superu/mark 95 Legacy L, 2.2 NA motor.

[superu]

A collection of some Boxer awesomeness to begin this thread!











Hello all. New member here, mod list (off the top of my head) as of March 2010 follows:

Begins with 72Kmi 1995 Subaru Legacy L2.2l NA motor, 5MT, open diffs


Then I started with the mods. . .
snorkus delete
window tint
subaru option rear spoiler
K&N box air filter
exedy OEM clutch (SPEC stage II clutch died after 55K miles)
98 Subaru Outback struts and springs (1.5" lift)
2.25" cat back through cherry bomb and magnaflow muffler
14" aftermarket Al wheels
27.5" BFGoodrich AT/KO tires (1.6" lift)
modified Mudrat tube bumper
rear diff protector
97 Outback hood (w/ scoop)
periodically mounted aftermarket Thule knock-off roof rack (with basket/bike carriers)
receiver hitch (periodically mounted Thule 4-bike carrier)
rear disc swap
98 Outback rear seat bottom




Utah Rallycross (Honeyville, UT fall 2009)


:smt026 READ ON FOR MORE AWESOMENESS!!! :smt026

[iampetro]

cool

[Airgne]

awsome 2nd gen. i think 2nd gens only look good lifted.

[2.5GT]

Wow! this is a very good example of a rally legacy!!

[lord flashheart]

what???? that is so dope!
you from utah?

[inoneday]

I love it definitely a beautiful piece of machine

[bluebaru]

this thing is awesome i need some outback struts and springs.

[inoneday]

get them from a junkyard lol thats what i did. only got rear ones tho :/ and installing them is not bad at all.

[jockstar]

Where did you get that awesome front bumper

[sybir]

Love the setup. I keep getting conflicted about raising my wagon back up with that same bumper.........or keeping it low so I can just run into stuff.

[dann]

love the skid plate. is that custom made? awesome ride bro!

[jospgut]

wow, is really really cool. i wanna get another BD and lift it up, or lift mine!!! but good job!!!

[chaksq]

Your car is pure awesome! I'd like to see more Legacies modded like this.

[racingking951]

so did the tires add 1.6in to the 1.5in already or did it just take 1.5in and turn it into 1.6in im buying mine from a 99 forester in a week and i was wondering how much the tires will do

[superu]

Wow! this is a very good example of a rally legacy!!

Hey thanks!!

(sorry for the delay in responding )

[superu]

what???? that is so dope!
you from utah?

(sorry for the delay in responding )
Thanks!! yeah, I'm in Moab

[superu]

this thing is awesome i need some outback struts and springs.

Yes you do
All the cool kids are doing it!

Its pretty easy (as inoneday indicates) and WAY worth the mod.

[superu]

Where did you get that awesome front bumper

6 years ago from Mudrat designs and fabrication in Eugene, OR
New designs...

[superu]

love the skid plate. is that custom made? awesome ride bro!

Sorry for the delays in repsonding to yous guys kudos

Yes, modified Mudrat custom skidplate. But the thing weighs 40 pounds
So ned taller stiffer springs now.
I usually just run the skid in winter...
Its ALL steel (duuh, weight), with 1" tubes for lateral support, and the side wings are 1/4 " to tidy up the skid to the bumper and close off the sides.

[superu]

so did the tires add 1.6in to the 1.5in already or did it just take 1.5in and turn it into 1.6in im buying mine from a 99 forester in a week and i was wondering how much the tires will do

racingking951,

outback struts and springs added about 1.5" to the stock legacy L suspension, and the 27" (27x8.5x14") BFGs added another 1.5-1.6" ON TOP of the outback strut lift. SO i'm sitting about 3 inches TALLER than stock legacy. So I'm around 9-10" ground clearance to the rear diff, rather than the stock 6ish inches...

What are you getting from the forest, struts and springs? And what are you putting them on?

FYI, I've heard OB struts allow taller tires over FOR struts. I hear the lower spring perch on the FOR struts is a touch lower (maybe allowing for the FOR's taller springs?) than the OB 's lower spring perch. I've heard someon doing FOR struts and not getting as tall of a tire on b/c of the spring perch, he then swapped for OB struts and was able to fit a taller tire than the FOR struts allowed..
BUT maybe like a 1/2 " tire difference.. BOTH FOR and OB will give lift, b/c of the longer shaft b/t the lower spring perch and where the strut mounts to the wheel knuckle...

Anyhoo, yeah, struts gave 1.5" and the tires gave another 1.5" (stock tire 185x75x14 = 24" diameter, BFG 27x8.5x14= 27" diameter, thus taller diameter=taller radius=more ground clearance )

[racingking951]

well im limited on used parts down hear in florida soooo if a OB setup would provide better clearance than FOR i would much rather have the OB. i was going to run both struts and springs from the FOR and go get new tires a few days later (i really need to get tires since i got the steel belt showing but i dont want to get tires then lift it then want to get new tires again lol)

i guess ill keep watching ebay and checking the local junkyard for some

[superu]

well im limited on used parts down hear in florida soooo if a OB setup would provide better clearance than FOR i would much rather have the OB. i was going to run both struts and springs from the FOR and go get new tires a few days later (i really need to get tires since i got the steel belt showing but i dont want to get tires then lift it then want to get new tires again lol)

i guess ill keep watching ebay and checking the local junkyard for some

But, racingking951, beware... once you go down that road, there's no turning back
The lifting and modification road is a slippery slope

Yes, checking ebay and even your parts stores are good plans... I did tirerack and got a pretty good deal on my latest OB struts (already had springs from the first round).

