Lowering the 14' OB, looking for some advice.

[Electric Mayhem]

Hey guys, I've been a member here since I purchased my 12' Legacy and have really enjoyed the community and hope you guys might be able to give some straight forward advice as I'm not getting much help over at the Outback forums.

I recently traded off my Legacy because life changes and I simply needed a bigger vehicle and as we all know Subaru no longer offers the Legacy wagon stateside so the Outback is where I'm at, just with more ground clearance than I care for. That being said I found a really good write up here My 2013 BBP SAP 3.6R Purchase Experience plus more. The only problem is that I have a 2.5 and this was for a 3.6R, so my questions to you guys is, should I simply swap out the 3.6 parts for 2.5 or just keep the 3.6 parts and what could I expect to see if so.

I have zero experience with suspension mods and maybe I'm better off leaving it alone but I know it can be done. I just want to do it right and keep it safe and I'd rather get some advice from an active modding community with more experience.

Listed below is the parts list used in the thread that I linked above, OP started out with LGT springs and struts all around and had issues and ended up with Legacy 3.6 springs and struts up front and a set of Koni Yellow Sports in the back with Outback springs stuffed in them. All of this and the process can be viewed in the linked thread.

 

SUBARU TWIN HYD SPORT KONI

Part# 8010-1055SPORT

 

STRUT COMPLETE FRONT LEFT

Make: Subaru

Left part# - 20310AJ07A

 

STRUT COMPLETE FRONT RH

Make: Subaru

Right#- 20310AJ06A

 

COIL SPRING FRONT

Make: Subaru

Part# - 20330AJ10A

 

ARM ASSY R UPR RH

Make: Subaru

Right# - 20252AJ00A

 

ARM ASSY R UPR LH

Make: Subaru

Left# - 20252AJ01A

 

SPRING SEAT UPR F

Make: Subaru

part# - 20323AG00B

 

I should also add that coilovers have been suggested but I'm not looking to lower the Outback any further than stock Legacy height and I'd like to maintain a somewhat stock ride, coils are also more than I want to spend for this.

Thanks again guys for any advice, I hope I'll get a better response to the question here.

[mattg]

I'm thinking you do just sub the 3.6R parts for 2.5i. I know the rear upper arms are the same for both.

[Electric Mayhem]

I'm starting to think this is what I will end up doing unless I can source a set of rear 13' legacy/liberty wagon springs and struts. I have a local dealer friend doing some digging on that one. My other thought was, how much of a weight difference is there between the 2.5 and the 3.6 across the front and what kind of difference height wise would you see if you used one over the other.

[Electric Mayhem]

After a lot of digging I managed to find a Subaru FAST database that is current up to 2012. I was able to learn that the Legacy Sedan and Wagon share the same rear struts, the difference being the springs but otherwise identical. This leads me to believe that I would be able to purchase a full set of current OEM struts for the Legacy and would only have to come up with springs and possibly spacers if the Outback is a slight bit heavier in the back than the Legacy wagon. I have two options at this point. I can either try and purchase the JDM springs or find an equivalent set here stateside. I found that King Springs has a set of Standard+ springs for the 5th Gen Liberty wagon, but I'm not sure if this would be easier than going direct JDM or how they stack up just yet.

I would like to find a rough weight distribution for the 12+ Legacy Wagon and Outback. If anyone has any information on this or any suggestions or advice based on my findings I'd appreciate it.