heartless Posted October 22, 2013 Share Posted October 22, 2013 already planning on putting Forester struts/springs under the 'new to me' 95 Legacy, but need to know if the sway bar links from a 98 Forester are compatible? They look mighty close.... the 95 has a broken front sway bar link (along with both front springs being broken one more reason for the Forester swap) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
86BRATMAN Posted October 22, 2013 Share Posted October 22, 2013 You betcha they're compatible. Swap away, really the only Forester part you can't use without modifications is the rear sway bar itself. Being Impreza based it won't clear the useless hump on the bottom side of the Legacy spare tire housing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heartless Posted October 22, 2013 Author Share Posted October 22, 2013 Thank you 86Bratman! you just made my morning! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted October 22, 2013 Share Posted October 22, 2013 You can use the rear sway bar, just swap the forester sway bar mount brackets to the legacy, and wail on that useless hump with a 3 lb sledge. But outback sway bars are still bigger, so if you can find one of those it usually works better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heartless Posted October 23, 2013 Author Share Posted October 23, 2013 not so worried about the sway bar itself (altho, may upgrade it in the future) but more concerned with the links at the ends - the Legacy has at least one broken link (probably from having broken front coil springs?) that will need replacing, and I may snag the rest off the Forester for future use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdventureSubaru Posted October 23, 2013 Share Posted October 23, 2013 (edited) Sounds like you're putting together a pretty solid vehicle. I think you can swap over the Forester rear control arm brackets to the legacy in place of Outback to avoid the tires getting stuffed forward. I've never heard this with 100% certainty though because I know they are a different style than the outback. Might want to take a measurement and check and see. Edited October 23, 2013 by AdventureSubaru Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted October 23, 2013 Share Posted October 23, 2013 Forester struts by themselves will only pull the wheel forward like 1/8". Probably less. If you feel like swapping trailing arm brackets you can but they don't make that big of a difference. And if the car is rusty there's a good chance the bolts are rusted/seized and the captive nuts in the body will break off. Makes a lot more work than its worth to correct that little bitty difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdventureSubaru Posted October 23, 2013 Share Posted October 23, 2013 I did have 5 of the 6 of them break when i lifted my impreza. Royal pain to get them out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heartless Posted October 23, 2013 Author Share Posted October 23, 2013 the only reason any of the swapping is happening is because I just happen to have the Forester on hand - it was supposed to become another running vehicle but seems to have too many issues to make that happen, so... If the trailing arm difference is only 1/8" (give or take), I dont think I am going to mess with it. Once the taller struts are in, I should have no problem fitting the 15" wheels on, right? Looking at tire size that will be close to the stock size in diameter so speedo isnt too far off... Legacy stock size: 185/70-14 Forester stock size: 205/70-15 = speedo reads nearly 5mph slow (60 is more like 65) (info from http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html) If i go to 205/65-15 = 60 is more like 63 and 205/60-15 = 60 is more like 61 and a 195/60-15 is almost exact speedo wise... Thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted October 23, 2013 Share Posted October 23, 2013 The speedometers read slow on purpose. If you put the 205/70s on without changing the final drive your speedometer will read about 3-5mph slow. (It will say 60, but you're actually going 65) Personal experience, yours may vary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilesFox Posted October 23, 2013 Share Posted October 23, 2013 I used to run 195-60's on my 95 (trahwagon0 ) with forester strits. This according to the tire size calulator, was the closest match for the 3.900 gear (manual ) to a 185/70/14 a 205/60 would give you 8% difference. 205 70 might not clear regular struts. 205/70 will not fit on my 3door with xt6 strut Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnceggleston Posted October 23, 2013 Share Posted October 23, 2013 regardless of what tire you run, check your speedo against a gps. the best check is to drive 100 miles by the GPS and see what the trip meter reads. what ever the difference is, that is your percentage of error. then when you need tires, buy a size that is that percentage different than the ones you are running. the point is, IF, IF, IF your speedo reads 2 mph faster than actual now, the larger tires may only make it read 2-3 mph slower than actual. i wouldn't buy tires just to correct this error, but i would correct it the next time i needed tires. and i would cut back from driving 9 miles over the limit, maybe just drive 3 mph over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
86BRATMAN Posted October 23, 2013 Share Posted October 23, 2013 When I had the 205/70s on my 97 legacy, 60 on the dash showed as 63 on my gps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heartless Posted October 24, 2013 Author Share Posted October 24, 2013 Well, I guess I need to do a bit of tire window shopping - see what I can get my little paws on locally. Thinking I may go with something "middle of the road" size/speedometer wise, depending on what I can find. Thanks for all the info, guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.