I suppose, since mods are happening, it’s time to start the accompanying build thread for the wife’s daily. It’s a 1999 Subaru Legacy Outback, which is the last year “Outback” was just an off-road trim package for a Legacy wagon. She picked it up about a month after Sir Clax-a-Lot was destroyed, while I was away on assignment, from a fellow member of the local Subarus Anonymous chapter who’s a bloody genius with boxer frankenbuilds. It came to us not stock, with a freshly built engine, satin blue dip-your-car, and a few goodies I had the mad scientist throw on to surprise her.
Initial Specs:
- Naturally aspirated '97 EJ25 short block
- '99 heads, EJ251 pistons, and STI Felpro head gasket (bumps the compression to around 10:1)
- Stainless UEL headers and y-pipe currently dumping mid-chassis
- JDM projector headlamps (quad-beam)
- Obligatory Hella supertone horns
- All black leather cow interior with high-line trim and heated seats
- 160,000 miles on a clean, straight chassis
She wants a sporty, street-biased cruiser that’s not afraid of a little dirt to reach the occasional campsite, so some choices will probably seem odd or even conflicted. Stock ride height and stiff springs, skid plates with performance street tires, strut tower braces without coilovers and the like. She wants to be car culture, but lacks the patience for the research, so I told her I’d help if she turned the wrenches.