xbeerd

i still dont get how you didnt have any issue getting the stock tempo spring into the strut. WAIT a minute.... was it a 2wd strut? with the lower spring perch?? that would be a bit closer to the height of the tempo spring, not sure if it would be enough, but 2" would be a pretty reasonable difference. i am going to pull my stuff apart and try it out tonight and take some pictures. gotta get some more work done today and i'm gonna buzz out of work for the day, while i have alteast A LITTLE bit of sunlight left. stupid daylight savings time.

you know. the tempo struts arent THAT much larger than the subaru struts. anyone ever think of boring out the knuckle to accept the tempo strut and use the subaru strut top/tophat? you'd just have to cut of the tab on the side of the tempo strut. thats probably more work than its worth.

Uberoo... would you say that your setup, looks remotely close to mine then? as far as how the spring sits in the strut? disregard the number of turns/coils. that'll be different. (and you cant really tell from these pics anyways) as tight as they are in there, i think i will have to remove a little more coil but i think since i have my fender off and ************ i might just mount the thing in there anyways as is. maybe i'll do it without my lift block and we'll see how it shapes up against the other side with subaru strut and lift block.

So you are sayin I'm good as is? S and L straight to S and C with no need for ign connection?

its ok, i'll get over it, but anyways... are you referring to the plug diagram that is on the right side of my pic? labelling S and L in the plug?

would you post some pics of how you rewired? just since im sure people are going to ask in the future. and i'd be interested in seein it as well.

the part that gets me the most is that whenever the topic comes up nobody bothers to answer, or just blows it off and tells a person to search. well. so i search, and all i find is a bunch of threads about people asking for more info on the tempo spring install. which only seems to have info of people that have done it. but havent actually gone into any detail about the process. unless i am blind, if there is a thread i'd be more than happy to look at it. (besides yours, which we'll update when this ordeal is figured out)

all the part numbers of available springs crossreference the same between 1st and 2nd Gen so i would rule that out. i would love to see a pic of what its 'supposed' to look like. my bet is that its actually a rear coil.

LOL dont be sad. that was my choice to F myself out of the return of the new springs. I thought with the tempo spring seats it would suffice and eliminate the extra space. also i was hoping the tophat on the tempo strut would be able to be mated to the spinning part of the subaru strut in the effort. i was wrong oh well. guy at the junkyard wants $50 for a pair of rear struts with springs, no one will separate them around here and sell the springs alone. for $50, i might as well just spend the extra money ($20) on new ones and not have to spend time breaking down the old rusty tempo struts. at the end of all this i just want to have a clear, concise, and documented information of this process since the front springs are no longer being made.

what you mean by Rubber Donuts? i dont have anythin that looks like a rubber donut?? other than the rubber parts that go on the top and bottom of the coil

well. going by wikipedia, the first gen tempo ranged from 83/4 up to 88, i have in my posession now, in non returnable form, a strut assembly from a 86 tempo. as well as a 91 mercury Topaz. both are identical. also there was no V6 tempo introduced until like 1992 (accordin to wikipedia, which is my only reference) the springs you see in my pic may look different as they are/were variable spring rate springs and i basically cut of the top 3.25 coils to give it a chance to fit in the ea82 strut. also, i adjusted them, rotated the tophat, and they look more like they are supposed to now. they dont fill the diameter of the ea82 strut all the way, because they are not as narrow. the thing about the rear TEMPO struts is that the spring rate is only like 115, 20 less than the stock ea82, so, any gained stiff ness would be from compressing the spring into the strut because its less compressed to begin with and then not uncompressing all the way when installed (if that makes ANY sense) but you are still compressing it is THIS more what your spring looked like? This would be the rear spring. spring rate 115, height is 15" (About 3" taller than the stock ea82 spring, but much easier to compress for fitment) stat says it has a install height of 10". it also looks to be almost conical on the bottom, so that part would feed down into the strut the stock ea82 spring i have on my table is slighly over 4.5" ID and 5.5" OD, 12 9/16" tall. installed height is about 9.5" roughly. SO that being said. im glad i wasted $60 on some ************ty front strut assemblies from a tempo/topaz, $65 on new replacement springs which i cant return because i chopped one up, 6-8 hours of my time driving around, cutting, assembling, dissassembling, reassembling something that most likely isnt going to work. and another undetermined amount of time if i go and try to dissassemble some struts in a pick n pull by hand (i can use my air ratchet to turn down the spring compressors at home) or blow $70 on a new pair. christ, all i want is for my damn front end to sit freakin' level.

