Tofubaru - Forester II

Excellent news re Forester 2

Updates?

None sadly... it's been sat in the same spot in the warehouse getting in peoples way for a year.
To be honest I'm probably going to put it back together with minimal tidying and sell it, coming into winter is the best time to sell a Subaru and since I've also gotten into bikes more in the last year I probably won't ever get around to doing it justice.

That does leave me with a very dull daily driver and an itch that needs scratching for something more fun though and I've been thinking very strongly about a nice FZJ80 Land Cruiser or a Suzuki Cappuccino lately, obviously totally different ends of the spectrum but I quite fancy either a plush, spacious 4.5l V8 petrol barge or something tiny and light (basically a motorbike on four wheels as Mrs. Nahguavkire has thus far repelled the thoughts of pillion riding...

I'm conscious there's been feck all progress on this and the plan has chopped and changed so many times but here's an update:

Over the last 3 months or so I've become increasingly disenchanted with Kona EV... we live in an apartment and due to the layout of the car parking arrangement it's not practical for me to have a home charger. Public charging costs have risen to such an extent that I'm paying about the same amount per km as I would be on petrol again (possibly more considering finance).
Furthermore the diabolical price gouging Tesla has been carrying on with over the last year or so means the Kona Electric is in negative equity...

All in all for a car that I don't particularly love it's just lost it's sheen...

Meanwhile... Forester 2 has been sat in the shed and I've been plotting.

I do significantly less mileage than I used to and mostly work from home so to be honest I think I can stomach 30-35mpg petrol prices again.

I also desperately miss the comfort and practicality of Forester.

So...

First job is to reassemble Forester 2 as is...

• Replace sunroof glass
  
• Replace rear passenger side quarter window glass
  
• Replace boot hatch
  
• Reinstall bonnet, wings, front bumper and headlights
  
• Replace drivers window regulator and reinstate doorcard
  
  

I've already got all of these parts and once completed I can get it NCTd and it's then legally roadworthy again!

It will still look like shit at this stage...

Next steps as follows:

• Purchase Forester 3 (I know what you're thinking...) I'm going to find a cheap enough facelift SG (2006-2008) 2.5 XT Forester with an automatic transmission. The reason being that Forester 2 as a 2.0 X only has drum brakes on the rear and I would like the upgrade of discs all around.
  I would also like an automatic transmission and I'll scavenge the front seats and central armrest from the facelift version as I prefer these to the pre-facelift equivalents.
  I'll also use the drivers side front and rear doors in place of the damaged ones that are on Forester 2 at present (I have done some filling and repairs on these but I'd rather just pop on two fresh ones than drive around with all of that filler in it).
  
• Paint... I'm currently undecided on colour but my goal is to end up with something in the same realms as some of those lovely restomod Landcruisers and Defenders you see so often so think classic Land Rover colours and I'm planning to DIY it with coach enamel paint.
  
• Wheels... I've got my eyes peeled for a set of the same wheels I had on Forester 1 as I just really liked them a lot, should be able to find a set cheaply but if not I'll go for some steel wheels in a nice gloss black, white or body colour depending on final colour choices.
  
• Suspension... I'll just get the Tein Street Basis Z coilovers I had last time as they were very comfortable.
  
• Interior... I'm planning to also DIY a fairly comprehensive interior re-trim including seats, carpets, doorcards, dash etc. I'll also do the same head-unit install as last time all over again too.
  I'm thinking a nice cloth of some description on the seats and then leather on the dash and high wear spots like arm rests... colour TBC also.
  
  
  

Finally... the bit we've all been waiting for... engine swap!
I want to end up with somewhere between 250-300bhp and 30-35mpg and it's just not achievable with a Subaru motor... you'd be looking at a costly build to reliably make 300bhp and then only make 20-25mpg.
I did toy with the idea of a VAG EA888 EVO4 which would be the engine in a Mk8 Golf R, these make 40mpg+ apparently so should still do well in a Forester but I foresee massive ballaches and expense in terms of either matching that to the Subaru drivetrain or swapping everything to Golf R parts.
At the moment I think the most sensible solution might be a Toyota 2GR-FSE or 3GR-FSE... both were in a number of different Toyota and Lexus models but 2GR is the 3.5l version making c.300bhp and 3GR is the 3.0l version making c.250bhp.
They're V6 engines so I think they should fit easily enough and go directly to the Subaru 4eat transmission without too much fuss and they're pretty cheap and easy to get hold of too (3GR is in the mid-200s Lexus GS300 and you can buy a full car for <€2000).

A lot of work to be done but I'm excited to get stuck back in to it and hopefully get the whole lot done in relatively acceptable time. I'll be happy to get it back on the road and do the aesthetic bits for now so hopefully that can all happen in the next few months and I'll be back to Forester daily driving this winter!

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Just reading this amount of work gave me headache, but i can't wait to follow your journey! Big kudos