Project Salty Subaru

Here's one for the car enthusiasts, I have just finished my purpose built 'beach weapon'. It's an MY07 Subaru Forester XT Luxury, I bought it stock standard in April last year and have been modifying since. I have done almost all the custom work, modifications and fitted all accessories myself. There's been a lot of attention to detail to get everything looking and performing just right as this car is a keeper. For those unfamiliar with Subaru family the XT has a 2.5L turbo boxer engine but I have tuned it up so it now puts out more power and torque than a standard 'Hawkeye' WRX. It also now has more clearance than a standard 100 series land cruiser and will literally drive rings around the big 4x4's on the sand. Not only does it get me further off the beaten track, it gets me there quickly !







Hope to see you Queensland guys up at Double Island Point this summer !

Forgive my saying that the base vehicle is, in my opinion, pig ugly, what youve done with it looks very interesting though. That bit of partial rudeness aside, Im quite interested what other mods youve done. I would look twice should you pass me in my subi or SWB Patrol and would love to see it in action. Post a clip if you get some good video!

Excellent - I love my Forester. Can't wait to hear how yours goes at Double Island.

Looks sweet KB, job well done mate

Nice looking run around

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knot board said..
It also now has more clearance than a standard 100 series land cruiser

Sadly the stock ground clearance on the 100 series LC is pretty ordinary these days...

Awesome.....looks great and bet it goes great.. Have fun with it..

Can the suby lock it's diff. ?

Tha rear bar is amazing and good to see you have chosen the best off-road on road rubber money can buy!! Any build shots ? I wish sea breeze had more constructive posts like this !! Especially ones related to beach activities!

Nice work Knot

How deep can it wade in a creek (or puddle) with that big bonnet scoop?

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Cal said..
Interesting list k b. Is there off the shelf kit to realign your drive train, or did you manufacture spacers, or (I ask doubtfully) is that somehow not necessary?

Camber adjustment is built into the strut lift blocks and I made custom blocks to extends the rear trailing arms back allowing the rear wheel to recenter. Nothing other than that. Remembering these have fully independent macpherson strut suspension so the inner and outer CV's will run more angle than stock. In the lifted Subaru fraternity 50mm lift is considered conservative enough to not shorten CV lifespan dramatically.

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snot said..
too much time on your hands bro

Maybe but there's worse ways to spend the winter. My family participated in the result and my 2 year old now knows the difference between a socket, ratchet and a spanner. Next we plan to restore a vintage cafe racer motorbike together.

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Sandfoot said..
Can the suby lock it's diff. ?

The center diff locks automatically when there is speed difference between the front and rear output shaft, it works very quickly but I don't rely on it. I have modded my car with a 'center diff lock' switch.

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Craig66 said..
How deep can it wade in a creek (or puddle) with that big bonnet scoop?

Bonnet scoop only blows air over the intercooler which is sealed so water through there is no problem. Water through the air intake will stall the car but not cause the same problem as it would on a diesel. Air intake is located behind the drivers side headlight so theoretically I can drive through about 3 feet of water but I haven't designed the car for that. I have taken water over the bonnet once before it was lifted and the only trouble was a big thump from the passenger seat.

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ok said..
good to see you have chosen the best off-road on road rubber money can buy!! Any build shots ?

Not really I just got stuck in and built it and yes BGF AT's are very impressive when aired down. I can safely run very, very low tire pressures if needed and not have a concern about sidewall damage.

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Cauncy said..
Your missing the invoice

Bought the car well for $13k and spend $9k on mods but there's nothing available on the market for $21k that will touch this beast on the beach.

Will do, I'm off to Indo August/September but have a boys trip to Sandy Cape on the top of Fraser Island planned for October. No doubt that will produce some good footage!

Sure you're not trying to beat the engineers at Subaru at their own game? What about spending the $9k on this and a trailer? It only weighs 430kg, it'd have to go close on the beach?


http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/lyrup/other-automotive/dune-buggy-rs600/1078557208

Awesome work

I'm about to do some shopping www.subaxtreme.com/

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Maybe but there's worse ways to spend the winter. My family participated in the result and my 2 year old now knows the difference between a socket, ratchet and a spanner. Next we plan to restore a vintage cafe racer motorbike together.

Now you are talking. What might the bike be????

Something like this maybe???

I wish!! I had an XS1 many years ago similar to that but it was a "rat" bike.
It had been a death wobbler that a mate gave me to do something with.
First up was stripping it to bare frame and welding a strut each side from centre down tube to the swing arm mounts, you can see them fitted to that bike, rear setting the pegs and fitting a TX front end with Ceriani type fork legs and disc brake hub.
I then laced the hubs with DID high tensile alloy rims as fitted to Honda off road bikes. I tossed the blinkers into the bushes and fitted a custom 5 inch headlight. Blinkers were not compulsory in 1975.

With the rear set pegs I had to shorten the rear rake lever and reverse the gear lever so gear changing was reversed too. I topped it off with Dunlop TT 100 trigonic tyres and a Hi tune 2 into 1 exhaust. It sounded awesome especially when I opened it up in tunnels.

At 64 I am too fragile for bikes anymore so I play with my current toy which is a Lotus 9.2 yacht. Water is softer than bitumen when you hit it.

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Not really I just got stuck in and built it and yes BGF AT's are very impressive when aired down. I can safely run very, very low tire pressures if needed and not have a concern about sidewall damage.

I have let my Micky Ts down to 8psi in a state of desperation a few times. I have been reliably told BFGs can safely be let down to 5psi