el_freddo

I totally agree with what you're saying - I want to build the radius rod plate lift blocks into one unit and the rear section with the cracking needs another brace to the bolt that holds the front of the K frame to the body. My rear crossmember lift blocks are in good shape and I'd leave these as they are. Things to do! Loyale 2.7 Turbo: The hand brake (e brake as you know it) is actually from the MY models before the L series came out. The reason for this is that I'm using the same centre console for the power window switches, the only way to get the hand brake to work properly was to keep the matching hand brake. It still actuates on the front brakes, so would be no help to you. Cheers Bennie

Over the last six months: I did this initially - it even cracked the re-welded section we did: Extra plating: From this: To this: To then being able to do this: And the "return of Ruby Scoo" photo - at Danny's Lookout, Great Alpine Road, Mt Hotham: It "only took 6 months!" But it's been well worth the effort. The first offroading trip will be the first weekend of June Cheers Bennie

ANd you were totally right mate! It did just that, cracked around the welding we did. Can do, I'll have to get some organised. I too feel that I need to make up some sort of C bracket to hold that bolt better. But with that said, being airborne under brakes in the first place is what needs to be avoided! An update - a long time coming! The damaged plate, ripped captive nut (while trying to remove the bolt the nut let go, I wasn't about to cut the bolt!) Plate removed: New panel in footwell to help with strength. Same done on driver's side too: Lining up the new plate - "stolen" from a parts bomb I've got out the back: Supportive plates welded in on both sides, the rusted area cut and new section welded in. Trophy photo: Went nuts on some more welding to help stiffen up the body, what they tell you about stitch welding the seams is a big job - well, they're spot on the money! This was an important day - getting it off the rotisserie: Then the slow process of putting her back together began. I fixed up a few things along the way and added some extended braided brake lines, well worth the coin and effort with this: I relocated some wiring - that created some more headaches. So far the only thing wrong is my Tacho doesn't work Dash in, this too was a big step! Out of the shed for the first time in about 5 months, hanging out with the new L "sheldon" that my sister now drives: Running and ready to have the brakes bled: This was a great moment: And now with the rear bar installed but not finished yet - I've got some extra panel work to add to it as well as some rear lights then a lick of paint too, this is in our high country, which pails in comparison to your high country! Mt Feathertop - probably the most typical looking mountain we've got in Australia: Mt Buffalo in the distance: This work was started in November 2011. I drove her out of the shed on the 4th of May 2012. There were a lot of other things that kept getting in the way of working on the project - christmas, new year, other little projects, searching for a job, the list goes on. I'm very happy that I got there in the end! Cheers Bennie

This is a common "feature" in the GL sedans and the touring wagons in oz. It's a cigarette ash tray in the rear door handle... Cheers Bennie

The guys over here take their EA clutch to a specialist and have the pressure raised to help combat this. This is done when the Ej conversion is done on an L series, which would be the same as what you'd be doing with the liberty/legacy over your way. So yes, it is possible to ship it over, but with the aussie dollar near/at/over parity with the US dollar you'll be paying much more than you would have been 3 or 4 years ago! But if you're willing it can be arranged. Working out shipping from Oz would be the difficult part, I've not done it before! Cheers Bennie

Baby Ruby Scoo ^ with suby87's lifted touring wagon which is what I aspired to... Now she's all grown up: I've got a set... or two - they're awesome and I'm VERY glad I got a set: ^ All photos with the scorpions have the honda front spring swap in the rear end, the height of the rear is dependent on the gear being carried, this last one is un-laden where as the above two are loaded for a week and a half's activity with gear for beach to alpine! Check out this beast: EJ twin turbo, 6 inch lift (huge for Australia!) and I think it was 33 inch wheels. Build Thread I'm surprised that Hatchie - the supercharged EJ'd hatch from WA, Australia hasn't made it on here yet, here she is: More pics here "Monster wagon" - built at the same time as the above EJ twin turbo white touring wagon - on opposite sides of the continent! And Sunnie the Brumby: LOVE the targa top Brumby (BRAT)! I'm keeping an eye out for the right unit for me to play with Cheers Bennie

