My Project ForeSTAR 2. Baja FOZ!!!

[Dead Mr.]

Please post a few times in the other sections so you can get a post count and not have to have us approve every single one of your posts or threads you make because you are at 0 post count.

Also in regards to your car. Having the shock tower top like that seems like a possible weakpoint as you are really counting on all the welds to hold the forces rather than spreading the load more even by adding a cross bar or 2 down to the other side?

Okay I will post crap in other peoples threads.... And as I said they are 70% done... The text between the pics does more then just space them out... there are words in there...

Hey all it’s another day and that means another update... Finished up the fab on the one strut tower extension and then made the other side. It goes pretty fast if you just fab one and cut the pieces for the other side at the same time. I think I am going to do that with the body parts as well. Then I installed the front coilovers and located them on the arms. I still need to make the strut bar and then brace the towers to them and mount my reservoirs but that should go pretty quick.

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x223/badwagon/Baja%20Foz/image_zpse6aaaa09.jpg

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x223/badwagon/Baja%20Foz/image_zpsd58db66b.jpg

Here are some pics of the finished front suspension (minus the steering links)

Extended:

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x223/badwagon/Baja%20Foz/image_zpsb71b623a.jpg

Compressed:

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x223/badwagon/Baja%20Foz/image_zpse885ae1a.jpg

I am getting 17.5” of travel. The Coilover maxes out with the tire about ¼” from touching the upper frame rail. I am using about 9.25” of the coilovers 10” of travel so pretty good use I’d say.

And lastly to put the cherry on top I had to cut the hood out to see how this was actually going to look…

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x223/badwagon/Baja%20Foz/image_zps0693a92c.jpg

Pic from the office. It’s no hood scoop but its something…

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x223/badwagon/Baja%20Foz/image_zps3f3e8bf9.jpg

I am going to yard out the rear suspension out of the ForeSTAR tonight and finish welding as much as I can to get it ready to fab the new upper control arms and get it into the BATLFOZ. I am also going to start cutting pieces for mounting the steering links. Maybe if I have enough time (prolly not) I can start cutting out the pieces to make the rear Coilover upper mounts.

More tomorrow.

Johann

[Dead Mr.]

Got a date with the paintbooth on Tuesday so I can get her painted. and road worthy before the move. This weekend is going to be brutal....

 

The body is going 2010 Shelby GT500 Mustang Blue

 

http://www.roadandtrack.com/cm/roadandtrack/images/mx/2013-ford-mustang-shelby-gt500-blue-08-1.jpg

 

The hood and roof are going 2011 STi plasma blue w/o clear for a blackish purple/blue semi gloss.

 

Prolly going to do the GT500 side stripe with "forester" instead of "gt500" in black

 

I am designing a graphic for the side thats a merge of the Star Wars Rebel Alliance logo and the Subaru Logo. Going to go on the back doors/ quarder in black to help break up the GT 500 blue and a cyan one on the corner of my hood. REBELRU!

 

Think I am going to paint my engine bay white but not untill after I move and get the supercharger in it.

 

Johann

[MiniStiGuy]

Can't wait to see the logo *star wars geek inside me is screaming out with excitement*

[Dead Mr.]

