Subaru Enthusiasts Car Club of the Sierras - WTB: OEM Rear Strut Top Hats (MY 04+ Impreza)

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WTB: OEM Rear Strut Top Hats (MY 04+ Impreza)

Anybody have OEM rear strut top hats from any '04+ Impreza-chassis car.... (2004-2007 WRX wagon or sedan, STI, RS, FXT, even Saabaru)?

Crucial offered to sponsor me with a set of their springs but I'd need the above to make them fit.

My new primary sponsor is...

I've got a set of OEM '05 STi rear top mounts... what's a fair price for 'em? $40?

Cool. IIRC they're like $50 or $60 from the dealer...I'll look online when I get home.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cody (Post 94357)

Cool. IIRC they're like $50 or $60 from the dealer...I'll look online when I get home.

SubaruParts.com lists WRX rear strut tops at $52 each. Sounds like $40 for the pair of like-new '05 STI tops is a raging deal. Hell, I should bump the price to at least $50, since that's still less than half the cost of WRX ones! :P

Me and my big mouth....

Ok, let me figure out if I want to "do this thang" or not. I'll let you know ASAP.

You know you won't be able to keep your struts with those, right? :(

I will have to do the "washer mod".

Quote:

Originally Posted by cody (Post 94385)

I will have to do the "washer mod".

:|

That's not totally safe. . .

Quote:

Originally Posted by cody (Post 94395)

It's not?

The washer mod has been known to fail, since it's still not totally secure. People have the hole in the topmount bored out wider by vibrations and odd stuff like that.

Quote from NASIOC:

Quote:

Yup, nothing worse than an ovalized rear hat hole! Its what eventually happened with our original experience. The strut spigot still moved a bit and eventually ovalized the hole even more. No amount of spacers was going to make up the difference.

They're not making 02/03 springs? :?:

I looked at doing this when I was getting rid of my coilovers (in fact, I think you pointed me to the washer mod thread on NASIOC orginally), and decided based on all the feedback that it wasn't worth the potential trouble.

No, unfortunately they only make MY 04+ fitment.

Thanks for posting that. I think I'm gonna roll the dice though.

TiC sells a machined, properly sized "washer" for this.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BAN SUVS (Post 94407)

TiC sells a machined, properly sized "washer" for this.

I think this is what Kevin is referring to: http://turninconcepts10.chainreactio...6bbb5b24e64731

Those are pricey especially if I factor in shipping from Ohio to get it here by Friday.

Where would you suggest I go to buy some high quality washers?

Maybe Crucial can send you some ceramic coated ones with the springs.

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j4.../VW-OhSnap.gif

Thank you so much for your help. :roll:

Quote:

Originally Posted by cody (Post 94413)

Those are pricey especially if I factor in shipping from Ohio to get it here by Friday.

Where would you suggest I go to buy some high quality washers?

That must suck... you know spending $25 to get free springs. :P

R&E fasteners can probably find something for if you know the specs (I.D., O.D., thickness, grade). But I wouldn't run on standard Lowes washers for very long, 'cause apparently you'll wear out the top mount eventually.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cody (Post 94415)

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j4.../VW-OhSnap.gif

Thank you so much for your help. :roll:

If it's not worth doing the mod the "right" way, such as it is, then I guess I wasn't very helpful. But if you're gonna do things half-assed, go right ahead. But don't bitch because you are being too cheap to spend less than $50 to get free springs.

Go big or go home like the I-buy-$140-centercaps-guy. :lol: You're getting free springs, take a hit.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sperry (Post 94416)

Thanks Scott. It sounds like people have had good luck following this guy's advice on Nasioc.

Quote:

Originally Posted by yobtah (Post 11583698)

Okay... so I took apart and reassembled my suspension today (again... what a pain in the a**). The washers are 9/16" inside diameter and 1-1/8" outside diameter.

When I removed them from the rear struts, I was able to match them up with an unopened package on my workbench. The package says:

Hillman 9/16" SAE Flat Washers Hardened
UPC code (barcode) is: 0 08236 70652 9
H# 880260 (I'm guessing this is Hillman's product number)

The outside diameter of these is really close to the inside diameter of the '04 style rear strut tops. I think this is good because it prevented them from sliding on each other. They fit tight enough inside the strut tops that it was necessary to lube them with some grease and tap them with a screwdriver to remove them. Nothing like that was necessary when I installed them... I simply kept everything aligned while I tighted the top nuts. That pulled the washers into the strut tops. I suppose you could lube them a bit during installation also.

The washers are between 1/16" and 1/8" thick (around 3/32"). I used two washers stacked inside each rear strut top. That provided enough thickness to tighten the top nuts on the Konis. It's definitely possible to use more... and it may be necessary with a different amount of threads on a different rear strut top. I think you want to use as few washers as possible, however.

I hope this makes sense... and I hope it helps. Let me know if you have more questions.

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=877041

I'll swing by R&E fasteners and pick some up.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BAN SUVS (Post 94417)

Simma-down-naw

Buy coil-overs, and STFU! :P

:lol: