Dulagarl: the Lifted H6 Forester

Well, I bought it, and I have to say that what SKT has done is truly inspired.

It’s a freaking rocket on the bitumen, and it has an enormous amount of grunt offroad.

Engine transplant thread is here:

https://www.ausubaru.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16564

Here’s a little log of bring it home, and it’s first offroad trip once home.

Jan 29th I flew to Coolangatta. Scott picked me up at the airport and we went for a drive. It didn’t take long for me to be convinced that I should buy this. Sure, it had a couple of issues, for example some worn out bushes in the front end, and a cooling issue, but I could tell that this was a VERY serious vehicle.

Brought it home via Lismore and Casino and then to Tamworth for the night. Next day was Tamworth to Narrandera. Narrandera to Melbourne on the Minday was relatively easy after all of that.

Saw some amazing country in the process. Didn’t have time for many snaps, but here are a few…

Some of the country just into NSW after casino…

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Took a detour via the outer solar system…

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Actually, that virtual solar system drive from siding spring observatory is a good idea. That pic was taken in Gilgandra.

While on the space bent, couldn’t resist a couple of pics with the Parkes Radio Telescope…

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It was 38 degrees Celsius when those shots were taken, and it didn’t get cooler for hours. Unsurprisingly, the vehicle got a bit hot just south of Forbes.

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A bit further south past West Wyalong, and there was still water around from December. Ridiculously flat country with paddocks turned to lakes…

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So, when I got home, I went straight to the mechanic and got an aircon service. I also consulted about improving airflow to the radiator. I looked at pics of offroad bars on Outbacks on the Subaxtreme site, and also the bar on the latest Forester. Armed with that info I decided to cut some holes in the bulbar, and this is the result…

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Gotta love the grille mesh from supacheap auto!

So, I then set up the GPS on the dash with some adhesive Velcro…

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and connected the ECU to the laptop to monitor engine performance and temperatures.

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(BTW: I think I might have resolved the “cooling issues”!)

... part two to follow
 
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Wow that looks fantastic :raz:

And I'm with Ratbag, the bad fitting vinyl would make me cringe every time I hopped in it.

Regards
Mr Turbo
 
Looks real good Greg, carpet over the vinyl any day. Pity my necks so shot, anything like that i have to get it done by an installer, my days of DIY are all but numbered.
 
^ I know what you mean only too well, Tony.

Much the same with me. Fortunately the only work that Subarus seem to need (mostly), needs to be done in a workshop anyway. About the only things I ever did, or needed to do, to Roo1 were brake pads and intermediate oil changes :ebiggrin: :biggrin:.
 
Some nice mud got in there :lol:

The carpet looks great, IMO the vinyl would've looked cheap. Sealing the door cards was a good idea, Dedman found water was coming in through the doors.

Did you seal up all the holes in the floor?
 
NachaLuva said:
Some nice mud got in there :lol:

The carpet looks great, IMO the vinyl would've looked cheap. Sealing the door cards was a good idea, Dedman found water was coming in through the doors.

Did you seal up all the holes in the floor?
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The plastic on the door cards is standard. It is really there to stop dust more so than water. Water will always get in the doors unless you seal the drain holes in the bottom of the doors, which I am not prepared to do. This is however the main entry point for water: it will fill the door and ultimately come out the speaker or any other hole in the door card.

I haven't sealed holes in the floor. This can wait, and can be done by removing the plastic rail under the doors. There are a few holes in there.

So, in the end, it looks like this…


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While I was at it, I swapped the interior lights to LED:

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The end result is great and I am really pleased with it. Cost was about $220 for carpet and underlay, and $180 for the front seats. I also spent about $20 on clips for panels and weather seals, and used a fair bit of cleaner and armour all. It was very time consuming though, and it was worth taking the time to do a thorough job. there was a fair bit of "While I am in there I'll also do this..."

