Smitch Posted October 1, 2007 Share Posted October 1, 2007 I know theres a few of you guys running lifted imprezas around here. I have a couple of questions for you. I ran into Dome24 (I know your on here to) over on RS25 asking about obx trailing arms. What Im looking to accomplish is a raised look for a very cheap price. Im not looking to go offroading and Im not looking to do anything irreversible. As a matter of fact Im only looking to have the car raised only in the winter. I plan on dropping back down in the summer by swapping back over struts and springs. Im not looking for any kind of 4x4 tires or anything along those lines. Heres what Im thinking about doing..... -forester xt springs...on the way fifty bucks shipped -reusing my obs stock struts...just sitting in my garage -buying a set of obx trailing arms to get my back wheel where its suppost to be. Heres my questions........ What kind of a lift am I going to get with just forester xt springs? I will be reusing my OBS struts....I think. Would I get more of a lift using forester struts than retaining the obs struts? Am I missing anything, or over looking anything else that needs to be done, other than an alignment. Heres current pics of my obs with its autox suspension. Thanks for your time Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
75subie Posted October 2, 2007 Share Posted October 2, 2007 sorry to be off topic but that obs is sick. definatly tasteful mods is it stock under the hood or swapped? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjo Posted October 3, 2007 Share Posted October 3, 2007 If you get some coilovers, you can adjust the ride hight whenever you want Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smitch Posted October 3, 2007 Author Share Posted October 3, 2007 sorry to be off topic but that obs is sick. definatly tasteful mods is it stock under the hood or swapped? I just bought it and put on left over, take off parts from my RS. The only thing done to it right now are some H&R springs, kyb struts and a 20mm rear bar. I upgraded the front brake to WRX rotors and replaced the rear drums with wrx spindle/rotor set up. heres the rs The swap is planned for the OBS around spring time....if I get it paid off. I dont want to do coilovers on it, just something cheap and fun for the winter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kami333 Posted October 3, 2007 Share Posted October 3, 2007 I'm planning on doing the same, just picked up some 98 Forester struts and springs to slap on my 93 L wagon. Regarding the trailing arms though, I thought Forester lateral links were supposed to get rid of the camber issues. Do I need the trailing arms too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smitch Posted October 3, 2007 Author Share Posted October 3, 2007 I planned on using crash bolts to fix any camber problems that might arise. I have the obx trailing arms on my RS. The obx trailing arms are adjustable. If you look at the first picture of the L you will see that the wheel is a bit close to the front of the wheel well. Im hoping the new trailing arms will fix this problem. Be sure to post up some pictures when you get everything together. Let me know if you come across any problems along the way. Im not use to lifting the cars, quite the opposite. Hopefully one of the usmb will chime in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kami333 Posted October 3, 2007 Share Posted October 3, 2007 I planned on using crash bolts to fix any camber problems that might arise. I have the obx trailing arms on my RS. The obx trailing arms are adjustable. If you look at the first picture of the L you will see that the wheel is a bit close to the front of the wheel well. Im hoping the new trailing arms will fix this problem. Be sure to post up some pictures when you get everything together. Let me know if you come across any problems along the way. Im not use to lifting the cars, quite the opposite. Hopefully one of the usmb will chime in. I was just reading some of the other threads about lifting Imprezas, seems like the trailing arms could be an issue. And it seems like Forester and Impreza trailing arms are the same length. How much were the OBX arms? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smitch Posted October 3, 2007 Author Share Posted October 3, 2007 120.00 shipped http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/OBX-trailing-arms-2002-2005-Subaru-WRX-STI-2-5RS_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ42604QQihZ016QQitemZ260165014748QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smitch Posted October 6, 2007 Author Share Posted October 6, 2007 I guess Im on my own with this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Numbchux Posted October 6, 2007 Share Posted October 6, 2007 Im hoping the new trailing arms will fix this problem. problem? I see no problem. getting adjustable trailing arms (which, btw, don't look like they'll have enough adjustment to fully recenter the wheel) is about as important a part of this project as putting an intercooler on an N/A car. the setup you have listed won't yield you much lift over stock. IIRC forester XT springs are comparable length to an impreza. but I could be wrong there. even with just forester springs on your stock struts, you're only looking at ~1-1.5" of lift over stock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smitch Posted October 7, 2007 Author Share Posted October 7, 2007 thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dome24 Posted October 