NC Forester Build

1618115475982.png
Current Build List

Exterior:
TRF custom tube front bumper
TRF custom tube rear bumper
TRF rock sliders
Smittybilt D-ring shackles
Curt XL roof basket
Yakima Rack with 56" round bars
Yescom 6x8' awning
20% tint
Tepui Kukenam 3 Baja Series RTT (old setup)

Suspension / Bracing:
ADF 2" front spacer lift
ADF 2.5" rear spacer lift
ADF 2" sub frame spacer
ADF multi-link spacer
Group N STi engine and trans poly mounts
Torque Solution pitch stop mount

Wheels and Tires:
15 x 7 +10 KMC KM716 Nomads in matte bronze
215 / 75 / 15 General grabber AT2
17 x 7.5 +48 Sparco Terra in matte bronze (old setup)
235 / 60 / 17 Cooper Discoverer AT3 4S (old setup)

Engine and Exhaust:
Modified and deleted air box
Modified windshield washer bottle
2013 STi sedan catback with quad tips (old setup)
2013 STi sedan mid pipe
TRF custom axleback exhaust single exit

Armor and Recovery:
Primitive Racing front skid plate 3/16" with oil holes
Primitive Racing rear differential skid plate 3/16"
X-Bull Gen3 traction boards
Hi-lift Jack

Lights:
4, Hella Valuefit LED spot lights
Mostplus 6k LED headlight bulbs

Interior:
Blox Racing weighted shift knob
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Click to expand...
Ended up going to one of the local Cars and Coffee events and met up with my buddy Jake and one of his CRV friends. Went and got breakfast then did Jeep stuff.






 
April 26th

2 weeks ago I finally ordered my skid plates. I ordered from a company called Primitive Racing, pretty much the only company out there making skids for the Subaru community. I was hoping to do plate front to back but upon calling them and speaking with a rep, the metal on the 5MT is apparently a lot thicker than on the automatic so a transmission skid plate was never made for my generation. Cool, saved me some money from having to get that. I ended up getting their 3/16" thick front and differential plates. The front features cutouts for the oil filter and oil pan nut. I have heard from other that the holes may snag on rock and stick, etc so I may make a DIY plug that can easily be taken off for maintenance.





 
I also picked up a Walmart brand awning from my buddy Boston. This 8' awning was on his 4Runner and its nice for now. I would like to upgrade to a 270 degree batwing later down the road. Went and did some mud things with my buddy Noah in his 4Runner







 
May 8th

Ive dropped my car off at a shop to have a tubular bumper made. The plan is to get a front bumper, rear bumper with swing mount, and eventually sliders. Im pretty much going all-in with this build. The fabricator whose shop is located right down the street from my job near Huntersville, NC definitely knows his stuff. I chose to go with a tubular setup to save weight and it was something the fab guy knows really well since he does this kind of work for drift cars and other race cars. I got inspiration from the Stellar Built designs but told him to not make a direct copy and make any changes he thought it needs. So far Im pretty happy with his design and cant wait to get the final result.











 
May 18th

Well the hype is here! I picked my car back up Sunday and the front bumper looks great. Im super happy with the outcome and Melvin at TheRoseFactory on instagram killed it. Im going to enjoy the car now for a month and then it will go back to him to knock out the rear bumper build with dual swing mounts as well as some sliders.

The final Results:
- Complete tube frame with an aluminum plate in the center. We didnt put vents in the center and we're in the process of testing cooling. So far Ive driven the car 150 miles and the car isnt overheating but I still might add some air vents later. With the side of the bumper open there should be in theory enough air coming in for the radiator.
- Two shackles were mounted to a plate that bolted directly into the frame where the crash bar was mounted. This offered another recovery point just in case I need it down the road and I was able to keep my Smittybilt D rings.
- The stock air box silencer was completely removed and thrown away. A cap now sits in place to cover the hole and may or may not be painted.
- The stock wiper resevoir was removed but the motors were kept. Melvin was able to build and aluminum resevoir around the motors and it is bolted below on the frame.
- The horns, lose wiring, and other connectors were all relocated or moved slightly out of the way.
- Bumper was sprayed with black bed liner paint which is pretty durable.
- The original bumper cover was cut allowing the grill to still be in place and attached using the OEM bumper clips on the fenders.
- Fender liners werent completely removed and trimmed only where they wouldve been when attached to the front bumper.










