BXR6's Outback

Hi everyone. I'm Wade.

 

Coming from a Lincoln Town Car, I was initially impressed with everything about my outback... acceleration, handling, off road capability. I mainly use the car for trips between Charlottesville and Blacksburg Virginia. Most of the time I end up on the Blue Ridge Parkway, Route 11, or Route 42 instead of the interstate... I met two friends with modified WRXs......suddenly I wanted "feel"....and wanted to keep up in the mountain roads of south-west Virginia....

 

With everything that's changed on my car in the past year I figured I should document what i've done.

 

http://i1241.photobucket.com/albums/gg503/WHG1635/Screen%20Shot%202016-11-10%20at%2011.05.28%20PM.png

 

Modifications:

 

Xtreme Racing Tuning XRT Stage 2 engine and transmission tuning by Ed.

Nameless Performance 5 Inch muffler axle back.

 

Koni Yellows currently set 1/4 turn from soft all around

Stock H6 Outback Springs

Whiteline Camber/Caster top hats

Stock Outback bump stops and rear upper control arm

STi Genome gold front Strut Tower Bar

Whiteline rear sway bar 20mm adjustable with AVO mount braces

Energy suspension rear sway bar bushings and bushing mounts with grease nipple

Kartboy endlinks

STi front LCA rear bushings

Whiteline front LCA forward bushings

New oem rear forward lateral links

ALIGNMENT: -1.5 front camber, -.7 rear, 0 toe.

 

Grimmspeed Master Cylinder Brace

Hawk HPS pads and Centric rotors.

 

BFGoodrich G-Force Comp-2 All Season 225/55/17. Painted stock 17x7 wheels metallic dark grey

 

JDM reverse fog light

C-Mod mesh grille with plastidip stock upper lip.

Plastidipped rear trim strip

debadged

yellow fog light film

Rally Armor flaps.

 

Future plans:

tint

black headlights

whiteline rear camber bushing

whiteline front sway bar

I did a lot of off-road/all-terrain driving in the first year of ownership.

 

 

http://i1241.photobucket.com/albums/gg503/WHG1635/IMG_0281.jpg

 

http://i1241.photobucket.com/albums/gg503/WHG1635/IMG_0455.jpg

 

http://i1241.photobucket.com/albums/gg503/WHG1635/IMG_0286%20copy.jpg

 

 

^Went to the Outer Banks and ended up towing a Jeep Wrangler ^

Still have not gotten all the sand out of my car.

 

 

http://i1241.photobucket.com/albums/gg503/WHG1635/jeepnick.jpg

^I went on some easy trails in the Rapidan Wildlife Management Area (Madison County VA)^

 

 

http://i1241.photobucket.com/albums/gg503/WHG1635/IMG_3907.jpg

^I've had fun blasting through snow. Drove to the top of the totally snow covered road to Mountain Lake Lodge (where Dirty Dancing was filmed).^

 

http://i1241.photobucket.com/albums/gg503/WHG1635/IMG_7674_1.jpeg

^Since then I discovered carving mountain roads and needed a better suspension setup. ^

I spent about 6 months reading through the Lowered Outback Thread and doing other research. I wanted to lower, but not as low as legacy height so I could still drive in snow, gravel, etc. I couldn't afford the BTS kit. I was hugely inspired by Rhitter/OB2.5XT, his stance seemed perfect to me. I started saving for Bilstein HDs, I bought specB springs.

 

Then a friend came across some cheap, 5000 mile used konis. Plans changed but I was still thinking I would use legacy front springs, King in the rear, and then order some spacers to go on top to achieve the ride height I wanted. Then I found an old post of a performance shop saying they had used outback springs many times in conjunction with Konis, and then I saw the ride height of member FutureFicus's outback with outback springs on konis in the back. I wanted that ride height all around.

I installed Konis with my stock outback springs with no spacers and the ride height is perfect, half way between legacy and outback height. Maybe it could use a 1/4 saggy butt spacer. 15.75 inches hub to fender all around. The springs are not "crammed in". They are more preloaded than stock but fit as they should.

 

The handling is sharp and precise and controlled, but the ride is firm but actually a lot more comfortable than the stock KYBs. I'm kind of blown away how simple this is compared to what a lot of people have done to lower outbacks. I kept the stock bump stops and rear UCAs and have had no issues so far.

http://i1241.photobucket.com/albums/gg503/WHG1635/IMG_0060.jpg

Interesting, you paired the Stock Outback springs with Legacy GT struts? Do you feel the stock springs are tight enough to pair well?

I'm still learning so i'll give you my thoughts... A lot of the issue with the stock outback suspension (imo) is the lack of rebound dampening. The Konis are worlds better in this sense. The springs may not be as stiff as some would like, but they do not feel like they are mismatched with the shocks. They feel a little stiffer than a stock legacy even, I guess because of the amount of preload. On turn in, there is pretty much zero lean or sag, the car just turns in. It feels like a great handling car, but not a sports car. It rides just a tad more comfortable, and feels slightly less stable at the limit, than a WRX on KYB AGX on setting 3 out of 4 and RCE springs. It feels like a well balanced spring and strut combo for a sporty daily driver. But I have not had time to dial in the Koni settings, and I don't have an alignment yet, so I will check back.

