Strut top mounts: STi or KYB? -little help here...

[elkaboom]

Okay, here's the deal thus far: 90 Legacy AWD LS (every single option available -well, everything but the air suspension, and I'm kinda glad about that, actually- and EVERYTHING works like new ) 2.2 litre non-turbo.
This is officially my new project car. So far I've dropped about 2k into the motor -no mods, but just a lot of neglected maintainence; things like head gaskets (and preventitive pressure testing -hey, I'm thorough), OEM waterpump and thermostat, valve cover gaskets, intake manifold gasket, acc. belts, timing belt, high-end irridium core plugs, high resistance plug wires, new PCV valve and breather tubes, a few new vaccum hoses, O2 sensor, new exhaust, etc...
Anyway, I'm moving on to SUSPENSION! So far all that I've done is bought a set of new Goodyear 80,000 P185/70R14 all-season radials and an alignment -I paid about 45 bucks a tire (was a pretty good deal) plus a bunch of overpriced warranty crap for an additional 65.00 bucks.
What I'm in the process of doing now is shopping for struts and top mounts. I've basically settled on KYB GR-2's; I was thinking about Koni's, but the overwhelming majority of people I've talked with or read posts from agree that the KYB's are a better choice.
I'm not sure wether I should upgrade the springs at the same time or wait (any suggestions here?) until later -are new stock OEM springs good enough or should I upgrade to a stiffer spring? Also, KYB offers a top mount that is compatible with their struts: is this as good as an STi top mount? Is it cheaper? More difficult to install? More or less likely to create maintanence problems being an aftermarket part, etc, etc?
Also (and seeing as how I'm getting low on cash reserves), are there any other "stiffening" procedures I should consider: i.e., sway bars, different bushings, et all?
Lastly, my driving habits are fairly conservative for the most part, but I do like to "open it up" from time to time on nice blacktop and also, I like to play in the mud and snow every now and then .
My final project will be body work, but seeing as how I'd rather have a solid mechanical platform underneath all that, it can wait.
So that's it for me. Looking forward to your reccomendations and suggestions!

Bob W

[THAWA]

VERY COOL!!! Please post some pic of that badboy

Pretty good deal on the tires but Myself I would've gone with wrx wheels and tires for about the same money. I'm thinking, but not 100% sure on this, that KYB topmounts are just oem mounts. KYB made the suspension for our legacies, so it would seem these would be as close to stock as possible. As far as upgrading to STi topmounts, since early model legacies(90-91 i believe) have tapered springs in the rear you are kinda messed on springs. You can buy STi tapered top mounts, but then your spring choices are still limited, most people with tapered either stick with oem or go with whiteline. Or you can buy STi non-tapered top mounts and use whatever spring you want meant for any subaru that followed our legacies, which includes all other legacies, impreza, outback, forester and baja too I believe, dunno about svx but I believe I read about some of them doing an impreza conversion so it might work. That includes aftermarket springs aswell. I dunno about stiffening the rear though, so someone else can let ya know.
As far as hooking up the body, there are no real kits that go on these cars. There were supposedly some stuff from japan but who knows.

[ciper]

You wasted money on tires. No reason to go with tigher springs and stiffer mounts if you still have soft 14 inch tires.

Get the GR-2, if you plan to get new wheels then go with springs as well.

[evolutionmovement]

Springs are fine with GR-2s for good handling and every day ride quality. They're not a track setup, but it doesn't sound like you want that anyway. I would definitely upgrade to a 15" wheel, too. I got some pretty decent Yokohamas for $46/ea. For stiffening, the best thing would be to make sure any rot is replaced with metal and new bushings would help a lot. Strut bars can be found cheap and work well for an older car. I'm not sure how big a difference it would make on a younger one, but I added mine at over 200,000 mi and they killed a couple squeaks each. The front end also was flatter like a bigger antiroll bar.

