Ugly Dave's slow and tall impreza

2002 2.5 TS
As of now 128,000 miles on her
Bought it from my aunt with 86,000 miles. She drove the car strictly in Texas so there is no rust anywhere on the car. Changed all the basics when I first got it, plugs, wires, pcv, etc. Made custom roof racks pretty much as soon as i got her. Did the water pump, timing belt, and head gaskets at 105,000 miles. At around 116,000 she got much taller with thanks to kblood for selling me and installing kyb gr2 struts and forester springs. Shortly after I got 16 inch stock forester wheels and put some 215/65r16 Yokohama Geolander ats on, making her even taller. Smoked out tail lights. Debadged. Four hella 500 ffs up front, two switches to control all four. Weather tec mats all around. Short ram Cobb intake (thanks to spiller for the intake) with a homemade carbon fiber air box. The only bad bits are she is an automatic, the clock works sometimes but is mostly off.

Nice set up love the look of lifted wagons.  I have an 02 that is lifted as well but its a sedan 

Looks like it sits about the same as my OBS. And you say slow, but every time I see you, you're driving like a mad man!

clock might need to be re soldered. have had a few subarus in the family where that has been the problem.

Thanks 05rskid. Bratman what are you driving? I have not seen a lifted obs in my travels. No comment on driving like a mad man.... But she is not quick enough

Thanks dsmith, I need to look into this, I can't imagine taking off that part of the dash if too difficult

I always see you in my work truck. I drive a big orange Asplundh truck.

This is mine

Aha I see. I'll be sure to slow down for fear of getting squished, your trucks are much taller and meaner....

Love your obs bratman, what kind of tires and what size are you running? I need to work on mudflaps as well

uglydave said:

Aha I see. I'll be sure to slow down for fear of getting squished, your trucks are much taller and meaner....

Love your obs bratman, what kind of tires and what size are you running? I need to work on mudflaps as well

Click to expand...

Lol, yeah those trucks aren't very forgiving.

I have 17's on mine. Pretty sure they are 225 60 17's. They barely fit. And if you have 98-02 Forester rear struts then you won't be able to fit much bigger than what you're running now. I also had to trim the front mudflaps so the tires wouldn't rip them off lol.

A few months back I figured the TS needed a brush guard so I made this up but haven't posted any pictures and decided now was a good time.

As she use to sit, 4 hellas with a custom mount bolted through the same holes the oem grill used.

I used heavy steel for the brackets and black iron 2 inch steel tube for the actual guard.



These two brackets fit around the front bumper bar and support the brush guard from the bottom




Drilled holes for bolts



Backing plates that I fed through the bumper bar to bolt the above brackets into, with nuts welded on.  Acting as a big washer.


Mocking up the correct shape for the push bar.



More fabrication




Added mesh to protect the hellas.



90 degree brackets welded onto the guard to attach to the bumper brackets


 

All ready for paint



Painted.  I used a textured truck bed liner spray hoping that it would be sufficient. 


 

All mounted up.  Here you can see the brackets attached to the bumper frame.  I had to cut away a small bit of plastic to be able to get the bolts through.  The brush guard is probably overkill and is quite heavy.  It does however go through chain link fences which puts a smile on my face.  In hindsight or for anyone making their own guard, I would have gone with smaller tubing (2 inch is way more than enough).  Also I would have spent a little more time in the design simply because there is a lot of reflection from the hellas now that I had originally not taken into account.  All in all I am very happy with this mod. Definitely very functional


 

A good photo of how the brackets are mounted

I had some free time and glued up this wooden shift knob.  Now I just need to get rid of that silly automatic transmission....

...and plz dump Those dark tinted tails before you get rear ended by someone who can't see you blinkers or brake lights on a bright sunny day. They may look cool but are a serious safety problem

If you got hit and the driver says "I couldn't see his lights" and the policeman sees tinted tails you are screwed and insurance will likely not cover anything on your car or their car. You mess with DOT mandated lights and stuff at your own physical and finacncial peril.

I've seen darker. New laws say no tiny by the way.

Killer bar though. Nice fab skills

Nice work to personalize the car, BTW. just that the tails look cool but are a very bad idea overall.

Up close picutres of the custom carbon fiber (painted black) intake.