el_freddo

DPF full/needing replacement? Other thought was a dodgy ignition switch. Do you have power at the ECU when cranking? That’ll be the tell tale of a dodgy ignition switch, especially if you’ve got power in the on position. Earths all in good condition? Getting power to the engine harness from the main bulkhead harness? That’s where I’d be looking. All the best!

What’s the reason for moving the throttle cable and changing pedals? Cheers Bennie

Wow! It’s amazing to see how much wildlife you come across up there - and how different it is to what we get down here! That suspension mount point cracking off like that is a bit hairy! I’m glad you got it sorted before it really let go. That could be fun… Awesome write ups as usual! Cheers Bennie

Interesting that yours are called a dog gate and ours a cargo barrier. Ours are typically full length floor to ceiling, some are half mesh but still a full frame - this allows the back seats to be folded down for the extra space of carrying something longer than normal. For the middle seat’s lap-sash seatbelt there’s a little opening in the mesh with a plastic fitting for the seatbelt to pass through. https://www.subaru.com.au/forester/accessories/cargo-&-tow/forester-cargo-barrier ^ that’s our version over here of your dog gate. It’s designed for/main purpose is preventing injuries or death from flying objects that were in the cargo area in the event of a crash. The straps that secure them in tend to have a ripples section to help absorb the energy of any potential flying objects while retaining the mount to the body. They’re also handy for filling your cargo space to the brim and not have it over flowing into the rear seat. As you can see in that link provided, the odd shape of yours really threw me and didn’t make any sense going by my knowledge of cargo barriers. There are several aftermarket manufacturers of them for various models too. No doubt produced in China though… Cheers Bennie

Get your battery load tested. Doesn’t matter what brand or how old it is - batteries fail all the time. Some go a long time, some die a week after fitting to a vehicle. My 5c at this point. Cheers Bennie

In Australia we call these “cargo barriers” - but they’re usually symmetrical left to right, unlike that one you’ve got in the image. I can’t even imagine what model vehicle that would fit! Could it be a custom job? How did you end up with it? Cheers Bennie

What’s the 90° in reference to? 90° on the cam shaft = 180° on the crank. It’s also the interval between TDC when starting at TDC on one cylinder. I always do them on the cylinder that’s at TDC on the firing stroke and work my way through the firing order. However, on our other vehicle of another make and model their FSM says to do one cylinder at TDC and the inlet or exhaust of another cylinder at the same time, so only one engine rotation is needed. I do prefer the one cylinder at TDC on the firing stroke at a time. Cheers Bennie

Definitely change the timing belt kit! Check the main fuses under the bonnet to ensure that’s not a possible reason as to why your cluster isn’t working. Also check all the connectors are properly plugged in behind the cluster. Hopefully not rodent damaged! Cheers Bennie

No chance it’s a dust shield rubbing somewhere that changes with heat and brake use? Other thought is the wheel bearing is on the way out. Worth jacking the wheels off the ground and checking for bearing play. Cheers Bennie

I wouldn’t think there would be two wiring systems. Seems a bit over kill and more expensive from a production point of view without any real gain from this setup. Are you sure the cluster being bench tested was actually your cluster in the video? Cheers Bennie

If I’ve got this right, the odometer and trip meter don’t work but the speedo showing how fast the vehicle is travelling does work - correct? Do you have a wiring diagram for the instrument cluster and dashboard wiring loom in the vehicle? I’d start by searching the wiring diagrams to see if there’s a seperate earth or sensor wire to the odometer and trip meter. Then go about interrogating the wiring associated with the speedo, odometer and trip meter to check of any issues. Cheers Bennie

That rasp in the exhaust is normal for the H6, they sound like an angry swarm of wasps I reckon. Very different to the H4 burble. Glad to hear it ran well at the 4wd park. How did the hose on the shock kink? Easy fix I hope. Cheers Bennie

The autos have a set of fluid activated clutch packs. If used all the time there will wear out and become ineffective. Only use it when you have to. Wet bitumen is ok - and you might find the 4wd is activated when the windscreen wipers are in use. Our ‘89 touring wagon did this. Cheers Bennie

Same for all EJs so yes, it’s between the alt and PS pump. Cheers Bennie

@Foreverman8 - any text to go with the pics for context? Nice looking Tribeca though. Cheers Bennie

Removing the resonator will create a sharp crackle/raspy sound at certain revs and engine loads. I’d describe it as being a bit like the crackle/raspiness of a Holden 253 V8 (4.2L) with twin pipes and no equaliser pipe, but you guys wouldn’t know what I’m taking about… Cheers Bennie

If it’s up the front of the engine I’d say it’s a cam seal or two, or possibly the crank seal.

