Subaru B4 - ever heard of.

B4 means it has Bilstein 4 - as in four shocks, sheesh it aint rocket science - the B4 sedans make me lol - non turb but bilsteins -what a bonus

I have recently rejoined the Subaru fraternity - a mate was throwing away his 2000 GTB (hmm - it has Cusco suspension - thus making it a GTC!LOL) so I took it off him - manual, twin huffers, very quick even compared to our last one. At panel now - needs centre diff & a clutch sometime soon, be a good ride for her indoors - been complaining about the lovely peugeot 306 i got her last year tut tut

Has to be more reliable than the last toyota I had lol

Why does wiki state that: ''With the introduction of the Legacy second generation in Israel, the Legacy name was replaced by the B4 brand.''!
So with that in mind the 'Legacy' name brand was replaced with B4 then! Which does kinda make sense when you think about it as there legacy name faded out with the B4.

So I was right to take the B4 badge out of the grill then. The front Bilstein's on mine were snookered so I pilfered some standard shocks from an abandoned pranged car we had out the back, and they work good enough, so WTF. Might get the Bilstein's rebuilt on day - might not too.
But now it's only a B2, the badge had to go.

Cheers zeph - that B4 badge was steering me away from the engine. And you're right - It ain't rocket science (only if ya know)

+1 They use that term unexpected repairs all the time, basically cause they are idiots trying to cover there ass. Even if the car looks mint, +1 for a subaru tech.

So back to this B4 meaning thou, Just finding the responses interesting and wana get to the bottom of it. So if B4 does mean 'Belstein 4 shocks' Then why would they need to have a belstien badge on aswell!

+2

Customers Dyna van has a COF - wanted to sell, muppet buyer wanted a AA check - front kingpins failed - Ohkay Dohkay - yeah nah they are sweet

went thru COF at VTNZ no sweat even with me asking them to triple check king pins (Im sick ok - I love doing them) & still no fail

Took all this to AA & a backpedal later - whos laughing now

Hate to be a seller with these dipshits in charge of what people are gagging on for pre purchase - what a load of rubbish

mind you - employing Ahmed & Saaed isnt helping - the last time they did pre purchase they were looking at useful cavities for loading C4 into ha ha ha

You are a rare breed of people that have never rung up & ordered a set of Bilstein shocks for your ride - trust me, if you had ordered about 2,000,000 shocks at the price those krauts charge - youd want it bloody big & stickery on the back too

B4 means the car has Bilstein shocks.
It doesn't stand for Boxer 4, because Legacys that aren't B4s can also have Boxer 4s.

Why would the B in GT-B stand for Bilstein, but not in B4!

There are also the Boxer 6 versions that are B4s.

Haha Fair enough dude, But im still on the fence about the B4 meaning thou and find all responses very interesting but non conclusive. However,
I believe the B4 meaning goes un-answered in many forums including this 1.
http://www.clubsub.org.nz/forum/index.php/topic,5066.60.html
But the more i try and search for a answer on the net the more I rekon B4 is just a replacement name for Legacy

Every one that came through compliance was badged RS30. being a 3.0l engine.At least that was the case when I worked there a few years back. same shape as the B4 just different badge. and engine obviously.

Maybe 'B' stands for Blitzen (German for lightning).

The B4 Legacy is a good car, BUT:
The pre 2000 models wear the front sway bay mounts and steering links VERY quickly, due to a design fault.The rear suspension also tends to sag as the central bushes wear.
Only the single overhead cam model (a Brighton is one) can run on 91 unleaded.All the other models - 90% of the range need to run on at least 95 octane, or you risk holing the pistons.

Oh, and B4 does stand for Boxer-4 . the engine is a four cylinder "boxer" style motor (like a Porsche).The 3 litre models are called H-6's (for some inscrutable Jap reason).
You would actually need to look inside the wheel arch to see if your car has Bilstein suspension - the vast majority of Legacys do NOT have this, and only the top spec models have the best suspension.

The cam belt changes are very expensive - think $1500+ because you need to replace the water pump, tensioner, and all the jockey wheels - many are prone to failure as the bearing grease in them dries out quickly.
You need to be religious with servicing, and use top quality oil - I've found Castrol Edge 0w-40 is best (Mobil 1 is also good, but it burns if you use an ethanol based fuel such as Gull Force 10).If you are lax with the oil changes, the car will quickly turn into an oil burner, as the internal tolerances are so tight that only fresh, top quality oil can maintain the unctousness (stickability) required to lubricate the pistons, etc.
You also need to take care of the gearbox oil, as Subaru is notorious for making piss-weak gearboxes - especially automatics.
If it's an auto, make sure the transmission oil is Dexron III, and for goodness sakes, add some Mr Tranny to take the notchiness out of the gear changes and to remove the feeling of the rear diff binding (all caused in the gearbox).