Sorry, was on a really slow internet connection at the time so didn't get to look too far in I had the build thread though! Cheers Bennie

Are you talking about the RX AWD dual range gearbox or the EJ dual range gearbox? The EJ dual range gearbox is one of the most common gearboxes we've got over here. Shipping them stateside wouldn't be too difficult if a shipping container was organised, just the initial collection of gearboxes would be difficult. Then there's an issue with people paying - I know it's all good to say you'll be up for something but it's another thing to have it organised and pull out of the deal. It can be arranged, I know of a gearbox that's been purchased for a member in the US, I don't know if it's been shipped yet - but we've hunted around for sometime to get the right unit... Cheers Bennie

There's also this little beauty: Build thread here, best pics are up in the last pages like this one with it's sister that's gone to another owner now: Some quick details: WRX conversion, WRX dash and most of the interior parts that he could use were installed. Awesome unit, would love to see it in the flesh! Cheers Bennie

And it's currently forsale on ebay over here - again. It didn't sell the first time around. It also sports an auto these days for better street drivability... This is one of the member's on ausubaru.com - 78sti is the owner, some info here, that's all the info I could find about it... But I'm sure I've read a build thread about it somewhere. Crazy good ol' subi that one! Very unique over here! Chris Roger's sweet as RX2 wagon build thread - and this main pic of this awesome wagon: I thought there were more but I can't find them Cheers Bennie

Looking good Numbchux!!! I don't know if you know this already, and I'm not meaning to insult you. The RX FT4wd dual range gearbox with locking centre diff has a longer pinion shaft than the EJ AWD gearboxes - for anything different to 3.7 or 3.9 final drive ratio you will need to cut and shut the pinion shaft: ^ This is my cut and shut 4.11 R&P gearset that will end up in my RX FT4wd gearbox with the 1.59:1 L series low range behind my EJ. I know it's up to the task as it was previously behind a version 5 EJ20 turbo. Also, the centre diff in this gearbox is open until you lock it. It is not interchangeable with the EJ centre diff. The EA pinion shaft is longer as the drive to the front diff is taken from the rear of the centre diff, the rear diff's drive is taken from the front of the centre diff. The EJ is opposite as subaru tweaked their design on this. I hope this hasn't thrown a spanner in the works for you, being with the rally team you might be able to get the cut and shut job done through them for cheap Keep up the good work! Cheers Bennie

Yeah it's a bugger, we still get paid out by the big 4wds for having a crap low range - and that we shouldn't be driving "those things" offroad... But that said the low range is better than nothing. And to get around the dual range issue you can fit an EA82 PT4wd or FT4wd 5 speed to later model subarus with an adaptor plate. The only problem with this is that you're stuck using the EA82 clutch setup which I don't think would be up to the task if you're upping the berries from the donk... This H6 runs a stock EJ22 clutch and pressure plate, it was decided that the clutch would be the weak point hopefully - rather than have the gearbox go bang, you can change the way you use the clutch, but there's not much you can do with a blown gearbox! Cheers Bennie

Early gearboxes that I've worked on - L series and up to Gen2 Liberty gearboxes have had the same mountings for the diff output stubs, so there's no need to change the diff carrier over with them. Cheers Bennie

Wow I didn't know that the 2.2 EJ came in the impreza - they certainly didn't over here in Australia, the Impreza only came in 2 litre and the RX impreza came with a 2.5. I'm not sure what years they were between though. Cheers Bennie

Well if you read the posts, it's been written about and it's a toyota GZG50 Century. 97-09. The thing that excites me is that this crazy project is in Australia But half a continent away, it's still exciting though! I'm pretty sure this is a conversion being done by a company in queensland, I've seen 2 conversions from this company and I must say that their work is VERY neat and through. Awesome work! Cheers Bennie