Your ride is the reason I got the 5" Nameless. Once the Raptors went on though, they were so loud that it shook my GoPro off the sunroof. Had to experiment with 5 different mufflers options, and now i'm back to stock muffs. I'm jealous of the C-Mod grille. They don't offer a grill for the 05-07 Outback. What exactly is the JDM reverse fog mod?

I did a lot of off-road/all-terrain driving in the first year of ownership.

 

 

http://i1241.photobucket.com/albums/gg503/WHG1635/IMG_0281.jpg

 

http://i1241.photobucket.com/albums/gg503/WHG1635/IMG_0455.jpg

 

http://i1241.photobucket.com/albums/gg503/WHG1635/IMG_0286%20copy.jpg

 

 

^Went to the Outer Banks and ended up towing a Jeep Wrangler ^

Still have not gotten all the sand out of my car.

 

 

http://i1241.photobucket.com/albums/gg503/WHG1635/jeepnick.jpg

^I went on some easy trails in the Rapidan Wildlife Management Area (Madison County VA)^

 

 

http://i1241.photobucket.com/albums/gg503/WHG1635/IMG_3907.jpg

^I've had fun blasting through snow. Drove to the top of the totally snow covered road to Mountain Lake Lodge (where Dirty Dancing was filmed).^

 

http://i1241.photobucket.com/albums/gg503/WHG1635/IMG_7674_1.jpeg

^Since then I discovered carving mountain roads and needed a better suspension setup. ^

 

This is EXACTLY the kind of stuff we love to do! Just moved about 2 years ago in the DC area and have been having a hard time to find stuff like that. Which mountain roads did you go to?

 

 

Also, regarding your koni setup, what is your ground clearance now?

I have a stage 2, koni/epic with hotchkis front and rear sway. I'm also crazy but the modded wrx can't keep up with me in the corners on hwy 81 devils whip.

 

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

Update. Ride height "settled" to 16" hub to fender. After a lot of driving, I think Rhitter may have been correct, these springs aren't quite stiff enough. It rides extremely well, I can take bumpy, curvy roads at 60 the whole way, when I would have bounced off the road before. But load it up with people or push really hard, and theres a lot of roll and it feels soft/lacks precision. Konis are now at 3/4 turn all around. It's going to be a really good setup unless you're pretending to be a race car.

 

I have a stage 2, koni/epic with hotchkis front and rear sway. I'm also crazy but the modded wrx can't keep up with me in the corners on hwy 81 devils whip.

 

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

 

Yep, I can pretty much outrun a modded bugeye in the corners, but a lot of that might be how sticky the BFGs are.

 

This is EXACTLY the kind of stuff we love to do! Just moved about 2 years ago in the DC area and have been having a hard time to find stuff like that. Which mountain roads did you go to?

 

 

Also, regarding your koni setup, what is your ground clearance now?

 

Not a lot very close to to DC itself. Head south west! You'll find the blue ridge parkway and the side roads around it. also check this: http://oppositelock.kinja.com/what-are-some-great-driving-roads-around-washington-d-c-1203431814

 

As for ground clearance, the car is an inch lower to the ground. My front bumper is now 9 inches from the ground.

 

What exactly is the JDM reverse fog mod?

 

It's an array of red LEDs where the passenger reverse light would go. It's meant to be wired to an auxiliary switch. Right now I just plugged it into the reverse light wiring... not sure if it'll pass inspection like this, but I plan to wire it up differently soon. The last 4 spaces are blanks/not meant to light up.

http://i1241.photobucket.com/albums/gg503/WHG1635/IMG_0061.jpg

Not a lot very close to to DC itself. Head south west! You'll find the blue ridge parkway and the side roads around it. also check this: http://oppositelock.kinja.com/what-are-some-great-driving-roads-around-washington-d-c-1203431814

 

As for ground clearance, the car is an inch lower to the ground. My front bumper is now 9 inches from the ground.

 

 

thanks for the link. I'll check it out. We went to Shenandoah NP last weekend. I've also been in and around Woodstock VA on a few dirt roads there. I would like it to be a bit more challenging though, and especially I'd like the road to bring us to nice locations with view points and stuff. So far, it's usually been a bit dense forested area where you can't see much..

 

I think we might go check out the area you've mentioned earlier as well (east of Shenandoah NP).

 

 

On a side note, I also have one of these rear fog lights. Mine is EDM though (replaces the left reverse light). Bought it new in 2009, and never installed it .

Update. Ride height "settled" to 16" hub to fender.

 

As for ground clearance, the car is an inch lower to the ground. My front bumper is now 9 inches from the ground.

 

From Outback height?

Looks like a great alternative to the expensive bts kit.