legacycentral bbs

Though I've been a member here for awhile, haven't had a legacy to talk about.

I hunted around for awhile wanting a car to put around the city to save miles on my Rubicon. Alllmooost settled on an 84 GL sedan, but didn't want to be looking for parts all the time. (I just pawned off a full sized chevy truck FULL of ea81 parts to get them out of my garage a year ago)

So at the last minute I went up to go look at the legacy. Turns out the woman selling it is one of the best Subaru mechanics I know of, we've been friends for more than 10 years. She'd done the brakes, clutch, timing belt, changed out the muffler and fixed the little bugs it had like the auto seat belt on one side. It runs like a dream, the interior is cherry. Not bad for under 2 grand if you ask me.
So I sourced some outback struts and wheels/tires and made it taller. Love this car, it ain't like driving our XV, or anything like any of the GC imprezas I've owned, but it rocks.

Meet my 53rd Subaru.

Nice leggy Eric! This woman, is she single lol

53 Subarus! Is that a record?

I like that lift! How much work did the swap involve? I've often found myself wanting an inch or two more clearance for trails marked 'Jeeps only'

She's not single, not your type. (wink)

Record? Dunno. But I've been through a LOT of Subarus.

The swap is a bitch in the sedan. The 03 front struts were a direct bolt on, the 99 rears were not. I had to open up the holes at the tops to fit the different bolt pattern. I chose to do rather than wapping out the top hats so that the struts would be shoved out from the body to make for less pounding to clear the WAY bigger springs.

My finger nail has almost grown back out. lol

I've fitted at least 4 sets of later rear struts to BC's and BF's, it's not that hard. You just need to track down face lift wagon (BF) rear top hats, then put those on the new struts. They take the larger springs, but have the smaller PCD for bolting into the chassis. I have some Bilsteins from a BG GTB in my BC using this method. Only problem stateside is tracking down those top hats! There's plenty of room for the larger springs, Subaru thought so since they used the larger springs in the face lift wagons after all.

Tidy wee BC though, hard to find them in that state these days!

It wasn't "that hard", but the sedan was a pain in the ass compared to the wagons. Using the Outback tops pushes the spring away from the inner wall. There was no way the spring wasn't gonna rub without lots of bfg to the inner wall.



Trust me, I've lifted a LOT of the 53 Subarus I've owned, this is not new to me. I worked in a Subaru only junk yard for a ear ta boot, pulled several sets of struts off every day. Again, not new.

Hmmm, wonder if its outback spring issue! I've only dealt with GDB KYB's and BG Bilsteins. At least now you can fit almost anything straight in without playing the top hat game.