Junkie

A friend of mine has an old truck that he's sending to the scrap heap soon. It has decent (manufacture date late 2012, lots of tread left) 235/75R15 Goodyear ATs on it, I don't remember what model. He's willing to give them to me as long as I provide something for the truck to get towed off on. Does anyone have experience with fitting tires this size? Currently at stock height but I'd be happy to lift it. Happy to do plenty of trimming, too. Thanks for any help.

I was under the impression that the FelPro MLS gaskets were pretty good in the EJ25D as well. I hope they are, it's what I just put in mine.

I'd like to toss some bigger tires on my 99 Outback before too long, as well as offsetting the wheels out a little more. I know that somewhere I saw pictures of a Subaru with enlarged fender openings. I think he made a lot of roughly radial cuts, and then folded each little section inward. In the rear it looks like it should be pretty easy, especially as my rear bumper is no longer there. The only difficult part will be down near the frame rails. In the front I haven't yet pulled the plastic, but I imagine it should be possible there too. It looks to me like in the rear I can get close to an inch of additional clearance easily. Has anyone here tried something like this? One major advantage to trimming/rolling rather than lifting is that the center of gravity isn't raised, so road manners should stay the same. Also no issues with CV angles.

I don't know that it matters, but what year?

I recently totaled a 99 Outback Wagon with around 100k on it. Surprisingly enough, they paid out $5900 minus $400 buyback. Of course, wagon vs sedan and different area.

Any reason I shouldn't try this on an EJ25D when I do head gaskets?

Any suggestion as to where to buy them? I'm having trouble finding any 03-07 Forester springs. I could go for the Foz struts too but I guess that would mean buying new struts, which I was considering delaying. Apparently the early Bajas were the same ride height as the Outback so I'd go with these instead: http://www.ebay.com/itm/SUBARU-20330AE63A-GENUINE-OEM-FACTORY-ORIGINAL-COIL-SPRING-/231051514610?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&fits=Make%3ASubaru%7CModel%3ABaja&hash=item35cbbe52f2&vxp=mtr

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SUBARU-20330AE44A-GENUINE-OEM-FACTORY-ORIGINAL-COIL-SPRING-/231051513387?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&fits=Make%3ASubaru%7CModel%3ABaja&hash=item35cbbe4e2b&vxp=mtr I read that Baja springs will provide a little more ride height on 2g Outbacks, which I believe have the same basic front suspension as 1g Outbacks. Rear is different so I can't use those. Does anyone know if 03 vs 04+ Baja matters, or if these will in fact work?

I have original struts on a 100k mile car, so it could use some new ones anyway. I'm looking for some more compression damping to help keep the car from nosediving as badly on the dunes. I'm in the process of making some strut spacers, but out of HDPE rather than steel. People sell them so I'm sure they're adequate. If I want to un-lift the subframes do I have to do both ends? Do I have to do anything to the driveshaft? What else is involved? I'm planning on making a skidplate. Why would coilovers be better? All of them that I'm finding are for lowering the car, and that's the opposite of what I want to do.

Has anyone disassembled the OEM struts to put new inserts in? I can deal with ride height by way of springs/spacers, but I'm coming up blank on good struts.

I was also hoping to find better struts, better in both damping and travel. I've got a 99 OBW so it would be compatible with what you have on your car, but I haven't found anything.

Is there really no better strut out there (for a reasonable price) than GR2s? I wish something like the Bilstein 5100 was available. I'm happy to do some modification to make something better fit, if it's been tried before.

I recently ended up the new owner of my mom's 99 Outback. She was kind enough to loan it to me so I could pick up furniture and I was in a not at fault accident, the other guy's insurance admitted fault and paid out. She didn't want the car at that point, but buyback was $400 so it was hard for me to say no. Damage was fender, hood, headlight, and framerail - all on the front driver's side. No damage to the framerail behind the crumple zone, and it still drives straight. I'd like to keep it a reliable car, and reasonably comfortable for long trips, but it won't see daily use. It will see occasional use on sand dunes, as I live 15 minutes from some (Oceano Dunes) and enjoy going there. It's a 100k mile car. It needs head gaskets, which is on the list of things I need to do soon. It also could use new struts, as they're original. I'd like to get a couple inches of lift (from what I read, that's about all I can get without overstressing the CVs) if it's possible. I've seen various HD springs etc, but haven't found good shock options. I'd love to get something a little more off road oriented. It'll never be a crawler, so I'd like to keep the spring rate (and damping rate) high to help it handle decently on pavement while hopefully staying up out of the sand, and not bottoming too hard if I come over a dune a little faster than I mean to. Here's how it looks now, the bumper isn't my best work but it was out of scrap material and free is usually the best price. Any suggestions on what to do for suspension? I'm happy to do creative things, and have some fab ability, but the budget is fairly limited - I'm not about to drop $400+ on King springs, that price seems way too high. That might be a reasonable price for shocks, though.

I read somewhere that offset is different - 48mm on the Forester vs 55mm on most others - but it should still bolt up and work without a problem.