mccorry

Um... nope. I tried 3 different impact guns (@ 130psi air pressure). No dice. I even heated it up with a torch to try and get it to loosen up with the impact... no dice.... Then I hit it with the air chisel to try and "vibrate" it loose. Nope..... It took the 4' cheater bar.

Good idea... why didn't I think of that! DOH!

No... but it makes it easier. You could do it on the floor.

Please note... leave about a week to let the springs settle before having the car re-alligned.

____________________________________________________________ Rear strut spring swap...... ____________________________________________________________ 1.) For the rears... I jacked up the rear of the car underneath the rear differential... then slid jack stands underneath the rear cradle beams. The stand must NOT be under any of the the control arms... as you need this to be movable so that you can get the strut out and back in. Remove the wheels at this point. This is what the rear suspension will look like (passenger side shown)... http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l263/smccorry/H-tech%20spring%20install/Rearstockinstalled.jpg 2.) You will need to pop the trunk and remove the spare tire cover from the car... as well as peeling back both felt side covers (that go around the trunk hinges. The top mounts of the rear struts are up near the back seat. Here is photo of the passenger side top mount location....(the back seat is to the left of the photo). http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l263/smccorry/H-tech%20spring%20install/Rearshocktopmount.jpg 3.) Next up... you will need to remove the lower strut nut and bolt. This sounds MUCH easier than it is. Mine took a 19MM socket, a 1/2" breaker bar, and a 4' cheater pipe... with my buddy's 240 lb. body bouncing on it. Needless to say.... they were VERY TIGHT. These 2 bolts took us 2 hours to remove. Here is a photo of the passenger side one.... It is wet with penetrating oil sprayed on it.... http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l263/smccorry/H-tech%20spring%20install/Lowershockmountbolt.jpg And here is my buddy Eric.. the breaker bar.. and the cheater pipe! http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l263/smccorry/H-tech%20spring%20install/SUPERbreakerbar.jpg 4.) One the lower nut is off... use a punch to knock the bolt out through the shock. **** The rear suspension is under load (downward) at this point. When the bolt comes out... the suspension will POP up about 1". Try to stay clear of it. 5.) Now that the lower strut mount is loose... you can remove the top two bolts from inside the trunk. Have a friend hold the strut... as it will fall when the bolts are removed. Here is a photo of the stock rear strut assembly out of the car. http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l263/smccorry/H-tech%20spring%20install/Rearstockassembly.jpg 6.) Just like the fronts... compress the spring... remove the shaft retainer bolt. the washer, the top mount plate, and then the spring. Decompress the spring, remove the top rubber isolator, and set the spring aside. 7.) Set the new H-tech spring on the lower spring pocket and push the top rubber isolator onto the top of the new spring. 8.) Again.. have a friend put the top retainer plate on the shaft and pull down about 1/2" at which point you can put the washer on the shaft and start the shaft nut. 9.) Make sure that the top plate is orientated so that the two studs are PERPENDICULAR to the lower mounting bolt before tightening the shaft nut.. The photo below is NOT the correct orientation. I made that mistake by accident. http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l263/smccorry/H-tech%20spring%20install/RearH-techassembly.jpg 10.) Re-install the strut in the reverse order that your removed it. For the lower mounting bolt... you will need to use a floor jack to compress the rear strut so that you can get the bolt holes on the strut and the suspension knuckle to line up. At this point... install the bolt and nut... and tighten down. Here is the strut and new H-tech back in the car... for reference (drivers side). http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l263/smccorry/H-tech%20spring%20install/RearH-techinstalled.jpg 11.) Do the other side. 12.) Put the rear wheels back on, remove the jack stands, and lower the vehicle back down. 13.) Re-tighten the 4 top plate nuts (2 on each side) in the trunk to ensure they are fully tightened.... then re-install the trunk liners. 14.) Congratulations... you're all done.

