The Rot Wagon: Lifted 99 Subaru Impreza

Tinker.. that's a great job. ive been a subaru guy since 1995. im finally getting around to building my lil 1993 impreza wagon. I see you got lift from sjr. and im guessing exhaust from summit it looks like. one thing is hows about those axle boots.? cuz I know ill be in the same boat as you. ill be doing the forester strut lift with 40mm (1.5in) spacers and making my own subframe , traling arm drop kit. Did you switch back to the imprezza struts for the sjr lift kit? and agin great job. I think you lit a lot of fires under a few guys butts haha.. and oh ya I see your from West Michigan, i see, posibly the UP.? im from sault ontairo just north of ya. but live out in British Columbia now. cheers!!
 
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Moon said:
Tinker.. that's a great job. ive been a subaru guy since 1995. im finally getting around to building my lil 1993 impreza wagon. I see you got lift from sjr. and im guessing exhaust from summit it looks like. one thing is hows about those axle boots.? cuz I know ill be in the same boat as you. ill be doing the forester strut lift with 40mm (1.5in) spacers and making my own subframe , traling arm drop kit. Did you switch back to the imprezza struts for the sjr lift kit? and agin great job. I think you lit a lot of fires under a few guys butts haha.. and oh ya I see your from West Michigan, i see, posibly the UP.? im from sault ontairo just north of ya. but live out in British Columbia now. cheers!!
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Thanks!

I've tried the silicone 1-piece CV boots, hoping their extra flexibility would help them last longer vs the usual OEM rubber... but one has started leaking grease recently :(

In regards to the struts: I did keep the taller Forester struts for the SJR lift kit installation. Be sure to mention this (because of the slightly different top-hat bolt pattern) if you decide to purchase a kit!

Kinda wish I was in the UP, but nah I'm currently in the western Michigan area. I haven't been up to the Soo since I was a kid, but have fond memories of it :) Lucky! I so badly want to visit the area around the NW of the US/CA, definitely high up on my list of places to see before going international again.
 
I'm looking at doing the FXT swap on my OBS soon. When you did just just FXT swap did you need longer brake lines? I'm going to upgrade to WRX front and H6 rear brakes at the time of the lift and wanted to swap over to ss lines. I'm not planning anything crazy with this.
 
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Adventuring Trek said:
I'm looking at doing the FXT swap on my OBS soon. When you did just just FXT swap did you need longer brake lines? I'm going to upgrade to WRX front and H6 rear brakes at the time of the lift and wanted to swap over to ss lines. I'm not planning anything crazy with this.
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Swapping the struts or the whole drivetrain? ...both would be cool but the added power of the latter would be really fun on a lifted OBS! For my Forester strut swap I didn't need to extend the brake lines thankfully, but the anti-sway bars on some vehicles can put up a fight on the refit. I did a big upgrade on my brakes (later after the lifts) like what you're looking to do and WOW what an upgrade I wish I had done earlier! The peace of mind with all that added stopping power honestly has allowed me to push the car so much harder on trail runs, not to mention the front fixed calipers & rear disc swap both have made it a dream to work on in comparison to the original setup.
 
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Wheel bearing failure #2 happened this last week... this time the driver's side rear developed the chirp sounds of impending bearing doom. Honestly thought I'd have gone thru all 4 by now with the added stress of this thing's setup, especially after 1.5 years of near daily use & some hard off road use. So thankful for having gone thru the whole car in the infancy of the project, because that giant pain-in-the-backside-bolt came right out for the repairs :grinning:

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Tinker said:
Swapping the struts or the whole drivetrain? ...both would be cool but the added power of the latter would be really fun on a lifted OBS! For my Forester strut swap I didn't need to extend the brake lines thankfully, but the anti-sway bars on some vehicles can put up a fight on the refit. I did a big upgrade on my brakes (later after the lifts) like what you're looking to do and WOW what an upgrade I wish I had done earlier! The peace of mind with all that added stopping power honestly has allowed me to push the car so much harder on trail runs, not to mention the front fixed calipers & rear disc swap both have made it a dream to work on in comparison to the original setup.
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Swapping just strut assemblies. The WRX/H6 swap is almost as good as the 4/2pots while being significantly lighter and cheaper. I figured this would be the best route as this won't be a track car so I won't need the hardcore pads the 4/2pots make available. Simple semi metallic pads will work for me just fine. Glad to hear about the brake lines. For the front swaybar you can use rear endlinks from the 04-07 STI to help drop it a bit. Also if you're looking at reinforcing the strut towers check out this link. They make plates for people like us who swap from GC/GF to GD struts in the rear.

rally.build

Subaru Rally Parts

All the parts needed to build a Subaru rally car!
rally.build
 
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Ah okay I'm with you there. Funny enough, from what I've dug up, the 2-pot rears are usually quite a bit more costly & challenging to swap. I think it's due to the knuckle swap required & much less common parts availability. But the fronts can be had real cheap thru used sources like salvage yards & ebay (my front set cost me less than $200).

