My suspension project. Week... 5? update

[jamal]

new stuff is on page two

I start my job next week, and payed off my credit card last week, so I decided to start finally get to work on the suspension that's been in the works for like 4 months now. Went to Sears and bought some wrenches, a jack, and jackstands, and went to work on putting in the 04 STi take-offs I bought in February. I decided to start with the rear because I knew it would be a huge pain in the ass, since I have to take off the rear lateral links to put on the 18mm turbo rear swaybar I bought before Christmas.

First I had to take out the back seat:



Then I took apart more of the interior and loosened up the top nut and the strut tops.



The bolts were being little bitches, so I soaked them in PB blaster again, went to pep-boys, and got an 18" flex handle. Also I bought some oil to change it tomorrow. There went another $40 or so dollars after the $100 I spent at Sears. Yes, the car is on jackstands, the jack is just still there.



Finally after a lot of cursing and straining I got the struts out. The lateral links still aren't going anywhere, though. I think things will go better tomorrow.

Old and busted vs. new hotness. Oh, yeah. Look at how much nicer that strut is.



Some dissambled strut/springs. I rented the compressor at autozone, and it's surprisingly not scary to use.



Unfortunately, I'm still going to have to bum a ride to the dealership tomorrow, because guess what: My spring perches are too big for the STi springs.



Looks like my car gets to spend the night on jack stands. Now how am I supposed to get to J-bo at 3am?:

[THAWA]

FYI, You didn't have to remove all that interior stuff, just the seats is fine.

[jamal]

Yeah, I know, but the bolts are so much easier to get at with it off. I was having a hard time loosening the outer strut top bolt with the seatbelt winder in the way.

[Jr.SubaruLvr]

nice, when i swapped my struts, the old ones were so tired they fell straight to the base once i removed the top nut.

[jamal]

The dealership of course had no spring perches, so I spent most of the afternoon with a file and a drill butchering the strut towers to make the 04 tops fit.

I originally drilled two holes next to the inside holes, but the strut top didn't fit in the tower that way, so I had to widen them into a slot. It was a real pain in the ass.

It didn't turn out too badly, and I wasn't finished when I took this picture:



And hey, they fit:



New lateral link and endlink waiting to go in:



Oooh yeah, look at that guy. It's almost there:



I just need to tighten the bolts. Oh, look, my friend Derek brought me a tall boy:



Yeah, that's nice. I'll also add that there's room for wider tires now:



I still couldn't get the fucking lateral links off, so I'm waiting until tomorrow when my friend brings his impact gun. Too bad it's not very nice and it's a small tank and compressor.



I haven't done the fronts yet, either, but I expect them to be much easier than the rear, as they will bolt right up and I emptied the rest of my can of PB blaster on the bolts. I bounced the rear up and down and compared it to the front, and oh man it's so much stiffer. Also, my old struts stay in the piston when they're compressed.

Bonus rally lights in action shot:




As a side note, I now have a set of brand new GC group N rear strut tops and an e-bay GC rear strut tower brace for sale.

[jamal]

Today I put these guys in:



Here's what I needed to change it. And also some leverage. They were still much easier to get out than the rears.



Almost there:



The fronts went in really easily. I had the last one changed in about 20 minutes. My car actually sits a little lower- I'd say around half an inch. I figured it'd be a little higher, but hey, that's cool.

Now we're done. Ready to go for a ride little buddy?



I went and hauled ass around the neigborhood. The difference is so huge. It's stiffer, more responsive, and exhibits much less body roll. Now I really want that rear swaybar in.

[Jr.SubaruLvr]

hehe, trunk monkey.

[THAWA]

So wait, let me try to understand what happened. You wanted to use your original spring perches with the GC group N top mounts right? The spring perch is too large so you used the GD spring perch and top mount? Is that right? Would the GC top mount not fit with the GD spring perch?

[jamal]

Yeah, that's exactly what happened. The GD spring perch and top mount are different, so I couldn't use the perch.

Here are the rear GD tops and perches:

[THAWA]

I thought that was only 05's?

[jamal]

04s and 05s are pretty much identical. The difference on the 05s is that the front spindle is wider and the bolt holes are spaced farther apart.

As a side note, after doing the fronts, my steering wheel is now crooked by like 10-15 degrees. Anyone know why that would be?

[LaureltheQueen]

wow, that's alot of interior to remove!

[jamal]

One of these days I'll get around to putting the seats back in

[dscoobydoo]

Because you changed the rear geometry a hair, I have to wonder what the alignment is now like.

You might want to take it in and see.

[dscoobydoo]

Because you changed the rear geometry a hair, I have to wonder what the alignment is now like.

You might want to take it in and see.

[jamal]

There is a bit of positive rear camber. I have some camber bolts to put in that should fix that.

