Mr B

Strut top-hats or struts, lower ball joint ! need jack front up & give all joints, bushes good inspection. If nothing can be seen then removing struts for inspection maybe needed.

bit more room for a nice new style SOC sticker :-) I will be doing garage badges that have last service/MOT slip in backs to fill the void

Badly I expect, makes it awkward buying used cars privately & driving them home legally & hassle sorting refunds ! As long as I see deduction in road tax due to reduced costs I would be happy as current costs & emission classes needs an overhaul ...

More options > Pedders kit KYB struts Excel G or Ultra SR with k-flex springs or custom springcoil.co.uk springs BC coilovers can set ride height to your liking but you need be sensible on spring rates & understand that the shorter working range/harshness of coilovers reduces the usage of your forester.

Have a look at this thread for some ideas (page 2+3 relevant to you) http://uk.subaruownersclub.com/forums/topic/8746-coilover-pros-cons/page-3

Ooops, posted in wrong thread :-S

Can see it lower on front after & sitting level. Would assume pedders base their lowered forester kit on shorter stroke impreza shocks. Will be keeping my eye open for a tidy 99/2000 SF Turbo in red or green :-)

Any good discounts on BC through SOC & a retailer ? I would go 5kg/mm front & 4kg/mm rear at most, BC not cheapest but if shop about should get at £660 to £680 easy enough & if have retailer on here hopefully even better than that. The plus with BC is they will supply custom rate springs at no extra charge, also they quite helpful with spare parts & servicing unlike lower cost options. Cheapest & best road use option but not simplest due to needing faff around sorting custom springs is impreza strut swap. Simplest in terms of bolt on & adjustment to requirement is coilovers but without sensible springs & setup it would be a back breaking buckaru :-S

2nd gen saloon coilovers should fit, worth email BC & see if actually list for Forester SF. Best solution is 2nd gen Impreza wrx saloon original struts (even top hats off these fit fine & not as old which plus point when buying used) Impreza shocks are shorter in terms of rod stroke compressed & extended & drop a forester quite a bit. Main issue with this route is you will need test fit & measure on standard springs then get custom springs made to get rear sitting higher as saloon & even wagon rear springs are too soft/short on forester. Custom rear springs would be about £120 a pair so if you find decent set of original shocks complete from someone who swapped to coilovers you may get it done for under £400. You will need quality alignment once done & don't go stupidly low as geometry/handling will be ruined.

The Pedders lowering is 50mm I believe which is a very practical balance on lowering. difference between 15-20 year old shocks & springs & new is night & day. even non leaking shocks will have worn/broken valves. At least you happy with the result & no hassle with fitting. I would of thought if you want much lower than this you looking at impreza struts/custom springs or likes of BC coilovers & custom spring rates (5kg/mmFront 4kg/mmRear perhaps or little less) A lot of practicality will be lost with coil overs but if wise on spring rates & use it as road car only with no dirt track use it may work well for you.

Job jobbed then Mt Stanton !? at 18 odd years old tophats done well, find fronts worse than rears generally, had a few rears that been just too clean & solid to warrant new but front normally bit sloppy even when look half decent.

Not that expensive if compared to price of original set of struts & springs . KYB Ultra SR & 4 custom springcoil springs come to about £500 KyB Excel G can shave about £100 off that if you lucky sourcing them & using KYB standard spec k-flex springs is about £80 cheaper than custom from springcoil. Most of the cheap coilovers are junk & will squirting oil & clonking like the monkey metal they are in 12 to 24 months. BC coilovers are better than a lot & can be serviced at sensible cost, main issue is choosing spring rates wisely as 10F-6R kg/mm spring rates would be fecking dangerous on average uk roads & weather. For a vehicle like the forester & road use it hard recommend coil overs even if set up well with sensible spring rates. For bang-2-buck SF fozzy road performance Ultra SR & some custom slightly stiffer & perhaps lowered springs (40mm max probably on standard struts) from springcoil would perform & last well. Front tophats are same on SF & SG, rear are not as changed top of spring to pigtail . Indeed you can use early impreza struts but ideally want custom springs to make most of it & get fozzy sit right so cost is never as good as first assume plus you got gamble of old shocks & any fitting hassle.

