el_freddo

Well over summer our nightly lows can be between 12ish on a really really cold one to usually around 20-23*C and can peak up in the mid to high 40's, but our usual summer daytime temp is 30-38 with a beating sun. Winter has cold snaps for up to a week at a time - that's when you know it's snowing in the alps. These nights will be 0 or below and can be windy, daytime temp would be lucky to reach 12*C. Usually our overnight temps are around 8-12*C with daytime temps up to 20*C on a warm day. Then in terms of moisture content it can be anywhere from really dry (frosty) to really moist/wet. Rain can be light and go for a few days but it's more often than not going to be patchy on/off heavyish rain that could go for 5 minutes up to an hour or two - or it could just be a passing front. In summer we can still get storms with awesome intensity. Love them! And I love the snow too! Can snow down to 500m in the right conditions, has snowed lower almost 100 years ago now! I hope that gives you a good overview It's now about 6pm, sun went down a good hour ago, 12*C and 75% humidity. Pretty chilly! I've managed to paint the underside of Ruby Scoo last night in the shed with the heater on. I haven't really left the house today but did smuggle some parts in to put some of the gearbox back together on the coffee table... Even had the ok from my better (totally awesome) half! Cheers Bennie

Awesome build mate! Got any more details on the turbo SPFI setup? I'm keen to know if it runs well with the second injector setup to keep the engine from running lean. Now I'm wondering if I can do this with my brumby and an SPFI setup... evil, evil thoughts! Cheers Bennie

I know the feeling mate. 7 months I've been working on this bloody gearbox! And now we're in winter it's ridiculous! Cheers Bennie

Got that gearbox in yet? It's good weather over there now isn't it? Your attention to detail with the floor pan mods are amazing mate! Cheers Bennie

Plenty of them here Johnson. Would just need to work out how to get them over there in the most cost effective way... I'm still working on my gearbox I've had to swap everything back into the SG cases as they moved the reverse slider gear's shaft 1.2mm outwards and made the drive and slider gears larger to compensate. I'm now up to the bit of sorting the diff settings and organising my low range oil feeders. Can't wait to have this back on the road! Cheers Bennie

Sex on wheels mate! Love it. I want one Cheers Bennie

Awww... I so want one of these! I totally wouldn't treat it like that either. I'll give you another L series to mess around at the Rally Cross with But I'm not in the US, hence the reason why I'd totally love one of these (but totally can't afford one!). Please look after it! Coming from where I am you don't know what you have! Cheers Bennie

I love this quote!! And top effort on finding that hard to find stuff. But I really don't understand that bumper - looks like a stock one to me, so what's the diff? Cheers Bennie

Awesome pic! So you're now running a stock single core L series radiator with an EJ and no overheating?? That sounds crazy! Glad it's sorted your overheating problem though, and I hope it stays away! Last year I found out I had the blades on my thermo fans the wrong way around, I was pretty pissed at this! They pulled air so much better once the fans were the right way around... Your subi really reminds me of mine back in the day when the paint was still really good on her. Keep it that way on yours Cheers Bennie

Redback and Sunnie the Brumby: Some sweet old school subi's being posted in here! Love it! Cheers Bennie

15mm for the starter's lower mounting nut. I can't remember anything else at 15mm off hand. Also add in a 22mm socket for the crank bolt, 36mm socket for the castleated nut on the drive shafts. These two should be purchased seperatly and not in a kit as you won't need 90% of the kit it come in, plus it's cheaper! A 6mm pin punch is also good for drive shaft swaps I've got a metric Sidchrome set 8mm-19mm spanner and socket in the half inch drive. This does me for 99% of my work on cars. I've got an inch drive breaker bar with the 36mm socket. Other basic tools - pliers (stubby and long nose), flat and Phillips head screw drivers. That should just about do it. Also you do not need to have a big spend up on tools to get you started. Shop around for the kit, mine cost about $200AU new. The other bits have been collected along the way as needed. Some found in wrecks - I love the factory tool kit's Phillips/flat head screw driver! My kit now includes wire cutter, stripper and crimpers as I've moved into adding wiring I want/need as well as the odd engine conversion along the way. Now I'm playing with gearboxes... Thinking about it, if you get into engine or gearbox work you should seriously look at a torque wrench - I keep stealing my dad's, he then borrows one from a mate if he needs one :/ Garage sales are a good place to look for some decent tools if you know what you want. Old brand name kits are worth getting second hand if in good condition as they're made like no other kits today IMO. And you may save some coin in the process. I guess start with the basics - learn how to check the oil, do an oil change, how to change a tyre (you'd be surprised how many people can't do this these days!), check/change spark plugs. Basically the essentials to keep your subi going. If you get a vehicle with a dud engine or blown head gasket, get yourself a Haynes manual at the very least. Do some reading, read between the lines/decipher what's required (as needed at times with this manual!) and go from there. The ea81 is a great engine to learn on as it's so basic! You almost couldn't choose a better engine to learn on Going by my experiences I find vehicles with a good body much better as a long term project/keeper than ones that need panels cut to remove rust/spray work. So I look for vehicles with a shot engine or mechanical work needed that have a good/best body for its age to join my stables. Food for thought There really is nothing to be scared of - on an old vehicle where there's loads of community knowledge you can't go wrong. Just don't go trying to port and polish your heads by holding revs and pouring sand into the intake (viral joke)! Cheers Bennie

Interesting question. There really is two areas to explore here: 1) regular maintenance 2) desired mods Best way to keep costs down is to learn how to do it yourself Setting yourself up with good tools may cost a little initially, but the long term reward once you learn how to use them pays the tools off in no time and then some! Don't skimp on tools, get a decent set from a brand you trust. My preference is Sidchrome, only because that's what I was bought up with - the tool's quality probably isn't the same as it was when dad brought his kit when I was a kid! Happy hunting! Cheers Bennie

I just use high temp silicone. Works a treat - just make sure you clean both surfaces with a grease and wax remover before installing the exhaust with the silicone. You don't need much! Under torque bolts, leave over night if you can then torque bolts properly. If you can't leave it over night idle the engine for a minute to get some heat into the exhaust. Let cool then torque. Cheers Bennie

Geez mate, there's a lot of orange on the front of that coupe now!! I Australia we use a yellow light for foggy conditions - well, those who actually need fog lights, the new vehicles come out with white "fog lights" that are run at night with the other lights. Not cool but no body does anything about them Cheers Bennie

I scored about 300km or more of driving in Redback today. Awesome. The seat mod is great! The PS and cruise made things easy. I didn't find any decent seats at the parts yards, so no pics of that yet I've decided I just want more subi rumble out the back and I'll be a happy fella... Exactly like this: Cheers Bennie

^ That's probably about right - if you had your car in 5th at 4000rpm with that tyre size I'm sure you'd be pulling that speed... but I doubt you'd be doing it with an EA! Even and EJ would probably be a push to get there - would need a very long straight road IMO. I'm disappointed they changed their calculator, the old one was so much better I reckon. You should try changing the shift RPM to see what you get, this way you could find your cruise speed rpm's and see if it's what you want/what you think your EA82 could do. Cheers Bennie

Looking tough mate! VERY TOUGH! Have you managed to take it for a drive yet with the auto? I'm still sticking to the auto being the more drivable option between the two gearboxes, so don't go changing that auto out just yet! Still those wheels and 3.7 diff ratio... Nasty! You can work out your predicted speeds etc using the gear ratio/tyre size calculator from this website: http://www.subarugears.com/Ratios/Ratios.html ^ This ratio calculator was not the one I used and seems a lot more complicated, but it will do the same thing Cheers Bennie

Hello Amy... hehehe... gotta love that AA meeting stuff you see in movies. Seriously, welcome to the forum. I'm sure you'll find some stuff you didn't know about your subarus in your journey through the forum While I'm more of an old school subi fan, you've had (and got) some pretty neat looking subi's there! Regards Bennie

