Dulagarl: the Lifted H6 Forester

Dulagarl · Feb 14, 2011

Part two...

Yesterday I headed off to Lerdederg Gorge for the afternoon.

I overtook a land cruiser on the way and, and when I stopped for lunch the cruiser drove past, turned around and stopped next to the subie. He was dead keen to know all about it. His missus reckoned that they had seen it drive through a river in Queensland, and I wouldn’t be surprised. Should have seen the blokes face when I popped the bonnet and told him that I had overtaken him in 4th gear!

Anyway, so taken with the H6 was the cruiser driver (John) that we did a bit of exploring together. First stop was Margarets Corner, which some forum members will remember. (Tony, Tannin & Subaruby for starters…)

Recent rain had sent much debris through…

Here’s a pic of the subie with the cruiser: which has the better departure angle? Hmm?

On the climb out of there I used 4th gear low range at times. Bloody hell that vehicle has some grunt!

We then headed to O’Briens crossing, which was heavily hit by storms leading to a lot of damage. Concrete ripped out of ground, fireplaces washed downstream.

Even a 4 tonne block of concrete got washed away…

And just to rub it in, here’s another pic that shows how superior the subie is to the cruiser…

Then off to tackle blue gum track, Ratcliffe tk and No 1 Firebreak. I thought this would be nasty after all the rain, and I was right.

About to head down Ratcliffe from Blue Gum…

Part way down Ratcliffe…

It got rough from there, and I would not have taken my red subie down there. I had been there before, but it was truly **** this time.

At the bottom of No 1 Firebreak Tk (heading north) it was rough as guts. Very big boulders and a very narrow passage past them. A non- lifted subie would not have made it across creek, and from there it really turned to ****.

I tried to climb up and out, but with one front wheel in the air, and the two back wheels spinning, it was just too steep and slippery. I had several goes at it, but decided that it was better to turn around.

I reversed back to the creek, and carried out a 7 or 9 point turn in VERY rocky terrain. This could not have been done it a cruiser. I could have winched up and out, but was alone and not too keen on pulling trees out of the still soft ground.

Copped a few hits underbody, but no big deal. ****ing impressed with this vehicle.

So, a final shot of my first bush dirt as owner of the H6.

Today, it became a Victorian again. It is now registered in Victoria and making preparations for a Nullarbor trip in March.

Scott: the H6 is in good hands.

El_Freddo · Feb 14, 2011

VERY nice. And I'm jealous that I didn't get to come out in the lerderderg!

Awesome machine - I've seen what the H6 can do in a liberty so can only imagine what it can do in the foz.

Keen to see it in action personally!

Cheers

Bennie

lefty · Feb 15, 2011

congrats on your new pride and joy
that foz has been around!
wasn't that long ago I saw it parked just up the street from me in Perth

Kevin · Feb 15, 2011

Great christening of your new baby!

Of course you realise that you are the adoptive-father! :ebiggrin:

dirtyRU · Feb 15, 2011

freakin awesome! glad that subie will be sticking around the forum

taza · Feb 15, 2011

Looks like a heap of fun. Its really an amazing car. I so want to do the same to mine :biggrin:

Does it have LSD's of any sort or still the same standard open diffs?

yarney · Feb 15, 2011

Great buy you got there it's a weapon all right here is a video of it when Scott came out with us

Jan

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yemCZxXBHrs"]YouTube - Steep tracks[/ame]

mr turbo · Feb 15, 2011

Great report Djulpan & congrats on getting your new Forry. :raz:

Looks like you gave it a top work out with your 1st trip in it. :ebiggrin:
I'm sure SKT will be happy & pleased that its in good hands. :iconwink: :ebiggrin:

Regards
Mr Turbo

carljwnc · Feb 15, 2011

Awesome Djulpan!!!

But hey, I think it's time to change your avatar.:iconwink:

Tweaksta · Feb 15, 2011

That Forry is a true beast Djulpan....much fun will be had!

Do you still have your previous Forry as well as this one?

Dulagarl · Feb 15, 2011

Thanks for all the nice noises folks. Will answer a coupla questions...

taza said:
Looks like a heap of fun. Its really an amazing car. I so want to do the same to mine :biggrin:

Does it have LSD's of any sort or still the same standard open diffs?

original diffs as far as I know.

Tweaksta said:
That Forry is a true beast Djulpan....much fun will be had!

Do you still have your previous Forry as well as this one?

Yes, still have my original forry and its for sale:

https://offroadsubarus.com/showthread.php?p=24381#post24381

Next step with the blue forry is Thurs morning I'm going to suspension city to decide which bushes get replaced. Will probably be all of em on the front end. Stay tuned.

vehicle has to be ready fro Nullarbor trip around 20 March.

simxs · Feb 16, 2011

Congrats on the purchase Djulpan. Great to see it already getting a workout.

