"An impreza sway bar won't fit our cars"..Says who?

[beaconhillkilla]

I want to throw this into the pool that is the internet so that hopefully someone can pull some info out of this post. I'm in the midst of an auto to manual swap and in the process decided to change out my rear lateral links and sway bar for those off of an 03' JDM STI. "But beaconhillkilla, that sway bar won't work, you have a legacy". Yeah yeah, whatever. I got both the links and sway bar for next to nothing from a friend who ordered most of the drivetrain for a 6 speed swap, and I wanted them for my car.

The reason why an impreza sway bar doesn't really fit is because of this bump. It sticks out and doesn't allow the bar to clear because Impreza bars are straight, whereas the sway bars for the legacys have an extra bend to accommodate this change in the frame.




But, fear not. If you still want it to work..you can just "remove" the bump. I used an angle grinder, it's not the prettiest job by any means, but I'm no stranger to cutting up cars and who's going to be looking underneath my car except for me?



The best part? That little bump is hollow. When you remove it you won't cut into your spare tire well. Truth be told I have no idea why that extra part of the frame is there, because it doesn't do anything.




From here, the bar still won't fit. To remedy this I spaced out the brackets that the sway bar used to attach to the frame. I dove into my bucket of random subaru bolts and pulled out 4 longer bolts and used two 2mm washers for each bolt (8 washers).



It was still a little bit tight, but after that I got everything bolted right up! And now not only will my rear end be locked down I'll have a little extra camber in my wheels.

[robertpaige]

Awesome!!

[Legacy777]

That hump in the middle of the chassis is where I believe you would attach a trailer hitch assembly/bracket.

You mentioned the bar still wouldn't fit and needed longer bolts, are you referring to the end links needing longer bolts, or where exactly are the longer bolts needed?

[beaconhillkilla]

Ah, I meant to say that when you use washers to space out the brackets that attach the bar to the frame you need to replace those four bolts (two on each side) with longer ones. It's just to make sure that the brackets are held to the frame by the most amount of thread possible.

[Legacy777]

Why do you need to "space out" the brackets?

[beaconhillkilla]

I needed to do that because even with the bump cut out its still a really tight fit. By bringing the mounts down by a few mm's, it helps get everything to bolt together.

[Legacy777]

Ok, thanks.

[mike-tracy]

"An impreza sway bar won't fit our cars"..Says who?

I say thats too way too much work, unless you had the GC/GD bar on hand already

[beaconhillkilla]

Well I agree, but I got everything for more or less free. That and I'm pretty much poor so.. haha

[Alphius]

And now not only will my rear end be locked down I'll have a little extra camber in my wheels.

I think you know this already, but for the benefit of others reading this thread, changing the swaybar will not affect camber. I think by the above statement you meant that the lateral links added camber, although it wasn't too clear.

[oldscoobyturbo]

should have used the taller bar mounts from a forester or outback no cutting required
they can be found cheap or free