SubaruFred

Thanks! Exactly what I needed to know. Do I ever know about issues when modding! My other car is a 2008 Scion XB with a custom turbocharger setup. It took me a year to get that all sorted out. Engine management that works fine on the Scion TC doesn't work on the same-engine XB and no one knows why. I was the lucky guy to find out first. I've got so much time and money in that XB that I needed this old Suby to take the risks of winter driving, salt, parking in DC, etc. In retrospect I wish I had tried using Legacy top hats in back but at this point the easiest solution is to install some spacers. I need to correct the camber on the right side anyway. I forgot to hold negative camber when I tightened the strut/knuckle bolts on that side. There's actually quite a bit of play in that connection and after a 2" lift I don't it's possible to have too much negative camber. Thanks! So it seems I can use OB or Forester TA mounts to correct the caster. I might not need it with 205-75-14 (26x8x14) tires but it will look better.

What tires are you running? How close are they to the front of the rear wheel well? I didn't have any old top hats or perches to use since I just came from air. I remembered that you said you had used early Lego top hats and perches but I couldn't remember which springs you used with them. I was afraid I'd spend $150 on new mounts, perches, etc. only to discover that the Forester springs didn't fit them. Also some people made it sound sooooo easy to fit the newer top hats. One guy just "filed them a little". Yeah, it took me 1/2 hr per side with a dremel and carbide bit! Anyway, I wish I had listened to you and bought the Legacy parts instead.

I may just live with the caster being off. If it's as easy to fix as installing OB T/A mounts, it might be worth fixing. My concern is that it might look worse or even rub when I get bigger tires. Thanks for the tip on the boots, I'll keep an eye on them. I wish I could give a net lift gain but I'm coming from leaking air suspension that ranged wildly and I never took controlled measurements. I can say that the "HI" air setting provided a 1.57" lift according to Subaru and it appears to be at least as high as that, probably a little more. I measured from ground to the front and rear jack points and it was 9 1/4" front and 9 1/2" rear. From the ground to top of wheel wells measured 27" front and rear with 185-70-14 tires. The best part is no saggy butt syndrome. A few peeps suggested that I'd have it with Forester struts but I'd call it less rake. The car is almost level front to back.

I should probably get an alignment soon but it feels spot-on. I marked the camber bolts by chiseling a 12 o'clock alignment mark on the bolt head but discovered that they were already set to just about max negative camber. So I just adjusted them to max neg camber. I may need larger camber bolts though. On the rear I just held the hub assy to max neg camber while tightening the strut to knuckle bolts. Looks good to the naked eye but that doesn't mean much. I think what most people notice most is when the toe is off. That really makes the car pull.

I just finished installing 2000 Forester struts into my 93 Legacy wagon and it has the typical caster isue in the rear. The wheels are pulled forward and not centered in the wheel well. What's the best way to fix this? Outback trailing arm mounts? OB trailing arms? Adjustable trailing arms? BTW, I didn't need to modify anything except the rear strut towers to accomodate the Forester top mounts. I slotted all 3 mounting holes but discovered that the steel center 'dome' on the later model mounts is slightly larger than the opening in the chassis strut tower. If anyone ever tells you that all you have to do is slot the holes, don't believe it like I did. What's needed is at least a 1/4" strut top spacer but since I didn't have any I stacked a few washers on the studs temporarily. I'll either be making or buying some saggy butt spacers soon. I probably should have used 92-94 Legacy mounts instead but I wasn't able to confirm that Forester springs work with Legacy top perches. Here's a pic of the car with the Forester struts installed. And here's one with just the rear struts installed but the angle better shows the caster issue:

I'm planning to install 2000 Forester struts on my 93 Legacy AWD SW. These Forester front struts are exactly the same as the 96-98 OB struts which are 1.125" longer than 92-94 Legacy struts. The rears are .375" shorter than OB rears and 2" longer than OE Legacy struts. I currently have air suspension and according to a Subaru source the "HI" setting produces a 1.57" lift above standard air height. I'm curious how much lift I can expect from the Forester struts, springs and mounts. Should I expect any problems with the rear sway bar, etc.? BTW, I think I scored a great deal on new KYB GR2's from discountautoshocks.com. $230 total for 4 new struts, Fedex ground incl. I searched a lot and this was by far the best deal I found.

