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I have the damnable air suspension on my 92 legacy AWD wagon. I intend to replace the suspension with a gas strut one instead. I've read all the info I can on the topic here, but would like to clarify a few details.

First, will the top mounts from the 95-99 legacy and the 1993-2001 impreza fit my car? Or do I need to get the ones from a 92 - 94 legacy?

Is the suspension from the impreza wagon too soft in the rear for my AWD wagon?

If the suspension from later model legacies will work (i.e. top mount fits), can I use it from the outback model? If anything, I wouldn't mind raising the car an inch since i'll be losing that option when removing the air suspension.

Thanks for any/all advice.

P.S. - I'm working on a very limited budget, but since my front right strut is currently intermittently deflating I need to do somehting soon.

Chef wrote: First, will the top mounts from the 95-99 legacy and the 1993-2001 impreza fit my car? Or do I need to get the ones from a 92 - 94 legacy?

http://www.bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic.php?t=2153 chart near the bottom of the 1st post, all the ones you mentioned fit. Read through that post.

Chef wrote: Is the suspension from the impreza wagon too soft in the rear for my AWD wagon?

I dont know the rates of the imp. wagon, but my educated guess is that they wouldn't look wierd but will be somewhat softer than legacy and prolly ride about a half inch lower.

Chef wrote: If the suspension from later model legacies will work (i.e. top mount fits), can I use it from the outback model? If anything, I wouldn't mind raising the car an inch since i'll be losing that option when removing the air suspension.

The outback stuff should physically fit, and should be allignable, but nobody has tried it, to the best of my knowlege. There is also a way to use a combination of 90-91 and 92-94 springs and struts to raise your car about an inch, the compendium link goes over that. Keep in mind that it has to come from a second generation outback, as the 3rd generation outbacks have a completely different rear suspension.

Thanks much. I wasn't certain if that info meant only that the strut could be used and not the spring/top mount which had to be made for a 92-94 legacy.

I'm looking just for the used stuff for now. Once I have a few bucks I'll get the KYBs.

The top mounts from 90-99 in the Legacy are interchangeable, same for 93-01 Impreza.

The WRX Wagon stuff will fit just fine, but as scottzg mentioned, could be a bit on the soft side. Since we're not talking about a Touring wagon, with its higher spring rates, it could be similar. The WRX Wagon and your 92 probably have similar weights.

I'd avoid anything Outback, that's uncharted territories.

DLC wrote:The top mounts from 90-99 in the Legacy are interchangeable, same for 93-01 Impreza.

This only holds true for the front strut top mounts.

The rear 90-91 strut top mounts and springs are different. I'd recommend avoiding them.

DLC wrote: Since we're not talking about a Touring wagon, with its higher spring rates, it could be similar. The WRX Wagon and your 92 probably have similar weights.

The touring wagon has the same spring rates as the na. The wrx wagons spring rates are not similar to a legacy wagon, specifically they are much softer in the back.

According to the chart the stiffest rear spring rates for the WRX wagon is 144 (except for sti versions, other versions 117 - 129), compared to the legacy wgaon at 179 (fwd) and 190 (awd). Seems to be a substantial difference to me, but I'm hardly experienced in these matters.

So the 1990-91 springs and topmounts are no go? Are the springs a different size /shape (i.e. tapered or straight) than all other subes using these struts, or something else?

topmounts are all the same, spring perches are whats different (you can call them what you want, but for clarity on my diagram im correcting) The 90-91's have different length tapered springs and so the spring seat is welded on to a differe place on the strut and the spring perch is a different diameter. If you buy the whole assembly it will bolt up with no problems, but getting impreza/92-98ish legacy assemblies will make your life easier when you replace the struts later.

My car is converted to the later springs.

Okay, after a bit more reading, I've come to these conclusions:

The front and rear springs for the 90-91 are shorter than the 92-94

Using the whole strut assemblies including the top mount and upper perch from a 90-91 the struts should sit at the same height as a 92-94.

Using struts for the impreza (assuming they are the same as the 92-94 legacy) and the upper spring perches and springs from the 90-91 would lower the car slightly (the rear will drop about 0.5" but be stiffer than the impreza, not sure about the front).

Does this sound about right? Or am I totally off here.