Inspect for heat damage, cracking & if passes that can be skimmed if not deeply scored to give new flat surface for the new clutch to bed to. decent skimming is around £20 to £40. Clutch on the Subarus is quite an easy job so doesn't need the most experienced Subaru specialists but indeed best go with Garage who competent with Subarus.

KYB, Sachs, Monroe & Pedders do struts. Can be sourced from eBay & local autofactors. Dropping too low on standard struts will cause strut bottom out to easily so shortened struts should be used if dropping height a lot. Quality custom sprigs can be had from springcoil.co.uk.

springcoil.co.uk will do custom springs for the SF, whether you want lower - higher - specific spring ratings etc. Main issue is if going too low you need shocks matched as such or you risk hitting the bump stop too easily & also having minimal preload on spring which not ideal. Pedders is easy choice & with a UK supplier quick & not too expensive kit. The KYB shocks are getting low on stock so prices can go up to £80 if needs ordering (fronts more so than rear) about 6months ago it was as easy get SF as the SG KYBs for £55 & at that price was absolute bargain for quality. SG struts do bolt in the SF but sets the camber in different range & do have legal concerns with insurance & warranty. End result should be good improvement over your current old setup & that the main goal.

Indeed, your original concentric bolts will be fine for your camber needs. What struts springs you go for in end & how it work out on price ? Am thinking about buying another SF forester as just such a great buy/solid truck, thinking of a Turbo one :-) out of interest what sort of MPG do you get for general town & B-road driving ? from what seen can be close to non turbo if sensible but as you seem had yours for a while your comments would be valuable.

'never ever gonna give you up' That should be SOC anthem ... Must admit USB or SD card slot is perfect in car & makes CD's as useless as those cassette tapes are :-)

Connect black to black only to read fault codes, then green as well for function test mode & resetting ecu.

Range limitation is a Cat 1 restriction, reduces chance of you accidentally disarming car sat on your drive while playing with remote when sat in the lounge watching tv & so forth ...

Some dealers do it free some don't :-S Other issue is if been changed then dealers code is no good. Nice have code & be up to speed on alarm prior to having problem :-)

It's an extra so not covered in handbook, if fitted when bought new you get an additional booklet & 2 small credit size info cards on basic instructions & can keep one in sun visor. We have instructions on alarm on this site (will link you to it in a minute) Your alarm will have a keypad for manual 4digit pin code so hopefully you know about this & have the pin, although if not you can reset pin to one of your choice while have a working remote & would best be done as PITA if remotes bad/lost & you got no manual pin number :-S LINK > thanks to the one & only Mr Gambit ... http://uk.subaruownersclub.com/forums/topic/7981-any-infomation-on-sigma-m30/#entry47234 Below is link to Sigma M30 instructions/details I have > https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7Ub2apq5-pfcjJhSm5XUHNyUzQ

You do not need lock & unlock the car, if go to start & immobilizer is on thus won't crank, leave key in IGN position & just press alarm button & immobilizer will be turned off then turn key one notch to crank-start car. Issue is requirement of CAT1 alarm regs, if still don't like it you best getting immobiliser wiring removed on alarm & just run the alarm without & immobiliser will be standard subaru transponder key.

Mmm hard be too helpful without hands-on really. worth checking fuel pressure & fuel regulator. Some of those upgrade pumps are junk, even genuine walbro are problematic once few years old plus poor fitting in tank can cause issues. needs looking into as if over fueling it costing you & will damage engine in time too.

Good idea. KYB excel G struts can be had at little under £60 a strut, Monroe & Sachs also do struts. The struts are basically replacements for non sls so you are converting to non sls & must change springs to non sls too. Couple of threads for SF & SG forester on rear suspension & linked to SG already. Labour on that would be 1hr to 1hr 30min really as quite simple job for a garage & even an easy DIY job for those who get hands on with their cars & have half decent tools.

knock sensor perhaps, quite common on older subarus so worth looking at. Could even be likes of a leaking injector causing over fuelling & that more prominent at idle/low revs. Check throttle possition switch too . is maf clean ? is wiring harnesses/plugs in good order & earthing points good ?