Free Range Racing

Take that stuff and throw it in the garbage. More fires are caused by oil saturated exhaust wrap than anything else in the racing world. If you need thermal protection, the factory method of clam-shell sheet metal is superior. Excessively difficult to pull off on non factory parts, but at least it won't catch fire.

The guy in portland (The Shock Shop) retired last year. As far as I know there's no one local any more doing shock tuning. And yeah, he was the best. And yeah, he was a pain to work with. -Erik

Student loans are temporary. Racing is forever. Sorry about the fuel issues boxkita, it didn't feel good to flag you guys in over and over again. You shouldn't need a cell, lots of cars run stock tanks and fillers. If you hole-sawed out the anti-siphon flap and teeny fuel nozzle hole in the in oem fill, you may have messed up the sealing surface for the oem cap. A new cap might fix it, or there are marine fill caps that have the large opening and a stout sealing cap. I might be interested in some of that machine shop stuff, hit me up with an email if you're looking to liquidate any of it. (Eriktorgeson@gmail.com). I also have access to some two post lifts, let me know what you're looking for and price range Looking forward to seeing you guys in 2018. - BullDog, AKA Lucky Dog Black Flag Guy

I'm shop-swamped, won't make friday. Plus, kids birthday party etc etc. If you really want to bring the (or any) LGT out to Lucky Dog just let me know and I'll work on Cathy about it. We want the series to be accessible but up-market from LeMons, and what defines that better than a Subaru? Plus, it'll spin the #3 rod bearing in hour 6 so the position is a moot point. (I'm not jaded, I swear). Make an offer on the wagon. Any of you! I need it out of the driveway! Details email freerangeracing@gmail.com.

As an official Official of Lucky Dog Racing League, I can say with great certainty that if you contact us (by us I mean the owner, Cathy) then you can bring the Subie(s) out and race with us. There is a chance you'll be put in the EC class because the car is too new, but you'll still get ~14 hours of racing for a couple hundred bucks, and there isn't any cheaper fun OR development time than that! On the other hand, with the pace of this project, by the time it's road-worthy you'll be within the age range for the series Also Boxkita, I've still got my 05 LGT with the STi trans etc sitting in the driveway if you're interested. Haven't gotten back to trying to sell it with the multiple new race car builds that are more engaging. If anyone has any questions about Lucky Dog, feel free to ask. Erik

Just a quick update - this project (and thus my daily driver) has languished in the corner of the shop while more important (READ: Paying) jobs have totally overwhelmed me. I will get back to it, and update as I can. I'm glad to be busy, but it means the interesting stuff suffers. Sorry everyone who's waiting!

I had a racing buddy ask me if I'd ever seen 'that really cool Legacy wagon that races around here' the other day. People take notice of your car!

GAH damnit. I've sworn off any racing events at all this year, sadly. In the middle of a new-house build and major business expansion attempts, so the time AND the money are totally hosed. Something had to give, and track time was it. I look forward to seeing you out there next year, so keep it together for at least a year!

Hi! *waives You can call me Erik, because Free Range is a silly name Hope to see you out at one of the local tracks once I get back to having excess play money. There's a Porsche 993 ex-25H Thunderhill car in my life that I'll be out learning likely next year, so maybe we'll see each other at an HPDE some time.

Subscribed with a "HELL YEAH" yelled in my livingroom

Wanted to give those interested a quick update - the car is up and functional. Everything suspension-wise works flawlessly. I have run into some road-blocks with the ABS computer, and its integration into the ECU and CANbus. I have just ordered a VSSpro to facilitate getting a working speedo signal back, and I will work through the rest of the issues once that is going. After that, I need to do some minor tuning for the change in exhaust that came along with the six-speed swap, and then I can really try it out. It will be at least a few more weeks before I can find time to get the VSSpro installed and see what other surprises the computer has for me. I have also become a dealer for all DCCDpro devices, due to my positive impression with the company and their products while looking for a solution to this speedometer signal issue. If any of you need a DCCD controller, a way to create a speed signal output from the ABS wheel sensors (on any car, not just Subaru), or an advanced fuel pump controller for your high performance Subaru, Mitsubishi, or Nissan (or, most likely, many others) just let me know!

