Me and my son are in the process of lifting my 93 Subaru legacy wagon and have a couple questions, we have both done research and read the FAQ page (some of the links are broken)

My son has quite a bit  of mechanical and fabricating experience with building his Toyota's but we are both new to Subaru's. 

Through our research it sounded like springs and struts off the 99 forester at our local scrap yard would work, assuming we drill 1 new hole for one of the top mounting  bolts for the rear struts,

Front went on perfect without issues, we got to the back and drilled 1 new hole (towards the outside) and used the other 2 factory holes, we mounted the rear strut, and it bolts up fine except, looking at the top from inside the car the large middle bolt is off center (see pic below) just wondering if this is for sure okay or if we need to drill 3 holes that would bring it back to center?

2nd question, after our research we came to the conclusion that 98-99 Forester strut/spring assembly would give the most lift. Which is why I picked them up.  I ran across a post tonight that said forester assembly would give more ground clearance than outback strut/springs because the springs were stiffer, but you could fit bigger tires with outback springs because the spring perch was higher on the outback struts. I have a 96 outback I can pull struts off if I should go that route. 

Can anyone clarify this? 

If the above is the case, would the very best option be,  put forester springs on outback struts and get the best of both worlds? Can that be done? Would the the springs from the Forester fit the Outback Strut?

 

Any help would be much appreciated.

i miss montana! grew up in the bitterroot. welcome to the forum, i would take a burr grinder and elongate the other two holes enough to allow the strut to seat. if left like that it will deform the strut tower quickly and cause future headaches

Should have swapped the Legacy Tophats onto the Forester struts.  The way you have it now has the strut top tipped out further than it should be.  This will cause positive camber, which is not a good thing.

FWIW, 99 Outback rear struts will give you more height and tire clearance.

Personally I would swap the tophats now, and not hack up the body mount any further.n  Maybe get some outback rears and use those with proper fitting Legacy tophats.

 

Thanks  much for the help guys. I have a spring compressor rented and will see about switching the top hats over in the next night or two and let you know how it goes.I am working on several projects all at one time, so a bit late on my reply. Hey Crawlerdan, I am in the Bitterroot also. Stevi area. Montana the last best place.

alittle late here but i would lift it more maybe 1" lift blocks or drop the subframe and go 2" the subframe drop parts are on your outback if your striping it anyway thats the way to go

if you put outback/forester struts on a lego you basicly end up with a outback not realy much of a lift

Edited December 1, 20196 yr by ferp420