legacycentral bbs

I own a 1994 Legacy L with a EJ22 and 5MT.

This is my 4th year with my leggy, i love this car and i don't plan to ever let her go, as it has seen the worst, laughed and drove through it like it wasn't even affected by it.

I primarily use it in the winter, due to the fact that i pulled the ac completely out(minus the under dash bits) and have fitted a coolant spacer in place of the thermostat, so she runs a little warmer at lights then normal, but cools down quick after 5mph. It spends more time sliding through corners than actually going in a straight line and in doing so, sees high rpm levels regularly.

In the entire time i have owned the car, other than the regular maintenance on the car, it has only managed to break 1 part. That being the front passenger side half shaft. I apologize that i dont have pics of it, but when it snapped it broke that ring on the inside of the joint in 2( could only find half, the other half was smashed into the grooves), stripped the ujoint clean, tore the boot all to hell and rolled to a stop.

I have a large list of things i am looking into and need help, as i am not having any luck finding them and i also would like some opinions on some of the parts that i cant decide on.

First being a new motor and tranny either turbo or NA. I need a motor that can hold up to over 4000rpm regularly. I have read about the wiring harness being a long difficult process, but i am more than willing to tackle that, to get my leggy strong again.
(when the engine and tranny are figured out, what would be the best place to get new bushings and mounts?)
For the tranny i am looking for something with better gearing and can take a little more abuse. Also looking for short throw shifter and new bushings.

Second the handling, can i swap all the suspension and drivetrain bits from a WRX into my car, if so what complications would i run into? Also what would be the best bushings to use for this and if at all possible a good choice in springs to lower about .5" to 1 inch?

As for rims, does anybody have a suggestion for 15-16 inch rims, that i could use with my winter tires?

I am also looking for new headlights, because i cannot find anything in the aftermaket for my BC, i am trying to find some projector assemblies.

If anyone has any info that can help, please do.

Also the town i live in you cannot go down a single road here without seeing a Subaru, so if you need any parts from the salvage yard let me know, i may be able to find it.

I don't have time to reply to most of your questions right now as I'm about to go to bed here in a second.

First off, welcome to the board!

You can find all the answers to those questions by searching and checking out the stickies in each sub forum.

You can use WRX suspension 02-07 I believe but there's small things that need to be changed and you can figure that out by checking out the suspension stickies for what fits our cars.

I have 04 STI struts and springs on my 91. I'm also about to install an 02 WRX wagon front 20mm swaybar and a whiteline rear adjustable 20-24mm swaybar.

For bushings I would go with whiteline bushings. For the motor and tranny mounts I would go with Group N STI motor, tranny and pitch mounts. These can be found from time to time for a decent price used on NASIOC. Otherwise new they're available from rallispec here http://www.rallispec.com/prod_mount.htm

As far as the headlights go, they suck. There's no aftermarket headlights for these cars so if you want better headlights you can do one of the many methods of cleaning/sanding/buffing to remove all the yellow oxidation from them and get them clear again or you can buy a set of european glass headlights for around $300 a pair. You can also get JDM ones that are almost the same but point higher at oncoming traffic blinding them.

Others may have more answers but this has all been covered thoroughly so I assure you with a little searching and browsing the stickies you will find all your answers.

Well i got another more specific question to add to this, what year STI would be the best to gut everything from?

I am looking at an '03 and an '06, which would be better? Both were rear ended hard, but the rear end is still intact, no cracks or any damage to driveline, kinda leaning towards the '03, because some how the wing for the back window and the rear spoiler survived.

What do you think?

Are you looking at a JDM STI? Because STIs were only available 04+ in the USA.

What parts are you planning on using from the STI? The STI wings look terrible on our cars, unless you meant to sell it.

05 and newer STi's require the ignition system since the key's are chipped to match the ECU.

So I'd go with 04

Yeah the '03 was imported, keep in mind i plan to use the entire drivetrain from the sti, i.e. hubs, axles, engine, tranny, suspension, etc., i also plan to carry over the ECU, merge the wiring harnesses and anything else wiring wise i can, also i plan to gut as much of the interior and carry it over also.

I am also looking into sending in the steering column and have a steering quickener installed.

IMPORTED 2003 STi????? What what what whaaaaaaat?????


was it imported as an off-road/race-only vehicle?

I didn't think you could import newerish non-USDM spec cars

shit i rev my motor right around red line every day haha shes still doin me good

No actually, the 03 was brought in(stock from) by someone in the army(i hate how they get special treatment).

I wish it was brought in as a race-spec, that way it might have had the dog box i want, but oh well.

