07Evolved's '91 AWD Wagon 5MT

[kimokalihi]

Oh nevermind then.

[07Evolved]

I have a '96 Outback 2.5 DOHC AT that I found for good parts (also parting it out) and decided to use some parts off it.

I know that I want to keep the struts/springs to give my wagon the "lift" it so desperately needs and I was thinking of adding some 205/70/15 geolander at/s tires as well with this package.

I was also going to keep the good working 2.5 DOHC for a swap later on whenever my EJ22 decides to die. It seems that my wagon is the perfect candidate for the swap with the ECU being able to work with the EJ25 along with the IAC since it is a 90-91 5MT.

Anybody else have ideas of things that I could use off of it to upgrade the wagon?

[NICO]

love them all

[07Evolved]

love them all

I'm not following??....haha

[Danny-G]

Sway bars and end links, rear lateral links too. Thats all I can think of at the moment.

[07Evolved]

Sway bars and end links, rear lateral links too. Thats all I can think of at the moment.

Thanks Danny. Are the sway bars bigger than what come on our first gens?

[Danny-G]

I believe they are the same as second gen. gts or bigger, I want to say 18mm rear and 20 front but I'm not 100% on that. If I am right then the rear is bigger than stock but it looks like the front is the same, again, I'm not too sure on this as I'm reading it offa chart on another forum.

[07Evolved]

Ok, well I will pull them anyway and try and get a comparison. Thanks again@

[Danny-G]

I'm pretty sure the outback brakes are an upgrade if you're still using stock "L" brakes.

[07Evolved]

I'm pretty sure the outback brakes are an upgrade if you're still using stock "L" brakes.

I believe you are right on that too. I'm going to look into sizes when it quits raining here.

I also noticed this Outback has a sweet rear diff protector and engine block heater I might snag off of it too!

I did pull the sways, both front and rear, so I will try and install those very soon.

[07Evolved]

my bro's and mine from Sunday...just a quick shot since he was in town

[07Evolved]

took off the outback struts and springs today and test fitted the front driver's side...looking very good so far!

I think I will be very happy with this. I did find out that in order to do this, you must use the outback front and rear sway bars due to the increased height. the outback sways are longer on the downward curve to the endlink compared to the first gen sways.

Before...stock



After...Outback strut/spring

[07Evolved]

So, I swapped in the outback struts/spring and the front/rear sway bars. I am not liking it whatsoever and I need some advice/opinions...

The struts/springs went in no problem, but the sway bars are causing a good bit of trouble. In the front of the car, I had to configure the front sway bar in such a way to fit, that the inner wheel will hit the endlink on full lock turns. I tried several ways to make this sway bar fit, but with the lift, there is only one way that I could configure it and it just doesn't work.

The lift itself has seemed to put a strain on the power steering. I am assuming this is due to the steering shaft being too short for the lift? I did check the power steering fluid level and it is full. It is actually struggling so bad, that at a full lock turn, it makes the engine idle drop!

Don't get me wrong, the lift looks great, but I don't think this trouble is worth it to make such a frankenstein out of my car. I would rather have it at stock height than suffer with these issues.

Does anyone have any advice? Should I use another strut/spring set-up to create a lift that would allow me to use my OEM sway bars? Should I go back to OEM struts/springs and then put on the largest size tire that I can with that set-up?

Any and all opinions are welcome....thank you everyone!

[07Evolved]

Nobody?

[DevC]

Steering shaft should be uneffected if you only swapped the struts and not the subframe blocks, I dont think swapping sways is necessary either.

[07Evolved]

Steering shaft should be uneffected if you only swapped the struts and not the subframe blocks, I dont think swapping sways is necessary either.

The stock sways are too short to reach the endlinks, so I had to use the Outback struts. I tried many different ways to mount both the stock and Outback sways/endlinks and only came up with the one solution that I am not happy with it all.

At this point, I think I will change it back to stock suspension. I don't want to sacrifice ride quality for a couple inches of lift.

[DevC]

The thing is, the outback subframe which is where the inner sway mounts are is spaced down, so the sway bars should fit the same. I just did a sway bar swap on my SS with outback struts from stock to a 03 impreza 2.5 front bar and everything lined up minty.

[07Evolved]

I tossed the outback suspension and installed a set of 94 TW struts/springs. It handles much better now!

Going to get new shoes for the wagon tomorrow too.

Still need to install white door handles and determine what clutch/flywheel I will use for replacement.