Outback '01 2.5 4eat VDC project

So couple years ago i bought myself my first subaru ever and after long time thinking took outback against forester. Didint had budget for newer one so went for some 2nd gen that i found

Top original, lower 2"" lift with BFG TA KO2 215/65 R16
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It was 2001 subaru outback 2.5 4eat eith rear LSD and early VDC package. All weather with heated seats, windows, climate control.
It has rear self leveling shocks still ok condition so i left them just put 2" spacer on top. Not sure is it made car harder and less comfy but it can take load very well. But its not soft car to drive fast on bad roads
Then i cut front bumper and put steel skid plate just for engine. Diy it myself from steel sheet from scrapyard
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well on straight you could do that low like on sand and you dont turn wheel a lot. but yh its no need go lower i guess anyway. i saw people here on fories drive with 14 psi off road and can come back home to city with that.
one time my driver side wheel was slowly lossing air , i didnt checked it for long time and didint even noticed anything too bad , then when i checked i got left 1bar/14psi in driver side, all others where full 33psi about . and nothing happened. depends on tire . street tires you dont wanna do that on hard AT or mud tires you can go very low and it will hold good still.

was cleaning and rearraging my trunk , took about 1 hr . its still a lot stuff there. hi lift jack , extra battery, axe , folded shovel, recovery gear separate bag, all kinda straps, tools, 2 foldable camping chairs , all kinda cleaning brushes, plastic straps.
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You need to make sure you have everything well secured. In the event of an accident, especially a rollover, loose gear can be lethal in a wagon.
 
well a rollover wouldnt be good anyway wouldnt it ? car is for carying something in it. sure its not safe then, but whats point to drive empty car just because it wouldnt be safer in worse case scenario. dog in car is not safe in rollover as well, it can kill you too.
 
Kevin said:
Even dogs have to be harnessed /secured over here.
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I don't think that's law up here in RedneckLand (Queensland). I thought it was, but saw something just the other day..
 
they can sure i know and they need to i guess. and yes im securing hilift jack there. battery well some point , but subwoofer box and other stuff there still pretty heavy, cant do nothing about that.
i just imagine how would look overland car with fridges inside and other stuff there, all the radios and things be rolled over. would not be nice picture.
then again what is front steel or aluminum bumper most of you using like from roos ? its just killing tool, imagine hitting person with that thing . why its even legal at all. why any steel bumpers legal anywhere? because some places just dont care i guess.
 
Some people put a cargo barrier behind either the rear seat or the front seats. Because of the way you use your Outback, you would need to have one behind the front seats. The barrier will prevent any loose objects coming into the driver's space in the event of a rollover or a heavy frontal impact.

It doesn't take much to cause serious injury. I know of a case where a ball point pen on the back parcel shelf of a sedan hit the driver in the back of the head in a serious frontal impact and penetrated the skull.

It might seem a lot of trouble to go to but if you ever did have such an accident surely your life is worth what is in reality a small preventative measure.
 
If a bull bar is installed legally
I see it as a better way to protect the front end of your car against wildlife.
Without one fitted you would most definitely end the life of your car at highway speed when hitting a roo for example (been there done that). For sure if you hit someone with a bull bar you would cause serious damage if not death to the person, but most pedestrian vs vehicle deaths result from a front impact with cars not fitted with a bull bar, so while the bull bar would do more damage, distracted and drug/alcohol affected drivers are way more dangerous, and that’s why the insurance companies don’t mind bull bars, because they save them a lot of money not having to write off a vehicle, and don’t do as much damage compared to a distracted or drug/alcohol affected driver.

1WD


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I try to brake for wildlife. I've had a few close calls with Roos but I just drove slower. I always plan my trips with aim to avoid driving at roo o'clock simply as a risk management measure.

But yes, I use a cargo barrier behind the seats. It can be moved from behind the front seats to behind the back seats to suit whatever your situation might be. I don't want a fridge, battery or tow ball to DOCK me in the head in the event of a rollover or impact. Imagine being killed by a flying lump hammer when you airbags have deployed and your safe Subie protected its driver (you) from the crash.
 
