eulogious

Whoa dude. That is flipping awesome. Wow. I am now going to be emailing you on how you did this for mine. I have so wanted to put actual paddles into my setup forever and I was just going to swap in an entire steerin column from a new leggy. But this, this is just freaking sweet man. You got a PM regarding this as it is now moved to the very top of my mod list... I have no money, but I will make this happen. Way too cool man. Way too cool.

And for the carrier bearing we just flipped the bracket and it lined up perfect. The way the mount works made the driveshaft sit at almost the perfect angle after we flipped it. Those were the two things that we did that saved us some time.

Oh, and for the steering extenstion, I just used a steering shaft from an 96/97 outback and it worked great. It was the perfect length, and I didn't have to weld it :-)

If you don't want to shred your axels, a full lift is needed. I have a 3" SJR lift with 07/08 Forester struts and the axels are at more of an angle, but nothing extreme and I have had no issues so far, but it's only been lifted a month. As for placement of the blocks, engine mounts, trans mounts, rear subframe, and any other place where the body attaches to the suspension. It was at least 17 different places, if not a few more. Literally every place the body and the suspension meet.

Yup I do, but I am on my phone and will get one up when I get to my comp later tonight!

I'm picking up what you are putting down, makes total sense now. Wouldn't it be easier to replace to TCU? Or is there something I am missing? I don't know the new gen stuff that well... But don't get me wrong, modding stuff is fun and I do it as much as possible, I am just asking because I am curious :-)

What is your end goal with all of this? Is something broke or do you just want more control over you AWD? Reason I ask is because it seems like alot of work to implement the "diff lock" mod...

Just drive it man. I have the EXACT same issues with my 1990 leggy with the original trans cold start and all. Mine started doing it at about 145K, and I am now at 175K and it hasn't gotten any better or any worse. I had to change my driving style to get used to the lag, but after 2 years and close to 30K later and it's not a big deal at all to me anymore it just the way my car is, lol. Granted, I have a spare trans sittiing in a wharehouse waiting for me to install it and I have been sitting on it for over a year because i just really don't care since it's not really a bother to me anymore. I do really need to swap out my trans, its just hard justifing all the work. I have also dropped the pan, cleaned the "filter" and screen and did a drain and fill (3x) twice now, and it has done zero good. Still have the delay issue. I have also added transx and it did nothing. So I think I am in the same boat as you. I even tried uping my idle, and all it did was make my idle higher, didn't really do anything to help the delay. So I would just continue to drive it, and in the mean time pick up a spare trans to have on hand just in case it fails. So far in my experience, this issue is not a cause for great concern since i have driven my car for about 30K with this issue (it's my DD), and I am not particually nice to my car either. I don't beat on my rig or anything, but I don't baby it either. In fact I just lifted it with much bigger tires, and the trans hasn't gotten angary with me yet even with the added stress of the bigger tires. So I would not rush out and try to fix it just because of the delay issue, FWIW. Look around for a good deal but don't rush out and buy the first trans you come across, just look for the best/cheapest deal. Maybe even take the time/money to convert it to AWD since you have to replace the trans anyways I think that it might have something to do with the Torque Converter, but I have nothing really to base that off of except that the trans acts totally fine except for the engaement issue. The torque converter is the only thing that might make sense because it does have to do with delivering power from the motor to the trans. So of course when I replace my trans, I have a rebuilt torque converter as well, so if it is just the torque converter, I will never know because I am going to replace the trans and torque converter and the same time. But I am just grasping at straws at this point trying to figure out what the delay issues is all about...

Like I mentioned in your other post, SJRs lifts come with 18 pieces total (I didn't use 2 because I think they are for manual trans cars, and mine is an auto). Engine blocks, trans blocks, rear sub-frame blocks, and strut blocks. Basically wherever there is a bracket under your car, you install a lift block, more or less. HTH!

