freshlikesushi
Free Candy
Just put a spacer on there, like a 10mm slip on or a 20mm bolt on spacer will be fine and quick.
Last edited:
Overland OBS (OutBack Sport) Build
- Thread starter vwhammer
- Start date
Hmmmm, nice build vwhammer.
I don't know about the Impreza rear lateral links but the SF Foresters are 40 cm long, the Impreza WRX are 41 cm long and the SG Foresters are 41,5 cm long. That too gives you more space for the wheel. I opted for the SG's on my SF and no problem with the axles as they are all the same length.
I don't know about the Impreza rear lateral links but the SF Foresters are 40 cm long, the Impreza WRX are 41 cm long and the SG Foresters are 41,5 cm long. That too gives you more space for the wheel. I opted for the SG's on my SF and no problem with the axles as they are all the same length.
vwhammer
Adventurer
First impressions.
Had no issues getting the alignment dialed in after the lift.
I have been driving it for about a week and other than some completely trashed front rotors (new ones should be here today) it feels pretty good.
With all the anti-roll bars still attached with the factory end links, it still feels plenty flat in the corners.
It does ride pretty stiff.
Initially I had the tires (General Grabber AT2) pumped up to their max PSI (44psi) for MPG reasons.
However, given that these are truck tires, that proved to be way to stiff for everyday driving.
It did not take much adjustment to make it comfortable.
I dropped the pressure to 40 and that helped smooth out some of the harshness.
I am sure I could drop another 5 PSI to make it a little better but I am going to leave it where it is for now.
Obviously for off road I would drop this down considerably.
When Initially mounted, the shop only put about 28 psi in the tires and they appeared to bulge nicely under the relative lightweight of the OBS.
I take this to indicate a fair amount of conformity for off road.
25 to 30 PSI might be a good number for off road to offer the previously mentioned conformity without too much worry about popping a bead.
Have not had a chance to try any real off road yet as it has been raining nearly every day and here rain means mud.
With the hills and mud in my area this would almost certainly end with me trapped at the bottom of a big slimy hill in the middle of nowhere.
I have done some steep wash boarded two track gravel and that works pretty well.
I have only found one issue so far and that is gearing.
It does just fine on pavement but perhaps may be a little sluggish up bigger hills on the highway.
However I was attempting to climb a steeper gravel hill and may have started into it a little too slowly.
While trying to maintain my slow accent the engine began to bog down and I had to feather the clutch a fair amount to get the RPM back up and not just rev and spin.
Maybe the auto trans models would be better suited for this sort of thing but crawling is not this things' forte and I assumed that would be the case anyway.
Getting back to the ride, I did mention that it is pretty stiff.
I find it hard to believe that it could be bottomed out very easily.
With that said, I feel that, with some proper skid plating, the ground clearance, and relative light weight, you could tackle some of the steeper obstacles with a little more speed to overcome the lack of gearing for crawling.
Well I think that's all I have for now.
Working on the electric in the garage right now then I will get back to some more of the fab work.
hopefully it will dry out some soon so I can try it out off road somewhere.
Until next time.
Had no issues getting the alignment dialed in after the lift.
I have been driving it for about a week and other than some completely trashed front rotors (new ones should be here today) it feels pretty good.
With all the anti-roll bars still attached with the factory end links, it still feels plenty flat in the corners.
It does ride pretty stiff.
Initially I had the tires (General Grabber AT2) pumped up to their max PSI (44psi) for MPG reasons.
However, given that these are truck tires, that proved to be way to stiff for everyday driving.
It did not take much adjustment to make it comfortable.
I dropped the pressure to 40 and that helped smooth out some of the harshness.
I am sure I could drop another 5 PSI to make it a little better but I am going to leave it where it is for now.
Obviously for off road I would drop this down considerably.
When Initially mounted, the shop only put about 28 psi in the tires and they appeared to bulge nicely under the relative lightweight of the OBS.
I take this to indicate a fair amount of conformity for off road.
25 to 30 PSI might be a good number for off road to offer the previously mentioned conformity without too much worry about popping a bead.
Have not had a chance to try any real off road yet as it has been raining nearly every day and here rain means mud.
With the hills and mud in my area this would almost certainly end with me trapped at the bottom of a big slimy hill in the middle of nowhere.
I have done some steep wash boarded two track gravel and that works pretty well.
I have only found one issue so far and that is gearing.