I only have one part of the car that has not been thoroughly cleaned now, and that is the inside of the tailgate. I will get around to that soon.
If you haven’t done so, take off a door card and see how much dirt and dust accumulates in there over time. It is worth giving it a clean every few years I reckon.
 
taza said:
On a note, it's good to see my foz isn't the o nlying one that has a massive gap with how the glovebox sits!!
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I didn't even notice that :o
But now that I have, I have a gap in mine too, not as much though & mines in the other side :rolleyes:

Regards
Mr Turbo
 
taza said:
Wow looks good.

On a note, it's good to see my foz isn't the o nlying one that has a massive gap with how the glovebox sits!!
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It's good because it means I can connect laptop to ecu and close the glovebox. Probably caused the gap.
 
had been getting an error message when I plugged the computer into the ecu. "AN Volt 3 below low error value" and "AN volt 4 above high error value".

These are the analogue inputs for the O2 sensors, and I had been dissatisfied with fuel economy of late.

Took the sensors out and cleaned em, one responded well, but the other was sluggish: it sat mostly on the same voltage. i read up on it and an O2 sensor should cycle fairly quickly through voltages, and when cruising stay stable.

I bought a replacement sensor made by ACA (or at least distributed by them: it had denso stamped on the lead). It had the wrong connection on it but that was easy to change: crimping tool and heat shrink. (Do not solder O2 sensor leads: they breathe through the wire).

Presto: engine runs smoother, sensors are in unison whereas previously they were fighting each other, and error messages are gone. Cost was about $110.

A genuine sensor would have cost a **** load more. from what I have read, a subie three wire sensor is a subie three wire sensor. The only differences between some models is the length of the wire and the connection used. I have read on some sites that ACA are a good swap over.

Best of all: drove to Colac and back last Friday evening. It was hot and I ran the airconditioner all the way. Got just under 9 km per litre for the drive (8.82 to be exact), which was close the the equal best I ever got in the H6 (that was between Ararat and Dimboola, very flat, in fact slightly downhill, no aircon, and coasting in neutral where possible). Looking forward to comparing it to that next time I go that way.

$110 well spent.
 
^ That's a terrific outcome, Greg :biggrin:.

That's pretty close to what SWMBO's SH got from Beaumaris to Clunes and back with 4 adults on board and the a/c running at least half the distance - around 8.5L/100 kms. That includes about 20 kms at each end in the traffic. Traffic not good on the way up, and normal on the way back.

Hardly surprising that your beastie uses a tad more than our SH. Surprised that it is doing so well. May it long continue :) :ebiggrin:.
 
By the sounds of it you got a great outcome Dulagarl :)

Dulagarl said:
Best of all: drove to Colac and back last Friday evening. It was hot and I ran the airconditioner all the way. Got just under 9 km per litre for the drive (8.82 to be exact),
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For the H6 thats not too shabby at all :)
9km/ltr which = 11.11lts/100km's
Or did you mean 9lts/100km's which is fantastic :ebiggrin:

Regards
Mr Turbo
 
mr turbo said:
By the sounds of it you got a great outcome Dulagarl :)


For the H6 thats not too shabby at all :)
9km/ltr which = 11.11lts/100km's
Or did you mean 9lts/100km's which is fantastic :ebiggrin:

Regards
Mr Turbo
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Yep 9 km per litre mr t. So approx 11 per 100km.
 
^ Missed that little detail the first time around, Greg.

More what I would expect the mileage to be. You car is also carrying a lot of weight as a matter of course that most of ours aren't.

I have never quite understood why the heck we don't use Kms/Litre here in Oz, and never have. After all, mpg and kpl are "equivalent" measures. We have never used gallons/100 miles ... :shrug:
It's a lot more sensible measure than Litres/100 Kms ...
 
Hmm very interesting. I know oxygen sensors combine with the map/maf sensor play a huge part in the vehicles economy and efficiency.

As of late I've been struggling to get 400km to a tank. However the manifold and sensors I'm running have close to 280,000km. Time to pull out the wallet I guess :lol:
 
Very interesting read. Are you still having cooling issues. Perhaps rely on oil temps insted of water temps to see if the engine is overheating. It will give you a better indication if your engine is really overheating. Off memory oil temps need to be between 100 and 110 but I would double check that. Provided the oil remains in this temp range then the cooling system is doing its job.
 
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