Front Cross member necessary for a BE?

[JBCLEGACY]

I keep hearing about swaps in 1st and 2nd gen legacy's as well as impreza's and they all speak of a turbo allowed crossmember...
Is this necessary for the BE chassis? and if so, and this is important now, does it have to be a BE chassis cross member?
I'm working on a built EJ22t swap project for my 2002 Legacy GT

On top of that, love this site!! I've been working a lot of projects based on advice I've researched here; So thanks everyone!!

[KAG]

**paging rougeben83**

From what I've researched, you can get away with simply notching your crossmember to allow the uppipe to clear. However for a perfect fit you can find an older Legacy Turbo crossmember (91-94) and it will bolt right up.

You can also use a WRX or STi crossmember, but you'll have to shim the control arms for everything to sit properly.

[rougeben83]

yeah its the same on the 3rd gens. It basically boils down to n/a crossmember vs. turbo crossmember. The legacy SS crossmember is good if you don't want to change control arms. You get a 20mm wider stance by changing to the wrx/sti control arms, which is a good deal in my book (even the regular steel wrx arms will do) to go along with the wrx/sti crossmember. Otherwise you need to shim your control arms to fit into these crossmembers, which isn't 100% ideal because the shim/washers you use aren't always the same thickness, so you tend to change the suspension geometry a little bit.

[JBCLEGACY]

I've actually found and purchased a 1992 legacy with an EJ22t and 5spd(no auto :shock: !!)
It even has the original Nardi wood steering wheel...

Am I reading these replies right? the cross member from the 92 will bolt into my 2002?

[JBCLEGACY]

Wow, not real busy around here is it? :wink:

[chuckthefuk]

Am I reading these replies right? the cross member from the 92 will bolt into my 2002?


The legacy SS crossmember is good if you don't want to change control arms.