blk99obs

Damn Ioku goin for the sky! Do it big! haha sick!

Ok so while I was putting in the forester sway bar mounts, I confirmed that the forester rear sway is in fact bigger and by significant amount. I took the bushings that were still attached to the fozzy pieces and had still gripped the fozzy bar well at the yard, and I put them on my imp bar where its stock bushings mount and there was a lot of play... I'm thinking the fozzy bar has to be better than an 1/8th of an inch bigger, so for people doing the swap im doing or similar if your handling sucks afterward, you should try a fozzy bar! I think next time I'm at the junkyard I'm going to snag that sway bar and see if it will fit on my car, and then try and fab up some sort of quick release mounting so i can disconnect it when on the prowl Anyway just an FYI, was thinking this info could be added to the lifting FAQ. I'll report back on this more when I find out about fitment.

Nvm I figured it out go ahead and delete this if you want.

Ok im in the middle of my forester spring/strut swap, and I'm working on the rear. Do I use the imp upper perch and tophat on the fozzy strut and spring? Can you separate the perch and hat? Like do I need to put the imp hat on the foz upper perch? I am confused... they are stuck together atm... Plz help this is my daily so need to finish!

Ok well I haven't done my "lift" just yet but I'm just about to break into it tonight, have some 99 fozzy struts/springs going into my 99 imp. One thing I discovered is that the stock Fozzy steel wheels are an upgrade because they use a +48 offset where the imp ones use +55 so they give you a bit wider stance and allow you to clear bigger tires. Its effectively like putting on wheel spacers. I need new tires anyway and my imp stockers are pretty ugly all rusted out so... I put my fozzy wheels on and romped around a bit on the stock 205/70/15s that comes on them and they filled out the wheel wells much better. I couldn't get them to scrub though they were pretty close, and I wouldn't use any taller of a tire at stock height... but yea the car rode much nicer for romping around the property through ruts and what not. Anyway if you have access to some of the wheels/good tires or are going to replace your tires soon anyway, I certainly recommend them.

If I lived further up north I'd totally be down, cept I'd be bringing an OBS lol, but I'd buy some steel and such for some help with the OBS. Actually... have you guys up there done D/R into imp? I think that will be the only thing holding my car back is the gearing. I am thinking of moving north so if I do I'll probably try and scare up an old brat and wheel that instead but down here in cali with all the smog regulations and BS im a little hesitant to get something that old and try to get through the hoops, already delt with my share of nightmares like that with my CRX (which is still illegal and sits in my shop). Anyway I think its an awesome thing you guys are doing, keep it up!

Cool thanks Ioku! So its pretty much either 5mm or get one of those ones that has its own studs its so big haha. I went to the JY again today, pulled a Loyale front skid plate, and a 99 fozzy speaker which im hoping is the same as my imp because I blew a speaker... I also pretty much pulled the suspension from that 99, just need to snag the brackets and knock the struts out... got them all unbolted at least. I think I can get a full set of Fozzy steelies, so might give those a shot, anyone running them? And if so, is the offset different from the imp ones? I would hope so and it would be favorable. at any rate there were only 2 fozzy wheels out of all 3 of the damn cars! and I thought I was out of luck until I happened to look in the spare compartment and realized that they come with a full size spare fozzy steelie! so if I take 2 of the spares ill have brand new tires on two of them (spare missing from the 3rd) and then if I can find 2 more matching tires I'll be set! EDIT: WEWT! from what I've read a couple places the foz wheels are lower offset!!! +48 for foz and +55 for imp/Leg! So if I really luck out I won't even need to put in spacers to get the desired effect.

Well now I have a problem... went to put the 03 fozzy stuff on today and found that one of the rear struts was all messed up, looked like someone didn't tighten it down all the way or something because the top hat was all wallowed out about an inch sideways where the strut goes through it and the threads for about half the threaded portion were non-existent. I also went to the parts store and they couldn't find/didn't have the rubber piece that the spring sits on under the top hat, though they did have the top hats... Guess I'll have to go back to the pick and pull and see about trading for some different ones... Think they had a 99 foz there but no more 2nd gen... I want the 03! grrr!

Ok, so I see the top hats and camber kits on tirerack, thanks for that one and all the other answers to my long list of questions, haha! It looks like my lugs stick out of the lugnuts a little bit and so I was thinking I could run a thin spacer to try and get a bit more track width and also gain some tire to suspension clearance. Anyone running spacers? I just have steelies on atm, dont know if they are stock but I assume so. was thinking like 5-8mm? would like to space out just a little bit... like get as close as I can but not be running the tire into the fenders. Although now the thought just popped into my head that once I have wider tires + the spacers I might end up running into the fender anyway lol... Anyway was thinking something like this. http://www.ebay.com/itm/5mm-Flat-Wheel-Spacers-5x100-Subaru-Forester-Impreza-WRX-STI-2-5-RS-Legacy-/380384066239?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr&hash=item5890a83abf

I didn't notice anything wonky with the shift linkage when I worked on the tranny, but I could have overlooked it. I had to do the 5th gear fix and pop off the xfer case because the mainshaft nut backed off and well... caused the transmission to eat a few of its own parts like the synchro, hub and slider, and some sort of thrust washer thing, a plastic piece for routing oil to the center diff... among other things... anyway 5th gear works again, but it still has a lot of slop... I don't know how to describe the feeling really but the tranny is for sure moving around under there and makes the car drive jerky, im just not sure what else holds it... I think I remember a strange looking rubber mount under the tranny that I suppose I'll look at, wanna say it was attached to a big support for the tranny under there. think its the same thing pretty much as these... EDIT: Ahh now I see they make inserts for that and "group-n" ones (whatever that means) that are filled in more, guess I'm on the right track!

