Ratty2Austin

Oooooh! Can you get me one of those winches too? I can pay you back and a little extra! looks pretty sweet!

it was not damage done while the block was in your subaru, one or 2 of my lift blocks were like that as well- its just deformed from the manufacturing process... I'm pretty sure it will not fail in the car- especially not that block. if any of the blocks are going to fail, it would be one of the smaller blocks- like the tranny dropping blocks, but only if you slam the body of the car down onto some rocks or something!

Thanks for the comments so far! And yeah, I know I need better tires... (read previous posts and see photos of why I can't put the super swampers on quite yet..) As for Leavenworth- I guess we will have to meet up next time, if you are around again- defiantly at WCSS12! Speaking of WCSS12, we had to go see it, nice location!

I had a successful drive around the Eastern Washington loop- Visited Jerry, and Rob in E-burg/Selah, and did some camping too! so far, the lift kit is working out well, and holding up to mild offroad and heavy loading (camping in car) Thanks Rob and Jerry for the clutch part donations!!! D/R swap time up next....

Had a little shake-down road trip yesterday, 3 passengers trusted my handywork enough to LEAVE THE COUNTRY! with it.... After going to shop SJR to pick up some other parts n things, we decided to head north for some Tim Horton's, and Sushi... I know, it's not an offroad test.. but Waterwagon has made it from Seattle to Vancover BC and back again, without trouble!

Yeah! thanks for holding onto it for me! For those who didn't notice, that intake snorkus is from Waterwagon 2... it was part of the EJ18 engine setup! Go figure that it would be the one part of Waterwagon 2 that lives on in its successor! However, the IAC hose doohicky is too small, so it does not idle very high (which is nice, but..) it doesn't start without some help from the accel pedal.... but thats ok I guess for now...

Well, I was hoping to post my Waterwagon 3 Earlier, but it was not lifted.... BUT.... Now it is SJR (new, prototype!) EJ 3"/3.5" EJ Lift, Outback Struts, 27x9x14R Swampers and since it was a Brighton, other mods- OBW instrument cluster (to gain a tachometer) CB radio antenna (for future CB radio) Rear disc brakes from Gen 1 legacy, (actually, entire rear suspension) and a 3.9 open diff from an 86 GL, (matches the current 5spd AWD) awaiting future D/R swap, which I just need a few more parts... More pics later, it's still getting mods installed

It's drivable!!!! (with the small tires) But today, before switching back to the small tires, I did an articulation test for everyone that I know has been dying to see it done I started out with just the ramp, but that was too lame... So I staked up a set of the small tires... and it still had more flex to go!!! (all 4 tires still on the ground! I also did some cleaning up of the engine bay- removal of the un-needed A/C stuff (don't worry, I left the compressor, and some end pieces of the hoses for the future Air tank mod!) Now, time to get the D/R swap going!!! Still need a clutch and pressure plate for EA82..... Might have to run to E-burg to gather up the used ones from generous doners

Hahaha.... Pink Zebra stripes would be..... ummm.... awesome? ! So today it drove out of the driveway and down the street and back under it's own power!!! Although, there will be some trimming and pounding that will need to be done (surprisingly not much though!) The important part will be getting the hoses and stuff under the hood replaced/repositioned to fit the 3" drop.... I got the steering shaft all welded up.... Then we put them across the street, (Noah's legoGT, and Waterwagon3) parked off camber in the grass.... WOoohooo! so now that it's lifted, its time to get the D/R installed, and add things like Snorkel, A/C air compressor, CB radio, Skid Plates, and A-bar bumper add ons... Oh, and a bunch of colors, thanks Tex!

True, but think of it this way- Trimming the plastic bumper, or the rear of the fender section of the quarter panel, is not quite as difficult or vital as it would be than trimming the front little section of quarter panel, or as seen on some lifted subarus- cutting right into the rear door! I would rather trim a little off the bumper, than cut into my doors it should work out pretty awesome anyway!

Woohoo! it's on the ground!!! I got all the rest of the suspension bolted up now, and the wheels back on! Here is the rear stuff, almost done.... (still had to swap parking brake cables, and reattach the driveshaft) I put the small tires on first, since there was not enough room between the ground and the newly lowered suspension for the swampers... and here it is, with the regular "L" size tires... and after that, I put it up on higher jack stands, and finished up a few more pieces- like bleeding brakes, etc... and then installed the swampers!!! Here it is!!! and Scott, the re-drilled blocks work wonderfully!! here is the car with a slight load in the rear (tools) and the suspension at rest, the 27x9x14 swampers don't rub on the struts, or the fender wells in the rear!!! NO TRIMMING!!! However, the front might require a slight adjustment of the mud-guards, depending on how much the tires rub.... but I still need to install a steering shaft so i can find that out

Hurray!!! Thanks Scott, I got the new re-drilled rear blocks in, and the 1" back holes work great! they bolted up with no stress... (I guess that means the wheels will be pushed slightly back when the suspension compresses... I got more of the rear suspension assembled, but not quite complete yet... I did get the front end almost complete- (minus the lengthened steering shaft) and I bolted the wheels on, and woah! even with the car on the jackstands, the small tires were touching the ground already!! This is going to be nuts with the superswampers!!!

