el_freddo

Ah, I didn’t realise you were in Austria! Understandable that it’s hard to find a Gen1 in the yards then. They’re becoming less frequent here in Vic, Australia. The L series are very hard to come by and Brumby/MV/MY wagons and sedans are basically extinct in the yards. Plenty of Brumby/MVs still kicking around out there. All the best with it! Cheers Bennie

Round ones! Seriously though, what sort of use will they see/duties required to perform? There are many good tyres out there for road and offroad, but each are a compromise in the other department they’re not so good at. So, what are you setup for/want to do? Road hugger, daily commuter or offroad “warrior”? Cheers Bennie

Me too, I’ve not seen anything like that before! I’m keen for further details on this mod Cheers Bennie

If you’re running the locking centre diff AWD box ALWAYS run the same make and model of tyres with the same tread wear. If you wear out that precious centre diff you’re up the creek for parts unless you happen to find another one of these gearboxes with a good centre diff. And yes, I should’ve know. With your tinkering it wouldn’t have been factory. How good is the AWD in these things? Cheers Bennie

Whoa, too many chiefs in here - what’s been said so far: - not all compressors are compatible with all brackets - get a bracket with the compressor so you know you’ve got a complete unit that works together was said several times - you don’t need a bracket, you’ve already got one is the latest. I hope we haven’t confused John! Best thing you can do is spend a day at a parts yard, find a ‘91 model, remove its compressor, go find another later model with the r136a gas (as previously mentioned by matt167) and pull its compressor. Go back to the 91 and see if the compressor bolts in as you want it to. If it does, just buy the compressor, hoses and wiring. If not, go back to the donor (which you’ll have to anyway to grab the VIN) and get the bracket too. You will need a stubby 12mm spanner for the lower bolts, particularly the one closest to the intake manifold. It’s a real bastard to undo if you don’t want to remove the intake manifold. You’ll also need a 14mm socket/spanner to remove the bracket and the small one beside the intake on the lhs of the compressor. In my mind, that’s how I’d do it for what I believe your needs are Cheers Bennie

Third party hosting is the key. Chuck multiple pics in the one post I use imageshack, but they have a cap on their free service. Others use photobucket. Find one you like and use them So keen to see more pics of this setup. These boats are pretty rare over here! Cheers Bennie

The ECU code is usually a sticker on the big flat side of the ECU. Hopefully it’s still there. Or, if you know the details of the model the engine came from, that could be enough to go by. Once you know what it’s from, scoure the car sale ads to find one of the same model as yours, and “steal” the VIN if possible. Many parts sites and dealers use the VIN for correct part and part number identification Cheers Bennie

Being a brumby/brat it’s front wheel drive unless you engage 4wd. So no binding under normal driving conditions, and when using 4wd it wouldn’t matter - terrain would make up for it or you wouldn’t notice it on dirt roads with the changes in surface, corrugations and potholes. Cheers Bennie

Ok, I’ll be that guy. Time to EJ it. You wont be disappointed! (Unless the new engine has a head gasket issue). Cheers Bennie

Awesome. Drop some pics of the engine and ECU code and someone here will know what you’ve got. And do you have any videos of this thing in action? Cheers Bennie

Didn’t someone else already try doing this year’s ago? Cheers Bennie

Forester struts are taller. Rear top hat is most likely different, but I’m not 100% sure on this, someone will tell you for sure Cheers Bennie

It’s the alternator. If you raise the revs and they go out that’s a clear indication that it’s the alternator. It also means your alternator isn’t properly charging the battery at idle. My mother inlaw’s brumby does the same thing, but you can only see these lights in the dark without any illumination lights on. Cheers Bennie

Classic! Gotta love projects like this! I guess any EJ swapped L series or MYs are basically the same. I’ve never thought much about this. Cheers Bennie

On closer look - holy crap!! I’ve only seen one other brumby in such good condition and it’s not a targa, but it does have 288k km on it. The guy traded it in at the same dealer he originally brought it from! The dealer polished it up and it’s now on display in their showroom with all the models. It’s seriously like looking at a 3D catalogue for the model! I noticed that you don’t have a fender indicator, but you have a side reflector in the front bumper. I’ve not noticed this before and will have to keep an eye out for this detail on other US brats as I’ve not noticed it before. Here’s our setup over the puddle in Oz: On the stock bumper there’s no reflector. Cheers Bennie

