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06 Forester XT... It could be worse..

('06-'08) 
87K views 284 replies 31 participants last post by  Blingstrom 
#1 · (Edited)
06 Forester XT... Lifted daily driving.

Hi, hello and welcome to my 06 Forester XT build/maintaining daily driving journey. Hoping to iron out all the rough edges and hopefully enhance a few spots to improve on what Subaru made. Title borrows from Top Gear and their constant "could be worse" when cars break down/get stuck/something else crazy happens.

Not too new to the Subaru family as this is my 3rd Subaru. First being an 04 WRX that I def miss but had to get rid of to make room for my 05 STi. My STi has become my very dedicated auto-x car and now can retire to let the Forester take over easily driving duties. My 05 STi build can be found here. http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2562752
Picture for those interested here.
Morning Views by Blingstrom, on Flickr

Current Forester picture!

Kaw Park Downtown Kansas City by Blingstrom, on Flickr

Had been on the look out for a new daily driver Subaru for about 5 months and this one ended up at a dealership for a day before being shipped off to second hand lot and then passed on to me. Luckily the dealership that had it was a very small lot off the highway that had no interest on trying to work on it or sell it.

Picked it up for wholesale pricing after having a look at it on their lift and was much surprised at 198k there weren't many leaks or rust for a car from the Midwest. Out of a 500 mile search radius this was only 5 speed Forester so I was very happy to take it off their hands. Only slight worry was obvious signs of a blown out radiator and brand new radiator.

Drove her 45 miles back to my buddies house after picking it up and decided to clean her up as neither dealership had even cleaned her at all. Plenty of dog hair and human filth to be scrubbed and cleaned.

First bath.





Modification list:

Interior:

02-07 Wrx/STi pedal covers

Sti floor mats

Modded light in glove box

STI leather/aluminum shift knob

10" shift extension

Suspension:

ADF 2' front lift and 2.5" rear

ADF 2" trailing arm spacer.

KYB excel-g struts

Adjustable rear end links (Loyale fab)

Whiteline front adjustable endlinks

Engine:

New to me used engine at 214K (new used engine 124k)

Vf39 Turbo

08 STI intercooler

04-07 Sti midpipe and axle back exhaust

Aem Dryflow air filter

Snorkus delete

Invidia V2 catted downpipe

Grimmspeed downpipe to catback adapter

Grimmspeed PnP exhaust manifold and x-pipe ceramic coated

Perrin turbo Inlet

Grimmspeed silicone intercooler couplers

Cobb stage 3 OTS

Exterior:
07-08 Forester sports grill

02-03 Jdm STi hood scoop

06-08 Euro Subaru flares

Forester sport headlights

03-05 Forester tail lights

Yakima load warrior w/full-size spare

GrimmSpeed high lift hood shocks

Ebay center caps for a 12 Outback

Modified Subaru oem rock deflector for hood scoop air flow

Wellvisors rain gaurds

Wheels/Tires:

Gorilla silver spline lug nuts

Method Mr502 VT et 15 15x7

Firestone Destination A/T 235/70R15
 
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#2 ·
Soon I started to notice a smell of coolant about her and it had been said from the dealership that much had soaked into the splash guard. So I let it be.. Then after a spirited drive I opened the hood to notice it was def pushing coolant out of the reservoir... Could be worse right?

Also an odd clicking noise during acceleration that was thinking... Is the turbo on its way to taking out the engine? A week later it decides to stop making noises... Alright so that is new. Well then leaving stop signs it would start to hop from the rear.

Ohhhh so it was a u-joint failing and not a turbo. So I picked up a used unit and fixed that up. And then started ordering parts to pull the motor and get some new head gaskets in it.

My car originally said Jack Miller Subaru so I decided to make a change to that after the first few weeks of ownership.



Swapped the spark plugs out and a new cabin air filter. As this was pretty much the worst I have ever seen.



 
#3 ·
Then after amassing a complete Subaru engine gasket kit and timing belt kit. I took a week off work to pull the engine and regasket the engine. So here we go!



Freedom!


Cam bolts getting the best of me. 2 cobalt drill bits and 6 hours later they were off to a better life in some scrap metal pile.


Engine free of heads and ready for a water pump.



Here is the failure point for sure. Cylinder #1


 
#4 ·
Headlights had quite a bit of moisture built up and them and I decided to bake and paint them. Ended up coming out well but then somehow driving home during a rainstorm the headlight sealant dripped into the headlight ruining all the hard work... So replacements are def on the drawing board.






Now with the heads milled and ready to be put back together. The engine cleaned and ready for new gaskets here we are.
Cleaned and prepped.

New pulleys and pump.

New cam bolts! Thanks TIC!
 
#10 ·
cool vid but wassup w/ the track map ? not complaining , just wondering if it's gps and if it got fixed

I don't a/x but I trackday/hpde

I am on my second set of re-11a and used the hankook z214 once but it was a bit to warm

my issue is overdriving the car

I should rallycross instead
 
#11 ·
cool vid but wassup w/ the track map ? not complaining , just wondering if it's gps and if it got fixed

I don't a/x but I trackday/hpde

I am on my second set of re-11a and used the hankook z214 once but it was a bit to warm

my issue is overdriving the car

I should rallycross instead
 
#12 · (Edited)
Yeah the Garmin virb likes to just do whatever it wants sometimes. I think it sometimes latches on to others for virbs and gives me wacky data.

