Foxracer

Originally Posted by Foxracer

2006 Subaru Impreza Outback Sport. It has been my adventure vehicle for awhile and a daily driver. Bought this car brand new back while I was still in college. Since then I have put over 110,000 miles on it. Left it stock for about 3 years before I started modifying it. Initially I added WRX sport suspension which was great for handling but wasn't up to my expectations on dirt roads. Discovered dirtyimpreza.com where I got the idea of lifting my car. I needed a vehicle that can get good gas mileage, handle well, be reliable, good cargo capacity, and finally be able to handle rough roads for exploring.

Shortly after I bought it


Didn't take me long to test the 4wd


A few years later I swapped the suspension for WRX suspension and added 17 inch WRX wheels.


For the amount of backroads I enjoyed traveling it didn't work out well


A guy from dirtyimpreza.com by the name of JacksonRally built me a 1 inch spacer lift.


This spacer goes between the body and the strut


These springs are under a lot of pressure




My new 27 inch General Grabber AT tires compared to the stock 24 inch tires


Hope they fit






Fits


All done


Time to test the new suspension on Durr Road




Good ground clearance


The ride was much softer


Testing it out some more on some jeep roads




And in the snow



6 months later I decided to do more modifications to the body this time

The plastic side skirts covering the rocker panels needed to go


Left a unfinished look without them so I did some work






Added mudflaps


Filled in the holes then painted the rockers with bedliner


My front bumper was a problem even with the small lift it overhang the wheels and was could easily be ripped off. I decided to cut the bottom section off to help with approach angle












Using a dremel to make the cut


After the cut


Test fit


Fenders needed to be cut to match


Decided to cut more




I had to relocate a couple of reservoirs that were hanging too low after the cut


Windshield washer reservoir and fender before cut


After cut - I was able to find a smaller washer reservoir at autozone complete with pump for less than 16 dollars. It fit just perfect in the smaller space




After lots of sanding it was time to paint


Adhesion promoter






All done - lots of ground clearance








Next I painted my rear bumper to match -
lots of plastic clips to remove in tight spaces






Sanded


First coat


Installing a day later


All done






Couple of other random shots




Future plans include skid plates, forester struts, rally lights, full size spare tire, and paint all trim black to match

Info on the forester suspension swap:
Adding forester suspension to a impreza will give you 3-4 inches of lift. The problem is the CV's will wear out fast unless complete subframe, driveline, transmission, etc. are dropped 1 inch.


Comparison photo shows the forester struts vs impreza struts

Struts are longer and spring perches are higher


Springs are longer


At some point I plan on swapping in forester struts on outback springs to hopefully achieve a 2 inch suspension lift and not have to drop the subframe.