I'm going to find one of those places that sells a lifetime alignment, so I can get an alignment for commuting this summer, then give it a little more camber and maybe change the toe for the next big road rally at the end of august. I'm also tempted to autox until my RE92s explode.

[LaureltheQueen]

Firestone

[jamal]

Mmmm... Polyurethane steering rack bushings. At the recommendation of Scott, I got some of these guys and installed them a few weeks ago.



They're the Superpros. I hear they're the same as Whitelines, but $10 less (came to $25 shipped from kastle's korner). Oh my fuck was the driver's side a bitch. Even after I cut the bushing in half to make it easier to put in it still wouldn't slide into place, and it was dark and I had about 15" of room to maneuver. Also I don't have a creeper, so it ended up being rather infuriating. The p/s hoses were all up in the way, and since the steering linkage connects right next to the mount, you can't pull it down far enough to slide the bushings in easily. The passenger side only took about 30 seconds, though. As an added bonus I noticed I also have a cracked steering boot, and my tires are almost out of tread after that little test run I went on the other night. I plan on getting new tires this summer anyway, though. Also I still need to get that swaybar in, and an alignment. I think I'm just going to ask them to put in the lateral links when I get the steering rack boot replaced and an alignment.

One thing I thought was strange about these is that the 02+ WRX bushings fit BC, and not the ones for the GC Impreza.

[jamal]

At lunch last Friday, I brought my car down to one of those small chain alignment/ brakes/ etc. places (not Midas), because I still really needed an alignment and finally got my steering rack boot. They agreed to put the boot and lateral links on, and do an alignment for about $130. The shop was down the street from the office (the main reason I went there), so I walked back to work, and then walked back to the place when I left early at about 4. I got there, and the guy led me out to show me that they couldn't get the left lateral link off my car. The mechanic who couldn't speak english put his impact gun on there and it didn't turn. Apparantly they spent the whole afternoon trying to get it off. They were almost closed and I didn't really know what to say, so I had them do the alignment and give me my car back. So, I had one new and one old lateral link for awhile:



I decided that the shop sucked and I'd do it myself.

I basically spent a whole day pounding, burning, lubing, and prying on the bolt that connects the lateral link to the cross member. The steel part of the bushing wass stuck to the bolt. I pretty much melted the rubber part completely off, but the bolt won't come out because the hole is too small for what's left of the bushing to go through. I tried calling the parts dept at the dealership about 12 times Saturday, but nobody answered so I figured it was closed. Then I checked the website later and saw that they had been open. Yay. It didn't really matter, because when I went down there Tuesday they didn't have it. I went to another dealership today, and they didn't have it, and I also found out that the orders for parts went out earlier that day, so I'd have to wait until next Friday unless one of the other dealers around here has it. Luckily there are two sort of on the way to/ from work, and another one near where I'm going this weekend.

Once I got the other end off, and completely destroyed the bushing in the process, I was past the point of putting everything back together. I even had to take the long bolt that connects the lateral link to the spindle to pep boys and have them take it off.

Oh, I also realized why my car liked to pull right while braking and didn't feel quite right on right turns after the alignment shop tried and failed to replace the links. I just thought it was my trunkmonkey acting up, but it turns out the fucking nut was so trashed after being hit with the air hammer that it wouldn't thread onto the bolt all the way. That meant that there was nothing there to hold the toe of the left rear. I'd turn right or brake and it would toe out suddenly, making for some strange handling. Way fucked, and I didn't notice until I was kind of far from the place, and they were closed anyway. Last fucking time I go to some random alignment shop. I think I would have been much better at pep-boys. I was in there today and they had a pretty fancy alignment rack.

Here's a picture of me burning off the bushing:

[jamal]

My friend's dad was in town, and lent me his sawzall. 2 minutes with a metal blade took that dirty bastard right off:



So now, I have two 99 Impreza lateral links and endlinks, and one swaybar bracket, and no swaybar.





Until I find a replacement bolt with the ellipitical piece for toe adjustment, I'm using a grade 8 bolt from home depot. It seems to be holding up, and got me to and from work today.


One other thing, I could not get the right swaybar bracket in last night. The bolt behind the gas tube was all hard to reach and didn't want to thread into the old hole. I gave up, and bought some fresh bolts today. I'll try again after work tomorrow.

The STi take-offs are working nicely, although I still have no idea how the rear camber is. Once I get that bolt I'll find out if I need those camber bolts (which I hear can break). I'm due for new tires, so I'm not really concerned about the added wear. Once I get everything straightned out, I'll probably auto cross until my tires and brakes are completely done for, then buy new tires and put on the bigger brakes (I've decided to get the "H6" rears to match my WRX fronts). The intermittant knocking I've been getting from the left rear even went away. Oh, I also threw on a WRX rear strut tower brace from e-bay because I thought it might help with how I hacked the strut towers apart. It seems to have..

