Ratty2Austin
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Posts posted by Ratty2Austin
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It's drivable!!!! (with the small tires)
But today, before switching back to the small tires, I did an articulation test for everyone that I know has been dying to see it done
I started out with just the ramp, but that was too lame... So I staked up a set of the small tires... and it still had more flex to go!!! (all 4 tires still on the ground!
I also did some cleaning up of the engine bay- removal of the un-needed A/C stuff (don't worry, I left the compressor, and some end pieces of the hoses for the future Air tank mod!)
Now, time to get the D/R swap going!!!
Still need a clutch and pressure plate for EA82..... Might have to run to E-burg to gather up the used ones from generous doners
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Hahaha.... Pink Zebra stripes would be..... ummm.... awesome? !
So today it drove out of the driveway and down the street and back under it's own power!!! Although, there will be some trimming and pounding that will need to be done (surprisingly not much though!) The important part will be getting the hoses and stuff under the hood replaced/repositioned to fit the 3" drop....
I got the steering shaft all welded up....
Then we put them across the street, (Noah's legoGT, and Waterwagon3) parked off camber in the grass....
WOoohooo!
so now that it's lifted, its time to get the D/R installed, and add things like Snorkel, A/C air compressor, CB radio, Skid Plates, and A-bar bumper add ons...
Oh, and a bunch of colors, thanks Tex! -
The first time you are offroad and the wheel stuffs into the well, you will be rubbing hard at the rear of the wheel.
But I guess it looks better on the highway. Hopefully it isn't too far toed out from moving the trailing arm back but not the crossmember.
True, but think of it this way- Trimming the plastic bumper, or the rear of the fender section of the quarter panel, is not quite as difficult or vital as it would be than trimming the front little section of quarter panel, or as seen on some lifted subarus- cutting right into the rear door!
I would rather trim a little off the bumper, than cut into my doors
it should work out pretty awesome anyway!
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Woohoo! it's on the ground!!!
I got all the rest of the suspension bolted up now, and the wheels back on!
Here is the rear stuff, almost done.... (still had to swap parking brake cables, and reattach the driveshaft)
I put the small tires on first, since there was not enough room between the ground and the newly lowered suspension for the swampers... and here it is, with the regular "L" size tires...
and after that, I put it up on higher jack stands, and finished up a few more pieces- like bleeding brakes, etc... and then installed the swampers!!!
Here it is!!!
and Scott, the re-drilled blocks work wonderfully!! here is the car with a slight load in the rear (tools) and the suspension at rest, the 27x9x14 swampers don't rub on the struts, or the fender wells in the rear!!! NO TRIMMING!!!
However, the front might require a slight adjustment of the mud-guards, depending on how much the tires rub.... but I still need to install a steering shaft so i can find that out
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Hurray!!! Thanks Scott, I got the new re-drilled rear blocks in, and the 1" back holes work great! they bolted up with no stress... (I guess that means the wheels will be pushed slightly back when the suspension compresses...
I got more of the rear suspension assembled, but not quite complete yet...
I did get the front end almost complete- (minus the lengthened steering shaft) and I bolted the wheels on, and woah! even with the car on the jackstands, the small tires were touching the ground already!!
This is going to be nuts with the superswampers!!!
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There is my favorite "offroad" (more like old-road) locally- the Old Blewett Pass highway- it's an old degraded road, very narrow and twisty, some areas are narrow because the roadway has partially collapsed... there are many branch-off sections of dirt forest roads too- and if you know where to look, I have found leaf fossils in various rock piles there too! (along the road)
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Nice ride.
Curious why not block down the trailing arm mount like the front subframe? then the trailing arms should reach fine?
Also, you do know you will need a lengthened front section of the driveline to run the D/R? They are about two inches shorter than the AWD boxes.
Actually, The trailing arm was dropped down- but only the same height as the rest of the kit- the problem is, I am using outback struts, which add another 1.5" to the struts, and I also added a 1/2" to the strut blocks in the rear for more weight carrying (to level the car out with a load) and so that pushed the rear hub even lower- thus I needed to reposition the forward link's mount... I have the new blocks now from Scott, I will post pics with an update as soon as they are in.
