"Fiennes" - the little Subaru that could

Rosco862003

Adventurer
Update..

So I've done a few things to my little car since the last post which include, throwing rims and tires from a Forester XT on (215/60/16) which gave me a bit more clearance under the car and more flotation once aired down, which helped out on the sand. I also made a very primitive roof rack system that is comprised of 7/8" unistrut and an old radio flyer wagon that serves as my roof basket. I went this route because after analyzing what I typically use a roof rack for I didn't find myself needing one that took up the whole roof since I carry my kayak quite a bit. After having it on for about a week and just getting back from the beach with it I can say that I am very pleased with how it's worked out so far. The multiple holes provide a variety of options for mounting a number of items such as a shovel, ax, etc. Also a good thing about the 7/8" vs 1 5/8" strut that I like is that I was still able to use my Yakima kayak mount as the dimensions aren't that far off from other roof cross bars. I started off with two 8' sections of strut and cut them down to 5' to be conservative, as I can always cut more off if they're too long, but I can't add anymore if it was too short. I had my rack loaded up as much as I would want it loaded and I've determined that I can cut about another foot off and still be fine. Another benefit to cutting down the bars is that I won't have to worry about hitting my head on the bars when getting out of my car. I then attached the two 5' sections to the factory roof rails with stainless steel U-bolts. The other 3' length was used to serve as a mount for the radio flyer, and worked perfectly as there was one hole on either side of the wagon to tie into the cross bars.
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The head of the shovel wedges itself into the channel perfectly..You can also see where I secured the wagon to the cross bar with strut nuts (The gold colored nut resting beside the wagon).
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While the handle is secured with a u bolt courtesy of your local hardware store. Throughout the trip it remained in place and didn't move one bit.
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A not so good picture that show's everything mounted on top of the rack.
 

Rosco862003

Adventurer
Portsmouth Island

The beach I went to was Portsmouth Island which is located in the area technically south of the Outer Banks known as the Core Banks. The is a 22 mile long portion of a 56 mile island chain that includes the Cape Lookout Seashore, and is undeveloped for the most part, with the exception of a few basic cabins as soon as you arrive on the island. There is also an old village that was abandoned in 1971 and once served as an important point for ships to unload onto vessels that were capable of crossing the shallow sounds separating the Outer Banks from the mainland. Although I attempted to make it to the village, I decided against it after traversing a path littered with more mud than I had planned for. Although I came to a point where it looked like I had pushed past the worst part of the mud and water, the billboard that described the village showed that we were only halfway to the village and I decided to turn around after almost having got stuck. There is only one vehicular ferry that makes it's way to the island which departs from Morris Marina and once there you have free roam of the beach side to camp most anywhere you want. There are a few areas that have been roped off and marked as a protected bird sanctuary. The weather was cool the first day and became much warmer the second and made swimming in the water a much more appealing prospect. The flys on the other hand are unlike anything I've ever seen and are on a biblical plague level of miserable. I'm convinced that the flys weren't fly's, but in fact baby pterodactyls that shrugged bug spray off like it was water. Although I have more bug bites than any one person should i had a great time and look forward to going back in the near future.
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Our site, no markers or fire rings to mark where to camp. Just pull up wherever and relax.
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The aftermath of my mud excursion. I'm convinced that I went down a full blown four wheeler trail which started out friendly enough and was thought to be a better option than fording through the deeper water laden trail. Most of the time was spent crabwalking sideways careening uncontrollably towards marsh. At one point I hit a pretty deep rut which was signaled by a loud bang from my front end, which I thought spelled the end of my car and a number of vital parts. Fortunately the only damage was a dislodged bumper cover (which you can see in the pictures if you look closely) which was easily remedied by simply popping it back into place. A skidplate is VERY high on my list now.
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Behind me is the watery abyss of a trail I originally tried avoiding, and this is the point I decided where I should probably count my blessings and turn around. This is the route I chose when going back to the other side, which was actually hard packed and easy to cross.
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A pic from my POV of heading back through the "creek". thought about having my girlfriend hop out and take a picture of me crossing, but I don't think she would've liked the idea of standing in a swampy mess as I drove by splashing her with water.
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Aaaand my attempt at an Overland Journal ad shot.
 

Rosco862003

Adventurer
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Many bumps, bruises, cursing and a broken tophat stud, the Forester Xt strut lift is complete. I measured 10.5" of clearance at the diff and nothing else really hangs much lower. Once I replace the tophat and get an alignment I'll report back with a review.
 

