legacycentral bbs

i am doing things a bit backwards soon.

what do i need to do to get the agx struts and springs from my 94 SS onto my "new" 93 impreza wagon?

from the first post it appears that the rears are a direct swap with no need to take the assembly apart.

however it seems i would need to use the strut tops from the 93 impreza instead of the 94 SS tops.

am i correct in my understanding of the swap?

the top of impreza springs are different so the spring perches are different. but your stuff is already assembled. take everything off, bolt it all right up to the impreza.

jamal wrote:the top of impreza springs are different so the spring perches are different. but your stuff is already assembled. take everything off, bolt it all right up to the impreza.

cool.

i was hoping to swap the whole assembly onto the impreza and get a slightly better spring rate on there and not have to mess with a spring compressor. eventually going to put a set of ground controls on there with the agx.

so the bolt pattern is the same up top and the only difference is the springs. good to know.

will the legacy springs fit in the wheel well?

So, how about doing coilovers on a 90 AWD? Im assuming that a set of GC coilovers will fit the tophat/camber plate holes and hub bolt locations?

First I would like to thank everyone for the incredibly useful info posted here. I recently bought a 93 Legacy LSi AWD SW with failing air suspension and since Strutmasters stopped making conversion kits, I did a lot of googling to find out what fits and what doesn't. LegacyCentral had the most comprehensive info I found any where.

Second, once I decided that I wanted to keep my Legacy ride height close to the "high" air setting, I knew I wanted 96-98 OB or 98-02 Forester struts (thanks to LC) but didn't know which would work best. I found that Monroe has strut mounting and length charts available on-line so I looked up various part numbers to see how they compared. Below are my findings for your reference.

92-94 Legacy strut swapping info

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This info comes directly from Monroe but should also apply to OEM, KYB, Gabriel, et al. I looked up the part numbers for various known interchangeable struts and cross-referenced them to Monroe's mounting and length charts.


Front:......................Strut body length..compressed..extended...travel

92-94 OE Legacy........13.750"...............13.750"....... .20.500".....6.750"

93-01 Impreza............13.875"..............14.125"... .....20.750".....6.625"

96-98 Outback
& 98-02 Forester.........15.250"..............15.375"..... ...21.625".....6.250"



Rear:........................Strut body length..compressed..extended...travel

92-94 OE Legacy
& 93-01 Impreza.........16.375"...............15.375"..... ...23.125".....7.750"

98-02 Forester...........17.500"...............17.500".. ......25.125".....7.625"

96-98 Outback...........17.875"...............17.500"... .....25.500".....8.000"

Please note that this data comes from Monroe and not me. IMO Monroe mixed up the body length and compressed lengths for the Legacy, Impreza and Outback rear struts. Body length should always be shorter than or equal to the compressed length. Either way, this data is still useful for determining which struts suit your application best.

Welcome to Legacy Central, SubaruFred. Thank you for that post. It should come in handy for those wanting extra clearance.

93Leg-c wrote:Welcome to Legacy Central, SubaruFred. Thank you for that post. It should come in handy for those wanting extra clearance.

Thanks. Since my air struts are all leaking at 170k miles and replacements are ~$400 each, I wanted to convert to coil springs but maintain the "hi" air setting ride height. For this I went with used 2000 Forester loaded struts, new Gabriel struts and probably new mounts. I'll post pics when it's all done.

I do have a question about the rear struts though. I've read that non-92-94 Legacy rear strut mounts don't bolt up and it's often recomomended to use 92-94 mounts. However it appears that later year Subaru rear strut mounts include the top spring perch while 92-94 mounts do not . I'd like to know if I'll need 92-94 mounts and spring perches or is it better to just drill new mounting holes for the newer style mounts. I'm not sure if 92-94 Legacy perches even work with 98-02 Forester springs. Is there anything else I need to know before the swap? TIA

I'm not sure I understand your question.

I've read that non-92-94 Legacy rear strut mounts don't bolt up and it's often recomomended to use 92-94 mounts.

