legacycentral bbs

So my GF has a 94 Legacy wagon now. She really wanted an SUV, but for her budget and reliability needs had to settle(her word) for this wagon. She kinda feels about wagons the way most people feel about minivans, I always liked the sleeper aspect of a wagon myself. Anyway I've been searching around for info on lifting this thing (yeah I'm a rally fan) and noticed that a few of you have used late 90's Outback struts and springs to lift your older Legacies. This is supposedly a bolt in deal, but I'm wondering about the alignment issues. How did you guys correct the camber problem? Do you lower(shim down) or lengthen the lower control arms? If this was just an offroad beater I wouldn't worry, but it's a daily driver and now that she's seen some of the pics on this site she really likes the idea of lifting it. TIA!

The alignment shouldn't really be an issue. You just need to get an alignment afterwards. There's camber bolts on the front, and the rears you can probably wiggle around to get close.

Mark the top bolts on the front struts as they are oval. Put 'em back where they were and your alignment should be close. Get it checked, just in case.

'96-99 Outback struts are bolt-on for the fronts; the rears on my '90 needed the tophats swapped...not sure about the '94.

For the brake lines, I pulled the retaining clip, and cut a slit in the side of the bracket. Bent one side up; the other down to get the line out. After reinstalling the line, just lined it back up and put the clip back in.

I've got some Forest FXT struts (<12k miles!)on the way....I've read the fronts are also bolt-up. I'm not sure what I'm getting into w/the rears.

Good luck,
TD

Thanks for the help guys. I seem to remember having camber issues when lowering the old Datsun 510 back in the day, so it's been a while since I've played with a Macpherson strut. Just figured that changing the angle of the lower control arm by so much it would create a camber problem. Glad to hear it's not an issue.