Welcome Chrisso to the Huge world of the USMB! Loads of threads in here about the EA82T and how to keep it going. Key is not to over heat them! Have you got a Mega Squirt or is that what you're looking at running in your subi? Cheers Bennie

^ Sweet! Get the cruise sorted I love it for long distance driving and not stressing about my speed in general - just keep an eye out for speed limit signs and set accordingly... you can't go wrong! Cheers Bennie

Also try blowing compressed air through the fuel line. Then clean the tank out again. Cheers Bennie

^ What WoodWagon says. I'm not close to any of my EJ's at the moment so can't measure anything for you I'm sorry. Oil leaks/dirty engine are usually the main concern for me. I do like your idea of the wooden create though - good for packing other things in too. Cheers Bennie

Yeah Dinky, yours looks good! No longer got it? I love mine, really can't drive it enough!! An update: I managed to get close to Redback this week as M&D are still borrowing her due to mum writing off her car with a roo. The only positive thing to come out of Mum's car being written off is that I got the after market cruise thrown my way for nix After a day of stuffing around with some new connectors, wrapping wiring, making brackets and getting confused with a wiring issue I now have sorted the cruise control. I've used the AP60 kit, usually retails for between $230 and $250, about the same price as the "base" level speeding fine in Vic so I'd rather put money towards a tool that can help reduce the chance of a fine. Here's a few pics of how things have been fitted for the cruise; first up is the actuator mounting position and the cable fitment: Speed sensor pickup - the mount took some time and stuffing around to get it right. I prefer to mount off the gearbox so the sensor moves with any drivetrain movement eliminating the sensor rubbing on the magnets: And the all important control pad which is also mounted on a tin plate that's been shaped to fit as best I could behind the little coin tray/storage bucket thing in the dash on the right hand side: Then I got my "mod hat" on and pulled this from the parts bomb the next day: Cleaned that up, put a new set of boots on and fitted it to Redback. To get the rack in you need to typically drill out the four spot welds that hold the jacking plate to the engine crossmember: The brake booster vacuum pick up gets in the way of the PS pump, so I relocated it to the other side of the manifold and extend the hose to fit. The bung from the other side is moved to plug this hole. I then had to shave it down to allow the pump to fit without rubbing on the bung or manifold: And a longer thermostat housing needs to be fitted to clear the rear of the power steering pump: Here's a dodgy pic of the power steering pump fitted in place - it's hidden pretty well by the air cleaner, the reservoir lid pokes up behind the air cleaner: This mod transforms the feel of the Brumby - it makes the vehicle feel much lighter than it actually is and now I can throw the vehicle around much easier than previously. The exact same experience I had after fitting PS to Sunnie the Brumby. Lastly, I checked out some seats from another vehicle to fit as I was pretty keen to swap the original seats out, even though they're not a bad example of MY seats. I came up with a bracket that adapts the Honda Integra (early 90's model I think) seats to the MY rails for a direct bolt in application. Pretty stoked and the seats are awesome, even though the ones I'm using are pretty worn out - I wanted to make sure they would fit and work before I really invested in this mod. Total cost for these seats to be fitted is $15 on 2m of two inch right angle steel. They fitted much better than I thought they would. Pics to come on that mod - I want a better set of seats for the pics! It's been a busy few days and an amazing change in some vital areas of a vehilce, you wouldn't think this is the same vehicle going by the feel of how it drives. I also took the time to track down a whistling sound that occurred since putting the bullbar on - turns out it's the mounts for the LED light bar... Now I can't wait to drive it for some time!!! Cheers Bennie

