Battle Wagon

Should mention I'm on 04 forester King " lift" Springs...

I just finished the " Forester lift " install with adj trailing arms, laterals, etc. tie rods, ball joints and brakes in my 93 L wgn. Awesome ride ! I was immediately disappointed though by a knocking sound from the right front corner and right underneath the passenger rear door. Upon inspection , the front control arm bushings are wasted and also the bushings under said door that support the subframe /crossmember about 10" in front of the rear end. Dealer quoted about $240 for the control arm bushing set and $55 apiece for the crossmember bushings. Nope. Found Whiteline WRX stuff from Rally sport direct but it's $107 just for the inner rear set and another $60 for the front inner set. Also, saw the warning... http://www.rallysportdirect.com/Whiteline-W51710-Front-Lower-Control-Arm-Inner-Rear-Bushing Wondering if the poly bushings will result in a harsh ride. Right now it rides really nice, even with no swaybars... Anybody have experience or suggestions on this ? Cheaper sources...

Thought the turbo calipers were going to wirk on wrx brackets. Nope. Got some 05 wrx front take-offs and ground one down. SS wheel Clears with about 1/8" extra room . Im a little nervous about rocks and crap getting wedged in between the caliper and wheel but maybe it's a nonissue ... Suspension and brake install this weekend hopefully. Got the EJ22T pulled today...

Fairtax , I thought about grinding the calipers. That's good to know someone else thought and tried the same thing. That's the route I will pursue. I chose those SS wheels because I heard they are light and TAF. Already sent them to the powder coater and bought 235/75/15's. I'm using 1" wheel spacers and SS turbo front calipers. ( I guess I need the WRX caliper bracket ...), MC... Bought the parts for the H6 rear upgrade but might just use the turbo vented rears... Have to play around with the brake calculator a bit... I'm expecting it to stop quick on the big , soft truck tires...thanks for the replies !

I've read all the threads all over the other sites, done the brake tourque and bias calcualtions, and bought the parts to do the WRX and "H6" brake upgrade to my 93 wagon BUT as I tried to start fitting parts on I noticed that the wheels may not clear the calipers. Can anyone confirm or deny that the stock 6-spoke 15" wheels that came on 91-94 turbos and early OB will fit over the brakes. All the info I can find elsewhere says "some 15"'s will fit ", but doesn't say specifically which ones....

Is the idea to get the strut perfectly vertical ?

North coast - were you able to re-center the wheel with just the trailing arm adjustment ? I saw in another thread where someone was pointing out that you may have suspension binding issues with your setup. What's your take ? How likely is it to bend stuff or have premature wear on bushings ?

Thanks for the replies. Ordered the Godspeed kit. Did you guys block down the front mounting points for the trailing arms ? If so, what worked best ?

Read several threads on this topic but still can't decide which trailing arms to use to correct geometry on my 93 legacy. KYB/ King spring lift, 28" tires ... Mixed reviews on the EBay stuff ( Godpeed and the like) - http://m.ebay.com/itm/260834552691?cmd=VIDESC&gxo=true http://m.ebay.com/itm?itemId=190804344943 Cusco and OBX are pretty spendy... Thoughts ?

Found one Ironman dealer in the US. They are " out of stock for about 4 months". Lame. Looks like it's king springs. You guys have a link or something on the subframe drop ? Also, what's the best way to extend trailing arms to center the wheel ? I just used some wedges under the bracket with my current setup...

Forgot to mention, also have 1" wheel spacers...

Looking to run 28" tires on my legacy. Currently have 99 forester struts with stock spring but need additional lift and struts are shot. Leaning towards KYB struts and Ironman or King Springs. Searched a ton but found nothing definitive. Thoughts ? Appropriate model or part numbers appreciated...

Wouldn't touch an auto at this point. Used ones are a crapshoot and I'm not paying to have one rebuilt. I took the original Battle Wagon 93 Lego) to 310k on the original auto but I owned and maintained it the entire time. I wouldn't expect to ever find that kind of reliability again. Been there done that - swapped a lot of autos...

Thanks for the input guys. I'm not looking to build a true crawler nor a rally car - just a more versatile setup than stock. I've always said that the Legos just need a little more power and a little more clearance. I think the DR is going to give me the crawling capability I'm looking for and a mild mannered 22T is going to spice things up on the FS roads and make towing easier. Of the turbo doesn't kick in while I'm navigating rock piles at low speed I don't think it will matter... I do like the idea of the 2.5 heads for more torque but does this make it an interference engine ? Are there any real world numbers on torque increase with the head swap ?