Good morning everyone. Well... Last night was a bit of a long one for me. What started out as another day in the shop turned in to an “OMG I am f’ed”, to a “thank god it wasn’t as bad as I thought”. I started the night out getting a used blown STi front bearing ready to use as a template to re-drill a new set of stock Forester rotors to 5x114.3. They have been sitting at Girodisc waiting to be re-drilled for a week and they hadn’t even gotten it into their scheduling so I took them back and gave them the finger in my head. That place has changed a lot since I left I am glad it worked out that way and I am never going back there for anything again… I punched the studs out, and then tried to put the rotor on the bearing and it didn’t fit… AT ALL. Because the rotor was 5x100 and so small the flange of the 5x114.3 bearing was way too big to fit the rotor. I was like OMG OMG I am so screwed. After a bit of freaking out and thinking, I am going to re-use my stock Forester hubs. I will be transferring (with minor modifications) the upper and lower ball joint studs to the front hubs and the rear hubs can be installed normally. Front CV axles will swap just fine but for the time being I am going to have to make an extended hybrid rear CV axle with the r180 diff side and r160 hub side. I am going to make some quick and dirty jigs of the hubs so once I have more time I will make a new set of knuckles front and rear to hold a set of newer Forester bolt on bearings in the front and the rear. For the wheels I ordered a set of 5x100 to 5x114.3 conversion spacers. They are hub-centric to the Subaru and 1” thick. I will take them and press the 5x114.3 m12x1.5 studs out and swap up to m14x1.5 so my wheels fit them perfectly and I will then have some custom hub centric rings/ center caps made for them. It’s not ideal but after taking some measurements the 1” spacers might actually work to my benefit. The spacing out of the wheel gets me a little better turning radius before I touch the a-pillar so I only need to bash it in and not cut and re-weld, and with the wheel that far out I think I might even have enough room to eventually swap to 06-07 WRX 4pot/ 2pot calipers and get some better braking. I was intending on doing a custom Wilwood setup but the Subaru stuff would be much less cost and hassle.

So with that figured out and the parts ordered, I moved my attention to actually getting work done… Started by pulling the rest of the suspension out of the ForeSTAR shell and got parts ready to finish weld. Got the T-Bar finished and then ran out of welding wire….. I went through a 15lbs spool in 2 weeks…. Guess the BATLFOZ likes welding wire… So with that I tried to busy myself by prepping the rear crossmember for the new upper control arms. Cut some pieces out for getting my steering links setup and then moved my attention to my engine.

 

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x223/badwagon/Baja%20Foz/image_zpse34fbcd6.jpg

 

Got my oil pan baffle/ pan on, my ARP studs in, and my heads prepped for install and realized I was missing the guides that are pressed in the block to located the gaskets and heads… Sigh… To the dealer after work I go I hope they are in stock…

After that I felt kind of defeated so I decided I would check the cycle of the front suspension to make sure I didn’t need to make any additional changes (aside from swapping out the front hubs)

 

Here it is fully extended:

 

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x223/badwagon/Baja%20Foz/image_zpsccb4d3bb.jpg

 

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x223/badwagon/Baja%20Foz/image_zps59e12211.jpg

 

Here it is as my estimated ride height:

 

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x223/badwagon/Baja%20Foz/image_zps8957e73c.jpg

 

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x223/badwagon/Baja%20Foz/image_zps9b154d8c.jpg

 

Here is it full compressed:

 

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x223/badwagon/Baja%20Foz/image_zps8c3a14b8.jpg

 

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x223/badwagon/Baja%20Foz/image_zps783fb84f.jpg

 

It’s pretty much perfect. It pulls in 3.5” by the time it would reaching the fender so that means instead of me making a 17” wide flare per side I really only need a 13.5” wide flare I think that will look a little less obnochious.

 

Anyways that’s all I got for now. I’ll e getting another 15lbs spool of welding wire tonight (already checked the gas I have plenty) so I can finish welding the rest of my suspension bits. Parts for the new Upper Arms and beefier Control Arms arrive today so I am hoping by the end of the night the rear suspension is finished and installed. Springs for the coilovers also show up tomorrow and I will be dropping that off at the local diesel truck shop to have the coilovers filled with nitrogen while I am out doing the rest of my errands. That should mean that by the end of Friday my suspension/ Drivetrain will be crossed off the list and once the spacers get here I will be able to st her down on her new legs. New calipers are at my buddies shop ready to pick up but the new studs and spacers probably won’t be here till Tuesday so that throws my paint booth appointment out the window... I will have to wait for paint till after the move is complete, unless I could get in like Thursday but that’s still up in the air. Still looks like I can have this thing pretty much finished and the ForeSTAR shell off to its new owner by Monday so I can start packing up the shop for the move. Next update won’t be till Tuesday but it will be a big one to stay tuned.

