Subaru Legacy 4th Gen
Resources
Platform overview
Subary Legacy / Liberty naming
The Legacy is known as the Liberty in Australia to avoid confusion with a national organization which supports the families of deceased or disabled military veterans.
Model years and sub-generations
The Subaru Legacy (chassis codes BL/BP for sedan/wagon respectively) was produced from 2003 to 2008 and sold in the US by model year, as MY05 - MY09. It was produced in two distinct sub-generations with major revisions.
- 2005-2006 - Pre-facelift
- 2007-2009 - Post-facelift
“Facelift” is a misnomer. There were changes throughout the chassis.
- EJ255 changes (detailed below)
- A cosmetic update for the exterior trimwork (not compatible with earlier models)
- Direct access to the CAN bus via the OBD2 port
- The sedan’s rear bench seat was revised to fold completely flat
05-06 models featured a pass-through only
Chassis codes
BL (sedan) / BP (wagon)
Production years
The production years are 03-05 and 06-08.
In the United States, model years are typically one year ahead of production year. If you’re reading this from any part of the world other than the US, Keep an eye out for this incongruency if purchasing EDM/JDM parts for your USDM car.
Engines & transmissions
The USDM 2005-2009 Subaru Legacy GT and Spec. B recieved the EJ255 engine and a choice of 5 speed, 6 speed and automatic gearboxes.
According to Jeff Sponaugle from Surgline Tuning there are, speaking colloquially, two versions of the EJ255:
EJ255 v1:
- Short block : 10103-AB440
- Heads : B25 / 11039AB650 (single AVCS)
- Turbo : VF40
Applications:
- 05-06 Legacy GT
- 06 Legacy Spec. B
- 04/05 Forester XT
The engine is nearly identical to the EJ257 except for the intake manifold, intercooler and turbocharger. These engines all use B25 heads. Jeff notes that different parts numbers are used.
EJ255 v2:
- Short block : 10103-AB630
- Heads : D25 / 11039AB980 (single AVCS)
- Turbo : VF46
Applications:
- 07-09 Legacy GT / Spec. B
- 07-09 Outback XT
- 06-08 Forester XT
- 06-07 WRX
The D25 heads featured intake ports for secondary air injection, and slightly lowered the combustion chamber volume to 51cc which increased the compression ratio to 8.4:1.
Don’t stress over the nitrided and heat-treated crankshafts versus the untreated cranks. If that’s a concern for you, you’re probably looking to make well over 400whp, and you either know this stuff already or you need to speak to a tuner/engine builder who knows the lore better than me.
Spec. B production
MY08 from 10/1/06 to 6/19/07.