legacycentral bbs

Hello all, I'm new to the forum. I recently picked up a 1994 Subaru Legacy L AWD with 268,000 miles, and plan on making a nice winter car. It runs and drives perfectly, but the shocks are definitely blown . In fact, one of them in the rear has started to sag so I definitely need to get them replaced. I would like to buy complete strut assemblies for the car, but I'm having a lot of trouble finding something like that. What I really want is something that would be the easiest to install at the cheapest price.

Is there anywhere I can buy full shock assemblies for '94 Legacy L? If not, what's my best budget option for struts? Whether that be rockauto... kyb... etc.

P.S. I don't really mind a boost in ride height if that makes options more available (for complete strut assemblies)... as long as I don't have to spend more money on extensions or anything of that nature.

Any insight would be appreciated - Glen.

People treating these cars like disposable beaters is why there aren't many left.

arse_sidewards wrote: ↑Tue Dec 27, 2022 2:48 pm People treating these cars like disposable beaters is why there aren't many left.

I didn't really mean it like that... but alright. I literally just bought it... and I love it, but saying it wasn't beat on is just untrue... the entire body has dents around it, PO took care of it mechanically but body condition is just not very good. I apologize if you took it that way. If I really wanted to treat like like a "disposable beater" I wouldn't care about the shocks at all.

Edit: What I meant by "beater" was just something I wouldn't try to restore to perfect condition. Honestly, the guy going to junk it so if you'd rather see it in a junkyard then I don't know what you want from me. I want to drive the car and enjoy it for what it is; if you got the wrong idea, once again, I'm sorry. I changed "beater" to "car" for you.

What you need is a set of four struts for a 98-08 Forester and a pair of two rear strut mounts (aka top hats) for a 90-94 Legacy or 93-03 Impreza. You will swap the Legacy strut mounts onto the Forester struts in order to make them bolt into the car. This is easy to do with coil spring compressors which are ~$20 (cheap ones are fine for this) or free if you rent them from the local car parts store.

This will result in a slight 1-2" lift. This will run you under $350.

You could do just the rears for roughly half the cost but then the rear will sit a little tall.

arse_sidewards wrote: ↑Tue Dec 27, 2022 3:11 pm What you need is a set of four struts for a 98-08 Forester and a pair of two rear strut mounts (aka top hats) for a 90-94 Legacy or 93-03 Impreza. You will swap the Legacy strut mounts onto the Forester struts in order to make them bolt into the car. This is easy to do with coil spring compressors which are ~$20 (cheap ones are fine for this) or free if you rent them from the local car parts store.

This will result in a slight 1-2" lift. This will run you under $350.

You could do just the rears for roughly half the cost but then the rear will sit a little tall.

Okay thank you! One question though, should I buy the rear strut mounts for the legacy again, or reuse the ones that are already on the car? Either way, I'll give you an update when finished, and before and after pictures to show how it turns out!

If the ones in your car are in good shape you can re-use them but considering their age I wouldn't count on it. I've got like a 50% record of them being usable. Replacements are $20-25ea. You could buy them with the plan of returning them if not needed.

arse_sidewards wrote: ↑Tue Dec 27, 2022 5:04 pm If the ones in your car are in good shape you can re-use them but considering their age I wouldn't count on it. I've got like a 50% record of them being usable. Replacements are $20-25ea. You could buy them with the plan of returning them if not needed.

Okay cool! Do you know any good websites I can purchase these parts from? I was thinking rockauto, but if you have any recommendations I would greatly appreciate it!

eBay has sets of four struts for $300...