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  #31  
Old 10-13-2010, 03:18 PM
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Re: STI Suspension Swap Project

Why would that be a concern? The studs on the struts are barely structural (they're tiny little M6 or M8 bolts) and all the load is upwards. The top mount of the strut is a circular aluminum plate that distributes the load into the strut tower. All the studs do is keep the strut where it is.
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92 Ebony Mica LS-L "A Rolling Restoration": 223,250 KM - Sleeping
2007 STi 6MT, Stance GR+ coilovers, PWR Rad, JDM hood badge, svxfiles 6000K HIDs, JDM Clear Corners, $15/15 min mod, $20/20 min mod, Energy Swaybar Bushings, Hella Supertones horns, Gold STi BBS rims, Group A lightweight crank pulley, A/C system removed, Custom header-back exhaust, Hybrid carbon/metal rear sway bar, restored headlights with CCFL halos
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  #32  
Old 10-28-2010, 08:39 PM
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Re: STI Suspension Swap Project

TADA!!! 50% done. I only have the fronts installed at the moment, not enough time to get to the rear.

Before and after:



The drill plate I made to locate the new holes in the shock tower:



Camber plates!!! And pillow balls!



And voila, installed:



WOOO!!! I'm happy. I still have to install the rears, so I haven't yet felt the full effect, but so far this is awesome. Of all the coilover-equipped cars I've ridden in this one is by far the best. The ride is firm but not jarring and there's zero "bouncy-ness". There's minimal body lean when cornering. Specs on this system is 8kg/mm front and 6kg rear, or ~450lbs front/335 rear. If I try to bounce the front end of the car by hand... Nothing happens.

There's no rubbing, no odd clunking... And LOTS of height adjustment left. I could drop the car another 2-2.5 inches if I wanted to. Kind of ridiculous actually.

Now, the installation. If you have an aversion to grinders, drilling holes in your car, and making a set of coilovers non-resellable, this modification in not for you. Here's what I had to do:

1. Drill 2 holes in each shock tower
2. The Stance camber plate is a circle. I had to grind the sides down in 2 places (rear and outside) where it didn't fit inside the shock tower. The SVX top mounts are very triangular and the shock tower doesn't fit much more than them.
3. Grinding the knuckles heavily. The section the strut attaches to is a few mm thinner on the WRX. I took the knuckles right out of the car to do this, it would have been almost impossible to do on the car.
3. Oval the holes of the coilover lower mount. The two bolts on the SVX are more widely spaced than the WRX.

This took me an entire afternoon to install these (~7 hours) with the car on a hoist and air tools. A fair amount of it was the grind-test-grind-test-grind process, and a good hour was lost getting the two ABS sensors out of the knuckle. This job is not for someone who has only done oil changes. If you're not comfortable with fabrication work and custom modifications just get someone to build you a Koni/GC system.
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92 Ebony Mica LS-L "A Rolling Restoration": 223,250 KM - Sleeping
2007 STi 6MT, Stance GR+ coilovers, PWR Rad, JDM hood badge, svxfiles 6000K HIDs, JDM Clear Corners, $15/15 min mod, $20/20 min mod, Energy Swaybar Bushings, Hella Supertones horns, Gold STi BBS rims, Group A lightweight crank pulley, A/C system removed, Custom header-back exhaust, Hybrid carbon/metal rear sway bar, restored headlights with CCFL halos
2008 Subaru Legacy Spec B - Diamond Grey Metallic - Sold
2020 Ram 1500 Longhorn - Red Pearl

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  #33  
Old 10-28-2010, 08:58 PM
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Re: STI Suspension Swap Project

Lookin' good! What are the springrates on these units?

I would't be afraid of doing any of the things you had to do! haha
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  #34  
Old 10-28-2010, 09:03 PM
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Re: STI Suspension Swap Project

8kg/mm front and 6kg/mm rear (about 450 lbs front/335 rear).
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92 Ebony Mica LS-L "A Rolling Restoration": 223,250 KM - Sleeping
2007 STi 6MT, Stance GR+ coilovers, PWR Rad, JDM hood badge, svxfiles 6000K HIDs, JDM Clear Corners, $15/15 min mod, $20/20 min mod, Energy Swaybar Bushings, Hella Supertones horns, Gold STi BBS rims, Group A lightweight crank pulley, A/C system removed, Custom header-back exhaust, Hybrid carbon/metal rear sway bar, restored headlights with CCFL halos
2008 Subaru Legacy Spec B - Diamond Grey Metallic - Sold
2020 Ram 1500 Longhorn - Red Pearl

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  #35  
Old 10-28-2010, 09:05 PM
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Re: STI Suspension Swap Project

Gotcha!

Sorry if you said that before and I missed it.
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  #36  
Old 11-03-2010, 06:37 PM
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Re: STI Suspension Swap Project

Installation complete!!!!

Decided to change it up a bit and modify the camber plate instead of the car, since only one hole had to be moved. Press out stud, drill 5/16" hole, press in stud, done.