And yes, I am familar with the length change on the driveshaft- the D/R swap will be a later thing, as I am still collecting parts for that, and I wanted to get the lift out of the way first... I am planning on having a one-piece driveshaft made for the D/R swap- less moving joints (less failure points)
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today I am making you new leading link blocks as per our conversation 1" back farther , do you also want them down 1" also? give me a call
Sounds good! I think Noah and I are going to take a nice motorcycle ride up there tomorrow, to pick up the new blocks... That way I can ge the rest of the parts installed this week!
Although before I start drivin around on the swampers, I need to do some BFH adjustments and also get the d/r tranny installed (mismatched tread depth issue)
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Today I got the rest of the lift blocks installed! (and swapped out the clean/non rusty x-member in the front...
Trans spacers installed...
and of course, the front strut blocks
The current hold up, is that I need the leading link body mount from an outback, (for the rear suspension) as it is about an inch "taller" than the stock brighton mount- which lowers the leading link's front edge down an inch... without this part, I have a bit too much space between the hub and the link-
Anyone have a couple outback leading link mounts available? (or know if any of the local boneyards have outbacks ?
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Ok, so Today I was unable to finish installing the lift kit, but I made some progress...
Here is the kit, lined up and ready for primer and paint....
Got some cheap red paint, nice and bright..
I got the rear blocks installed, along with the rear x-member, and the forward suspension links and diff support bar... the blocks don't look big, but it certainly drops the whole assembly down a bunch!
Tomorrow, hopefully I can get the front end bits installed... or at least the rear hubs and stuff so I can see how far off the ground this thing is going to sit!
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One lift kit complete! Today will be the install test- to make sure it fits, and that all the holes and bolts line up
Lift blocks galore!
Scott welding the re-inforced lift blocks together (the "missing link" for the EJ kits)
and welding the strut-tower blocks together...
More photos, and updates coming very soon! (Lift kit being installed today!)
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Here is the "new" gen1 legacy rear end that will take the rusty piece that I just removed from the wagon... (and upgrade to rear disc brakes!)
That had rear drum brakes....really? I thought Subaru was more advanced than that in 95'.
They were.... unless you bought the Brighton- über base model... (the base model foresters and imprezas had drums too, I think even the current ones!)
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Today I spent time tearing Waterwagon apart, to prepare for the lift kit, and the new undercarriage pieces... so I removed just about everything- all except for the tranny and engine crossmember... (because I don't have enough jackstands/jacks/blocks to support the trans and engine at the moment- or at least I didn't feel like it yet...
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I removed the damaged steering rack from the front x-member, and of course all the rest of the suspension....
Dropped the rear x-member too, man that diff is rusty! (seems to work just fine on the inside, though..)
Rear body bolt-holes were in good shape, pretty amazing considering that one of the bolts that came out was so stuck that I had to get out the big breaker bar, since the 1/2 drive impact gun could not break it loose!
Here is the "new" gen1 legacy rear end that will take the rusty piece that I just removed from the wagon... (and upgrade to rear disc brakes!)
Here is the old steering rack- (part of it) that will also be replaced....
Here is the new (gen1) front x-member and steering rack and non-broken hubs!
oh, and here is the tool box!
Next step, I need to head back to B-ham this week a few times, and get some more work done with Scott, and hopefully have a kit to install, along with the rest of the parts back into waterwagon 3.....
woot!
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As soon as my wagon is lifted, and as soon as we can all get together for an offroad/show day, I think we should all get together somewhere offroad, and get some action shots of everyone for the books/interwebs!
Oh yeah, if you find any within my many galleries- let me know if you would like them for the books- oh, and for those who like looking at the subaru pics, dig in!!!
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Made another trip up to B-ham yesterday, although since I had slept in, and Scott had some plans for the evening, we only accomplished a few things...
But when I had arrived, Scott was under his new JustyMonster project, removing the non-essential pieces for his project...