I rev mine quite high regularly, i just worry about the valvetrain getting sloppy.

why do you hate how people in the army get special treatment?
an 03 sti swap is pretty advanced stuff. the turbo cars, especially late model ones that weren't even brought to this country are much more complicated than an ej22e car like yours. you'll have your work cut out for you in wiring for sure. OBD 2 motor into OBD 1 car wiring is a big challenge. even using the whole wiring harness is very difficult due to different lengths of wire and stuff. if you have a rhd donor there is a lot of stuff to change. I've read on nasioc conversions forum that doing a full harness swap is more work. you should do a lot of research on there and try to find the wiring diagrams you will need. those are not all that easy to find though if you can get them at all. nasioc conversions forum is where the bulk of the people who have done lots of complicated wiring swaps post. however they do not sugar coat anything there so do your homework before asking a million questions.

I suppose that i should have used a better word than hate, because after reading it today, i kinda came off as a dick, sorry guys didn't mean too.

What i mean, is that i wish that things like free importing was available to the rest of us, instead of paying over $3,000 in fees that you have to pay and all the inspections that you have to wait through.

So it isn't that i hate them, i guess the best way i can say it, is that i am envious of the oppurtunities they are given(i was denied, so i cant get into the army, for those that are going to say, "so why dont you join?").

As far as the wiring, i am not going to say that i know exactly what i am doing, but i have been doing research on this for ever and i think i got a good idea of what i am doing. Hopefully i will get the rest of the info i need when i get my diagram books, i got the Legacy diagrams on the way now, but i gotta figure out what car i am swapping parts from, before i can get the diagrams for it.

Suspension bushings are waaaay more work than they are worth if you are looking at any stock Subaru suspension, be it WRX or STi stuff. It is a serious pain in the ass, and I'm not exaggerating by any means.


I have Energy Suspension and SuperPro bushings all around, coupled with H&R coilovers and Group N mounts. I honestly regret using poly bushings. They are maintenance heavy, and require yearly lubrication if used in the winter. If you hear a squeak from a poly bushing, that means it is destroying itself.


If I were to do it over again, I would have used all Group N STi bushings all around. They are more expensive initially, but they are OEM bushings with OEM quality and fitment, just a harder durometer. You can get them from Rallispec for around $600 for the gamut.


You would also need a press, or at the very least a ball joint press to get it done. I had to make some sleeves to keep the lateral link bushings in shape while I pressed them in since they are rather thin and easily deformed while pressing.


I will replace my poly bushings eventually, but they are a ways down the (extensive) list.



When it comes to handling, the curve is a reverse exponential scale. Wheels and tires will be the largest improvement, with struts and springs being less of an improvement, and everything else being very small improvements down the line. You only get spherical bearing and heim joint links when you've covered all other bases, and so on and so forth. Start simple an easy and go from there.

The exception is the steering rack bushings. Those should be one of the first things you do to improve any Subaru with the classic mounting style.

I will also comment that the STi hardened rubber bushings are just as much of a bitch to install if not more so than the poly bushings.

I am also not exagerating.

I've got a mix of poly and the STi hardened rubber. I've got the STi stuff for the rear trailing links, front a-arms, and strut tops. I've got poly on the rear lateral links, sway bars, and steering rack.

Ditching the steering wheel for something else also makes an enormous improvement in feel.

Thank you guys for the heads up on the bushings, that will really help out when it comes down to it.

As far as the steering wheel, how well will that work with the addition of the steering quickener that i plan to install, if it would be benificial to me i will look into getting a new 1, what would you guys suggest? I have never really looked into steering wheels, most of the aftermarket ones tend to look well..............kinda gaudy, if you find one thats simple and functional, let me know.

evolutionmovement wrote:Ditching the steering wheel for something else also makes an enormous improvement in feel.

Like vise grips?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShcObtUw ... re=related

LOL. But seriously, Mercedes has a nice one. I saw this a couple of years ago, I haven't followed it , don't know if it's in production, or even planned to be in production. I found it quite interesting.


http://www.unp.co.in/f44/meriya-naviya- ... see-24370/

I have a smaller diameter cheap one that's simple black 3-spoke with holes drilled in the spokes. You've probably seen similar or the same ones a bunch of times. What it did was make twirling it quicker, increase the effort needed to turn the wheel (in a good way), and improve steering feel immensely over the rubber insulated POS the car comes with. The look of the wheel probably better fits an older car, but it's not gaudy, either. None of that colored leather patches or fake chrome bullshit. That and a $1 wood shift knob transformed the feel of the car and how fun it is to drive.

Also, with the steering wheel issue, i am trying to find 1 with a flat bottom, but it is really hard to find 1 that doesn't look like crap.

Otherwise, i am going to have to resort to a quick release steering wheel system, i have to long of legs, it is extremely difficult to get in, and when i go to heel-toe, i bang my leg off the wheel, so i hope by raising the bottom of the wheel, i wont resort to beating my leg to shit.

You guys find 1 that isn't too bad let me know.