Changed my springs and struts last night (rears only). What a
difference. The car now rides 1 1/2 to 2 inches higher in the rear
and no longer bottoms out. Now I have a nice quiet firm ride. Some
tips I learnt in changing them. 1)If the strut is seized into the
strut mount simply loosen the nut while still in the car and give it
a whack with a hammer (the top of the nut of course). This should
dislodge the strut from the mount. 2)I required no compressor to
assemble or disassemble the struts. Seems weird but there is little
to no preload on the rear struts. Now before you go and try this I
would recommend using the compressor to disassemble the struts and
then try to assemble without. This job can be done at home in a
couple hours. Rear seat back and deck lid have to be removed in order
to get at the struts. All I did after that was: remove wheel, remove
two bolts holding strut bottom, remove brake line from caliper and
thread thru retainer on strut housing, loosen top strut mounting
bolt, whack bolt with hammer to dislodge from mounting plate, remove
three mounting plate nuts, remove from vehicle, compress spring and
remove top mounting nut and then reverse order. Piece of cake. By the
way, my car had original struts and springs with 350,000km on it!
Sure they were pooched but most cars I've had before required the
struts to be changed in the 150,000km range. Definitely a sign of the
quality of Subaru!
Sean L
ps anyone have any suggestions for a downpipe? I want to go 2 1/2
inch from turbo back, no cat and a motorcycle race exhaust can (yosh
rs-3 oval).
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New struts and springs '91 legacy sedan turbo
Moderators: Helpinators, Moderators
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Dave C
New struts and springs '91 legacy sedan turbo
Sounds like it went pretty well, though i do want to add one thing:
The reason your springs didn't need to be compressed is that they're
probably too compressed already. You really should consider getting
replacement springs if you're going to use it for anything other than
commuting.
The spring should push hard against the top mount and keep the whole
unit in tension. Without this tension, the spring would likely move
around and not really do its job very well. It's likely that the
weight of the car is what's keeping them together. If you go over a
crest, say a railroad track, and lose that compression, you might
also have problems with the spring coming unseated. Something to
watch out for, at least.
I do have a guide to the strut replacement on Legacy Central with
pictures and whatnot. If you have any questions about the front,
feel free to ask. I think it's much easier than the rear.
--- In BC-BFLegacyWorks@y..., lukan.sean@o... wrote:
> Changed my springs and struts last night (rears only). What a
> difference. The car now rides 1 1/2 to 2 inches higher in the rear
> and no longer bottoms out. Now I have a nice quiet firm ride. Some
> tips I learnt in changing them. 1)If the strut is seized into the
> strut mount simply loosen the nut while still in the car and give
it
> a whack with a hammer (the top of the nut of course). This should
> dislodge the strut from the mount. 2)I required no compressor to
> assemble or disassemble the struts. Seems weird but there is little
> to no preload on the rear struts. Now before you go and try this I
> would recommend using the compressor to disassemble the struts and
> then try to assemble without. This job can be done at home in a
> couple hours. Rear seat back and deck lid have to be removed in
order
> to get at the struts. All I did after that was: remove wheel,
remove
> two bolts holding strut bottom, remove brake line from caliper and
> thread thru retainer on strut housing, loosen top strut mounting
> bolt, whack bolt with hammer to dislodge from mounting plate,
remove
> three mounting plate nuts, remove from vehicle, compress spring and
> remove top mounting nut and then reverse order. Piece of cake. By
the
> way, my car had original struts and springs with 350,000km on it!
> Sure they were pooched but most cars I've had before required the
> struts to be changed in the 150,000km range. Definitely a sign of
the
> quality of Subaru!
>
> Sean L
>
> ps anyone have any suggestions for a downpipe? I want to go 2 1/2
> inch from turbo back, no cat and a motorcycle race exhaust can
(yosh
> rs-3 oval).
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The reason your springs didn't need to be compressed is that they're
probably too compressed already. You really should consider getting
replacement springs if you're going to use it for anything other than
commuting.
The spring should push hard against the top mount and keep the whole
unit in tension. Without this tension, the spring would likely move
around and not really do its job very well. It's likely that the
weight of the car is what's keeping them together. If you go over a
crest, say a railroad track, and lose that compression, you might
also have problems with the spring coming unseated. Something to
watch out for, at least.
I do have a guide to the strut replacement on Legacy Central with
pictures and whatnot. If you have any questions about the front,
feel free to ask. I think it's much easier than the rear.
--- In BC-BFLegacyWorks@y..., lukan.sean@o... wrote:
> Changed my springs and struts last night (rears only). What a
> difference. The car now rides 1 1/2 to 2 inches higher in the rear
> and no longer bottoms out. Now I have a nice quiet firm ride. Some
> tips I learnt in changing them. 1)If the strut is seized into the
> strut mount simply loosen the nut while still in the car and give
it
> a whack with a hammer (the top of the nut of course). This should
> dislodge the strut from the mount. 2)I required no compressor to
> assemble or disassemble the struts. Seems weird but there is little
> to no preload on the rear struts. Now before you go and try this I
> would recommend using the compressor to disassemble the struts and
> then try to assemble without. This job can be done at home in a
> couple hours. Rear seat back and deck lid have to be removed in
order
> to get at the struts. All I did after that was: remove wheel,
remove
> two bolts holding strut bottom, remove brake line from caliper and
> thread thru retainer on strut housing, loosen top strut mounting
> bolt, whack bolt with hammer to dislodge from mounting plate,
remove
> three mounting plate nuts, remove from vehicle, compress spring and
> remove top mounting nut and then reverse order. Piece of cake. By
the
> way, my car had original struts and springs with 350,000km on it!
> Sure they were pooched but most cars I've had before required the
> struts to be changed in the 150,000km range. Definitely a sign of
the
> quality of Subaru!
>
> Sean L
>
> ps anyone have any suggestions for a downpipe? I want to go 2 1/2
> inch from turbo back, no cat and a motorcycle race exhaust can
(yosh
> rs-3 oval).
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lukan.sean@optimaepc.com
New struts and springs '91 legacy sedan turbo
--- In BC-BFLegacyWorks@y..., "Dave C" <legacycentral@y...> wrote:
> Sounds like it went pretty well, though i do want to add one
thing:
> The reason your springs didn't need to be compressed is that
they're
> probably too compressed already.
They were brand new Suub springs. After talking to some co-workers it
seems there are a few volkswagens that also have little to no
preload. The old springs were very fatigued but somehow managed to
maintain their stock length. I am very impressed at how easy this car
is to work on. On a sidenote a partsman informed me that the new
Forester top of the line computer controlled struts are $3000 to
replace. Long live my '91 Legacy!
Sean L
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> Sounds like it went pretty well, though i do want to add one
thing:
> The reason your springs didn't need to be compressed is that
they're
> probably too compressed already.
They were brand new Suub springs. After talking to some co-workers it
seems there are a few volkswagens that also have little to no
preload. The old springs were very fatigued but somehow managed to
maintain their stock length. I am very impressed at how easy this car
is to work on. On a sidenote a partsman informed me that the new
Forester top of the line computer controlled struts are $3000 to
replace. Long live my '91 Legacy!
Sean L
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