Damn those tin worms!
I love Firefly. It's always nice to bump into someone in the wild with exquisite taste.
The Ballad of Simon The Squeaking Subaru- A 2004 BH Outback Build Thread.
- Thread starter Wildcat-01
- Start date
I love Firefly. It's always nice to bump into someone in the wild with exquisite taste.
Influencer II
Not to mention "chaotic good" I know where that is originated...
But about the topic... So if you want more ground clearance then there are more complex lifts with dif drop etc available that would allow you to go with bigger tires. 1" lift with the struts/springs is fine and still adjustable with the stock suspension, so 2" lift would require 1" dif drop. By the nature of how it's built, it's not too much of a problem.
Make sure to check the rear "axle carrier" thing for corrosion... Subaru did a really bad job there.
Not sure about your gearing but my Forester was geared pretty low, previous owner had smaller than stock tires and it was annoying, went to the biggest stock size and proper ATs and it was much better, still would have been happy with bigger tires.
Funny you should mention that, I'm developing a character for D&D who is a Paladin with great Paladin skills and traits; but he wants to be a rogue so he has to use roguelike skills and tools, and he's really bad at them. Just waiting for that inevitable conversation:
"you should just slay the guard and steal the keys"
"No, no. I'll pick his pockets. He won't even notice. It'll be fine!"
On topic: I've been lucky that Simon is a former New Mexico car and rust hasn't been serious. I think that I'll get the 2" rear lift kit with diff spacers, like you're saying. From what I'd read, you can go as high as 2.5" without the diff drop before bushings start to wear out, so I think that I can get away with a 3" lift with the diff drop. We'll see how it goes.
The front will be a bit different. I plan on using the 3" spacers that I have in my parts pile, with aftermarket long-travel axles from NAPA. These guys have up to 1.5" of additional travel and extended CV joints. My biggest concern will be wear on the tie rod ends.
From there, a locker in the rear, and I'll have a pretty solid platform for exploration.
I'm not familiar with the gearing that they use in the Forester, but I believe that a BH Outback with a 4ATE transmission has 4.11 R&P gears, which is pretty stout for something with factory tires smaller than a stock Toyota 4X4. Going up 2" in diameter with these tires hasn't really hurt his ability to hustle, that's for sure. I wish that I could go up to 31" tires, though.
Deffently curious to see how everything works out we got a 04 Outback and I was think of selling it or trading it off for a jeep or ext cab truck but have vbeen tossing the idea on doing a lift and keeping it around meen it’s been pretty good ride brand new front end almost new rear end minus rear shocks which I’m fixing to order some and replace them
Thank you!
It'll be slow going, this build, but I'm excited to share wherever this goes.
I'm definitely enjoying the fact that Simon has good manners on and off-road and I'm kinda mad at myself for sleeping on Outbacks for so long.
-I did new front bearings. Twice.
-Replaced one axle that I blew up.
-Upgraded the front brakes with slotted and drilled rotors and new parts store calipers and pads
- new TREs
- Modded the headlamps with LED projector pods and integrated fogs
- A homebrew luddite sound system
- Interior LED lights
- Grimmspeed crank pulley
- 120 amp alternator from a 6-cyl model Outback
- New power steering pump
- Auxiliary fuse block under the dash and additional USB ports
Things that I have waiting in the wings:
- KYB struts and new coil silencers
- Smittybilt bucket seats
- integrated work lights in the rear hatch
- improved reverse lights
- new driving lights up front
- A spare tire carrier from a JK Jeep and heavy duty liftgate struts
- Roof-mounted light rack
That's all stuff that I have parts for that I just need time to do.
I’m really tossing the idea of doing a Tahoe or suburban manly incase I gotta haul something like lumber or what not
U think u can send pictures of ur interior set up like ur usb ports and u gonna do a switch panel for ur aux lights
Yeah, I'll go get a few shots in a little bit.
Most of the work is half-done or done "enough" so I can get to work the next day or get the girls to swim lessons later in the day. I hate it, but it's life right now.
Nice!
I'd love to have an older square-body 'Burb with the drop-down tailgate and roll-down rear window. My childhood best friend who got me into Scouting and arguably ended up shaping my whole life, his dad had a badass old Suburban.
I'd love to have that look and the solid axles, but with modern LQ or 6BT power and an NV-5600 and stacked transfer cases.
When I was in high school doing mechanics class the tracher had a 85 that we built with a crate 350 6inch lift 2 inch body lift.. well years my older brother bought it and it’s badass
Alright, for one switch panel, I'm using this guy from Etsy.
I had to trim it down on the sides with a Dremel to make it fit, but it will run my ditch lights and spots.
Attachments
Here is the USB and audio in on the driver's dash panel.
My luddite sound system.
And a combo USB audio in port on the dash. I'm going to relocate it into my next iteration of the dash panel, and use the hole as a pass-through for my indoor/outdoor thermometer and 24-hour clock in a cheap gauge pod from Summit Racing.
Finally, the fuse block. I'm planning on relocating it further up under the dash, because it's in the same spot as my work car's parking brake pedal, and I keep stomping on it.
Attachments
It mounts up in the little coin tray in the fuse box door in the dash. It's a really clever design, even if it's too narrow for our generation outback.
That will b pretty cool i think keep up the good work and looking forward to what it looks like was everything is put on
