Author : John, seasoned mechanic with 15 years of professional customization experience. Find him on Instagram : @alcyone_pilot
History of the Subaru XT Coupe
The 1988 Subaru XT GL comes stock with air struts from the factory, these are no longer available and cannot be rebuilt. The air struts had failed before I got the car and were replaced with Subaru Gl wagon standard struts which unfortunately resulted in the CV axles up front becoming hyper extended resulting in damage to the CV boots, this became an expensive annual repair. A forum post suggested that the 1988-1991 Honda Accord/Civic had similar mounting for the struts. With some stock Accord struts acquired, I found indeed the 80’s Honda and the Subaru shared a split knuckle design the Hondas was approximately 1 inch in diameter while the Subarus was 1 3/4 inches an adapter was made to make up the difference and this technique lasted 6 years until 2020.
MaXpeedingRods Coilovers as the Solution
In 2020, I decided my previous modifications had served their purpose, a new suspension solution was in order. The 1988-1991 Honda Civic/Accord Maxpeedingrods adjustable coilovers would fit both the application and budget for this project. The cost also helped as to have the same equivalent made custom for the car costs around 2800+, 198.00 seemed like a steal at this point.
Unbox
When the parcel arrived the packaging showed up in good condition. When I opened it I found the coilovers were all intact with the sales brochure and coil spanners, no instructions were included. The coilovers when out of the plastic sleeves did not have any oil on them or damage having a nice blue anodized finish the black powder coated springs added a nice contrast along with it proving to be a good protective coating from road grime and the harsh desert heat.
Fasteners aisle 5
With a few additional parts mainly a Subaru GC pillow ball camber plate, custom camber plate with a bolt pattern to match the XT, thicker aluminum sleeve adapter to compensate for the pinch knuckle difference between the Subaru and Honda, miscellaneous hardware and brass sleeves the install could begin.
Some Assembly Required
Since the standard top hat has a two-bolt Honda pattern instead of the three-bolt Subaru pattern the studs were removed, and the preload was undone to allow more of the shaft to pass through the top hat for installation of the GC pillow bearing and custom camber plate to be possible. With the camber plate, pillow ball bearing, custom sleeve and miscellaneous fasteners installed on the coilovers they could now be added to the car. The front installation went very smoothly practically plug and play at this point, with the front done it was now time to look at the rear. The rear stock struts were removed and disassembled to get the stock top hats as like the fronts the rear Honda coilover studs were also removed to allow clearance for the stock mounts. With the top of the rears addressed the bottoms had to be dealt with, this is by no means ideal but it worked, the fork design of the coilovers was not compatible with the trailing arms of the XT and had to be bent inward to allow clearance after that the stock hardware and some locktite thread locker saw to a safe and secure attachment. The adjustment on the coilovers took some getting used to without instructions it was a tad challenging but I soon learned which collars set preload and what collar with bottom perch allowed height adjustment.
Take It for a Drive
With all four coilovers installed and adjusted it was time to finally set the car on the ground, it was an immediate improvement, with a slight rake towards the rear and a near flush tire to wheel well ratio aesthetically the car had a dramatic change.
Now it was time to drive the car and see if it had also improved the ride quality. Taking my first few drives I realized I set the front end too low for my city streets so additional adjustments were needed also to compensate for the suspension settle. The suspension overall was very firm as expected of coilovers, the response seemed to improve quite a bit allowing for a more snappy engagement when taking turns, and the bumps in the road were dampened compared to the previous suspension modification.
Finishing up
Overall I would recommend Maxpeedingrods coilovers as a budget-friendly alternative to our aging EA82 chassis cars Subaru GL/Loyale/XT/Vortex/Alcyone.
Those using this modification must understand the risks involved, professional installation or supervision is advised for this project.