Well.. I got my H-techs last week and did the install this past Friday night. It would've been fairly easy except for the two lower shock bolts in the rear!!!! But... we got it after some time. More on that later.... here's my walkthrough.... First... a shot of the springs..... http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l263/smccorry/H-tech%20spring%20install/HtechSprings.jpg ____________________________________________________________ Front strut spring swap...... ____________________________________________________________ 1.) I decided to do the front spring swap first. Raise the vehicle off the ground and support it with jack stands. The stand must NOT be under the control arm... as you need this to drop so that you can get the strut out. 2.) Remove the front wheel. 3.) Once the wheel is removed... you will clearly see the front strut assembly. 4.) Remove the brake line from the strut assembly..... http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l263/smccorry/H-tech%20spring%20install/Brakelinemount.jpg 5.) Next, remove the other line (I think it is the ABS sensor line) from the strut bracket. http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l263/smccorry/H-tech%20spring%20install/ABSsensorwiremount.jpg 6.) Once both of these lines are loose from the strut... you will need to locate the two attachment bolts on the lower end of the strut. The top bolt can be seen in the above photos. The lower one is about 1" below it. The bottom bolt is just that... a bolt and nut assembly. The upper bolt is an eccentric assembly that is used to adjust the camber of the front wheel. MARK THE UPPER BOLT LOCATION with respect to the strut assembly BEFORE loosening the nut and removing the bolt. 7.) Once the two lower mount bolts have been removed... you can loosen and remove the three retainer bolts from the top hat. This is located under the hood (on top of the shock tower). You can seen them on either side in this photo.... http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l263/smccorry/H-tech%20spring%20install/Enginenocover.jpg I recommend loosening all three first.... to where they can be removed by hand. Then.. grab the strut and remove the nuts... the strut will fall out at this point if you aren't holding it. 8.) Here is what the factory strut looks like.... http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l263/smccorry/H-tech%20spring%20install/Frontstockassembly.jpg 9.) Remove the shaft nut cover at this point. http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l263/smccorry/H-tech%20spring%20install/Shaftnutcover.jpg 10.) *** BE VERY CAREFUL and TAKE YOUR TIME .... A COMPRESSED SPRING CAN SERIOUSLY INJURE or KILL YOU IF IT GETS LOOSE **** Using spring compressors (you can rent them from Autozone), compress the springs until the pressure is off of the top spring pad. When this happens... use a pass through socket to remove the nut (you will need to hold the shaft with an allen key inserted through it). 11.) Remove the nut, the top hat, the top spring washer, the top spring plate, the spring, and the shaft cover. 12.) Decompress the stock spring VERY CAREFULLY and set it aside. 13.) Here is a picture of the completely disassembled front strut.... for reference. The strut body is on the right and the other pieces are in order that they go on (towards the left) http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l263/smccorry/H-tech%20spring%20install/Frontstrutexploded1.jpg 14.) Reassemble the strut vertically (I put mine in a vice) by placing the new H-tech spring in the lower pocket, the shaft cover on the shaft, the top spring plate on, and the top plate washer. Have a friend pull down on the top spring plate (about 1/2") and then drop on the tophat and start the nut. 15.) Tighten the nut fully... while holding the shaft still (otherwise it will spin). 16.) Here is the completed assembly with the H-tech installed. http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l263/smccorry/H-tech%20spring%20install/FrontH-techassembly.jpg 17.) Reinstall the strut back into the car in the reverse order you removed it. Top hat nuts, lower strut bolts, ABS line, and Brake line. Here is the strut back in the car....for reference.... Be sure to try and re-allign the top strut bolt to it's original orientation. This will ensure that the camber is as close as possible to factory... http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l263/smccorry/H-tech%20spring%20install/FrontH-techinstalled.jpg 18.) Reinstall the wheel and then do the other side.

I have added a posting for Tein H-Tech and S-tech springs. I know several of you guys have them on your Legacies already.... GET IN THERE AND FILL OUT A REVIEW for the rest of us!

Please take a moment to click on the "Reviews" link on the top banner to check it out. Feel free to post up reviews on products you have purchased or about vendors you have purchased from.... or ... just use the reviews to help guide your purchase decisions! The more this community contributes.... the more useful the Reviews section will become! Thanks!