G'day Quidam, Can you give us some background information on why you're doing this? As far as I know there are carbie intake manifolds available everywhere, why not use one of them? Cheers Bennie

If the gearbox is from a carbie L series all you need is a replacement set that is for your model MY If the gearbox is from an MPFI or turbo L series you'll need to change the inner cups to a set from the model of L series that the gearbox came from. SPFI - I don't know about because Australia never had them delievered... Or you can split the gearbox and swap them to the 23 spline output shafts to keep your driveshafts as original off the shelf items. Cheers Bennie

If you didn't have the EA81 flywheel ground down to suit the EA82 clutch you'll have clamping problems. GeneralDisorder knows the amount that needs to be machined off the flywheel, I've forgotten and have only read about it - but it's a must! Cheers Bennie

I doubt that Highly! To 4wd on sand I need to drive at least 500km (~300miles) to get to the nearest sand 4wd area - we usually head to Robe in South Australia - you can check it out on google maps, this area is about a 6 hour drive... "Feature" youtube video's of none sand 4wd'n: Short videos: That said, the boys in Western Australia (basically new york to LA sort of distance on a horizontal plane) pretty much only have sand over there - certainly none of the rocky climbs we have in Vic at the end of the Great Dividing Range! That is the best part of owing and driving a well set up subaru! But the smile get's wiped off your face when you have to rely on others (big 4wd's) to get you un-stuck! A set of cut down bread creates - those plastic creates - are great for recovery in sand. Just cut the ridge off them and cut in half, one per wheel works best after shovelling some sand out of the way Cheers Bennie

HG? Head Gasket? No head gaskets change with the H6! What was changed: - from a version something STi 4.44 gearbox - to the L series AWD gearbox with locking centre diff - cased in an EJ dual range front cases so a stock EJ clutch setup could be used, thus a stock EJ non turbo clutch has been used. - L series 1.59:1 low range and front mechanical LSD installed - Oil feed lines above the low range gears were built into the case to maximise low range longevity on those climbs that starve the low range gearing - I'm going to do the same on my next gearbox built too. That's about all that's been changed, the L series gearbox came with the 3.7 diff ratio which has turned out better for fuel economy overall when compared to the 4.44 gearing. The H6 still pulls like a Trojan through the gears with the 3.7 diff ratio - this final ratio probably makes the most of the H6's torque and power curve as it actually makes it do a little work when compared to the 4.44 final ratio. Cheers Bennie

More to the point - what gearbox will you be using to put the power to the wheels?? As I assume you already know - it's great to beef up the engine for a better power output, but if the gearbox isn't up to the task there's really no point. This is unfortunately why the subaru gearbox is often referred to as a glassbox due to the WRX fraternity modifying the engine for better performance but at the same time being too short sighted to realise what the next part is in the driveline that will go bang - that's usually first or second after a couple of hard launches. I guess you're going auto? Cheers Bennie

I agree GD - there's a guy on ausubi who built an awesome EA82 with a single turbo setup, dunno what engine management system he was using but it pulled 400hp or near enough on the dyno before it twisted the block and did some other nasty things to the internals as a result. BUT: I am keen to see where this goes - Quidam, you know where you want to go with this and I respect that, I'm keen to see how this turns out, and I really hope that this thread of yours doesn't die in the arse if the EA82TT goes belly up - I'm keen to see the results. Looking forward to the next update now that I've read up on this entire thread! Cheers Bennie

Or it could be gearbox noise being transferred to the body by the 4wd lever... When you push down on the 4wd lever you break the contact between whatever it is contacting the body and the body itself, thus no audible noise. The best thing you could do is get under your subi and have a look around to see if anything is fouling on something it shouldn't be. Cheers Bennie

Better would be to swap the diff ratio to 4.11 and run a forester speedo gear, this would be your closest factory speedo option as far as I know. Or do this ^ Cheers Bennie