2006 Outback 3.0R 180kw VDC project

so new car , new project m new plans for it , and gathering new info what could be done witt it and choosing what fits me

what i bought

how it looked in my yard next day

changing inside and some outside bulbs to led's

examples for myself how lift would look with my rims and how bumper cut would look

so normal steps for me do lift at least as much as in that pic, and then maybe cut bumper

car how its sits now, how +5cm would look and then +7cm wheel is in the air
would need bigger tires for better look there.

checked front arches for rust and how it looks, and put some bitumen spray over there , and then put back that plastic cover back

front grill plasti dipped to black

how it looks in dark with some lights

 

[jf1sf5]

Scalman, if you want better performance off road, you need more wheel travel and more droop. When I was in Corsica last autumn, I used the air lift system only to go over large obstacles because of ground clearance issues but came back to the normal 2" lift height as soon as possible for more droop and lower center of gravity because thats what really helps gaining traction.

 

[scalman]

yes i need that too. just for what price ? haha. i allways thinking that air suspension give extra lift its like perfect. just all that air tubes and such are not so reliable i guess. in perfect world we would have legacy height on roads and then super lift off road with air suspension.
and traction control can compensate where wheel travel is not enough in most situations there. with air lift you dont get more travel in fact you should get less travel just more lift. not travel .

for now i just try what can be done here how much it can take before its not safe , and such stuff. i couldnt find people do that , so i just make that myself now. 7cm lift on struts only. thats hardcore.

so changed rear bolts to normal lift all metal . ordered front wheel bearings both sides will change those and will change lift to proper metal spacers in front too. as im driving faster and road becomes not even i starting to feel swinging now from car that i was not feeling before with 5cm lift . so im not sure is that those bolts lift do that or something else. maybe its too much for struts there to handle cars movements, or i just need new struts at least in front. Not sure where problem is but i will know when i change wheel bearings and will redo lift to normal strong metal thing.

so put in front OEM sway bar links i thought they be too short but they worked ok for now, tried same places and front wheel drops kinda ok , maybe it would drop some more with longer links so i ordered some longer links 9cm instead of 6cm oem ones.

front bumper lip now is 35cm from ground its no need even to cut it for now or do anything there. of course if i would want i would find places where it would hook into things but thats hardcore there.
other thing i had that thought what if i put front legacy same year bumper its smaller on legacy so it would be maybe nice there instead of cutting this one.

 

[Kevin]

I'm wondering how you find the time to do all these modifications!

 

[scalman]

Had 4 free days now. Spend most time on car haha. I work shifts 2days 2nights and then 4 days free, and so on. And because now is this situation not much else to do anyway. Happy to at least have work still. Good that our factory manufacture what world needs in any situation, fertilizers.
Dont have a garage so just doing all in yard of my garden comunity place. And this lift helps a lot to like go under car now without even lifting car its high enough from ground.

Maybe someone knows some adjustable links that could be used on my model rear links to adjust even more that rear wheel. Find that some rav4 model have those links in rear or honda pilot newer models.

Like those

I mean use those or similar instead of that on subaru

And yes i know they selling kits like those
But they cost a lot kinda and hard to find localy so just ship overseas maybe

 

[scalman]

Found out something mazda 6 rear lateral link is adjustable 183cm lenght and have both end normal bushings om 12 size hole. Seems like similar just cant find what subaru that link lenght is

 

[scalman]

Another VDC test . Works nice , good view of all wheels what does what

 

[Kevin]

Good that our factory manufacture what world needs in any situation, fertilizers.

Especially with everyone at home gardening as well

 

[scalman]

front driver side wheel bearing was so bad there had loosness and loud sound. so at last new one. took me about 45min change them. Brake disc seems good too. so then i went for a ride and what a ride just silent , you can talk not loud and people hear yopu in car, amazing . second one i wont change yet its not bad yet not loud. what i heard now is in rear passenger side wheel sound but more like howling. well maybe its tire. or wheel camber because in rear both wheel have same lift and such but for some reason they are on different camber both . driver side is more like ok but passenger side is a lot positive camber . not sure why if all there is same. but maybe my lower links have bad bushing there or even main control arm bushing is bad too. so need to change those i guess , maybe then all be in order there.

and those links will go in front for say bar links , they from different car but should fit as they longer i will have more drop on front wheel like maximum drop until axle will touch that control arm. there is no way to make front drop more there. thats it its limit. with oem 6cm links its drops about maximum but still some is left, so those longer links are 9cm lenght, so will be like 5cm more drop i think , so longer links will let me do that, drop all the way,in those rare situations when you will need it wheels will drop maximum.

with 9cm link i was getting this much drop when car is lifted one side

so thats it there is no other way to drop it more there. no long t ravel struts or anything could work there any more. thats it . people making custom control arms for that it could rop some more maybe but then oem axles doesnt work anymore i think its just too much angle for them. and not that i need that with VDC there helping me , but i just wanted to see whats its limit so there it is gen 3 outback front limit.

