Rally's MY04 Forrie- Poverty Pack special

Purchased second hand. Rear diff and instrument cluster replaced under warranty. First change was to fit CB UHF GME radio. Car has externally mounted windscreen aerial bracket. Just purchased set of new KYB shock absorbers- the originals have had it- will install when they arrive. Next step is to replace standard steel rims with MY99 WRX rims. Then sump guard and driving lights.
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A mate has kindly lent me 6 rally rims and rally tyres. Will try them out this weekend.
 
Falken. 205/70 15. Medium compound. I had the option of softs but on a Forester I really could not see the point!
 
Rally cars are registered to drive on public roads. Obviously they need to have sufficient tread depth. On the sidewall they say competition use. However, unlike slicks they don't say not for road use or similar. So I am assuming they must be road legal. I drove the team rally car from Bathurst to the Southern Highlands and back to Sydney on rally tyres. Oh what a horribly uncomfortable drive that was. The seat was set up for a midget and could not be moved. No seat runners you see. And the seat was also very narrow (because he was also a skinny midget), which was very painful. Then when I got to Sydney this idiot of a policeman has his blues and toots going, when he crests the hill I am approaching on MY side of the road, heading straight for me. The race brakes are stone cold, and do nothing even though I am standing on them. Rally tyres don't change direction well on tarmac, so it was a pretty close near miss. Well, if we had hit I had a full FIA spec tower to tower roll cage with more crossbracing than a plate of spaghetti to protect me. Still, it would not have been pretty. So I think I will be taking it easy on the rally tyres. They just need to work on the rocks and gravel.
 
Found that I have now bent a rear lateral arm. Looks like a large rock might have been the culprit, so now I have another job to do! I also went to put the standard suspension back in, and ran into an expected problem. As I pulled the upright from the hub, the front inner CV shaft fell apart. What a pain. I pulled the axle out of the gearbox, but I could not get the axle out of the hub. With some difficulty I removed the tie rod. Even with a 20 tonne press, the axle could not be removed from the hub, so it looks like it is there for keeps. The CV joint was put back together with some new grease, re-installed and runs well. I much prefer the car with the standard suspension.
 
Gidday Rally

Someone didn't put spline-tight or loctite on it, by any chance?

I have found in the past that using an oxy spanner will help release the most stubborn splines/threads. If necessary, freeze one bit using a mixture of dry ice and ether (watch it, this stuff is seriously cold, and seriously dangerous ... ), while heating the other part. The two bits should just fall apart.

A bit like replacing the needle roller main bearings on a Honda crankshaft (N600 and N800). One needs a functioning freezer to get the crankshaft apart, and the bearings off it. Then one needs to re-freeze both in order to shrink them enough to reassemble them ...

Bugger about the broken bit/s.

Why do you prefer the OEM suspension?
 
Heat was also applied. I don't think the axle had ever been removed from the car. Just rusted on. Why the OEM? It rides so much better, so takes the bumps a lot better. You can drive over speed humps at normal speed without a problem- far more noticeable and uncomfortable with the HD springs.
 
Rally said:
I pulled the axle out of the gearbox, but I could not get the axle out of the hub. With some difficulty I removed the tie rod. Even with a 20 tonne press, the axle could not be removed from the hub, so it looks like it is there for keeps.
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Bugger :o

Regards
Mr Turbo
 
Finally got round to mounting the rally rims and tyres on the car. What an anti climax! the 2 pots actually foul the rims! Not by much, but they do. And the noise from the tyres! It's the first time I've driven a road car on rally tyres, and here I was thinking that all the noise from the rally car was the removal of the sound deadening! Well, it did not help obviously but the main culprit is obviously the tyres. So now I'm back to square one, trying to find tyres with decent sidewalls that don't sound like a bandsaw at full noise. (And i barely did over 50km/h!)
 
HAHAHA bad luck mate, maybe look at some BFG or cooper HT tyres they will have no more road noise then a road tyre but should have a stronger side wall.
 
For quite some time the issue of listening to the CB has been an issue- even with an external speaker. Why not, I thought, plug the output of the UHF into the auxillary input of the stereo. So i did just that and so far it seems to work out well- will have to wait for the next trip to confirm. Of course, that means you cannot listen to music or anything, but for me that is no problem. At least now I should be able to hear others on the CB better.
 
Tow bar installed, camper trailer delivery next week. Now for an electric brake controller.
 
Hey rally, make sure you ask about a red arc brake controller... It is a really neat fit into a blank button position. Ours is next to cruise control and spotlights. Very happy with it.

Best regards,
 
If anyone is to blame for this, you'd be high on the list. :) Fancy introducing me to all this stuff (via the club and our trip in April) and thinking I would not notice. I looked at your set up, and then at the trailer option, and realised that the trailer set up would work better for me. Much of that was because the Forry did not have the room that the Triton does and the trailer would address that. Obviously there were pros and cons for each, and I'd much prefer not to tow anything or have something on the roof. Fortunately a mate of mine will let me store the trailer at his place gratis, which is very handy.

Kevin said:
You'll really be camping in style!
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I have one on order.

Scooby2 said:
Hey rally, make sure you ask about a red arc brake controller... It is a really neat fit into a blank button position. Ours is next to cruise control and spotlights. Very happy with it.

Best regards,
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Rally, I only just read your thread and you have basically the same battery setup in your car as what is in our trailer. Now... On our second road trip ... Anderson plug... Prehistoric engel... 2 more butts on seats and therefore i..... EVERYTHING x 3 ... I will be back to your thread .... Because... Scooby2 needs to go solar. Thank you for your informative post.

When does your camper trailer arrive ... And what are you getting? For us ... With the neighbors checking every second day if it had arrived ... It was like giving birth to another member of the family!

Best regards,
 
I ended up going with a GIC Extreme Off-Road trailer with the options pack. They have just released a new tent for it, which thankfully is not the horrid yellow and red of the previous version. I liked the skylights in the main bedroom which was unique from what I could tell to GIC. I was looking at a Chinese trailer at first, but there were reasons I went against it. One of which was how difficult it was to lower the hinged tent section. I'm above average in size and I could not believe how hard it was to close. To the extent even an average sized person may not be heavy enough to close it. Which is pretty stupid really. The GIC is not perfect, but it seemed pretty good value and closing the top was easy. I know someone else who has one and they really like theirs. I am scheduled to collect mine on Wednesday.
 
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