ryer_s Posted December 17, 2003 Share Posted December 17, 2003 hey all. i have been toying with my subaru basically trying to keep it alive and i had to drop the tank the other day to clean it out. so i started to look at how subaru setup there suspension. and i was wondering when ya lift your cars how are ya doing it. are ya just putting bigger coils/struts or are ya changing out the control arms. because i want more flex, i dont really care about making it higher just being able to have the wheel cram up in the fender or haveing drop way below the car. keep in mind that just because you got your car high doesnt mean you have a better lift. thanks ryer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSubaruJunkie Posted December 17, 2003 Share Posted December 17, 2003 When we lift our cars, we're putting lift blocks between the suspension and body. Also between the engine crossmember and body. In the rear, we put blocks between the body and diff hanger, and drop the suspension 3" using custom adapters. We're not changing any of the suspension components at all. The only thing we get is 3" more clearance between the wheel and fender, allowing us to use larger tires. Of course, that doesnt mean people arent experimenting with new suspensions. -Brian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryer_s Posted December 18, 2003 Author Share Posted December 18, 2003 oh ok so its just a body lift. so now im wondering what part of the suspension "on a 84 gl hatchback" is keeping the tire from going into the fender. hopfully the strut. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilesFox Posted December 18, 2003 Share Posted December 18, 2003 there are posts about using honda springs in the rear, and ea82 springs. people have made soem interesting unconventional desighns with their suspensiions.. there should be a tightening nut for the rear suspension, located on the top of the torsion tube. there is an access panel under the carpet behind the seat. is yours 4wd? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryer_s Posted December 18, 2003 Author Share Posted December 18, 2003 ya man my sub is a 4wd 4spd ea81 hatchback. i dont really care about adding coils, i was wondering what is keeping the tire from going into the fender. is that just the length of the control arm or the cv shaft just cant get the angle or is the strut compresses completely. basically im asking what has to change to get the flex. im use to messing with leaf springs and solid axles. i dont really know independent suspesions at all. but adding a body lift to a project were the tire cant even get in the fender in the first place is all for looks and giving it a little more clearence so stuff doesnt drag under your car. thanks ryer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilesFox Posted December 18, 2003 Share Posted December 18, 2003 on the front there should be a height adjust ment oder the strut for 4wd and 1984 turn the nuts to tighten the spring and adjust in a renge of 1 1/2 inches the rear is especially east with an impact socket are you talkin about the front tire or the rear what size are the tires? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bushbasher Posted December 18, 2003 Share Posted December 18, 2003 In the front the first thing you run into is the strut. You only have what 5" of travel on each strut? cv axle limitations. The axle hits the inner control arm mount after you go about 2" down past stock full droop ( you could move the mounts inward with custom control arms and fix this), but there is more uptravel room, even more after you body lift it. In the back, the shock absorber limits the suspension travel, but if you go more than 3" or so below the stock droop, your axles hit max angle. With stock axles I could see about 8-10" at each wheel max. Also at these limits the axles would be alot weaker too, and we already have a weak axle problem. There is the rguyver mod which puts the sliding cups at both ends of the rear axle, giving you the potential for a few more inches of travel. For traction during crawling I think uptravel would make as much a difference as downtravel. If I could get more stuf***e I think that would be good, because you still have weight on that stuffed wheel, and less weight will be taken off of the drooping wheel. Basically when your wheel is near the max of downtravel, it wont offer you much traction anyway cause theres hardly any weight on it. edit: why did it censor s.t.u.f.f.a.g.e.?Oh wait now I get it :brolleye: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooinater Posted December 18, 2003 Share Posted December 18, 2003 if you are trying to get flex with these things. step one remove the sway bar. i gained about 8 to 10 inches more travel all around. by removing the fighting force between left and right. next lower your adjustable suspension all the way front and rear. it'll sit lower but flex better and be softer. change to a coilover setup in the rear. mine bottoms out in the back on the shock, or the bump stops when it was stock. now when i had the pk lift i didn't bottom the bump stops. i bottom the shocks out instead. you could remove the bump stops on a stocker. custom fab a mount and use rancho shocks. cause the shock limits about 2 inches of down