Things to look for when buying a 3.0R-B?

by **Kody.B** » Thu Aug 09, 2012 6:51 pm

Hi all,

So I've made the decision and I'm starting to go out and look at H6 Liberty's for my first car. I've done the calculations and I think I should be able to afford to run it

I was wondering if anyone could give me any hints on things to check when looking at Liberty's which could be costly or bad?
I'm looking at 2005 MY05/MY06 models around 120,000km's.
Any help would be great!
Thanks!

by **kiks** » Thu Aug 09, 2012 6:55 pm

Buy mine.

Job done.

by **Kody.B** » Thu Aug 09, 2012 7:00 pm

Got a link? If it's in my price range I'm interested

by **HoFF** » Thu Aug 09, 2012 7:36 pm

Buy kiks one. Don't let the klms scare you off

by **zch91** » Thu Aug 09, 2012 7:38 pm

Kody.B wrote:Got a link? If it's in my price range I'm interested

What price range are you looking at? I have a feeling it will be within your range.

by **SH30RB** » Thu Aug 09, 2012 8:18 pm

zch91 wrote:What price range are you looking at? I have a feeling it will be within your range.

judging by what you've said Kody, its in your price range :wink:

I'm looking at 2005 MY05/MY06 models around 120,000km's.

Buy it and thank us later

by **kiks** » Thu Aug 09, 2012 9:28 pm

Iink now irrelevant. Was mildly modded (coilovers, bushes, wheels, tyres, brembos).
Now stock as a rock because of punters and morons contacting me about it. Only non factory is upgraded to facelift 'spec b' wheels as the stockers look like aids personified.

06 black manual 6sp 30rb wagon. 165k's.

Brand new 0km tyres, and 200km old brake rotors and pads, brand new 200km old bilsteins and new unsagged stock springs. Wheels have a few little scratches and I have a brand new 5th arriving for same spare wheel.

Tomorrow paint is getting a stage 3 (whatever that means) paint correction/detail. Should be a mirror finish and no swirl marks.
Engine and drivetrain In perfect order. Took care of it darn well.
Paint has minor dents and a few stone chips, unavoidable if you own and use a car.

I'm happy to show it to you and give you an idea how they should drive when 'tight' and everything isn't flogged out and ignored even if you aren't interested in it in particular. Can learn what to look for etc.

Aftermarket parts still on are factory STI Gearbox mount, shifter bushings, differential bushes. And a few others are replaced with whiteline items (common wear stuff like tie rod ends, control arm bushes, ball joints). Until I replace the box mount it makes gear whir noises the factory bush absorbs. Silly thing I never should have bolted on :p

Also has a new centre muffler to make it quiet as a mouse.

by **kiks** » Thu Aug 09, 2012 9:35 pm

And to answer question, things to look for are factory hydraulic diff bushes, cv's, engine using excessive oil, control arm bushes, rear subframe bushes and aftermarket clutches which play up/shudder.

Fwiw I put 6L in mine per service so it laps just under the crank throw, (measures fairly accurately on spare block i have) and it maybe drops a few mm after 3-5000. Fairly normal. The danger is when they get low, you give it plenty of revs and a few g forces... Engine goes knock knock and it's all downhill from there. Just a sad fact of the real high volume oil pump and low sump capacity with an engine that 90% of them use a few hundred ml per service interval.

by **Kody.B** » Thu Aug 09, 2012 9:51 pm

I'm not even sure whether it's a possible price range but I'm looking at 14k max. I've seen a few on Carsales etc for 15k with 120,000 negotiable so I'm not 100% sure. I figure when you have a car that's been on carsales for 3 months and you wave cash at them you'd have to have some sort of chance

If my price range hasn't insulted you I'd be interested in having a look, it sounds like a nice car and it sounds like you've looked after it well.
I know they don't have a timing belt, so is the 200,000k service pricey?

by **kiks** » Thu Aug 09, 2012 10:06 pm

Same as the 100k. Whatever the book says. Probably plugs, filters, oil and a can of upper engine cleaner. Chains last for a long time.

14k isn't insulting but it's under the 17 or so. Carsales price assist shows me down the bottom mid right of price vs k's. All depends if others have all the other crap done. Otherwise brakes/tyres/diff/Gbox oil add up quick. And most would be on fucked stock billies etc.

by **Kody.B** » Thu Aug 09, 2012 11:20 pm

Yeah mate you're exactly right, for the condition it sounds like it is in, it's worth more than I can pay.
The ones in my price range are apparently both recently serviced, always run on 98 etc, but you can never be sure with people. I haven't looked at them personally yet, they may be in rubbish condition.

If I could source another 3k easier, I'd look at your car with no hesitation, but at 16, 14k was hard enough to save haha.
Good luck selling it though, and thanks for the advice!
I was told specifically with the centre diff, and drivetrain things you have to lookout for, that you could actually tell when driving the car?

by **kiks** » Fri Aug 10, 2012 1:37 pm

just see if it drives like shit in general. Steering should be knife edge direct. Not vague.
Car should soak up bumps without throwing steering around, or the rear end feel like its moving left/right a few inches over pot holes etc.

In general it should feel tight.. Theyre an extremely well built car, so you can expect very direct feeling in brakes, steering and suspension. Not wallowy hollow disconnected sort of driving like a commodore gives you. (not to say they drive bad either).

Centre diff is not a huge issue, hundreds of thousands of sti's run around without DCCD with no issue forever. If the oil is quite hot, you can expect a small amount of binding if you then try and do figure 8's repeatedly on full lock...It is doing its job if it does. But if they run with unevenly worn tyres by a big amount, I could see it happening over time.

by **Kody.B** » Fri Aug 10, 2012 3:31 pm

Thanks for your help mate. After hearing that I only want one more!
If I had more money to play with I'd definitely have a look at yours, otherwise I'd just be wasting your time.
Thanks again, I really appreciate it.

by **kiks** » Fri Aug 10, 2012 4:22 pm

Where are all these 13 and 15k 3.0RB manuals? Or are they all sedans?

Subaru sedans are aids :p

Also more than welcome to come have a look at a few cars if you want to go to that august meet kiahatsu has got going on. I could probably drag it along.

by **Kody.B** » Fri Aug 10, 2012 5:50 pm

Haha yeah mate all are sedans. Aids or not, they're cheap

There's a black one at Tweed Heads which I'll probably see within a few weeks and a silver one at Klinton
I was hoping for a wagon, but once I saw the price premium I thought I'd stick with impracticality and be in budget :/ GLWTS though! Offer of 14k cash still stands? :-D

Unfortunately we're North Brisbane so our public holiday is a Monday, we don't get Wednesday, otherwise I'd be up for that.
Bit of an annoyance the change of holidays, I don't think it would have been hard to get the old man to take the Rex for a run even if we did stick out like a sore thumb

We were considering a Glorious run in our car in the next few weeks if anyone's keen.
Means I get to scope out cars and everyone gets a cruise XD