 

Johann

[TurboLag23]

Me and my younger brother right now...

 

http://www.gifsforum.com/images/gif/omg/grand/48569325_omg_reaction_gif.gif

 

Subbed.

[Squad51]

Holy shizz...

That is all.

[Dead Mr.]

Well hello all. It’s Tuesday so its time to share the progress I made over the weekend. Out of the available 120hrs from Thursday to Monday I was in the shop for 73 of them... It was was brutal I am surprised I can still do **** like that. In ether case I did make a lot of progress. Not as much as I would have liked due to set back after set back but it’s coming along nicely. I am working to make arrangements to get it out to a shop that close to my new place so I can finish it there and it has a paint booth so I can paint it as well.

Day 1: Thursday.

 

Got off work at about 1:00 and I was in the shop at around 2:00 after a nice “let’s get this weekend going” lunch… Started off by removing the rear suspension off the ForeSTAR and started to finish weld some of the rear suspension parts. Also my parts from Ballistic came in for the new rear upper arms and the beefier control arms. I started off by finish welding the rear crossmember and then added the new upper control arm mount points.

 

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x223/badwagon/Baja%20Foz/image_zpsc0787ca5.jpg

 

Then I took of my lower control arms and re-did them with the new parts from Ballistic. Beefier mmmmm…

 

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x223/badwagon/Baja%20Foz/image_zps4a60b305.jpg

 

From there I installed the Crossmember-T-Bar and lower control arms and then installed the Rear STi Hubs. Mocked up 1 of the upper control arms and cut out all the required pieces to do the other side. Went to bed around 2:00 am

 

Day 2: Friday.

 

I started the day off (9:00 am) finishing the rear hub mounts for the Upper Control arm and then the Arm itself. In between that I dropped off the Coilovers to get filled with Nitrogen, got some more welding wire, more grade 8 fasteners, and picked up my calipers. These are much better then my old design. They are 18” long as opposed to 12” so not only are they stronger but the angles on the suspension were restored so I went from 13” of travel to the full 17.5” like in the front.

 

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x223/badwagon/Baja%20Foz/image_zps92394f8a.jpg

 

Next was pulling the Filler neck for the gas tank to prep the rear quarter panel to fit these giant 33” tires. Took my time and ended up with this…

 

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x223/badwagon/Baja%20Foz/image_zpsaadf1a6c.jpg

 

As you can see it goes up pretty far but… it doesn’t touch the rear door at all. Moving the Crossmember back and the rear suspension helped big time no cutting of the door or compromising the weather stripping required. With the wheel at full compression I set some round bar templates to figure out where I would need to set the rear flares since after this I would be swapping my 5x114.3 STi hubs out for the stock 5x100 hubs. Here is the front as well

 

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x223/badwagon/Baja%20Foz/image_zps1b844127.jpg

 

Here is a pic of the Foz with both wheels on at full compression…

 

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x223/badwagon/Baja%20Foz/image_zps8252860a.jpg

 

Spent the rest of the night removing the front hubs and modifying the upper knuckle mounts so they would work on the 5x100 hubs. This involved cutting and then re-drilling the hub with very slow precise drilling to make it work. By the time I was done it was about 2:00 am but I kept pushing on till 4:00 am and had pieces cut out for the inner and outer steering link mounts.

[Dead Mr.]

Day 3: Saturday.

 

Got up and in the shop again around 9:00 by this time the toll of only getting 4-5 hrs of sleep was starting to affect me… Drove into town and picked up my buddies exploder to head to the shop I get my metal from to pick up more sheet metal to do the exterior parts before they closed for the long weekend (still thinking optimistically at this point) Started up where I finished the night before and finished up the steering rods.

 

Inner mounts for the rack...

