've been building its replacement for a few months and can't afford two "fun" cars, so I had to let it go to someone who could enjoy it.

I've been visiting this site almost daily for the last 6 years, so thank you for all the support everyone here shares. The advice contained here is a big reason my car was as reliable as it is.

Recently sold my 2011 Legacy GT, so now I'm letting go of all the OEM parts I've been hanging onto. I'm in the Detroit area for local pickup, or am willing to ship at buyer's expense. Feel free to ask for more details or pictures.

 

Taillights - $200 (pair)- Passenger side has about 80k miles, driver side about 10k. Great condition, only took them off my car to replace with some custom ones.

Headlights - $350 (pair)- About 62k miles, only took off the car to swap with custom ones. Some light hazing on the top surface that could easily be buffed out with a DIY kit.

Washer Fluid reservoir - $20 - About 85k miles, pump works fine. Swapped it for the outback version that has two pumps for an intercooler sprayer.

OEM Mudflaps - Sold

OEM All-weather floor mats - $80 - About 50k miles. Should fit 10-14 Legacies and Outbacks, work great.

OEM Legacy GT carpet floor mats - $80 - Sold

Legacy Center Console Cupholder - Free - The cupholder piece that goes in the center console. I replaced it with one that had the lighting ring in it (this one doesn't). Pretty clean if you just want a fresh one.

Navigation Head Unit - $150 - About 88k miles. Bluetooth works great, no issues. Part of the Harmon Kardon system. Comes with the Sirius XM receiver.

Legacy GT Wheels - $500 - 60k miles, don't remember any curb rash but if there is, its small. They still have the factory tires on them, with a little bit of tread, but they're a bit dry rotted. For reference, they are 18x7.5 +55, 5x100. Below is the only picture I have of them right now, but if you're interested I'll get them out of storage and take some.

 

 

It's odd for a strut to start leaking that quick, so I would be a little suspicious of that. If you can't feel it in the steering wheel, I would lean towards something strut related, end links, then control arm bushings.

As Scubaboo said, I've failed a strut mount that made a similar sound.

Another hidden item is a little rubber sleeve that goes on the brake caliper slide pins. A "subaru specialist" once told me I didn't need them and they remove them on all the cars they work on. I spent months after that trying to track down the source of my clunking that sounds like what you describe (mine was only audible below 30mph or so). Turns out those sleeves are absolutely needed and are the only thing that keep the calipers from rattling on the pins. Might want to check if they're still there and not completely flat.

That mount looks different than the rear hanger in the rockauto picture, so I'm not really sure what its supposed to look like. I guess the bolts on the front flange must've rusted through for that to fall off like that.

Looks like the rubber hanger on the muffler just tore, probably from being overstressed by not having any others. It's not very rusty so I would keep that exhaust and just put a new/stronger hanger on it. If you want to make it last, you can re-weld the metal hook where it looks like there used to be one in the middle.

You only have one bumper cut out so a dual exit exhaust would cause more problems than its worth.

There may be options to integrate it, but for a number of reasons and max dad points, I'd go for a full replacement unit. Crutchfield has a Metra kit to convert the dash to accept a double-din radio and add a storage cubby. I chose a head unit that offers wireless carplay, which after living with it, is the only way I'd consider using carplay going forward. Going aftermarket also opens up options for other features like cameras, gauges, etc.

Crutchfield also has the appropriate adapters to connect the radio to the car's harness without having to cut any wires, and gives you great instructions to DIY it.

I have a GT with the Koni+H&R setup. You're right on the rear camber correction. Its not necessary, but definitely helps to have it to save tires. The stock camber bolts in the front still give plenty of adjustment.

You shouldn't need any new hardware. The nuts that hold the top hats to the body are deformed lock nuts, so they're technically one time use, but I've never had a problem with reusing them, especially if its only once. The only other thing I'd consider is front sway bar end links. You'll have to unbolt them from the strut, and if you live in a rusty area, they can be a big pain. I chose to cut mine off and replace them.

Here's a picture of my car. The extra weight of the 3.6 shouldn't cause a noticeable change in ride height, especially if you get the springs intended for it. The tires are 235/45/18, so they take up an extra 4mm of the fender gap, but also raise the car by 4mm compared to the stock tire size.

Posted it in the for sale section. I love this car so a little part of me hopes that it doesn't sell, but I'm building another car that I'll care about less, and therefore I'll be able to have more fun with. If my bank account could support two garage queens I'd keep it forever.

Check the bracket where the front of the mid pipe mounts. Its kind of hook shaped to support the weight of the exhaust... I didn't get the bolt tight enough, so it squeaked constantly as they rubbed against each other. Eventually the bolt loosened enough that it fell out and I got that knocking noise as the tab on the exhaust bounced back and forth in the hook of the bracket.

I think the downpipe was very close to the frame rail too and needed to be clocked just right to avoid it.

I don't see anything out of the ordinary in your video. The climate controls run the a/c compressor almost all the time (for a/c and heat) so its not uncommon for it to dip engine speed as its coming to an idle (coming to a stop or engaging a gear from neutral) until it can balance the load. If you feel that the vibrations are more than they should be, I'd check your motor mounts.

