Last-minute XT6 advice before I head to PaP?

[Ever Victorious]

I'm going to be leaving in a couple hours, and I need to just confirm the parts I'm scavenging for. There's been a lot of conflicting information that I've read between the FAQs on XT6.net and the posts here, I just want to know for sure before I go...

 

For the front... I've been told that EA82 struts will work, 92-94 Legacy struts will work, and 95 FWD Impreza struts will work. is this correct? If so, WHICH SPRINGS do I use with which struts? (noone has EVER answered the spring part, and it's kind of scaring me...)

 

For the rear... at least the consensus is FWD XT6 springs/struts (if I can find them) or EA82 rear struts... but again, noone has said what springs go with the EA82 struts. Are they the stock EA82 springs?

[PoorManzImpreza]

the front:

xt6 lower control arm with ball joint and 'leading rod'

xt6 hub rotor and caliper. if xt6 doesn't have air suspension (highly unlikely, but it has happened) the entire lower control arm, hub, housing halfshaft, strut and brakes can be removed as one assembly..

 

the front can also use legacy/impreza hub, housing, strut, brake and axle but MUST use XT6 lower control arm, the strut must be dissassembled and the ea82 spring can be used with its top hat on the impreza/legacy damper, or the impreza legacy spring can be cut (with sawzall so u won't heat up the spring and destroy it's tempering) to desired ride hieght and the ea82 tophat used..If you want to use the impreza/legacy tophat the three strut mounting holes in the ea82 chassis must be adjusted outwards to support the larger diameter of the impreza/legacy strut top stud bolt pattern.

 

if the impreza/legacy brakes are used an alternate means of parking brake must be found.

 

If you need to use impreza/legacy dampers on the xt6 housing you may need to adjust the mounting flange of the damper to fit the housing..

 

the rear:

Requires the xt6 hub, backing plate, caliper and rotor, the strut assembly is of the same design as ea82 rears and as such is NOT required for conversion..

notes:

 

there is some confusion over some xt6 having a 14mm bolt or a 17mm bolt securing the lower control arm to the subframe so be warned if u get the 17mm assemply you will need to drill out the hole in your ea82 so the 17mm bolt can pass (I'm using 17mm to represent the bolt head not the shaft as is metric standard notation)

 

if the xt6 lower control arm/leading rod assembly can't be used the ea82 control arm can bea reamed out at a machine shop to fit the xt6/impreza/legacy ball joint..

 

HTH

Kaz

[Ever Victorious]

Isn't that the info for doing a 5-lug conversion on an EA82? Sorry if it was confusing, I have an XT6 with a toasted air suspension that I need to find replacement strut/coil bits for.

 

Just came back from PaP with AWD Legacy front struts. There were lots of EA82 rears there, but I couldn't figure out how to get the drums off to get at the lower mounting bolts... but that's OK, I have a backup plan.

[SOOBOUTLAW]

Did they have any older two square headlight GL's? I broke my turn signal lense last night.

[ballitch]

tap/bang the drums witha hammer, its hard because the brake shoes have rusted to the drum making very difficult to get them off. the legacy struts/springs will work, but your going to have to spread the strut where it meets the knuckle, the XT6 knuckle is too wide for legacy/impreza struts. either grind down and spread or try to just spread them apart enough to get them on. if i were you, i would grab the legacy axles and knuckle, ream out the XT6 front control arm(for a bigger ball-joint), and mount legacy knuckle(with axle shaft) onto XT6 arm. you might need to swap the tranny side of the axle onto the legacy axle, pretty sure you will. but this is all if you dont want to spread the legacy struts apart for them to slide onto the XT6 knuckles.

 

 

 

~Josh~

[waimaks]

If you're looking to replace the air sus. with coils. I found the standard rear shocks and springs from a 4wd wagon work ok in my Turbo XT. The back sits up a tad high but its OK.

[Ever Victorious]

Did they have any older two square headlight GL's? I broke my turn signal lense last night.

 

You mean EA81's? There were about 4 or 5 EA81's of various flavors, including a round-headlight Standard hatchback. I wasn't looking at those too much, since they don't have the parts I need.

[SOOBOUTLAW]

Cool, I gotta go down there tomorrow, but my wagon ain't street legal at the moment, and I don't like Lynnwood cops. I don't like any cops anyway.

[Ever Victorious]

Cool, I gotta go down there tomorrow, but my wagon ain't street legal at the moment, and I don't like Lynnwood cops. I don't like any cops anyway.

 

I'll be making another trip down there sometime tomorrow, I gotta get the last shock for the rear of the wedge. was only able to get one out before the yard closed (the other 2 we tried, one had a bad bushing and the other one of the upper mounting bolts was just plain stuck, couldn't get it out.)

[Qman]

Geoffrey, you'll need to swap strut tops from the XT6 and the Legacy. Otherwise you'll need to grind the hole a bit. Also note, that the Legacy struts have camber adjustment and the XT6 does not. Make sure the bolts are super tight. You may also have to spread the Legacy strut mounts a litlle to fit them up to the XT6 knuckle/spindle. 2wd drive XT rears will give a slight amount of lift to the rear over 4WD. The 2wd drive rears are actually a slight bit longer because the mounting locations are different.