1999 Legacy GT/BH build

[bixx]

First off , super stoked i found this page and that its already been a great help in knowing what i bought haha. I have a baby on the way and that meant i needed something than my other project. I figured space and fun could be had in one thing, so i went on the hunt.. Alot of bmw and audi wagons for sale but all too new and round.. started seeing a few jdm legacys and wrxs for sale, most of which were out of my price range at the moment.  This one came along and after a quick drive it seemed good, although i had no idea what i was looking for as im more familiar with V style pushrod engines with waaaay less vacuum lines haha.

1999 Legacy GT Jdm with an ej206, 146k km, 4 speed auto

The young guy selling it only had it for 3-4 months , and was selling it to pay his mom back and a couple big dmv fines. He said the only thing he did was flush the transmission.. but the previous owner had done the timing belt and water pump. Interior was nice besides the stains in the rear which was good for me, and it seemed to not have much, if any rust on it. I ran my finger along the rotors the best i could when i looked at it, and could tell one was wavy and probably warped as well.

He claimed it had been tuned for 94 octane with "lambdatuner" ? Im hoping that means its been tuned down to 94 from japans 100 octane? Im assuming to pull timing out of the top end , would help it not knock on heavens door..

Been looking for a tuning platform besides HPtuners, and have stumbled on the romraider route? I just want to see timing and fuel curves to ensure this motor isnt pinged.

We negotiated a decent price after i kept ensuring him about the hood being hooped, bumper messed up, and the fact it was probably whiskey dinked into something hard at one point.. i went and picked it up and drove it about 2 hours home, figured its a decent test anyway in the middle of summer and hitting stop and go traffic on the highway. It got me home just fine , stayed cold the whole time. I had no idea what i just bought but was happy with how it drove, and that it kept me cold and the engine cold on the way home. Once i got home i figured id plug my code reader with some live data into it, found the obd2 and no dice.. wont connect. This made me realize i need to start doing some searching.. Its like fuel injection w/ turbo, but with only a screwdriver for a carburator.. Thats what led me to this site to begin with, as i started to identify the motor, major differences, what parts match a usdm legacy and what dont ect..

For the sake of even keeping my own head on straight, a build thread has worked best for me in the past. 

 

[doublechaz]

Looks like fun.

[bixx]

32 minutes ago, doublechaz said:

Looks like fun.

Its... something haha, no but its been good so far. Soaked every steering component nut&bolt in oil as i know im going to be undoing it eventually, so might as well soak em now.

 

 

 

The Front passenger side cv boot is busted open and doesnt look great in there so i ordered up two new cvs for the front, rotors and pads front & back. a good upgrade on each.  The steering rack boots are also blown and it seems like the rack may have been swapped in..? Seems to work fine and make no noises but i am chasing a clunk in the front like a CV, or a ball joint... Theres some welds that dont look bad, but dont look factory. I trust them so thats nice atleast.. Its got a leaky line and i think it could use some attention. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Currently ordering a jdm subaru filter, not sure if its nessessary, but its gotta be okay for it haha. Was the easy choice. I did change the oil, seemed clean and no pixie dust in there so thats good. I left the same filter on there for now and will change it once i get the filter.

 

 

This Y-pipe has to go for sure, Not sure what happened there...

 

Trying to find history on the car seems difficult for sure. No VIN so no carfax, this JEVIC website is all in japanese, but might be able to translate it or something.

 

 

[bixx]

[doublechaz]

When I reconditioned all my suspension I started getting a clunk from the front end.  It turned out to be the sway bar links.  So that is one more bit you may have to look at to find your noise.

[bixx]

Awesome thanks. I did pick up a volt gauge and oil pressure gauge.. Can't stand not knowing oil pressure readings. I read somewhere I can tap in where the turbos are... does anyone know if I can just remove the stock one since it only supplies a dummy light?

Ordered some btsd to npt adapters so I can run a mechanical copper oil line. Is there a way to monitor the oil feed into the turbos also?

Seems like people say they get under oiled and fail.. lots of hearsay about how bad and great these ej20s are. Hoping with the 206 and updated heads it isn't so bad. I do love maintenance though so maybe it's just what I need. 