"I'm El_Freddo, and this is my Brumby Story:" Ok, time I "came clean" about the Redback Brumby. This is how I picked her up about two years ago. AFAIK I'm the third owner: The previous owner was a bit of a talker/player. I went out to check her out as a bit of a tease for me, it was local enough for the drive - I've always wanted a targa top since Sunnie the Brumby that we got for my mother inlaw. I would've loved a blue one but beggers can't be choosers. The owner said a fella was coming up from Melbourne that weekend so I bid him good luck, he was asking too much for my liking. 6 weeks later it was still there so I made an offer - he still played a hard card so I told him to offer it to the other guy at the price he mentioned and I let it be. Less than 5 mins later he called me back and said deal. As you can see from the pic above there's some front guard damage, pity, it's pretty straight otherwise! The engine wasn't working - reckoned it just stopped one day on the way to work and has been sitting like this for 6 months. I thought blown HGs straight up - empty radiator and creamy oil told the story. In the tub it had a rubber mat that concealed some foundation sand/packing sand (the orange stuff) that had held the moisture and rusted the middle of the tray. The main areas where rust shows up were pretty decent which I was happy about. After getting her home she moved around the yard a few times before making it into the shed for some work. Family photo: First up was pulling the engine - pretty easy in these things! I had to entertain dad as a decoy for his surprise 65th - he sat and watched for most of it :/ Once on the stand we drained the "oil": Second bucket: ~15 litres of water and oil in total. Now thinking major head gasket and a possible engine replacement. Continued stripping the engine before jumping to conclusions though. Heads removed, such a pretty sight (not!). Never seen this before: This was the culprit - and the previous owner's story checked out at this point: That's a Welch plug that dropped out, dumping the entire contents of the radiator into the engine, stopping things pretty quickly I'd imagine! After getting busy with work and other things (4wd trips etc) Dad came up and put the long block back together for me while I was at work - this saved me loads of time! Once the engine was all back together I got it running - it blew a lot of blue smoke and I shat bricks. It was also running as rough as guts. Turned out that I needed to adjust the valve clearances better than I did - it was running on two cylinders, just. Once all 4 were back online it blew more blue smoke. Not happy Jan! This finally cleared up and ran without any smoke. Very stoked. One of the things we had to do was remove rust from the bore. This was a cheap build for a daily cruiser - so instead of a rebuild or even a hone and new rings we hedged our bets and went this way. No1 cylinder had a couple of small pits at the very top of the cylinder so we left it this way and ran with it. Now it was time to look at other parts of the vehicle. Redback got her name when I was working on the rear end pulling drive shafts off that had probably never been removed before. While hammering away a redback dropped out from behind one of the rear wheels. Sorted that one quickly! It wasn't the last - I think there were five all up from memory, so a name was born for this beast. The rear bearings were an unknown and seemed rumbly and one of the rear brakes was leaking. So after a small investment in parts: This was done: Rear end being worked on: Rear diff was out as well, swapped in for one that leaked less instead of swapping seals! Home made tool for bearing retainer nut removal: All coming back together well: "New" rear drums were sourced from one of the parts bombs, the originals had a decent 2-3mm groove dug into them! The new ones barely looked like they'd been used! Then it was off to a mate's place for some detailing - 4 hours of degreaser and pressure washing! Only got a phone pic of that, it's not been uploaded At some point, either in the transit there or back I managed to get a stone chip in the windscreen, just a small one but right in the driver's view. Again, stole a windscreen from a parts bomb. This one cleaned up very well - I was stoked. This also gave me the opportunity to replace the old hard windscreen rubber and tackle the rust that I knew was under the front right corner: Putting the windscreen back in - always fun. Had to look it up on ausubi as to how I did it last time on Sunnie the Brumby. Once that was read the windscreen was in within 20 minutes: A new heater hose above the water pump was sourced - I use another unit from a Toyota Camry, just trim to size: A few other things along the way and it was time for a roadworthy inspection: ^ I didn't like the original rims, different offset and to me they didn't look that great on this brumby. I also had a set of black sunnies in the shed with my snow tyres on them which easily swayed my decision. I reckon they look way better even if they're only 13 inch and don't fill