For most auto applications I see people use POR-15

I too was told you can get rid of the rubber when my slide pins were sticky, but taking it out made my calipers clunk around on every small bump. I got fresh ones and solved the noise with no sticking issues.

+1 on that as well. You can get a koni shock setup for the same price as a downpipe, and they do way more for the car than the downpipe would.

Sorry don't have any sound clips. Might get some in the future but have to fix a few exhaust leaks first...

 

There's not too much drone with what I have. I prefer sound quality over volume, so I actually added a vibrant muffler near the middle of the car (and forgot about it until just now). From what I can remember, the drone wasn't bad but it was obviously more than stock. Volume wise, cold starts (less than 50F) can be a bit noisy, but once its warm, idle is near stock volume. Under load, I'd estimate its still quieter than some factory exhausts these days, but I've never let anyone else drive it so I don't actually know.

 

Next time I start it I'll try to get a clip of some revs.

Does Motul cause an increase in gear whine?

 

Yes, in my experience it does. It's also the cause of your hard shifting.

 

I replaced my motul with Subaru's high performance gear oil and don't have whine anymore, and the shifting is much easier in the cold.

OBD scanners are effective in reading and clearing codes. Auto parts stores should be able to clear them as well. Haven't seen that brand of scanner before, but you can probably find cheaper options, both handheld and with bluetooth to your phone.

 

The cluster method of reading codes will only show you body/cluster DTC's, so you won't be able to see/clear your engine codes from there.

A tip for the first time tuning these cars - In the short hose that connects the intercooler outlet to the throttle body there are two rubber flaps that will cause you problems if not removed. They essentially flap open and block the airflow with increased boost.

 

Perrin sells a replacement hose, or you can just remove them from your stock hose.

 

Like dgoodhue said, the bypass valve will almost definitely leak. I have this one and it works perfect: TS-0203-1223

You'll want a higher flow cat to get past 280-ish hp. This is pretty much the line where the $/hp ratio goes downhill though. You'll probably spend 600+ on a catted J pipe and about the same on a cat back system, all for about 20ish extra hp.

 

I have the invidia catted J pipe, magnaflow cat back, aftermarket BPV, and tune and reliably make 290-300. The magnaflow cat back is one of the quieter options.

Also, unrelated, I set up an iPhone cable to the USB/charging port so my girl can charge while we're driving. Tested it on our engine phone, and it seemed to drain like 4% in a few minutes. Is it just not a good option for charging?

 

USB's that are intended to be used as media inputs rarely support enough current to charge a phone faster than it drains, so I'd recommend using one of the 12v sockets with an adapter.

 

That being said, it looks like your new radio can output 7.5w through both USB cables, so assuming you connected it to that, it should be enough to charge or at least maintain. There have been cases of very fast battery drain with certain versions of carplay - check for updates?

Hard first gear is normal. Like cww516 said, the Motul 300 is good but won't help in cold temps. I have the Subaru High performance gear oil now and first isn't much harder than the other gears in the cold.

If I had to choose only a single modification to make to my car, that would probably be it. I'm not as far down the rabbit hole as some other members (and with my timing belt interval coming up in ~500 miles, I can see that rabbit hole deepening), but it's hard to overstate how much of an improvement it makes.

 

 

Also, if you wouldn't mind, report back on how that transmission fluid cocktail works out for you in the cold. I'm running straight Motulgear 300 at the moment, and I'd say dropping down into 2nd is a little more difficult than the factory fill was until things warm up a little. I've never been able to get back into 1st at anything over about 5 MPH without double-clutching, and since I'm awful at double-clutching, I just settle for taking off extra slow in 2nd. My Baja feels almost identical in that regard, so that might just be a fact of life for these transmissions.

 

My previous fill was with straight gear 300 and I noticed the same thing. Right now I'm using subaru's "high performance" gear oil and its the same smoothness at all temperatures. The trans seems to whine a lot less too.

I guess whp? The stock # is 265bhp, I'm assuming that's crank hp? What's a realistic hp# for say $3k-$4k at the same time the car needs to reliable and a daily driver. And I know this next part is contradictary, but need to maintain some decent mpg. I've done a ton of reading, but I just get confused each time. So many different things to consider so they work together correctly.

 

I have a catted downpipe and cat-back exhaust, stage 2-ish tune, "stage 1" clutch, and the virtual dyno puts me at about 300 whp. It's been my daily for 2+ years since then and still runs great. I get about 26mpg cruising at 80, closer to 18mpg with a heavy foot in around-town driving.

 

After that power mark, the dollar/hp ratio starts to go way down. I could see spending that 4k+ just to get that extra 50hp reliably. As creep_nu said, I would lower your power target a little bit and spend the extra money on suspension bits. Way more low-hanging fruit there.

Very interesting info. I've used it the past few years in the summer, but add lower temp stuff in the winter so it's always somewhat diluted.

 

Learn something new every day.

If I remember correctly, pulling back the front of the wheel well liner will give you the access you need. Pulling the bumper would definitely help though.

 

Strange failure for sure.