It does just fine on pavement but perhaps may be a little sluggish up bigger hills on the highway.
However I was attempting to climb a steeper gravel hill and may have started into it a little too slowly.
While trying to maintain my slow accent the engine began to bog down and I had to feather the clutch a fair amount to get the RPM back up and not just rev and spin.
Maybe the auto trans models would be better suited for this sort of thing but crawling is not this things' forte and I assumed that would be the case anyway.
Getting back to the ride, I did mention that it is pretty stiff.
I find it hard to believe that it could be bottomed out very easily.
With that said, I feel that, with some proper skid plating, the ground clearance, and relative light weight, you could tackle some of the steeper obstacles with a little more speed to overcome the lack of gearing for crawling.
Well I think that's all I have for now.
Working on the electric in the garage right now then I will get back to some more of the fab work.
hopefully it will dry out some soon so I can try it out off road somewhere.
Until next time.
vwhammer
Adventurer
Here is a slightly better shot than the previous ones.
I hit up some of our local back roads to give the suspension a good workout.
This included some paved twisties, some loose gravel sweepers, some washboard, a medium speed water crossing and of course a little air time.
I am still pretty pleased at how well this suspension works.
Does fine on paved twisties and I have felt no real signs of bottoming out or anything of that nature.
However the gearing with the manual transmission is going to make it really hard on the clutch when I get around to any tight, slow technical stuff.
The head gaskets are weeping a bit of oil so perhaps I will put in a new clutch when I get around to changing the gaskets.
For all the more I will actually get to any slow technical stuff a new clutch will probably last the life of the vehicle.
I hit up some of our local back roads to give the suspension a good workout.
This included some paved twisties, some loose gravel sweepers, some washboard, a medium speed water crossing and of course a little air time.
I am still pretty pleased at how well this suspension works.
Does fine on paved twisties and I have felt no real signs of bottoming out or anything of that nature.
However the gearing with the manual transmission is going to make it really hard on the clutch when I get around to any tight, slow technical stuff.
The head gaskets are weeping a bit of oil so perhaps I will put in a new clutch when I get around to changing the gaskets.
For all the more I will actually get to any slow technical stuff a new clutch will probably last the life of the vehicle.
vwhammer
Adventurer
Yeah, if it was something more readily available at US auto recycler prices, I might consider it.
However this is sort of a temporary ADV rig until my van is finished so I don't think I will be sinking that kind of money into it.
It might be neat to see what it takes to find one and see what it costs.
However this is sort of a temporary ADV rig until my van is finished so I don't think I will be sinking that kind of money into it.
It might be neat to see what it takes to find one and see what it costs.
vwhammer
Adventurer
Well not a lot has happened with this ride as of late.
It is currently getting a pair of front inner CV boots.
To be honest I don't think the 5 speed and 3.90 gearing is really working for me.
Well to put it more correctly it does not really work with this tire size.
While I do love the wagon I am thinking about selling it and doing something similar with my 2000 Impreza sedan.
It is an auto and already has a better 4.11 gear ratio that works a little better with bigger tires.
My wife has an 06 forester with an auto and the 4.11 gears and we just put a set of grabbers in the same 215/65r16 size as is on my wagon and it works effortlessly.
The 2000 impreza needs front struts badly so I figured I would just do the forester strut swap and put some bigger tires on it and carry on with a lot of the things I was going to do to this one.
Sadly I will not be able to sleep in the back but I will sort something out.
Also I think I actually may have a solid game plan for a rear diff swap so I can at least have a proper rear locker.
I will know more about all that once I source a couple of parts.
Until next time.
It is currently getting a pair of front inner CV boots.
To be honest I don't think the 5 speed and 3.90 gearing is really working for me.
Well to put it more correctly it does not really work with this tire size.
While I do love the wagon I am thinking about selling it and doing something similar with my 2000 Impreza sedan.
It is an auto and already has a better 4.11 gear ratio that works a little better with bigger tires.
My wife has an 06 forester with an auto and the 4.11 gears and we just put a set of grabbers in the same 215/65r16 size as is on my wagon and it works effortlessly.
The 2000 impreza needs front struts badly so I figured I would just do the forester strut swap and put some bigger tires on it and carry on with a lot of the things I was going to do to this one.
Sadly I will not be able to sleep in the back but I will sort something out.
Also I think I actually may have a solid game plan for a rear diff swap so I can at least have a proper rear locker.
I will know more about all that once I source a couple of parts.
Until next time.