Edited September 1, 2022 by bixx

[doublechaz]

I'm not sure about the 206, but on mine the stock oil pressure sensor is under the alternator so it was difficult to find room to add a guage sensor.  I ended up eliminating the light in the cluster, and making a little circuit that would read the guage voltage and turn on some LEDs below 15psi.  But that works for me becuase I have an electronic guage, not a mechanical.

[bixx]

Not a whole lot to update but still.

update on the car has been the following.

 

:  Replaced stock with Slotted n drilled rotors up front , stock calipers and great pads.

: Rear disks replaced with smooth drum in hat type. I had to reorder the rears as the disks i got were .5 inch difference ( on the smaller side, IIRC they were 9.5 and the current disks on my car are 10" wide.  Upgraded the pads in the rear as well. 

: Replaced both CV axles up front. One was shot and causing quite the clunk, so i did both fronts.

: Installed a manual oil pressure gauge into the stock location under the alternator and moved the previous owners boost gauge into the console with the oil pressure gauge, previous owner had a black piece of polyurethane or something in the slot, I had some stainless 20g sheet laying around so i used that, ended up being a tad small and doesnt look great but its functional and im happy to have some sort of pressure reading.

: Rear diff fluid changed

: Ended up with 3 wrong sway bar end links at my house, so i ended up tig welding a set to make them long enough to match the ones i currently had in there.

: Air filter

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To do :

: Got a trans filter and pan gasket in the mail so thats on the list

: Front diff fluid change

: Got a full set of FCS struts and springs, front and rear in the mail. OE spec and nothing fancy but should help restore some rideability since these are stock JDM struts/shocks in here still.

: Ball joints on the way.

 

 

I picked up a set of complete heads off a ej208 the other day. There is some valvetrain noise, which is to be expected at 165k km with shim and bucket style valves, but id like to start rebuilding a full set to make the job easier when i park the car to do the work. Looking at stainless valves and planning on lapping the valve seats or having the heads decked and cut.. not sure yet.

 

Hoping to find a bottom end and build a motor on the stand and maybe just do a full swap when the timing makes sense and my other project isnt in the shop for the winter.  Plans for rebuild wouldnt be anything crazy but just eliminating the trouble areas, and maybe bigger turbos..

 

Previous owner didnt know much about who had this car before him but did claim it had been tuned with projectlambda so i ordered up a reader from them and well see if there is a license on this ECU or not. If not i will purchase one and get a tune made for it or make one myself if i feel brave enough. 

Previous owner ray charles'd some bracket onto the intercooler to zip tie all these hoses too..smh... probabaly the same guy that put a screw through the plastic raindrip moulding...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[bixx]

oil pressure is around 18 psi at HOT idle.. signs to worry... not sure? But any sort of driving at all is around 40+ psi and solid cruise up around 55+. Im sure there is some tolerances that are bigger than they should be and causing a drop in pressure.

[Infosecdad]

My '05 2.5 LGT is typically around 22-23 psi at hot idle for oil pressure if that helps at all.

[bixx]

13 minutes ago, Infosecdad said:

My '05 2.5 LGT is typically around 22-23 psi at hot idle for oil pressure if that helps at all.

any information is good information ! haha i have nothing to base this off but the wildly internet speculated terms. It does seem a bit low from the general consensus though. 20-25 at hot idle is what ive heard as good.. now for whats "bad".. not entirely sure, besides the obvious 5-10 psi

[bixx]

Is it true that everything but JDM oil filters will restrict flow or is that hogwash? I did order some off evilbay since i want to do an oil change anyway. wonder if 5-40 would help build some psi of oil pressure.

Edited December 5, 2022 by bixx

[bixx]

 

One thing isnt like the others , thats for sure. Probably why the engine was pulled by whoever , when it was. No play in the cam shafts at all and havent checked any of the valve tolerances, but i will record on tear down. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 5, 2022 by bixx

[doublechaz]

My 2.2 NA has been hot idle at 10 psi for the last 100,000 miles.  FWIW.  Driving is 40 to 60 depending on rpm.  Full send goes a little higher, but I'm usually too busy to check exactly how mich higher.

Edited December 6, 2022 by doublechaz

[bixx]

15 hours ago, doublechaz said:

My 2.2 NA has been hot idle at 10 psi for the last 100,000 miles.  FWIW.  Driving is 40 to 60 depending on rpm.  Full send goes a little higher, but I'm usually too busy to check exactly how mich higher.

thanks man, appreciate the info. I am currently around the same at cruise, with up to 70-80 at heavier throttle. Also sits real high when COLD, like 85-90 for a few minutes, also given the RPM is higher due to cold start.

