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weighing up my options here for a replacement car, pardon the n00bish question.

just would like to confirm the possibility and ask of any specifics or details required in installing the L series lowrange gearset into a first generation NA forester gearbox.

do they have the 4 bolt or 8 bolt motor (EJ20)?

what about all the above questions except with a Gen 2 liberty/outback?

would like to stay within the subaru stables, but other makes are looking tempting.

I would say if you haven't played with gearboxes before to get some one else to do it for you. The low range swap isn't very difficult at all. You need the input shaft and the low range gearset. That is the first to gears when you look in the box, along with the reduction gear set from the side at the same place.

You also need to keep the low range selector. There is a little bit of machining that has to be done but stuff all. A bit of welding to the selector and a little bit of cursing when you put it all back together.

Early boxes are all 4 bolt. The change over to 8 was found in the 99 model, Gen 3.

It's worth noting that there are some crossover 4 bolt boxes(EJ25 boxes from memory) that have the larger input bearing of the 8 bolt box and you can't do the L low conversion on them.

A good buy(IMO) for building a latish model beach subaru would be a 97 Fozza with a TT or EJ25 engine and L low range box. 97's are worth bugger all now(well under 10k) and because they are 97 models you can legally fit some of the older cheaper engines like quad cam EJ25s and early TT engines.

Bolt in an EJ25 and L low box, 2.5" exhaust, wire in the factory ecu and you have a pretty quick fozza that'll handle the road and the beach no problems.

Only problem with a Fozza is you loose all the handling characteristics normally associated with a Subaru, Liberty all the way

Does a Liberty lifted the same amount as a Fozza(including the Foz factory lift) handle better? If so, in what situation and why?

I hope liberty's handle alright with a lift, insanity is taking hold of me and I have pulled all the "ricer" crap off the green thing and am fighting the urge to lift it and send it to a slow salty grave. 8O Still a moot moot though, don't have time to fix broken manuals.

Can't see why a lifted Foz would handle differently to a similarly lifted Lib as the suspension is the same. I have just fitted a 3 inch lift and outback struts etc to my TT and can't notice any dramatic change in handling even without the rear swaybar. If anyhting the ride is smoother and it will happily take corners as it used to. The offset on the lift struttops ensure mild negative camber front and rear even with HD king springs. I used the outback swing arm mount to keep the back wheels away from the front of the rear guard, well worth fitting.

It is all to do with the higher centre of gravity that the Foresters have from the start. A lifted Liberty has the same clearance underneath as a lifted Forester but the overall height (roof and seating) is lower in the Lib than the Fozz.