Canuck

The 03 is a lefthand drive and not a turbo, now the engines is shot but the standard tranny and drivetrain is solid... interior is barely "ok", plus it's a hideous two tone beige/black... The 97 is a righthand drive, turbocharged Japanese import with low km and an auto trans, interior is near mint with a plush black/grey patterned material, looks really swanky, lol... Both are probly bound for the crusher after they've been stripped unless I can rescue them...

I'll have to take a closer look at them in the sunlight to see exactly what models they are... I actually know very little about them and the base of my forester knowledge comes from stripping suspension components to lift a couple of Impreza wagons...

I'm hoping someone can help me... I have a 1997 right hand drive forester with low km, runs like a top with a turbo and auto tranny, plus it has a great interior... I also have a 2003 forester with a blown engine and horrible interior but it steers from the right side, has a stick shift and a better body... Now what I need to know is, are they compatible enough to get one solid rig from them? Basically I want to put the low km turbo engine and the better interior from the 97' into the left-hand drive 03', it would give me a solid engine in front of a standard tranny with a much better interior.. can it be done?

Looks like he opened up the fenders considerably and trimmed the bumpers way back... looked pretty good though and glad to know it can be done with minimal effort from where I'm at now, exhaust and intake will come first now after driving it like this on a few road trips... on a side note, I was quite surprised to get a 5mpg increase on the highway with the 27" tires I threw on... and thank you very much for the link Adventure;)

There it is... looks kinda low in the back but on even ground it's bang on level... probly make the rear tophat spacer 1/4" thicker just to be on the safe side though...For now, that's as far as I can take it, once I know if/how much offset I need to make the 29.1"s work with the 04'forester spring perches I'll start gathering and fabricating everything else I will need to complete phase two... I am eagerly awaiting all your expert/experienced advice, hopefully this thread still gets a little action:) PS. This is a daily driver

Well that was a heck of a read and I still have a few questions of my own but first I'll explain where I'm at with my 97 impreza obs... I bought new kyb 04'forester struts with my existing front Springs and replaced my rear Springs with new impreza oem to solve the saggy bottom the 20yr old car displayed. Now, I had new ones on hand but actually ended up using the original tophats because the bearings in the front ones were still good and the back ones seemed solid as well. Got about 1-3/4" lift from just the struts and the new rear Springs did level it out, I even got the sway bars front and back bolted up without any issue. As for the rear trailing arms, basically just shimmed it with 5/8" plate drilled to match the original bracket and that got the rear tire close enuf to center in the wheelwell for now, I'll fabricate better ones during phase two. Removed front mud flaps and squeezed (27")205/75r15's onto stock rims, the only rubbing I get is a little bit on the plastic inner fender if I brake hard or hit a bump while turning. Overall I'm really happy with the ride, no body roll, rides like new but with close to 3" of extra clearance, great for the logging roads I run when fishing or hunting remote locations. However, I want to get some 235/75r15(smallest made) wrangler duratracs under the old girl and there 29.1"... looks like I can put 1/2" spacers in without messing with tophat bolts(more then 1/2" if it won't bugger my cv angles too much) and I don't mind opening up the fenders, making better swaybar and trailing arm brackets or getting camber bolt kits but I have a few questions still... can I even fit that size tire under the 04'forester spring perch or do I need wheel shims to offset the rims and widen the stance? Cv angles seem fine now but will that 1/2" or more spacer lift change that? Any advice is appreciated, even if it's just "be happy with what you got", lol... thank you;) Tried uploading a pic of the car but it says it's forbidden, sorry...

I'm new to this site as well, since most of the google searches I did reguarding my 97 impreza yielded links to this forum I'm hoping I'll find the answers I'll be needing here. From the few threads I've read thru already the community on a whole seems helpful and informative, here's hoping that first impressions hold true, lol... and I would like to say thank you to those who have already donated thier knowledge and to those who will in the future! Resources like this site are just plain fantastic. Cheers!