Sounds like leaking fuel hose. You're losing pressure somewhere between the pump and the injectors... Pull the cover off the fuel pump and make sure previous owner didn't botch fuel pump install. Even leaky hoses under the hood don't usually cause gas odor in the cabin...

That's the exact setup that's on my rig now. I had just heard that at some point the Forester struts got taller again ( like '09). I'm sure the measurements are out there- just thought someone moght know off the top of their head. No problem , I'll dig it up. Looking for max suspension lift. Not interested in doing the body lift thing... Next question, with those spacers on I've got all kinds of room for brakes. What's the best brake setup to run ? Maybe I'll just swap out the whole knuckle to one that might run bigger brakes and bigger axles... Does this exist ? I assume I can have my builder put different stub shafts in the trans and then find the right rear end...

Talked to the Aussie guys on the phone last night. Super excited ! They're going to build me a MY 08-10 4:11 5MT Dual range with 1.447 low and a Cusco LSD front diff. Can not wait ! Got the 1" wheel spacers on the front today in preparation for the tires but after taking a closer look at the rear I think I need 1.25" ? Can anybody confirm who's done this before if 1.25" will be necessary to run 235/75/15 (28"). Downscaling from the 31's I'd originally considered for cost, front end wear, etc... Also want to know the tallest Forester Spring strut combo ( and any downsides to that setup). Thinking a 09' + Forester strut with King Springs but can't find the actual height... Any help would be appreciated.

More reasoning behind the 22T... Removed airbags stuff, power seatbelts ( used OB manual belts during full interior swap),rear seat bottom belts, etc... Pulled anything unnecessary but I'll probably put the same back on with welded bumpers, roof rack, lighting, etc... Forester Struts ( looking into King Lift Springs) , 235/15 or 31" tires with 1" wheel spacers ( and probably some wheel well persuasion ), keeping AC, ..... I'm going to be putting a pretty good load on the trans - I'm thinking about the low range and wondering if that multiplies or reduces strain on the trans ?? Whats the correct answer there ? Hoping to find later model axles that may be beefier also... The EJ22T ,from what I understand , runs great on a stock NA ECU with 3 additional circuits. WRX stuff is WAY more involved. I'm also going to build the motor for torque but don't have the recipe yet... I was really torn about trying the SVX 6cyl but the wiring harness merge scared me off. Guys are also breaking 5MT's with that motor and I believe it's 230 ish HP so that's where I came up with a target of 220-240 hp, hoping I can milk it and potentially have it rebuilt beefier if it take a crap...

No, no actual rally racing. I'm a professional forager so I spend tons if time running the FS roads in the PNW looking for mushrooms, antlers, etc. I drive 40-50k mi every year - a lot of it on dirt. I also tow a 4-wheeler trailer a lot of the time and the extra hp will help with that. I agree with you about weighing the trade off between increased HP and parts longevity but 220+ hp is a pretty conservative build ( I think)...

I'm finally starting on the Subaru I've always wanted to build. I tried to round this stuff up back in 02 but at that time there were only a couple Aussie outfits building lift kits and offoroad bits - not much else. I paid a guy in eugene (john bloom) to modify my 96 OB with the GL parts but he kept my $$ and never did a thing to my car - nice guy. Anyway, here is what I'm trying to build : an offroad ( forest road rally and moderate rock crawling) oriented legacy that is still road worthy. Planning on a lot of modifiactions ( many already complete) but I'll focus on the drivetrain for this thread. I want a 4.11 setup with an EJ DR box. I've ruled out the GL setup for several reasons. I've contacted a couple outfits in Australia about getting the gearbox and it sounds doable - just need some help deciding what options. The stock trans (5MT) is losing 4th and the rear and is going out so I'm basically ready to change the entire drivetrain.So here are the questions .... Would I be better upgrading to a newer model 5MT ? Sti....? Here's the source I found for the box - http://subarutransmission.com.au/ Anyone have experience with these guys ? They're the same ones selling 5MT DR kits on ebay... They offer a bunch of different options for the viscous coupling and or VLSD . What would be the best option ? Currently I have the stock EJ22 NA but I have a rebuildable EJ22T on hand. Will using the 22T change compatibility for the running gear ? I REALLY want to put the turbo motor in and build to about 200-240 HP. I think that's a pretty conservative build to minimize broken parts later. Any thoughts ? Which driveline(s) ? Probably custom....? Which rear end ?