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Here is some information on Megan Racing 02-04 WRX (although these went on my Forester) coilovers.
First Impressions
Wow these look nice. Great powder coating job all around. Nice welds. Lightweight. Noise prevention cusions on top and bottom of the spring. In this first picture you can see Megan Racing has added brackets for the ABS lines and brake lines, which I was pleasantly surprised to find since I specifically asked the vendor about those, and was told no changes are being made to them. That is why I called this V2 as obviously a change was made since the other MR reviews I have seen.
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Strut Tops and Camber Plates
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Threaded Collars
I removed the McPhearson bracket on a rear strut (sorry no front strut picture) so you can see the length of adjustment on the struts. The lowest red seat lock is the height adjustment and is in the location that the strut shipped in. The second picture I tried to demonstrate how far into the McPhearson bracket the threads go, but it is kind of hard to show that...
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Additional Hardware
Not much. A couple of adjusting wrenches, an allen key for the camber plates, and new nuts for the top of the struts. Click here for the exploded diagram describing the parts of the coilovers. Didn't come with instructions at all, so the hopefully these comments/pictures help out.
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Starting measurements
Here are my front (first picture) and rear (second picture). I just measured from the ground through the center of the wheel, to the fender. This is with 225/45-18 tires on the car. So your results may be different.
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Comparison to stock struts
The MR coilovers weigh approx. 12lbs each(bathroom scale, not very accurate) while the stock struts weigh approx. 20lbs each (same scale, still not very accurate). Here are a couple pictures comparing the front (first picture) and rear (second picture) stock and MR coilovers. Nothing exact about the measurements, just wanted to give a ballpark.
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Front Install
I am not going to walk through a full suspension install as several of those exist on www.scoobymods.com But I do have a couple notes to help people out. Disconnect the front sway bar (mine was stock). If you don't it will be virtually impossible to put the second strut in as the tension on it will be quite high. The sway bar has a 14mm nut, but the center of the bolt has a pass-through for a allen key. The allen key size just happened to be the same as the one Megan Racing provided for the camber plate so I used that and a 14mm wrench. The top bolt is the camber bolt and the washer goes on the bolt side. The camber plates should be positioned perpendicular to the front/rear line of the car. I set mine at 3.25" between the lower seat lock and upper seat lock. Here are a couple:
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Rear Install
I didn't have any problems with the rear sway bar (mine is stock) so I left it connected. The rear brake line bracket didn't fit perfect, so the stock retaining clip could not be used. I put the brakline in the bracket and used a pair of vice grips to pinch the top of the bracket closed so it held the line where the clip would hold the line. Time will tell how well this holds, but it looks to be fine. The pillowball upper mount has a flat side this goes towards the middle of the car, the rounded side goes towards the outside. I set mine at 5.25" between the lower seat lock and upper seat lock. Here are a couple of pictues:
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Final results
No noise to speak of. I need to take everything out of my car and go for another drive to verify. I only got a quick drive in this AM before work, once it drops under 112 degrees outside I may go back out.
I got it nice and level, but I may need to raise the rear a bit (1/4"). I think it may rub the fender with weight in the back. It rides better than I expected, even without adjusting the dampening. I would say it rides much better than my 2000 2.5RS with KYB AGX struts and ground control coilovers did, and slightly better than my 2002 WRX wagon did with Whiteline Flatout springs. The 18" wheels made a more negative impact to the ride quality than the MR coilovers did. I am going to drive it for a week make some adjustments and let everything settle and then get it aligned properly. I will probably add rear camber bolts as well before then. Here are some pictures and before you say anything, Yes our streets are reasonable, no I don't go (or plan to go) offroading with the FXT, and I only drive this car about 400 miles a month so things that don't bother me may drive others crazy First picture is front gap, second is rear gap.
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Regards,
Aaron
First Impressions
Wow these look nice. Great powder coating job all around. Nice welds. Lightweight. Noise prevention cusions on top and bottom of the spring. In this first picture you can see Megan Racing has added brackets for the ABS lines and brake lines, which I was pleasantly surprised to find since I specifically asked the vendor about those, and was told no changes are being made to them. That is why I called this V2 as obviously a change was made since the other MR reviews I have seen.
Strut Tops and Camber Plates
Threaded Collars
I removed the McPhearson bracket on a rear strut (sorry no front strut picture) so you can see the length of adjustment on the struts. The lowest red seat lock is the height adjustment and is in the location that the strut shipped in. The second picture I tried to demonstrate how far into the McPhearson bracket the threads go, but it is kind of hard to show that...
Additional Hardware
Not much. A couple of adjusting wrenches, an allen key for the camber plates, and new nuts for the top of the struts. Click here for the exploded diagram describing the parts of the coilovers. Didn't come with instructions at all, so the hopefully these comments/pictures help out.
Starting measurements
Here are my front (first picture) and rear (second picture). I just measured from the ground through the center of the wheel, to the fender. This is with 225/45-18 tires on the car. So your results may be different.
Comparison to stock struts
The MR coilovers weigh approx. 12lbs each(bathroom scale, not very accurate) while the stock struts weigh approx. 20lbs each (same scale, still not very accurate). Here are a couple pictures comparing the front (first picture) and rear (second picture) stock and MR coilovers. Nothing exact about the measurements, just wanted to give a ballpark.
Front Install
I am not going to walk through a full suspension install as several of those exist on www.scoobymods.com But I do have a couple notes to help people out. Disconnect the front sway bar (mine was stock). If you don't it will be virtually impossible to put the second strut in as the tension on it will be quite high. The sway bar has a 14mm nut, but the center of the bolt has a pass-through for a allen key. The allen key size just happened to be the same as the one Megan Racing provided for the camber plate so I used that and a 14mm wrench. The top bolt is the camber bolt and the washer goes on the bolt side. The camber plates should be positioned perpendicular to the front/rear line of the car. I set mine at 3.25" between the lower seat lock and upper seat lock. Here are a couple:
Rear Install
I didn't have any problems with the rear sway bar (mine is stock) so I left it connected. The rear brake line bracket didn't fit perfect, so the stock retaining clip could not be used. I put the brakline in the bracket and used a pair of vice grips to pinch the top of the bracket closed so it held the line where the clip would hold the line. Time will tell how well this holds, but it looks to be fine. The pillowball upper mount has a flat side this goes towards the middle of the car, the rounded side goes towards the outside. I set mine at 5.25" between the lower seat lock and upper seat lock. Here are a couple of pictues:
Final results
No noise to speak of. I need to take everything out of my car and go for another drive to verify. I only got a quick drive in this AM before work, once it drops under 112 degrees outside I may go back out.
I got it nice and level, but I may need to raise the rear a bit (1/4"). I think it may rub the fender with weight in the back. It rides better than I expected, even without adjusting the dampening. I would say it rides much better than my 2000 2.5RS with KYB AGX struts and ground control coilovers did, and slightly better than my 2002 WRX wagon did with Whiteline Flatout springs. The 18" wheels made a more negative impact to the ride quality than the MR coilovers did. I am going to drive it for a week make some adjustments and let everything settle and then get it aligned properly. I will probably add rear camber bolts as well before then. Here are some pictures and before you say anything, Yes our streets are reasonable, no I don't go (or plan to go) offroading with the FXT, and I only drive this car about 400 miles a month so things that don't bother me may drive others crazy First picture is front gap, second is rear gap.
Regards,
Aaron
