el_freddo

Make sure your CTS isn’t installed with Teflon tape. It may need the earth/ground of the coolant passage that it’s screwed into. I’m unfamiliar with whether this needs an earth connection. I mentioned this as the brumby/brat used a temp switch in the radiator to trigger the thermo fan. Put Teflon tape on this and it doesn’t work as it requires the earth/ground provided by the radiator (that also has its own earth wire from it to the body). Other than that I’m out of ideas. Cheers Bennie

You can take the AWD manual box from the Impreza. Bits that will need mods to fit it: - gearbox crossmember - tailshaft modded to fit (can’t remember if longer or shorter needed) - possible gear shift linkages need modification - match rear diff - front drive shafts - swap for MPFI/turbo units and they’ll slot straight on. The hardest part is the EJ conversion itself for many ppl. The wiring is what gets ppl stuck. It’s worth the effort! Also an advantage of the AWD box is you retain the factory EJ flywheel and clutch. And on that, if it’s a hydraulic clutch you can swap it to a cable operated clutch by swapping the clutch pivot ball location and the clutch fork for the cable fork. You’ll also need the clutch cable bracket that mounts on the gearbox. If the gearbox is a cable clutch setup you’re all good to go! Cheers Bennie

This won’t give accurate readings as the cylinder is not able to suck air in freely to compress as it would in operation. It would only show that cylinders don’t have leaking valves, even then, depending on how the engine stopped with piston positions in each cylinder, some cylinders might not show up anything. To be as accurate as possible you’d need to ensure the cylinder being tested is at bottom dead centre. This would give the best possible compression test with both valve sets closed. Cheers Bennie

I can understand a race vehicle copping stuff like this, but a slightly modified passenger vehicle that does some mild offroading is another thing (oh, and for those that didn’t pick up on it, ^ insert sarcasm here). Well going by Meatloaf’s theory, you’re doing better than two out of three, so that ain’t bad - if you’re game! Cheers Bennie

There are many ppl that go down the Weber route and have loads of troubles with them - or just chew a whole lot of juice running with one. Give the hitachi a good service with a new kit (keep the old bowl float valve - the ones in the kit are never correct) and go again. You’ll find there are two camps in the Weber world - those that continue to run them and manage them to keep them going and those that revert back to the hitachi carb. Personally a rebuild kit was far cheaper than a Weber so I went that way with my Brumby and I have no regrets. It runs awesome now! Cheers Bennie

Nope. Disagree! Before first oil change or not, they’re squashed and had a heat cycle. You *might* get away with reusing them if you have to pull the head again during reassembly, realistically though, for all that work would you really want to risk reusing a head gasket only to have it fail prematurely? Some might have a crack at it. I won’t be though. Cheers Bennie

Just looking at the cam covers that’ll be a phase two engine. Dunno if that helps! What seals and gaskets are you chasing? Not too much is different between the phase1 and phase2 with the heads and blocks. The intake manifold gaskets are different between the p1 & p2. Waterpump gasket and oil pump O ring are all the same. Timing belt is different but that’s about it. Cheers Bennie

Geez, you guys know how to break stuff good. I’m glad you found that now. I’m surprised the tyre joint didn’t contact you about it as they did the work or alert you about it when they handed the completed work back to you! Cheers Bennie

What I did for my EJ conversion a looong time ago was trace the wiring board on the back of the instrument cluster and intersect that wire for the EJ CEL wire. Or trace it all the way back to the RX’s ECU. Hope this helps. Cheers Bennie

That’s nuts! You’d never hear away with that over here!! Not having any provision to utilise the towed vehicle’s brakes is the major issue - I couldn’t imaging two or three towed vehicles being much fun at all, regardless of how oversized your “utes” are over there (we're seeing more and more of them on our roads down here and they suck unless actually used for their towing capacity). We do have road trains though, and down in Victoria where I’m located we’re finally seeing them on our roads - only two trailers or B-triple configurations, much like NSW does. I believe QLD, NT, SA and WA all do three trailers with WA having a five trailer combo in the mining areas! Awesome bit of engineering and I wouldn’t mind driving one myself sometime… I digress. Cheers Bennie

Don’t go the Weber, not worth the trouble! If you have an auto choke it should work on initial start up. Try double pumping the throttle before turning the ignition on and starting. Don’t touch the throttle pedal. If all is working well it’ll start and have high idle until you tap the throttle again, then it’ll drop the idle speed down and open the choke a bit more. Cheers Bennie

You’ll need L series front struts. 2wd might be the go as the 4wd units are a tad higher I believe. This is certainly the case for the rear end. Cheers Bennie

Man epic trips again, awesome to see some forum members jumping in on the action too! I didn’t realise travelvw was that close to you guys! I’m a bit jealous you guys can tow a vehicle like that using a hitch. I saw this as the laws over here in our nanny country (when it comes to vehicles) require the tow vehicle be 1.5 times the weight of the vehicle being towed from memory. So I can’t tow the brumby behind the family bus because the family bus isn’t heavy enough. But put it on a trailer and it’s all good. Must have something to do with no braking on the tow vehicle and steering becomes a bit more difficult I’d say. I digress… Shame about the cam belt! When was it done last? It’ll be interesting to see if the cogged idler was the culprit. Cheers Bennie