OORRRRR,

What I've been reading elsewhere lately is this little tidbit.


If you run entire strut assemblies (strut, spring and tophat) from a second generation forester (they're talking about 04 or 05, with 05 XT being ideal), you'll get I THINK (I have not verified this with my own eyes, just seen pictures after the fact) you'll get 3 inches over stock with that strut package alone... This was mentioned as a way of lifting an outback, with reports of 1.5" lift over stock on an outback...
(do a search on dirtyimpreza.com for lifting and outback, or I can find you the threads in DI if you'd like)
SO with that you may get like 3" in suspension over stock legacy, THEN tires to boot!

BUT word of caution, going over 2" over stock ON ANYTHING, you'll need to drop driveline stuff, like the spacers on the engine crossmember that FOR and OB have over IMP and legacies), and a tranny crossmember bracket, and a rear trailing arm bracket...

SO, there's something to put in your pipe... :smt026

With that said, simplest would be 97-99 OB struts and springs (your tophats will be fine, if they're not destroyed) would be simplest and cheapest... I got my first set shipped from WA when I was in AZ, but that cost me... My friend just did this swap and got the strut and spring for a little more than I got the strut alone from tirerack...

Highest would be second gen FOR assemblies...

This is a late 90's Impreza on second gen forester suspension


These are the OB parts you'd need (sans the tranny crossmember) to drop the driveline
(stock LEG rear trailing arm bracket)


(OB trailing arm bracket)


Engine crossmember spacers


These are (I'm pretty sure) rear springs from, left to right, 98 FOR, 95 LEG, 93 IMP


Here are the 93 IMP struts compared to 98 FOR struts, not the longer shaft (thus the lift)
rear? front??

[racingking951]

thats alot more work than what i thought it would be and thanks for all the info im still determined to do the lift i guess i should save up and get all the parts together first before starting anything if i still want to go that high. what about outback struts and springs and 1.5in strut spacers that lift just the body, would i still need to drop the drive line as well or will i be able to skip this step? thanks again for all the info

[MadScotsMan]

That is just flat out cool. Nice job!

[superu]

thats alot more work than what i thought it would be and thanks for all the info im still determined to do the lift i guess i should save up and get all the parts together first before starting anything if i still want to go that high. what about outback struts and springs and 1.5in strut spacers that lift just the body, would i still need to drop the drive line as well or will i be able to skip this step? thanks again for all the info

I had this whole informative response typed out, then lost my net connection!!

Basically what I think I said was, I'd suggest just going OB struts and taller tires. You might get away with doing a 1" spacer on top of the strut without needing to drop the driveline too, but that's only a might.

If you go over 2" higher than stock in suspension lifting (like second gen FOR strut gear), or OB struts and taller springs (like king springs' raised springs), OR OB struts and spacers (body lift), you'd need to think about much more stuff...

BUT, if you just stick with OB struts and taller tires, you'd be fine!! I'd suggest getting new KYB GR2s (or excell G as they're called now). You can get them on a pretty good deal from tire rack, and you will have new parts rather than 160,000++ mile used parts with little to no life left in them, AND the KYBs are a touch stifer response than squichy stock suby struts (which are also made by KYB, just to Suby's softer specs for production cars)


*BUT* b.c your CV axles currently have their "wear pattern" established on stock height, you may need to keep in mind that switching your axle angles (via OB lift, or spring lift or spacer lift), it may fatigue your axles quicker... BUT if that be the case and you swap cvs, they'll be happy starting life at the new height.


Make sense?


SO, to conclude (again what I guess I'm saying is, I'd suggest OB strut swap and taller tires (27" is fine no problems with an OB strut swap) and you'd be psyched. If you still need more, you might be able to squeeze in 1" or less of spacers without needing to drp the other stuff..


k, bye, happy lifting

[racingking951]

So i went to tire kingdom to get new taller tires like the ones you have but not as big and they told me anything bigger than stock will break the diff. Have you ever hear of this or are they just full of s***

[superu]

So i went to tire kingdom to get new taller tires like the ones you have but not as big and they told me anything bigger than stock will break the diff. Have you ever hear of this or are they just full of s***

That's an "F'ing" line!!!

They might be giving you some smoke up your skirt to "cover their insurance" rather than just saying they're "...not comfortable installing larger than recommended"...
I did test fits to determine up to 27ish" would fit with no rubbing lock to lock and a little suspension flex (lowering the car off the lift on a railroad tie-sized block)...

I have had no issues with and of my differentials.
AS LONG AS YOU REPLACE ALL 4 TIRES AT THE SAME TIME, you won't either.

If you did the 26" on front and stock on back to save money, you'd certainly blow your center diff, similarly if you replaced large on right and stock on left you'd blow your diffs..

You will find a discrepancy i your speedo and odo with the taller tires, but that's physics... taller tires = travelling faster than your speedo indicates...
BUT otherwise no. If you swap all four for equal size tires at the same time, you won't have problems...

So did you do the 97-99 OB strut swap? I'm interested in your lifting prgress

[Nate_B4_Blitzen]

Man this Legacy looks awesome raised and rally'd out...

[racingking951]

thats what i was thinking i even told them at as long as everything is the same size there wont be a problem but he persisted to tell me that another subaru owner got larger tires then blew the diff 3 miles down the road, so in frustration i said whatever just give me a cheap tire for now

but anyways the lift is still untouched lol i figured id do your set up seeing as it seems the easiest im just having trouble finding the springs. ive only fouond them at the dealership so im waiting for something to show up either in the local junkyard or ebay

[TGX4776]

I want that Hill!

I want to do what you are doing but to an outback.