It all depends on the size tire you want as well. Bigger tires will need a lift kit to get the body out of the way of the tires, OR LOTS OF CUTTING/TRIMMING of the fenders will be required. I am running 235/75/15's on my 1990 leggy and without wheel spacers and a lift it would not be happening. Tires will not clear the spring perch on the strut. Even with a 3" SJR lift and 08 forrester sturts and springs and wheel spacers I still had to cut a fair bit of my fenders to stuff the tires under it. As for where to install the lift blocks, you are going to have to do lots of reading. My lift kit was 16 pieces total and all said and done it took 30+ hours to get it all done and I had awesome help from someone who knew what they were doing and it still took over 3 days to get it done, and it's still not done completely. This is not a trival thing. Every one of my bolts that held on the suspension, transmission, and engine was touched. It's ALOT of work, but SOOOOO worth it. I sit about 8" higher now Very much worth it. So I guess it comes down to what size tires you want and how much trimming/cutting/bashing you are willing to do to your car.

Ya, I have just been lazy. I also really need to add in a better ground. All I have now is the stupid thin metal around the spare tire well that is my ground. Need to run that to a better place when I go to clean up my wiring. Yup they worked before, so I am 95% sure that once I plug the speedo cable back in everything should start working again. I just haven't had the time, I have been trying to move into a new house and that is taking all my time lately...

Yes, YES, YES!!! Don't be a tool and just put the lights in. You NEED projectors!! Spend the money and do it right, don't cheap out!

With my 1990 lifted leggy on 235/75/15's with a 3" SJR lift and Forester struts I really haven't noticed that much of a power loss. Hardly at all really. I was genuinely surprised at this. I thought that for sure I would see a pretty big loss in power, and I have yet to really notice it. Granted I have a 4EAT w/4.11 gears, so that helps out a ton. It's not really the power of the motor that matters but more of the final drive ratio. 4.11's and 4.44's are the way to go if you have a lifted rig. Don't know if you can even get those with the manual/older cars, but the gears are what really make a big difference with a lifted rig. My suggestion to you would be just lift the car and worry about the power loss once it's lifted. I think you might be surprised. The "little" 2.2 is the engine that could, I tell you what! I was thinking that I would need to "franken" motor my car to get the power back, and that was kinda at the top of my list of stuff to do before I actually lifted my car, but now that's it's lifted I am rethinking that as I am not really disappointed with the performance of my lifted rig. I would rather put that money into bigger and better things for my car before spending the money to get more "performance" out of my car. Just not really worth the money, IMHO.

Thanks man! I love my stereo. Well worth the money and time I put into it. I have since changed out my x-over with a better one, and I am going to go through and redo alot of my grounds as well. I got some good grounding strap and lots of 4awg wire to finally try to get rid of my alt whine. I need to also clean up the rats nest that is under my amps. I think that is part of the reason I have alt whine. Meh. It also helps that I am finally moving into a house with a 2 gar attached garage, so I will be spending lots more time with my car I managed to wash my car the other day and I worked on trimming my fenders better. Now I just get rubbing, no bad grinding like I was getting before. Still more to do, but it's not making any horrible noises like it was before. I just needed to take out some of the metal supports for the plastic front bumper and my air tank that was used for my air suspension. Anyone have any ideas on what I should do with the original compressor and tank, lol? I was also thinking that the reason my cruise, AWD, and ABS don't work is probably because they all use the vss that's in the cluster, and that's not hooked up right now. So I will be fixing that this weekend to see if I fixed all those issues. Hopefully all I have to do is reconnect the speedo to get it all to work. So far I LOVE my lifted soobie. It's nice to sit sooo much higher in the air. It's really nice. But I am not used to my car sounding like a truck with all the tire and road noise I get now. Just taking a while to get used to all the new noises that it is making. Not too mention it's nice having decent tires again.

Ya, I just lifted my leggy and that has been the plan for the last 2 years, so I just took out the spare since a 235/75/15 probably wouldn't fit in there anyways. That's what a roof rack is for, the spare tire!

I threw my setup into my spare tire well: Granted I have more stuff and it's a '90 Leggy, but that's what I did. Been like that for 2 years and have no issues. It's great to not have to worry about folding down my seats and having an amp to worry about when hauling stuff. What are you using the amp for? For a sub or to power the inside speakers?

