98legwag's 09 3.0R Limited

[98legwag]

I will post up what has to be done. It should be installed Saturday. The Energy Suspension bushings come with brackets. People on legacygt.com have used OEM rubber Tribeca bushings and made them fit by shaving them down slightly.

http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.p ... 11718.html

Edit- this sway bar will curl over the tie rods instead of under them like the factory Legacy bars too.

[Navi271]

Sweet! That should tighten up the front end nicely. Too bad it won't work on a turbo car.

[soba noodle]

I'm seriously considering getting one too (and a set of OEM bushings + brackets (would they fit though?), cheap as chips) - looks like the cheapest will be partsouq, that is including US$70 for Fedex 3-4 days shipping. BTW do you know any part dealers in the US who would ship (at reasonable cost) over to NZ?

Anyway, waiting for your write up and some picsies .

[98legwag]

I am not really sure about dealers that would ship to NZ at a reasonable cost. I bought it from subarugenuineparts.com which is a dealer in Washington state. The Tribeca brackets looked different in a video I saw. The Legacy brackets mount to a flat surface while the Triebca brackets have a bend of over 180 degrees to match the mounts. The OEM Triebca bushings will work in the Legacy mounts and brackets, but from what I have seen they have to be shaved down a little bit. Hope that helps.

In about an hour or so I will be outside installing this and the new sub in the car and the re-manufactured alternator in the wagon.

[98legwag]

Well, the Tribeca front sway bar is installed with the help of a friend. Went a little differently than I thought. After putting the car on ramps to disconnect the end links and unbolt the stock sway bar we jacked the car up and put it on jack stands to remove the stock sway bar. Then we noticed the headers on the H6 are thicker than the headers on the NA 4 cyl cars. This meant the headers had to be unbolted from the heads to get the stock sway bar out and get the Tribeca bar in. Headers unbolted:


The bushings where slightly loose so we wrapped plastic around the bar then put the bushings on that. The bushings I used are part # 9.5161R. Here are pics of the Tribeca bar resting "in place" while the Energy Suspension bushings are being put on as well as some of the bushings and ES brackets.

The next thing we noticed was after taking the car off the jack stands and putting it back on the ramps was that the new sway bar was lining up directly over the end links. We solved this problem by spacing the end links in slightly from the control arms. We did this with a nut slightly bigger than the end link bolts. I should add the hardware supplied with my Perrin end links is shouldered bolts so the nut used a spacer had to fit over that shoulder. Here a couple pictures showing that.



The next thing we noticed was the bolt hole in the sway bar itself is larger than that on the stock sway bar, end links, and bolt itself. I did not want any clunking. We used brass "specialty washers" from Loews Hardware to fix the problem. We cut one in half and put a half on each bolt holding the sway bar to the end links. The brass washer was slightly larger than the sway bar hole, but is compressed down. My friend had used the Dremel to taper one end of the brass washer/sleeve. Here are pictures of what we used and the process of bolting the sway bar to end link and crushing down the brass sleeve.

[soba noodle]

Thank you for the write up! I now wonder if adjustable links I bought for the BH will fit... Not looking forward into undoing headers though.

[xSCARSx]

Looks great! I might do this on my legacy lol will it work on turbo cars?

[soba noodle]

It won't, NA only

[98legwag]

Looks great! I might do this on my legacy lol will it work on turbo cars?

As Soba Noodle said, it won't. Changing the fsb on a turbo car is 1000x easier. Since the exhaust goes over the cross-member all you have to do is unbolt the end links, unbolt the bushings and then remove the bolts from the front of the jack plate and loosen the rear bolts on the cross-member and the fsb should slide out. Or at least that is how on a 4th gen.

[98legwag]

Thank you for the write up! I now wonder if adjustable links I bought for the BH will fit... Not looking forward into undoing headers though.

The end links might. People legacygt.com used rear Forester end links, 20470SA011 is the part # for those. I wanted to keep my Perrin end links.

[soba noodle]

Looks great! I might do this on my legacy lol will it work on turbo cars?

As Soba Noodle said, it won't. Changing the fsb on a turbo car is 1000x easier. Since the exhaust goes over the cross-member all you have to do is unbolt the end links, unbolt the bushings and then remove the bolts from the front of the jack plate and loosen the rear bolts on the cross-member and the fsb should slide out. Or at least that is how on a 4th gen.

On a third gen I had to unbolt factory braces and something else.

[98legwag]

USPS tracking tells me there is something waiting at home for this car.

[geckoboy86]

Wonder what it is...

[98legwag]

[geckoboy86]

I now need to put my decepticons decal on my car. Hahaha. All Hail Megatron. Also All Hail Hydra.

[Muse]

Oh, dear...

[98legwag]

Oh, dear...

What? Jealous of the awesomeness...It was a total impulse buy, but I like it.

[Muse]

Oh, dear...

What? Jealous of the awesomeness...It was a total impulse buy, but I like it.

Oh, no no. It's that we're gonna have battling 3.0s.

[98legwag]

I didn't think of that.....my wagon is an autobot too. Look at the front grill.

[geckoboy86]

Oh, no no. It's that we're gonna have battling 3.0s.

LOL... Maybe... I find it more to be at different ends of the spectrum.

I didn't think of that.....my wagon is an autobot too. Look at the front grill.

Still not sure where my Decepticon decal is going to go.

[98legwag]

Well, I ordered some projector LEDs for the reverse lights. With the tint on the windows I wanted more light when in reverse. Also ordered some chrome plated amber rear turn signal bulbs like Soba noodle has.

[98legwag]

Installed projector LED reverse lights. Picture is gone due to Photobucket.

[soba noodle]

Is the brightness actually usable? LEDs can look very bright but be completely useless...

[98legwag]

Is the brightness actually usable? LEDs can look very bright but be completely useless...

I didn't really have a chance to find out. The set for this car also have LEDs around the sides to make use of the reflectors in the tail light housing. I put some projector LED reverse lights in my 98 wagon and they a very useful.

[98legwag]

Is the brightness actually usable? LEDs can look very bright but be completely useless...

I didn't really have a chance to find out. The set for this car also have LEDs around the sides to make use of the reflectors in the tail light housing. I put some projector LED reverse lights in my 98 wagon and they a very useful.

Well, tonight was the first time I drive the car in the dark since putting them in. All in all I would say they are about as useful as the stock bulbs. That is kind of disappointing. I was looking for something brighter since I have the tinted windows. The set of projector LED reverse lights in my wagon put out way more useful light than the stock bulbs did on that car. The ebay seller I got those from did not have any that would work in the 09.

In other news, the silver coated amber bulbs I bought for the rear turn signals came so I installed them.

[98legwag]

No real updates. I am still surprised with how much a difference the Tribeca fsb made. Car just bites into corners.

[98legwag]

My new fog light bulbs arrived today, although USPS delivered them to my neighbor's house. I will install them after work tomorrow. I got Osram Night Breaker Unlimiteds, which I also have in the low beams. I also have something on the way from Rallysportdirect.com.

[98legwag]

The Grimmspeed BMC brace arrived today. I plan to install it after work one day this week.

[98legwag]

I just finished up installing the brace. It was much easier than the one on the wagon. Only hard part tonight was threading in the bottom bolt on this. On the 3.0R that hole in the strut wall was not used so it had a rubber tape over it that needed to be pierced. I am going to relax a bit then go drive the car.

[geckoboy86]

Let me know if it made any impact.