BUT, the worst thing about the Legacy (and all Subarus for that matter) is the dealer.
In all my life, and with all the different cars I have had experience with, Subaru dealers would be the least trustworthy, and the most expensive crooks I've ever come across.But then, when you consider that possibly the best car sold in NZ is nowhere near the top of the sales charts, you begin to realise why - it's not the car, it's the mongrels who sell them that give Subaru a bad name.
And, as a matter of fact, sometimes it's actually cheaper to import the parts from Australia than to buy them here.

.go figure.

Anyway, find a good mechanic who ACTUALLY understands HOW to service a Subaru (they can be really really fiddly beggars to work on - almost as if they've been designed by British Leyland), service your car regularly, and enjoy driving it.

And PS, since Subaru is a small car factory, the Jap imports are mechanically identical (and usually better in spec) than the NZ new ones.

B= Boxer (engine) and 4 = 4 wheel drive, isn't it!

My neighbour has one of the 3.0 litre 6-cylinder ones, pretty sure that's badged as a B4 as well, but I would need to check this to be sure. B4 3.0R or something like that.Beautiful car, much nicer inside than my mate's B4 2-litre turbo of the same age!

(/spam)

$1500 for a cambelt change! Shit mate they saw you coming! The whole lot of parts including water pump, the FOUR idlers, automatic tensioner, cambelt, cam seals and crank seals total no more than $400. $1100 for labour on the job! I think not. All it takes is a radiator removal and it's a very easy engine to access to do a cambelt job on.

Blitzen were the later higher spec models (think 2001 onwards). they have blitzen body kit and spoiler, leather interior better tune suspension etc.
and the B on the end of GT or RS does stand for belstien. i still don't think the badge 'B4' has any thing to do with belstien.
1100 slides for labour on cam belt replacement, WTF! More like 500

The badge doesn't have to mean anything - all you can really say is they but it on BE Legacy sedans (but not the equivalent wagon)

OK, I'll justify my cost for you, so that everyone out there knows the score.
The genuine Subaru parts (which you should use) go for about $690 plus GST, but late last year Subaru ran a special where you could get the belt, water pump and tensioner for $495 + GST.But, you still needed to buy the seals and idler wheels.

By the time you factor in an oil change - and transmission fluid too (best to do everything at the same time), plus oil filter, and an air filter, and a fuel filter, it runs to about $1500 (incl GST and labour).You don't need to remove the radiator, just the fans at the back.

By the way, I'd love to know where you can buy all the (genuine) parts for only $400 INCL GST.I'd be first in line to buy.

Some ej's thermo fans are bolted at the bottom aswell as the top and removal of the raidiator is a must and is easy to do., unplug fans, remove 12mm bolts and rad brackets undo rad hoses at the engine and remove radiator. would rather remove it incase it gets damaged aswell.
And subaru don't make cambelts, gates and mitsobshi or bosch do. nor do they make water pumps and bearing tensioners etc. They are supplied to them by bearing companys like nsk nok etc. you a sucker if your getting that junk from subaru me thinks

I don't mind standing corrected,zeph & ryans have both stated that B4 stands for Bilstein on all 4 corners, but ryans isn't sure. Coppied quote:"Why would the B in GT-B stand for Bilstein, but not in B4!"
But zeph is more positive. My RS30 had a B4 badge in the grill, so it doesn't mean Boxer 4 as I first thought.
It would throw a cat amongst the pigeons if someone out there had a B4 without Bilstein!

I didn't say genuine anywhere, however we know that aftermarket brands like GMB water pumps, Koyo bearings, ACL seals, Gates or Mitsuba cambelts will do the job just fine. I can supply the whole lot for under $400.

I can confirm B4 stands for Blistien Shocks all round, my 2006 Legacy 3.0R has B4 stamped in the kick panels in the front door openings. The Legacy RSK B4 means the same, no where is there any mention of the boxer engine in the badging and the RSK B4 that I had, also had the yellow Blistien badge on the rear boot lid, I thinks it was an after market thing.

$1500 for a cambelt job on a Subaru makes $1200 for a cambelt job on a quad cam V6 Mitsi (which parts totals over $400 and is labour intensive) look cheap.

That's fine, but have you got black & white data from Subaru stating that's what it means. I've Googled inside out and can't find anything about B4, other than finally ending up in a porn site that asks for payment of pictures - as usually happens.
I'm not disputing this, just want the final nail hammered home.
The yellow badge on the boot was a standard fitting on the GTB's, but not seen on B4's unless possibly added as assumed.