So I have a stock '90 Legacy and I'm putting OBW struts on it from a '96 or so(just swapping top hats for the rear struts) will this affect the camber? And if so what will I need to do to make it right? I have some 205/60/R15 tires that are going to go on it as well not sure if that helps or not.

Edited March 13, 201115 yr by Goobysoobs

saw your post in my other thread..

I would just do the struts and see how you end up. Just make sure to mark the position of the front strut mount bolts on the lower mount (actually it's just the one that's the camber bolt, I just forget if it's the top or bottom bolt) do some more searches here, there's a lot of info and I believe a link to a step by step guide to doing the struts from another site with photos. If your camber is off after doing the struts it will be corrected with the stock camber bolt (only in the front) and you'll have to add aftermarket camber bolts if you can't get it correct. You'll need to take it in for alignment after your done anyway, so have them take care of it.

 

This is from my experience of doing it to my 95 legacy wagon, it might be slightly different for your car, but should be about the same.

 

good luck.

So I have a stock '90 Legacy and I'm putting OBW struts on it from a '96 or so(just swapping top hats for the rear struts) will this affect the camber? And if so what will I need to do to make it right? I have some 205/60/R15 tires that are going to go on it as well not sure if that helps or not.

 

FWIW, 98-02 Forester struts also fit. The Forester fronts are identical to 96-98 OBW struts and the rears are 3/8" shorter. The result is that the Forester fronts will be 1.125" longer and the rears will be 2" longer than stock Legacy struts. I recently put 2000 Forester struts on my 93 Legacy wagon and it sits pretty level with a slight rake to the front. But I used Forester top hats, slotted the mounting holes and used 1/4" strut spacers so YMMV a little.

 

My car had a recent alignment and the front camber bolts were set fairly close to max negative camber already so I simply set them to max negative camber and in back I used a floor jack to lift up on the rotor hub to acheive max negative camber and then tightened the bottom strut bolts.

 

I haven't had an alignment done and don't plan to but I've yet to have a problem with too much negative camber on any car (usually too little), the car tracks straight as an arrow and I'm monitoring tire wear.

 

Good luck.

I used the 14mm fast cam bolts in this application. I did need them in the rear, I had something like 50 minutes positive camber in the rear after putting Outback struts and lift springs on a '96 Legacy. In the front I did need a fast cam on one side to get around 0 camber. You are changing the geometry a little bit so the camber will tend to go more positive if you do not make any adjustment for it.

i've done this to both of my legacy's. my 90 and my 96 useing the stock tophats and springs. i didn't have any problems with allignment on either of them.i just took the car to the local allignment shop after installing them. no excessive tire wear. i'm running 205/75-15 tires on my 90 and 215/65/16 tires on my 96.

Edited March 15, 201115 yr by pamike

ok thanks for the info I have had the back done for a bit but am looking for the time to get the front done, tires look straight up and down but won't know until i get an alignment check at the very least. btw the legacies look kind of cool with the rear higher than the front. lol

So I think I'm gonna put the front ones in tomorrow.... no swapping of top hats so that seems ok. But Do i need to replace the sway bars or will the stock ones still work?

The stock one will still reach; at least it did for me. I upgraded the endlinks though. It was a little bit of a more snug fit bolting it up but it did work.

ok so just wondering if i have to get anything else to make the front ones go in. so I will need endlinks then?

I don't think you absolutely need them; I just replaced them since I was in there. It was a little bit of a stretch to get the bar to bolt up but I was able to do it.

 

You won't be able to check the camber just by eyeing it up. I mean you would be able to see if it was wayyy off, but the specs are usually within +/- 1 degree (60 minutes). You can usually get a general idea if the vehicle is on a level surface like concrete garage floor, and the vehicle was pulled out of and into the garage after having it jacked up, then laying on the ground and looking at the tires you can usually see how much it seems to be favoring the inside edge of the tire (negative camber) or outside edge (positive camber). Like on very sporty or performance vehicles you can often see quite a bit of negative camber in the rear just following it on the roadway.

Edited March 17, 201115 yr by porcupine73

ok yeah I plan to take it to a shop that does free alignment checks. and have 'em give me a paper with the results.

For camber I usually just adjust it myself. With a 12" level or so you can pretty well zero the camber if you have a level surface to work with. You can give other than zero camber by calculating the arctan of the triangle; it's not going to be as accurate as a laser alignment machine but I think it works pretty well.

 

I'm sure you already know, their goal is just to get you in the shop, so they can show you how bad your alignment is, maybe find a couple other problems while they're under there, and while it's already on the rack they can align it for you pronto.

yeah I know their game last time i was in there it was a "bad rack and pinon" that was not the case .

so finished it today.... front was much easier than the back. all and all I'm satisfied with it, still haven't done the alignment check but plan to... what are "acceptable" parameters for camber?

I would not set up the front with negative camber. I have found after doing a lot of alignments that these legacys need positive camber in the front. They are that way because when you hit a bump it transfers the energy away from the car. If you have it set negative it will cause the energy to transfer right into the car. The main thing that happens is it wears out the rack and gets end play. It will clunk like crazy when you hit bumps driving it around town. I had a 2001 outback that was clunking constantly from the rack when hitting bumps in town. the rack had some end play. I suggested replacement and said that it could probably benefit from an alignment. They chose the alignment. I checked it and it had -.6 degrees camber on the LF. I adjusted it to the spec of +.3 and the clunk actually went just about completely away and the clunk was very constant before.

I will keep that in mind right now I have to replace the CV joint but it was on it's way out before the lift.