Steve

[elkaboom]

Coolness. Thanks for the comments guy's I think what I'll probably end up doing is keeping the stock tappered spring set-up. Although, I'll probably end up converting it to the "normal" spring type mounts (alla STI) at a later date. I would like explore theWRX wheel option though. I wish I would have thought of that earlier -although, I had heard that upgrading my wheels to a 15" or 16" would be a great improvement.
Any thoughts on where I can get a set of the WRX wheels cheap? Are they 15"?
Worst case scenerio is that I have a brand new set of replacement wheels/tires for emergencies I guess.
Also, I really like the strut bar idea -I've noticed an unacceptable amount of body roll in slaloming and in tight cornering; wether that's attributable to worn out springs and struts or just characteristic of the Legacie's handling remain to be seen, but it's something I'd like to eliminate in any event.
Well, I'll keep you posted on my progress, and if you can float any advice or share your experiences on this matter with me, I'll be eternally thankfull

Bob

[THAWA]

wrx wheels, check nasioc, i-club or ebay. If you can't get em for 200 bucks local, just keep looking. Some people try to charge too much. Also that should include good tires. I'd say pay 300 at most if all 4 are in pristine condition, and tires have less than 1k miles.

[970subaru]

I payed 260 for mine in PERFECT shape and 5k on the re-92's. a lot of WRX owners dont really care, easy to talk em down plus the wheels look better on a legacy than a wrx.

[Sean]

I, too, am looking to do the suspension in my MY90 Legacy. Since I just want a daily driver with decent handling, I'll probably just settle on the KYB top mounts with GR2 struts. I haven't decided on spring yet, but I want something with a small drop. A set of Prodrive P7s with Falken Azenis will round out the package:



Not quite sure how gold wheel will look against a red body, though.

[THAWA]

in most pics it doesn't look that grand, but i've never seen in irl, I plan on getting some 98 rs wheels so we'll find out if you dont first

[evolutionmovement]

Sean - do you plan on a seperate set of tires for winter, because the Azenis will be terrible in the snow.

Good to see another MA guy on board.

Steve

[Sean]

Sean - do you plan on a seperate set of tires for winter, because the Azenis will be terrible in the snow.

Good to see another MA guy on board.

Yup, I'm a Masshole. For shoes, I have to choose between the 14" steelies with no seasons that came on the car, 15" steelies with Bridgestone Blizzaks, 15" steelies with Michelin rally gravel tires, or the above pictured Prodrive P7s with the Azenis I'll be picking up later in the Spring. Since I rally, I have changing wheels down to a science, so I just swap out wheels on my daily driver as the conditions change.

But, back to suspension, I have a spare set of Impreza WRX sedan struts, springs, and top hats, as well as a set of Impreza L sedan springs and top hats wrapped around Impreza 2.5 RS sedan struts.

Since the Impreza sedan weighs less than the Impreza wagon, and my FWD Legacy L wagon weighs less than the AWD Legacy L wagon, I figure I should be pretty safe using the old suspension that came off my Impreza L rally car or my navigator's WRX. Will everything just bolt right up? Searches made it sound like the bolt patterns on the struts and top mounts were the same, and my only concern was tapered vs. non tapered springs and top mounts.

[Sean]

in most pics it doesn't look that grand, but i've never seen in irl, I plan on getting some 98 rs wheels so we'll find out if you dont first

The gold P7s look sick on a black Legacy Turbo sedan. IggDawg, one of my crew guys, had the P7s on his and it looked amazing. They also didn't look too bad on his Sedona Red Impreza TS wagon. I think they may look a little harsh on the oldschool Legacy Wagon, and I'll definitely need the suspension to back up the bling of the wheels.

[THAWA]

sorry, I meant red car with gold wheels i dunno, it doesn't look ugly, just not as good as other colors. At anyrate if/when you gewt em, post them up

[Sean]

sorry, I meant red car with gold wheels i dunno, it doesn't look ugly, just not as good as other colors. At anyrate if/when you gewt em, post them up

Oh, yup, I meant gold on red as well. I was just saying that gold on black looks awesome while I still have reservations about gold on red. But, I have the P7s just kicking around, so I might as well use them.

[czo79]

I rocked a set of prodrive p7's anthracite with toyo proxes t1-s 215/45/17 on the GT last summer/fall, I loved em so much...but I'm sorta planning on having the turbo as a summer car, so I'm thinking she may end up wearing them this summer instead of the GT. Need some new tires though...bad alignment blew em out. Hohum....I don't know if I will be able to afford the toyos again though.
Anyways, yeh, the p7s are really beautiful on our cars, both bc-bfs and bd-bg...

[musketeerracing]

DMS makes a set of adapters to mount WRX struts to the early legacy body - I think they just change the offset - neat little pieces - I just got two of them but haven't mounted them up yet. Contact Mark Moore at DMS North America http://dmsnorthamerica.com or 877-568-3121 and tell them ACP sent you (they sponsor my rally car).

Best, ACP
www.musketeerracing.com