26 replies to this topic

[mikaleda]

After Trying and failing to find the corect top hats for my gl and still having steering issues I was thinking would it be possible to put early legacy style top hats and bearings onto a 80 gl strut assembly? I think I can figure out a way of mounting it to body. Any ideas would be a appreciated

[mikaleda]

Hmm looks like I am going to have to do some experimenting

[tractor pole]

IIRC they will fit but the bolt circle is larger. You will have to drill new holes.

[wentz912]

You will just have to "hog out" the existing holes in your strut towers. There are guys that put EA tophats on their EJ struts to avoid doing the hog out in a 5 lug swap.

[mikaleda]

Cool thanks for the info I will post results with pics when done

[tractor pole]

I just re read the title,
I am not sure about EA81 top hats, since they are two bolt... but you might get lucky.

Please follow up with your findings, too many of threads like these get forgotten and the next person searching for info hits a dead end.

thanks
Ben

[GeneralDisorder]

Won't work easily since the EA81 uses two-bolt strut tops and the EA82/EJ uses three bolt. You will have to drill two new holes and the location of the holes is not reinforced to support a load. Fabrication is required to do this correctly.

You can get EA81 strut tops on www.rockauto.com

GD

[mikaleda]

Won't work easily since the EA81 uses two-bolt strut tops and the EA82/EJ uses three bolt. You will have to drill two new holes and the location of the holes is not reinforced to support a load. Fabrication is required to do this correctly.

You can get EA81 strut tops on www.rockauto.com

GD

I have already tried rock auto for strut top hats they didn't work at all and if you read my original post you would see I didn't ask about mounting to body I already have a way to reinforce the body to take the three hole strut tops

[LeoneTurbo]

You can use EA81 top hats on EJ struts, but you cannot use EJ springs and spring seats as the diameter is too large to clear the EA81 wheelwell.

[mikaleda]

You can use EA81 top hats on EJ struts, but you cannot use EJ springs and spring seats as the diameter is too large to clear the EA81 wheelwell.

The reason I want to so this is because the bearings in the strut tops are worn out and I can't find the right ones and after doing a set of struts on a 90 legacy I was thinking it might work to replace the top hats on my old subie with that style wich are plentiful around here other than the obvious problems of three holes Into a two hole slot (wich I can do I'm fairly sure) I just want to know weather the top hats will work with the rest of the strut assembly

[GeneralDisorder]

I have already tried rock auto for strut top hats they didn't work at all

Then you didn't install them correctly. I've used at least half a dozen sets of the Monroe strut tops listed there without issue.

GD

[mikaleda]

I didn't order the Monroe strut tips because they cost to much and I didn't have the money and it wasn't my bad because the studs in the top hats didn't line up at all

[mikaleda]

Well I am sorry to say I can't finish this thread I am selling this car. My legacy is broke down overheating again so it's time to do head gaskets and I don't have any money this car took all of my resources. Sorry I can't finsh this thread

[rxleone]

Well I am sorry to say I can't finish this thread I am selling this car. My legacy is broke down overheating again so it's time to do head gaskets and I don't have any money this car took all of my resources. Sorry I can't finsh this thread

That's a shame mate, guess you gotta be able to pay to play unfortunately. Better luck next time.

[mikaleda]

Oops forgot this thread I am keeping it. after posting on my build forum that I was going to sell it the people watching my thread convinced me to keep it. I won't be able to afford do this for a while but since I am keeping this car I will post updates as I get to them

[VaporTrail]

I've seen 2 different types of bearing in ea81 strut mounts. one is a layer of fine needle bearings grouped in a circle, and the other is just a pair of thrust bearings, which should be replaceable with a set from any hardware store....

[mikaleda]

I would like to keep it stock since I have decided to just slowly restore it. I know what you mean by needle bearings but I don't know what a thrust bearing is. I know the ones I got from rock auto were quite different than my originals.
I will look around in my photo album for this car and see if I can get a pic posted of what my bearings look like

[mikaleda]

Pic

I know this bearing is missing a piece. when I took apart the other side the bearing on the other side had these parts plus one other peice of metal that sat under this peice. This peice consists of a peice of round metal (kinda looks like a washer and a rubber ring.
Is this what you call a thrust bearing Mc Brat?

Edited by mikaleda, 06 December 2012 - 04:10 PM.

[VaporTrail]

yes.

[mikaleda]

What would I ask for to find these in a hardware store? Should I just ask for thrust bearings?

[VaporTrail]

Yeah. Do you still have the other side out to try and match? I may even have one laying around...

[VaporTrail]

Yeah. Do you still have the other side out to try and match? I may even have one laying around...

[mikaleda]

Yes the other side is still intact I will take that into the local hardware store and see if they can get them. Thank you for the info.

[mikaleda]

Even if I fix the originals I still know where I can get a legacy and gl strut assembly and I will still find out if this mod is possible.

[mikaleda]

I woke up to this

Since I don't have a garage it is going to be awhile before I do anything with this car