I reckon you got off light - and your insurance company is being lazy. To me that’s not a difficult fix unless the engine crossmember or strut towers have moved, if it drove fine afterwards I’d say it’s fine. Buy the replacement parts and go to town on it. You’ve got nothing to lose from what I can see from those pics. I thought you’d have more carnage than hitting a kangaroo but apparently not. Cheers Bennie

Hmmm… I’ll have to look into that further as it was well over a decade ago that I played with one of these in this manner! I feel like it’s the rolled brass ones but I’m really not sure. Cheers Bennie

Fast running out of lunch break atm! From memory on the back of the TPS there are two black tabs that are kind of melted. Drill these out and the black cover should now come off to expose the fingers and their tracks they follow. Can’t reply about values you got. I do know there’s a switch or two that go to Open once it’s off idle. No check light with the self diagnosis mode with the CEL. It goes straight into throwing the codes then repeats. So if all you’re getting is code 31 over and over that’s the only code you have. Cheers Bennie

Yeah we can’t do anything compared to you guys state side!! Nanny country The guy that had those rims made was told this was the only way to do it and I believe they said it was better than the originals. The originals are HEAVY! 5mm steel on those spokes - yet my off-roader’s ones have “flex fractures” in the paint on them. You can see these in the pic above on the left before they were refurbed. Never had a crack though! Cheers Bennie

Wow that crack is nuts! And those are the copies. Here’s a close up of mine - you’ll notice the design difference! ^ that’s my before and after shots of the freshen up these copped about three months ago for Subinats. I can keep an eye out for a couple of rims over here if you want. The biggest issue is getting them to you without breaking the bank. I’d follow cnzy’s advice with the repair job. That crack surprises me and I wonder how it was created. The rusting tells you it was there for quite some time as cnzy said. Good thing you found it! Cheers Bennie

What are these scorpion rims you’re talking about? We’ve got these original scorpion rims formally made by Scorpion Subaru in Queensland I believe: There was a copy done a few years back that is sort of the same but not at the same time, not made by the original company as they’re not around anymore. I’ve heard of cracking occurring on the later units around or near the bolt holes. Cheers Bennie

They’re not just rims from drum brake era vehicles - they’re an early EA81/MY rim and they don’t clear the front calipers of the L series. These probably came from the models with solid front discs. They have a curved hub and sunraysia star pattern are the bit with the curve in them. The L series ones are flat with a sharp curve before it joins the rim. I’m unsure if the vented front disc MY/EA81 sunraysia rims have that same style bend in the star like the L series units. I’d have to look at a set (have them out the back on a 1984 Leone). Spacers might clear the front calipers but they’re not an ideal solution in my book. I hope this helps. Cheers Bennie

In the AC pipes/evaporator or the air ducting? If it’s blocked then why does the return line ice up - to me a blockage should make it shut down due to an over pressure or because it’s too cold at the evaporator. I hope you get this one sorted, there’s some good learning here!

The Liberty mentioned above either cranks for longer than I’m happy with or if you crank it then stop and go again it will fire up instantly. This only occurs when doing a cold start in the morning or after work at the end of the day. Once it’s warmed up starting in the first crank or two is a non issue. It’s just one of those quirks. I don’t know when it started but that’s my work around. Cheers Bennie

The sight glass should only be at the halfway mark, generally at the marker dot as @moosens mentioned. Had a carb rebuild done? The accelerator pump might be on the way out. If it drives like a momentary flat spot when putting the foot in that points to the accelerator pump not putting a shot down the throat of the carby to get things moving. Also try pumping the throttle several (or more times) to get it started - that trick might help. Cheers Bennie

Replaced both fuel filters (front and rear)? Have a look through the sight glass to see if there’s any fuel in the bowl. It’s on the RHS of the carb. After it runs and you’ve shut it off and it doesn’t run anymore, will it start with some starter fluid? If not, does it need to cool off before it will start again (with or without starter fluid)? If your answer sequence is no and yes to the above questions, the ignition module in the dizzy could be on the way out. Replace this and your coil at the same time. If the coil dies it takes out the ignition module with it. Cheap insurance. Ask me how I know… Cheers Bennie

I just rolled a 2000 RX Liberty with the EJ251 (matching numbers) over 500,000km today. That’s the equivalent to 312,000 miles. It’s still going strong and has its own unique story too. Dunno what owner number we are, but it was a $500 special with 300,000km (187,500 miles) on the clock back in 2016. New clutch, new head gaskets and we were winning (got it registered). My sister owns it and has given up on it since having a company car, now I drive it in our rotation of vehicles. It’s back at no1 commuter now since having its cam belt done and the oil pump resealed (minor leak that may not have been it in the first place). I have to keep an eye on the oil level between changes as it seems to use some but isn’t smokey - I usually use a semi synthetic so it should show up if it’s being burnt. If the engine is good, there’s really no reason why you can’t swap the engine into another good body if it comes to that. Cheers Bennie