Awesome. Subscribed.

Aaaaaand, I'm a vendor. WOOT!!!! I will be working over this conversion in the next month in my spare time between 2am and 4am daily, and will have a definitive offering for those of you who are interested. My goal is to offer a bolt-in solution for the difficult parts, with a list of parts the car-owner must source and simple work they must have done at a local machine shop. I see no reason this can't be set up as a one-day conversion, and that will be my goal. I'll also include as much information about other issues, such as front modifications and wheel fitment, as I can. I'm open to any and all input to consider during my 'free time'.

I've had '13 STi struts on the car for almost a year now. You can drill the welds and pry out the spacer on the OEM LGT struts, and it slips into the STi strut and creates the correct width. Then you just re-drill for the LGT spacing, grind away some pesky reinforcing bumps where the bolt head now lands, and bob's your uncle.

The STi struts/knuckles are wider by about 3mm, and the hole spacing is wider by ~15mm.

Not sure what you'd want with spec B axles...they'd have the wrong end on both ends if you've got an R180 diff, but would still have the wrong outer end no matter what. The stock STi axle is the right length. And just to be totally clear, I'm still buttoning this conversion up and haven't driven the car yet. The wheels arrived yesterday and I'm just now doing the final fit-up on the park brake and caliper.

I am leery about using the Spec B rears because they have an extra hole in the hub mounting location that is almost exactly but not quite right where one of the new holes needs to go, and it's an oversized hole. I'm sure it could be done, but it's more work etc etc. The front knuckles require STi struts and LCA. The abs sensors are retained if you use 08+ STi front knuckles. I can not speak for the operability of the abs system with the modifications because my car has the ABS removed, but I see no reason the ABS would be aware of the modification at all. Thanks for putting out a number. Part of the problem is if you can't find used hubs Timken is the only one making an aftermarket offering and it's $100/each. So, including that with the conversion would be down-right impossible financially. With some streamlining the machining and adapter could be done for that, though....I'll think on it moving forward.

One of my overriding goals of the project was exactly this. In the end I'm not really sure how feasible it is. Two things: 1. I'm not (yet) a vendor on legacygt, so I'm not selling anything 2. It would require either a: you to own a mill (in which case you can do this yourself) or b: sending me your rear knuckles for machining, and the associated weeks of down time. I hope to achieve vendor status in the next month or so, when I have a different solid product (coming soon) to sell. At that time I'll pursue the possibility of making this a second product, figure out a definite cost and time and post it up here. Sadly, it won't be cheap. If you wanted to help me figure this out, you could offer up what price range you would be willing to pay for this conversion so I can figure out if we're all in the same ball park or if I"m playing cricket.