According to Monroe the 96-98 OB and 98-02 Forester front struts are the same. They are 1.125" longer than 92-94 Legacy struts. The rear struts differ in that the Foresters are 2" longer than 92-94 Legacy while OB are 2.375" longer. I wonder if the spring perch differences between 90-91 and 92-94 Legacys might account for your lower rear height? The Forester rear mounts are very different from the 92-94 Legacy mounts but the photos I've seen are not to the same scale so I can't tell about the bolt pattern and spacing. Interestingly I was not able to find rear mounts for the 90-91 from Monroe or KYB or even Rock Auto. That seems to indicate that they are very unique. If the rear Forester struts do bolt up, that would be sweet! I already read your thread and found it very helpful. It was what persuaded me to look into Forester struts after hearing that the rear OB struts were a little long for the 92-94. It was a sticky at Legacy Central that led me to use 98-02 struts. The Monroe strut dimension chart was also very helpful. Thank you very much for your input. I'll post my results ASAP but with the cold weather and holidays it might be a while.

So how did it all turn out? I'm about to install 2000 Forester struts in a 93 Legacy SW so any feedback would be valuable.

I have another question about swapping different struts into my Legacy. I've read that it's recommended to use the 92-94 rear strut mounts but Forester rear strut mounts appear to include the top spring perch while the 92-94 Legacy mounts don't. So, do I need to buy 92-94 Legacy mounts and spring perches? Will Legacy spring perches work with Forester springs? Anything else I might need like a spacer? TIA.

I have another question about swapping different struts into my Legacy. I've read that it's recommended to use the 92-94 rear strut mounts but Forester rear strut mounts appear to include the top spring perch while the 92-94 Legacy mounts don't. So, do I need to buy 92-94 Legacy mounts and spring perches? Anything else I might need like a spacer? TIA.

FWIW, air suspension was standard on the 93 LS and LSi models. http://www.cars101.com/subaru_legacy_archive.html

I wish I could use your struts, that's a very good price! They actually might work fine but since I'm unsure about how the spring perch differences will affect the ride height I opted to go with 4 used loaded Forester struts and 4 new Gabriel replacement struts. I couldn't find any low-mileage Forester or Outback struts so I went ahead and got new dampers. The used struts cost $200 and the Gabriels were $200. I'll post some before and after pics but it might not be until Spring. It's too cold right now (Brrrrr).

I saw that thread while searching for strut info. Almost everything I know about swapping subaru struts came from places like this and Legacy Central. After learning which struts interchange I just looked them up to get actual dimensions. I believe this is useful supplemental data to add to what's already scattered around. After seeing how long the OB rear struts are I opted to go with Forester rear struts instead.

Thanks! Oddly enough, although I've read that 90-91 struts and 92-94 struts interchange but with different spring perch heights, when I looked them up in the Monroe catalog the 90-91 use a different strut body than 92-94. 92-94 fronts are B9 and 90-91 are B11. Rears are both B2 bodies but the 90-91 are 1.125" longer. I think I'm gonna go with 98-02 Forester struts for a 1.125-2" lift (F-R).