[bixx]

[bixx]

cant seem to upload some files but these are the sway bar end links i created from a pair i received but were too short. just added some round stock to lengthen the end link end to end.

[doublechaz]

Yep, 85/90 cold.  I don't like 10 for hot idle, but it isn't getting worse, so for now I'll run with it.  Of course I have a deal less force on the rod end bearings than you do.

[bixx]

On 12/6/2022 at 4:50 PM, doublechaz said:

Yep, 85/90 cold.  I don't like 10 for hot idle, but it isn't getting worse, so for now I'll run with it.  Of course I have a deal less force on the rod end bearings than you do.

Yea for sure, at idle id think it would be the same sort of force though? Im going to do an oil change here soon and ill see what it does with fresh oil at hot idle.  

 

 

[bixx]

Ended up buying a project lambda btssm transmitter. The guy i bought it from said it had been tuned in the ad, but didnt seem to know much about it. Figured it was what the guy that sold him the car said. Turns out it has been unlocked with a license, that made this real easy which is nice. Next time I drive it, ill take a data log and look around. I did pull the tune off the ECU and might try and have someone take a peak at it. Luckily im in the process of learning tuning parameters with my holley ecu in the other vehicle.. but i still have no clue about the turbo tuning yet or what mods have been done ect.... 

 

I managed to get a set of strut assemblies for decent price, FCS struts (stock stuff ) but wayyy better than 23 yr old clapped springs.. got the rears stuffed in tonight and tackle the fronts tomorrow probably. The rears were the worst for sure and causing some bad sag on the twisty dip filled roads out where i live.

 

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[bixx]

 

Front is all buttoned up now. Gave the brakes a bleed too and feeling good again.  

 

 

 

 

[Junk Depot]

Cool car! I've had a couple '97 Legacy 2.2L MT non turbo cars as my dailys for the last 8 years and they've treated me well. Over 260K miles on my current one with no signs of dying anytime soon.

I saw you recently replaced the front CV axles on yours - I'm in need of the same thing for mine. What brand did you land on and how have they held up so far? From all the forum searches I've done, I've seen the Subie guys say not to bother with any aftermarket replacements, but that recommendation was obviously when you could still buy OEM axles from Subaru (which they've since discontinued the fronts for 2nd gen legacy's in the last few years).

[bixx]

6 hours ago, Junk Depot said:

Cool car! I've had a couple '97 Legacy 2.2L MT non turbo cars as my dailys for the last 8 years and they've treated me well. Over 260K miles on my current one with no signs of dying anytime soon.

I saw you recently replaced the front CV axles on yours - I'm in need of the same thing for mine. What brand did you land on and how have they held up so far? From all the forum searches I've done, I've seen the Subie guys say not to bother with any aftermarket replacements, but that recommendation was obviously when you could still buy OEM axles from Subaru (which they've since discontinued the fronts for 2nd gen legacy's in the last few years).

Hey, thanks! ive wanted a wagon for a long time and i always wanted a jdm awd. It just dumped snow here and it was wicked reliable in the unplowed roads. Its all real new to me. I just ordered some cv axles off rockauto.com I could look them up, i usually always aim for the higher end items on there, as they do sell real cheap stuff.. They fit well, packaged good and so far seem fine, machining looked clean and the roll pin ect was of good quality.

 

. I do want to do wheel bearings, ball joints and tie rod ends. Whiteline seems to sell a bump steer fix kit with those components anyway. 

[Junk Depot]

Nice! These cars just hook in book in most conditions I've found, especially if you get some studded snow tires under them. The winter conditions make my stock 2.2L daily feel like a go cart, I can only imagine what adding a turbo (or two lol) to the equation would do for the fun factor.

I just ordered a pair of front CV's of the old FleaBay, I wasn't able to find any on rockauto that included the tone ring for ABS. I'm not sure if the ABS in my car is even working, but I figured it couldn't hurt. We'll see how the quality is, but I'm guessing most of these chinese aftermarket axles are coming out of the same factory so hopefully their QC is good enough to not send me a pair of DOA axles. 

Good luck on your wagon, hopefully you can get out and enjoy it some more this winter - it's the time of year these cars really shine.