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pooooobaru

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Posts posted by pooooobaru

  1. Thought I'd just add an update to this post. Here is a newer pic of our ol' battlewagon, and a little video I put together on the car! Thanks again for the help here.

     

    IMG_1983.jpg

     

    Video:

     

     

     

    Looking back it's pretty dumb that we were going to have a shop do the install since it was so easy! They did a fine job on a bunch of other work they did but apparently don't know anything about lifting Subarus :)

    • Like 1
  2. Thanks everyone for the help and input. Install took a couple hours—was pretty easy. Carefully cut the mount holding the brake lines. The new struts had clips so no zip ties were necessary for me (although we do have plenty of zip ties elsewhere on the car!) Disconnecting the sway bars helped a lot. Found some Outback wheels at a local junkyard and threw them on, and made a slight modification to the front bumper. Here's a before and after:

     

    Before

    IMG_1833.jpg

     

    After

    IMG_3830.jpg

     

    Gonna throw a skid plate on it and some General Grabbers and take this thing off road! 

     

    Thanks again!

     

     

    • Like 3
  3. Why wouldn't they fit? What did the shop tell you?.Or just..find another shop...

     

    There should be P/N's on the strut portion, which will tell you what they are were 'sposed to fit. But doesn't mean the top hats are matching, though.

     

     

    Yup - bolt-in. You'll need to get a long pry bar to lever down the control arm, etc to fit them in, and may want a helper.

     

    And, YES, it'll still align fine.

     

    If you do it yourself, read up on the front TOP strut bolt (where it attaches to knuckle). It's used for Camber adj....mark the bolt head before removal, put it back where you found it, and usually your alignment is really close (assuming it was good b4).

     

    Guy at shop said top hat was different. But I get home and turns out he didn't even open up the box that the fronts were in. :/ Sooo...

     

    I'm sure I could do this myself if the parts are correct. I bought fully loaded strut assemblies (price wasn't much more than struts alone) as I didn't want to mess around with a spring compressor if I were to do the install myself. FCS part numbers 1331583L, 1331583R, 1331747L, 1331747R—everywhere I look these fit an 05 Forester (and other years as mentioned). 

     

    Here are some pics, as requested above. Do these look right? Tomorrow I'll take a look and see if these fit.

     

    Front:

     

    front.jpg

    front_tophat.jpg

     

    Rear:

     

    rear.jpg

    rear_tophat.jpg

     

    Thanks for the help everyone, really appreciate it.

  4. 05 Forester will bolt right in. The exception may be that the rear tophats from your legacy may need to be swapped onto the rear struts like an Impreza. But I don't think so. 1998-2008 Forester struts are all the same essentially. 04+ is slightly taller I think.

     

    This is easy as a DIY job. Just make sure to disconnect the swaybars. Or if you're sure you need a shop to do it, find another shop.

     

    I have a 98 Legacy sitting on Forester suspension in my driveway right now. It was all a direct bolt in affair. Took me 2 hours.

     

     

    Cool, thanks very much for the reply. This is encouraging. Not sure what the shop's deal is. Maybe I was sent the wrong parts. Guess I'll check it out when the car is back home and try to do the swap myself. 

  5.  

    Outback struts would be your best bet. You can swap strut tops if they are different but the brake lines attach differently. You can work with what you have though.

     

     

    Thanks for the reply. Should both Legacy (non-Outback) and Outback from this generation have the same strut tops? Maybe I can go with KYB struts for a '98 Outback and just re-use my existing springs.

     

    Wondering if anyone else has done Forester struts onto a Legacy (non-Outback), and if top hats needed to be swapped?

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  6. Hi y'all, I've done a lot of searching on this subject, and I was led to believe Forester struts are a direct swap onto a 98 Legacy (non-Outback), to give a little lift. I bought a set of FCS complete strut assemblies (for an 05 Forester) and brought them to a local shop for install on my 98 Legacy. They say they will not bolt on. 

     

    What am I missing?

     

    Did I get the wrong year Forester struts, or do I need to swap out top hats or something? Maybe I should've just gone with '98 Outback struts/springs?

     

    Thanks so much for the help! :) :)

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