legacycentral bbs

Hi, everyone! It's been a while; I'm still around and I still have Legacy turbos

I've got a 91 SS with a leaky oil cooler, obtained replacement parts but having difficulty figuring out the correct routing from the coolant pipe and hose configuration to the oil cooler itself. Photos would be extremely helpful.

Whoever worked on this before me rigged it with a longer hose and had it routed underneath the exhaust, where it hangs down and can catch on things. I've tried getting the parts from Subaru to line up and I can't seem to understand how it's supposed to route.

I found the parts diagram on here already, that was a big help in identifying and obtaining the parts. I sourced the O-ring from some other place as Subaru doesn't carry it anymore, but at least they had the dimensions listed on the parts sheet.

Does anyone have photos of how the oil cooler actually routes / looks when installed with the piping and hoses in the correct place? Where does the bracket on the hard pipe bolt to? I could not get that to line up with anything.

HI,
Sorry - no photos, but I thought the '02-'07 WRX* was the same/similar, if that helps. I believe the WRX's waterpump (w/the extra port to the oil cooler) was the same as the '91 SS?

You'll find some pictures of the oil cooler setup in these rebuild pictures.

https://main.experiencetherave.com/suba ... eadwork/18

This oil cooler is from an STi but should be similar enough to the original turbo Legacy.

Thank you both - hi guys! It's been a while lol

This is very helpful info. That photo showed me I had it oriented all wrong, but looks like the engine needs to be out of the car in order to install it properly I'll see what I can figure out. I'm finding all sorts of swelled coolant hoses on this thing that are discontinued, such as 8076 15292, so I'm on the hunt.

Maybe I need to find a wrx parts manual somewhere.

Yeah, finding parts for these cars will get continually more difficult to source....unfortunately.

Yep, parts availability is becoming a bigger issue as time goes on. Thankfully there's lots of good info here on the BBS. I'm keeping my two Legacy Turbos alive in 2025 as well!

free5ty1e wrote: ↑Sun Jan 19, 2025 6:40 pm Thank you both - hi guys! It's been a while lol

This is very helpful info. That photo showed me I had it oriented all wrong, but looks like the engine needs to be out of the car in order to install it properly I'll see what I can figure out. I'm finding all sorts of swelled coolant hoses on this thing that are discontinued, such as 8076 15292, so I'm on the hunt.

Maybe I need to find a wrx parts manual somewhere.

Literally running into the same problem right now, as I'm putting my TW engine back together... SO many hoses that were brittle way back when I took this thing apart, going to have to get creative...

Currently looking for PCV hoses (the ones that go on each valve cover) as well as the two water pump hoses myself.

I use brass PEX fittings and lengths of generic straight hose for that sort of stuff. Sometimes you have to mix and match between the crimp fittings and the expansion fittings to get the right sizes.

One of my cars I even tried using PEX for the tube between the PCV and the manifold just to see how long it'll hold up. That was 5yr ago. I wanna try it for coolant at some point but a good opportunity has yet to present itself.

arse_sidewards wrote: ↑Sat Apr 12, 2025 6:07 pm I use brass PEX fittings and lengths of generic straight hose for that sort of stuff. Sometimes you have to mix and match between the crimp fittings and the expansion fittings to get the right sizes.

One of my cars I even tried using PEX for the tube between the PCV and the manifold just to see how long it'll hold up. That was 5yr ago. I wanna try it for coolant at some point but a good opportunity has yet to present itself.

That's what I decided to go with too, good to know that it's worked longevity-wise!!