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hEll’S lEgacy rEbOrn
Story by Travis Geny
Building cars is one of those uniquely human endeavors.
It serves no other purpose than the goals
of personal esthetics and the somewhat subjective
measurements of performance. building a car is at
once a great accomplishment of engineering and
talent, and at the same time the end result is nothing more
than a symbol of humanity’s ability to turn raw elements
into a usable means of transportation.
Our project 1997 Legacy goes a bit further than that. It is
a testament to just how much punishment and anguish the
human spirit can endure to achieve one’s goals.
If you have not been following along with this project
over the course of the past two years, here is a brief recap.
The car started life as a well-used 1997 Legacy Gt automatic.
It came with the DOhC na eJ25. Just about everything
on the car was either completely shot or worn-out
beyond hope. every single seat had either holes or tears
in them, the paint was faded and peeling, the suspension
was blown, and the engine leaked like a sieve, meaning that
it also smoked to the point where one needed a fire extinguisher
just in case. Other than these little foibles, it was a
great car, and also a perfect place to start for an off-the-wall,
one-of-a-kind project.
That isn’t to say that we are the first to ever tackle one of
these machines, but to say that turbo bD-chassis Legacies
are rare in the United states is a bit of understatement.
The car was donated to Subiesport by Royal Purple synthetic
Oil. The original goal was to build the car up for the
2006 seMa show, where it would be put on display in the
Royal Purple booth. The goal then was to turn this weatherbeaten
and worn-out road warrior from texas into a showworthy
machine that would blend both usability and showstopping
looks. how hard could it be?
Things started well enough. The first stop was the replacement
of the automatic transmission. While the merits
of the subaru 4eat are many and it has the ability to stand
up to lots of power, I don’t like automatics. I like to shift,
and any performance car worth its salt has some form of
manual box. so we took the car over to all Wheels Driven
in bend, Ore., to have the slush box swapped out in favor of
a Ra-spec 5-speeed from a JDM turbo Legacy. With a 4.11
gear ratio and Ra gears, this box can take some abuse. It
also means that the gears are very short, but that is good for
performance driving, where top speed isn’t really too much
of a consideration. This conversion basically demands you
swap everything over, including a hydraulic clutch pedal
assembly, rear diff, prop shaft and axels.
With the new gearbox and lower gears, the car came
alive and almost made me reconsider the next phase in the
build. almost.
SubIESpOrt MagazInE 35