Lowering A Car / Replacing Suspension., Done on a Subaru Forrester. Options

[mattson]

Its a pretty common thing for a Forestor owner to want, You have a sporty 4wd
but you never go 4 wheel drivin and your sick to death of all that body roll
trying to throw it round corners... what do to... its quite simple.. lower that
mofo!!! and it ain as hard as you think either!! Basically its just a matter of
getting a set of WRX shockies and springs from a similar MY WRX to your MYGT
foreseter. Abzeros forester below is a MY97, so we used a set of 4 MY99 WRX
struts.. Then there is a couple of ways to attack it with the springs...
depending on the look and ride you want... Use the WRX front struts and springs
on the front with the standard Forester Strut tops. On the rear I suggest using
the WRX rear strut and the front forester springs, even though with no wieght in
the back it sits a little lower then stock, but allows you to put wieght in
there (we put 200+ kilos in the back) and there was still no scrubbing on the
gaurds with plenty of clearance. If you use the wrx rear springs it will sit
super low with the wheel about half and inch in the gaurd and ride is very very
bumpy like going on the thunderbolt at dreamworld before they closed it and
thats with nothing in the rear. If you use the rear forester springs it sits at
a level height but once you put weight in you get a similar effects to using the
wrx springs.. if you use the forester front spring it is a thicker coil and less
likely to compress under the weight of the vehicle and stuff in the boot,
anyways, lets get to it!... First source some wrx springs, We bought Abzeros 2nd
hand through BoostedS15 for $400, see the difference between the two, easy to
see how much lower its going to sit:



Having a car hoist certainly makes this easier, or a few car stands, car ramps and a trolley jack can get you by as well.



Get them wheels off:



It is also very important to clamp off the brake lines with the appropriate tools
(the yellow plastic brake clamps) before removing the line from the caliper. Do
it relativly close to the connection so you don have to bleed the brakes much
when re-attaching, and careful of any brake fluid that will dribble out...



Unscrew the strut bottoms from the brakes, 2 large bolts on each side in a very awkward
postion, this forester had 6 years road use on the bolts so they didn come off
without a lot of persuation(read: 3 very burely towies bashing it with a breaker
bar)!!



With the bottom screws undone the disc will come away from the strut but still stay
attached via the diff arm it will move far enough way to remove the strut. Now
just pop the rear covers off in the cabin and unscrew the 3 outside bolts (not
the centre) make sure a second person is waiting below to remove the strut
repeat for the front of the car too:



Now you will have to remove the spring from the strut, this can be very dangerous so
if you are DIYing don just pop it off.. the mechanic at the time said hes heard
stories of guys being decapatated from coils shooting off like bullets once the
top is removed. So you WILL need to compress the coil with spring compressors
make sure you use 2 per spring and compress them evenly until you are sure its
taken enough of the tension of the strut top and then remove them, best to stand
clear just in case.. You will have to do this with all four springs because
youll need all four strut tops, but only the front forester springs, once you
have these, place the foz springs elsewhere so not to confuse the foz with wrx
gear... its all the same colour afterall with no identifiable markings.. then
repeat the process backwards (get strut, place spring, compress, attach strut
top) this whole process should take between 2-4 hours depending on your tools.
so its basically wrx front springs and struts on the front with forester strut
top and wrx strust with forester FRONT spring on the rear with forester rear
strut top. Put it all back together particular attention paid not to cross
thread screws or kink or tear brake lines, everything should re-assemble the
same as it came off except depending on your model wrx struts used it may come
oem with teh brake line support so you will need to remove the forester one (i
don have a pic, but youll notice if when you see it) below is the black WRX rear
strut with front fozzie spring:



Stupid me forgot to take more photos, but wat eventuated was, u put the new thermostat
into the engine. Attatch the self adhesive gasket to the thermostat housing.
Then you attach the housing so it looks like this.



Once its all the struts are back on reattach the brake lines and bleed them this can
be done by one person loosening the brake line slightly while another person
depresses the brake pedal, (do not let it up until the 1st person tightens the
screw again) it will need to be repeated a few times until the pedel becomes
tight and then repeated across all other brakes, a Wheel Alignment will
definately be needed as well unless you want a cool camber look I believe the
foz was out by some 7-8mm!! Then its the finished product:



or a few weeks later with 18s and no stickers



Basically it came down from 3 inches to 1 inch (gaurd to rubber) in the front and 4 inches
to 2 inches in the rear, you could go lower with a set of custom made kings to
keep the height good when youve got weight in the back but its only an extra
Inch and Abz was happy with the results. Which were a much smoother ride while
cruising and MUCH tighter while cornering. As usual I take no responsibility by
how you use this information, so always best to contact a professional, I
recomend BoostedS15 a.k.a Chris and Wheeldons at Molendinar... I think thats
pretty much it... If you have any questions let me know.

[mattson]

this was the standard ride height:



cheers,

[Mazda_Rx3]

that look heaps phat wif those 18's on it

[LAN5R]

Damn i love that car nice work Mattson, im enjoying reading these technical posts

[DICKIES]

that look fat azz can u please tell me were they got the wheels from lowering it makesso much diffrence

[Guest_BOOSTCRUISER_*]

that last pic looks fat the wheels and lowering it makes so much diffrence and were is boostedS15 shop

[mattson]

Dickies, Wheels and Lowering was all orginised through BoostedS15, a.k.a Chris, the shop is at 12 Industrial Ave Molendinar pm him for more information, he's always willing to help out another boost member!

[Guest_4ST-KE_*]

We never had any trouble with mine. i just ordered a set of WRX springs for the my97 - 00 model. all we had to do was put them in. Didnt have to change the shocks at all. It dropped my forester down close to 3 inches all around. Ride is comfortable and firm. and eliminates body roll. We used Kings Springs.. the new model.. and I sell these for 100.00 a pair to any car. any height.

[mattson]

4st-ke we were going to do the same thing however the wrx springs would pop out if the forester was lifted up because the springs are shorted and don't travel as far as the forester ones..

none the less I hope it works out

[PiGDoG]

$400 for 2nd hand springs is a bit over the top when Kings are only $250 a set brand new. Its still a little bit high but looks good though

[mattson]

RBDRTY - the $400 was a full set of WRX shocks and springs... the whole kit and caboodle.

[rotorsorrumble]

hey mate, forester looks nice. hopefully u can help me, i was wondering if i am able to interchange liberty struts into my outback? any info would be awsome

[All Torque]

haha awesum write up but what with the paragraph about the thermostat HAHA

Stupid me forgot to take more photos, but wat eventuated was, u put the new thermostat
into the engine. Attatch the self adhesive gasket to the thermostat housing.
Then you attach the housing so it looks like this.

[Jord]

rear would sit even if u got a set of wrx wagon springs and then you wouldnt get bumsag like the sedan ones...

[scuber steeve]

any idea on how to lower a 2000 model mitsubishi pajero ????