Wow I can’t believe it’s been over four years since I updated this thread!! A lot happened, moved house again and now drive further into work. Drove to Sydney twice last year - that’s about an 11hr drive one way. Redback didn’t miss a beat on either trip. First trip was to catch up with my mate from Perth who was in Sydney to work with some fellas that I ended up helping too, some of you may know them. Very surreal and awesome too. The fellas are dead-set legends! I grabbed this pic while I was there: The second trip was to attend Subinats in Sydney with the same mate. Epic trip. Marty is a legend too, he sorted me out with an I Love Bilpin sticker. Those in the know, know. He also did some tig welding on a part for my conversion among some pretty epic other stuff. At Subinats: ^ good from a far bit far from good! At least I had the best bullbar there! Hanging out at the gymkhana - three of the four Brumby’s in attendance for the show and shine: Both of the other Brumby’s are EJ turbo converted. The blue one took out the best brumby because it’s got a WRX interior including the dashboard. Very tidy work by Alex. Both Brumby’s are from the other end of the continent, Queensland. A big highlight on the trip over was being in the blue mountains. Epic country out here! Next big thing to happen was a carb rebuild as I couldn’t drive it at cruise/constant speed - it was jolting around like spark was cut intermittently. I’m glad this didn’t happen on the Sydney trips! The rebuild wasn’t much fun because carby but it sorted out the issue. And today we headed out to collect some wood. Mrs El_Freddo doesn’t like trailers in general and since her family bus was towing one we swapped vehicles to get into where the wood was. As a result I managed to snap this photo of Redback brumby in its natural environment and moving. There’s something about a vehicle in motion in pics, not that you’d know this was a moving vehicle: Not much going on for Redback at the moment other than needing the water pump replaced as the current one is leaking and it’s slowly getting worse. I’ve got one ready to go, it’s just a case of putting it in now. Cheers Bennie

Good advice @scoobydube, but this is an eight year thread update request from 88glonthadl. Long shot to get a reply but sometimes worth asking. Cheers Bennie

To help out crazyeights with getting them one! Yes they’re different and not interchangeable without mods. ‘84 is the crossover year of Oz where I am, not sure about the US. The EA81 gearbox crossmember has two bolt holes at either end for the mounts. The EA82 has a big hole at each end of its gearbox crossmember for a rubber bush and bolt arrangement. ^ that’s the easiest way to differentiate between the two gearbox crossmembers Cheers Bennie

Different dashboard due to the cluster being shorter. This was from the dashboard swap to get the better looking instrument cluster into my brumby: The smaller cluster does not have oil pressure or voltage. You might be able to make out the unit of measurement on the oil pressure gauge of the long dash too. I’d much prefer one in psi! About those tyres on the 5.5 inch wide rim - ask the tyre fitters. They’ll know if it’s even safe to run those tyres on that rim and may possibly know how much they’ll overhang. Or ask if they can fit one tyre to a rim and do a test fit on the front and rear of the brat to check for clearances. Cheers Bennie

I was meant to reply a while ago about that reverse gearset. The selector tabs look well chewed out, this along with the slop from the selector forks explains why it wouldn’t hold the gear. It’s hard to tell if the tabs were chewed out from rough use or from slipping out of gear as a result of the slop. Either way, neither of those would be helping! I hope you get that wiring sorted. Wiring gremlins are not fun. Odd about that spark timing at low revs. That rough running issue is interesting. Thought about doing a compression check to ensure all is well internally then go from there? Cheers Bennie

Man you guys got all the cool stuff over there! That instrument cluster was not an option in our Brumby’s over here - we got the little cluster with speedo, fuel, temp, indicator lights on the diagram of the vehicle and an analogue clock that usually doesn’t work these days. I had to swap that style of instrument cluster and matching dash board into my brumby once I sourced one from a coupe, GL sedan or an early touring wagon before they went digital (I think from memory). I also like your oil gauge in psi. My one is in kg/cm^3 - a unit of measurement while metric, is little used for applications such as this. I still use psi for tyre pressures and grew up looking at oil gauges in psi too. Also, I don’t have 4wd or Lo4wd indicator lights on my instrument cluster since mine came from a 2wd. Where did you source those Calmasters from? They’re an interesting looking rim! We don’t have anything like that here. Cheers Bennie

@Rafavidmessno need to be ashamed for not logging in for so long, life gets in the way at times… What model L series did you gearbox come out of? They’re either 3.7 or 3.9 What you can do is put it in 4wd when stationary and gently ease out the clutch in 1st gear. You will know pretty quickly if the diff ratios are mismatched. We have an L series that was converted from 3.9 auto to 3.7 manual without changing the rear diff as we just needed the car going asap. If in 4wd we can move it less than 10 metres before it feels like someone engaged the handbrake. This is the 4wd system binding up due to the two different diff ratios. Go really gentle - first gear idle and you’ll soon know if you’re good to go in 4wd or if you need a 3.9 rear diff ratio to swap in. It’s good to see you drop in and give an update again! Cheers Bennie

Fair enough. Surely their prices should be coming down after the post pandemic price hike.