Turning Stock to Off-road (help)

AngelOfDarkness

AngelOfDarkness

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Colorado
Okay I have a stock 99 Outback Legacy and want to turn this thing into an off-roading machine. This is my everyday drive car that can including an hour of highway driving at around 75 mph. If I can keep agood gas milage that would be hopeful. So what do I need to do to this thing, I am thinking lift kit, bigger tires, maybe a front bumper, sump guard, and a roof rack. What else should I look for? Is what I have in the right direction? Where are good places to get these parts? THanks for the help
 
Most definitely a sump guard/skid plate. Your best bet for that (being US located) would be Primitive Racing :)

Bigger tyres would also help. Most of us tend to be going for the Yoko AT/S or General Grabber AT2's. :)

A different front bumper also sounds good, as anything that improves your approach angle is always handy. :ebiggrin:

You may also want to get some radio comms aswell. :iconwink: :)

Regards
Mr Turbo
 
diff breathers. If you have a donut / spacesaver spare get a full sized spare. Tranny cooler, if not already there.
 
Anywhere to suggest Bumpers? Also do u think i need to do work to my engine. Oh and thanks by the way. and for the radio comm does a CB Work?
 
Is it auto or manual, turbo or NA? Legacy's weren't available over here but I believe they were a 2L twin turbo.

If your subi's a manual and dual range, to get a better dual range you can split the gearbox and swap the Legacy's low range for the L series low range. This will take you from 1.19:1 standard to 1.59:1 as the L series is. If you're running 4.11 or 4.44 diff ratios in the gearbox you'll have to shave the crown wheel to fit the L's low range in. It sounds complicated, but if you know your way around the engine/gearbox/subi and how to spin a spanner you should be right as nothing needs to be adjusted (diff backlash etc).

If its an auto, make sure you get a tranny oil cooler!

Otherwise defenetly go for some lift, raised springs, and bigger rubber.

Cheers

Bennie
 
Angel,

There is an up-side to N/A - don't need the cost of premium fuel, as with the Turbo. Insurance is a lot cheaper as well!

These babies will still gun it if you kick them, although perhaps that is more so with the manual.
 
yeah i wanted the manual. See my parents bought the car for me...but wait a second...they bought it with my money. There was a manual avaliable but they bought me the auto. But yeah that is true, I just hate punching it cause it hits over 5000 rpms
 
Must say I agree with you, my goal is getting where I'm going (where others can't!) with reliability & good mileage.

In the end 'flogging it' only costs in the long run.

So long as I can overtake safely on road when I need to my definition of 'performance' doesn't have much to do with speed!
 
AngelOfDarkness said:
Okay I have a stock 99 Outback Legacy and want to turn this thing into an off-roading machine. This is my everyday drive car that can including an hour of highway driving at around 75 mph. If I can keep agood gas milage that would be hopeful. So what do I need to do to this thing, I am thinking lift kit, bigger tires, maybe a front bumper, sump guard, and a roof rack. What else should I look for? Is what I have in the right direction? Where are good places to get these parts? THanks for the help
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First of all, WELCOME! Second, keep it stock if you want gas mileage. If you're planning on doing all those mods you will notice a "slight" decrease in gas mileage (low 20's). Bigger tires, lift, roof rack = all will add drag. Bumper (i'm assuming you want steel) will add weight. When you start modifying things (especially towards offroad), mileage tends to go down.
BUT!
Depending on the level of offroad you're planning on doing, plan accordingly. If it's just mild trails with occasional smaller rocks, I would definitely recommend AT tires and skidplates. Lift? Eh. If you're planning on doing really hard trails (that involves crawling over big rocks and more), sure, get the lift. But don't be expecting tight performance on pavement. Remove your rear sway bar in either case. It helps with traction when "two wheeling" and it doesn't really affect pavement driving.

Our bumpers are really holding our cars back on approach and departure angles. My front one is scuffed up, and the back one is sort of protected by a towing hitch. But it also bears some battle scars. If my OBW wasn't so new, I'd cut the bumpers up to allow for better angles. If it was mine and not my wife's (and actually, if I could afford to), I'd buy some from https://www.subaxtreme.com.au or have somebody local make me some custom aluminum ones that look stock-ish.