Wow thanks everyone, that was huge on the replies! My poor OBS sprung a coolant leak last night, was sitting talking to my gf and it was rather cold out so left the car running for heat, dropped her off, went to leave and saw my temp gauge was at like 3/4 or so, damn close to being pegged anyway. so I shut it off and looked under and found a big puddle... filled it with water and drove home, pulled the leaking... what I believe is called the bypass hose (little 90 deg one next to the lower rad hose) and the lower rad hose cause it looked like it was starting to bloat out, and replaced both, really crossing my fingers that it didn't have any lasting damage from getting that hot. Thinking I'll commence with the lift operation pretty soon, just need a couple more parts and I should be good. Where do you get those top hats from? I'd like to just buy some so I don't have to mess around taking my stock setup apart. Also, what are the spring perches? I just grabbed the whole strut assemblies, and trailing arm brackets, so hope I didn't miss anything. One more thing, I have quite a bit of play on and off the gas in the transmission, is that par for the course with these cars? like if im in 3rd and I go on and off the gas, the shifter knob bounces back and forth... Its very annoying, and makes clutching out in 1st akward, etc. I tried pulling out the dog bone and filling it with polyurethane (worked on my old hondas so figured id give it a go) but no luck, problem must be somewhere else. Is there another mount I should be looking at?

You have no idea how much I'd love to run a D/R tranny, but I think its over my head/budget. Far as I've read I'd have to get the adapter plate/flywheel setup, custom axles (or swap front diff so I'd have the right stubs), custom driveshaft, then I'd have to figure out something for the D/R lever linkage... iono seems like way too much for me, especially since its my only car and my daily at that.

Ok, a little off topic, but my gearing seems painfully tall to me, and it will only get worse with larger tires... So I was looking through some tranny charts, and it looks like a 98 2.5RS has a 4.111 FD with gear ratios otherwise the same. Would that be a direct swap for my car?

Ok, I'll give it a try I suppose! Do the foresters use larger and/or stiffer sway bars? I'd imagine they would... It'd be cool if they were larger and we could bolt them up to the OBS for less body roll. Also, how about wheel spacers? anyone have recommendations?

Yup I noticed that today when I was looking at that 02. I ended up grabbing 03 Forester springs/struts, rear sway brackets, and trailing arm brackets. Now all I should need is some camber bolts! So where do I get a good set of those?

Ok so with the 2nd gen FOR setup, can you reuse your IMP rear tophats with a washer (as I understand it) like the 1st gen? I'd really like to avoid any drilling. Also, with the OB setup, is it the same procedure with the tophats or do they match up to the IMP? Also what about newer outbacks? I think I saw an 02 there last time... I'll have to go see if the JY has any of those years, thanks for posting the years btw very helpful. Thanks!

Ok so now reading further it seems that the outback setup is the way to go as it has more tire clearance and the same gains in height.

Hi I have a 99 OBS, 2.2 5spd. My tires are getting pretty bad so I want to get new ones, but I'd like to lift first so I can fit some larger ones. I drive on the road mostly, but I like to go to mountain bike races on the weekends up in the mountains, and sometimes to friends houses that are way back in the woods down sketchy roads... So i usually do a fair bit of highway driving down really winding roads and then get on pot hole, rut, and rock filled back roads... What I want to do is get some suspension lift going on so I have some better ground clearance, something that I can bolt in easy, and then put in some 215/70/15s or something along those lines. I've read of using forester struts and springs, forester struts and outback springs, forester struts and WRX springs, legacy outback combinations, etc. I'd like to know how I can best lift my OBS without drastically altering the ride/handling/alignment, which I realize is give and take due to physics, you raise the car and you get more body roll, but I'd like to minimize the effect, through either stiffer springs, stiffer sways, or maybe using wheel spacers to get the car wider. I'm not too concerned about articulation, usually traction isn't an issue where I'm driving, its more trying to get over rocks in the center of the road and such that I need more ground clearance for. So far from what I gather I can go to my local junkyard, where I saw a 99 forester. I'll want to grab the struts/springs, trailing arm brackets, and rear sway brackets. I'll also want to buy some camber bolts (do they work on the front and back? or do you need something different for each end?) It sounds like my front sway bar should still work fine as it is from what I read in other posts. Is there any particular reason to use outback springs with forester struts, or any of those other combos? Is there anything I'm missing? Really I just want to lift it up, maintain decent highway handling to where I dont feel like I'm gonna roll it in the winding northern cali roads, and get the alignment straight enough that I won't be eating tires. Sorry for writing a book, just trying to put down as much info as possible as to what I'm after. Thanks for any insight!

Hi, I'm new here, and somewhat new to Subarus. As my name suggests, I have a 99 OBS 2.2 5spd. I got it like 4-5 months ago, within the first 2 weeks it tossed the mainshaft nut (popped out of 5th all the time and wouldn't wanna go back in) and ground up a fair amount of stuff in the tranny. I pulled the transfer case portion off the back and replaced what I could get at, put in a new 5th synchro, hub and slider, and whatever the 3 little clips are called that go in there, and some plastic piece that fit in the end of the mainshaft, and the mainshaft nut, staked it and loctited it... Its working fine since, a little hesitant to go in 1st or reverse a lot of times but 5th is smooth as butter now lol. I like to go to a lot of mountain bike events here in Northern Cali, particularly DH races, and the roads are pretty hectic so some offroad mods are gonna be in order soon. I'll post elsewhere on that.