el_freddo

Welcome to the forum! The twin turbo GT? Noice! Post up some pics when you get the chance. We all love pics here! First up I'd be swapping out the timing belt for a new quality kit! That way you know the history on the cam belt kit and know that nothing is going to snap and make other bits go tinker tinker tinker together. If you need any twin turbo info there's an Australian based forum with a TT guru or two on there, they know all about the twins, vacuum lines and trouble shooting Cheers Bennie

Like an EJ conversion. Done right and looked after it's a very good swap that comes with reliability. I'm still running on my same EJ conversion done ten years ago it also makes the L series a much more enjoyable car to drive. So patch that issue and plan for an EJ conversion I say! Cheers Bennie

Map lights: grab the factory wiring and you *should* find a matching plug under your dash for them to be powered from. Cheers Bennie

Check the power and vacuum to the solenoids to ensure they're working properly. Also check the switch as it sounds like it's not engaging in the on position. Cheers Bennie

As mentioned - check the resistors in the fan ducting. There will be several wires that plug into this device. Check those and go from there to the switch etc. Cheers Bennie

The XT6 5 stud hub swap doesn't do much for suspension other than change the front strut to EJ for the bigger brakes. Two reasons for this swap 1) wider rim selection becomes available and 2) you get the EJ brakes which means just about anything from the first liberty to the wrx and early sti (pre PCD change). as for the springs, heavier usually gives a little bit of lift but at the same time you lose some compression unless you're carrying a heavier load. The Honda springs go well unloaded. I'm now looking into IFS prado springs/shocks as the next piece of kit out the back. I might end up just using the Honda springs with the prado shocks - I'm not sure until I get the prado shocks and have a play. Cheers Bennie

Thanks for coming back to this and updating the thread as to what the fix was. It's pretty rare Cheers Bennie

@ErikAnderson - ok with more background context it makes sense. In that case find a decent used 4spd to bolt straight in because I can tell you now that if you open up a 4spd to service it you'll not have your wrx or your wife's car sorted anytime soon to start working on your motorbike. If you were keeping it, which I thought you were, my above recommendation for the 5spd stands. Or just save your time and sell it with a couple of crunchy gears. They can't be THAT bad can they? Cheers Bennie

.B) read up on the conversion process (search the forum). Not overly difficult. And a lot less difficult than pulling a 4spd apart for some worn synchros. Cheers Bennie

.A) what needs repairing? .B) everyone is with the 4 speed box. Your efforts would be better spent on fitting the L series 5spd box. At least there's some hope if you open up one of these Cheers Bennie

There are two different clutch sizes for the MY series. Typically the smaller is the 2wd and I believe the early 4wd unit. I can't see anything wrong with that pressure plate going by the pics but that doesn't mean much. Have you had time to look at the other components in the clutch system? Cheers Bennie

Make sure the dust boots are in good condition. If not it's probably a good idea to pull the calipers and put a new seal kit in them. If the piston on the driver's side is really badly rusted I'd recommend either a replacement piston or a refurbished set of calipers left and right. Cheers Bennie

After reading this thread start to finish my first thought was the timing chain, then the O2 sensor which I see GD mentioned too. I'd be looking at this/these sensors. If it was timing it'd be doing it from the first start of the day. Cheers Bennie

It could be a possibility. I'd be looking at the rim as the rim's mating surface with the nut will be showing some signs of severe contact if an air gun was used to tighten up the nut. Not much fun there. All wheel nuts should be done up by hand rather than an air gun. Cheers Bennie

I'm not sure that they're aiming to run it as a business that turns a profit, rather supplying a run of replacement tailgates to make many Brumbys look good again - the tailgate is usually the first thing to be dinged up or start to rust out if not internally cleaned out from time to time. Cheers Bennie

Hmmm... I don't think we got dingers in our subi's unless there was some cheeky action going on... I also don't remember any chimes in our Gen3 ('99 model) like you describe. Are you sure you've got a key in chime for that model vehicle? Personally I don't see the issue about the key chime - I find them super annoying and with the function of remote locking it's pretty rare to lock the car manually anyway. This negates the need for an annoying key in chime. Cheers Bennie

Don't skimp on replacement driveshafts! I got a cheap set once. One clicked as I rolled out the driveway, the other clicked within 300km. I was lucky in that I was able to return them for a refund. Cheers Bennie

Yep, I second this. The "other way" that's unofficial that I think Cob Cruiser is talking about is to set one cam at 12 o'clock and the other at 6 o'clock and fit both belts at the same time. The issue with this is that one of the cams is not in it's relaxed state - as in without any valve springs acting on the cam's lobes. Really it's not too hard to fit one belt, rotate the crank 360 degrees and fit the second belt. If you don't rotate the crank you'll only ever get the engine to run on one bank at a time, not matter how many times you rotate the dizzy timing 180 degrees! Trust me, I know this first hand with my first and current L series. It took me about 6 months of working on it on and off to work out what the problem was. It wasn't until we did the timing belt on my sister's L series that it showed up with the same problem. Once dad and I worked out the timing issue on sister's L, mine was running perfect less than an hour later Cheers Bennie

Any chance you could leg it to your mum's place in the subi, then do the work on your car once at the farm with the readily available parts aquired? This way you can help your mum then sort your subi - if the travel gamble pays off. Or see if you can get the vehicle transported to near your mum's where you can then drive a shorter distance from there. Of course these ideas are easier said than done... Cheers Bennie

Pulling the LHS cam cover does expose the cam tensioner if you get on the right angle. We had a bad one in our '99 Liberty that knocked but didn't show any sign of the typical bouncing you see in youtube clips of this issue It sounded like rod knock too. But the only way we nailed it as the tensioner was with a stethoscope. Our noise was immediate on start up. If it's not the tensioner I'd be looking at the oil pump, making sure the internal O ring isn't toast, while that's off replace the O ring anyway If it's an auto make sure the torque converter to flex plate bolts are done up tight enough for the job. Cheers Bennie

For the cone washer try hitting the axle shaft with a swift blow to get as much shock through the washer as possible. This usually gets it sorted for me when mine are stuck. As for the caliper - any caliper with a built in hand brake function is a screw in piston job when swapping in new brake pads. I've found this tool invaluable: Simple to use and works a treat! Beats using long nose pliers like I used to do! Cheers Bennie

You can find them on ebay and I think gumtree too. Pre-orders come in at $AU599 IIRC. Pretty sweet to have such a battered unit available again. It'd be even better if they sold just the trim piece on its own. I know they're doing the whole trim set reproductions but not the tailgate piece separately - which is where I reckon they'd make their money! Cheers Bennie

Sounds like it might be easier to run the whole legacy wiring loom and splice the MV plugs for things like head and tail lights to the legacy loom. Still a big job but it might be easier than playing around with that rat's nest. Cheers Bennie

They probably stopped production earlier than that as sales dropped off - then sold off the remaining vehicles from the stock already made, labelling them the model year as the one they were sold in. I always thought production stopped in '91 with remaining stock sold off in '92 as this is the latest model brumby you can get in Australia. What is it that you're chasing in the wiring diagram? Cheers Bennie

Don't underestimate the weight of that box. Even if it is 40 or so kg, that's a lot of solid weight to have on you from under the vehicle. Use a trolley jack as a minimum or better yet is using a motor cycle jack. Cheers Bennie