 

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x223/badwagon/Baja%20Foz/image_zps82ddb7a1.jpg

 

5x100 hubs installed and knuckle outer mounts

 

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x223/badwagon/Baja%20Foz/image_zps1f42acb1.jpg

 

And finally the tie rods themselves

 

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x223/badwagon/Baja%20Foz/image_zpsab6b6ca2.jpg

 

I then went about installing the front rotors, calipers, lines, and coilovers with the new springs installed. Front suspension officially done!

 

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x223/badwagon/Baja%20Foz/image_zps0853cc5b.jpg

 

Next I got in my package for the rest of my engine parts to assemble my motor… Well I got some spark plugs…. My guy pretty much forgot to put in most of my engine parts and also forgot to send the motor mounts for the other car my buddy was trying to finish up in the back. Enraged, I realized that instead of just assembling my new engine with nice clean parts and being done with it; I would have to transfer most of the parts off my stock engine. Basically adding 4-5 hours to my engine build for no real reason other then the fact that my parts supplier sucks ****… Also I order this parts last week and should have ad them last Sat so I spent the week not prepping for this because I assumed I would get the parts I needed… In ether case I was irritated to say the least. It was then when the guy who is taking my ForeSTAR shell called and said instead of Monday he’d like to get it tomorrow so I needed to both the BATLFOZ and the ForeSTAR in a rollable fashion so I could move them around and get the ForeSTAR out of the shop. This was about 7:00 pm. I started by pulling the rear interior out of the BATLFOZ to gain access to the rear strut towers. Cut them and made some temp Coilover tower for the rear. Assembled the rear Coilover with its new springs... OMG this thing is heavy….

 

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x223/badwagon/Baja%20Foz/image_zps89d50078.jpg

 

Install it and put the stock wheels on the BATLFOZ so I could move it... Then spent then rest of the time making the ForeSTAR a roller and throwing in all the parts that he was also buying or coming with the shell... Also needed to clean the shop because there was so much **** everywhere from all the work I had been doing that you could barely step anywhere w/o stepping on metal or car parts. Had both Foresters rolling and the shop cleaned at about 5:30am…… Went to bed and was then woken up at 8:00 am by my phone because the guy was there to pick up the ForeSTAR. Took car of that and went back to bed at 9:00am

 

Day 4: Sunday.

 

Woke up around 11:00am and back in the shop I went. At this point I was losing it. Had a couple episodes in the shop the morning before from lack of sleep and frustration so I decided to spend most of the day assembling my engine and installing parts into the Forester. I didn’t want to cut, grind, or weld anything….. Finished up installing the Rotors, Calipers, and Lines in the rear, took all the parts of my stock motor that I needed and cleaned as much of them as I could, and got my new engine about 90% assembled. Don’t really have any pics because I was barely functioning at all let alone remember to take pics…. Turned in around 11:00

 

Day 5: Monday.

 

Got up at 9:00 and headed into the shop... Felt a little better because I actually got an okay nights rest. Finished up the engine and install it...

 

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x223/badwagon/Baja%20Foz/image_zps0fbf3318.jpg

 

Installed the Rear Diff (w/ Perrin high capacity Diff Cover)

 

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x223/badwagon/Baja%20Foz/image_zps799b6f86.jpg

 

And installed my rear coilovers so I could start fabrication on the permanent strut towers...

 

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x223/badwagon/Baja%20Foz/image_zps17c7dede.jpg

 

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x223/badwagon/Baja%20Foz/image_zps7ca5d753.jpg

 

Cut out a few of the pieces to build them but got tired of getting sparks in my eye and burning my arm from cutting

 

Don’t have pics of this yet because it was too dark by the time I got around to them but I also modified the shifter linkage so the 6-mt would shift with the lowered tranny. Also set the Driveshaft in place to take measurements of the new mid bracket I need to make to locate the carrier bearing for the Driveshaft. The 5mt shaft was a perfect fit for the rear crossmembers new location.