I’ve probably done a lot more than braked for Roos lol
Sometimes veering Offroad and onto the opposite side of the road (when safe to do so) and I do that for rabbits too lol
Hate killing anything for that matter,
Worst I had was a roo jumped out while I was on the freeway doing 110 in the accord and I shifted lanes quite suddenly which nearly sent me into a drift but I managed to control the car well(not recommended at that speed)
But the few Roos I’ve hit jumped out of a bush at the last second and I had no time to react whatsoever which was absolutely terrible to deal with the aftermath, I don’t own guns but wish I did in those instances.
What makes matters worse is I predominantly work night shift so avoiding the “roo times” is not plausible.

I’m seriously considering a cage for the rear of my Forester after this conversation, something I didn’t take seriously enough, thanks guys


1WD


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just did my tire deflator as separate and then just connect it to compressor to inflate air
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winter still no snow

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ohh look , big wet slippery rock , wonder could i just climb on top of it and then stop car on it ...
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..abort mission! abort mission!..i went too far and droped down. cant go back anymore. im alone in middle of nowhere

good thing i had hi lift jack. it was just minutes to lift all front of car and put some rocks and planks under wheels and then just drove back
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and im out and free to learn from it something... to do that again on some other place haha.

and my little test again on VDC
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and after its dig up down i tried with VDC ON and 2nd gear. 2nd gear works little better as its tries to spin wheels even less then on D or 1st gear.
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and how car sounds now from rear with those end tubes cut
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2mHR_uXy38"]Subaru outback '01 UEL headers with Remus rear box - YouTube[/ame]
 
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at last at last. i wanted do that for so long ...
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because after lift my wheels went even more inside, specialy front ones and tire even rubs little inside when i turn it fully, before lift all was ok.
and secondly for looks. buts its practical reason so i could turn my wheels without problem.
i measured myself cars track after lift and compare to how it should be originally my wheels are about 2cmm inside in front per side and little less in rear. so i will fix that and give that little better look that i wanted allways after i did lift.
some fix that with different rims with different offset , some do that with spacers.
i cant remember what turn radious this outback has originaly but i cant U turn my car on 2 lanes of road i need another half lane or more. think i lost some of that turning as well as front wheels got more inside.
 
put wheel spacers after work, was dark allready, so i went to summer garden place , noone lives there , waas lots snow and i did job in about 1hr with hi lift on fresh snow, was so slippery, but was ok and fast rly with hi lift , car was on some angle too so was some danger that car would just slide to side and when i lifted frond it did slided to side, though hi lift hold still , so then i put hi lift on angle and lifted that way it was fine. and hi lift jack wasnt sliding it was car itself, no danger though as it was on wheels just went to side
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and it can be seen that wheel dont even come out at all, so imagine how much they where inside before if 25mm just made them be good now, and it looks way better now , but no clear pics as i was working in dark there with some LED flash light only.
tested later on fresh snow ...
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Wow mate you must be very happy
You’ve wanted these for quite some time now
I remember you talking about them a while ago
And now they are on
How you finding them?
No issues so far?
Also how hard was your sump guard to make?
And what did you make it out of ?
I desperately need to sort something out for mine as it’s wide open lol

Cheers

1WD


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as you can see 2 simple peaces of steel, bolted on 4 bolts and thats it. one smaller peace goes in front to protect radiator as well from hard stuff but from all mud and other bad stuff that would go there.
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yes i am very glad of spacers.
about sump guard depends which way you wanna go , cheap or not cheap. cheap is you measure about size of your original guard or if not have that looks where holes are for it and measure about size. just about. that what i did and then went to metal scrapyard and looked there couple peaces of steel that would be about my size. took those home for couple euros, measured size holes, drilled holes and bolted on . wish i would find then wider plate but i put what i found and its holding great.

and about spacers my wheels now looking good not inside. drives same
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Looks good mate. Just beware that you need to check the spacers regularly. Another Subi nut lost his rear wheel using spacers. He was very lucky that the wheel didn’t hit anyone or anything. He was attempting a turn at a roundabout iirc.

Make sure the nuts are done up to the correct torque and it could pay to change the studs for new ones ;) Another option is to find a set of rims with an appropriate offset to do the work of the spacers for you.

Looks good though!

Cheers

Bennie
 
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