I've been searching for coil spring struts to replace the failing air struts on my recently acquired 93 Legacy LSi AWD wagon and thought I'd share some info that I have yet to see posted anywhere. This info comes directly from Monroe but should also apply to OEM, KYB, Gabriel, et al. I looked up the part numbers for various known interchangeable struts and cross-referenced them to Monroe's mounting and length charts. This should either be stickied or added to any appropriate suspension tech info. Front:......................Strut body length..compressed..extended...travel 92-94 OE Legacy........13.750"...............13.750"........20.500".....6.750" 93-01 Impreza............13.875"..............14.125"........20.750".....6.625" 96-98 Outback & 98-02 Forester.........15.250"..............15.375"........21.625".....6.250" Rear:........................Strut body length..compressed..extended...travel 92-94 OE Legacy & 93-01 Impreza.........16.375"...............15.375"........23.125".....7.750" 98-02 Forester...........17.500"...............17.500"........25.125".....7.625" 96-98 Outback...........17.875"...............17.500"........25.500".....8.000" Please note that this data comes from Monroe and not me. IMO Monroe mixed up the body length and compressed lengths for the 92-94 Legacy & 93-01 Impreza struts. Body length should always be shorter than or equal to the compressed length. Either way, this data is still useful for determining which struts suit your application best.

I might be interested but after finding numerous examples of 92-94 legacys running OB struts with no other mods I'm more inclined to go with OB struts. Also 90-91 struts are different from 92-94 and would change my ride height by lowering the front and raising the rear. I wouldn't want that. Thanks for the offer.

I think for the time being I'm just going to slime the rear struts and see how long the air setup lasts. When I got the car the right front strut wouldn't even air-up but now it holds air overnight but the rears leak down. I need more time to research my conversion options. Thanks again for your help and I like what you've done with your Legacy.

So did you install new front control arms? What's involved in lengthening the rear sway bar end links? Simple adjustment or longer end links? I think I know how to install the struts without the chassis spacers. I could partially compress each strut for installation. The potential problem I see with this is the struts "topping out" during normal driving if they aren't compressed enough from static vehicle load. I'll keep searching around. It's a shame Strutmasters stopped making their conversion kit. The only kit left is from King Springs and it's going to be a special order item from Australia. I haven't found a price yet but I suspect it's going to be expensive. Oh well, at least my air suspension is still driveable thanks to slime. Thanks again for all your help!

Thanks for the extra info. I was hoping that OB struts were about 1-1.5" longer than Legacy struts but it sounds more like 2"+. This is more work than I had planned on doing. I just want drop-in coil struts. Since every 92-94 used strut I've found is high mileage, are there later model struts that I could use?

Thanks! I tried searching but there's really no substitute for personal experience and knowledge. Lots of good info.

Thanks again! Your chassis height looks great and very close to my air ride on "high". That's exactly what I'm looking for. Do you have ABS brakes? I noticed that the 92-94 Legacys use different struts with ABS but I assume the difference is just a mounting bracket. Is this something I need to consider when switching to OB struts? BTW, my 168k mile air suspension works great after adding slime to the front struts. The rears still leak down over night but I plan to slime them soon. Any idea how long the slime fix might last? I'd like to make it through til warmer spring weather if possible.

Thanks guys! Great info and much appreciated. I'm going to look for used 96-98 Outback struts and buy new rear mounts. It appears that the 'high' air suspension setting provides about 1" of extra lift. Do you know how much longer the Outback struts are vs 92-94 Legacy struts? I don't want too much lift over stock, 1" would be perfect. BTW 1982GL4, when you say you used the rear mounts out of your 92, do you mean that the air strut mounts are useable with coil struts? I thought the air struts used different mounts.

Hello! I just bought a 93 Legacy LSi AWD wagon with the air suspension. All 4 struts leak pretty bad and I had to slime them just to be able to drive it. I can't justify spending $1600 for 4 new air struts so it seems my best option is to convert to coil springs. I discovered Strutmasters coil spring conversion kit but they no longer make it for my car. This is a second car primarily for winter duty so what I'd like to know is which struts can I install to get the same ride height as the air suspension on the high setting? I've read that some outback struts fit but which ones? I'd also appreciate any info on springs. All I can find are lowering springs or oem at $60 ea. I want to put together 4 coil spring strut assemblies as economically as possible. Any help is greatly appreciated. TIA.