 

So that’s about it for this weekend. I was hoping to be a LOT ahead then I am but it would have been even farther behind if I hadn’t worked as hard as I have. I am going to try and finish the rear strut towers and mount the driveshaft tonight which should be the last 2 parts I need to custom fabricate to get write off on the suspension and Drivetrain. From here it should be just installation of parts, and fabricating the parts for the exterior but that should go fast because I get to cut 18g steal instead of 1/8” plate…. I am going to get it into a roller w/ the 33s on it, finish up trimming up the drivers side quarter panel and welding in the rear fender wells. From there I can re-install the back interior and then I will start packing it with all the parts I have left to install in it. I need to start packing up the shop to get ready for the move so the BATLFOZ will be getting put on hold until next week after the move is finished. I have some updates for todays and probably tomorrow’s progress in the shop but then nothing till probably Monday or Tuesday of next week.

 

Johann

[Dead Mr.]

Hey all sorry for the delay. After the Foz was relocated I needed to do some setup at the new place and then I got rear ended in my MR2 so I would out for a while with a messed up back. I have decided that I have enough time to do what I was intending on doing when I started this project and turn her into a truck!

Anyways my back is still pretty banged up but it’s not like I have been working on this thing with a perfect back anyways so I fired a few pain killers at my head and went over there to get something done. Got her all unpacked and the booth setup for the work that’s coming ahead and then started cutting.

Ended up with this last night....

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x223/badwagon/Baja%20Foz/image_zps481fb001.jpg

Looks like everything with relocating the hatch will work perfectly. After this I will need to move the rear crossmember back to the end of the rails to get the added wheelbase I need for the new bed. I need to make new trailing arms but for the timing being I can locate the rear wheels and suspension using what I have so I can get all the exterior fab work done and then I can get it painted. Once it’s painted I'll have it towed back to my place where I will finish all the nitty gritty. More pics to come I am hoping to have the hatch relocated and done Friday night so I can focus on moving the crossmember back and start strengthening the chassis for the beefy rear trailing arms and bed. IN the meantime I will also be working on the front Fenders and doors because I need to take a bit of time to plan out the rear end and I am waiting to get a few parts for the radiator relocation.

More to come.

Johann

[mtbrider]

Damn. What a transformation!

Subscribed

[bettner12]

would it be a good idea to have rod end washers on the upper ball joint? they make the inner ball of the bearing captive so that the spherical bearing cannot come the whole way out of the control arm if there was a failure.

 

http://www.pro-werks.com/images/parts/SafetyWasherDiagramFull.jpg

[04caliwrx]

your work is crazy sick!! and can i have one of the money trees you have in your back yard please

[TRSCobra]

Photobucket's not showing your pics right now...

[BAC5.2]

Bandwidth Exceeded

[end0]

Upload using imgur. Much better image site.

[MiniStiGuy]

or tinypic.

[Dead Mr.]

Yes but with a Uniball the housing acts like the washer because it would decrease flexibility. Once I redo the hub with the correct bearing I will implement my idea for a similar failsafe.

Pics fixed. Didn't know if anyone from the site even bothered to look at this thread…

So car accident and a broken wrist have put me out of commission for a bit but I'll be back on this soon.

Johann

[GTEASER]

Hell yes we are following along!!! Can't let a creation like this get built without any oogling and drooling during the build.

[FJuan]

So car accident and a broken wrist have put me out of commission for a bit but I'll be back on this soon.

 

 

Johann

 

 

Another car accident or the same one previously in the MR2?

[mattg]

How did I miss this awesomeness!

[Dead Mr.]

No same one that munched my MR2. I smacked most of it out so I could drive it. Ordered all the parts last week to get her all back to sexy form. BATLFOZ is getting moved back to my place next week so I can work on her slowly while my wrist heals. In the mean time... Enjoy this pic of me getting dirty in my MR2 Daily...

 

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x223/badwagon/MR2/MR2AutoX01_zpsd93b8103.jpg

[leoh88]

Just found out of this project. Did you ever finish it?

[Dead Mr.]

No I parted it out and used the money to buy and mod the new Legacy after i broke my wrist and could no longer do the type of work to finish it.