I wish I would have known about rallycross before I started my build it looks really awesome.

Might try out the re71rs they are a giant step up from the re--11as.
 
#14 ·
Yeah it's weird how it works out. After I bought my STi I stumbled onto some reading about the Forester XT 04-05 with the crazy gearing and was enamored. But at that point I had already gotten pretty deep with my STi and I think my gf would not of accepted getting rid of it and I was touch attached too.

So after my car got to the point it is now my gf basically said.. You should get something else your car is too nice to drive everyday. Which I regretfully thought too... As I do love driving my STi but it is a very rough and noisy ride. I think this was my gfs reasoning as well.. She hates the amount of noise when I leave for work 645am and getting bounced around over slight rough terrain.

Now here I am and absolutely love the little Forester. I had a few other cars in my sights as they were more in my budget and finding a Forester Xt in my price range seemed impossible. So this was a dream come true. My gf thinks I love the Forester more than my STi or so that's what she says. I love reading and looking through this forum too it is wonderful seeing all these great foresters and how impressive they can be in many facets.

Thanks for stopping by!
 
#15 ·
Last week chiming in the last wash before winter. I have been so spoiled with the STi sitting in the garage after a wash and looking good for at least half of the week. The rugged Forester with its much darker color always seems to show dust within a day.

Can't wait for spring to try and talk my buddy into a little detailing and get rid of the 10 billion scratches in the poor thing. I really think the paint would shine.

Last wash.


Ice storm here in Kansas gave me a big Forester popsicle to chisel out.



Also ordered some Blizzak ws-80s today and should be able to put them on tomorrow. Still very undecided on what to rock throughout the year. Bfgs seem like the only aggressive off-road tire in a stock like size.
 
#16 · (Edited)
Well my blizzaks decided to arrive today. Now both my Subaru's are snow ready! Had a bit of a laugh with the tire DOT having my name in it.. Dan and H4. Ready for the snow to hit and see what all this stock ground clearance can do!! Ws-80s on the Forester and lm-32s on my STi.









 
#17 ·
Watching black Friday sales netted me a new accessport from Cobb for the STi. Then subsequently figured out my outgoing model would fit my Forester... Now unsure of what to do. Send it back for the upgrade refund or take a 200k mile Forester and fill it with tuney goodness. Also have an extra downpipe ready to sell or put on. Life is hard haha!

Dearly need a new drivers side mirror gussets as it is driving me insane and need headlights. Cars are never quite complete and so needy.

 
#18 ·
Well this is becoming a familiar sight.. Forester with the hood open. Nice high pitched whine was noticed on my short trek to work. Put my stethoscope on the the a/c belt tension pulley.. Yep. I certainly remember doing one on the STi as well. So here we go again.

New pulley quality control.


Into hand and forearm scraping abyss.


Assembly out and free.


New vs old


And all back to working and less noise! No more supercharger whine..



Also a new battery to replace the old unit and keep it starting when its frozen.



Nothing too special but all cars need that maintance love now and again.
 
#22 ·
Decided to attempt one more fix on my mirror gussets before throwing in the towel and buying a new one.

Reading through the the many fixes on here and elsewhere I couldn't get it to improperly seal and even 40mph was quite noisy.

So I took some door/window sealer with an adhesive on the back. Cleaned up the area to adhere and fitted it properly. I kind of forgot about it and then remembered on my return trip that there was no noise at 50mph. Pretty pleased with not having to buy anything and get it fixed.

Here are the images for those interested.
Foam sealer that was used.


Images of it fitted inside.




 
#23 ·
Also ran the Forester in to check the alignment. Not perfect but it will work for now.

Probably double check it in the spring time if I get new tires. Least I figured out the Michelin's had a tire pull and not something in the red. Probably should invest in some rack bushings to have a little more connected feeling.

Alignment sheet for the curious.
 
#24 ·
After a year of daily driving clear and free of issues I decided to give the Forester so much needed attention. Lifted with Anderson design 2" in the front and 2.5" in the rear. Trailing arm spacer blocks to keep those wheels centered as well.

I havd had an issue with shuddering while shifting into any gear and have seemed to solve my problem. Kinda the whole reason I went with the lift kit. That and for something completely different to me as well. So here it is for your viewing pleasure.

Before



After



Finally after that my Method wheels decided to arrive after a month of back order. 15x7 et15. Tire size 235/70r15.



 
#25 ·
Well my almost one year old Depo headlights almost made it through their warranty. Went to the car wash and came home to fogged over lights. Over the next week they became completely water logged.. Spoke with amazon and amazingly they refunded the whole purchase price and let me keep the lights. Purchased Retro rubber by Morimoto and repaired them this weekend.







Thought this was funny.


 
#26 ·
Fun things have arrived. Cat quality control has approved.

From Grimmspeed hood shocks, downpipe adapter and ebcs.

Had time to install hood shocks. Really makes working all around the engine bay so much easier. Also having much more light in the engine bay is very helpful.
Parts!!



Before:



After:


 
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