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Hopefully the rear uprated ARB will dial out the front end understeer that's typical with the standard setup and the rest of the parts will compliment the new pedders struts and spring setup already fitted. It's all getting fitted this week followed by a full tracking, camber, toe & caster 4 wheel adjustment. Hoping to get the front set to -1.5deg camber and the rear to -1.0deg camber with everything else neutral. This is what has been recommended by various people for a great road car.
Also have a brand new full set of CDF alloy drop links to fit (if they fit the car). Will see.
The front splitter is for a Hawk as the forester version is £400 and not available anywhere worldwide any longer. Will take some modifying but I'll get it fitting perfectly.
Apart from that, I'm fitting a DAMD steering wheel this weekend too.
Will post some pics up when stuff is fitted and let you know how it feels.
Last edited by BrownPantsRacing; Mar 4, 2016 at 09:17 PM.
All my suspension bits are now fitted and full 4 wheel geo done. Drives really well now, very pleased. Very planted. Can't get the rear end to break out in the same way I can with the hawk, but that may just be me needing to adjust the way I'm driving.
Have also done a little interior refresh and fitted my DAMD steering wheel, brand new STI widetrack gearknob, red stitched leather gaiter. Couple of pics below.
Paint is on order for the wheel referb too, so I'll get to that when it arrives & possibly have a go at fitting the splitter.
Next on the list is full service, all oils, filters, plugs etc then remap!
Not a busting great deal to be honest. I had them fitted as a precaution as I'd heard that they can go in older cars and I wanted to make sure things were perfect with the steering and suspension. I suspect my original bushes were in good condition, but in my mind it was still worth doing. The car does turn in very well now, but I don't know how much I can put down to the steering, suspension or geo setup.
I will be adding adjustable camber bolts to the front as well as they just couldn't quite get my ideal setup on the front.
Quite a few more bits done on the Impreza & Forester this weekend in the nice weather.
Most notable was the fitting of the new front bumper lip to the forester. This was a bit of an **** to be honest, as you can't get the forester lip (at £400+) anywhere in teh world now for love or money I decided to buy a hawkeye lip and moidify it myself to fit. So spent my hard earned on a brand new lip and then began cutting it up! EEK.
Anyhow, all fits great now and solid as a rock. I've taken enough pics and detail to do a how to post if anyone wishes to do this to their forester. And at £93 total, it's a bargain!
Few pics below of the finished article, including the chrome STI logo I made myself today.
PICS:
I've also ordered so rear subframe locking bolts now and some front camber bolts so I can fine tweek the suspension setup a little more.
Next on the list is wheels as my paint arrived today.
do these suffer the same problems as the 2.5 uk engines?
Difficult to say. It's not quite the same 2.5 engine as fitted to the 06+ Impreza and as these are so rare there is no real data to show failures on the Forester STI. In theory I suppose so, but the later 2.5 ringland failures are thought to be mostly map related to to lean running issues. Head gasket failures tend to be due to head lifting as a result of insufficient head torque on the later 2.5s. There are plenty of forester STIs running big power now consistently on the original engines.
I'm going to get it serviced, mapped and treat it very well. If it goes pop, I'll forge it and build something even more exciting!!! :-)
Also removed the rear mud guards as 1 kindly removed itself when I reversed into my driveway. Was undecided about these anyhow, but think I prefer it without now.
Removed & modified the front grill too. STI logo added and red detail.
Snapped some of the grill clips when the grill came off and seems the best place to get a replacement set from is currently Australia! madness. So have a full new set on order now.
looks ace, I'd like my wife to have one, but she has a thing about buying older cars and buying a car with problems :/ so looks like a 2year old Kia Sportage would suit her
But the new shape Forester looks nothing like this .. which is so much meater.
LOL. Thanks buddy. To be honest I was very against getting a car older than my Hawkeye, but these FSTI's were only made for a few short years and this one has done less miles than my Hawkeye and ticked so many boxes I found it hard to resist.
The newer shape Foresters feel much more like a bigger 4x4 than my shape.
Brilliant to drive. Suspension is more forgiving than the Impreza and you don't really notice much of an elevated driving position over the Impreza. They handle great and go like a modified Impreza, so great fun. Really do love driving this (dare I say it, more than my Impreza). The JDM Spec C seats are lovely!
haha. I know, I look out for your car every time I go into Aylesbury now I know where you are. Don't worry, if I see your car isn't home I turn around and go straight home just to make sure we don't get seen in town together. Lovely looking Forester yours by the way!
The wheels are XXR527 18" x 8.75" wide. They are in Matt bronze colour, same colour as the Rota bronze.
I was thinking of getting another set of wheels so that I can get the originals properly refurbished, but those are too wide for me. A narrower set of GRA's should do the trick though.
I'm terrible when it comes to wheels - can never make up my mind about what looks good and what I want at the time. I used to be indecisive, but now I'm not sure.
I only fitted the XXR wheels because they were sat being unused with brand new tyres in my storage blankets. It was my intention to only fit them so that I can referb the standard wheels (which I really like), but I've got used to the XXR wheels now and quite like them on it!
I'd have one for the gym anyday get in and go whT are they like to drive.
