In celebration of the CDs 30th birthday, the Forester gets an upgrade from it’s original cassette deck to a new “compact disc” player.  By “new”, I actually mean an OEM Subaru/Clarion head unit out of a 2001 Subaru Liberty RX.  This $60 eBay purchase, and subsequent $15 Nissan Double Diversity antenna adapter purchase, has brought the Forester into the pre-iPod world of scratched discs and a 74-minute limit.

However, neither my MacBook Air, Mac Mini or Toshiba Libretto have optical drives.  While the Mac Mini that runs the TV does have a DVD burner, I don’t have any blank CDs, and I don’t think I can bring myself to buy any.

What to do?  Add an SPST switch, a hacked-up C-bus cable and an 1/8″ audio jack. Courtesy of a design from a Kiwi Lamb, I made this auxiliary in / iPad adapter:

The Forester, much like just about every other Subaru, had some fairly pronounced rear suspension sag.  I addressed this issue on the old 2007 Outback Sport by swapping the front springs for a shorter pair off of a WRX.  This time I wanted to keep the front end where it was and instead raise the rear.

This Forester has a nifty mechanical self-leveling rear suspension.  If I understand it correctly, the rear struts have a ratcheting mechanism that will automatically maintain the strut length at a pre-determined setting no matter what the suspension load.  This being the case, a taller pair of springs would not alter the rear ride height.  However, raising the body on the strut tops will raise the ride height.

As luck would have it, I found some ‘saggy butt’ suspension spacers from Subtle Solutions which are specifically designed to address my sagging suspension.  The spacers are made from 0.25″ HDPE plastic and fit between the strut tops and the body.  Here’s what I did and what happened:

Tools:

• 12mm socket and wrench
• 14mm box-end wrenches (2)
• floor jack

Time:

• 15-20 minutes per side

Before and After Measurements:

Note: I drove about 50km to settle the suspension prior to measurement.

Forester Subtle Spacer Install: Before and After

Procedure:

1. Remove rear cargo cover, trim covering strut top
2. Remove three 12mm nuts and strut top cover
3. Disconnect rear sway bar (14mm nut and bolt)
4. Raise rear corner of the Forester enough to let the strut top drop and clear the body
5. Install spacer(s)
6. Align strut mounting studs to body, lower the Forester
7. Reinstall strut top cover, reinstall bolts and torque to spec
8. Reinstall interior trim, cargo cover
9. Reattach rear sway bar
10. Repeat steps 1-9 for the other side

Install Photos:

I got the Eriksen out to Eagle Park a couple times this weekend. The first day I rode a short distance with some local riders who showed me the tracks and gave me some tips. The rest of the day was spent making minor adjustments and getting the Eriksen (and myself) back into decent riding condition. Now that the brakes, derailleurs, bottom bracket and headset are happy I should be able to ride without carrying a full toolbox around with me.

The second day was a much longer ride and the low clouds made for some great photos. Overall, Eagle seems to have a broad range of trail types. There are easy fire road tracks, mild to technical xc tracks, a ‘skills park’ and even some downhill tracks. The terrain is varied enough that this will be a good park for regular rides and shouldn’t get boring.

The Forester is a great car for transporting bikes around. The trunk is large enough for all of the gear, the roof is long enough that rear-hatch to bike tire clearance isn’t an issue, and the roof line is low enough that getting the bike on and off is easy.