Rosco862003

Adventurer
Update: After riding around with an alignment done, I am quite pleased with how well composed the car still is, even with an additional 3" of ride height. To be honest I would say the ride quality is a noticeably better, which I'm sure was due in part to the additional miles on the old parts vs the suspension from the FXT. The spring rates are said to be a bit firmer, which while I can't find information to back it up, the butt dyno confirms this theory. There are no clunks, bangs or any other discomforting noises usually accompanied with a Franken-lift, and my axles aren't clicking or showing any signs of added wear, although it is still early to tell. I noted in an earlier thread that I upgraded my OEM 13 mm sway bar to an 18 mm unit from a 97 Outback. The improvement was a much welcome addition considering it was free. Before putting the Outback sway on, I combed through a number of forums and discussions to confirm that it would fit, and while I found that the Outback sway will fit on the Impreza body, a sway bar from an Impreza will not fit onto an Outback. The reasoning behind this is that the Outback sway bar dips down in the middle to make room for the larger spare tire hump that hangs down on the Legacy body, whereas the Impreza's have a smaller spare tire well which allows the Impreza sway bar to run straight across with no bend. While the Outback unit worked with my old mounts that came with the car, I'm finding the longer sway bar mounts that i utilized from the first gen Outback pushes the sway bar down to a point where I think it would get hung up on the trail. Typically it is located high enough to where the axle and subframe block it from getting caught on most things and doing any real damage. To remedy this I thought about using my old mounts,or perhaps upgrading to a thicker Impreza based sway that will stay out of harm's way. I haven't yet decided on which route I want to take but all things considered I'm very happy with the added ride height and ride itself. It has been advised to get Eibach rear alignment bolts just in case you need them, but I was told that all 4 tires lined back up to within factory specs. This may vary from vehicle to vehicle, but I'm finding that most people with the GD/GG (02-07) models typically don't need them. After the springs settled down, I'm measuring around 9.5" of clearance at my rear diff, and 8.5" at the exhaust which appears to be the lowest point. As far as tires go, the ones on there are 215/60/16 which work out to about 26", and my plans call for Grabber AT2's in the 215/65/16 variant which measure about 27". In reality, I don't see the Grabber's filling out the fender that much more than the current tires, but I am looking for a tire that can stand up to the abuse of FS roads, and whatever else I have planned for it!:smiley_drive:
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Herbie

Rendezvous Conspirator
That's awesome. Wish I'd waited and gone with FXT bits. I got impatient and jumped on a bargain-priced set of Outback Sport takeoffs. Got a mild lift and slightly stiffer rates, but not as much as I'd hoped. Now that the Subie is back to street-only duty, probably just as well, but there you are...
 

Rosco862003

Adventurer
Update:

So it's been a fairly busy past few months for me as I'm now a NYC resident and no longer reside in Charlotte. Lucky for me my axle boot decided to rip just days before my departure. Calls to the local Subaru dealerships that there are no axles in stock, so I'd be stuck with axle grease being slung onto my Car, rendering a wonderful burning smell to anyone within a block of my car. I towed my car behind a U-haul helping to save additional wear but as someone who likes to do their own maintenance, NYC leaves few options in terms of space to do so. I have a friend with a garage in Charlotte, the problem is getting it down there. My first question of several is if it's ok (obviously not ideal) to drive the roughly 700 miles to do the repair? The inner boot is the one that has torn and doesn't make any weird noises. Second issue I'm curious about is if I should lower my car a bit (1") before installing another axle and running the chance of ruining the new axle. I was looking at King Springs, but they don't come cheap and most of my leftover $ has been put towards this move for the moment. Has anyone run Swift (Forester) lowering springs on FXT struts on an Impreza? I love the added clearance and stance it currently has, but I don't want to be replacing axles every other month for the sake of looks, especially when it gets cold.
 

Hondaslayer

Adventurer
Just take it to a shop. Axle swap should be an hour labor. You will spend more than that on gas going back and forth to Charlotte.
 

