Brett Rogers' Liberty

Thought I would do a quick run down on our latest Liberty. It is, or rather was, a Gen 2 Enduro 2.2 AWD. We bought it about 6 months ago from Keith and Dana Peters after a tip off from “Byron” Bryan Neilsen. The car had over 500, 000 k’s apparently, not real sure on the exact figure as the speedo stopped working at 485,000. The car had a 40mm body lift and a set of tired King springs when we bought it. Other than the pretty ordinary looking loop bar on it, it was basically stock.

First job once we got it home was to clean that many k’s of dust from the car. I stripped the interior so there was just the dash and hood lining left and got in there with the gerni. I hit every thing up with it. Gerni’d the seats, door trims, hood lining, carpet, every thing.

Once the inside was clean and re-assembled we set about making it perform the way I wanted. The EJ22 and auto were scrapped to make room for an EJ20 turbo (Jap RS EJ20T, TD04 turbo, STI injectors, heads and cams, twin turbo manifold, water to air IC, APexi BOV) and STI manual box with a 2400lb clutch. A matching 4.444 limited slip diff was fitted at the same time along with CV joints all round. Engine management is controlled by a Microtech LT8S. New speedo, tacho, fuel and temp gauges have been fitted.

Approximately half a million kilometres of dirt road driving really showed in the bushes and suspension. The complete front end was swapped for one from a 97 twin turbo, which included cross member, swing arms, steering rack, sway bar, brakes etc. Suspension and lift kit is now a modified 3” BYB kit, 98 Outback struts, 30mm spring lift. The rear end has had most of the swing arms changed with a few still to be done.

Panel wise has been fairly simple so far. Both front guards were swapped for new ones as it was the easiest way to get rid of the dents. A twin turbo bonnet was also fitted.

Brett Rogers SC306