Craigslist Oddity: A Legacy of Confusion

"Wilsonic" (wilsonic) 05/12/2015 at 16:40 • Filed to: None

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So I’m doing my usual Craigslist browsing (by owner checked off, , manual checked off) and I come across a clean Legacy wagon. Looking through the pics, the interior shots confirm its stick-shiftiness. Then I get to the under the hood shot at the end, which is quite the surprise...

Woah! That’s a supercharged 3800 V-6 from the General of Motors himself. Could it be the result of a very bold engine swap? Unfortunately, no. An engine swap of any kind is not mentioned in the description, so chances are the seller chose the wrong pic. The headlights sort of look like the Legacy’s though which may throw you off for about a millisecond. It did make me wonder though... what would it be like if you stuffed the grunt-filled supercharged 3800 in a Legacy? How well would that American power propel a vehicle equipped with Subaru all wheel drive?

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Nobi > Wilsonic 05/12/2015 at 16:48

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It would be great until the head/intake gaskets let go.

In all seriousness, it’d be interesting, definitely. the 3800 has a pretty good aftermarket behind it.

uofime > Wilsonic 05/12/2015 at 16:51

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This swap would make me suspicious that they were being less than honest about the "for sale by owner" part as well

BeaterGT > Nobi 05/12/2015 at 16:57

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Plus it’s quick as hell...but wouldn’t this mean it would be a FWD car now too?

Boxer_4 > Wilsonic 05/12/2015 at 16:58

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It’s definitely the wrong picture. Just look at the strut towers.

I suspect that the 3800 would be a bit too long for the engine bay longitudinal. Subaru has made a transverse engined car with AWD, however, that was the Vivio Kei car. You would need an STi driveline (or WRX bare minimum) driveline to support the power of the supercharged 3800, and both drivelines are longitudinal.

Also, I would assume the 3800 would be significantly heavier, due to its cast iron construction compared to the aluminum Subaru engine.

It could be fun, however.

BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind > Boxer_4 05/12/2015 at 17:06

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It’s funny, I knew it wasn’t the same car by the hood struts, too.

Subaru used hinges and a stick to hold the hood up until the 2010 model year on the Leggy.

bryan40oop > Wilsonic 05/12/2015 at 19:37

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if it’s swapped, i doubt its AWD

Nobi > BeaterGT 05/12/2015 at 21:14

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Yes and no. Depends on how you set it up. You could go AWD with an Aztek drivetrain and keep the engine transverse, or for longitudinal, use the 3800 block from a Camaro or Firebird with some driveline bits from a Tahoe/Jimmy/Blazer/Yukon. Either way would take a ton of fabricating to make it work.