Taza's Foz 2.0

Well I thought I better start again as it's like a new car since the last journal (here: https://www.offroadsubarus.com/showthread.php?t=2887 - RB).
Modifications have been severe! :lildevil: Damage has been extreme :surprised: Repairs have been expensive and tiresome :cry: After all she and I have been through over the past 3 years and 100+k km. You could say it's really been an adventure :lol: With many more to come :cool:

Stock in June 2010
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Now as of September 2013
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Mods

Suspension
  • KYB front SF shocks/struts
  • KYB rear SG(04 Forester N/A) shocks/struts
  • Heavy duty raised dobinson springs all round
  • GC8 WRX STIheavy duty rear swaybar(19mm)
  • Whiteline rear swaybar endlinks
  • Audi A3 light weight 15" cast alloy wheels(+38 offset, 5kg each)
  • Impreza 15" alloy wheels
  • 65mm rear strut top lift blocks(made by Stilson)
  • 50mm front strut top lift blocks
  • 50mm rear trailing arm spacers

Engine/Drivetrain
  • Fully reconditioned SF Forester gearbox(170,000km on foz from All Drive Subaroo in eastern states)
  • Fully reconditioned EJ25 N/A SOHC block from 2003 Outback
  • Custom made front CV shafts with lifted Toyota Hilux CV boots, heavy duty inner joints(cup, balls, grease, etc...)
  • 2004 Forester VLSD rear diff
  • Grimmspeed lightweight crank pulley
  • Grimmspeed Phenolic manifold spacer
  • Haltech Platinum Interceptor Piggyback ECU(wired in by myself - apprentice auto sparky) - Manages fuel and ignition timing for the new engine.

Interior
  • 2000watt worth of Stereo - Sony headdeck(wth bluetooth, USB, Auxilary), 2x amplifers, Pioneer 12" Sub, Alpine S-Type 6 1/2" speakers
  • Dynamat sounder deadener
  • Clarkrubber 10mm sound proofing(boot, tailgate, under passenger seat, rear doors
  • Repco plain black seat covers
  • Supercheap bucket heavy duty rubber mats, front and rear
  • Led interior light conversion
  • Tint-A-Car Octane 35% on front two windows(drivers and passengers), 20% from B-Pillar back - Darkest legal all round
  • Momo WRX steering wheel
  • Genuine Dash mat
  • 12v auxilary sockets in glovebox
  • Uniden UHF radio 80channel(mounted where ash tray goes)
  • Hard wired android Samsung phone charger on drivers side A-Pillar

Exterior
  • TJM bullbar(to Suit SF Forester - airbag compliant)
  • Subaru genuine reece-hitch towbar 40x40mm - rated at 1300kg
  • Rhino sportz roof racks
  • Lightforce 170's
  • Dual battery setup in boot with Redarc smart solenoid under bonnet(100amp alternator)
  • Subaxtreme sumpguard
  • Resprayed bonnet(faded)
  • 225/70R15 Dunlop Grandtrek AT3's(soon to change to Toyo Open Countrys's)
  • Uniden 7db aerial
  • ARB 2m side awning(stolen one night :()

Future Mods
  • Gearbox done - L-Series 1.59 low range, front STI 5 speed helical LSD, DCCD centre, taller 5th gear, shorter 1st gear, oil drip feed
  • Dyno tune for piggyback computer running EJ25
  • Subaxtreme rear bar
  • HID kit for Lightforce 170's
  • GCD(2004) WRX dash swap(SF dash looks very old fashion and makes car feel old and sad) - This is a major!
  • Safari Snorkel (NK Pajero)
  • Rear mounted winch
  • LED lightbar
  • 2 1/4" exhuast from catback with high flow cat and UEL headers for that awesome boxer rummble :cool:
  • OBDII Computer conversion/upgrade to replace stock ECU and piggyback computer

Damage
  • Ripping front end of chassis off(tow point LHS)
  • Blown gearbox(chattered first gear)
  • Blown rear diff(stripped teeth off spider gears)
  • Snapped CV axle shafts
  • Dented drivers door due to a sand dune
  • Oil rings gone in Engine 1 (EJ20 N/A)
  • Oil rings gone in Engine 2(EJ20 N/A)
  • Snapped timing belt in Engine 2
  • Bent steel rim(15" stock LHF)
  • Bent rear struts
  • Snapped Dobinson heavy duty coil spring(2x on different occasions 6 months apart)
  • Broken spot lights(due to ramming a fence down)
  • Stereo amplifer catching fire(evening peak hour traffic)
  • CV boot ripping
  • Split radiator (while offroad, had to get towed home)
  • Clutch burnt out x2
  • Bent towbar
  • Ripped off front and rear bumpers
  • Ripped off trailer plug
  • Ripped off passenger side skirting
 
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Pretty good economy taza.

Interesting what you say about the torque issue. In my auto, I've found maintaining a speed of 110km/h is alright until reaching an average incline, and then it loses power quickly. In cruise control, it will change down to 3rd (4500-5000rpm) to try to maintain speed but loses it anyway, dropping down to about 95km/h. Driving at 120 though is much better, more torque and going up hills is easier.
 
^ I found that with my 2.0l as well. With the 2.5 it'll pull up hills at 110kmhr without a trailer. .

Had my new wheel nuts arrive so I can run my Audi wheels.
Can't wait to try em on with the small 205/65r15 road tyres. She'll piss for sure. Haha
 
Mine does the same but it needs to be a pretty big hill on the freeway, drops from 110 to 100. except at night or on a cold day then there's no problems.
 
Gidday All

Roo2 will hold at 100 km/h in 5th on cruise control up even the very steep uphill runs between Ballarat and Melbourne. It doesn't seem to be phased at all by such things. The speed only varies by about 1-2 km/h, regardless.
 
