STi Suspension...A Boy Can Dream Right?
 

So it is 4:00 in the morning and instead of sleeping or doing work which I should have done a week ago, a thought came to me while browsing the classifieds on NASIOC. Do the shocks and struts for an 04 STi (or any year STi for that matter) bolt on to the SVX? Since ANYTHING can be done for a price, I would imagine that that it would not be a problem for someone willing to spend 1,000's in moding and fabricating. However, my question is more will these parts work as a direct (i.e. NO moding) bolt on? (The parts I am referring to are pictured below)

http://www.subaru-svx.net/photos/fil...icky/34723.jpg

I realize that there is probably 50 million things or so that I am not considering such as strut length affecting ride height and what not, but like I said it's 4:00 in the morning so I am choosing to ignore those for now. The reason I ask anyways is that the massive amounts of body roll in the stock SVX suspension is starting to get annoying. I really don't get how this thing pulled 0.92 on the skidpad with the amount of body roll it has. Anyways, that got me thinking about suspension upgrades, and while the Koni GC setup is probably a better way to go, this just seemed more exciting. Alright, you may now begin showering me with responses :D ...

- Case

P.S. I already tried the "Search" button and didn't really get any clear consensus. This may just be the only topic that has not been discussed to death on this forum ;) .

Give me about a week and I'll answer this for you :D

Strut mount bolts are in a diffrent pattern than the svx. From what I understand, the strut mount bolt pattern is uniqe to the svx, and not interchangable with other subies. For any other insight, do a search for castor plates, there was a good discussion about suspension elements there

but what if he swaped out the top plates with those of the SVX? if the nuckle mount was the same, then i dont see any problem.

The top mounts aren't quite interchangable without some mods. The bottom flanges where it attaches to the spindle is narrower, so some grinding needs to be done. And for the front struts you need to either have the sway bar mount points welded to those pink tubes or figure out another place to attach the sway bar.

It will work, but you're going to have to work it, and rework it.

I wouldn't be surprised if the SVX struts had better compatability with Nissan vehicles.

What about '05/'06 STi suspension? Rumors abound that the '05+ knuckles are very similar to the SVX's kunckles, due to the STI's switch to 5x114.3 hubs. As long as the knuckles bolt up, it doesn't seem that hard to come up with a custom endlink and modified top mount.

What's especially important is that this would open the door for using aftermarket coilovers designed for '05+ STIs. :cool:

Shhh ;)

The endlink setup is the only thing stopping me from slapping these 05's on :\

Custom endlinks are relatively cheap to have built, and there are already kits to convert the rear endlinks on Imprezas so they bolt to the knuckel instead of the lateral link. Somthing like that could/should work for the SVX.

http://www.poltec.us/products/subaru...-df030-600.jpg

Note the bracket in this poltec lateral link kit that relocates the endlink mounting point from the lateral link to the knuckel.

Negative. The problem is up front. The rear endlinks bolt directly to the hub, better than other subarus.

If we could figure out the front, I'd throw these 05's on.

I know Cusco makes adjustable links for their drift packages. might take a look at those.

A lot of places make adjustable endlinks, you can make your own for cheaper. Either way it doesn't matter if there's nothing to bolt them to.

Anyway, the rear struts won't bolt on. They require the same modifications that other subaru struts require. The mounting tabs are too skinny on non-svx struts by about 5 mm.

The question arises though. Is it safe to adapt the struts to fit? Grind off 1 mm from each of the mounting tabs and 1mm from the knuckle and one should be able to squeeze it on. The mounting tabs are two pieces of metal, about 5mm thick per side, and the hub mounting area is about 29mm thick. Or would it be better to grind 2mm off each side of the mounting area?

The fronts however, have the same measurements.

It would probably be safer to grind off a bit of the knuckle.

Or alternatively... would Impreza hubs bolt up? I'm currently converting my 2002 WRX (that already has '04 STi rear knuckles) to the 5x114.3 hub pattern, and to do the rears all you need to do is get the STi hub & bearings and press 'em into the '04 knuckles. So... if the mounting points for the lateral links and LCA are the same (or similar enough) between the SVX and the STi, simply replacing the rear knuckle w/ STi bits might work.

'Course then there the questions of:

- Do the SVX axles work w/ the STi hubs?
- Do the ABS sensors work?
- How about the endlinks?

So it's probably just easier to have some strut uprights fabricated, or grind down the flange on the knuckles. But at least it looks like the fronts are plug-n-play.

Funny that you are doing this. You are probally following the thread on NASIOC on the conversion. I measured the lateral links of the SVX and they are the same length as the STi aftermarket ones (pink) but pretty sure that the 05's are different. I have a knuckle out of one of my SVXs and can measure all mounting points if that will help any further.