BL/BP Pink Springs/struts on BE questions

[PHATsuby]

Hey everyone,

So I ended up ordering some BL/BP Sti pinks and will put them on Bilstein HD's but I am trying to figure out what the best combo will be for the springs and my car. I plan on getting the HD bilsteins for the BL/BP as well so it will match the springs better.

I have read that BE/BH people have used impreza spring perches and BE top hats on other combos of struts and lowering springs(H&R and BE/BH pinks). What I am wondering is if I can use BL/BP perches and BE tophats and have everything fit together? Or will I still need to use the impreza perch since they are JDM and use the BE tophat?

My concern is the BE tophat will be mismatched and make the front way higher but I have no pictures of comparison so it may not be any issue.

Anyone have any first hand knowledge of this? I know I can't run the BL/BP tophats for sure but I want to make sure I can run the BL/BP strut/spring with the BE/BH top hats. I basically need to know which spring perch will work. Should I try a USDM spec B perch?

Thanks for the help!

Ben

[PHATsuby]

I have noticed a potential issue. My assumption was that the BL/BP struts were the same besides the tophat. Of course that was a dumb assumption. It actually looks like they are shorter than the BE/BH struts by a decent amount. My concern is if I run the BL/BP struts my car will be slammed in the front. I can't swap knuckles because I need the 00-04 ABS sensor mount.

My other concern is if I run BE/BH struts the spring will be too short and clearly that won't work.

Anyone have any ideas or info?

Ben

[Huffer]

Hey Ben,

I think Dylan at DS1 Motorsports had a thread around here at one time on the various suspension bits that worked on the BE/BH. IIRC, the BL/BP struts did work but you had to use the whole combo. Try looking for the thread or maybe you can contact him direct - post up your results because I know there's a lot of owners here who are interested!

[dodik]

which side is shorter below spring perch or above? How much shorter 1", 2" 3" etc? if too low can you still return the and get the outback ones? Generally outback struts are 1 1/2" longer than legacy

[PHATsuby]

Thanks huffer, I'll look for that one.

I spoke with supermoose briefly and he claimed it will work but didn't have much specifics since he did it 4 years ago and swaps suspensions very frequently.

I am fairly certain it will at least bolt up, my concern is it will be too low in the front but that will be the test. I am using BL/BP pink springs, Bilstein HD struts for BL/BP, Spec B spring perches, and BE/BH top hats. I'll keep everyone posted on how it goes. I assume it will assemble with no issues(I hope) the test will be in once it is installed on the car.

Since I don't have a way to compare the spring height of the pinks to a stock BE(I have Teins) that will cause more uncertainty. The BL/BP spring has less coils but they seem more spaced out so it may be very similar.

Stay tuned. :) Thanks again for the help. If anyone comes across the DS1 link let me know. I'd talk to Dylan but he skipped town with people's money back in Chicago(allegedly...) so he may be hard to get ahold of.

Ben

[PHATsuby]

I found the thread by Dylan and guess what, of course he stopped posting before ever saying if he got the Spec B bilsteins to work... :smt013

Unless there is another one that confirms it, looks like I"ll be finding out the answer haha.

Ben

[rougeben83]

yeah from my understanding, you need to use both BL strut and springs to work, and use the BE/BH tophat...however I can't confirm this as I haven't done it myself.

As far as how they will make the car handle or sit...I'm only guessing but the car may have a little larger fender gap as the 05 LGT's weight about 100lbs more than the heaviest 3rd gen GT.