'99 Subaru Forester Build

[casm]

Since I didn't want to clutter up the ExPo Subaru Forester project thread too much with what I'm doing on my own Forester, I figured I'd start this one to chronicle what's going on with it. Be warned: this is going to be a long post since I want to provide some context for why I'm doing a buildup on this particular vehicle. So, to kick it off:

Why a Forester?

My daily driver for the past six years has been a 2000 Jeep Cherokee (XJ). It's running 4.5" of lift on 31" tyres, adjustable UCAs/LCAs, has had the D35 in the back long since swapped out for an XJ D44, has ECTEDs and 4:10 gears at each end, an NP242 with SYE and slip rear driveshaft, and factory skids with double-tube rocker guards. It was built to be a civilised daily driver that could reasonably cope with Southern California wheeling conditions in the mountains and desert, and it has been exceptional in hitting that goal.

However, I'm going to be doing about six thousand miles of driving in the space of a few weeks starting in June. As much as I love the XJ, it's not the vehicle I want to use for that drive - so I began looking for vehicles that were close in size, and had enough 4WD/AWD that they could achieve 30%-40% of the XJ's off-road ability with 50% better fuel average fuel economy. After a few test drives of different vehicles, the Forester won out. Ownership of three Brats probably influenced me a bit

About the vehicle:

$800 later, I wound up with this:

It's a '99 Forester S, fully-loaded apart from a sunroof, with the 4EAT automatic transmission. If $800 sounds cheap for that vehicle, there's a reason for that: one cylinder has virtually no compression. While this may sound bad, it actually works out to my advantage: Subarus of this era with the EJ25 engine (which means just about every Forester sold in the US from 1998 up until 2011) were notorious for head gasket failures and owners not replacing timing belts. Replace the head gaskets with the later revised ones and you're good to go, and the timing belt can be done at the same time. Since both have to be attacked as part of dealing with the compression issue, it takes care of those potential pitfalls up front.

The build plan (beyond the obvious engine issues):

- 215/65R16 General Grabber AT2s. This is the largest tyre size you can run on this generation of Forester without them interfering with the lower spring mounts, and the Grabbers are close enough to a BFG T/A KO in construction that on- and off-road performance should be pretty decent.

- 2" of lift, which should be enough to get the rockers at or slightly above the axle centreline. This is usually accomplished on these vehicles by combining 1" taller springs with 1" suspension spacers, but I'm currently awaiting news from Subtle Solutions on the release of their 2" kit that does this entirely with spacers. The advantage of that approach is that you should be able to retain stock suspension, keeping costs down.

- 3/16" skidplates for the sump and rear diff. These will probably come from Subtle as well since they'll be supplying the suspension bits, though Primitive Racing also makes a set.

- Recovery points. This is the big unknown right now because there really isn't anything off-the-shelf for these vehicles. The rear will probably be a Quality S 2" receiver towbar allowing reuse of my existing receiver shackle, but for the fronts I'm probably going to have to come up with custom plates capable of accepting D-rings. Reinforcing the body is going to be interesting.

- The 4EAT lockup mod. This is actually built but not yet installed. Automatic Foresters normally split torque 90:10 front/rear; this will allow overriding that to provide a full-time 50:50 split not dissimilar to locking a centre differential.

And that's about it for the meat of the build. Other stuff in the pipeline is pretty generic - better headlamp bulbs, a bluetooth-capable headunit, and other small livability items. More info to come as things progress; at least the compression issues (believed to be due to bad valve seals) should be known and being tackled in the next day or two.

 

[life_w_vagabonds]

Wow, great deal. I got 175k on mine with the original head gaskets. I've been thinking about a skid plate for a while. The plastic one is rather hosed. As far as the rear diff plate, I wonder if its worth it. Probably the toughest part of the car.

Take some pics of the engine work. I just bought a house with a garage and I'm thinking of doing the timing belt myself this time. Probably the head gaskets too.