That’s one huge chunk of carbon! Are you sure it wasn’t a chunk of the piston, or part of a ring landing or a ring? What’s the bore look like, smooth or gouged out? No rod knock? Cheers Bennie

If it were the crank angle sensor the engine wouldn’t idle. Same for the cam angle sensor. I had my cam angle sensor back out of its mount after putting my engine back together because I didn’t nip up the retainer bolt properly. This initially created an intermittent issue as hills were climbed until the engine finally cut out and wouldn’t start again until the issue was found. I’ve not heard of crank or cam angle sensors going bad. They’re just a magnet and a big pile of fine copper wire wrapped around it to pick up a signal, the one I pulled apart was very well sealed, so I can’t see the weather busting into one of these. @Ravenwoods - after the cutout, what is the “quality” of the idle? Is it smooth, rough, miss firing, high/low, does it create a vibration, will it rev freely with the clutch in - and with the clutch engaged does it take up the load or die again? I think @idosubaru has raised a good point - time to start data logging and taking a closer look at the situations when it happens, how long into the drive that it happens, what the rough ambient temps are - and even things Ike fuel tank level according to the highly accurate Subaru fuel gauge <insert sarcasm here>. Cheers Bennie

Fans are ecu controlled, so there’s two sensors - ECU and temp gauge. Unless that changed between the Gen1 and the Gen2. As for weak, I can attest to that with my EJ22 converted L series - got a temp sensor code. Needs a new one. Fans don’t operate all the time so it’s not completely dead, and it’s not throwing a check engine light. I found it when I checked for codes. Cheers Bennie

Don’t give up on her yet! You’re bound to come across some issues along the way! I’ve wanted to burn mine a few times, I even lined up a better body but I couldn’t bring myself to doing the swap. That was about seven years ago now. She’s still kicking and loving the offroad stuff! Cheers Bennie

Love it! I was going to say that the rally mods done to the old L series involved welding a triangular plate in that same section. They also welded a plate over a seam just under each corner of the windscreen and a plate in each foot well up front. But that will certainly do the job. Spreading the load I’d say it’ll be fine and not rip out the door hinge mount section (lower A pillar section?). Keep up the good work! Cheers Bennie

If you’ve got the backing plate you can swap the tensioner - but I don’t know why you’d want to. I’ve not heard of any issues with the old piston tensioner yet I’ve heard and experienced a failure of the integrated style tensioner. I’ve got 10 years and two or three timing belt replacements on one tensioner. I’ve had the cam belt off a few times in that time too. So did business go well @Basket_case ? Cheers Bennie

You’ve learnt a golden rule of the flat four. If replacing one head gasket, you always replace both. If there are issues on one side you can expect issues on the other side too. That bolt you’ve put in to stop the coolant coming out is a head bolt hole that has other smaller bolts drilled in the side of it. You’ve effectively plugged the head gasket leak with that little bolt. If you’re pulling threads it could be several reasons as to why: 1) block severely overheated, resulting in the alloy being soft 2) dirty thread on a bolt used, damaging the thread, or that thread was cross threaded 3) over torqued bolts Cheers Bennie

That is quite the find and I’m stoked to hear you’re keeping it stock! Over here I’ve only ever seen one beige targa brumby, but I’m pretty sure it was a roof chop job. I’ve seen a few beige targas in the states, they always look different. Keep her mint and enjoy! Cheers Bennie

When my pump let go there was zero warning. It collapsed anbearing or something nasty. Spewed oil everywhere. Had to drive without the belt on which meant no alternator. That was a fun trip off the mountain from one of our snow resorts in pursuit of the crank/alt only belt. Only just made it with the dual battery hooked in to keep me going. The batteries were at 8v at the parts store. Ecu wasn’t having much fun. It’s always handy to carry that smaller belt to eliminate the PS pump from the equation if needed. I hope yours is an easy fix. Cheers Bennie

I doubt there’s a misfire code for the ‘96. What plugs did you use? Cheers Bennie