jf1sf5's forester

I bought my '97 Foz in 2002, second hand with 90'000 km.

The first year, I changed the OEM springs for Dobinsons, the wheels and tires, 1 inch lift blocks and a 8 mm thick aluminum sump guard after a big dent in the sump but no hole !

The rear Dobinsons were too hard, changed them for SF springs on SG self leveling struts.

In 2006, I wanted to go further with the mods and prepared the Foz for a saharian trip to Morocco, fitted some BFG AT's, Quaife front diff, rear SG LSD diff, SG disc brakes and larger SG rear track.

In october 2007, ready for the trip, drove about 1'500 km on very sandy/rocky trails and corrugations that blew the rubber of the rear top hats but drove back home with pieces of truck tires (no Subarus in Morocco !)

https://www.forum4x4.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=55663&d=1364158577
https://www.forum4x4.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=55664&d=1364158647

2010, bought some second hand Proflex evo2 coil overs that were made for the Forester engaged by Bruno Picard for the 2008 Dakar rally...cancelled.

2012, changed the BFG AT for General Grabber AT, as good or better off road with less noise on road, with Compomotive 16x7 ET30 wheels.

And discovered "www.offroadsubarus.com" that helps me modify my Foz !

2013, 1,59:1 low range, DCCD and rear Quaife diff because after some readings, I think the helical diffs suit my needs better (rain, snow)

Pics to come but I'm no good with computers !
 
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Hey V,

I haven't been on the forum in a while but wanted to touch bases on your axles. How're those Heris performing for you? Also I assume you were able to get that customs-split boot swapped out. How'd that go? Thanks again and I'll follow up by reading up on this thread!

Ciao,
-mw-
 
The Heri axles are just fine for the moment but the inner boots are very fragile. I finally opted for aftermarket boots designed for big 4x4's and vans

https://www.mister-auto.ch/fr/

I have a lot of work at the moment but will report about the HotBits asap.
 
Do you have a part number for the boots you got? I've had one heri axle just sitting in my garage because of the boot.
 
The link doesn't seem to work but here is the part number

Brand :Bölk

Ref: BOL-C031724

but I think that any large boot should be ok, look for "universal cv boot 4x4" on google !
 
I went to the junk yard today, have a good friend working there and we made a shooting of the Forester, no its not dead yet !

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Et voilà, maximum flex I can get with the HotBits, 60cm (23,6"), tyre pressure 2,2 bars (32 psi)
 
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impressive flex!

I run the same tyres as you, bit bigger although (225-75-15) i I use 2.6 bar front and 2.9 rear on tarmac. I try to keep the fuel consumption a bit limited.
 
Little update.

I swapped the Forester's exhaust manifold and catalytic converter for an Outback BG exhaust manifold, up-pipe, down-pipe (with the catalytic converter) and kept the intermdiate pipe and muffler from the Forester. I'm very happy because I gained 2cm of ground clearance for free !

Sorry, for those who don't know, the Ouback BG exhaust (na) takes the same route as the turbo Foresters above the front right CV axle for left hand drive Subarus, don't know about the right hand drive Subarus though.
 
I'm glad you posted an update as it refreshed the members journal thread section and I came across your thread. I just poured through every page and read everything and watched all the vids. Very nice set up here sir. Keep the mods comming!
 
jf1sf5 said:
Little update.

I swapped the Forester's exhaust manifold and catalytic converter for an Outback BG exhaust manifold, up-pipe, down-pipe (with the catalytic converter) and kept the intermdiate pipe and muffler from the Forester. I'm very happy because I gained 2cm of ground clearance for free !

Sorry, for those who don't know, the Ouback BG exhaust (na) takes the same route as the turbo Foresters above the front right CV axle for left hand drive Subarus, don't know about the right hand drive Subarus though.
Click to expand...

I think you meant to say that the BG outback routing is the same as the NA forester routing? Also, BG outbacks didn't have uppipes and downpipes, that's turbo applications only, I'm not sure what you're referring to there.

You swapped an NA BG Outback manifold and cat to your SF NA Forester right? I don't think there were any turbo bits involved if I'm reading this correctly.

BTW, very nice flex pictures, really impressive!

Edited to add: Oops, didn't realize there was so much difference between USDM and EDM BG outback exhausts, clarified here: https://offroadsubarus.com/showpost.php?p=95901&postcount=135
 
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Hi Nick !

No, no ! I meant what I wrote ! I have installed a BG Outback 2,5 150 bhp NA exhaust that has the same routing as a turbo Subaru ! I'll have to take some pics :iconwink:

And where are your Subaru projects ?
 
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Oh wow, I learn something new everyday. The EDM BG outback exhaust is drastically different than the USDM BG Outback exhaust.

Here's USDM:
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Here's EDM:
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Now I see what you're talking about. We were both correct for our respective countries. I wonder why the EDM and USDM are different.

In the US, the 06+ Imprezas switched to a similar header, but they never had the up pipe and down pipe that you have, strange stuff.
 
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Update !

The Heri axles were getting a lot of play and needed to be replaced but I couldn't find any other axles on the market that could do the job with the HotBits coilovers.

Went to the junk yard to see my friend and had a look at the Subaru CV axles. One of them was bigger than the others so I started measuring it. It was just 1cm longer compressed an 5mm longer at full extension compared to the SF CV axles. Another difference was the size of the cups, they were larger too and could take an angle of 30° compared to the 25° of the normal Subaru axles (Forester, Impreza, Legacy...)

Enough said, this Subaru SVX axle was like a treasure in front of me ! So I bought it and started to look for a 2nd one.

The modifications needed to fit the SVX axles to the SF drive trains is to machine down 3mm of the outer cv to fit the wheel hub and swap for SG front A-arms because of the 1cm longer compressed length.

SG front A-arm bushings need to be cut 6mm (3mm/side) to fit the SF chassis.

Also replaced the boots with light truck boots, the same I had on the Heris for 30 months without any issues.

At last, I put the Foz on a car lift, wheels dangling, 2nd gear and its just perfect !
 
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