Toying with lifting the Impreza.

[Whitenoise350]

Hi guys this is my first post on here, My name is Iain and I am from the UK, I currently have an MY97 V3 WRX Sti and an MY01 S-Turbo Forester but I have owned various subarus over the past 7 years. Up to now I have been all about speed and have produced an 11.80 sec 1/4mile Impreza running a VF35 with 360bhp which is my daily drive but I do prefer the ride height and smooth ride of the Fozzy, so I wanted to mate the 2 cars together so that I can make the best of the speed and the ride. I will have a complete Fozzy to play with so all parts will be available what I need your help with is what parts I will need to swap and which parts are not essential.

I have been looking into this for a while now and I have come up with a list of bits that seem to be essential.

1. All round Forester stuts and springs (I guess keeping the Impreza Sti springs will lower the overall height but the ride will be a little less firm?)
2. Rear Forester Lateral Links
3. Rear Forester Trailing Arm? and or Trailing Arm mount (not sure if fitting the Fozzy trailing Arm will move the rear wheel too far to the rear of the wheel well, please advise).
4. Front Forester lower wishbone (are these the same in dimention as the Impreza or are they longer?)
5. All round driveshafts?, (Does the Fozzy have longer shafts than the Impreza?)
6. Fozzy Anti roll bars + drop links.
7. Front subframe spacers?
8. Steering link?

Please advise if I have missed anything or if you have any more detail on specific parts.

I am not looking to make an all out off-roader, certainly nothing more capable than what the Fozzy is able to cope with as std, I just fancied the extra height and smoother ride.

Here are the 2 cars in question :)

http://i330.photobucket.com/albums/l430/slamdunk1979/DSCN2442.jpg
http://i330.photobucket.com/albums/l430/slamdunk1979/DSCN2459.jpg
http://i330.photobucket.com/albums/l430/slamdunk1979/untitled.jpg

I will do a step by step project thread if I go ahead with this.

Thanks for looking :thumbsup:

Cheers Iain

[SlidewaysApex]

usually a lot of that soob stuff is interchangeable. the forester struts would be a huge lift, I think around 3-4 inches. That might be more than you want. And with that much lift you would probably want the subframe spacers to do it right(as to not kill the cv joints). I wanna say that the sway bars would mount in the same places on both cars but I cant be sure. There might be differences in the JDM/Euro spec cars vs our USDM cars, again I'm not totally sure. Best bet would be to get under both cars and maybe measure the links and such. Hopefully this helps!

[Kostamojen]

I have been looking into this for a while now and I have come up with a list of bits that seem to be essential.

1. All round Forester stuts and springs (I guess keeping the Impreza Sti springs will lower the overall height but the ride will be a little less firm?)
2. Rear Forester Lateral Links
3. Rear Forester Trailing Arm? and or Trailing Arm mount (not sure if fitting the Fozzy trailing Arm will move the rear wheel too far to the rear of the wheel well, please advise).
4. Front Forester lower wishbone (are these the same in dimention as the Impreza or are they longer?)
5. All round driveshafts?, (Does the Fozzy have longer shafts than the Impreza?)
6. Fozzy Anti roll bars + drop links.
7. Front subframe spacers?
8. Steering link?

1. Forester struts and springs, or WRX springs on those struts, or possibly Impreza springs. Impreza top hats, or drill a new hole with the Forester tophats.
2. Lateral links not required, although adjustable links can be useful.
3. 97-99 (Gen 2) Legacy Outback trailing arm bracket, NOT the Forester bracket!!! The Forester bracket is different but the wrong kind of different. Gen 2 Legacy brackets are the same bolt pattern as GC's but the Outbacks are the ones with the "taller" bolting location for the trailing arm.
New trailing arms are NOT required, unless you want to do adjustable ones.
4. If by wishbone, you mean subframe, no changes are required. Control arm changes are also not required.
5. Driveshafts are the same for all models in terms of length, no changes here can be made unless you go custom.
6. New sway bars/roll bars are NOT required. HOWEVER, to use your rear swaybar, you need the 97-99 Outback swaybar brackets (Forester brackets MIGHT work, but I'm not certain, someone else would have to confirm this)
7. No spacers required, unless you want to do extra strut lift via 1" spacers and such.
8. No changes required with steering linkage.

In addition: Rear camber bolts ARE required in order to get your alignment correct!

So basically, you need 4 things to do a lift:

Forester take-off suspension
Gen 2 outback trailing arm brackets
Gen 2 outback REAR swaybar brackets
Rear camber bolts

[wolfman79]

Front subframe spacers, steering link, trailing arm brackets and swap away.

[Kostamojen]

Front subframe spacers, steering link, trailing arm brackets and swap away.
Subframe Spacers and such are NOT required unless you are serious lift, something more than just the Forester struts/springs.

[wolfman79]

Subframe Spacers and such are NOT required unless you are serious lift, something more than just the Forester struts/springs.

While they're not an absolute requirement, they are advisable to retain proper geometry. They function just the same as an RCA kit on a lowered car.

[Kostamojen]

As I mentioned, it depends on the amount of lift.

Right now with my lift I'm working on, the driveshaft angles are perfectly fine. No need to lower the subframes to compensate. This is how much lift I have at this point, and I don't plan on going with more besides tire size lift:

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a383/Kostamojen/Impreza%20Suspension%20Lift/rideheight3.jpg

HOWEVER, If you are doing this much lift in the photo below, you need to drop the subframes to compensate for the angle:

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a383/Kostamojen/ugly4.jpg

[wolfman79]

Subaru put the spacers on there for a reason. A forester is an impreza with a boxy body. I'm not saying you can't do the lift without the spacers, just that suspension geometry and CV life expectancy are vastly improved (read stock) with them. If the lift is going to be long term then I would recommend using the spacers.

[Kostamojen]

With my current lift, the CV geometry is no different than a stock Forester. Thats what I'm trying to get at.