Man,i love my car!...

[sherbysuby]

Here's some pics(crapy low-res) with my new set-up,i've got the forester strut/spring on my 2002 TS:
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t94/fury318/sherbysuby/lifted%20impreza/mur003.jpg

http://http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t94/fury318/sherbysuby/lifted%20impreza/mur002.jpg (http://http//i158.photobucket.com/albums/t94/fury318/sherbysuby/lifted%20impreza/mur002.jpg%5B/IMG%5D)

http://[IMG]http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t94/fury318/sherbysuby/lifted%20impreza/mur009.jpg (http://[img]http//i158.photobucket.com/albums/t94/fury318/sherbysuby/lifted%20impreza/mur009.jpg%5B/IMG%5D)
(side by side with a stock one)

This is with my 205-70-15 studded General altimax .Those tires work as well in deep snow or on ice...

For the summer,i have the yoko geo at/s with the same size as the winter's one...
Next time i'm gonna buy the grabber's with bigger size.

I wish i do the suspension swap sooner.

This is the best thing i ever done to my suby...

Man,i love my car...

[Rally OBXT]

Nice and beefy!:)

[trans4m]

what gen forester did you use? I have a 2002 wrx wagon, and I'm trying to plan my suspension.

Thanks for the help.

[litre]

looks good IMO i love the lifted look

[zulater]

Looks nice. Did you use any other forester suspension parts outside of the strut/spring/tophat?

[GClark]

Great looking lift! Would mind putting some more pics of your car up? Your rack setup is exactly what I want to do.

[Kampfzentrum]

Very nice, I wanted to do a Foz lift, but couldn't get a straight answer as to what I really needed to buy. Seemed there is quite a bit of differences.

Did you have to drop the subframe?

[sherbysuby]

I use MY 2002 foz parts on my 2002,but correct me if i'm wrong , i think you can interchange parts between MY 2002 and 2007 .
The swap is bolt on ,dont have to interchange tophat .
I dont touch the subframe.

Here some pics of the playpen rack ,i'm gonna post later some more pics of the installation.

http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t94/fury318/sherbysuby/juin09011_edited.jpg
Before the lift...
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t94/fury318/sherbysuby/juin09017.jpg

http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t94/fury318/sherbysuby/juin09018-1.jpg

[trans4m]

so you used forester springs/struts and used your stock tophats? Would my 2002 wrx wagon be the same as your car?

[sherbysuby]

so you used forester springs/struts and used your stock tophats? Would my 2002 wrx wagon be the same as your car?

Bolt-on man...springs/struts/tophats...The tophats are the same,it fits just like daddy in mommy;-)

[2002maniac]

The rear caster angle looks much better than other swaps I've seen. What did you do to correct it.

[sherbysuby]

The rear caster angle looks much better than other swaps I've seen. What did you do to correct it.

Nothing , except a good allignement.

[sherbysuby]

For those who wants some pics of my hella 500 rack installation:
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t94/fury318/sherbysuby/lifted%20impreza/15-03-10_1112.jpg

http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t94/fury318/sherbysuby/lifted%20impreza/15-03-10_1113.jpg


I know wrong section...;)

[chimchimm5]

Bolt-on man...springs/struts/tophats...The tophats are the same,it fits just like daddy in mommy;-)

Sorry... one more question...

Can you swap the entire assembly of the two without ever having to disassemble the spring/strut? ie... under 3 top mount bolts, 2 hub bolts, pull off forrester, put on impreza; no disassembly of the top nut at all?

[zulater]

Sorry... one more question...

Can you swap the entire assembly of the two without ever having to disassemble the spring/strut? ie... under 3 top mount bolts, 2 hub bolts, pull off forrester, put on impreza; no disassembly of the top nut at all?
yes.

[sherbysuby]

Sorry... one more question...

Can you swap the entire assembly of the two without ever having to disassemble the spring/strut? ie... under 3 top mount bolts, 2 hub bolts, pull off forrester, put on impreza; no disassembly of the top nut at all?

No dissemble at all,you jack the car remove the 4 impreza strut assembly and put the forester one...In 1 hour you create a monster :muhaha: .After all you put the struts from the impreza in the shed or you sell them to a forester guy on nasioc who wants a dropped foz...:lol:

[bugeye_berge]

doing this to my wrx tomorrow :muhaha:. ill figure out the trail arms after im done. hopefully i can throw up some pics too if its not too late.

