Hi All,
I have a chance to pick up (for near zero cost) a 1994 Subaru Legacy sedan. It has a 4 Cyl. enging,75K miles,generally decent body, etc. not sure of too much else at this point. I'm going for a closer look later in the week, but hoped to gather some data first.
Like all such deals, something is wrong with it. In this car, the harmonic balancer came loose about 3 months ago, and it messed up the slot in the shaft that the woodruff key for the balancer fits into. At the time, the owners mechanic advised that pulling the crank to fix the slot was not a viable option, but offered (as a no cost and "what-have-you-got-to-lose" type of repair) to put the key back in and fix it in place with JB Weld.
Well, it held for about 3 months. last week, it came loose again, and seems to have scarred up the ID of the balancer. He went out and bought a new car, and offered me this one on a "gimmie whatever it is worth to you" sort of offer.
My thinking is that I could put a new key in what remains of the slot, and zap in the missing metal from the slot with the MIG machine and dremel to fit. Or maybe make a fake key out of something the mig filler will not stick to (graphite, copper or whatever) put in place and weld around it. Then pull it out, leaving a vague woodruff keyseat shaped hole. Or gimmie a better idea.
I would likely need to replace the balancer as it looked pretty gouged up, at least at a glance.
I work with the owner, and a pretty good friends with him, and when the balancer is not flopping around, the car runs great. If I could effect a decent repair, this car would make a great cheap to run around towner.
Anyone know if this is a common problem with these cars? How do you guys rate the likelyhood of a sucessful repair? I know little about Subarus so any thoughts, comments, alternative ideas for repairs, etc., would be a big help.
Thanks, your input is much appreciated. AL