Hey all! Happy New Year!!!!

Has anyone committed to a rally inspired build? I have searched and cannot really find anything here. I did find a couple of pics on Google of rally-ish style Outbacks. I love the rally look rather than the typical overlanding, lifted, geared-out builds. Rally is the look and function I want to go - not a full build with a cage and what nots - more so with garish rally flaps, rally wheels, obnoxious lighting, softer suspension, aero, protective bits, and eventually engine performance (fingers crossed for Cobb to come through). Curious if there are others who have gone, or are going this route as well?

I understand that the mods listed above are very common but the look and feel that I have seen with most builds does not seem rally (to me at least). I much prefer spirited driving on gravel roads and whoops more so than low speed crawling.

Cheers!!!

Makes sense, and not that the OB can actually crawl, LOL.

But why "softer suspension?" I think you meant "a lot stiffer suspension" The stock suspension is incredibly soft + minimal travel = unbearable offroad. Stiffer is more comfortable offroad and more stable on road. Soft offroad dives over everything, makes you ride the bump stops, hit bumpers, etc. Race vehicles are soft but they have tons of wheel travel. In addition, a stiffer suspension would handle much better heavier tires. Driving a stock OB on KO2s on a regular but corrugated dirt road is an abysmal experience.

Thankfully, we don't have much by way of whoops unless you go and drive the race tracks. There is one trail here, close to PHX that has minor whoops and it is kinda fun but these things are brutal on the vehicle if taken at speed with any regularity. Way worse than normal rock crawling.

Either way, for anything beyond dirt roads, you will need to replace the bumpers and add shock travel and thus lift. And upgrade the brakes because there will be lots of last-moment heavy braking to get that low hanging front through much of anything in the desert.

So I think it really bifurcates: for dirt roads, you need one setup. For easy high clearance trails, you will need a very different setup more like @Brucey's .

I don't know how one can ever set an OB up for whoops.

 

There is SCCA rallycross - accessible, more for fun than high speed thrills but it does take skill and judicious prep to improve.

Read if interested in RallyCross

How to prepare and compete for a RallyCross As I accelerated into turn three and felt my rear wheels break free, I knew I was hooked on the stimulating sport of RallyCross. All you need is a car, an open dirt field, and some cones. If you have ever watched the World Rally Championship and...

www.subaruoutback.org

https://www.scca.com/pages/what-is-rallycross

 

I've gone pretty far down what you might call the "rally" rabbit hole LOL...except for the mud flaps and light show. I built it to be fun to drive both on and off road, and to get me to/from trailheads in the Sierra Nevada and coastal mountain ranges. So far I've found it to be a pretty good have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too setup: great off-road performance (within reason, it's not a rock crawler or a trophy truck) without sacrifice to on-road manners, good power and decently reliable/easy to maintain.

Not really sure how applicable any of this is to OP other than maybe suspension, but here's what I did with my Gen 3 rally-ish battlewagon:

Engine:
-AEM high flow stock location air filter with OE air box
-COBB turbo inlet hose
-Blouch 380 xt turbo w/ oil feed line
-Grimmspeed TMIC with Turbosmart BOV
-TGV delete
-Killer-B 4-1 header with EWG up-pipe, Swain Coated
-Tial 38mm EWG custom re-routed into down-pipe
-COBB catted downpipe
-Grimmspeed EBCS
-Injector Dynamics 1050x (hard wired, no pigtails)
-DW65c fuel pump with new in-tank fuel filter sock
-Air pump delete (barrow sensor reinstalled)
-Oil filter screen removed from turbo oil feed side
-Perrin Turbo heat shield
-Many new hoses added when the turbo was done
-COBB lightweight crank pulley

Wheels/Suspension/Drivetrain:
-Motegi MR141 17x7.5 wheels (in rally GOLD!!! 😎)
-Falken Wildpeak AT Trail tires 225/60R17
-Torque Solutions rear diff carrier
-HotBits DT1 coilovers +50mm with ADF subframe and multilink spacers
-New OEM top hats
-New trans mount

