Matdaymon's DeForester MKII: The Ghost

Finally got my hands on another Forester!

It's an automatic 1997 SF5A T/TB (JDM) in two tone Green on Silver just like the first one. Sand/brown interior, just like the first one. And full of dog hair, just like the first one :lol:

Only differences between MkI and MkII is lack of rear spoiler, this one has factory Foz wheels and it doesn't have a passenger airbag.

Picked it up for $2k off TradeMe this morning.

Needs a hell of a cut and polish and a mega service to flush out whatever gunk the previous owner was scammed with (he was an admitted non-mechanically minded person). The coolant system will take a lot of effort and is #1 on the to do list.

So tomorrow I'm off to SCA to pick up some new spark plugs, oil, coolant, air filter, oil filter, roof basket and anything else that takes my fancy with the money I saved when I got it for less than asking price.

Will take some photos tomorrow of the process and how it looks at the start of the process.

The plan *currently* is to chuck in some KING springs to raise it up (if anyone has the part number for Forester SF springs I'd appreciate it), just them on SG struts front and rear and hopefully chuck on a set of all terrain tyres.

Hopefully it'll make a great beach basher for fishing trips and get me through my parents often flooded road in the coromandel.
 
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Ah cool - Mine has the JDM EJ20G turbo engine.
At 178k it's getting a little tired and is a bit on the noisy side. No CEL lights or codes though so it should have a bit of life left in it!
Thankfully if the worst happens I can get a replacement long block if needed through a friend at the local wreckers so not worrying too much about it at this point.
I will need to budget for the inevitable failure in the future though...
 
Sweet, looks good! It's definitely JDM with that grille, NZDM had the 6 stars and JDM that stylised F.
Suspension, I'd personally get new struts all around (try Rockauto.com) or at least new rears, and get SF front struts and SG rear struts (springs to match from Kings ie SF front SG rear). Reassemble with SF strut tops all around.
Reason for this is that SF front struts and SG rear struts are longer and you need SF top hats to bolt into the towers.

And yeah, cooling is always an issue with Subies...

Also, see this: https://www.offroadsubarus.com/showthread.php?t=5866
 
Haha thanks Kiwifoz, Yeah that's the long term plan. So no need to go to SG fronts then? That's good, saves me a couple of hundred bucks.

Ordered some tyres (that MATCH!) for it today and they go on Wednesday morning before work. Going with Maxxis AT770s in 215/65 R16. Have read some good things on overseas forums so hoping they live up to the reputation.
 
So this morning the MKII got its new shoes. Maxxis AT771 all terrain tyres in 215/65 R16. They fit well and look epic on the Foz. It's just the first step in making this one the ultimate soft roader.

After saving up an emergency engine replacement fund (always good when the car hasn't been looked after so well) plans are to replace the rear struts with SG items since I've got a knock in my left rear at times - chuck in some 35mm lift springs and make some whopper bash plates for it.
Will also be keeping an eye out for a SF nudge bar so I can mount some "night time, DAY TIME!" lights on to as well as buy a roof basket to give it that full on expedition look.









Had it less than a week and I'm already loving it to bits!
 
Decided to take the new Foz out to try my hand at some night time photography.







While I was out doing this I noticed the park light bulb is blown on the drivers side so need to add that to the growing list of things to sort out.
 
Well this explains the clunk from the rear suspension... stud sheared right off.



No sign of the rest of it and the nut but will have a rummage around tomorrow when there's light again.

I probably could put a new stud in there, but have currently got a price from the local Supercheap for $217 for each corner so will just replace.

More and more I'm starting to think I've saved this Foz from an untimely end. It's a pretty good feeling.
 
^ goodly attitude IMHO, Mat :ebiggrin:.

Good find with the missing strut top nut. Almost certainly the cause of your noise.

I liked your night time photos. Well done :).
 
love that grill :)
I used sg rear dampers, with new sf springs and sf top hats, but ive been told that you can used complete sg rear struts???, didn't think you could but several people confirmed that its possible.
 
Yeah I've read a lot of slightly confusing info just on here. My understanding is SF fronts matched with SG rears is the best combo. I'll be going with either King or Cobra 35mm lift springs too.
 
Very nice, I wish we got JDM imports here... :lildevil:

matdaymon said:
It's just a normal early SF5 grille 97/98. I'm not sure when the US first got them but could be you guys go the face lift to start with?

