xscaff Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 I recently purchased my second Subaru Legacy L AWD. It's a 1990 and I bought it from an older lady who bought it brand new and it's in excellent shape and only has 97K miles, it's an automatic and runs like a top. I'm looking to lift it a couple inches and from what I've read the easiest/best solution is to put struts from an outback or forester on it with no other modifications needed. I have plans to buy new struts/mounts/springs and doing this over the summer since I mainly drive it in the winter. Any help/suggestions/instructions/pictures/ideas greatly appreciated. Just not quite sure what years are compatible with my 90. Also if anyone knows where the best place to purchase all of this is let me know with some links of what I might need if possible. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ezapar Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 See the sticky thread at the top o this forum about how to lift your impreza. All of those options will apply to your legacy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdventureSubaru Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 Any 1990-1999 Legacy outback or 97- 04 or 08 or something forester will be a direct fit. You can ignore the rear tophat swap or hole to drill mentioned for the impreza lift. Yours is an exact match. Also, the trailing arm brackets from the outback are rather necessary for impreza lifts but more optional for legacy. With that setup you can clear a 27-28 inch tire. I used 215-75-15 tires on my forester lifted impreza. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bratman18 Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 His rear top hats will need to be changed. It's not a direct swap. 90-94 had a different rear stud patter than 95-99 legacy/outback or 98-08 forester or 02-07 inpreza. So he would need to drill new holes, or swap his top hats onto the outback or forester struts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xscaff Posted March 11, 2015 Author Share Posted March 11, 2015 I found these on eBay here's the link: http://www.ebay.com/itm/FCS-Complete-Loaded-Struts-Coil-Assembly-FRONT-REAR-04-05-SUBARU-FORESTER-/191494755059?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2c95fa12f3&vxp=mtr Do you guys think these would work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bratman18 Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 Yeah those should work, but you'll still have to either swap your rear top hats over onto those, or drill new holes for the top hat studs where they bolt up through the car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ezapar Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 His rear top hats will need to be changed. It's not a direct swap. 90-94 had a different rear stud patter than 95-99 legacy/outback or 98-08 forester or 02-07 inpreza. So he would need to drill new holes, or swap his top hats onto the outback or forester struts. I drilled mine out in the back so I could keep the outback top hat and push the springs out away from the inner wall. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xscaff Posted March 20, 2015 Author Share Posted March 20, 2015 Drilling those holes won't weaken the support back there? If anybody had a picture it would be swell just to get a rough idea. I'm just trying to cover all bases before I start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bratman18 Posted March 20, 2015 Share Posted March 20, 2015 No it won't weaken it. There's some info in this link that will be the same for your early legacy. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/118004-the-unofficial-how-to-lift-your-impreza-thread/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdventureSubaru Posted March 21, 2015 Share Posted March 21, 2015 Didn't know the first gen were different. Good to know. And yeah. I drilled my Impreza for it's lift and bounced it all over the mountains, forged through rivers, towed big loads for it with no issue. Drill away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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