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Lots of Questions about 91 Legacy Sdn Suspension

Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2015 5:52 am
by dkim097
Hello. I am fairly new to automechanics but have done my own cv axles, brakes, rotors...
I just have a few questions about suspension swapping..

I have a '91 FWD Legacy Sdn, and the suspension in the back is so bad it looks like I have hydraulics.....
The front is not so good as well, so here are my questions.

1) Does this car have struts or shocks (To my understanding, these are two completely different systems that do the same thing?) How do coils fit into this??? Springs?

2) Whichever it is, I read the sticky and saw that anywhere between an 01-07 (or something like that) Impreza's [insert suspension related part(s) here] can be used in this sedan. If I go to one of the local autowreckers and they have Impreza's in those years, will the suspension system, if in good condition, be worth putting into my car over new KYB's or another name brand? I am thinking that if I find a nice enough WRX/STI that was salvaged that they would have an aftermarket suspension system. If not, the question stands; OEM Impreza vs new KYB, etc.. suspension system? I am not looking to drop $150x4 on this car for suspension either.

3) If I was to obtain four suspension systems from a salvaged Impreza, how would this affect the height of my car? Will it lower it? Will it affect what size tires I need? Will I need bigger tires? I am currently using 185/70/14 tires and I feel as though if I lowered my car I am obligated to get bigger tires/rims because I simply cannot half-ass the rice.

Fourth and final question,
Is a suspension swap something an amateur can do with a well-written guide? The guide on here seems like it would've been great until I saw that all the images were broken. Is there another guide?

Re: Lots of Questions about 91 Legacy Sdn Suspension

Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2015 7:19 pm
by jamal
Buy new KYBs specifically for your car.

The rear struts are different for a fwd car and awd parts will not fit.

There is other stuff you can do at the same time, like fresh top mounts.

Hardest part is going to be getting the old stuff out and then getting the springs off. Rental spring compressor and a big breaker bar are about all you need.

Re: Lots of Questions about 91 Legacy Sdn Suspension

Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2015 8:53 pm
by dkim097
what about the front? is it also struts in the front?

can i do it w/o a spring compressor?

Re: Lots of Questions about 91 Legacy Sdn Suspension

Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2015 9:06 pm
by originalcyn
when i did mine, spring compressors were a great help. I can't imagine having to do the job without it. You can get a set of them new at harbor freight for like 15 bucks.

Re: Lots of Questions about 91 Legacy Sdn Suspension

Posted: Fri Jul 31, 2015 6:17 am
by jamal
dkim097 wrote:what about the front? is it also struts in the front?

can i do it w/o a spring compressor?

Struts all around. You need a spring compressor. You can just rent one from a parts store if you don't want to buy one.

Re: Lots of Questions about 91 Legacy Sdn Suspension

Posted: Fri Jul 31, 2015 3:40 pm
by smagg26
get some 04 impreza wrx front struts and some kyb gr-2 for the rear. ******NOTE******* the kyb rears will take a long while like a month or so but so totally worth it. I think I paid like 130 bucks with shipping but that was a few years ago.

Re: Lots of Questions about 91 Legacy Sdn Suspension

Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2015 5:45 pm
by Legacy777
smagg26 wrote:get some 04 impreza wrx front struts and some kyb gr-2 for the rear. ******NOTE******* the kyb rears will take a long while like a month or so but so totally worth it. I think I paid like 130 bucks with shipping but that was a few years ago.

DO NOT do this!

You don't want to mix and match struts. Different brand/types of struts will alter the way the car handles and produce unexpected handling. In college I had a set of Monroe struts on the front and KYB GR2's on the rear and the car was very tail happy. The rear end stepped out unexpectedly on long sweeping turns on more than one occasion. When I finally put GR2's on the front the handling was much better from a balance stand point and overall.

Re: Lots of Questions about 91 Legacy Sdn Suspension

Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2015 7:33 pm
by jamal
Plus WRX struts don't fit quite exactly right.

Other parts will mostly fit but you should really use struts for either a 90-94 legacy or 93-01 impreza.