Hey everyone, I'm an unknown here on LGT but have been following this thread for some time now. Over the past few weeks I've successfully converted my 05 LGT to 08 STi rear hubs, so I thought I'd share my solution. First things first: this isn't a bolt on solution and probably not something to be undertaken in your garage. It's not easy. I'm a fabricator and run a small auto shop in Portland. I have access to a quality mill and decent measurement tools as well as a reasonable wealth of knowledge. Second: I did this conversion in conjunction with a six speed and R180 swap. As part of the swap I purchased an entire 08 STi and thus had the rear axles and bearings, so economics played a large part in my decision to do the swap: it was cheaper than buying Spec B axles, and I was tired of replacing the LGT's crappy rear bearings. This means if you still have the R160 rear end I don't know what kind of axles you could use. Finally, I didn't take many pictures. Sorry. Definitions: Hub: the part that your wheel bolts to that then bolts to the car. Contains the bearing Knuckle: the cast piece that all of the control arms, the strut, the sway bar, and the hub bolt to. Okay, so here's the lowdown: To do this conversion you need to get the STi hub to mount to the LGT knuckle. Changing knuckles, suspension points, or the entire rear subframe isn't feasible. For reference for the next paragraph, here's a shot of the LGT knuckle: http://i.imgur.com/JcNuegr.jpg The 08 STi rear hub has the same OD as the Legacy, even though the bearing is significantly larger and better. It does not, however, have the same bolt pattern (the STi is a wider circle with more spacing between the bolts). If you put the STi hub in the LGT knuckle, you can clock it about 20 degrees and get two of the holes diagonal to almost line up. One of the other ones lands on the flat just below the lower aft hole, and the last on the knuckle ends up floating in space above the upper front hole. And for reference, here is a picture of the two hubs. The LGT has the smaller axle through-hole and narrower bolt spacing. http://i.imgur.com/stPJzls.jpg To mount the hub, those two holes that almost line up are ovaled so they do line up (approx. 1mm for one, 2mm for the other), the hole that lands on the flat spot is drilled through the knuckle, and the hole that is floating in space needs to have something to mount to. To accomplish all this a adapter plate must be made. Here it is: http://i.imgur.com/ZJ9mxzN.jpg The STi Hub is deep enough that it passes through the adapter plate (made from 3/8 steel) and still interfaces with the knuckle. The way this works is the adapter plate has four holes that correlate to the four holes on the STi hub, and one hole that lines up with the LGT knuckle at the upper forward location. Both the LGT and STi upper forward holes are tapped (not yet done in the pic), while the other holes are through-holes. Then the knuckle is removed from the car, and the adapter plate is put in place and held in spot by bolting through the one threaded hole that aligns with the upper forward LGT hole (that we threaded in the adapter). On the mill, the two holes that closely line up are then ovaled out and the third hole is drilled. This is important: the knuckle is then turned over, and the back of each of these holes is then milled flat so the bolt head has somewhere to land. In the case of the one new hole, this is a significant amount of material to remove. On the hub, the hole that will correlate with the upper forward location is drilled oversized, and the OUTER surface fly-cut flat again so the bolt head has somewhere to land. Pictures of all this would have been nice, but so would having a date with Jessica Alba. Because the hub is a different size and has been clocked, the OEM LGT parking brake backing plate needs to have some of the inner-metal plate removed. This is as simple as putting the adapter plate on the back side, drilling and ovaling like you did to the knuckle, then removing enough material to let the hub sit flat on the inside. It actually isn't simple at all, but it's what's gotta happen and it doesn't affect the functioning of the brake at all. It then mounts on the car from inside to outside like this: Modified LGT knuckle, adapter plate with one bolt through from the back side to the threaded upper forward hole, parking brake plate, hub with one bolt bolted from the outside in to the threaded hole on the adapter plate, and the rest of the bolts from the inside out just like OEM. The LGT retains its 170mm parking brake and the OEM rear caliper by utilizing a 300zx rotor. The rotor offset is 3mm less than the LGT (shorter hat) so the LGT caliper must be spaced from the mounting plate by 3mm with some simple round spacer-washers. The STi axles are slightly longer than the LGT, so the 3/8" plate actually helps to keep them in their designed operating range. Obviously, this will push the rear wheel out 3/8" so take that into account when purchasing wheels (not that the Legacy doesn't need a wider rear track anyway). For those of you who are curious, on the front during this six speed swap the entire STi suspension and axles bolts up for approximately a 1" wider track per side and better camber range. Again, the axles are longer and better so it all is happy. You do need to use the LGT top hats. The LGT calipers bolt up, and the rotors can simply be re-drilled to 5x114.3. There is a down-side to this conversion: absolutely every part I used from the STi was significantly heavier. I estimate I added 3 to 4 lbs per corner with this conversion, even with the STi aluminum front LCA's. I realize that's a lot of info and some may not be clear. Please let me know if you have any questions.