Subaru Forester for Haulin'

So how would I make a Forester my own?

Now quite so flashy...

As with any car, I would start with the body, chassis, and suspension so it could handle what I would force it to do.  I would love to find a way to put in a roll cage that wouldn't get in the way of my gear hauling or using the seats.  I would most likely also add subframe connectors and strut tower braces.  Then I'd find a good set of coilovers to drop it down 1-2 inches and some sway bars to complement them so it handles well.

Not sure if I'd go quite this low, but I'd get pretty close.

I'd paint the car black and tint the windows so it looked super stealthy.  I think it'd be really cool to put a matte black stripe across the back of the roof, down the back of the quarter window, and up to the front of the car, riding along the side on top of the fender flares.  Shaved door handles are definitely on the table as an option for the back doors, but the fronts stay stock.  I also really love the color scheme for the rims in the previous picture, but I'd want them to be in the style of the following picture.

I'm curious where he got the fog light covers too.

Then for the fun part, I'd love to get one of the 3.0L H6 engines and bore it out to take the pistons from the 2.5L H4.  If my logical math is correct (and they can put those pistons in that engine), with a little porting of the combustion chamber, that engine should have a displacement of 3.8L.  Talk about a boxer!  As though that weren't enough, the 3.0L is a DOHC engine, so it'll make more power than whatever wimpy SOHC engine I'd probably wind up having to buy with the car.  If I really wanted it to pack a punch, I'd try to find a way to mount a small blower on it.  I like the roots or twin screw superchargers better than the turbos that most people put on 4-bangers because they're belt driven and have less lag than the air driven centrifugal superchargers like the ones Subaru puts on the STi's.  I'd want that on a manual trans for the fun, the duability, and because the automatics of that era had a tendency to fail.

This car would really be able to haul once I'm done with it, and if I'm lucky, it won't cost to much to make it haul our video equipment at the same time!  It would certainly be a blast to drive to the shoots though!