Well I finally had my new wheel nuts arrive from Nachaluva for my audi wheels.
Tried em on with the stocko 205/65R15 tyres (25" vs my 27.5" all terrains).

All I can say is holy ****! She's like a ****ing plane taking off it goes that quick. From what I could count it did 0-100 in under 9 seconds pulling onto the freeway! For a small naturally aspirated 4 banger it flew like the clappers. :twisted:
Looks silly with the tiny wheels and huge lift but god it moves! Almost don't wanna put big heavy wheels on it but I will... :raspberry:
The rims don't look very good in pics as I did say that on this forum about other members with them. In person though is a different story :iconwink: :cool: :lildevil:
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Over all for the $500 ish for the rims and accessories to run them I'm very pleased. Too bad that living in the west means that half of that cost was postage alone!
 
Looks like a supermarket caddy with these tiny wheels :ebiggrin:
 
taza said:
Looks silly with the tiny wheels and huge lift but god it moves! Almost don't wanna put big heavy wheels on it but I will... :raspberry:
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I wasn't going to say it, but since you said it first, I have to say, yes, it does look funny/strange with the smaller wheels :p

As for going for the bigger, larger heavy wheels, just do it :ebiggrin:
You know you want to :p

Regards
Mr Turbo
 
Well I drove around for a few days with the small 25" tyres...
A few things I noticed;
Pro's: highly increased acceleration, highly increased pulling power in all gears at all speeds and in excess of 130km/hr(I found that I could accelerate from 0-100km/hr while pulling onto the freeway in under 9 seconds vs my current 11ish). Increased in fuel economy by 2-3l per 100km vs running my larger and heavier 225/70R15 all terrains. (Averaged 210km to 16l around town while racing the s*** out of it). Highly increased breaking ability, less engine load in all situations. Increased traction from road tyres even when my all terrains were 20mm wider.

Con's: Speedo is way out, having to sit on 120km/hr to do 100km/hr on the freeway(revving at 3550rpm but still better on fuel than with big tyres/less RPM(400rpm less), bloody scary around corners due to having 5"(135mm) of lift in the rear and 100mm in the front. Grips well through the corner till you push it that tad too far and you get one back wheel in the air(top gear test track style!), they don't look as appealing as the factory steel wheels or even my Impreza alloys.

All in all I'll get them put on with the big tyres soon. Might wait till my current tyres wear out first before I do the swap.

I found that after last weekend doing some quite intense beach/dune work that first gear is making a whinning sound. If my fully recon'd gearbox is on the blink I'm not gonna be happy. God I haven't even been hard on it.
 
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^ What's your dual range box out of?

Mine only has 40,000km on it. My original box had a whine in the centre diff, and I blew up 1st and reverse (dumping the clutch) but that had a whine in 1st gear too and it was there for about 40,000km.

Vid of Davidov testing my foz with the audi wheels...

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0cMDlM9v1A"]Subaru Forester - Testing light weight Audi wheels - YouTube[/ame]
 
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Cant see the vid yet as I've exceeded my download...grrrr

The Audi rims dont look as good as my Outback 15" rims, but they're not ugly. They are however extremely light & strong being forged not cast :biggrin:

The small tyres & light Audis will certainly help with acceleration & braking, also fuel economy, also they shed mud really well :iconwink:
 
Gidday NL

NachaLuva said:
Cant see the vid yet as I've exceeded my download...grrrr

The Audi rims dont look as good as my Outback 15" rims, but they're not ugly. They are however extremely light & strong being forged not cast :biggrin:

The small tyres & light Audis will certainly help with acceleration & braking, also fuel economy, also they shed mud really well :iconwink:
Click to expand...

I did find a web site that happened to mention that almost all Audi rims are cast. Only a very few are forged. They were not the light ones ...

Can't recall where it was. The URL is on one of my other computers.

The 16" alloy rims on Roo2 only weigh 8 kgs.

15" rims are, of necessity, lighter than 16" rims, even when made from exactly the same material, by exactly the same process ... :iconwink:
 
Well hit 215,000km in the Foz, still got a few hundred thousand let I reckon.
Wondering what to get her for Christmas.... I'm thinking a full professional detail wash and polish(needs it badly) on the outside and a good clean inside. Maybe some new seat covers and depending what the wallet says some new rubber feet... Will be getting the bonnet resprayed as that and the roof are fading pretty bad, just old age and lots of time in the sun takes its toll. The roof can live with faded paint, know ones really looking up there...

Got a clicky rear CV that only click and vibrates when I reverse. Does it when you reverse and turn loudly and abit quieter when reversing straight. Can start to feel a vibration through the car at 70+km/hr coming from the back so I will have to get that sorted soon. Original CV so can't complain with the life out of it...
A new windscreen will be insite too I reckon, no major cracks but just pitted and starting to become annoying when driving into the sun.

Looking forward to hitting the beach this summer, getting out camping and maybe even giving the Forester a little abuse(doesn't get much these days)... it's all about fuel economy now :lol: :iconwink:

On a real positive note I managed to score myself a SF Foz Subaxtreme bullbar. $100 plus $170 for freight to Perth :cool: :twisted: Gonna keep my TJM one on and have it as a spare, I like to be out of the crowd and I think my TJM one does that as 98% of people on hear with bullbars all have Subaxtreme ones.. :ebiggrin:
 
Yep 70km/hr or faster going forwards and you can feel a slight vibration. When reversing(normal speed) or turning and reversing it clicks and sounds lyike a clicky CV.

Also scored a 20kg STI centre diff with 10,000km on it(rebuilt) from a 2009 WRX STI. Should go great offroad...
 
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