RXTurbo Posted December 9, 2004 Share Posted December 9, 2004 After 9 years of driving Subaru's I have finally got around to putting a lift kit in one!! It is a 2" body lift, 3" strut tops, 1" longer rear coils, Scorpion 14" rims, BFG AT's in 27x8.5. Just passed rego today and is fully insured with the modifications. Looking forward to some serious beach time!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baccaruda Posted December 9, 2004 Share Posted December 9, 2004 took you long enough! looks good. oh, and give me your wheels. those are nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzician Posted December 9, 2004 Share Posted December 9, 2004 Cool. I'm looking to lift my 89 GL10. Any advice/suggestions as to brands of lift kits? simon After 9 years of driving Subaru's I have finally got around to putting a lift kit in one!! It is a 2" body lift, 3" strut tops, 1" longer rear coils, Scorpion 14" rims, BFG AT's in 27x8.5. Just passed rego today and is fully insured with the modifications. Looking forward to some serious beach time!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RXTurbo Posted December 9, 2004 Author Share Posted December 9, 2004 Go for a PK Davis lift, can't go wrong!! I built my lift kit myself, from 2" square alloy bar. The wheels are from Scorpion Subaru (http://www.scorpionsubaru.com) and are fairly pricey, but they are a 14x6 rim and are the right offset for Subaru, they are specifically made by the company here in Australia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diluded000 Posted December 9, 2004 Share Posted December 9, 2004 Go for a PK Davis lift, can't go wrong!! I built my lift kit myself, from 2" square alloy bar. It looks nice and warm and green in you pix, we still have snow on the ground and a high wind warning. anyhow . . . How did you make the strut tops? I am in the process of lifting my 85 DL wagon 3", but am fighting the strut tops a bit. Last night I cut four steel triangles that are small enough to allow for milled slots to adjust in the top of the strut tower, but after I cut the metal I saw the same triangle is too small to fit over the top of the strut. I guess tonight I will make bigger triangles to go over the strut, then try to get center of the bolt holes offset by 12 degrees and weld it all together. Does this sound right? - James B Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweet82 Posted December 9, 2004 Share Posted December 9, 2004 That car is just plain cool! I wish we could get Scorpion rims easily... Now I think about it.........You guys still get the D/R trannys too I'm jealous :-p Glenn 82 SubaruHummer--Its a Rhino from down under. 01 Forester--Single range 5sp tranny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorganM Posted December 9, 2004 Share Posted December 9, 2004 Looks good; time to get it DIRTY! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RXTurbo Posted December 9, 2004 Author Share Posted December 9, 2004 My strut tops are a piece of 70mm long 100mm diameter thick wall steel tube. One of the other Ausubaru members sent me some top plates he had cut on an oxy profile cutter. I welded the lot together and that was the front. For the rear I bought some 35x8mm flat bar and took it to college and heated it up with the oxy to bend it to the required profile. Then welded a piece of 25x4mm flat bar between the two 8mm pieces to help locate it and bolted it all in place. It is nice and warm here still, it summer. Last week we had temps over 110° F but this week it has been all storms and rain. I actually went in search of mud to play in yesterday but wasn't too successful. Prior to this year we have been in drought for about 3 years and whilst still drought declared have had decent rain lately - it all just soaks straight into the ground!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RXTurbo Posted December 9, 2004 Author Share Posted December 9, 2004 Here is the incomplete set of pictures that went into making my lift. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diluded000 Posted December 9, 2004 Share Posted December 9, 2004 My strut tops are a piece of 70mm long 100mm diameter thick wall steel tube. One of the other Ausubaru members sent me some top plates he had cut on an oxy profile cutter. I welded the lot together and that was the front. For the rear I bought some 35x8mm flat bar and took it to college and heated it up with the oxy to bend it to the required profile. Then welded a piece of 25x4mm flat bar between the two 8mm pieces to help locate it and bolted it all in place. It is nice and warm here still, it summer. Last week we had temps over 110° F but this week it has been all storms and rain. I actually went in search of mud to play in yesterday but wasn't too successful. Prior to this year we have been in drought for about 3 years and whilst still drought declared have had decent rain lately - it all just soaks straight into the ground!! Thanks for the info and photos, that really helped me think about this in a different way. The round stock looks like you took the time to part it on the lathe . . . nice. For the strut tops, I don't think the local home store sells tube big enough around to do what I need, so I might try to do it with straight pieces. When I get something