Project Baja Foz!

Hey everyone, this is the new build for The Wandering Foz, continuing where the old thread left off: The Great Alaskan Tundra Humper

IMG_3756 by jeremiah stewart, on Flickr

Goal:
I have wanted to race the Baja 1000 since I was a little kid, but a few years ago I came across the Mexican 1000 which is a little more grassroots and easier for a normal guy like me to race in. So that's the goal! I wanted to race in their "Rally Raid AWD" class using my Hotbits coilovers as they were at the max travel for that class, but most years there is nobody in that class. Might as well try to be competitive if i'm entering a race right? So the class I'm shooting for is Score Class 7 or BITD 7200. In the Mexican 1k it'll either be "Heavy Metal Class" or "Pre-run Truck".

For now I will only be focusing on suspension so I can stay on track to be able to take the foz on a roadtrip planned for May 2017. A roll cage and a bunch of safety items will need to be built after the roadtrip unless I have the time to do the rollcage this winter. Shooting to make the race in the spring of 2018, but if the foz is ready sooner than then, then I will enter a domestic race to get my feet wet.

Plan:
  • Dual A-arm front suspension cycling 18-22" of travel
  • Dual A-arm rear suspension with toe link (will make sense later - similar to the PPI 015 Toyota) cycling 20-24" of travel
  • 32" tires on factory offset wheels to allow for longer arms and more travel while keeping it under the BITD max width of 85"
  • Either King or Fox internal bypass coilovers all around
  • High compression EG33 unless the length is more than I want to build around, then it'll be an EZ30
  • Extended length axles (+8") probably from DSS

Follow on Instagram:@thewanderingfoz
 
Click to expand...
This thing looks crazy. Whack a large flexible aerial on it and it’ll look like a large RC model car :poke:

This is probably the only Subaru out there that could give the Brumbyrunner some competition in the suspension department.

Radiator. Meh, live dangerously :twisted:

Cheers

Bennie
 
Update:
Since last time I posted, I installed a Mishimoto tranny cooler, coolant expansion bottle, a bugeye WRX hoodscoop and JDM FSTI spoiler. I also cut out the hatch and made a simple tire carrier. I did all of that in March and then just rallied the Forester up until the transmission failed. It has just been sitting for the last few months. My plan is to try out a 5 speed manual and see how it works with the 33's. I'll be using a WRX 5sp converted to a 4.44 ring and pinion. I could use an FXT 5sp which already has 4.44 gears but the first gear ratio is actually higher in that than the WRX trans, so by converting the WRX trans, I'll have a lower overall ratio. We'll see how it works; I don't do any crawling in this car so It shouldn't matter much unless I end up in sand or mud.

I also weighed the Forester:
Total: 3860lbs
Front: 2060lbs
Rear: 1800lbs

Ruffstuff specialties came on as a build sponsor, so soon I'll order a sway bar kit from them to help with my massive body roll. I'll need to get new springs too, they are much too soft. Lots to do this winter!

IMG_20190330_132355_083 by jeremiah stewart, on Flickr

DSC01443 by jeremiah stewart, on Flickr

DSC01672 by jeremiah stewart, on Flickr

DSC03041-Pano-Edit by jeremiah stewart, on Flickr

DSC01827 by jeremiah stewart, on Flickr

DSC03001 by jeremiah stewart, on Flickr

Heres a link to a little video we made for fun. My friend was driving and I was filming, so it's all a little slower than I wanted due to his mechanical sympathy and fear of breaking the Tecater.
 
Thanks for the update and great to see you've got some sponsorship!
 
That beast certainly rolls. :)
 
I like the look of the Foz, but that little MY wagon in one of the pics - very nice!

Cheers

Bennie
 
Update: I traded the Team Dynamics for an 06 WRX 5 speed, acquired all the other stuff i needed for the swap, and bought a 4.44 ring and pinion for it.
The manual trans conversion was pretty easy, we got it all done in a day. I made an acrylic back window, tinted it 5% and also installed a cheap hydraulic handbrake for fun. I had to get my driveshaft re-tubed again, and made new rear axles with ball-and-cage inner joints (still small Subaru stuff though).
Plans for the immediate future:
  • Move fuel filler and cut quarter panels up higher to get a few more inches of bump travel, as currently, the quarter panels are the bump stops.
  • Make a steering rack saver with wider clevis mounts to get rid of my insane tow-out at droop.
  • Make a front bumper for the sole reason of not having to listen to people worry about my radiator anymore.
 