 

[rgc]

Sounds a lot like what I want to do with my new to me 2004 forester. By the way, good research as I see you found the only class 3 hitch for foresters of these years. Every other hitch I can find is class 2.

rgc

 

[TeufelHunden]

I have 186k mine and I just did the head gaskets about 3,000 miles ago. It's not a bad job. For skid plates, you can be thrifty on the rear. I bought a factory Subaru plate from a Forester I found in the junkyard for $13 with all mounting hardware. If you have seen the in-dash compass/altimeter/temp gauge, it's neat but really not worth IMHO. The altimeter is not accurate, the compass is not accurate. However, the temp gauge is nice though and seems to be quite accurate. For some extra lights you can drill right through the top of the bumper and mount some Hella lights like mine. You should check out Subaruforester.org it's a great site. I'm SoCal_Foz over there. Happy trails!

 

[casm]

There's been some progress

Heads are now off. Pistons and cylinder bores look good, and the problem appears to have been a burned valve and bad valve seal on the #4 cylinder. Why that happened isn't entirely clear, but at least I'm dealing with something salvageable. More background on that in the replies below.

Wow, great deal. I got 175k on mine with the original head gaskets.

That and the timing belt were my two major concerns in buying one of these. I looked at probably a good half-dozen vehicles for substantially more money where the sellers either couldn't tell me if they'd been done or got really squirrelly about it when I asked - and the last thing I wanted was to get into a vehicle where these two areas were giant question marks. At least in this case I know what I'm dealing with, and they'll be taken care of.

I've been thinking about a skid plate for a while. The plastic one is rather hosed.

To be honest, I look at the plastic one as being nothing more than a catch tray for engine drips. It'll save you from highway debris, but put any weight on that thing and it may as well not have been there in the first place.

As far as the rear diff plate, I wonder if its worth it. Probably the toughest part of the car.

Yeah, I'm actually kind of vacillating on that one. About the best argument I've come up with in favour of it is that it'll at least provide some slide rather than drag if the diff does end up on something, but the diff itself seems fairly beefy. The current thinking is to see what the budget allows for and either do it or not depending on other needs.

Take some pics of the engine work. I just bought a house with a garage and I'm thinking of doing the timing belt myself this time. Probably the head gaskets too.

Unfortunately, time and space being what they are right now means that I'm having the work done at a shop, so photos probably aren't going to be possible. However, you may want to look at this thread - it's pretty well detailed, and searching YouTube should pull up videos for the procedure. If it had only needed a timing belt I'd just pick a weekend and do it, but with the heads needing attention as well (meaning that they have to be sent out to be checked for cracks, warping, etc.) it just made more sense to farm the work out.

Sounds a lot like what I want to do with my new to me 2004 forester.

Pretty much everything I'm planning on doing here should be eminently doable on an '04. You've actually got a bit of an advantage over me in that you can apparently run larger tyres than on mine as the tyre/spring seat clearance is improved. Don't know what your maximum size is, but it is larger

By the way, good research as I see you found the only class 3 hitch for foresters of these years. Every other hitch I can find is class 2.

That thing was a nightmare to find, and I was extremely lucky to have run across it. The only other one I came up with was made by a company in Germany and would have been horribly expensive to import to the US.

I'm really not 100% happy with the towbar as a rear recovery point, though: it'd work fine in practice, but will steal a fair amount of departure angle. While I'm not terribly concerned about damaging the hitch (and there's probably an argument to be made that on some obstacles it may save the bumper), it's not as good as I'd like either.

One idea kicking around in my head is to use brackets similar to those on the towbar for the lateral supports, then tie them together with a steel bar or square tubing. Weld D-ring tabs to that bar/tube, cut a couple of holes in the rear bumper, and have the tabs exit somewhere on both sides of the licence plate. Should be suitably-beefy without losing clearance, but then you lose the flexibility of the receiver. It's something else to figure out, but I think a similar approach may work for the front.

For skid plates, you can be thrifty on the rear. I bought a factory Subaru plate from a Forester I found in the junkyard for $13 with all mounting hardware.

Agreed, and I've already checked around to see what we've got in the yards locally. Problem is, there are very few Foresters to pick from, and barely any more Imprezas. Living in a rural area, my choices are pretty limited, unfortunately.

If you have seen the in-dash compass/altimeter/temp gauge, it's neat but really not worth IMHO.

Seen it, and it's another item I'm vacillating on. Frankly I'd really prefer one of the Gentex compass/temperature mirrors, but they're seriously expensive, and used ones on eBay are hit-or-miss on availability. More on that:

The altimeter is not accurate, the compass is not accurate.

