L series lift kit fitting

Cliff R · Post by **Cliff R** » Sat Oct 06, 2012 7:55 am

First issue when fitting the 2" lift kit to the L series
Rear diff hanger passenger side. Lift block hits on side of rear muffler big time.
Is there a general way to sort this.

rtcb65 · Post by **rtcb65** » Sat Oct 06, 2012 8:30 am

No lift block should be hitting on anything. Either you have wrong block or exhaust is not in right place. If you got a C R O S S B R E D kit , you would have got fitting instructions with it.

Cliff R · Post by **Cliff R** » Sat Oct 06, 2012 8:41 am

Its a hi rise kit and no fitting instructions

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Sat Oct 06, 2012 8:42 am

one sports exhaust coming up ....

Grrr,,,, you are not a fast pic production member are you Cliff ? as that may help some give constructive comment.

Are the blocks sided and you have L and R switched ?

Cliff R · Post by **Cliff R** » Sat Oct 06, 2012 12:20 pm

OK the problem block is in and it is hitting on the side of the rear muffler.
May have to grind a bit out of the side of the block or take to the exhaust with a pinch bar/hammer. Probably go this second option so I dont damage the block.

Holy crap the rear is sitting high.
I know it needs to settle but it really is up. I ended up using my spare pair of lift kit, top of rear shock brackets and they are actually 2-1/2" high. I used these as they are made out of a single piece of steel and not welded like the Hi Rise brackets. My Engineer prefers things made in one piece and not welded.
Have not quite finished the rear but when I do this will probably be all I get to today.
Will take pics when all if finished.

Cliff R · Post by **Cliff R** » Sun Oct 07, 2012 8:26 am

Damn it !!!
I just rounded off 2 out of the 4 engine crossmember nuts undoing them.
Was using a Sidchrome socket and bar too (good quality)
I'm stuck now as the wife is still asleep and I dont know if the neighbours new born baby is awake or not.
Will contemplate the universe for a while....

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Sun Oct 07, 2012 8:52 am

They are bastards and you are not the first to get angry or panic soon after. I had to drill out the head up top, grind off what was left and start again with spare bits. Also had to wait until engine came out - sorry to say. A rattle gun seems to be best chance to get them off with shock therapy - before you round 'em, or maybe a smidge tighter first to crack 'em

BASTARDS !! BASTARDS !!!

Cliff R · Post by **Cliff R** » Sun Oct 07, 2012 8:59 am

One on the drivers side and one on the passengers side sucks.
what I have to get out are the original Subaru, standard lenght bolts.
I need to get them out to put the lift kit spacers in so I am contemplating an angle grinder.
Are the original subaru bolts High Tensile ?

Post by **TOONGA** » Sun Oct 07, 2012 9:57 am

Yes the bolts are high tensile, as Steptoe said tighten the bolt /nut up a little before you attempt to undo it. Some sort of lubricating agent is your friend when doing this penetrine or the like, applied by the gallon and usually a couple of days before you start.

When undoing the bolts in the body, a good rule of thumb is tighten them back up every now and then. this is to clear the threads of the crap thats in the frame of the body.

TOONGA

Cliff R · Post by **Cliff R** » Sun Oct 07, 2012 12:20 pm

Got the 2 problem nuts off, one my hammering an imperial socket on and the other a bit more aggressive with a chiesel and hammer and then hammering on an imperial socket.
I would say I was lucky that this is all it took.
Next problem is I have now popped off the inner LH CV while putting the LH strut back on after fitting the strut top spacer.
Bugger......
Other things of note
- With the engine now dropped 2" does this mean the bottom radiator hose needs to be shortened ?. While I havent fitted the gearbox spacers yet the hose looks kinked.
-same deal with the dropped engine, doesnt this mean the radiator fan will hit on "stuff"

Cliff R · Post by **Cliff R** » Sun Oct 07, 2012 3:40 pm

Its all now basically together.
The front camber is a bit of a worry.
Would it be correct in saying for a front strut top spacer P = Passenger, D = driver and an arrow means towards the front of the car (or somewhere like it)

Post by **TOONGA** » Sun Oct 07, 2012 4:52 pm

The arrows indicate the direction the block should face, (the arrow faces towards the engine) so if the "spacer" has P --> thats the passenger block and the arrow needs to face the engine.

I know people have done photo tutorials of this on the board but findind the thread is really difficult, due to the nature of the search engine searching for most recent postings first.