Haven't done much work to the forester recently, but I did get the Swift springs installed up front and got the ride height a lot better. Still might be a little soft, but it's good enough for now. I did some trimming to the rear quarter panels so that the rear fully bumps out like it should. I found out that I should have made the upper shock mounts 2-3" higher than I did because as it sits now, the shocks compress t2-3" just to get the limit straps on. At full bump, the rear axles have a ton more plunge and angle available to handle the extra up-travel.

Aside from that, I've just been driving the crap out of it, even drove it to work a few times. Here are some pics:

DSC05466 by jeremiah stewart, on Flickr

DSC05469 by jeremiah stewart, on Flickr

DSC05471 by jeremiah stewart, on Flickr

DSC05474 by jeremiah stewart, on Flickr

DSC05613-Pano by jeremiah stewart, on Flickr

I towed the forester out to an ice track off of Chena Hot Springs Road and ended up blowing the lower rad hose because it was too close to the exhaust when the engine would move under load:

DSC05621-Pano by jeremiah stewart, on Flickr

The left front outer CV needs a new boot, and I have acquired the z32 maf and 370cc injectors, so those will go in soon.
 
man it looks sick. now with more lift its proper off roader i guess. what a tires. its nice to have some extra money i guess.
 
Beautiful SF, as always, @Jeremiahs22.

I remember watching a video by a European recently about 10 highly-modified Subarus on YT and the author/publisher said that your SF is his favourite.

How much stroke do you have on your active bump stop?
 
I got the 370cc injectors, MAF, and EPROM chip installed over the last few weeks. We have been getting the Forester out for a rip pretty often and it's proving to be pretty reliable. I somehow managed to bend the passenger side inner steering clevis bolt (attaches clevis to steering rack) which is an M14 Class 12.9 bolt, so I really need to get started on a new steering setup, but I have since gotten a new job and no longer have access to a nice shop. Anyway, after fixing that, I was out on a muddy logging road yesterday and hit a washout too fast and bent something else in the steering to make it tow out lol. Everything looks straight, so i'll have to pull the wheels off and give it a good inspection. My GF and I made another YouTube video which is a little more vlog style than previous videos:


Pics:

DSC06817-Pano by jeremiah stewart, on Flickr

DSC06930-Pano by jeremiah stewart, on Flickr

It was so clean :(

DSC07077-Pano by jeremiah stewart, on Flickr
 
Got hooked up with a killer deal on wheels by Relations Race Wheels! I got 6 of the RR5-V 15x7 +15mm Wheels for the Forester and a set of matching 17's for my Lexus. Just waiting on tires. They look way better than the Methods though:

DSC07335-Pano by jeremiah stewart, on Flickr

DSC07343-Pano by jeremiah stewart, on Flickr
 
much difference in weight between the rims?
 
Ben Up North said:
much difference in weight between the rims?
Click to expand...
The MR502 VT-spec and these RR5-V are both ~19lbs. I don't think I'd ever notice a difference in wheel weight with this car though haha.


Update:
I moved to Missoula, MT with my GF for a change of pace and to get closer to family, but due to COVID travel restrictions through Canada, I had to leave the Forester up there. For clarification, I towed a trailer full of our belongings behind my GX to Montana. Canada won't let us drive back up to AK just to return again; they don't deem that "essential" haha. Hopefully Canada will have chilled out by next spring so I can haul it down. Most shipping companies charge around $1500, and it is just not worth it to me.

Before we left AK, I was working on reverse engineering the Foz in Inventor so that I can design a more revised setup that could potentially be sold as a kit in the future. I also started putting my 3d printer to work by making a Diode Dynamics SS3 Pod headlight housing. I got too busy to be able to finish it, but it did turn out alright:

DSC07664-Pano by jeremiah stewart, on Flickr

DSC07883 by jeremiah stewart, on Flickr

DSC07882 by jeremiah stewart, on Flickr

Forester Assembly 4 by jeremiah stewart, on Flickr

I have also been learning about rendering:

Warehouse Render JPEG by jeremiah stewart, on Flickr

So for now I'll just be focusing on drafting and photography while I look for a job that entices me. I'll be doing a lot of exploring as well:

DSC08629 by jeremiah stewart, on Flickr
 
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