Suspension install prep work

I was going crazy waiting for my suspension bits to show up. I have never really modified a car before so I didn’t know exactly what it was going to be like. I had most of the tools that I needed to do the job correctly without an air compressor, but there was still a few bits that I had to grab before the parts showed up.

1. passthrough socket set by Kobalt; comes with 3/8″ and 1/4″ drive ratchets and assorted sockets. Awesome kit!
2. 19mm 1/2″ drive impact socket for the hard as hell to suspension bolts
3. A BFH (a engineer’s hammer in my case, an awesome BFH BTW)
4. 1/2″ 3′ long breaker bar, I wanted to save wear and tear on my 1/2″ ratchet
5. 4′ section of black pipe for leverage
6. Brake cleaner, WD-40, PB blaster, Caliper paint

It took me a few days of searching to find what tools I liked and didn’t like. Running between Sears, Home Depot, Lowe’s and Ace’s until I found all the stuff I liked.

Then finally the parts came in. First was the Tokico D-spec struts and Prodrive springs, sourced from CVR Motorsports. There was a 2 month backorder on the struts, apparently they are crazy popular for Subaru drivers and Tokico cannot make them fast enough. Second set of packages was two boxes from Subaru Genuine Parts which contained the Subaru Group-N strut mounts. Once you handled them you could tell that they were considerably firmer than the OEM mounts. Last and heaviest was the Racing Brake H6 rear upgrade kit from Boxer 4 Racing. They came with Hawk HPS pads which I was actually troubled me somewhat as I live in Alaska and I still want good pads for the winter.