Anyhow, the project Legacy isn't as far along as I'd like at this point. I did finally finish cleaning the interior. I had both the front seats out in order to give the carpets a deep cleaning. From there, I turned my attention to the car's steering and suspension, and that's where things started to snowball on me.
In order to changed the shredded steering rack boots, I needed to remove the outer tie rod ends. Even though there was no noticeable play in the tie rod ends, I found the grease boot was torn on one side (I haven't gotten to the other side yet). Once I changed the steering rack boot, and placed an order for new tie rod ends (still waiting for them), I decided to change the lower ball joints, only to have the pinch bolt shear off on me. It looks like I'll be drilling that out once I pull the steering knuckle off the car.
The only part of the job that went relatively smoothly was changing out the front sway bar bushings and links. The car had a reasonably tired suspension. Although the front was serviceable (the rear suspension is desperate for some new parts), I decided to refurbish both the front and rear while I had the chance. I also have the right front strut out for replacement (left front still installed, but it's up next).
It took me a while to get to the Legacy because... I was finishing up the Vanagon. Guess what?... it's running:
It's re-registered, re-inspected, and back on the road. I've only driven it locally so far, but it's running pretty well with the new engine. Bonus - I even found an original tachometer gauge cluster in the junkyard last weekend and installed it. Completely plug-and-play:
So, before I move on to the Mercedes, which is now in the garage, I need to finish up the Legacy project. There's still a lot of work ahead, but as this car needs to be a daily driver in the near future, I'm not dragging my feet on the project.
As always, there's more to come. Stay tuned...
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