utcoyotehunter

Thank you all for your help and advice. Idosubaru if i had known that i certainly wouldn't have replaced the gaskets on a preventive maintenance program. Thank you for the education that would have taken me hours to write that S.A.

Thank you all for your advise guess I will be going with oem. But there is one thing that puzzles me since there is an issue with the original gaskets that causes them leak around 150,000 miles. so have the oem gaskets been improved or will i be replacing them in 150,000 miles again? The gaskets have not been replaced before. We are the original owners and this has been a very low maintenance vehicle. Thanks again for all of the support.

As preventive maintenance I'm replacing the head gaskets on our 09 Forester with 140'000 miles. The gasket set I revived is a Stone gasket set. I am old school and haven't ever heard of them. How is there Quality and do i want to use them. Also does anyone know what the torque sequence is?

I have a 09 Forester that has 125,000 miles on it. The car has been very low maintenance and dependable. I know that it is past time for a timing belt and I have also heard that the head gaskets have a tendency to fail on a older car. So my question is when I start on this what other things should I replace while I have it apart. I'm hoping to do it over a weekend so it would be best if i can have all of the parts in hand before i start. Thank you all in advance.

I have been dreading this update. I pulled the beast into the garage and manic March never seemed to happen. I rolled it back out in the back yard and tarped it back up the day before I had my rotator cuff surgery. I had two partial tears and one total tear repaired. I have been going to physical therapy sporadically due to my work schedule changing to 12 hr rotating shifts. But am healing very well and hope to get the doters consent to go on a Idaho ATV ride in October. He has informed me the dear hunt is out.

My plan is to un-tarp the beast this week and then start working evenings on it again. As far as photos I realy need to enter the 21st century and learn how to post them. I will figure it out soon. I went out in the desert this weekend and ran in to plenty of snow in the higher elevations but at this rate it will be gone shortly.

I have tried with no success. If I ever figure it out I will post some build pics.

As far as winter progress there hasn't been any. I tarped it and rolled it in to the back yard in November. I go in to semi-hibernation during the winter time along with hunting, ice fishing, and just hitting the hills. The buggy is about 1/3 done. The frame is mostly complete and tacked together.The engine installed along with the steering wheel and pedals hung. The rear diff is in place. The things that i remember that i need to do. Finish the frame around the passenger compartment install the rear shocks. Remove the engine and the and the rear diff then weld out the frame. Figure were the gun rack goes and install. Paint everything. Reinstall the engine. Wire the engine electrical system. Fab the seat brackets. Remove the temporary floor and install the real floor. Install the seats. Install the heater, radiator, speedometer etc... Skin the buggy. Wire the lights blinkers horn and so on. After I put the seats in I think the front passenger compartment may need to be shortened. o yeah i may need so shorten the drive line and install it. i usually come out of hibernation around April or May around the time it gets muddy in the hills. After making the list I think it is closer to 5 percent done.

Scott very cool I look forward to the reviews.

It's been about two months since my last post and a fair amount has happened. I've got the sub-frame completed and due to family needs I am making the buggy the same length as the original wagon. So in my case no drive-shaft modifications need to take place. I purchased a j-d squared pipe bender. A little spendy for my taste but a very good product. I've bent the hoops and one horizontal rung for the passenger compartment. I've removed the engine, front trans-axles, rear axles, drive-line and about half of the wiring harness this weekend.

any progress?

I checked the timing belt tonight it looks great I will replace it and the idlers next summer or the next. Thank you all.

Great, you saved my weekend I will replace it next summer or the summer of 2017.

When is it advisable to replace the timing belt on 08 Forester?

Scott that thing is cute. Your power to weight should be wicked.

I borrowed a 110 wire feed from a friend and started to weld the frame the welds didn't look as nice as I had expected so I thought I would see if I had better success with my stick welder thinking that I would go back and forth between the two welders. After starting with stick welder I just kept on welding. I will give the 110 wire feed a second chance but I may just be old school. I welded the center section that is about 4' by 4' and it took about 2 hrs. it is surprising how long it takes to fab anything. Really there is not much to tell.

I was studying the plans tonight and climbed in to my donor. I realized that the tunnel on the donor is smaller than on the rhino plans. If this is the case, it may give me peddle room. It's at a minimum know and if I can change it, a little will go a long way. Any thoughts?

It has been over eight months and this is the 125th post and I have finely got my toes wet. I got my first batch of steel for the lower frame on Thursday and cut the majority of it today. For my height 6'2" I did add 300mm(about a foot) to the length since when I sat in Summer it was a little tight in front and back. I plan to tack it together this week after work. This should go rather quickly. Maybe too quickly, since the next step I will need a pipe bender. This obstacle I have not overcome yet but will soon enough. After I get the lower frame tacked together I will start posting pictures.

I have been responding with Sweet 82 the past couple of weeks. He invited my bride and me up to the mountains to see Summer. We quickly accepted and met at a nearby trail. Sweet 82 was very insightful and went over everything with me down to the changes that he had done to the bandit plans. There were many. He also showed me the difference in the stocker plans. As he has stated on the forum before, the frame is the same on the two plans. We took Summer for a test ride and even though it has a welded differential it will turn on a dime. With the tractor tread tires that it has on Summer it has a definite ATV ride not a car ride, but this is to be expected when making an ATV out of a car. The aluminum paneling that he installed were lightly recessed back in the frame work and the fit looked like they were laser cut. He has re-posted some of his build pictures in the gallery and they are worth a look. For my needs I will need to make some small changes but they are very basic. It is time to start getting my steel together.

Yes the plans that I received are rhino buggy plans they are stalker style. The changes I intend to make are a 4 seater. I hope to change the rear of the buggy but not sure how much I can get away with due to structural issues.The #13 brace you have mentioned. I don't plan on going with very big tires but it dose give me options when I change my mind. Thanks Rob,

I just found some plans Saturday and was going over them last night looking at what mods to make. I like your idea to make the chassis to accept any transmition.

I think this is about the best advice there is. Also a perk is it is street legal and I don't need to fight that. Now the question is how much lift? I cannot seam to handle the quote function. I tried many times to quote post 101

Monstaru your advise may be the way to go. A few weeks ago I found a killer deal on a wildcat. I have wanted one long before they came out in 2012. After we brought it home I told my wife that I was abandoning the home made side by side. She informed me that she didn't want me to abandon it. I told her that I didn't care I was abandoning it. The next day she told the kids to go out and see gramps's new toy. The kids ran out and looked and the grand childe that I have bonded with the most said O I was hoping it was a 4 seater and walked back inside with his head down. I turned to my bride and said the 4 seater is back on. Having said that maybe the lift and new rubber is the way to go. At this point I have been so busy I haven't killed any thing for over a year.

Apintonut, I don't know where you find all of this information but I'm sure glad that you do. I looked at jbain8 and biohazard2222's profiles they haven't been on for 4 and 5 years. I will still send them a email but it is another long shot. Thanks

Great idea I just sent toobsoob a notification. it is taking me long enough to started that some of these old members may log back in. Thanks for the help.