Hi Guys.
Gotta say I'm excited to find this forum. Seems to be active for one, which is a nice change of pace compared to some places I've been trying to engage in, and you guys all live in my neck of the woods, so that's awesome!
I figure as an intro I should just get into it and tell my Subaru story, ready for a read?
Skip down to the TL;DR if you like. I enjoy telling stories so this is going to be a couple minutes to read the whole thing.
About a year ago, my ride was a 2001 Ford Taurus SE. It was a terrible car, but it did have a good engine, when it was working. HEAVY car though, and I sank a bunch of money and time into it over the years. Technically it was my wifes car, but it was out of commission for almost a year when the heads warped from over heating one terribly cold Feburary morning (bad coolant mix I think). Fixed it up though.
Anyway. My wife and I are separated, and I ended up with the car. The torque converter crapped out and I decided I wasn't going to put any more money into that damn thing and sold it to a wrecker. I had a friend who bought a Mazda 3 to replace his '03 Focus, but he never got rid of the focus or fixed it up or anything and it had been sitting in his back yard for a year. I asked him if I could use it. I'd fix it up so it would pass inspection and deduct the price of the repairs off his asking price for the car and he agreed. So I did the brakes, and the shocks, found out the body is nearly eaten through as I punched a small hole in the frame (twice!) jacking it up. But it was running and I could insure it. He decided to just give me the car.
Turns out I messed up a speed sensor when I was doing the rear brakes (i think) and the traction control got all stupid in the winter and basically refused to let me drive the car. So I pulled the ABS fuse and everything was as peachy as it could be on a car that didn't have long left in the world. But it wasn't safe (not to mention it was cramped) for me to take my kids around in, and my divorce has been a horrible experience, and any excuse I might give her to tell her lawyer or a judge that I don't care about the safety of my kids is one I should avoid handing out... So it was time to get a new car.
My first car was a 1994 Subaru Loyale. It was a green station wagon with a 5MT and a sunroof. I loved that car. I bought it at Michener Allen for 200 bucks in 2004 or something like that. I ended up giving it to a friend who desperately needed a car after owning it for about 2 years, after I bought a Saab 900 from my mom (best and worst car decision ever). And she ended up destroying it. Sad story.
Anyway. While I'm looking for a new car because the Focus is terrible, I start thinking I should get a Subaru again. So for nostalgia's sake I start looking up stuff about the Loyale, because I missed it and I always wanted another Subie. Well I found Regular Car Reviews Loyale video and it really struck a chord with me. It made me laugh pretty hard because he's funny, but also because at one point he said the Loyale turned Subaru into the "That's a good car!" car. Back when I bought the Loyale I had taken my dad with me to the auction to help me not make a stupid decision, and when it came up he was like "Subaru's a good car." just like the video. That made me laugh.
So I decided it was high time to get back into the club. I wont go into the horrible story of going to the Mitsubishi Dealership here in Lethbridge before I decided to buy a Subaru and how terrible that experience was. I'll just tell you what I bought, and how it makes me feel.
I don't have good enough credit to buy a new car, and I never really wanted to do that anway, so when a friend of mine who's dad is always working on cars at his farm (buying wrecks and fixing them up and stuff) told me that they had an '01 Forester he could show me, I agreed and fell in love immediately.
It is Sierra Gold, which has had a swap done because the original engine was bad, I don't know the story but the EJ251 that is in it right now has new head gaskets, and a new timing belt. There is 250K on the body, I have no idea what's on the engine, but this is the first reliable car I've driving in some time. The body is in immaculate condition for an 18 year old car, and the only thing missing from it is the tire iron. I'm pretty sure the jack had never been used, it looked brand new.
I have a picture handy somewhere but I think it's still on my phone so I'll upload it later today, but I'll say this before I go.
Everybody is a car person, they just don't know it yet. I've done my share of repairs, both major and minor. I've had some friends who are mechanics offer to help me and we never hid from a challenge. I thought it stopped there, but researching for my new car I've discovered how much I love cars. How much I love Subarus, and how sometimes having a car can be the best medicine. I've been fanatically watching MCM, The Grand Tour, Chris Fix, Regular Car Reviews, and a host of other junk just because I can't get enough. Maybe it's a coping mechanism because I hardly get to see my kids these days and I've been fighting that fight for the last year and a half, but dammit this Fozy has saved my life. I love the thing and I've already started improving it. So far all I've done is installed a 2DIN android head unit from China with a backup camera and GPS. And painted my wheels black. But I've got a list of mods and a build plan that spans everything from fixing the paint chips in the gold, and repainting the bumpers a different colour, to swapping in a built EZ30R and turbocharging it some day.
It's opportune for me to get the bug anyway, since my grandpa just gave my brother, my dad, and I his '61 GMC 910 that we're going to restomod. So I've got a big project started already.
TL;DR
Haven't owned a Subaru for something like 15 years. First car was a Loyale. This is my 2nd Subaru, 2001 Forester S in Sierra Gold Metallic, 5MT SOHC. 250K on body. Unknown mileage on the swapped in engine from another fozy. Car is awesome. In great shape. and basically saved my life. Hope to car nerd with you guys and maybe meet a bunch of you. (there are at least 3 JDM STI Fozy's in Lethbridge. I've seen you, and even waved at some of you, we need to meet up) I have Fozy / Subaru questions!
Cheers guys. I'll put up pics in a couple hours, when I'm back at the computer.