Bummer. The altimeter wasn't really much of a consideration in looking at it, but the compass needs to be at least as accurate as the one in the Jeep, which is surprisingly good when compared against any of my GPS units or a liquid compass. That alone pretty much puts it in the 'I'll pass' category.

However, the temp gauge is nice though and seems to be quite accurate.

This was the other main function I was interested in it for, since I like knowing the likelihood of ice or overheating depending on conditions. Holding out for an eBay mirror really sounds like a better plan overall.

For some extra lights you can drill right through the top of the bumper and mount some Hella lights like mine.

There's a pair of Hella 500s in a driving pattern kicking around the garage right now; I was thinking of either drilling the bumper to accept them or fitting one of the Carr Light Wings bars. Was any reinforcing on the underside of the bumper necessary, or did they bolt down to the plastic without issues?

You should check out Subaruforester.org it's a great site. I'm SoCal_Foz over there. Happy trails!

Yep, I'm already on there under the same username. Thanks, and I like what you've done with yours!

 

[TeufelHunden]

You know, no reinforcement was necessary. You do have to get just the right spot though. When you take out the grill, feel around under the top of the bumper. You will find 2 vertical plastic ridges. Pretty much you wanna just drill through the bumper on the INSIDE of these, but just to the inside. When you bolt them down, you will initially have to spin the brackets with the bolts to tighten them down. The lights themselves put no stress on it at all, they weigh nothing, are of little aero drag and don't impede airflow to the radiator enough to be noticeable. On the plus side, you don't have an expensive bracket hanging below your bumper...and some money in your pocket to but some much needed bushings! Thanks for the compliment! That rear diff skidplate has already saved me once, totally worth getting one. A front plate is also mandatory! The oil pan is too exposed to not have one...although I don't yet...but I have bumped my oil pan one time and it has a small dent now...whoops.....:Wow1:

 

[casm]

Thanks for the pointers on the lights - I think I'm going to copy your idea

Anyway, things plod on with getting it running. The heads are back at the mechanic's shop; we're just waiting on an opening in the garage for him to be able to wheel it in and put it back together. Should happen hopefully this week.

However, work continues in other areas. Got this built last night:

That ugly splat of resistors and perfboard is the dummy load for the 4EAT lockup mod. Measured out at 16.8 ohms once completed, so I'm calling that close enough to the 17 ohm target number. Should help with getting in and out of things immensely; just need to get the car back so I can install it.

 

[casm]

Time for a status update. Still waiting to get the heads put back together (long story, long wait), but they should hopefully be back on by the end of next week.

While the car's been sitting, I've been taking care of smaller stuff. Installed a JVC KD-A815 stereo with XM receiver, mainly because it has built-in Bluetooth; this should help with avoiding hands-free tickets in some states as well as integrating my phone's navigation and streaming audio capabilities. Headlamps were upgraded to Philips Xtreme Power H4s, which should be about as good as they can get without doing a projector conversion. External running lights have been fully-converted to LEDs; this is mainly to help with lowering the load on the alternator when running a lot of accessories, but also gives the capability to park in a remote area with the parking lights switched on as a beacon for extended periods without killing the battery too quickly.

The 4WD lockup controller is built, housed, and just needs to be installed. I did pick up a rather nice Carling Contura V-series switch for it, and found a good mounting location:

The switch itself is a DPDT type with separate poles for switch illumination and signal control, so its internal LEDs correctly indicate the mode that the transmission controller is in. I really dislike switches that aren't clear as to their purpose, so it was worth the extra few bucks to me to go with one of these - and it also doesn't hurt that they're beefy with a nice, positive action.

The big news: lift springs were ordered today I ended up going with the Ironman Offroad 35mm ones from Camel 4x4; they're about $200 cheaper than King Springs, but provide the same amount of lift. Can't speak as to comparative quality between the two, but I'll find that one out one way or the other. Between the springs and increasing the tyre size to 215/65R16 from 215/60R16, this should net approximately 2" of lift over stock.

For communications, there's a Cobra 75WXST transmitter (already have the handset) standing by waiting to find a decent mounting location. Space behind the dash is now tight courtesy of the XM radio boxes attached to the head unit, so I need to figure that one out. This will be the main road and trail radio; I already have a Yaesu FT-8900 built into a .50-calibre ammo can and powered from an 18A/h battery for amateur use, so will keep that as-is for more serious work.

