The tale of two OBP OBXTs | low vs lifted

Awesome, thanks for the writeup! When some friends and I did the clutch we had to yank out the transmission side of the axle and something was damaged so it was leaking fluid (I don't recall the exact part number) but I had to order another from the dealership Subaru. Is that the trans housing seals you're referring to?

Yep that’s the one! I have to replace mine, been leaking for a couple years haha

Trackday youtube is being finalized/posted. Check out these pit photos in the mean time. I will post a damage assessment when I post the video. Too tired right now.

That looks awesome, I want to go drive my wagon on that track.

Took the lifted outback on it's first long road trip. Made a 5.5 hour drive down to Mammoth Lakes area for some camping. I had this thing absolutely loaaaded and it did okay. I have some cooling issues again but I think it's because I stupidly took it mudding again haha. I just don't learn.

This thing made it through some gnarly trails, I was really pushing my luck considering I had to make the drive back. I ended up smoking the trans pretty good attempting a steep incline at about 10,000 ft. Had to leave my car parked in the bushes and hop in my friends toyota. Luckily I was able to make it home, but I think I need to do a trans fluid flush and possibly a new torque converter -__-

People seem to really enjoy seeing my lifted outback fully kitted out, I got a few compliments on it like this. I do wish it was a little taller and had nice wheels though. I might have to put the bbs back on but I dont wanna mess em up any more than I already did

Nice.

No vibration on highway especially under load? Wondering how your CV axles are holding with the lift.

What was your gas mileage and average speed on the freeway?

Nice.

 

 

No vibration on highway especially under load? Wondering how your CV axles are holding with the lift.

What was your gas mileage and average speed on the freeway?

No vibration out of ordinary, I changed the front axles a couple months ago with napa ones. I think gas mileage was around 16ish and average speed was 60-65mph.

Just realized I didn't post pics from my previous camping trip. I posted them on my blog milktea-man.com so I guess I felt like I posted them here too.

Nice blog. Just looked at your post about your last trip. So, if I understand it correctly, the Mazda made it to the top but you did not???

Thanks a lot for checking it out! Yes, the mazda made it up to my surprise! I was super impressed by how well it handled all the terrain in its stock form! I was a bit upset haha.

My car made it to the top of the incline but couldn't get past that, it was like all available power was depleted, strange feeling. I had the accelerator floored but it was doing nothing besides running the coolant temp up. When I drove back to camp that night, I floored it on the road and the engine started to bounce off the limiter without increasing vehicle speed. After cooling off for the night it made the drive home okay but I was worried. I just floored it today and it grabbed fine. Odd.

That's too bad. Maybe the torque converter or trans was overheating or something. I never drove an automatic subie. Been doing light offroad with a manual. And yep, had a few situations where I just had to smoke the clutch

Just gotta send it sometimes haha.

Do you have an external cooler on your trans?

I do not

Ordered new tires to replace the burnt out 255/35 federal RSRR. Got some 265/35 bridgestone s04 pole positions. Was very worried they would not fit. I finally rolled the fenders and they fit fine static but under road testing I was able to get them to rub, I believe my coilovers are just too soft. So I ordered some fortune autos with 10k/8k springs.

This car also has another bad front left hub, replacing it under warranty but I wonder if something else is wrong. I did admittedly found I made a mistake installing the front swaybar by putting the left and right links in mismatch positions. Left side was hard and right side was soft. Let's hope thats why it wore through that hub so fast.

I'm going to get the car aligned as is since there is a 4-8 week wait for the fortune autos. Then I will get the car corner balanced.

if you track your car, hubs are considered a wear item. Adding brake cooling seems to help ( 3 or 4" diameter brake ducts that fit to ducts mounted on the brake shield seems to be best.

After hps pads become nit enough, the dct70/60 are really nice. But not for street use, they have to be hot before working.

Actual slicks in 225 width are more than enough. Will give you way more days before replacements needed.

if you track your car, hubs are considered a wear item. Adding brake cooling seems to help ( 3 or 4" diameter brake ducts that fit to ducts mounted on the brake shield seems to be best.

 

After hps pads become nit enough, the dct70/60 are really nice. But not for street use, they have to be hot before working.

 

Actual slicks in 225 width are more than enough. Will give you way more days before replacements needed.