If it's your daily, just do the tires, skidplates, and the roof rack. And definitely add an external oil cooler.
Tires - Yokohama Geolandar AT-S 215/65/16. Great on pavement and on dirt, no compromise. Nice and quiet, not too squishy, reinforced side walls, and the mpg seemed to drop down by only about 1-2mpgs. I got my set at Discount Tires.
Skidplates - https://get-primitive.com I got the thicker 3/16" front and back; great investment and peace of mind.
AT Oil cooler - I got a generic one at Autozone for like $40. There's a good write up on how to install it on subaruoutback.org: https://www.subaruoutback.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5491

I have no idea on roof racks, don't have one. But if you do get it, leave it off unless you really need it (and then take it off again). With it on the roof you'll get more wind noise and worse gas mileage.
Oh, and if you're really looking for a cold air intake, just beware of streams and puddles! I've put in a K&N replacement filter and it seems to be doing its job just fine.

Check out my trip reports from this Summer to get an idea on what you can do with a DD. I have an 07 OBW and I'm in Brighton.
Have fun! :rock:
 
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Than you so much for the help people, I got a bad feeling thought that I might have to put off some modifications, some stuff came up and my college degree is running int o so porblems.

For the performance thing I thought you need more for going over rocks and up hill and stuff.

I want something for serious offroading but I can drive daily. My friend has a truck like that, is it possible to do serious offroading with a 99 outback legacy. What size lift would I look at. I am completely new so parts and tips would be nice
 
Well i want to thank all of you for your help unfortantly it looks like the Off Road build will either be put on hold or called off, the money just isn't there and I had some issues come up. I am going to do some of the work (Roof rack, nudge bar, underguard (sump guard if not included in the one I buy), and oil cooler). But I want to thank you guys for helping
 
Cold air intake would be an issue off road- unless you are thinking of a snorkel. Sump guard is obviously a must- for tranny as well as engine. Front (bullbar) and rear bumpers are expensive- at least they are here- I don't know what options are available in the US. You may want to consider the exhaust with a view to improving clearance as well as perhaps performance. But the performance improvements will probably be modest on their own. I don't know what the the laws are for comms, but if they allow UHF then go with that with the best aerial you can. But if you live in hilly areas don't expect great range with this frequency. Recovery gear would help as well.

I'm different to many of the blokes on this forum. I prefer to keep my car good for road use as that is where it spends most of it's time. Once you start raising it and putting off road tyres on it, the compromise moves too far away from on road use- for me anyway.. I'd only go that way if I was doing another transcontinental trip. So far it has worked for me- I've gone everywhere everyone else has been and never got bogged- yet!

The cheapest improvement to offroad ability is driver skill. If you are already an experienced and skillful driver, that's fine. If not, work on your skills and that will not only be more effective than car modifications, it will be much cheaper too.
 
Gidday Rally

Rally said:
Cold air intake would be an issue off road- unless you are thinking of a snorkel. Sump guard is obviously a must- for tranny as well as engine. Front (bullbar) and rear bumpers are expensive- at least they are here- I don't know what options are available in the US. You may want to consider the exhaust with a view to improving clearance as well as perhaps performance. But the performance improvements will probably be modest on their own.
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After SubaXtreme have got their cracking problem sorted with their sump guards, I will definitely be putting one on Roo2. This will probably be the only off-road modification I will do to it.

I don't know what the the laws are for comms, but if they allow UHF then go with that with the best aerial you can. But if you live in hilly areas don't expect great range with this frequency. Recovery gear would help as well.
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What about VHF, mate?
I am pretty confused as to which way to go with this. The people in-store only add to that confusion by knowing less about it than I do ... :(.


I'm different to many of the blokes on this forum. I prefer to keep my car good for road use as that is where it spends most of it's time. Once you start raising it and putting off road tyres on it, the compromise moves too far away from on road use- for me anyway.. I'd only go that way if I was doing another transcontinental trip. So far it has worked for me- I've gone everywhere everyone else has been and never got bogged- yet!
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I agree. I have no desire to write off half the value of my car (2006, MY06) by 1) modifying it so that it is basically unsaleable at need; and 2) wrecking it.

If one wants to do either of these things, then Taza is going about it the right way, IMHO. You watch, by the time he has tweaked his $300 L-Series, he will have his Forester fixed up and leave it be. You cannot destroy your investment in a $300 car very easily. OTOH, his Fox looks to be a nice, clean unit which will serve him well for many years if he looks after it after it has been fixed up.

If I were him, I'd be putting the SC on his L-Series ...

The cheapest improvement to offroad ability is driver skill. If you are already an experienced and skillful driver, that's fine. If not, work on your skills and that will not only be more effective than car modifications, it will be much cheaper too.
Click to expand...

I absolutely agree.
An ounce of brains beats the heck out of 30 kgs of winch every time ...
 
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