Yo be honest the chrome isn't me so I'll probably plastidip it or something.
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Nooo! That's an awesome JDM T/tb grill, don't butcher it lol. There will be plenty of people here who would love it, sell it & buy a stock grill :biggrin:

ateday said:
As far as oil goes I change engine oil, 20W-40 or 20W-50, usually Castrol, whichever is on special at the time, and filter about every 5000/6000 kms, Cheap insurance at 330000 kms I reckon.
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That oil is way too thick. For an old engine with 330k kms, you should be using 10W50, 20W is just too thick at startup, you'll be starving the big end bearings :(

ratboy01 said:
love that grill :)
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Me too, JDM goodness :biggrin:

I used sg rear dampers, with new sf springs and sf top hats, but ive been told that you can used complete sg rear struts???, didn't think you could but several people confirmed that its possible.
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SG rear top hats wont fit in SF towers, the cut out is too small

matdaymon said:
Yeah I've read a lot of slightly confusing info just on here. My understanding is SF fronts matched with SG rears is the best combo. I'll be going with either King or Cobra 35mm lift springs too.
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Yep, that's how you do it, SF front & SG rear struts with SF springs & top hats.
 
Thanks Nachaluva the grille is growing on me.

Cheers for clearing that up about which struts to use. I took it on it's first long drive yesterday and came to the shocking realisation that I had a coolant leak.

Thankfully a heap of Nulon product showed up in the office so I have something to replace it with. Still need to flush out the radiator again as it's full of rusty **** still.

Going to hopefully get another flush done this weekend and the spark plugs changed. If I'm lucky I'll get the rear top hat fixed too that has a sheared bolt.
 
Well today was interesting.

With the help of one of my best mates (the one who was meant to come with me to look at it in the first place, funnily is also called Mat(t)) we temporarily fixed the missing strut tower bolt by drilling out the old one and putting a temp bolt and nut through it. I'll need to get another top hat though at some stage it seems.

Interesting thing we found while doing this is it appears I may have heavy duty rear springs or something. The rear springs are green vs the fronts which are black.

After we did this we threw the 21mm rear sway bar off his old BC5 Legacy race car on the rear. He no longer has the car and has parts filling up his garage. Anyway it definitely makes it feel different in the corners and less like its pushing the front tyres over the edge. Not sure if I'll stick with it though as it has changed the way the car handles quite noticeably - for the better or worse I'm not sure yet.

We took the Foz out for a test run into the ranges behind Papakura and low and behold the suspension knock was gone! Kinda got the vibe that the Foz isn't on full boost but thought not too much of it.

Anyway I get home and hear a hissing under the bonnet and think I've got another coolant leak from the radiator top pipe... Nope! Turns out the coolant pipe going from the turbo to the top tank had ruptured and pissed coolant EVERYWHERE!

Luckily the former race car came to my aid by donating a new W pipe. I'm definitely going to need to fill up the cooling system with Citric Acid to clean it all out now. Who knows where the next failure will be...
 
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Gidday Mat

Interesting observation about the handling with the different sway bar.

After fitting my SubaXtreme roo bar, the handling of my car changed also. For the better ...
I put this down to changing the F:R weight distribution for the better by balancing up the mass of my larger/heavier than normal tow bar. The SubaXtreme bar weighs 21 kgs more than the OEM bar.

At first, just around town, I thought I was imagining this. When my mate and I were out on the open road, he commented on it (as the passenger!), and I could notice the imroved balance under all conditions.

Those green springs sound suspiciously non-stock to me too ...
 
Very Environmentally friendly though.
Perhaps all NZ Foresters have `em.....
NL, it`s called "I believe in the hereafter" as in "what am I hereafter.....?"
 
If you're going to keep it I would replace all the hoses for peace of mind.

Upgrading the RSB is the easiest & best bang-for-buck handling mod you can do. All Subies have inbuilt understeer (pushes the front wheels around the corner). The stock SF RSB is 14mm hollow, not sure but I think the S/tb & T/tb might be 16mm hollow. I had a Whiteline 22mm solid adjustable RSB but that was way too thick, made it tail happy. The 20mm WRX RSB I have now is good, gives it a small amount of controllable oversteer.
 
Yeah my first Foz had a Version 4 STI RSB and it handled beautifully. That said it had Version 7 suspension.
I'll drive it as is for a while and see how it goes. Only 4bolts to nip off if I decide it's too thick.
 
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