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OB and OBXT specific coilovers - gauging interest


Boostjunkie

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I am by no means an expert on suspension, but wouldn't a system that allowed for both Outback ride height and Legacy ride height require adjustments of camber and whatever else too? Or could it simply be set to a different height and that's all?

 

Ideally you would want to get an alignment after setting your desired ride height. For most folks, ride height is a set and forget type of thing. For the guys wanting to change their ride height with the seasons, I'd suggest getting a "lifetime" alignment deal that I seen offered by some tire/alignment shops. Basically for about $100-120, you get all the alignments you want for the lifetime of your car. That would allow you to reset you ride height and get it realigned as often as you might like. Having said that, as long as you aren't going from one extreme of ride height to the other, you might very well not need an alignment.

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Ideally you would want to get an alignment after setting your desired ride height. For most folks, ride height is a set and forget type of thing. For the guys wanting to change their ride height with the seasons, I'd suggest getting a "lifetime" alignment deal that I seen offered by some tire/alignment shops. Basically for about $100-120, you get all the alignments you want for the lifetime of your car. That would allow you to reset you ride height and get it realigned as often as you might like. Having said that, as long as you aren't going from one extreme of ride height to the other, you might very well not need an alignment.
I sprung for one of the "lifetime alignment" deals at Firestone Tire, the first two alignments everything was kosher. This last time, #3 in a year, they informed me they needed to charge me for a full alignment b/c the camber was so far out (spring change). Their argument was that the lifetime deal was ONLY for toe-in adjustments.

 

Long story short they did the work & I didn't pay a thing. Take home message is be sure to clarify with them up front that you're buying a lifetime full alignment deal, get something in writing if necessary.

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It will be at least a couple of months down the road. I'm just trying to gauge the level of interest right now. It honestly a little stronger than I expected, but I'll likely still need to see a few more people would be in "for sure" to make my case to the folks at MR.

Will it be possible to mount these to the stock top hats? I rode in an Outback with MR coilovers (lowered to LGT height) and the road noise, while not terrible, was more than I would ideally like and I think it would get old. The stock car is pretty quiet (and Boulderguy's OB with Tokico is just as quiet as stock) and I'd like to keep it that way.

 

If the stock ride height is maintained, then there is no reason to have adjustable top hats, correct?

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Will it be possible to mount these to the stock top hats? I rode in an Outback with MR coilovers (lowered to LGT height) and the road noise, while not terrible, was more than I would ideally like and I think it would get old. The stock car is pretty quiet (and Boulderguy's OB with Tokico is just as quiet as stock) and I'd like to keep it that way.

 

If the stock ride height is maintained, then there is no reason to have adjustable top hats, correct?

 

I am thinking along the lines of keeping the stock top hats. This will keep NVH to a minimum. The camber adjustability is nice no matter what, but is usually used to add negative camber beyond the amount which will inherently occur as the car is lowered. This is great for motorsports applications, but I really don't see too many OB guys looking to autocross their cars seriously, so the stock camber adjustability via the strut eccentric bolt should be just fine.

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Sounds good. Have you approached the guys at MR about this idea at all yet?
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Sounds good. Have you approached the guys at MR about this idea at all yet?

 

Not yet, but I need to go there soon, so I will make my pitch in person. I just wanted to have a good sense of the interest level and what we want the product to look like first.

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Hey... who doesn't love vaporware! :lol: In all seriousness, I will be seriously pitching the concept to Megan Racing. As long as the factory can make longer stroke dampeners that fit the stock top hats, it should be a go. The lower mounts are identical to the LGT application, so that part is taken care of already.
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I need to get a hold of a set of stock OBXT shocks and springs to find out the stock spring rates first. Then we will determine what spring rates to run on the coilovers. Since we are shooting for a longer stroke unit than the LGT coilovers, the spring rates can be softer than the 6 kg/mm front and 8 kg/mm rear spec on the LGT units.
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While I am by no means an expert on these things, I get a bit nervous when I hear the word "soft" when used to describe the prospective spring rates. I assume the LGT units are a bit "firm" at 6 and 8kg/mm, so a bit softer would be OK. While I'm not interested in autocross or track use, my goal is to improve the on-road handling of my OBXT to match it's horsepower. If I were into moderate "off road" use of the vehicle I'd likely leave it stock. If I wanted increased off-roadability I'd likely buy a truck. I know that we're just in the preliminary stages but that's my .02 worth.
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  • 2 weeks later...

When I pull the trigger on an '07 OBXT 5MT I will be interested in the coil overs and I hope you get the demand for the Turbo-back exhaust in OB configuration.

 

Personally I will use the OB for a combination of on-road and mild off-road. I don't mind loosing a little ride height (my '96 OB is lower than the 05+ and it is fine).

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The OBXT coilover project has been discussed with the powers that be at Megan Racing and they were very open to it. They are current busy with other new model development projects, but told me they would get the ball rolling once those were completed. Probably be a couple weeks to a month till be get started, but it looks like the OBXT coilovers will happen.
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Don't know if you did this yet, or thought about it, but the members over at:

 

http://www.subaruoutback.org

 

Would be very interested in this project.

 

There has been much talk about needing better dampers to erradicate pogoing and such during on-road adventures. It seems the bigger rear sway, related endlinks, laterals and better dampers would make the OB just right.

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This is a definately good idea. That would make OBXT a viable alternative to us manual LGT wagonistas. I don't like the idea of putting LGT specific coilovers/strut/shocks on OBXT.

 

MR would be the first to market OB-specific suspension, I see a quite a bit of business potential in doing this.

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i definitely think most of us obxt drivers just want a less floaty ride and flatter in the corners; just more sporty (to match the performance of the engine). ideally i wold like to drop the car 1"-2", but be able to raise it if absolutely necessary.

The Gen I Outbacks had 7.3" of ground clearance. That seemed to be just about ideal in terms of getting over ruts and bumps. So going down an inch or so would be a better compromise.

 

SOA claims that the roll center on the Gen III Outbacks is lower than the previous two, so along with a little more control this would be a worthwhile improvement.

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Rebuilds will be available. MR offers a dampener insert exchanger service. For $75/corner, they send you a new dampener insert, and you return your cores. This is much more convenient than a rebuild service where the coilovers must be removed and sent in for service. With the insert exchange you do not have any downtime, since you can just swap in the inserts get your car back up and running then send back the cores.
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I'm In!!!

 

I like the idea of being able to cruise around at 8.7" and then pull into the parking lot of an Autocross event and drop down to 5" to kick some ass. Boo Yea!!

 

 

About wheel clearences... I run a 245/45-18 The left front tire rubbed a little, but stopped once the plastic wore away. The right tire never rubbed. MY left tire is also noticeably off center in the wheel well whereas the right is not. (accident spring of 2005)

 

rears are close but don't rub. Bump stops prevent them from bottoming out too.

(Updated 8/22/17)

2005 Outback FMT

Running on Electrons

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