Man, I have never been happier...

[BAC5.2]

I drove out to my buddies house this morning to help him do his suspension.

Swapped the stock gear from his 99 2.5RS for the following:

KYB AGX's
SPT Springs
Group N strut tops
Whiteline 22mm rear sway bar
ATE Superblue Brake Fluid.

After we got it all back together and everything was perfect, we went for a drive.

Fronts set at 4, rears at 8, bar at middle. It felt AWESOME. That's the suspension setup I am going to go with (except Whiteline springs).

But doing that, and helping him out, put me in the best mood I've been in, in a LONG time.

Man, I love working on cars. I don't remember the last time I felt as good as I did when I was doing the struts on his car.

That is all.

[Subaru_Nation555]

I'm glad. I do love that feeling of satisfaction of a job well done. Too bad it wasn't your car though

[Yukonart]

Did you hump the car, too? That always makes me feel good.

[BAC5.2]

It didn't matter that it wasn't my car. I just loved doing it, and seeing it get done.

I will be ordering some AGX's, some Whiteline springs, and Grp. N top mounts in the VERY near future though .

[azn2nr]

do the group n topmounts make that much of a difference?

personaly the whiteline agx combo is great. but 4 and 8 is painfull i had mine on that and i could feel every inperfection in the road. mines on 1 and 3 i think now. it feels like a stock suspension should minus the body roll

[Matt Monson]

Sounds like fun. I should be putting a stock '04 WRX wagon suspension on my Legacy this week. I am looking forward to it. Now if the car was just driveable so that I can see how it rides after that...

[BAC5.2]

I almost won a set of rear KYB AGX's on E-Bay, but I got outbid as I was bidding

[professor]

If that was a month ago, that may have been me on the quick bid

Anyhow it seems like performancepeddler.com will do the set for $380 shipped eBay or not.

I have mine set on "2" front and "3" rear. 4 and 8 must be a rock, certainly untenable on roads 'round these parts.

BTW the friggin' top bolt on the strut rod is a biatch, the stock has a convenient allen key hole to stop the rod from turning, but the AGX just have flats on the rod, and they are WAY down in the mounts. I did the best I could but two of mine quickly loosened.

I don't know how to properly tighten without the correct tool.

[vrg3]

It's probably not great for the struts, but an impact wrench can tighten the top nut...

When I installed my GR2s I did my best to tighten them by hand but they started to back off after some driving. We had a shop give 'em a quick tightening with an impact wrench and they've stayed put.

[totech]

It's probably not great for the struts, but an impact wrench can tighten the top nut...

You need an impact wrench - only way to do it. Either drive up to a friendly mechanic, or you can buy an electric one inexpensively.

[BAC5.2]

Professor - It was this morning. It wasn't until it was all over that I noticed it was Fishbone89 (I think) from this board.

4 and 8 was AWESOME. More compliant than coilovers, but super stiff.

His suspension is SWEET now. A set of endlinks and a front bar w/ endlinks would turn that thing monsterous.

To tighten the top hat down, we just used an impact wrench and nailed it. Then checked with a torque wrench.

They make "deep" box wrenches that would probably work me-thinks. I used to use them at work for countersunk bolts that needed to be removed while holding an allen screw.

Group N tops make a BIG difference. More NVH, but it certaintly felt a lot less compliant. It was really hard to tell how fast we were going around turns. We took one turn at almost 60, whose posted limit was 25.

All in all, that is how I want my car to ride. He is rockin SPT springs, but I think I want something a bit more, espically since my car is a bit heavier than his.