Exterior:
-Draw-Tight - Class III - 2"
-Detours of Maine RidgeRunner tire carrier
-HID headlights: retrofit source H7: Morimoto Elite HS-H71, HID Ballasts 35w / AMP, Morimoto XB Ballast H7 HID Bulbs (H7B: XB 4500K), Wire Harness and HD Relay
-Primitive racing skid plate integrated with the stock under tray

The big one IMO is the adjustable coilovers. The extra lift is definitely nice, but it's the extra travel combined with rebound/compression adjustment that can accommodate a wide range of conditions. More technical terrain? Firmer ride and slower speed. Smoother dirt? Soft and fast. Twisty mountain roads on the way there and back? Mid firmness, also fast. No negative handling effects from the lift that the suspension upgrades couldn't accommodate for, and then some.

I'd summarize that what makes my particular build more "rally" than just off-road is the emphasis on higher power and improved handling at speed.

Of course, this was not an inexpensive endeavor. Fast - Fun – Cheap: pick any two If you want to take it to the next level beyond this you're looking at crazy $$$ for suspension and other upgrades, and probably should reconsider whether the Gen 6 Outback is the right platform to start with.

 

I have built many cars from track to show, but never a rally build. I look forward to playing with my OBW (used to have a lifted Gen 4 with a few mods but nothing serious). Yours sounds like a fun build for sure! I know the OBW will never be a WRX, or Trophy Truck, etc., but I am excited about the possibilities within the boundaries of my daily driven dad-wagon. Thanks for sharing!

 

The only thing that gives me pause about a rally Gen 6 Outback is that they're a bit large. Doesn't mean you can't have fun with it and simply adding a stiffer rear sway bar makes a world of difference.

 

How fast can you adjust those coilovers in the field Fox? Was looking at some myself eventually but I wasnt sure what the transition time was like.

Also when you say increased travel is that mainly due to the lift as well? Or do the coilovers give increased travel even at stock heights?

 

Adjustments take less than 5 minutes, faster than I can air down my tires. I modified the trim at the rear wheel wells to allow quick access for a tool and made some custom knobs for the rear adjusters, take a look at this post:

What did you do with your 3rd Gen Outback today?

The front adjusters are just right under the hood so no extra work required there.

The extra travel is due to the coilovers, and 2" of lift is essentially the sweet spot to balance upward and downward travel for these coilovers. You could run them at stock height and you'd still end up with more travel, it would just be mostly downward travel. Not ideal but not really critical either. I gained about 5-6" of total travel, about half in each direction with the 2" lift.

 

Wow. Thats a huge amount of extra travel!

How does the car handle on pavement? Does the extra travel have any downsides?

Did you also have to install different control arms or make any major adjustments besides an alignment? Raising and lowering I always worry about that after I had a car that ended up excessively wearing the tires due to lowering and cost me a fortune in replacements

edit: Just also realized you have a third gen (sold mine last year actually - in some ways I liked it better than my 2017!). Will need to look into if I gain the same amount of travel.

 

It's pretty close to double the stock travel, I think.

The car handles great on pavement, no downsides from the additional travel because of the ability to adjust rebound/compression damping. I usually set the damping adjustment to the middle of the range for daily driving on country roads. Makes for nice flat cornering without being overly firm. Full soft is fun here and there but it is MUCH softer lol

I installed rear subframe and trailing arm spacers to realign the rear suspension geometry. Still have ~12" of clearance to the rear diff supports

You should be able to get at least that much extra travel from extended coilovers. Gen 3's multi-link rear suspension is the limiting factor in my case, not sure how later years differ specifically.

 

I have. Well I hope so. So far 2024 wilderness with Thule rack, rallyinnovations.com rally bar with 2 combo drive leads and 2 amber wide cornering the xl-r pro from baja, and a 60hp chip. Looking into suspension, engine, hood.....but having hard time.

 

Good looking build, BTW.

I see you're in Springfield; I used to live in Wildwood but still have properties in Wentzville. MO is a fun state for roads.

 

That is one massive Subaru emblem on front. Is that stock? It looks like it would be bigger than the driver's head!

 

Oh that moded emblem is all Subaru doing. Thaks I love building cars to what I want. Just got a new Cobb turbo hose. Not going over 320hp though. Rally for this type of car the 300+ is way enough.