Rosco862003

Adventurer
A little update: So shortly after I got the car jacked up on Forester Suspension parts, the axles boots decided they didn't like the angles that they had to work at and quit. I will say that they lasted two weeks before they called it quits. This forced me to reevaluate my setup and after tossing up several ideas I decided to keep the rears Forester springs and bring the front down with the lift springs King makes for the Impreza's. The driver axle put up a bit of a fight before coming out, but both sides went in pretty easily. After I got the alignment done I have to say I'm pretty happy with how it sits now, as the front sits even with the rear, and also puts the axles at a better angle. I have a slight clunk from the drivers front which I can't figure out but overall all is well.
photo 2 (2).JPG My old axles which were overdue for replacement.
photo 1 (2).JPG King lift springs on the left compared to FXT springs on the right. Only about an inch lower overall.
photo.JPG Just a hair under 10" of Clearance at the rear diff with the Grabber AT2's (215/65R16) Awesome tires by the way. Hope to have a winter report soon. I haven't found deep mud but from the little bit I found on the trail I was on they did well. The big drawback with these tires is that they throw rocks at the side of your car worse than a pissed off ex.
photo 3 (3).JPG The stance, which I find to be fairly level, after the King springs - Impreza lift installed in the front with FXT struts.
comparo.JPG A picture before I brought the front down exhibiting what it truly means to be a baja racer, next to a stock sedan for comparison sake.

I also got around to installing my Amazon light bar, and for $70 I have to admit that I'm pretty happy. My decision not to go with a Rigid or other name brand bar is that I don't use a light bar enough to warrant the price of such expensive bars for just a little more light. I live in NYC and do bomb down Forest Roads from time to time and after testing it this weekend must say I'm pleased with the result. My plan is to get a light bar at some point and mount driving lights that I can use to augment the inferior performance of the low beams. The idea is to buy a quality product so I'm not burning someones retina due to the lack of proper optics, but for throwing massive amounts of light onto a dark trail these fit the bill nicely. Time will tell how they hold up to water and other elements.
photo 4 (2).JPG Low Beams
photo 5.JPG High Beams
photo 1 (3).JPG Light Bar + High Beams
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reachdean

Observer
Interesting build. I have a 2006 Forester after ten years of owning a 1997 Impreza wagon. Nothing that made the Impreza go, stop, or turn was stock, and it was a pile of fun. I've been very involved in rallying in Canada for a while, so the car had plenty of workouts on bad roads.

For what it's worth, the best modifications I made to the car are items you've basically already done, plus plenty of seat time at rallycrosses, etc to get to know how to make the most of the car.

As for the Forester, things will stay pretty tame. I moved over the lights and skidplate that were on the Impreza, and I've picked up stock-sized Geolander AT/S tires. I thought about going bigger, but with my continued involvement in rally, I opted to retain acceleration rather than greater clearance. After all, I didn't do much damage to the Impreza, and it never had the clearance the Forester has.

As for your tires throwing rocks, I have two suggestions. Use Impreza wheels. they're a different offset than Forester ones and will sit more inboard. Of course, your tire choice may not allow that, but if you can, probably worth doing. I also put ikea cutting boards in place as mudflaps on my car. A hell of a lot cheaper than Rally Armour, etc, though more brittle in the cold.

As for gastank protection, the common tactic used on rallycars is to cut LARGE pieces of heavy plastic that are secured to the T-BAR ahead of the gas tank on the front edge, and to the real lateral link going from subframe to hubs. It offers far more protection to the underside of the car, but be sure to keep it clean, they're a perfect place for snow, ice and road salt to accumulate and rust out all the important parts they're supposed to protect.

Here's the Lil Red Wagon and I having some fun at a rally cross.

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Rosco862003

Adventurer
Digging the Lil' Red Wagon and will definitely take a look at the gas tank skids. As for the tires, they'll probab;y stay on the current rims as I know nothing rubs and I've heard of rubbing issues with the grabbers on OEM offset rims. As a matter of fact I had some flaps cut out but never got around to installing them because I never had a need for it and I didn't particularly care for the red flaps on my car, but now that I need them that may all change.

At some point in the near future I would love to get out and get some seat time at a few rally-x's, but glad to hear that I've addressed a few of the bigger issues, not if I could only find a dual range transmission..:drool:
 

reachdean

Observer
Just bear in mind that the gas tank protection I have mentioned isn't load bearing. It's meant to be fixed at the front edge but otherwise be flexible enough to move with the suspension. However, it's much better at protecting the underside from flying rocks.

At the image below, you'll see that there's the heavy plastic that extends back tot he lateral links. It actually looks like the front section may have metal plating as well. Awfuly nice of Travis to roll the car so we can get a good look underneath.

http://s86.photobucket.com/user/T_vonderau/media/random/199underbody.jpg.html
 

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