Please keep us updated on your progress and travels with this unique vehicle.

Dulagarl · Feb 18, 2011

The vehicle had some knocking noises in the front end, particularly off road.

I assumed it was control arm bushes etc.

Took it to Suspension City North Melbourne yesterday: those blokes are excellent (thanks Barry for putting me on to them).

$80 later, and the sway bar link bushes were replaced, and the front end is nice and tight.

The blokes were very complimentary of how well the lift has been done, and said that there is very little stress on the suspension and steering components.

Newxt stop is TruTrack for a wheel alignment. This was suggested by Suspension City. They are reportedly expensive, but very very good.

ashpool25 · Feb 19, 2011

Did you have any issues getting RWC & Reg with the H6 motor?

Cluster Fock · Feb 21, 2011

I doubt it. From the photos I remember seeing, the conversion was done very professionaly and no doubt has engineering certs.

Anyhoo, I'm happy for Scott. He can rest knowing that his mechanical baby is in loving hands.

Dulagarl · Feb 21, 2011

ashpool25 said:
Did you have any issues getting RWC & Reg with the H6 motor?

Cluster Fock said:
I doubt it. From the photos I remember seeing, the conversion was done very professionaly and no doubt has engineering certs.

Anyhoo, I'm happy for Scott. He can rest knowing that his mechanical baby is in loving hands.

Absolutely correct. SKT originally registered it, and he didn't report having any stress. I had no problems registering it in Victoria.

Ran out of petrol yesterday though, and the petrol light didn't come on! It had worked before, but not this time.

Must fix that, but will be more careful.

SKT · Feb 22, 2011

Ah man..........

As much as it hurts I am stoked you are using him for what he was built to do mate.

The pics of that rocky creek crossing made me miss my little pony the most.
And that vid of Jans. Oh the sound of 3.0 furious angels :monkeydance:

Thx for being there DJ :iconwink:
It was hard to do but you made it a whole lot easier being such a decent bloke and true enthusiast.

Time to change the Sig huh.................

Dulagarl · Feb 22, 2011

SKT said:
Ah man..........

As much as it hurts I am stoked you are using him for what he was built to do mate.

The pics of that rocky creek crossing made me miss my little pony the most.
And that vid of Jans. Oh the sound of 3.0 furious angels

Thx for being there DJ :iconwink:
It was hard to do but you made it a whole lot easier being such a decent bloke and true enthusiast.

Time to change the Sig huh.................

mate, believe me it's being looked after. Aside from the odd post I've made re: mechanics, I have also applied armour all in copious amounts to exterior plastics, given the engine bay a huge dose of RP7, sealed the odd bolt hole in the boot area with grommets from Clark rubber, applied rainX to the windscreen, washed it a couple of times, sprayed the tyres, and a few other things.

Will be applying that adhesive plastic to the headlights as protection over the next few days, and got hold of a cargo barrier off ebay which will be installed in the next week or so. I also have to straighten the sump guard because it's up against one of the headers as a result of the Lerdederg fun and games.

Four weeks til I take it across the Nullarbor, and the list of things to do is getting shorter.

Will be in contact Scott, and will post plenty of pics from the trip.

Dulagarl · Feb 24, 2011

A "Eureka moment"....

I spoke to Al at AM Auto on the Sunshine Coast about the cooling issues that the vehicle has had, and in the discussion I mentioned that the thermo fans run almost constantly. He said this was probably worse than them not running enough, as the motor needs to run at something approaching 100 celsius to be operating at peak efficiency. This is consistent with what I have read on other forums about the EZ30R.

I know that of late, since I cut the holes in the underside of the bullbar, (see the 7th pic in the first post in thsi thread) that the cooling has improved, and the engine temp was sitting around 85 degrees most of the time.

So, I plugged the laptop into the ECU, found the auxilliary inputs on the ECU directory tree, and found the engine fan control. I opened that, and it brought up a dialogue box which showed that the fan was coming on at 80 degrees, and shtting down at 3 degrees cooler than that.

Changed the values to 97 degrees and 5 degrees cooler, and hey presto: it comes on at 97 degrees and shuts down at 92 degrees!!

This is a huge breakthrough for me, because usually I am **** at this sort of thing,. but the ECU laptop interface makes this easy. The idea of having on borad diagnostics at all times is fantastic.

next step: to see if I can understand the valve technology well enough to have two engine settings: I'd like to have an economy setting for situations where fuel is precious, as well as the standard setting.

Dulagarl: the Lifted H6 Forester

Dulagarl

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lefty

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