Hello,

I recently bought a 1999 Wagon Sport, which over the last 6 months has needed the usual basic replacements to combat age. I had to replace the original rusted subframe to pass MOT, and it has caused more problems than it has solved. If anyone is able to help me find the root cause of the problem, I would be forever grateful.

So, sourcing replacement parts, I took the sub-frame with arms, shafts, diff and shocks from a 1994 WRX, replaced the diff with my original to match ratios, and decided to use my original shocks. The idea was I would end up my original diff and shocks, and the rest would be donor parts to change the existing drum brakes to rear discs and solve the rusty sub-frame issue.

Everything seemed to line up and fit into place nicely, no real issues after fitting new flexible brake hoses and rerouting handbrake and abs sensor cables. The issue came once the car was lowered back down onto 4 wheels. Something is causing the rear shocks to rub against the inner arch and against the wheels, but I don't know exactly what is causing it. Comparing the two sub-frames, the seem identical. I wandered if the shock mountings on the back of the 94 disk housing are different to the back of the drum housing on a 99?

I've compared the shocks that came attached the to new frame, the are shorter than mine, and have a wider spacing between mounting bolts.

Please help! The photo's show what came out, and what is now in it's place:

 

   

Is it possible the springs are different on the two cars?

does the vehicle sit roughly the same ride height or lower/higher?

 

mounting brackets are spaced differently (new ones are "in" further) or springs are wider

measure both and compare

 

you're not talking about US market stuff so i'm unsure what is/isn't possible but some options would be:

99 rear hub assembly w/ABS?
94 springs on 99 struts?

complete 94 strut assemblies?

 

bashing the area in the inner fender well where it's rubbing might be an option?

Not sure about on the older impreza's but on newer ones the strut spacing in the rear is different in sedans and wagons So like this for :l wagon and : l for sedan. What  did you pull the rear subframe out of? I know they made the wrx in both sedans and wagons over there long before we ever got to enjoy them, but using the wrong combo of struts/hubs can cause camber issues. I had a newer impreza wagon in last week that had sedan struts in the rear that caused binding, and some pretty bad noises. 

Thanks for all the ideas back so quickly! The donor parts were supposedly also from a Wagon, but I have no way to be 100% sure. However, I think the problem is the distance between the points where the shocks mount is wider on the new sub-frame. Unfortunately the old one is in the workshop and needs retrieving before I can check, I will let you know what it turns out to be. Thanks also for the info on the difference between wagon and sedan shocks, I didn't know there was a difference. Would you know if the length of the shocks are the same for the sedan and wagon? If I can change them for shocks from a sedan, it may set them back into the arch enough to solve the issue. Thanks again

Problem found quite quickly, complete idiot for making a very simple mistake, which shows why you should not rush a job! In my haste, put the shocks back on the wrong side. I noticed when clipping the flexible brake hose, if you look in second and third photos you'll see the brackets to run the hoses through are on the wrong side of the struts! Simple! Stupid! Stupid simple! Thanks for all the ideas / response.

I love when it's just a face-palm and an easy fix. So much better than some obscure difference in parts and a bunch of modification. Congrats!

No one is perfect. 

Yah. Been there. Drove myself nuts for about a week trying to diagnose an engine not running right after a swap. Tried sensors, IACV, cleaned the throttle body.... finally realized that I left the O-rings when I swapped the fuel rails over from the old engine.

 

DOH!