Yeah that's true but damn, one track day and a couple thousand miles though? I'll have to consider the brake cooling, I was on the brakes HARDDD at the track trying to chase all the actual sport cars.

Hmm I might pick up a set of those pads for the next track day to see how they are and use the hps for the street.

Side note: I have an issue with my up pipe sensor not wanting to stay seated. It comes loose all the time and almost caused the exhaust to melt through my maf wiring last trackday. I might need to safety wire it, kind of annoying. I have tightened it at least 5 times since april.

the track finds all kinds of problems. Safety wiring things is part of the joy.

I used to have my passenger front bearing start to fail on the second lap. I didn't have cooling. Race wagon has it, and went many track days without issues. Post with pics: https://legacygt.com/forums/showpost.php?p=4847566&postcount=52

If you have never read through Sgt.Gator's journey with the race wagon. Its worth it. My additions after I bought it are useless as I never made it back to the track. He went on to buy several subaru powered race cars and occasionally posts about his experiences in the motorsports section.

if you are braking hard, you might consider changing your driving style. Turbo wagons are much more like miatas than you would expect ( momentum cars ). A higher speed on the straight translates into more braking at the end. Miatas get passed on the straights and dominate in the corners. As the day wears on, they tend to dominate everywhere as the ride isn't as punishing and they don't wear equipment as fast. The wagon can be driven the same way (I get the awesome joy of outbraking a 911 gr3 rs going into a corner because neophyte driver), but it's not nearly as much fun in the "going mach 5 with your hair on fire" way. But it's alot cheaper.

- centric cryo blanks for rotors or whatever the cheapest rotors you can find

- hawk dtc 70/60 pads. You can bed them in as long you keep the rotors with the pads ( i used paint pens to label everything so could put them back in right order)

- rbf 580 brake fluid (highest temp rated). Use a fresh new bottle every time. hand bleed. be sure to suction out the reservoir instead of sucking it through the system

- Change your diff & transmission fluids on a regular basis. It gets hot and breaks down. Sgt.Gator experimented with different stuff. I replaced units rather than mess with changing things. ymmv.

- Oil. It matters. New oil before every track day. Change it when done and send to blackstone for analysis. Send a sample unused oil for a baseline. Tell them what you are doing, then can give you better information.

- Nut/bolt everything before every track day. Anything loose more than once needs a better solution. Safety wire saves lives and keeps you on track longer.

- What gets driven on track, gets carried home. Consider a track only tire/wheel combo, likewise brake pad/rotor combo. Your initial expense will be higher, but cheaper over the long-haul. My experiences were different than just about every one who goes/went to the track, however, costs to goto the track eventually eat you alive. Taking the long view helps.

Have fun. Keep posting. I like reading about ppl who goto the track and hammer sportscars. Years after I stopped bringing mine to the track, I showed up with a friend's identical looking wagon. Track rats have long memories.

If you are ready, get a sticker " you got passed by a wagon..." for your rear window.

Haven't updated in a while because I have been hard at work getting my "budget trackcar" integra sedan together. I painted it type R yellow, new headgasket etc, smog/plates/reg. Then it'll be getting coilovers and wheels soon. Also took my motorcyle to the track last weekend and finally put my new suit to use. I am a track whore yes, I even have a drift car in Japan haha.

Anyways, the fortune auto coilovers come in next week and I can't wait. Once I get them on I'm going to set up an appointment to get the car corner balanced.

After almost 2 months the Fortune Auto coilovers came in. Got them installed and got the ride height dialed. Since I want to get the car corner balanced I'll take the time to do the rear diff bushings. I got the 4 whiteline bushings for the rear diff, also picked up some gear oil.

Those look amazing!

Right?! So solid

Got the whiteline rear diff bushings installed. Shifting feels soooo much tighter now. Totally different shift experience.

I've gotta roll the rear fenders some more and maybe raise the rear too cause the 265s are rubbing a bit on the rear right. I have the fortune autos set to 12 Hard F/R and max is 24.

I never considered changing the rear diff bushings. Driving experience is that different?

Yes totally enhanced the driving experience. I have IAG stiff motor/trans mounts, kartboy shift bushing and beatrush carrier mounts yet I STILL had some driveline slop. Changing these bushings cleaned up the remaining slop.