Thanks for the tip on those precut top plates. Reinforcing the uprights is high on the list of what's coming next for mine, partly due to corrosion (not called the rot wagon for nothing haha!) & partly to prepare for upgraded suspension.
 
Adventuring Trek said:
The two pots just require a Kartboy relocation bracket. They will bolt on the rear disc hubs and knuckles.
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Right! But mine had the rear drums :( Which I figured was the more common default setup when I was saying rear 2-pots get pricey.

Adventuring Trek said:
You should really look into the 50/50 switch and Torq Masters rear locker.
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I've got a center diff lock switch wired up & what a game changer, no more waiting ages for the computer to react! I think that switch is the main reason my automatic transmission has survived this long, no slipping during on-off requests from the computer during hard offroading. Biggest difference I've noticed is in the snow, since it used to understeer so hard for a solid several seconds (which is usually far too long to successfully bomb a corner) then BAM sudden oversteer when the rear was supplied more engine torque. Just have to be careful to not be in the throttle when you click it. It's also kinda funny the way it "winds up" like 4x4 trucks have a habit of doing & clunks/lurches when you disengage... all coming from a little car :openmouth:

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I'm waiting on a locking differential solution until I get my hands on a 4.44:1 rear diff & auto trans combo. Wish the Aussie spec "dual range" trans came in a 4.44 auto. I think it would be fun to build up & modify a Subaru auto: Manual valve body, bored out ports, upgraded converter etc. I have a line on a few engine options for it too, & as much as I want a diesel boxer engine swap to fit with the style of the build... but from what I've looked into they do not take well to modifications like most diesels. So it's a toss up now between H6 or WRX power.

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Adventuring Trek said:
I'd honestly stick with a EZ36D. Good hp and for the purpose with the ability to still use 87 octane, plus better reliability from N/A.
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The wiring can get a little tricky, but yeah it would be much more simple under the hood vs turbo for sure, and loads of torque!
 
Did a little work on the Rot Wagon this week. Was getting a little tired of how raspy the cheap "Cherry Bomb" muffler was (can't expect all that much for ~$30 after all) and decided to drop the rear section of my custom exhaust to quick buzz on a new Walker "Quiet Flow" muffler. Still keeps the Subaru rumble with my unequal-length header I built, but happily loses the irritating snappy sounds that tend to plague a freed up 4-cylinder exhaust. So glad I used v-bands instead of standard 2/3 bolt flanges when I built this setup... what a breeze to work on!
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I've been fighting an odd idle & some random misfires lately that seem to come & go with no explanation. Started out with the usual suspects like bad fuel, wet air filter, burnt plugs etc. But everything was checking out. With the help of a good friend & our resident Subaru expert, we were able to chase the issue down to fueling related. I'm glad I checked the fuel filter first... looks like it was on there a while (I clearly missed it on the initial going over of the car when I picked it up, oops!) and had some not great looking fuel pouring out of it when I drained it out. Still had the same issue though! Next up was having a look in the tank, since Subaru is kind enough to provide us with an entry point from up top it isn't a huge deal, just had to move my mountain of tools & spares from in back. We were both a bit shocked by how clean the inside of the tank was & how good the whole sending unit looked, but why not swap the pump while we were there. That did it! Back to full rip, well as much as a 2.2L can rip haha!
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Gilligan said:
That is so cool nice job! do you have any adventure videos yet?
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Thanks! Just the one good video on the trails so far, linked below. Filming on the road is still a tricky thing I haven't quite figured out properly yet, especially difficult when out with groups.

 
Adventuring Trek said:
Check out a company called Iwire. They do custom harness splicing.
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I think I could have a good time chatting with people from companies like them & Rywire. I've done a bit of rewiring & custom wiring myself & find the process surprisingly interesting. Honestly I'm pretty excited for the full rewiring process I have ahead of me for my Rover project... something that used to terrify me. The bummer with Subaru wiring is the seeming randomness of their wire coloring methods, very frustrating! Most other Japanese vehicles are consistent, like Honda's for example where you can count on the schematics matching everything.
 
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