Crash bolt question
 

as some of you know, oem crash bolts are allowed in scca stock class.

you can purchase them here.
http://www.subarupartswebsite.com/OE...901000394.html

after i install the stock bolt with the crash bolts, do i need to bring my car to an alignment shop to get it re-aligned? what's the difficulty level of installing the crash bolts? can i make camber adjustments myself, and what tools would i need?

The crash bolt installation is straight forward...it simply replaces the top strut bolt and it's held on by friction. You'd use the same tools you use for installation of your front struts.

I installed my yesterday and it doesn't seem to change the front toe so I would guess no, no need for an immediate alignment. However every before post I've seen of these cars the factory alignment was in question so I'd consider it anyway.

Basically you just take off a front wheel, loosen up the two 19mm nuts/bolts that hold the hub to the strut and remove the top one. Replace that with the new bolt and re-use the old nut. While holding the top of the brake rotor inwards to give you the most negative camber possible, tighten both nuts/bolts. Torque spec I believe was 180ft/lbs but confirm that elsewhere, I just do it a ton so it will not slip. Reinstall wheel, repeat on other side and then you are done. Took me about 15 minutes to do both sides using the center jacking point under the front of the car.

And you will need to realign the car after installing them.

Did you measure how much the toe changed after you installed them?

thanks everyone for the constructive feedback.

it's been a while since i had an alignment done. about how much do they cost?

^Depends on who's doing it. When I was back in Mpls, the go-to guys for local autox-ers was 'Jeff the alignment guy'.
He's not the cheapest, but he was highly regarded. That was few years ago, but I imagine he's still doing it.
I think it was ~$70-$80 for a 4-wheel alignment last time I used him. Should be less for just two.

thanks, but i might as well have the rears aligned too if they're questionable from the factory.

for those who installed the crash bolts, did you adjust for max negative camber at the front and stock alignment for the rear? what about toe adjustments?

I can't remember to be honest and we wanted to address the crappy factory alignment anyway. It was enough that I would highly recommend getting a full alignment afterwards, but I'm pretty anal about that stuff in general.

- Andrew