together I will post some pix. - James B Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeathHatch Posted December 9, 2004 Share Posted December 9, 2004 wow must be nice to have all the tools to do this kind of stuff. well good job wagon looks great. when u gunna get some wheeling pics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RXTurbo Posted December 10, 2004 Author Share Posted December 10, 2004 I bought all the steel for my kit from a local steel supplier not a hardware store. Not sure what the US is like for steel shops but we have at least one in every town. This town of 50,000 people I live in has maybe 6 steel merchants, some have several acres of yard all full of steel. The alloy I bought from the alloy shop in the nearest city (Newcastle) I actually cut all the lengths on a bandsaw including the round. I did however lathe the round sections to be the right length, I also drilled them on the lathe. The triangle shaped sections were cut using a slitting saw on the milling machine. From memory the 100mm tube cost me $9, they were cut to size, I just needed to square them on the lathe. I have taken some offroad pics already, and also a short video - only my ISP tells me I have 30mb of space but there is only 10mb available to me, once I get that sorted out I'll post it up! Oh yeah, it is nice having tools which enable me to build pretty much anything I can imagine, having the skills is a different story!! James, is that a Smithy 3-1 machine you have? I have one of the chinese 12x36 lathes and a RF31 milling machine, plus a vertex 6" rotary table and various other bits n pieces sure is fun makin stuff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diluded000 Posted December 10, 2004 Share Posted December 10, 2004 <snip> James, is that a Smithy 3-1 machine you have? I have one of the chinese 12x36 lathes and a RF31 milling machine, plus a vertex 6" rotary table and various other bits n pieces sure is fun makin stuff Not a Smithy, just a Chinese 3-in-1 that I am learning to use. I also have a little Sherline milling machine that I built a CNC controller for, but it is better suited for making a little itty-bitty model of a Subaru - not anything very big. I put a photo of my garage below. The bigger wood shop is in the basement, this helps keep sawdust off the lead screws and grease off the hardwood. There is a good steel yard near here (Colorado Iron and Metal in Fort Collins, CO) but they close about the same time I get off work so I have to wait until Saturday to get up there. The local home stores stay open late, but they have a weak selection that I wind up using more often than not. Working on this stuff really is fun for me as well, I spent 9 months putting a bedroom and bathroom in my basement and I couldn't wait to finish to start working on the Subaru. - James B Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spanky_pete Posted December 10, 2004 Share Posted December 10, 2004 Looks great, and I love the looks of those wheels. Thanks for sharing with us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hogsubie Posted December 10, 2004 Share Posted December 10, 2004 Not a Smithy, just a Chinese 3-in-1 that I am learning to use. I also have a little Sherline milling machine that I built a CNC controller for, but it is better suited for making a little itty-bitty model of a Subaru - not anything very big. I put a photo of my garage below. The bigger wood shop is in the basement, this helps keep sawdust off the lead screws and grease off the hardwood. There is a good steel yard near here (Colorado Iron and Metal in Fort Collins, CO) but they close about the same time I get off work so I have to wait until Saturday to get up there. The local home stores stay open late, but they have a weak selection that I wind up using more often than not. Working on this stuff really is fun for me as well, I spent 9 months putting a bedroom and bathroom in my basement and I couldn't wait to finish to start working on the Subaru. - James B mmmmmmmmmmmm...Garage envy! I guess I should complain, I do have a garage. It was a 2-car but I added an 8X12 room in the back corner off the door into the house. So now I have a one car with additional space up front. Of course it's cluttered up but I can still park one car in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RXTurbo Posted December 11, 2004 Author Share Posted December 11, 2004 Hey, nice looking shop that, this is mine Not a particularly clean and tidy set up but it does the job. I am seriously considering building a new shed, 6x9m which will give me a lot more room to spread out. I'd love a sherline, I dabble in a little miniature engineering (currently working on a 4 cyl air cooled 4 stroke boxer from Strictly IC magazine) and would love a small lathe I can work on in my living room. I am working on a design for a small 2" swing lathe that I can use over winter to make valves and stuff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RXTurbo Posted December 11, 2004 Author Share Posted December 11, 2004 Here is the first offroading video, taken by me whilst driving with my little digital camera. Size is 1.9mb and goes for 40 or so seconds... http://members.dodo.com.au/~benjamin_marsh/liftkit/first4wd.WMV Enjoy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RavenTBK