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Tigger's 2002 SF Forester

Hi All,

I have been a member for a little while but haven't yet put up an introduction post...

I first started in the World of Subarus in late 2002 when I first starting dating my then partner who had a 1985 Subaru RX Turbo Sedan! This is the car that stole my heart and made me the Subaru Fan I am today!

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Unfortunately the RX met an unfortunate end and was written off due to a car accident... :(

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It took me a long time to get over losing her and still feel a pang of sadness whenever I see an L Series Sedan, although the sightings are becoming rarer these days...

Skip forward a number of years to 2013 when my Husband and I decided to purchase a 2012 Subaru Forester 2.0D Premium. We were hoping to get the best of both worlds with this car in that we could use it for offroading as well as having a fairly punchy car for daily driving. We do a fair amount of kms so the diesel economy was also a bonus. We went for the diesel over the petrol turbo not only for the economy but also because we were unable to find a petrol turbo in that model with a Manual gearbox!! My Husband and I are very big Manual car people so having an Automatic just wouldn't be right for us...

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With the lack of L/R and poor height in the SH Forester we soon realised that it wasn't suiting our offroading needs! (I know that you could look at lifting it, putting bigger tyres on etc but my Husband didn't want to spend that kind of money on a brand new car :( ) Also, the paintwork is a little too shiny for her to be bashing around the bush!!

Then we started looking around for an older Forester that we could build up into what we were looking for in an offroader... We wanted an SF Forester due to the better low range. Firstly we looked at a few GT Foresters thinking that the extra torque might be enough not to need a L/R box and thought that we could always look at installing a L/R box in the future if we found that the torque just wasn't enough. We kept looking and eventually found our 2002 SF Forester, NA with L/R gearbox, she has fairly high kms but she has been very well looked after.

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She came to us with:

50mm Strut Blocks
KYB Struts
10mm Kingys
Custom Alloy Sumpguard
215/75 R15 BFG ATS

Since owing her (February 2014) we have replaced her tyres with the same BFGs as the other ones had very little tread left, sourced an Alloy Spare Wheel with BFG tyre (originally she had a steel spare wheel with standard tyre) installed a UHF Radio, Roof Basket, Side Awning with LED lights for camping, Custom Boot Floor made from Marine Ply and re-carpeted, Dual Battery System with Engel Fridge and Fan Isolator Switch (for water crossings).

This is what she is looking like now...

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UPGRADES TO COME:

Here is a list of upgrades that are coming very soon!

- Removal of 'F Badge' :lol:
- New KYB SG Struts with new King Springs for front and rear
- SubaXtreme Bullbar (original prototype as created by original founders of SubaXtreme)
- SubaXtreme Rearbar with spare wheel carrier and jerry can holder
- SubaXtreme bashplate (as we have managed to put a hole in the Alloy Plate one :( )
- New gearbox with L Series L/R as the throwout bearing in our current gearbox has died :( If we are pulling it apart, may as well install the other gearbox with the lower L/R while we are there!

I will post up more pictures as the upgrades progress!

The Bullbar and Rearbar are currently black, so we are looking to get them powdercoated white before they are installed on the Foz...

We still have the diesel, she is now a dedicated road car and I think is envious when the White Foz comes home all muddy from an offroading adventure!

Also, I just wanted to say that I am really loving this forum! So many people here with such a strong passion for the mighty Subaru - I think it's great!! I also love looking at the banner pictures, so much many different Subarus to drool over!
 
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Welcome and looks like some nice mods in the pipeline!
 
Gidday Tigger (love that name! I had a brown spotted tabby called Tigger ... :iconwink: :biggrin:)

All sounds terrific, mate.

BTW, your photos aren't showing up at this end??
 
Thanks for the welcome :) Are the pics working now? I can see them there??
 
^ Fine here now, mate. Nice looking Beastie ... :iconwink: :biggrin:.

I did have a look at the links, but I don't fiddle with that sort of 'delicate' editing when using my phone or tablet! Too easy for it to go pear shaped ... :eek:.
 
Enjoyed your post. Having 2 SGs and 1 SH I know what you mean about your SH. Sadly I think the manual in the diesel is too orientated towards fuel economy than off road performance. When the diesel came out I thought this would be a great car but......
 
Welcome Tigger. love the rx before being bruised.

Nice list of mods to. Are you with a Subaru 4wd club?
 
Yeah, the diesel is a beautiful car but is just not suited for offroading - we don't really use the 6th gear either.

We are members of the Subaru 4WD Club of Queensland, catchya. I was involved with the club back in the days of the RX and re-joined again once the diesel came along :) It's great to be around so many people that share the passion for Subarus - especially offroading Subarus :) We have met a lot of great people through the club and have been to a lot of great places :)
 
Best not use 6th gear in the diesels. If the revs aren't high enough unburnt carbon builds up in the turbo and causes problems. Would of been awesome if you could make the gears 2-6 like normal 1-5 gears, and then made 1st gear a crawler gear.

And as with everyone else, I love the RX!
 
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Installed the new Bullbar on the weekend - so glad we got it powdercoated - it came up great!! I think leaving it black would have looked strange. Oh, and the 'F Badge' is no longer :D
 
I like the F badge! What bulbar is that - has it been adapted from another car or is it custom made?
 
It's the original prototype bullbar made by the original owners of SubaXtreme. It is the grandfather of the current bars.
 
I like that bumper better than the current Subaxtreme ones, it looks like it offers a much better approach.
I love the look of your SF Tigger, it's a real beast.
I also used to have a turbo Leone touring wagon, 3AT though. Sold it as it needed a complete repaint, windscreen was rusting out, and oil seals/rings were both going, it was both burning and leaking oil... Still ran nicely though and I do miss it. I love the increased passenger space in the Forry though!
 
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SG Struts with 30mm King Springs Front and Rear and Rear 1" Spacer Installed...

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Rear Bar installed (running road tyres (225/55 R17) in this photo instead of BFGs (215/75 R15)) - Road tyres had just been put on and trolley jack removed hence the reason they are pointing in a little :)
 
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