2010 XT Subaru Forester Project

That compressor setup with custom pressure regulator is awesome...well done!!!

Only question is...where can we get them? :rotfl:

hey mate, thanks! yeh I had some assistance on that one. The guy who designs/builds the Custom Pressure regulator helped with a heap of trial and error making the Ally bracket that sits up under the black plastic cover at the top bonnet edge

I am not sure on the little pressure reg, I know the guy has looked at various options for producing them commericially but hasn't kicked anything off yet, i think there is quite a bit involved in producing each one manually but I also know there is a lot of interest for them, i will direct him to this thread

Yup. Very interested in the pressure regulator. Do we presume it deflates to the set pressure as well as inflates?

Very neat rig all around!

Thanks :ebiggrin:

Nah only inflation I don't know of many onboard systems for onboard tyre deflation (they are out there but i think they are super exy or reserved for Army vehicles style haha).

I use a set of Stauns preset to i think 15 or 12 PSI, i just wind them onto each valve stem and drive onto the beach, by the time you get into the soft stuff the tyres are down. The offroad Yoko's have a bit more sidewall and are a fair bit stronger than the factory tyres so they bag out ok

Photo's of the SubaExtreme Bashplate





These rigs even when lifted etc are still reasonably close to the ground and it never hurts to protect the Sump etc.

Looking nice, those solar panels should keepnthe fridge going for a very long time.

Interesting choice on the MRT brake boost option.

I put slotted DBA rotors on the front (SG series XT) this made a massive difference in braking performance and feel, interestingly I also started getting about twice as long on each set of pads than with the standard rotors - worked out to be money well spent as I have now saved 4 sets of pad replacements.

You are soooo right the brakes a a bit under spec given the capability of the foz.

yeh when I am home from FIFO the car sits in my driveway most of the week and the fridge never gets turned off.... batt rarely goes below 60 - 70% ever with minimal driving. 160watt is heaps for fridge and few LEDs for lighting. Solar is so cheap now even for big stuff like 200 - 240W!

Yeh the brake booster doesn't improve brake performance as such jus takes bit of slack out of the peddle and gives it a much better feel underfoot. The pads and fluid definitely made a difference tho especially for repeated brake use or down hill braking with a solid trailer pushing you along.

yeh I dunno why Suby do it.... transplant a performance engine into the cars like the Forry and the Lib and because they are more luxury or practical cars they don't bring across the better brakes which makes no sense considering both the Forry and Lib are heavier than a WRX meaning the only thing they are really compromising is safety!

yeh i had the rotors priced up but put the $$ towards the new camping trailer i am having built. good to hear they do make a solid difference, i wasn't too sure if they would make a heap of difference if there was no extra clamping force by upgrading the callipers which is a bit of a mish and exy!

tuckerman, you have some excellent mods and very practical ideas. Must be a pleasure to hop in the car and go for a trip.

Was your custom made roof rack for the solar panel put together by you? And... as you seem to have it as a permanent addition, what kind of noise does it make when driving along? For the last question... are the solar panels a portable set that you have installed within your roof racks?

Gotta love this forum. Always somebody with an idea that makes you think how something can be done better than it is!

Best regards,

Scooby2

hey mate, thanks for the compliments, yeh its enjoyable to travel in for sure can't wait to use it more when my trailer arrives end of yr :ebiggrin:

yeh mate I custom made it. Took a little bit of trial and error but just did it over a couple of afternoons. Yes they are 160Watt Black Panels the folding variety and I put the side rail on them that lock into the other rails on the roof rack. Took the reg off them but made it so u can plug the reg back in if you wanted to take away for the weekend to use on say a boat or something.

I can't completely take credit for the idea, I am a forum crawler as well and I noticed an ARB reseller did a similar thing on a Prado forum thread which gave me the idea. I expanded on the idea a bit as I used folding Panels and if I remove them from the roof rack I can still fold the panels down if required and have an extension lead so can park car in shade and run it out to the panels! if you plan on doing the same watch the overall size of the panels my panels fit perfectly but the roof rack is at its absolute limit in width apart of the cross rails.

yeh I love forums as well, thats why i decided to post this thread as I know every time I am doing some form of car/bike/computer/trailer/house mods I crawl the forums for hrs doing research and asking questions so hopefully people will find this thread useful. :banana:

ahhhh forgot to answer your noise question! to be honest i listen to my music loud so don't always notice any noise :lol: but nah it is very quiet! I purposely have the panels sitting just lower than the crossbars as not to catch the wind. I find the most noise you get is if you don't cover the slot in the centre of roof rails on racks.... it creates the whistle effect as wind blows across the top of it like a flute

To counteract this on the front rail I just use that megathick tape roadys use to stick cables down for bands. its thick, durable and mega sticky backing, i just run a piece across the lip of the front rail and due to its silver colour you can't even tell its there

Thanks very much for your explanations tuckerman. Just currently in the throws of getting a better setup to power our refrigeration system ourselves. We have 120w portable panels, and now you have me thinking of all the unused space on top of our Shack. It was originally set up to have a small tinny up there, but it really doesn't make logical sense .... specially if your bones don't work like they used to! I prefer the idea of a canoe on the car, then you can drive it close to the water detached from the trailer.

Also came across the dual battery box idea only yesterday, and am mightily impressed by that. For the moment tho, will try and get the battery in the trailer working with the solar panel and the fridge better than it currently does. Each extra thing that's added I am very conscious of the additional weight... mainly because we often carry 4-5 people as well as all their fallout!

Best regards,

No problems at all mate. Sounds like you get out camping a bit as well!

yeh there are so many options out there atm for powering stuff, and for the general weekend camper 1 or 2 100a/h batterys and a bit of solar gets you days of refrigeration time in pure silence!

have a mate with a Jayco and one with a Camper trailer both doin renovations for camping season now, sounds like you guys have similar ideas

Haven't updated this thread in forever but ended up with some decent photos from a recent trip to Wedge Island