Eh... if it rusts 5 years down the road... just go buy a Perrin CBE at that point.

^^^^ Water is generated as a byproduct of combustion, so, even WITHOUT the hogmeat modification... you would still have water on the inside of the pipe. When you first start your car up in the morning... before the pipes get hot... you will see condensation run out the exhaust....

Awesome job on the write up!

Cool......

Aw... Edge.... won't I ever see ya again!?!?! Congrats on graduating....

I used a 1" section of 1/4" hose... split open. I slid it over the lower lip of the center trim surround section before I dropped and snapped it into place.

Well.... I dropped the car off at my dealer (Hatfield Subaru) today for service. The new console part came in last week and this was the first they could get me in.... So, I go pick the car up this afternoon. The service manager tells me that the new part didn't fix the problem. Hmmm.... ok... no biggie... it was worth a shot. I still think that Hatfield should continue to try and fix the issue... but at this point... I am tired of arguing about it. I figured I'd take it home and disassemble it myself. I figure that I can make a fix for it to get rid of the gap. So... I bring the car home and start dis-assembling the console. WTF!?!??!?! THEY COMPLETELY F'ed the thing up..... This is the list of issues that I found as I disassembled the console..... 1.) The ashtry and cigarette lighter weren't even plugged back in when they re-assembled it. No biggie.. but poor quality and thoroughness. 2.) Hatfield reinstalled the shifter surround without putting the yellow retainer clips on the back of it... so it was sprung and rattling on the way home. I found one clip under the carpet... I never found the other one.... So they owe me 1 yellow clip. 3.) The NEW console side piece (passenger side) was never fully slipped into place. The bottom front, where it meets with the glove box, was pushed out and the piece was bolted in at a twisted angle. Again... no biggie... but very poor service. 4.) Hatfield failed to remove the white retainer rivet from my old console side piece and reinstall it into the new one. So now... the rear console (with the drink holder, seat heater controls, etc) only has one clip to engage it to the front section of the console. They owe me a white rivet! 5.) One of the bolt holes for the rear console (where the 10 mm bolts go) is now stripped out. The bolt kinda goes in... but it won't tighten. The dipcraps must've used an air ratchet on it or something..... I have no idea on how to fix this. GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE. I just left the service manager a voice message listing all of the issues I found. I expect a call back with an apology and a time when I can come pick up my pieces they shorted me. I will NEVER take my car back to Hatfield Subaru again. Their service department is a JOKE! Totally inept and I don't think they know how to spell QUALITY or SERVICE. I am disgusted. BTW... I fixed the gap issue by making a rubber spacer and installing it under the edge of the shifter surround.

No offense, Hogger... but posting on another site that their cars sound like crap isn't really nice... and could be viewed as trolling. How would you like to have some schmuck come on here to troll and try and piss everyone off? I think it would get old.....

Mine is going in on Thursday this week to have the new parts put in to fix this problem. I hope it does! My car just crossed over 36,000 miles this morning on the way to work.

I have 1 cat.... Cobb HFC dowpipe... and I get hardly any carbon (soot).

Dremel with Cutoff wheel FTW!

^^^^^^ Me too... I hate having anyone work on my car. I wish they'd just give me the parts and let me do the install....

I can vouch for this... the condensation in the morning comes out my tailpipes.... don't know how... but it does.... And as far as the underside temperature.... I have taken some readings with my IR gun and it doesn't read any higher temp than the rest of the underside of the car....

I had my LGT at the dealer today for some warranty work on the interior.... but I left the Hog-zawst mod in place. You should've heard it when they drove it into the bay. It sounded awesome. I'm at 35,500 miles... so they can kiss my a##.

It isn't that compicated... get 8 washers (4 for each side --> 2 for each bolt). A regular old washer will do..... Take the bolts out... remove the flange gasket... insert the bolt through the first flange, through 2 washers, through the second flange... and then the nut. This isn't rocket science.....

Wow.... this might be the most popular mod EVAR!

Oh.... SNAP!