Run a new wire and tap it into the same source that turns on the radio, then just use a relay. Then you don't have to mess with the stock radio wiring at all. You don't need really need the radio to tell the amp to turn on, it's just nice. If the radio is off and the amp is on, there will still be no sound, and the amp draw is minimal when there is no input on the amp. You should just get a Line Level in to RCA converter box. Something like this: http://www.crutchfield.com/p_161LC2I/AudioControl-LC2i.html?tp=2001 Then you can just choose which speaker wire you want the input to be from and just go from there. I got one sitting next to my other 2 amps waiting to get installed into a tribeca or something once I get a newer car for my wife. That way you don't have to worry about find a good "signal", just choose a speaker wire!

Didn't see one of these for 2013 so I thought I would start one. Post up some specs and pics of your lifted soobie! ******EDIT******* PLEASE ONLY POST IN THIS THREAD IF YOU ARE POSTING YOUR CAR. DO NOT MAKE CONVERSATION OR ADD COMMENTS, THEY WILL BE DELETED. SEND THE OWNER A PM IF YOU LIKE HIS/HER CAR OR HAVE A QUESTION. Thank you. ********edit***** I just lifted mine this last weekend: 1990 Leggy LS 3" SJR Lift 07/08 Forester Struts 235/75/15 Nexen Roadian MT Outback Steering Shaft EJ22 Stock Rear LSD (not installed, yet :cool:) 4EAT w/ Paddle Shifters and DCCD 12.5" at the Diff

Wow, it's been way over a year since I last updated this thread. Geez, didn't think it was that long! So I guess one of the mods this thread could be moved over to the "Members Ride Area" since it's all about my car... Anyways, I have finally lifted it! After 3 years of wanting and talking about a lifted soobie, mine is finally lifted! Thanks to monstaru for all his help. It wouldn't have happened with his help. I still need to clean up the fenders and I still rub a smidge when in full lock, but it's drivable for now. But my speedo doesn't work, my abs light is on, and I need to permanently figure out a better way to hang my muffler. But it all works for now and it drives! I will post up more pics once I clean it up a little bit in the next few days!

Ya, I love my paddles. 2nd gear starts FTW. Can't wait to lift my rig! That hood will look good. Looking forward to seeing it man! It's not that horribly hard to do. If you ever do want do to it, just LMK and I can help you out. It's a fairly straight forward mod and works great. It's worth the little bit of time it takes to wire it in. The last time I did it it took me about 3 hours and that included looking up the proper wire to cut on the TCU.

I have never owned a lifted soobie and I totaled my old loyale before I could lift it, so I am lifting my leggy. Putting 235/75/15 on it with a 3" SJR lift and with forrester shocks and springs so I should be a good amount higher in the air when all said and done. Adding a LSD as well. With the lift and my paddle shifters and DCCD knob, my car will almost be unstoppable! Especially when I can light up the way in front of me! BTW, I am digging that turbo grill as well

Awesome man. Thanks for the quick writeup and the pics! I am not worried about the wiring at all. I will probably just rewire it all anyways with new wire and new relays and just use the existing wiring to trigger the new relays, and then wire it all right to the battery. Less voltage drop that way How did you wire in the angle eyes? Did you just wire up to the parking lights, or to another switch all together or both? I think I would wire up to a separate switch, but only give that switch power when the parking lights are on. That way I don't leave them on and drain the battery. I also have a spare set of buckets too, so I am already half way there! I think after I lift my car, this is going to be my next mod. Soooo useful! Thanks again man!

I am soooo doing that projector mod to my headlamps. That is really cool. Good work. I will be following suit once I get some more cash. I HATE my stock headlights, they totally suck! How much of an improvement would you say the projectors are over stock, huge or just so so? Thanks for the ideas!

Ya, it's just the 4EAT solenoid mod. I just added in the resistor pack so the TCU doesn't throw a code when you activate the switch. Nothing too fancy... HTH!