Posted December 11, 2004 Share Posted December 11, 2004 Kickass. Now you just need to get someone to hold the camera outside the car. Oh and fix your steering gear..its on the wrong side. If it wouldnt cost so much to do it, I'd seriously consider a move to *.au. Beautiful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RXTurbo Posted December 12, 2004 Author Share Posted December 12, 2004 Here's another video - pity there isn't good detail on digital camera movie mode, there are rocks and steps on this track that would eat a unlifted car... Also went driving in mud holes that I wouldn't of before, its hard to get into the frame of mind that I now have more ground clearance than a hilux... This time my wife was in the passenger seat and took the video. 38sec and 1.7mb. http://members.dodo.com.au/~benjamin_marsh/liftkit/dump4wd.WMV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diluded000 Posted December 13, 2004 Share Posted December 13, 2004 Hey, nice looking shop that, this is mine <snip> Not a particularly clean and tidy set up but it does the job. I am seriously considering building a new shed, 6x9m which will give me a lot more room to spread out. I'd love a sherline, I dabble in a little miniature engineering (currently working on a 4 cyl air cooled 4 stroke boxer from Strictly IC magazine) and would love a small lathe I can work on in my living room. I am working on a design for a small 2" swing lathe that I can use over winter to make valves and stuff Wow, that is nice equipment - and it looks pretty clean to me. My ShopVac doesn't perform very well at the altitude I live, and it seems to have finally choked out. My wood shop has central dust collection, but I was thinking of getting a bigger canister vac with enough velocity for the metal shop and making a mini central chip/shaving collection. Really cool video as well, very interesting landscape. I got my strut tops finally finished and installed last night. Hopefully I can extend the steering linkage tonight and get the front wheels back on. There is snow in the forecast and my 2WD Nissan pickup is nearly un-driveable on ice, so hopefully lifting the back end will go fairly faster than the front. - James B Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RXTurbo Posted December 14, 2004 Author Share Posted December 14, 2004 My shopvac is about 20 years old internal bag electrolux the best thing about it is that it is variable speed and can blow as well, which means I can melt a pound or so of aluminium in 15 minutes in my furnace.... When you do the steering extension, I bought mine from a lift kit place here, it is a 1" long block of steel, with a slit in it and a spline to match the shaft up the middle, two bolts clamp it down. If you are just going to make a longer shaft then make sure that it is a solid press fit before you weld it as that is safer than just welding it, also wouldn't be a bad idea to get it heat stress relieved before using it. Within 60 mi drive of where I live there is everything from sand, clay, shale, rocky outcrops, pine forests, rainforest, etc etc to drive on. Certainly makes for a lot of choices... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diluded000 Posted December 15, 2004 Share Posted December 15, 2004 My shopvac is about 20 years old internal bag electrolux the best thing about it is that it is variable speed and can blow as well, which means I can melt a pound or so of aluminium in 15 minutes in my furnace.... When you do the steering extension, I bought mine from a lift kit place here, it is a 1" long block of steel, with a slit in it and a spline to match the shaft up the middle, two bolts clamp it down. If you are just going to make a longer shaft then make sure that it is a solid press fit before you weld it as that is safer than just welding it, also wouldn't be a bad idea to get it heat stress relieved before using it. Within 60 mi drive of where I live there is everything from sand, clay, shale, rocky outcrops, pine forests, rainforest, etc etc to drive on. Certainly makes for a lot of choices... For getting metal hot, I have used a hibachi grill with a hair dryer and I may build a propane forge at some point for sand casting. For the lift, I was planning on extending my rear shocks at the bottom, but after seeing your bent flat stock will do that instead. Since I don't have easy access to an OA torch to heat the metal, it will be charcoal with the hair dryer. Maybe I can throw a steak on there as well. Now you made me paranoid on my steering extension. I welded a piece of pipe over a severed shaft for an extension, doing as much stress relief as I could by tapping it as it cooled. When everything else is working maybe I should put some holes between the pipe and shaft to put an extra bolt in there - in case the weld cracks. The front end of my lift is finished up. Last night I got the rear end detached and dropped onto the garage floor, so all I have left back there are the shock extensions and some spacer blocks. I am going to a work party tonight and don't like to mix 100 proof with power tools , so maybe tomorrow I will make more progress. - James B Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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