The reason I'm talking 90-91 legacy and impreza struts is a guy has contacted me who has impreza and 91 legacy wagon strut assemblies available for cheap. Not sure which impreza, waiting to find out. He says the impreza struts are in better shape than the 91 legacy ones, which is why I'd like to use them.

Perhaps I should just hold out for the newer assemblies.

I called a shop that deals with japanese vehicles near to me and the guy claims there are NO used legacy 90-99 and impreza 92-01 struts available in the city. Of 5 million people. I find that hard to believe.

Everything you say is correct. I can't think of a way to put your available stuff together without lowering the rear of the car a bit. It still might be worthwhile to pick up, say, the impreza stuff as it will give you the right spring perches, which are surprisingly expensive new. Since you have air susp, im not sure if you already have top mounts or not.

The car won't be dangerous or anything with the softer rear, just sag a bit more when loaded and understeer a bit more. The more info you have the closer you try to hit 'ideal,' ya know?

Well, the top mounts I have don't fit the conventional suspension I believe. BUT, it doesn't matter anymore. I found a wrecker that has all four complete strut assemblies (including top mounts) from a 95 legacy wagon for $50 cdn a pop. These should bolt right in, and provided the struts are in decent shape, be compeltely functional. The guy there figures they should be okay. I will pick them up tomorrow some time.

I'll keep this updated.

Thanks very much for the assistance everyone,

Chef

P.S. Anyone interested in some used air struts? 3 are for certain functioning okay (LF, LR, RR), the RF may or may not be leaking (doubtful). I believe it may be the solenoid valve malfunctioning, but the piece itself is over $100 (american) new and may or may not be the problem.

The guy at the wreckers was fairly adamant that the struts won't match my car. I told him numerous people here agree that as long as the mounts are changed, there should be no problem. This is because my car was made oct 91, and apparently has the setup used for the 91 models. But, since it's the air suspension anyways, and I'm putting in the new mounts, I don't see why it should be a problem. he said I could return them if they won't fit.



He also said that the front rotors for the 95 were in good shape - I need new front rotors, so I may pick these up if they're cheap and not really rusted.

Should I be concerned that the KYB GR-2 strut part numbers for 95/96 legacy is different from the 92-94 legacy/1993-01 impreza strut? Fine, it work at the top, but will it attach to the steering knuckle alright?

http://www.kyb.com/catalog/index.php?Ac ... &x=49&y=16

Also should I be concerned that the struts for the awd differ from the 2wd? The donor car is a 2wd I believe, mine is awd. KYB lists different struts in these situations.

see my reply to your questions on the USMB

Correct me if I'm wrong, but a combination of 90/91 front spring and 92-94 struts, along with 92-94 rear springs with 90-91 struts should resulting in the raising of the vehicle. Unfortunately i'm having enough trouble just getting a matching sets of strut assemblies period.

I did find a nice pair of rear 99 OB AWD wagon strut assemblies I'm interested in. But I'm concerned about how much this might raise the vehicle. Especially since I can only seem to also find a set of 90 front strut assemblies. Might look kind of silly with the ass in the air, nevermind cause steering/handling issues.

scottzg wrote:The outback stuff should physically fit, and should be allignable, but nobody has tried it, to the best of my knowlege. There is also a way to use a combination of 90-91 and 92-94 springs and struts to raise your car about an inch, the compendium link goes over that. Keep in mind that it has to come from a second generation outback, as the 3rd generation outbacks have a completely different rear suspension.

The main issue with the raising/lowering only seems to happen with KYB struts. If you were to find OEM stuff, it shouldn't be that big a deal.

I would still suggest buying new struts. Any OEM strut you pull off a 10+ year old car is going to be relatively shot.

Ideally, I'd love to put on new struts. But my budget is woefully small right now. It's a temporary thing.

According to the chart, putting in impreza rs springs will lower my front an inch. Is it a problem to have the front an inch lower than the rear?

Legacy777 wrote:The main issue with the raising/lowering only seems to happen with KYB struts. If you were to find OEM stuff, it shouldn't be that big a deal.

I would still suggest buying new struts. Any OEM strut you pull off a 10+ year old car is going to be relatively shot.

if it's just a temp thing.....just go for it.