Bolt up to what? There's two main types of strut mounts. One has a seperate top spring perch/keeper and mount, while the other has a combined/intigrated spring perch/keeper. I don't see any reason why you can't keep your 92-94 mounts & perches and just use the springs you want. The top spring diameter would be the thing that determines what perch needs to be used, and I am assuming that the forester spring should be similar.

Legacy777 wrote:I'm not sure I understand your question.

I've read that non-92-94 Legacy rear strut mounts don't bolt up and it's often recomomended to use 92-94 mounts.

Bolt up to what? There's two main types of strut mounts. One has a seperate top spring perch/keeper and mount, while the other has a combined/intigrated spring perch/keeper. I don't see any reason why you can't keep your 92-94 mounts & perches and just use the springs you want. The top spring diameter would be the thing that determines what perch needs to be used, and I am assuming that the forester spring should be similar.

From what I've read, Forester, Outback and Imprezza rear struts use a top mount with a slightly different bolt pattern/spacing vs 92-94 Legacys. Some have slotted the existing chassis holes or used 2 and drilled a new 3rd hole in order to use the newer style mount and others suggest that 92-94 mounts can be used to avoid this. My problem is that I currently have air suspension so my mounts won't work and I have no perches. Before buying new 92-94 mounts and spring perches I'd like to know for certain if the 92-94 Lego perches work with 98-02 Forester springs. I've read that Forester springs taper more at the top than Legacys and may require different top perches.

I suppose my best bet is to wait until my new struts arrive and then measure things to see how much slotting is required to use the Forester mounts. I'd prefer this anyway since it's the least expensive option for my old beater.

Well I had thought the slotting or modification was only for the WRX or STi mounts, not the GC Impreza or Forester mounts.

Hopefully someone else will direct experience will comment. You may want to start a new thread. Another option you could try and pick up some used struts/springs/mounts from a 92-94 Legacy so you can get the pieces you need for cheaper.

I'm not 100% certain about the rear mounts not matching but I've found several instances of people swapping OB and Forester struts into 90-94 Legacys and all claim that the OB/Forester mounts required slotting and/or re-drilling. One guy at USMB said he used 92-94 Legacy rear mounts with OB struts to avoid this. From what I've gathered this only applies to 90-94 Legacys and from 95+ they use the same rear mounts. Monroe's catalog confirms this.

I already bought a set of used (loaded) 00 Forester struts and KYB GR2 replacements because I wanted the lift. I'll start a new thread rather than clutter this one up any more. Thanks for your help.

FYI:

92-94 Legacy



96-96 OB & 98-02 Forester



I can't see any difference in the bolt pattern/spacing but swappers claim it's there. I guess I'll find out.

I can now confirm that 98-02 Forester and 96-98 OB rear strut mounts are incompatible with the AWD 92-94 Legacy. Not only is the bolt spacing different but the steel 'dome' on the mounts is a larger diameter than the opening in the chassis. I had to stack 3 washers on each stud to fill the gap. 2 might have been enough, it was too cold to take it apart again. I've read that the mounting holes require some "filing" but it took me a 1/2 hour with a dremel and a carbide cutting bit to slot each hole about 1/2" longer.

To use these mounts requires a 1/4" thick spacer and the aforementioned slotting. I'm not too sure about using washers for the long term since they reduce the strut mount to chassis contact area to 1/4 of the OE design. I would recommend using 92-94 Legacy mounts and top perches but I have no idea if those perches will work with Forester springs. The Forester springs have no taper, top or bottom and hit the fenderwell on full strut extension.

Are t Upper Spring Perches the top hats on the struts? So if I put GC coil overs I would need my 91 SS top hats?

darkcrave wrote:Are t Upper Spring Perches the top hats on the struts? So if I put GC coil overs I would need my 91 SS top hats?

On 90-94 Legacys the top spring perch and top hat are separate components. On 96-98 OB and 98-02 Foresters the top spring perch is part of the top hat. I hope this helps.

SubaruFred wrote:I would recommend using 92-94 Legacy mounts and top perches but I have no idea if those perches will work with Forester springs. The Forester springs have no taper, top or bottom and hit the fenderwell on full strut extension.