For now, I'm putting the other inch of lift, skidplates, and towbar on hold until I see where the budget sits. Spacers to get another inch run about $220, but will also require replacing the struts, which will add around another $280 to the cost. It'll also mean building drop spacers for the rear control arms to prevent tyre rub against the arches, which aren't commercially-available. Stick another three bills on there for skids plus $150 for the towbar, and it's all adding up very quickly - plus I still need to buy tyres, get an alignment, and toss in a beefier battery.

So that's where it all sits for now. The main goal is to have as much done as possible once its driveable and work out where to go on the mods from there, but it is finally starting to take shape.

 

[rgc]

Thanks for the update.

 

[Pedro]

can you post pictures of that Yaesu setup? and what do you get for runtime on that?

 

[casm]

can you post pictures of that Yaesu setup? and what do you get for runtime on that?

Agh - thought I'd linked to that, but evidently not. Here's a copy & paste of the original post about it over on subaruforester.org:

I wanted to keep the pictures large to show as much detail as possible, so you'll have to click through to get to them.

Exterior view, lid closed. The elbow is actually a right-angle adapter connected to a normal PL-259 connector; it sticks out just far enough that when the UHV-4 antenna is attached to it the antenna does not contact the ammo can. The four philips bolt heads visible on the long side are fastening down the factory radio bracket inside the can.

Exterior view, lid open. The black stuff inside the lid is an old floormat cut to fit and stuck in place with 3M Super 77 adhesive; this is to prevent the battery shorting against the lid. Inside the can itself, the transceiver is closest to the eye and the battery is behind it. The right-hand side of the compartment contains the radio faceplate and mic.

Birds-eye view inside of the can. If you look closely, you can see the metal bracket that was welded in to keep the battery in place.

Faceplate and mic in operating position. Normally the antenna would be connected and the lid flipped over to about an inch short of being closed; this is to allow ventilation for the radio and sound from the built-in speaker to get out.

This was the first one of its kind that I built, and it's working out pretty well. The battery is beefy enough that it can run the radio for up to 24 hours on a charge depending on usage; one big advantage is that it can be recharged from either an automotive mains battery charger or jumper cables. This is definitely not something you want to try to run off of a lighter/power socket.

The one thing I might have done differently in retrospect would be to have located the transceiver further forward to offset the battery weight a bit (the can has a tendency to tilt towards the battery when you're carrying it), but I really don't know how much it would do to help. Also, I still need to install external jacks for the faceplate, external speaker, and serial port, but my motivation to pull it all apart again is kind of low - it's not so much that it was difficult to put together, but getting the radio mounted to the bracket and screwing the whole thing into place was kinda fiddly as there's just not much room to work in.

One late note that wasn't in the original post: the 24 hour battery life I quoted is essentially standby time - e.g., receiving only. Depending on output power level and transmit duty cycle this obviously varies, but the longest continuous combined TX/RX run for a single charge was about 14 hours. The battery still had a fair amount of juice in it at that point, but we were done for the day so everything was packed up. Most of the usage during that time was on 2m at usually 50W but dropping down to 20W or 10W depending on which repeaters we were trying to hit. No idea on what the actual transmit duty cycle was, but 20-25% would be a reasonable guess.

 

[Pedro]

Great thanks!

We are in the process of testing a cross band setup with a kenwood TMV708A with up to 150ah worth of battery.

 

[Ozarker]

Great build! Looking forward to the pics of the lift process! Thanks! :Wow1:

 

[casm]

Some actual progress :sombrero:

The heads are back on and the car ran again for the first time yesterday. No overheating, leaks, or coolant and oil getting together and having a party in the crankcase, so it's 90% of the way there. Still on the to-do list are fitting the rear springs (the shop ran out of time yesterday to get both sets on), installing the auxiliary transmission cooler, and slapping an inspection sticker on it.

Assuming no further surprises, it should be out of the shop and on the road Tuesday or Wednesday and the trial by fire can commence!

 

[poriggity]

Loving the build, and I love the price! I am thinking about picking up a forester for a daily driver with some mild modifications once my current daily driver takes a dump. Very cool. Love it man!
Scott