TOONGA

Cliff R · Post by **Cliff R** » Sun Oct 07, 2012 5:54 pm

Towards the engine.....
That could explain things, excellent info thanks Toonga
Will look into it tomorrow.
Probably going to look a bit silly here but anyone else ever been setting up the steering extension and left their Pinky inside one of the steering column universals while turning the shaft.
Not a good look for a Safety Coordinator.
Bloody well hurts and there will be a blister

Mitchhsj · Post by **Mitchhsj** » Sun Oct 07, 2012 5:57 pm

i to have the camber issue with my L io have 3 inch blocks and 4 1/2 inch strut tops and yes the arrows point in. in thinking of pulling mine out and off centring the top plate a bit to pull the top of the towers in towards the motor a bit... has any one done this before?

Cliff R · Post by **Cliff R** » Wed Oct 10, 2012 5:03 pm

Has anyone had to bend the 4WD stick when they have fitted a lift kit to an L series.
If so can it be bent cold or is heat needed.
I cant get mine back down and into 2WD with the centre console fitted.

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Wed Oct 10, 2012 7:54 pm

Cliff R wrote:Has anyone had to bend the 4WD stick when they have fitted a lift kit to an L series.
If so can it be bent cold or is heat needed.
I cant get mine back down and into 2WD with the centre console fitted.

I've cut and welded mine - 5mm forward on the tab that goes from the bar up to the lever. This works well but I could have gone a little further - 7mm would have been good but I'll sit on the 5mm.

I ran without this for some time and didn't really have an issue getting it out of 4wd, but my lever and console now have some rubbing marks on both of them... It's worth the effort.

As for the "P" and "D" markings for passenger and driver's sides - remember that your lift kit is the product of the US where the driver's side is on the wrong side...

Cheers

Bennie

Cliff R · Post by **Cliff R** » Thu Oct 11, 2012 3:23 pm

As for the "P" and "D" markings for passenger and driver's sides - remember that your lift kit is the product of the US where the driver's side is on the wrong side...

OK.....I thought of this but didnt if that makes any sense. I dont know if it makes any difference or not but I will swap the strut tops at some stage. The camber has now settled much better but not quite right. It is still better than the MY's camber which is still crap. (Scorpion kit)
Re the 4wd stick, I ended up cold bending it and took the blue rubber decorative boot off and now the box goes into 2wd with the console fitted.
At a later stage I might muck around with my spare stick and see how I go.
My main issue now is with the engine dropping 2" the fan shroud has to be lowered too and in a test last night the fan is rubbing on the shroud so fixing this should be all that is needed.

Cliff R · Post by **Cliff R** » Thu Oct 11, 2012 4:38 pm

Bennie

Did you have to also bend the main, 5 speed gear stick as well as the 4WD stick ?

Just took the car for a drive and got it up to 80ks/hr in 5th.
Felt that maybe the 5 speed stick could be bent back towards the rear a few mills or so but no biggy. The car went well and finally I can drive it again so to work it goes tomorrow. Felt like the suspension is much tighter too.
There are many small things that dont seem to be mentioned in the literature of kit suppliers such as spacing the fuel pump or the engine fan when installing a kit.
All part of the fun...
I will now re install the 4WD knob (when I can find it) and the sump guard to finish things up.
Will contact my engineer to see when I can get in for an inspection but need to fit the extended mud flats and suspension stop extensions first.

Note - I have noted the L series sit much higher with a 2" kit than the MY's do.

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Thu Oct 11, 2012 10:25 pm

Cliff R wrote:Did you have to also bend the main, 5 speed gear stick as well as the 4WD stick ?

Nah I've left mine, I didn't notice any real difference, but I'm also running a 3 inch kit with 2 inch spacers on the gearbox crossmember, this could be the difference in what I've experienced to what you are with the linkages.

Cliff R wrote:There are many small things that dont seem to be mentioned in the literature of kit suppliers such as spacing the fuel pump or the engine fan when installing a kit.
All part of the fun...

This is true, even from those that have done these before! I was surprised when I needed to extend my speedo cable - I thought I'd be able to just use the slack that was from the factory, but not the case. Lucky for me I got my lift kit with a "free L series"! So I got my speedo cable from that one

Cliff R wrote:Note - I have noted the L series sit much higher with a 2" kit than the MY's do.

Really? 2 inches is 2 inches! If you mean that the L series is taller over all you could be right, but I've always thought the MY and L series sat at about the same height as each other with fresh springs etc.

Cheers

Bennie

Cliff R · Post by **Cliff R** » Fri Oct 12, 2012 5:04 pm

OK it's on.
I have an appointment on monday at 1pm with the engineer, I will need to fit extended rear only mudflats (still have some from the MY kit approval) and will be going with the Speedy 13 x 6" rims and 185/70/13 tyres. They are within the 15mm over original tyre size and I have checked these will be OK with no speedo correction needed.
This means I can fit 75 series tyres later for extra diamater.
I will also need to fit extended spacers on the rear suspention stops which are only 50mm square tubing.
Looking good.

Bennie
It just seems that the L series sit way higher than the MY with the 2" kit.
Will take pics and compare when able.