[Victory80]

Hey all wanted to start a build thread for my new Forester. Again this is my first Subaru and I'm loving everything about it. I've built a few prerunner type vehicles in the past with over the top suspension but this time around i'm going for the Dakar, rally raid look... emphasis on look. Here's some stuff i've done so far. I apologize for the cell phone pics, i'll get some pictures with a proper camera next time. Thanks!

-Victor

Copied from my intro thread:

'Liking this site and all the good info on here. Two days ago I bought my first Subaru and am loving everything about it! It's a 2014 Forester 2.5i base with the 6 speed in ice silver. I'll spare you the picture since you already know what it looks like but here's one before driving away from the dealership.'



First mod, sti shift knob haha! Free from my brother's old car.





When I got home from the dealership I put on a rear sti swaybar, took off the gigantic intake resonator, cranked on the strut camber bolts for more negative camber and installed rally armor mudflaps. Handles great now!



Today I said enough was enough with the chrome and I tried my best with plastidip.











Took off the cheesy pzev emblem.

 

[High_Desert_Silver]

Looking forward to watching this build!


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[Victory80]

Wheels are finally here! Enkei RCG4 in 15x7 +50. It was the only offset available in this bolt pattern and unfortunately the rim edge contacts the camber bolt gusset, but a 3mm spacer solves this problem easily. As far as caliper to rim barrel clearance, it barely fits with around 3-4mm clearance. Another rim that also fits is the Speedline 2118. Test fit pictures for now until the tires come in,

 

[High_Desert_Silver]

Love the rims. Are you keeping them white? What are your tire plans?


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[Victory80]

Yes keeping them white and as for tires, Yokohama Geolandar ATS in 225/70/15 are on the way. I had those tires on an on a previous vehicle and they handled great on and off road.

 

[High_Desert_Silver]

Gnarly. I'm running the AT/S in 225/65R17 love the off-road performance so far, but they killed my gas mileage


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[Victory80]

But it looks cooler than the stock tires and handle better off road right? The 225/70/15 ATS weigh about 3lb more than the stock G91 but hopefully i'll lose some weight going from the 17" steelie to the 15" alloy. BUT the rally rim is pretty porky and robust at 17lbs. Love your ride btw, the powdercoated stock rims with the ats look tough!

 

[Blazingbuda]

those wheels look awesome, glad to see your from the bay area also

 

[Victory80]

Had a nothing better to do sunday so decided to test fit some 2011 wagon sti suspension for giggles. On the rear is the complete sti strut and spring and the front is the stock forester strut with sti spring. Don't have before pictures but you all know how stock looks. The result was pretty drastic around 2" clearance from the fender to tire on the front and 1" on the rear... yes saggy butt! Again this was just a test, don't know if i'll keep it or not. Don't know the spring rates for either vehicle (sti spring rate is probably more) but curb weight and gross vehicle weight are close so the ride quality is close to stock. Haven't touched the alignment yet but it has a lot less body roll and along with the sti rear sway bar, this thing sticks!












sti for comparison

 

[Wyldcat89]

Whoa!!! That's awesome!! not the original look you were going for but I applaud you for taking the opportunity to do a test fit. This is potentially good news to a lot of people.

 

[Victory80]

Aside from the sti spring to forester strut swap for the front, everything was bolt on. Nothing modified, elongated or anything like that... easy peasy!

 

[DillChill_36]

glad to see a newer foz getting modded love those enkei wheels

 

[Victory80]

And it's back to stock! I wanted the forest back in forester so I put the stock suspension back on. If anyone is thinking of using the sti stuff, I recommend trying the sti spring on forester strut on the rear. It'll probably lift it up some bc of the longer strut and be more appropriately valved for heavier loads... probably. I didn't try it but it should work out better and would eliminate the need for saggy butt spacers to even the stance.

In the meantime I got my hitch bike rack. Now I just need to decide on which hitch to get.

 

[Victory80]

Finally got the wheels and tires mounted! Using a not too accurate bathroom scale, the 15" setup compared to the stock 17" steelie setup, I lost 5lbs per corner. Dirt and gravel roads here I come!

The specs if anyone is interested are as follows:

Enkei RCG4 15x7" +50mm
3mm spacer for the front to clear the strut
Yokohama geolandar ats 225/70/15 (the closest to stock tire diameter)

 

[High_Desert_Silver]

Very, very nice! Love the meaty tires on those rims...


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[Quick Finger]

Deffinately interesting look. Good to see some experimenting and the new (14) look is growing on me I still think they keep getting funnier looking but people do a bit of modifying and each generation has works of art its amazing

 

[FlashEngineer]

cool

 

[sway162]

This is great information man! I am sure a lot of SJ owners would like to know this. This should be on another thread in the suspension section.

I love the look with the Enkei RCG4.....I may wanna get those for my winters. :biggrin:

Had a nothing better to do sunday so decided to test fit some 2011 wagon sti suspension for giggles. On the rear is the complete sti strut and spring and the front is the stock forester strut with sti spring. Don't have before pictures but you all know how stock looks. The result was pretty drastic around 2" clearance from the fender to tire on the front and 1" on the rear... yes saggy butt! Again this was just a test, don't know if i'll keep it or not. Don't know the spring rates for either vehicle (sti spring rate is probably more) but curb weight and gross vehicle weight are close so the ride quality is close to stock. Haven't touched the alignment yet but it has a lot less body roll and along with the sti rear sway bar, this thing sticks!












sti for comparison

 

[Victory80]

Hi fellow foresters,

Been a while since my last update. Since then I've racked up a bunch of miles (currently 34k bought new oct 2013), had the windows tinted and installed Yakima crossbars and highroller bike racks. Still very much love the car, just needs a fa20 wrx swap someday

Now for my CL finds of the day. I wasn't planning on buying anymore wheels but came across a deal I could not pass. Good deals are always like that right!? No crazy offset or width, just a well fitting timeless design.

Volk LE37
5x100
18x7.5 +48
Michelin hydroedge 225/55/18, near new

Current


Mock up








2011 sti sedan catback for dual setup

 

[Victory80]

Started the install on the 2011 sti sedan catback. The only thing left is to fabricate some hangers for the driver side muffler and possibly trim the bumper a bit. At the moment, the driver side outlet is capped off. The forester catback is heaver than the sti ~5lb seemingly coming from the flat, welded resonator vs the round resonator on the sti and the mufflers weigh about the same.

I did this purely for cosmetic reasons, I like the symmetry... and that mean quad tip look!

Parts used:
2011 sti catback and mufflers
Paranoid fab 12mm xl hangers x5
Fabricate hangers for driver side muffler