the guards. So she didn't pass first go. A few excited rookie mistakes: 1/ Didn't fill the wash bottle 2/ Didn't bolt down the passenger's windscreen wiper arm, so that didn't move! 3/ Apparently I had a front indicator that was blown - I didn't find it on my check so dunno where they got that from. and 4/ worn front uni joint on the tail shaft. I fixed the other easy little issues straight up, had to order in the uni joint so got two and did them both at the same time. I also smashed my thumb pretty good doing this - only now is the damaged nail almost grown out about 6 months after the event! Once those things were sorted the RWC was issued and I was off to rego. Vicroads now make it nearly impossible to get an appointment! I was pissed that I didn't get one before the weekend, but got one Monday and had to take some time off work to do it - just frustrating! The blessing was that my birthday/christmas/birthday pressie rocked up in the mail at M&D's (home base for important mail!) - so I was able to use them during the rego process, saving me some extra coin on not needing new plates: At Vicroads just after rego was granted: Back at home: Used her for driving to work, loved it! Didn't have to worry about rain (I'd been on the scooter prior to this!) And of course, hanging with the family members: Since this pic Dad borrowed Redback for a few months. I missed the old girl, the scooter's fun but there's just something about a brumby, plus it can do over 55kmp/h without trying hard. It's easier to speed in that Ruby Scoo IMO. While Dad had her M&D headed overseas and I had a conference close to their place, so my wife and I crashed there and I drove to the conference in Redback. The issue that came up after frying a few alternators (dad went through this issue) was a severe lack of performance - the exhaust would become blocked at certain levels of acceleration. This got worse until I was stuck on the way to the conference travelling at 60km/h, and that was before hills! Not fun! Pulled another Y pipe from the parts bomb and that sorted it. This wasn't an ideal fit due to some spacers on my EA81 for the ERG system that wasn't on the earlier year parts bomb, but it works and Redback goes very well for an EA81! I've also got to fix the choke - dunno what's wrong with it but it doesn't work properly. The carb could probably do a with a rebuild too, she runs too rich overall for my liking. I've solved the slop in the gear stick with the classic slot and bolt arrangement: The Welch plugs were sorted by Dad's idea - massive grub screws/threaded plugs: They've worked a treat! I've been hunting for a bullbar - found one in Talem Bend, South Australia, got a mate to pick it up for me. So I need to roadtrip to the city of churches to pick that up soon. I've since found an ideal bar that fits the bill for what I want. If all goes well the first one purchased might end up on Sunnie the Brumby if it's better than the one already on her. I've also been tossing up the idea of a lift kit, but it really comes down the right price at the right time - I don't want to go all out like Ruby Scoo lift/tyres. One thing I would love to do is make the engine run with the stock L series MPFI system. I'm a true believer in EFI over carb setups. I don't know if I can do this due to space constraints without converting the auxiliaries to the EA82 setup - not an easy task unless you've got the EA81 turbo brackets and crank pulley. Also an AWD gearbox would be great. Will have to build one up and fit it in at some point. EA casing an EJ gearbox can be done without issue over here with a dual range gearbox. Cruise and remote central locking would be sweet and I'd like to add a neat little tacho, oil pressure and coolant temp on the steering column in a manner that doesn't cover the other gauges. It's just a case of time and money for those things - after all this is meant to be a cheap build! Cheers Bennie

Tom, You can remove the cam box without touching the head. And if you're thinking of "playing" with resealing the EA82 you'll be sadly disappointed and wishing you had an EJ. Trust me, been there done that. Even removing this cam box is a load of fun to reseal... EA82s aren't junk, they're just a pita to reseal after opening up, the lifters tick and did I mention the resealing? The bottom end is just as bullet proof as the EA81's. I can guarantee you'll see the hone marks on the bores, it's a standard subaru thing! As for the linkages - find some tube metal that fits over the pipe on the stabiliser arm and selector rod. This will allow you to bend and setup to where ever you need it to get to. I had to bend my linkages to get them to work with the AWD box as they're slightly different between the PT and AWD boxes. The 4.44s shouldn't be too much for the box, after all it makes it easier for the drive gears to turn the wheels, the flip side is it makes it harder for the wheels to turn the drive gears on engine braking... I believe there is an outback model here that runs 4.44s and there are a couple of WRX models that are the same. Cheers Bennie