---OTHER RANDOM SHIT---

ooo, oooh, I saw a really nice SS today getting on the freeway in front of me. I caught up and pulled along side, but he didn't notice. It was white, I think a 5-speed, and in great shape. The paint was perfect, it was clean, and even had clear headlights. I guess maybe he was ashamed to be next to my dirty L with ghetto rally lights and bad paint.

I finally sold my old 14's to a guy with an ex-PGT 90 Legacy who had his gravel tires stolen. Here's hoping I don't have a blowout and have to buy tires like next week, because they made a pretty decent spare set. I'm hoping for another month or two, but I make bank at my new job, so I'm not all that worried. It might put back buying a V1 or Kimber .45 though.

Also I like the new 7-spoke 16" wheels on the outback sport. I bet they'd look nice on a BC/BF:

[wes_ej20t]

hello, just the info I am looking for.

I have an early 91 series 1 Liberty AWD which I am looking to upgrade the suspension. May have found some 03/04 STi complete suspension.

Jamal, with the rear perch/strut tops you can't use the standard ones and did the drilling to fit the STi ones. Is there any other way around this since I am not so keen to attack it with a drill? Do you need a different perch/strut top from another model Subaru to make it simply bolt up?

I guess the fronts just bolt straight in?

thanks, Wes.

[ferrari494]

I just swapped out my old struts for 04 WRX struts, only did the front two for now, gonna do the rears later this week, and yeah, you have to be VERY careful with the cam bolts or else your alignment will be off slightly, my steering wheel is off by about 10 degrees, doesn't pull though, who knows, gonna get an alignment when its all finished. best bet is to use a flat head screw driver and make score marks so you can tell exactly how to put the bolt back in, exactly the way you took it out, did that with one side thats perfect, but not the other....damn

But you can find slightly used struts very cheap, and the difference is AMAZING!

[scottzg]

it sounds like your steering rack moved where it's mounted to the chassis. If you loosen the rack bolts, you can tie the steering wheel against the position that its of, and then retighten the rack bolts.

[jamal]

Interesting. It's straight now, actually, after I had my steering rack boot replaced and a front alignment done. Rears are still messed up though because one dealership gave me the wrong part number so I ordered the wrong bolt so now I have to wait until next week.


Oh, and I'll get right on that little write up of this for you, Scott. I almost forgot about it.

hello, just the info I am looking for.

I have an early 91 series 1 Liberty AWD which I am looking to upgrade the suspension. May have found some 03/04 STi complete suspension.

Jamal, with the rear perch/strut tops you can't use the standard ones and did the drilling to fit the STi ones. Is there any other way around this since I am not so keen to attack it with a drill? Do you need a different perch/strut top from another model Subaru to make it simply bolt up?

I guess the fronts just bolt straight in?

thanks, Wes.

There might be rear perches that fit. I don't know much about all the different springs and perches, though. Brat4x4 was able to use his stock perches (I think from a 93 turbo), but mine were too big (from a 93 n/a). It could be that he had different rear springs, or that his STi rear springs were different. If you can't find a perch to fit, drilling might be your only option if you want to use them.

Yeah, the fronts go right in with no problems. I did them both in less than an hour.

Oh, and here's an update:



Oooooh... I have all my calipers. And SS lines. I still need rotors, rear caliper brackets, and front pads. I got some new Axxis Ultimate rears for $30, rear calipers for $60, and the goodridge lines for helping Jeff and Paul at Chaste Auto push some cars around. I think they have some front rotors in decent shape laying around that I'll pick up and have turned, and I'll probably have to buy the rear brackets and rotors new.

I'm looking at $225 for rear brackets and rotors from subaruwrxparts, who knows for front rotors, and about $40 for front pads. This puts my grand total for WRX front brakes, 00+ Legacy rear brakes, SS lines, and Axxis Ultimates at a little under $500 once I have fluid and clips and shims etc. And that's with good shopping and mostly used parts. The suspension total comes to about $750. I'd say I bought about $200 worth of tools to be able to do this stuff, and I already had a pretty decent craftsman set. Although, that doesn't really count towards the total. So, you too can have STi suspension and WRX brakes plus a few other goodies for less than $1500 (The wheels and tires were $200.)

Wow, that's a lot of money I've spent in the last 6+ months when I look back on it. About as much as the car is worth. Although that's less than two paychecks. heh.

Do I think it was worth it? Yes, although I wish I had a 5-speed turbo. It feels like a completely different car, and I love it even more. It's just so much more fun to drive. Well, anywhere but a bumpy freeway. Now I'm seriously considering a WRX driveline swap once I start paying off student loans, instead of buying some sort of a new car.

[ferrari494]

in response to your clear headlight comment...take brake fluid and a toothbrush and scrub the headlights, works like a charm....