We just finished lifting my 94 wagon with struts and springs from a 99 forester. We re-used the rear legacy tophats with the forester springs. The springs fit perfectly as they are NOT tapered. We also found that we needed 2 lock washers on top of the tophat just under the main strut nut(otherwise the strut piston clunks). I believe we used 9/16 grade 10 lock washers from Lowes(4 in total).
The front forester assembly(strut, spring, and tophat) fit just fine.
It gave us a slight rake from front to back, sort of like an old school muscle car.
I will be buying rear gr-2's from a 98 OB to replace my blown rear forester struts.(the spring perch is slightly higher on the rear OB struts)

I'm loving the lift and the larger forester wheels/tires.(215/60r16 soon to be 215/65r16)
Also changed the trailing arm bracket to the forester one which helped a little bit with the caster.(96-98 OB bracket is supposed to be better).
We might pick up some rear camber bolts to fix the rear camber or may try out sti/wrx lateral links as we need to get ones with a mounting for the sway bar anyhow.

Ok I just poured over this thread, and I am more confused now then when I started.

First off, for your fitment table where it shows the different models and lists FP and SPT to say if front spring perches or washers will be required, is it asking for front spring perches off the original car?
for example.
92-94 AWD....GC/GM/GF (93-2001impreza)........FP
........................GD/GG (2002- impreza)................FP, SPT

Is it saying it wants you to swap over your front spring perches from your 92-94 awd onto the new Impreza suspension?

2nd, Ive got a guy that wants to sell me coils. Says they are for 02-07 wrx, but they are currently on a 04 WRX. Im assuming this means they are the tapered models, which would fit onto a 90-91 Legacy. Problem is I have a 1993 AWD Legacy Wagon. Is there a way to make coils from an 04 wrx fit a post facelift 1st gen Legacy? If so what do I need to do/buy to make them work?

Jake_ak_cent wrote:Ok I just poured over this thread, and I am more confused now then when I started.

First off, for your fitment table where it shows the different models and lists FP and SPT to say if front spring perches or washers will be required, is it asking for front spring perches off the original car?
for example.
92-94 AWD....GC/GM/GF (93-2001impreza)........FP
........................GD/GG (2002- impreza)................FP, SPT

Is it saying it wants you to swap over your front spring perches from your 92-94 awd onto the new Impreza suspension?

Yeah, use your stock perches and everything else off a GC/GF.

Alright cool. Now I just need to figure out if its possible to fit 04 WRX suspension to a 93 AWD Legacy wagon.

Jake_ak_cent wrote:Alright cool. Now I just need to figure out if its possible to fit 04 WRX suspension to a 93 AWD Legacy wagon.

It's all there in the same info, you even quoted it. 02-07 WRX is GD/GG...so it's the same except you may need an extra washer between the rear top nut and mount.

Yea I was just gettin confused as earlier in this tread it was saying that suspension from an 04 impreza (either a WRX or STI I can't remember) was tapered at the top which made it easier to fit on 90-91 Legacys as the suspension fitted to those cars were also tapered as well. And therefore the tapered tops could cause issues on cars that were not originally fitted with the tapered suspension (like my car). This is why I'm confused.

Right.
Straight rear springs:
92-94 Legacy
95-99 Legacy (2nd gen)
93-01 Impreza
02-03 Impreza

Tapered rear springs:
90-91 Legacy
04-07 Impreza

Applies to all models. RS, WRX, and STi springs all fit the same.
So if you are going to try to use impreza stuff it's a good idea to stick with the right type of springs. Think it's kind of difficult to source the 90-91 rear tops. KYB doesn't list one.

Heres one to add to the list. Ksport coilovers front rate 420 inch pounds, rear rate 280 inch lbs....very comfortable ride, very little harshness, very moderate handling improvement. Recommend higher spring rates to avoid bottoming in bumpy corners taken at speed

After we lower any ideas to keep from rubbing? I can't even tell where it's rubbing; I cut off this piece of metal sticking out on the inside; and rolled my fenders still rubs a bit when I turn. Any ideas?

Did you change tires/wheels at all? Have you confirmed it's not rubbing on the strut perch?

You can try driving up on one jack stand which would push the wheel into the fender and that may help you determine where it's rubbing.