New Beater

Hmmmm. Just stumbled across a 1st gen Legacy turbo wagon with a blown head gasket. Supposedly no coolant in the oil. Should I do it?

Just to let you know the etr region of the scca has a rally cross program. Should be under four hours from you.

RoughandReady wrote: Hmmmm. Just stumbled across a 1st gen Legacy turbo wagon with a blown head gasket. Supposedly no coolant in the oil. Should I do it?

If you expect us to talk you out of it...you're doing it wrong.

nicksta43 wrote: Just to let you know the etr region of the scca has a rally cross program. Should be under four hours from you.

I'll have to look into that. I could only find RC in Cary and North GA.

ClemSparks wrote:

RoughandReady wrote: Hmmmm. Just stumbled across a 1st gen Legacy turbo wagon with a blown head gasket. Supposedly no coolant in the oil. Should I do it?

If you expect us to talk you out of it...you're doing it wrong.

Soooo tempting. The current beater has the 5 speed it would need. It's also completely original and unberkeleyed with, perfect for berkeleying with.

http://www.etrscca.org/rallycross/rallycross-schedule/

nicksta43 wrote: http://www.etrscca.org/rallycross/rallycross-schedule/

Niceee. That's just under 3 hours.

I wonder what it takes to put together an event. There's a place called The Flats like an hour from me in Marion, NC. A course set up there would have 3 dimensions and would be pretty intense.

Nice beater!

Well, I knew having a 95 would mean there come a time that I'd encounter some new fangled technology that I've no experience with. So that time is now, and that technology is ABS.

The trouble: The ABS light is coming on and off intermittently (No clue what triggers this). Sometimes when I'm braking, the pedal jumps and the brakes make a grinding/wooishing sound, kind of like a gearbox grinding. I can hear a whirling in the engine bay, which I assume is the ABS pump.

So what gives? Is my ABS kicking on for no reason while I slow down at stop signs? What triggers an ABS light and is it tied in with the OBDII?

I've got pads, rotors, and lines on the way.

Probably a wheel speed sensor, your options are to either have it scanned by a scanner that will do ABS(probably dealer if not OBD-2) and go from there, or pull everything in the fuse/relay panel marked ABS and remember how to threshold brake.

Kenny_McCormic wrote: Probably a wheel speed sensor, your options are to either have it scanned by a scanner that will do ABS(probably dealer if not OBD-2) and go from there, or pull everything in the fuse/relay panel marked ABS and remember how to threshold brake.

I do have OBDII, just didn't know if that only handled the engine or would tell me about the ABS too. The thought of deleting the ABS crossed my mind, just seemed like more work than fixing it.

Apparently there's an OBDI style switchboard under the dash for the ABS. Thank god.

Good, blinky codes rock.

Bleh, speed sensors are a hundy a pop.

Opinions on junkyard ABS parts....? haha

Subaru pricing seems to be weird. I paid $500 for this several years ago:

It had 395k kms on it. Got it on the road. Used it to rally-X and other rally stuff. Sold it for $1000 and bought this for $750 (its my DD):

But now I am trying to find a shell to swap my WRX drivetrain into and everyone wants $3K for cars with broken motors or transmissions.

In reply to NGTD:

I live in an area where they have a particular following. I live in an area with a lot of hipsters. Outbacks seems to be the most expensive. There's several for sale currently with blown up trannys and such for 1000-1400. Imprezas seem to go a lot cheaper, when you can find them.

I originally was looking for an Impreza. Actually, I just put out a wanted feeler ad for a 1st gen Impreza wagon with a blown up tranny or some such catastrophic failure. I could spend about 500 on one. Maybe I'll get lucky.

Well, according to the ABS diagnostic, both front and rear left (That's the driver's side right?) speed sensors are giving no signal and one of them is overvolting. I checked all the wiring and it looks fine, so I'm assuming it's the speed sensors themselves. Also found 2 cut wires under the dash, no clue what they are. Not happy about that.

Time to go junking. I'm not about to drop $200 on ABS sensors.

I love beaters!!!

And Subarus!!!

Pricing is hit or miss around Michigan. The super deals get scooped up right away.

You mention "RS" brakes a few times, I have found that it is cheaper to source the plentiful first gen. Forester brake setup (SAME as the RS). Even if you have to buy them at the scrap yard to use as cores, the twin piston remans at the auto stores are really inexpensive. You'll need the Forester pads/rotors/calipers for the swaparoo.
It really is one hell of a scrap yard brake setup. Yay for Subaru Lego sets!

In reply to fornetti14:

The RS I was looking at had sigle pot (per side) calipers, but someone mentioned they'd be an upgrade anyway. So 1st gen forester has the 4 pots? I often get confused with the counting of brake pistons, sometimes 2 pot/4 pot seems interchangeable.

The main reason I wanted to go with the RS struts + calipers is because not only are my struts bad and my calipers rusted and dying, but my wheel bearing are bad too. My plan was to grab everything on the RS from the top hats down and swap everything in as one piece: strut, spring, hub, calipers, everything.

I wire nutted the cut wire under my dash. It made the idle surge wildly. I decided to leave it cut and tucked it. haha.

The_Jed wrote: I love beaters!!! And Subarus!!!

AHHHHHH Yeah.

Do these Suabrus have rev limiters?

I'll tell you that I'm NOT impressed with the operation of the antilock brakes on my '97 Outback (the blue one posted above). I hit the gravel shoulder the other day for a car-sick moment (the fiancee, not me) and it was like having no brakes. I am confident I could have stopped the car in a MUCH shorter distance if the car had no ABS.

As far as I know, my ABS is operating "properly."

That said...I'm kind of a curmudgeon about this type of stuff...this is the first vehicle I've ever owned with ABS. So take my opinion with a grain of salt.

Know of anyway I can disable the ABS until I get the parts to fix it?

In reply to RoughandReady: Pull the ABS fuse.

In reply to NGTD:

No horrid side effects besides lacking the ABS I've never had?

Its actually kinda dangerous driving with one bad abs sensor. My dads had a wheel bearing disintegrate and the CV joint kinda ate the abs sensor wire, and without pulling the fuse it would get confused and trigger the abs if you even touched the brakes at all.