There is my favorite "offroad" (more like old-road) locally- the Old Blewett Pass highway- it's an old degraded road, very narrow and twisty, some areas are narrow because the roadway has partially collapsed... there are many branch-off sections of dirt forest roads too- and if you know where to look, I have found leaf fossils in various rock piles there too! (along the road)

Actually, The trailing arm was dropped down- but only the same height as the rest of the kit- the problem is, I am using outback struts, which add another 1.5" to the struts, and I also added a 1/2" to the strut blocks in the rear for more weight carrying (to level the car out with a load) and so that pushed the rear hub even lower- thus I needed to reposition the forward link's mount... I have the new blocks now from Scott, I will post pics with an update as soon as they are in. And yes, I am familar with the length change on the driveshaft- the D/R swap will be a later thing, as I am still collecting parts for that, and I wanted to get the lift out of the way first... I am planning on having a one-piece driveshaft made for the D/R swap- less moving joints (less failure points)

Sounds good! I think Noah and I are going to take a nice motorcycle ride up there tomorrow, to pick up the new blocks... That way I can ge the rest of the parts installed this week! Although before I start drivin around on the swampers, I need to do some BFH adjustments and also get the d/r tranny installed (mismatched tread depth issue)

Today I got the rest of the lift blocks installed! (and swapped out the clean/non rusty x-member in the front... Trans spacers installed... and of course, the front strut blocks The current hold up, is that I need the leading link body mount from an outback, (for the rear suspension) as it is about an inch "taller" than the stock brighton mount- which lowers the leading link's front edge down an inch... without this part, I have a bit too much space between the hub and the link- Anyone have a couple outback leading link mounts available? (or know if any of the local boneyards have outbacks ?

Ok, so Today I was unable to finish installing the lift kit, but I made some progress... Here is the kit, lined up and ready for primer and paint.... Got some cheap red paint, nice and bright.. I got the rear blocks installed, along with the rear x-member, and the forward suspension links and diff support bar... the blocks don't look big, but it certainly drops the whole assembly down a bunch! Tomorrow, hopefully I can get the front end bits installed... or at least the rear hubs and stuff so I can see how far off the ground this thing is going to sit!

One lift kit complete! Today will be the install test- to make sure it fits, and that all the holes and bolts line up Lift blocks galore! Scott welding the re-inforced lift blocks together (the "missing link" for the EJ kits) and welding the strut-tower blocks together... More photos, and updates coming very soon! (Lift kit being installed today!)

They were.... unless you bought the Brighton- über base model... (the base model foresters and imprezas had drums too, I think even the current ones!)

Today I spent time tearing Waterwagon apart, to prepare for the lift kit, and the new undercarriage pieces... so I removed just about everything- all except for the tranny and engine crossmember... (because I don't have enough jackstands/jacks/blocks to support the trans and engine at the moment- or at least I didn't feel like it yet... ) I removed the damaged steering rack from the front x-member, and of course all the rest of the suspension.... Dropped the rear x-member too, man that diff is rusty! (seems to work just fine on the inside, though..) Rear body bolt-holes were in good shape, pretty amazing considering that one of the bolts that came out was so stuck that I had to get out the big breaker bar, since the 1/2 drive impact gun could not break it loose! Here is the "new" gen1 legacy rear end that will take the rusty piece that I just removed from the wagon... (and upgrade to rear disc brakes!) Here is the old steering rack- (part of it) that will also be replaced.... Here is the new (gen1) front x-member and steering rack and non-broken hubs! oh, and here is the tool box! Next step, I need to head back to B-ham this week a few times, and get some more work done with Scott, and hopefully have a kit to install, along with the rest of the parts back into waterwagon 3..... woot!

As soon as my wagon is lifted, and as soon as we can all get together for an offroad/show day, I think we should all get together somewhere offroad, and get some action shots of everyone for the books/interwebs! Oh yeah, if you find any within my many galleries- let me know if you would like them for the books- oh, and for those who like looking at the subaru pics, dig in!!!

Made another trip up to B-ham yesterday, although since I had slept in, and Scott had some plans for the evening, we only accomplished a few things... But when I had arrived, Scott was under his new JustyMonster project, removing the non-essential pieces for his project... The lift blocks are almost done, I helped cut a few more metal bits... these are the x-member lift blocks, with the other lift pieces in the background... I brought home the entire front and rear suspension/x-member assemblies, outback struts and stuff last night, so that during the week this coming week- I can prep Waterwagon 3 (remove existing rusty suspension and drum brakes) and get it up on blocks so that the lift and new suspension can be installed...

Here is another, from that day- where Chux and I drove into Lake Superior... and of course, when I had the 83 TowtruckLight wagon, and I "jumped" it (after Qman made it all the way up the same spot before me) and I found out that Wagons need a little more speed than hatchbacks to get the rear wheels up to where they needed to be.... lol

To start out with the first of many, this is an older video clip, finally got around to converting the format and uploading it.... Waterwagon 2, at Iron Range ORV park in MN, with Chux (doing the video) testing out the snorkel in a very large mud hole... (click on the image to go to the video) more to follow... Oh, and as soon as Waterwagon 3 is finished, I hope to take my new camera gear and go on some wheelin' trips and get some new super awesome HD video!

Photo update... last week I cut a few lift blocks out, and cleaned them up on the sander, in prep for making the front A-arm and trans mount lift block assembly.... keepin my face safe... cutting blocks with the awesome bandsaw cut out blocks, being drilled... and of course, other projects that were going on at the shop too- an EJ22+EA82 swap.... wiring resolution.