and 1 or 2 inches up. larger tires also help the flex. by creating a heavier weight on the suspension. making it droop better. plus the more tire you have you can air the tire down. for better traction and flex using some sidewall flex. also on the front end i'm planing on changing the strut rod to a rod with heim joints. to get extra flex. just my 2 cents and what i've done. or am planning on. not to mention the rest of the things being done. actually i'm going to eventually try running fox coilovers in the rear. so i can have custom lengths, travel and handling. but even with suspension lifts. you can loose flex. granted i could goofy leaf, or hing shackle any leaf sprung vehicle. trust me i've been working on solid axle vehicles for years. and i've finally realized these things aren't the flexiest but gear them down and lock'em up. and they'll go damn near anywhere. think of it as the hummer they should have made... not so darn wide. narrow and agile little machines. just need a little getting used to. put a lift and tires on it and play with suspension components. they aren't a 168:1 rockcrawler. but they go anywhere you want to abuse them through. there are places i wouldn't have sent my 4/3" lift through. but accidently had no choice... but it made it through. a few new dents and scratches. but oh well. that's part of the game. it boils down to most of our stuff winds up being self fabricated. or you have to look at it outside the box. like whoever was the first for the divorced tcase. i believe lumpy cam had it first. he pioneered a new way to modify and lower the gears on the transaxled subarus. you could go to a solid axle setup... i've contemplated it and probably will for my next suby just for $h!#$ and giggles. along with i got a connection for a set of toy axles t case and drivelines for a couple hundred dollars... that's for the later years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted December 18, 2003 Share Posted December 18, 2003 but adding a body lift to a project were the tire cant even get in the fender in the first place is all for looks and giving it a little more clearence so stuff doesnt drag under your car. That's why most of us cut the fenders out - thus allowing our tires to "fit" in the wheel well again. My tires fit just fine up in there. Rooinator makes good points - he knows what he's talking about. Independant suspension could be designed for better travel, but we just don't have the aftermarket that solid axles have, and so we are stuck with what we have, and modifications that we do on our own. The biggest barrier to a long travel suspension for the soobs is the axles - they just don't have the travel, and if you go more than their 12" or whatever they have, you'll pop the axle out of the joint.... better axles need to be designed, and the rest would be pretty easy - lots of fabrication, but pretty straighforward. GD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meeky Moose Posted December 18, 2003 Share Posted December 18, 2003 no rubbing on my 84 gl hatch thats lifted heres a pic... http://usmb.net/albums/albup45/IMG_0615.jpg #fixed link# Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archemitis Posted December 18, 2003 Share Posted December 18, 2003 but ryer... have you ever given that thing a beating off road? try 60-70 down a washed out fire road, or crawl over some rough terrain at a steep angle, and you'll see, they work pretty good stock. my wagon would go through stuff my 4runner would. the only difference was the subaru scraped on the ground the whole way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brokechump Posted December 18, 2003 Share Posted December 18, 2003 Has anyone tried no lift at all? 28" 4Runner tires with a lot of fender cutting, possibly wheel well fabbing in the rear? My car is a rust bucket and I just figured I'd try something on it's way out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qman Posted December 18, 2003 Share Posted December 18, 2003 Yes, that has been done. On an '80 or '81 Hatch. 28" TSL Swampers and no lift. Bada$$ hatch went everywhere my lifted Hatch did. It only needed a gentle tug to keep going from time to time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryer_s Posted December 18, 2003 Author Share Posted December 18, 2003 ok Rooinater, this is the whole reason why i want more flex. to rally. i dont really care about rock crawling. that is what my 85 cj7 is for. i will send pics with that sucker wrapped on rocks one day. but the whole reason i bought this subaru is for rally. my friends and i are getting bored with just slinging mud and crawling rocks so we are looking for new stuff to play with. so i want to be able rally through some really rough terrain and have the suspension for it. i already decided that im going to do the ej20 swap like gen disorder said. and i will have the drive line in about 3 to 4 months if all goes well. i can fab up my own stuff and make what ever i need. but i know wongleflute about rally and independent suspension. so that is my drama. so an help you can give will be great and much appreciate. thanks for the info you have already provided. thanks ryer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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