legacycentral bbs

Getting ready to pick up '02 WRX springs w/ GR2's. Are the spring perches the same as top hats?

http://www.surrealmirage.com/subaru/fil ... Sheets.pdf

Page 9 (or 346), the strut diagram. The part labeled #6 is a spring perch/top hat. Yes, those are two widely-used names for the same part.

on the bbs. we dont always have the right thing named. Top mount/top hat is the same thing, but sometimes people refer to the spring perch as the thing holding the spring in compression.

I'm pretty sure I'm guilty of this.

Thanks for the responses. I'm looking forward to getting this on the car.

the other thing that gets confusing is that cars have different types of top mounts and perches.

In the front, all Subarus have the same type thing with a top mount that has a bearing and a spring perch. The front upper perches vary according to the spring. The rear is where things start to get a little confusing.

There are two different 90-94 Legacy rear suspension designs, and two different 02-06 Impreza rear designs.

The 90-91 Legacy has a tapered rear spring with an integrated spring perch and top, like this:


thanks for the source image, THAWA

The 92-94 Legacy has straight spring and a separate top and perch, like this:


(This is also identical to the 93-01 Impreza)

The 02-03 Impreza has a straight spring and an integrated top and perch, like this:



The 04-06 Impreza has a tapered spring and an integrated top and perch like this:



The neat thing is that the tapered springs and the straight springs have the same top and bottom diameters so you can switch tops.

A 90-91 Legacy top/perch will fit on an 04+ Impreza spring.
A 92-94 Legacy (and 93-01 Impreza) perch will fit on an 02-03 Impreza spring.

jamal wrote:[Does anyone have a picture of an actual 90-91 top I could use? They look a lot like this, right?]

cool thanks

Great Info.

Sorry for being dense but...

I am picking up complete 02 WRX struts & springs to put on a 93 SS. The struts include the top hats/spring perch for both the front and the rear.

The springs are straight springs on both models but have a different top & perch design. Are they compatible? Will I just switch over from the SS ones to the WRX ones and everything will work ok?

correct. But if they're WRX sedan struts, you'll have less negative camber. Like at most about -0.7 up front and 0.5 degrees positive in the rear.