 

[scalman]

i kinda dont get it ones thing. why older foresters need those longer sway bar links in front ? do they have there problems with original mountings ?
so i thought it would make some difference on my model , even bought new longer links , still idont get it why i did it ? oem links fots there no problem too even with 7cm lift in front they working, so was it waste of time and money here for me ?

but it was same result with oem link 6cm too in front.
now another thing that i cant do proper test in yard with just lifting one side i think, its when one front wheel goes up and another goes down, thats more interesting test i think there, but would it be any change there still ?
well at least i learned that its kinda same for front for those models. So foresters needed that then for some reasons ? because i dont see anything on my setup.

 

[Kevin]

why older foresters need those longer sway bar links in front ?

Because they were snapping sway bars when off-roading

 

[ABFoz]

@scalman, which car is the longer link originally from? Here we are required to have no binding at full droop when vehicles are lifted.

 

[scalman]

Longer are from some other car cant remeber not subaru. I just looked at all links and searched what fits. But i dont need it as it does same as oem link. And that bushing dont lookt like it would last long there as allways twisted.
So you mean links where touching sway bars when full drop?

 

[ABFoz]

So you mean links where touching sway bars when full drop?

The law requires us to have no binding in the suspension wherein when it is in full droop, the sway bar links, which usually gets the strain on a lifted vehicle, should not be stressed, as in the photo below.
View attachment 4025

The one above is a lifted SH Forester at MRT Performance needing a longer sway bar link. In NZ, it will not be approved for certification and will not be allowed on the road.

I haven't talked to an Auckland certifier yet who is truly willing to do testing for 2" lifted Subarus because of this. They said they usually spent time retesting everything because the client couldn't get a sway bar link that won't bind. They prefer raised springs here because they will not need certification and there is not binding like this on the sway bar links. I am not sure about how the raised springs will affect the life of the shock absorbers, though. I need a solid recommendation from a proper Subaruer who actually prefer it than lift blocks. Cheers.

 

[Kevin]

That is an SG XT in the video and has a SubaXtreme lift including strut blocks and sway bar so I'm not sure why it went wrong.

 

[scalman]

Got it. So i dont have any touching problem with oem links at all. I just thought i get something extra from it like more drop but seems like i was wrong too. So those models dont need anything in front.
In back though because wheel droping down and going inside rear sway bar became too wide and its touching brake calipers now. Not links but sway bar itself

 

[ABFoz]

That is an SG XT in the video and has a SubaXtreme lift including strut blocks and sway bar so I'm not sure why it went wrong.

He mentioned Chapman struts in the rear, so SH? Does your SG have link extensions in the front, as well? Cheers.

 

[Kevin]

He did mention Chapman but that engine bay is not an SH, the washer bottle and fuse block are definite indicators, and SubaXtreme did not make sway bars or lift kits for an SH as those were only made back in Jody's time in Queensland.

I have the same SubaXtreme blue sway bar and lift blocks as in the video; the sway has longer arms so no need for link extensions - I tried it for a while then removed it.

 

[ABFoz]

You're right! I rechecked the video and even the manufacturer's plate says SG5.

So, you didn't get such binding in the stabiliser links when you had the blue sway bar in front?

 

[Kevin]

I really don't remember; I used to disconnect it for off-roading and it just got in the way so I removed it.

 

[scalman]

so front lift spacers done now all welded and redone fron cv axle because rubber was in half. so put another from my other front axle that i changed , its oem rubber so its as good as it could be , much better then cheap crap new rubber that they sell as universal ones for all cars.

and then in rear found that my rear wheel bearing is bad too, so those need to be bought as well now. and took off cv axle to measure its lenght and its even about 1cm longer from my previous outback 2001 and 3 cm longer then that shorter axle that i had from some model .
so those 3cm shorter might work there , maybe wont be too short there , so wheel would drop more and strut wont be in sop much preasure all time there. just need to get another shorter axle. dont know from what model it is thought. legacy or impreza.

so front is good now , rear is not good need to figure out those axles si they could move more freely there and not hit its limits, and rear suspension much harder now as everything there is like on tension, links are twisted and pushed and strut is allways pushing down.

anyone knows from what model that shorter axle could be. ? it had those teath for ABS sensor same as 2001 outback , but duno they have shorter lenght means that wheel track must be narrower too. one time i bought those from scrapyard and they sold me those as for my 2001, but without lift they too short for 2001 outback. they coming off rear diff if you try drive on those , with lift all good.