92TW + KYB WRX wagon struts + stock or Whiteline Control?

[Primeza]

I have a 92 Turbo Legacy Wagon. The struts are blown and I am planning on replacing them with a set of KYB GR2s from an 02/03 WRX wagon. I have front built using spring seats and tops from on 04, so basically a WRX wagon front strut. For the rears I'm going to use the KYB GR2 rear struts and WRX wagon springs and for the tops I'm going to use my original tophats (though I may replace with a newer set from a 93-01 Impreza). I'm pretty sure that this plan will work and I understand that I may need some washers between the rear tophats and the top nut to keep the rears from clunking.

One thing I haven't decided is what spring I want to use. I have a set of Whiteline Control lowering springs for an 02-03 wagon (I believe). But I am concerned that they might drop the ride height too much.

Let me know what you think. I will be taking photos and measurements before and after.

[RJ93SS]

i think it will work nice.

im doing mine tonight

93 ss
02 wrx fronts w/ sti springs from an 04. stock wrx tops

rear, 02 struts springs, stock tophat.



i think your whitelines will lower it perfect, but ive never tried.

legacy 777 will know

[Legacy777]

I can't speak for exactly what the WRX springs will lower your TW, but you should be in the 1" to 1-1/2" range.

[Primeza]

I completed the install yesterday and it looks awesome and rides very firm now. I went with the Whiteline Control springs and I would say the drop is exactly what I wanted. The ride height went from, front 15", rear 13.75" (measured from top of fender to center of wheel) to, front 13.75", rear 13.0". So looks like I got about a 1.25" drop in the front and 0.75" rear. Now she needs a wash and a wax!

Before:


After:


I also changed the rear bump stops because the old ones looked tired. I used a set or rear stops from an 04 which were about the same height. On the front I cut the smallest nub off (originally had 3 nubs).



Here is a picture of the washers I used. I used 9/16" washers and the OD is just a bit larger than the flange on the nuts that came with the KYBs. I used 2 per side and put them between the tophat and the strut top nut. My stock struts had a small washer in the same location. I think it is better to put the washers about the tophat because the length of the strut assembly was a touch longer on the new setup, so putting the washers above the tophat would have made this even more extreme. It would not affect ride height but would add some droop. We have an awesome hardware store here in Boulder, CO called McGuckin Hardware. They have an incredible selection of nuts, bolts. That place is awesome.

Stock nut, stock washer, new washers, KYB nut


Tophat you can see just a bit of the washer under the nut


One thing I did notice but did not see documented was the orientation of the spring seat. The service manual did note to orient the tophat stud marked FWD or 4WD pointing towards the outside of the vehicle but did not mention the spring seat. My seats had 3 notches that were labeled: 4WR, FF, 4WL. I believe this means 4WD Right Side, Front Wheel Drive and 4WD Left Side. So on the right side I lined the 4WR notch with the outside of the car and 4WL on the left side. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Here is a photo of the original left side:


Here is a photo of the new right and old left strut assemblies. I was suprised by how much preload the original struts and springs had. I really had to crank down on the orig springs with the compressor. It seems to me that the new strut assy was longer (perhaps 1/8 to 1/4 I did not measure) and so added a bit more droop travel.



The front fender gap went from 2.5" to 1.25".

Before:


After:


The rear fender gap went from 1.5" to .75".

Before:


After:



More photos here:
http://chufamilyphotos.com/gallery/main ... emId=10865

[RJ93SS]

Nice write up.

so you put the washers above the top, and below the nut.

i couldnt make out what you wrote in the 3rd paragraph there.

[Primeza]

Thanks for the props! Yes, I put 2 washers between the tophat and nut. You can see just a bit of the washer in the 5th photo.

I suppose you could put them in 1 of three locations. Either below the spring seat, above the shaft or between the spring seat and the tophat or between the tophat and nut. To me it made most sense to put it between the tophat and nut because stock mine had a washer in the same location.

You could put washers between the shoulders of the shaft and the spring seat and it would be like making the shaft longer so I guess you could have more droop, but with the WRX Wagon Struts I already had more droop than stock.

I suppose you could put the washers between the spring seat and the tophat. Not sure they would even fit cause I don't remember what the bottoms of the tophats looked like. This might get you a tiny bit of ride height. I'm not sure if you would even want to do this as it might allow the spring seat to rotate.

[RJ93SS]

i see, i just finished mine, i put some washers inbetween the shaft and spring seat, and then agaian between the top hat and nut.

so far so good.

the first time i put washers just in between the top and nut but still had a really annoying clunk.

here's my threadhttp://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic.php?t=39140