Took the rear knuckles off, ground them down, bolted everything together aaaannnnd:

When the car is in the air and the wheels are already at stock ride height you know you're in for something interesting.



On the ground:



This thing is LOW. The picture doesn't really convey just how close to the ground it sits. I can't get my baby finger between the front tire and the fender. It feels very strange walking up to the car now, and even weirder when the hood's open. I'm very accustomed to having the engine at a certain height, and now that it's 2-3" below that... Weird. I also tagged my exhaust on a small speed bump on the way home. The insanity begins!!!

The trunk is still full of tools and parts, so I haven't been able to give it a good drive to figure the handling out yet. Tomorrow!
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92 Ebony Mica LS-L "A Rolling Restoration": 223,250 KM - Sleeping
2007 STi 6MT, Stance GR+ coilovers, PWR Rad, JDM hood badge, svxfiles 6000K HIDs, JDM Clear Corners, $15/15 min mod, $20/20 min mod, Energy Swaybar Bushings, Hella Supertones horns, Gold STi BBS rims, Group A lightweight crank pulley, A/C system removed, Custom header-back exhaust, Hybrid carbon/metal rear sway bar, restored headlights with CCFL halos
2008 Subaru Legacy Spec B - Diamond Grey Metallic - Sold
2020 Ram 1500 Longhorn - Red Pearl

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  #37  
Old 11-03-2010, 08:25 PM
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Re: STI Suspension Swap Project

^ lol you have a baby finger?

besides that, looking good!!!
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  #38  
Old 11-03-2010, 08:56 PM
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Re: STI Suspension Swap Project

Good work, Chris, but damn that's LOW!
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  #39  
Old 11-04-2010, 08:33 AM
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Re: STI Suspension Swap Project

Wow. I'm in love with the new ride height.

Have you reattached the front sway bar endlinks yet? You referenced how you might do it in the first post , but I didn't see you go back and say you actually followed through with that yet, or maybe you did and I missed it.
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  #40  
Old 11-04-2010, 10:06 AM
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Re: STI Suspension Swap Project

Thanks guys. I'll grab a few pictures when I get back this afternoon, it looks even crazier in the sunlight.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ricter View Post
Wow. I'm in love with the new ride height.

Have you reattached the front sway bar endlinks yet? You referenced how you might do it in the first post , but I didn't see you go back and say you actually followed through with that yet, or maybe you did and I missed it.
lol, I didn't mention it here? Well let's fix that. I used the Outback rear links, cut them in half and threaded the shaft. I made a coupler in the machine shop, put them together, and welded a tab onto the control arms.

shotgunslade and I had a good discussion about this in another thread. Modifying the endlink mounts like this effectively softens the swaybar a fair bit, but I do have another version in my head that may take car of that.



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Chris

92 Ebony Mica LS-L "A Rolling Restoration": 223,250 KM - Sleeping
2007 STi 6MT, Stance GR+ coilovers, PWR Rad, JDM hood badge, svxfiles 6000K HIDs, JDM Clear Corners, $15/15 min mod, $20/20 min mod, Energy Swaybar Bushings, Hella Supertones horns, Gold STi BBS rims, Group A lightweight crank pulley, A/C system removed, Custom header-back exhaust, Hybrid carbon/metal rear sway bar, restored headlights with CCFL halos
2008 Subaru Legacy Spec B - Diamond Grey Metallic - Sold
2020 Ram 1500 Longhorn - Red Pearl

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  #41  
Old 11-04-2010, 10:53 AM
92 SVX 92 SVX is offline
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Re: STI Suspension Swap Project

That looks very good, I can't wait to see the pictures in the sunlight.
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  #42  
Old 11-04-2010, 01:20 PM
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Re: STI Suspension Swap Project

Pardon the iPhone shots, I don't have access to a proper camera at the moment.





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92 Ebony Mica LS-L "A Rolling Restoration": 223,250 KM - Sleeping
2007 STi 6MT, Stance GR+ coilovers, PWR Rad, JDM hood badge, svxfiles 6000K HIDs, JDM Clear Corners, $15/15 min mod, $20/20 min mod, Energy Swaybar Bushings, Hella Supertones horns, Gold STi BBS rims, Group A lightweight crank pulley, A/C system removed, Custom header-back exhaust, Hybrid carbon/metal rear sway bar, restored headlights with CCFL halos
2008 Subaru Legacy Spec B - Diamond Grey Metallic - Sold
2020 Ram 1500 Longhorn - Red Pearl

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  #43  
Old 11-04-2010, 02:43 PM
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Man that's awesome.
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  #44  
Old 11-04-2010, 03:42 PM
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Re: STI Suspension Swap Project

Yes, im very jealous.
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  #45  
Old 11-04-2010, 04:01 PM
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Re: STI Suspension Swap Project

Looks Great!
No way I could get away with having a car that low where I live though.
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