G'day mate, welcome to The Outback (first car)

laxmax613

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 20, 2009
Messages
4,071
Location
Tel Aviv, Israel
Car(s)
Merkavim Mars
Good onya for clickin' on the thread. now slip-slop-slap and gimme a good old 'cooee!' for my first whip. It's a '98 outback 5-spd with about 103k on it. got it from my aunt and uncle who've treated it well because it's been a third car for them. i personally love driving it, but it's been rough since i learned how to drive stick less than two weeks ago. getting better though.

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any suggestions for accessories, tips about running it etc?
 
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Great first car! Pretty low-ish miles for the age. Subarus like that are so tough, just follow the scheduled maintenance and it won't let you down.
 
Now we just need the FG Aussie contingent to make sure that slang is correct. :D
 
my mate has one, a GT on WRX wheels, looks awesome
 
Now we just need the FG Aussie contingent to make sure that slang is correct. :D

Well I've never heard anyone say "gimme a good old 'cooee!' for my first whip", but it has been a long time since I've watched Crocodile Dundee or been to the Northern Territory. And judging from those pictures, the weather doesn't look like its at all necessary to "slip-slop-slap" :p

Nice car anyway, Outbacks are great all-rounders.
 
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Bonza Maaaaaaaaaate!!!

:thumbsup:
 
Ahh a 98 Outback...man those are the days..I had a green 4AT(profile should be here somewhere) ran it for 75K before it got rear ended.

You may want to check out the valve cover gaskets, the Head gaskets , and the timing belt since your near the 105K service interval for these cars. Also check out SL-I.net and also subaruoutback.com for more specific topics. If your looking for off road capability, then go for the Forester suspension setup since its bolts in pretty easily. The same goes for if you wanna lower it, which is the route I did. Anything from a WRX or STi till 2005 will be compatible with your 98. Also if the shifter seems sloppy, you can mess with the Kartboy short shifter and bushings.
 
Also, being a manual it has the low range 'box, no? I used to love that on Subarus even in the Impreza you got a low range gearbox.
 
Ahh a 98 Outback...man those are the days..I had a green 4AT(profile should be here somewhere) ran it for 75K before it got rear ended.

You may want to check out the valve cover gaskets, the Head gaskets , and the timing belt since your near the 105K service interval for these cars. Also check out SL-I.net and also subaruoutback.com for more specific topics. If your looking for off road capability, then go for the Forester suspension setup since its bolts in pretty easily. The same goes for if you wanna lower it, which is the route I did. Anything from a WRX or STi till 2005 will be compatible with your 98. Also if the shifter seems sloppy, you can mess with the Kartboy short shifter and bushings.

I'm thinking about the shortshifter already because it's just... messy. Also, if i decide to treat this thing as a long-term investment, a WRX suspension might be pretty awesome.

BTW thanks for mentioning those potential issues. i'll keep them in mind.
 
congrats on your first car! there are a few of us older legacy guys on here ;) sooooooo jealous of your 5 speed trans....

i hate to through another forum at you, but this one is another great resource for legacy owners: legacygt.com
 
congrats on your first car! there are a few of us older legacy guys on here ;) sooooooo jealous of your 5 speed trans....

i hate to through another forum at you, but this one is another great resource for legacy owners: legacygt.com


LegacyGt is another great source for these cars, aswell as scoobymods, basically an online resource to fix your car.

fwa2500...your build is amazing! Before my 98 got totaled I was looking at switching into those rims on your car

laxman, no problem, lot of people dont realize after the HG's are toast on the Phase I EJ25's that there quite bulletproof afterwards. Even though ive gone up a generation (02 Outback), the EJ25 is still a decent block...
 
first snow today, but unfortunately for me i'm cooped up at home, sick. tomorrow there's supposed to be some more and i hope i can get some pics.
 
It's snowing here too, but it doesn't seem to be building up yet.

I'm a big fan of those older legacy wagons/outbacks :)
 
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