[sherbysuby]

doing this to my wrx tomorrow :muhaha:. ill figure out the trail arms after im done. hopefully i can throw up some pics too if its not too late.

:headbang::headbang::headbang: Yes sir!!

[bugeye_berge]

so i went and picked up the suspension... no ******* tophats! :unamused: so now i need to scour a junkyard or buy them from somewhere.. then ill be able to do this .. till then :cry: sadness

[Suparu]

VERY NICE!!

And again, you did NOT do anyhing with the rear trailing arms or its bracket?

I've read the second gen FOR gear will lift a first gen legacy OB (these OB struts have long been used to lift legacies and imprezas), as such that year range for (i think it stats with 02, maybe its 03-07 though) FOR struts, springs tophats )read: complete strut assembly) provides the most lift. So much that i considered but backout out of a second gen FOR strut assembly swap when compared to my 97-99 OB strut swap in my legacy.

blah blah blah, I guess what I'm saying is is 02 the end of first gen forester or the start of second gen forester, and if its the later then i'm surprised you didn't need to do anything in the rear to keep the wheel centered in the wheel well....

NICE WORK nontheless!! I'm getting an 03 OBS to replace our 93 IMP and will want to do some lifint, just thinking of 1" spacers or the suspension swap i did to the old on and my legacy, and you did with your RS.

Ooh, BTW, did I say nice work?? :headbang:

[sherbysuby]

Thank you Suparu! As i said,no bracket at all,i must be lucky because my biggest concern about the lift was the decentered rear wheels .:bow:

[Phil Force]

Looks really, really good, man! This is exactly what I am going to do with my 2002 OBS, hopefully sooner than later.

Any suggestions on where to look for Forester spring/strut assemblies? Just junkyards or is there a good website to search stuff like that?

Looks great!

[sherbysuby]

more pics at:http://www.dirtyimpreza.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17177

[Dan McGinn]

I've been seriously thinking of getting rid of my Legacy DD and getting back into wagons, the pics of your car have put me over the top! What a practical height, clean look, and simple installation. Looks great. :thumbsup:

[TEK]

you think the 02 forester suspension will fit on my 99 obs because that's what i have wanted to do to mine for so long and if not all i would have to do is change top hats to put forester springs on my obs anyway right i don't know if there the same bolt holes and BTW that looks awesome man:thumbsup:

[skyphix]

02 Forester should have the same suspension mounts as your 99OBS. If not, all you have to do is put your tophats on the Forester struts/springs. No matter what, the front will bolt in with no changes.

EDIT: To the OP - what size tires did you have on your car before the lift? Was it still the 205/70/15's? Also, thanks for providing the photos. I grabbed an '04 in that same color and your photos provided me the ability to look into the future.

[sherbysuby]

02 Forester should have the same suspension mounts as your 99OBS. If not, all you have to do is put your tophats on the Forester struts/springs. No matter what, the front will bolt in with no changes.

EDIT: To the OP - what size tires did you have on your car before the lift? Was it still the 205/70/15's? Also, thanks for providing the photos. I grabbed an '04 in that same color and your photos provided me the ability to look into the future.
Yes i have the 205-70-15 tires before the lift,only rubbing at full turn..Look beefy and nice..

http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t94/fury318/sherbysuby/juin09017.jpg

And as you said,for the 99 obs you have to interchange rear tophats.

[scsi]

i believe the 98 forester is the same generation that you used. is it safe to assume the suspension hasn't changed between the 98 and 02 forester? reason i ask is because its the only one i coiuld find on craigslist =P

this is to go on an 03 TS (i guess pretty much same as your car). overall what year forester spring/strut/tophat combo will work for me?

[sherbysuby]

i believe the 98 forester is the same generation that you used. is it safe to assume the suspension hasn't changed between the 98 and 02 forester? reason i ask is because its the only one i coiuld find on craigslist

As i said on your post about the 98 stuff,$300 hundred bucks for a 12 year suspension seems a lot to me...if I were you,i wait a bit to find a better deal...you can buy and install bigger tire right now without the suspension swap,i swap the tire for the geolandar 205-70-15 a year before the swap.
It fit and it gonna give you a full inch or more of ground clearance...
My 2 cents...;)