I bit the bullet

"NaturallyAspirated" (NaturallyAspirated)
03/15/2016 at 15:58 • Filed to: Subaru, endlinks, Whiteline

... and bought a set of Whiteline swaybar endlinks for my ‘98 Subaru Legacy Outback. These things are crazy light weight, even compared to stock plastic endlinks - I’m a bit baffled by the inclusion of lightening holes TBH.

Hopefully this should put an end to !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

I’m also hoping that they won’t be too noisy - I’ve had mixed experiences with polyurethane bushes in the past.

DISCUSSION (10)

Takuro Spirit > NaturallyAspirated
03/15/2016 at 16:00

I don’t get it. I beat the piss out of my Legacy. Put on a thicker rear sway bar. Lowered it. Raised it. Beat on it some more.

Never broke a plastic end link even though everyone said I would.

JGrabowMSt > NaturallyAspirated
03/15/2016 at 16:04

My poly bushings are super quiet. Now it’s the damn tie rod ends that are creaking away because I think they’re starting to go.

NaturallyAspirated > Takuro Spirit
03/15/2016 at 16:06

I haven’t had the actual plastic link break, but every 6-9 months I get a clunk and find a bushing completely missing. It’s possible that the cheap replacement endlinks I’ve bought have used bad rubber in the bushings, or are old enough that the rubber is already starting to fail when I got them - this Amazon review for the front links I had fail indicates that this might be the case.

Aaron M - MasoFiST > NaturallyAspirated
03/15/2016 at 16:08

Nice. I had the Kartboys on my WRX, and even with the poly bushings they were nice and quiet once you torqued the sway bar up.

NaturallyAspirated > JGrabowMSt
03/15/2016 at 16:09

That’s good to hear!

Moves-Like-Senna > JGrabowMSt
03/15/2016 at 16:16

I was looking for you! Mr Magnum, I’m considering adding one of these fine wagons to my stable (seriously)

JGrabowMSt > Moves-Like-Senna
03/15/2016 at 16:19

Is that so?

Which one are you looking for? V6, V8?

And most important of all, project or driver?

Moves-Like-Senna > JGrabowMSt
03/15/2016 at 16:24

Yes!!! :)

Both, but I’m leaning towards the V6 solely due to price. It’s about 3K for a V6 and 6k+ for the V8 up here in Canada with 100k Miles.

It would be a highway driver - roughly 40-50K miles a year only driven on weekends and road trips.

JGrabowMSt > Moves-Like-Senna
03/15/2016 at 16:55

40-50k miles is a lot, I would encourage you to lean towards the V8, specifically the RT. Make sure you do yourself a big favor and get an 07+ car. You’ll pay a little extra, but you’ll have less of a headache.

The V8 has better highway gearing and I get mileage on par with the V6 cars.

V8 cars have a lot of spark plugs, it’ll mess you up the first time you go for a plug change.

The V6 isn’t a bad motor, but you absolutely must get the 3.5 (or 3.6, whichever). If you get the 2.7L, just hang yourself out to pasture now, because it will come back to haunt you in the form of oil starvation and a bad motor.

If you make the decision to get a 05-06 RT with the V8, you absolutely must change the heads and shim the rockers, otherwise you’ll likely drop a valve seat like I did (not as fun as it sounds).

Replace the bushings with Poly bushings. Stiffer ride, but overall better quality. Stock bushings tend to last an average of 40-60k before starting to rot out. It’s a dodge thing. They’re heavy cars, so you have to accept it. I’m looking into putting in heim joints for tie rod ends so I can hopefully never have to worry about tie rod ends ever again.

Always, always always always make sure you get the NAG1 5 speed trans. Don’t even waste your time with the 4 speed.

Parts are generously interchangeable with other LX cars (Charger, Challenger, 300, Magnum), so if you need parts, you can find a U-Pull and depending on the part, look on the other cars. SXT and RT cars are the same from 05-08, SRTs are the same 05-08 and then around 09 parts began to change a bit, but again, depending on what you’re looking to swap, parts do fit. I have to do a writeup on my seat swap, and I’ll be writing about my differential swap when I finish it (hopefully before Spring is over).

Aftermarket for these cars is pricey. It’s just a fact of life, there’s no getting around it. Parts are absolutely top notch in the aftermarket realm. People feed these cars well north of 800+ and most drag cars are right around, if not under 10 seconds. There are monster builds with north of 1100ft-lbs of torque through stock rear ends with upgraded axles. These things are durable as hell when you upgrade the right parts. Now’s a good time to pick up parts of people from wrecked cars (what I’m doing), and parts are getting cheaper. Dealerships will give you the driveshaft over certain things, so find a good custom shop if you are going to be handing the keys over for work.

Any specific questions? There’s a few Magnums of Oppo, we all have earlier cars, two RTs and an SRT8. Valve springs are a common issue in the V8s, the V6s I can’t really speak too much on, but I can tell you that it’s not unheard of to see turbo/twin turbo builds that make stupid power for a V6. Never hesitate to ask! I’ll have to get updated pictures of the belly of the beast, a lot is about to change. My yellow springs are about to be paired with some black control arms.

Moves-Like-Senna > JGrabowMSt
03/16/2016 at 14:31

Thank you for all information, I really appreciate it :D. I’m going to start my shopping and will find you again shortly!