Hi people, 

 

My name is Guy, 30y/o , carmechanic at a local porsche dealership and schoolteacher in the evenings and i live in Antwerp Belgium. I have owned well over 20 cars so far but never any japanese makes, only europeans. At first, i found them to be very grey and unimaginative, especialy in the design and interior department.

 

A year and somewhat ago my entire carpark was either broken down or in 'projectmode'.I needed a new car and so i checked the Belgian version of craigslist. The cheapest government inspected car was a 1997 subaru justy hatchback, wich is the euro variant of the 4wd Geo metro / suzuki swift / ... . In Belgium we have a mandatory technical inspection by a government controlled inspection centre, somewhat equal to UK MOT, but ran by nazi's as youre not allowed to change anything.

 

Anyways, the justy ... Its a hatch with a not so mighty 1.3L but with only 40.000miles on the odometer, power everything and complete dealer history it was a steal at 1000$. As in the meanwhile i bought a 140 y/o schoolhouse to restore into our new home, it imediatly served as a worktruck, regularly hauling 400kg or more cement, sand, cinderblocks, etc. 

 

 

 

Being a car mechanic, it was unacceptable the car ran for 20.000 miles without even lifting the hood to check oil. I gave the car a long overdue service sith a nice new timingbelt and waterpump and gave it to my wife. As i was using my dads vw touareg to haul my trailer, i decided a new car was needed. I decided because i realy started to apreciate the japanese efficiency and no nonsense design approach i wanted a subaru. A real one this time. I came across a 1997 impreza wagon with power everything , EJ20 with low range-able 5-speed gearbox and a trailerhitch so u wouldnt need to use my fathers vw touareg to haul my trailers around. The car came with a destroyed clutch and exhaust, 150.000miles on the odometer for the monstrous amount of 650$

Now the low range gearbox was not by accident. One of the other cars i have is a 1990 landrover discovery diesel that over the years mutated in a horibly disfigured monster wich i only use for offroad competition. I figured a lifted wagon would be the solution for all my offroad traveling and greenlaning. So, only one thing to do. Give the car a new clutch (damn that gearbox was heavy ...) , new filters, lubricants, belts and waterpump and forester struts / wheels with a 27" mud tire. One cant go mudding without a decent skidplate, no pics of that as of yet ...



Here it is in standard, grandpa-mode.



Here it is with forester struts, wheels and tires. Also went mudding that night ...

 

Did my best digging to china there !



Yeah ..  Had to happen ... Had a great time tough !

Not too happy with the forerster mcphersons in the rear tough. I redrilled the chassis zo it would take the complete forester strut tough it looks very bottomed out in the rear ... Gonna have a look into that and ask around in the unofficial impreza lift topic as to how i'm gonna correct this ...

I'm also bonna build myself a decent steel front / rear bumper and a spare wheel carrier. No reason, because it looks cool i think

 

Welcome aboard USMB, Guy!   Sounds like you're enjoying your Subaru experience.  You've found a great resource here--good folks, willing to offer advice and help.  Thanks for the pics and good luck with your Subie adventures