13, 2007 Share Posted October 13, 2007 boy that was strange opening a new thread and seeing my car, new experience for me Im gonna side with Num on the xt springs being short, they are lower than a regular Forester, but still taller than what you got now, but if you use your OBS Struts they won't give you much of anything, the strut actually limits the coil a good amount, hmm that doesnt make sense i tried OBS Struts and lowered from the Leg that were on, then i went to For Struts and For Coils, blam perfect. I say try em and see what happens if youve got the parts laying around, but if you can get Regular Forester Coils on Regualr Forester Struts id go with that. I still havent ordered the obx piece yet, Let me know how much adjustment you can actually get. Im actually thinking about the latereal links before the trailing arms, i think the camber is more important than the caster. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smitch Posted October 13, 2007 Author Share Posted October 13, 2007 boy that was strange opening a new thread and seeing my car, new experience for me . I blame you for this! Looks like I wasted 50.00 for some xt springs. Oh well, I'll give it a shot anyways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dome24 Posted October 13, 2007 Share Posted October 13, 2007 i didn't say a waste, defiently try it and let me know, take a bunch of measurements cause im curious also Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smitch Posted October 13, 2007 Author Share Posted October 13, 2007 Will do, worse case I'll have stiffer spring rates. Thats not so bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kami333 Posted October 14, 2007 Share Posted October 14, 2007 cars101.com says the FXT has 0.2" more minimum clearence than the non-turbo versions, though it could be from the difference in exhaust. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smitch Posted October 25, 2007 Author Share Posted October 25, 2007 I went to put the XT springs on the obs struts. I got the fronts on only after compressing the hell out of them. To me the springs still dont look happy in their new stuts. The rears wont fit because I dont have the weird top hats like the forester, so it looks like Im back to the drawing board on this one.:-\ I'll probably just start over and look for complete take offs from a 98/01, unless the newer ones just bolt on too? Does anyone know??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kami333 Posted October 28, 2007 Share Posted October 28, 2007 Are they tapered like the 04 Imprezas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dome24 Posted October 29, 2007 Share Posted October 29, 2007 Are they tapered like the 04 Imprezas? that would be my guess seeing as they are built on the same platform essentially. Yea when i put the forrester coils on the imp struts they didn't look happy at all, but once i got the longer For struts it all came together Maybe you could try a FXT coil topper then your OBS top mount, hmm that didn't make much sense but it does in my head:lol: these thingys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smitch Posted October 29, 2007 Author Share Posted October 29, 2007 these thingys Yeah, their like the 04 wrx struts. I think I found a set of 98 forester struts. We'll see. I found were one guy modified his rear strut mounts in his car to get the 04 tops to mount. I dont really want to do any cutting in the car. I really only want this for winter time. Theres a small chance that I'll be autox this car and need the option of switching back to a normal set up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s'ko Posted November 9, 2007 Share Posted November 9, 2007 I got the FXT struts front and back. I had to take a dremel and slot some of the mounting holes in the rear and then I used big fender washers to keep things intact. Have about 3k on them, no problems. Here is before and after Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smitch Posted November 9, 2007 Author Share Posted November 9, 2007 I got the FXT struts front and back. I had to take a dremel and slot some of the mounting holes in the rear and then I used big fender washers to keep things intact. Have about 3k on them' date=' no problems. Here is before and after [img']http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j208/boswan/StockOBS.jpg[/img] I saw your pictures over on dirtyimpreza.com. I have a question for you. Are you using just the xt strut or the whole assembly (xt struts, springs and top hats)? Im assuming that you used the whole assembly because of the dremeling. Thanks for your reply. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smitch Posted November 18, 2007 Author Share Posted November 18, 2007 I ended up putting back on my OBS suspension for a rallyx. Heres some worthless pictures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hondaslayer Posted December 8, 2007 Share Posted December 8, 2007 You can use 90-91 Legacy rear strut mounts for a bolt on solution. That is what I originally did before I broke them jumping the car 90-91 Legacy mounts are made for the tapered springs, but have the same upper bolt spread as your Impreza. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smitch Posted December 8, 2007 Author Share Posted December 8, 2007 You can use 90-91 Legacy rear strut mounts for a bolt on solution. Where could I pick up a set of these strut tops? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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