The lift blocks are almost done, I helped cut a few more metal bits... these are the x-member lift blocks, with the other lift pieces in the background...
I brought home the entire front and rear suspension/x-member assemblies, outback struts and stuff last night, so that during the week this coming week- I can prep Waterwagon 3 (remove existing rusty suspension and drum brakes) and get it up on blocks so that the lift and new suspension can be installed...
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Here is another, from that day- where Chux and I drove into Lake Superior...
and of course, when I had the 83 TowtruckLight wagon, and I "jumped" it (after Qman made it all the way up the same spot before me) and I found out that Wagons need a little more speed than hatchbacks to get the rear wheels up to where they needed to be.... lol
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To start out with the first of many, this is an older video clip, finally got around to converting the format and uploading it....
Waterwagon 2, at Iron Range ORV park in MN, with Chux (doing the video) testing out the snorkel in a very large mud hole... (click on the image to go to the video)
more to follow...
Oh, and as soon as Waterwagon 3 is finished, I hope to take my new camera gear and go on some wheelin' trips and get some new super awesome HD video!
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Photo update...
last week I cut a few lift blocks out, and cleaned them up on the sander, in prep for making the front A-arm and trans mount lift block assembly....
keepin my face safe...
cutting blocks with the awesome bandsaw
cut out blocks, being drilled...
and of course, other projects that were going on at the shop too- an EJ22+EA82 swap.... wiring resolution.
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Yay! the soul of WW1 lives on in a new body!
Guess it got reincarnated eh?
Next time I head down to Long beach/anywhereinOregon I will let you know and we can go wheelin' in the waterwagons!
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Where did you get that? That is such a cool and much safer rear view mirror. Good luck on the build!
I actually got it at Schucks/O'reilly Auto parts.. I think Wal Mart has them too... only 20 bucks~!
News update... One of the lift kit buyers (for the group buy) backed out due to to financial troubles..
(he still wants lift, but NEEDs to keep his apartment heated, etc) so there is an extra EJ lift kit that is "up for grabs" at the special group buy price! and as an added bonus, for the ONE kit only, I will help you install it at no extra charge PM me or Scott in Bellingham for details on the lift kit... (it fits Gen1 and Gen2 legacys, auto and manual (specify when order) and im pretty sure it will also fit 93-01 impreza and 98/99 Forester too....)Front lift blocks have been cut, and some other ideas rolled around for WW3, including using the AC compressor as a air compressor for tools/tire inflation... and possibly a roof-top storage tank for water/air (pvc/abs pipe
) I still need to find a used/or cheap EA82 pressure plate and clutch disc... anyone want to get rid of one? or know who has the best deals?
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Hey I have a Brighton as well. Its a 95. Are they all wired up for a tachometer and all that is needed is to install the cluster? It looks great.
Yep! that appears to be the case, I just unplugged my tach-less cluster, and installed the full-feature one from the OBW/L series, and it all worked fine!
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woot! another one joins the lifted legacys!
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If you clean it up, or should I say for ver 2.0, you could peel or cut the Subaru spfi badge off the rubber boot, and glue it to your next snorkel in a more visually appealing location? Just a thought...
. Besides, there aren't enough bends to really effect performance, it's not a high cfm turbo or anything anyway.... Lol -
Another video clip, for those who like to watch these...
This was from the inside of WW3, while cruising out on the beach, er.... pretending to be a speed-boat!
Let's see your LIFTED Soob off roader 2010 edition.
in Off Road
Posted · Edited by Ratty2Austin
Well, I was hoping to post my Waterwagon 3 Earlier, but it was not lifted....
BUT....
Now it is
SJR (new, prototype!) EJ 3"/3.5" EJ Lift, Outback Struts, 27x9x14R Swampers
and since it was a Brighton, other mods- OBW instrument cluster (to gain a tachometer) CB radio antenna (for future CB radio)
Rear disc brakes from Gen 1 legacy, (actually, entire rear suspension) and a 3.9 open diff from an 86 GL, (matches the current 5spd AWD) awaiting future D/R swap, which I just need a few more parts...
More pics later, it's still getting mods installed