(fixed that whole wonkyness, had the top on a bit outta whack. LOL.

i cut 3 coils off and mounted the spring. theres enough tension in there that i think i might have to cut another 1/2 to 1 coil out of it, i put some pressure down on the assemblly as is. like 200lb man pressure and it didnt budget one bit. i think i have the top part on 180 dgrees outta whack too? man i wish i had a hydraulic spring compressor. LOL

the Tempo springs arent goin to make it on the struts at their full height. i compressed the hell out of it to the point i was hesitant to mess with it too much and snap a hook off of my compressors. and it was still a couple inches too tall for the strut. took it up to my guy on the corner and he looked at it and hydraulic compressor could compress it, but if it were on the strut like that, he didnt think you would have any suspension travel at all. this may not be the case for the straight rate springs as there are less coils, but for the variable rate, its not happening.

OH... also to note, my car has an EJ25 in it. not sure how much different the weight is than the ea82 EDIt; quick search said the ea82 around 225-250lbs and EJ25 like 265 or so. so the difference isnt as much as i thought.

i'll investigate it. the spring itself is about 2" taller, and according to Moog is 148lbs vs 134lbs stock for the spring rate (per the 89 fsm online). i'll have to see if i can even get them to mount with my spring compressors. or maybe my guy at the shop will do a freebie for me with his hydraulic spring compressor vs my cheapo compressors. i think i potentially could have the workings of a poor mans 4" lift here. haha. if thats the case, i'd wanna lower my trailin rods assuming i can even get them unbolted. but it would be sweet. then i would run into the problem of not being able to lower the rear suspension tube (bolts TOO seized up, would have to be drilled out and retapped.... booo!)

i started gathering parts for a Tempo spring swap. here's what im going with.. spring isnt cut yet, and its a variable spring. so im not sure exactly how much to cut. gonna do some trial and error which will suck. LOL. my bumpstops were disintegrating, so since i had some urethane bushings left over from a kit i never installed on my integra when i had it, they got turned into bumpstops which will probably never make contact. haha. but they fit right on there like tey were made for it! haha.

back from the junkard. $30 later i have a strut assembly from a 91 topaz. i didnt realize it at first, but the spring was broken about 2" from the end. anyways. i popped it apart and got the parts i wanted... the spring seats... i think this is going to work now with the springs i have. the only thing is i dont know how much spring to cut off since these are variable rate springs. i'll probably have to put one of the ea setups back together. do some comparisons between the new and old and weighted and unweighted setups. the spring seats make this all look better to me. regardless. that sounds like its going to suck. since my car is already lifted 2" and is a *************** to get apart to begin with.

wow that looks great! i would love to know what the parts list is for this. after my loyale dies, i want to do an impreza wagon of that era. do the 98 outbacks have lift blocks and the such? how are the angles on the axles??

ok, so i put the spring on the strut and here's what i come up with as far as alingment of this spring. i didnt line up the top part yet. but thats ok for that much space on the side opposite of the coil stopper thing? (thats the technical term:burnout:)

if its an ea82, which i would assume it is. since its an 88 turbo, you dont have to do the holes wider from my experience, i didnt have to do anything to the crossmember in my 92. i think thats for ea81 only that you need to adjust the holes. **info based on the Subaru EA Wiki page. showing ea81t only up thru 84

hmm, looks like the rear springrate is only 114lbs... so guess that leaves my rear theory out of the equation.

hmm, ok, i think i am going to have to get out to a junkyard and pull some springs then, not about to cut up the NIB springs i bought and can return. i tried to put the springs up on the ea82 struts i have, one from milesFox's 3door ('87?) and the other from my 92 loyale, and i dont see how they will seat properly with out clunking around. any pics of those springs in the struts by chance? *** or am i just supposed to put them in the struts and they will kinda self center themselves and stay in place? i just dont want them to clunk around, as my car has enough things clunking around, LOL

Do you have it wired as Bennie suggests? regardin my alternator situation. it seems as my dash gauge reads lower than it should. my voltmeter on the battery shows 12v but its readin lower on the gauge, also when i hit my starter, the gauge drops almost down to 9v but the meter doesnt drop that much at all. i DO think i just need a new battery in general though. the water levels looked kinda low in it. maybe i can fill it up a little.

yeah, i tried to seat these springs in the subaru struts and they are definatly not right to fit in there. i am thinking you might have actually gotten rear springs. i think i'll just return/swap mine for the rears and see what happens. i will definately let you know so the write up can be adjusted for more info. i'll be sure to give you the partnumbers for whatever i end up getting that works