 
And who will protect that poor windshiel washer reservoir? Mine in same place
Ohh wait... its gone
Here police wouldnt be happy to see that tube bumper on streets. Good that you can drive with it there.
 
Last edited:
And good story there. It was interesting to read. And nice pics of other cars .
 
Noice!
 
May 24th: Drove out to Brown Mountain OHV park near Linville, NC. Its an out and back trail rated easy for Jeeps and ATV's but I would rate it as moderate to a little difficult in some spots for a Subaru or AWD CUV. There were plenty of tricky sections, random fall-offs, mud, off-camber spots. The new bumper took a hard impact in some mud and the only damage was the center plate got pushed back a little bit but the overall bumper was not damaged.








 
I found out after this trip the next day omw to work that my skid plate bolts had punctured right through my radiator support. Its amazing the car didnt overheat on the way home but I guess all of the packed mud and dirt kept the leak all together.
 
June 7th: Drove out to Rockingham Dragway for a car show. Literally wasted the entire day just trying to get into the place and will never attend another one. But I hung out with some friends I havent seen in a hot minute and got to show off the new setup along with Beefy the CRV


 
June 20th

I met up with the Mtnroo NC members and drove up to Asheville, NC for the first ever Rigs and Coffee event. Theres still some photos I havent messed with from that day so Ill upload them at a different time. After the event 3 of us headed down to the NC/SC state line to Gorges State Park where we did a crazy steep trail in the rain. Needless to say I struggled a lot and need a new clutch.




 
On July 11th, I dropped the Forester off to the same guy who built the front bumper setup to do a rear swing mount and bumper. My initial thought was to do a double swing for a spare wheel and another one for some jerry cans. I scrapped that idea because it might be a little too complicated and or heavy. We went with a single swing with the spare set in the middle.












 
I wish I could take credit for still incorporating the rear bumper into the whole design but I cant. Its probably my favorite part about the whole thing. It's still very different from other subie builds who have gone this route. These first few photos are the start of the swing design.

October 7th





Pressure vents were removed and welded shut to prevent dirt, mud, water, aniamls from getting inside. So far closing doors hasnt been a hassle.

October 11th


 
Here is the current progress at 90% completion. Still need to grind down some parts on the swing then paint everything and build a custom axle back exhaust. We are going to be adding a stopper near the hinge so when on an incline the swing stays locked in position when open.

October 26th








 
Thats some diff design and forms for sure, strange lines on those tubes so its not like others for sure. Little weird looking but for everyones tastes i guess haha. So where are rear mufflers? They needed to go ?
 
scalman said:
Thats some diff design and forms for sure, strange lines on those tubes so its not like others for sure. Little weird looking but for everyones tastes i guess haha. So where are rear mufflers? They needed to go ?
Click to expand...
I got rid of the quad tips simply because when I had the car lifted, I had to put extended hangars on the mid pipe and mufflers. They hit everything on the trail and so for this new setup I am keeping the sti mid pipe and doing a single exit with some sort of muffler in the middle behind the bars. I recently drove the car with an open dum under the cabin and it was horrible. Sounded like a D series Honda and without any backpressure it was super slow.
 
there are better mufflers out there smaller too that you could put there and not loose ground clearance in the end or just ask someone to make you custom exhaust. weird i dont think mine is taking away any of my clearance there , maybe you could just put them more inside , modify or smt. but as you doing lots custom stuff there, just do those mufflers custom and small in end .
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top