KiwiGL

Well, she's still trundling along nicely. Haven't done anything with the manual swap yet - my vehicular priorities are to get Gertie EJ swapped and certified, and then get a WOF on the green machine again first. She'll be our wedding car next month though so that's exciting! It almost seems a shame to rip her to pieces - such a perfect and original piece of JDM machinery, and the auto box is great with the cruise control for cruising. If this thing had a 4 speed auto and torque converter lockup, it would be perfect.

There was one really steep, off camber, rutted hill climb! A Ford Ranger PX3 struggled to get up that, but was a breeze in the Subie. Since that trip I've also thrown in the lift kit...

Took her on a great wee trip up the Edwards valley last weekend with a few mates. She performs unbelievably well offroad with just the tyre and rear locker in, considering it's still standard height and has the EA82. Such a weapon!

Lift kit has arrived and through customs. Really need to pull finger and get the EJ, PT4wd DR box and lift kit installed now...

Took her for a spin today down the Waimakariri river, locker in and muddies on. Traction is incredible! Clearance and power are now the main issues... Which will be fixed with a lift and EJ22. Can't wait to get it fully built.

Locker is nearly in! Up on the hoist at Crowesport today...

Got it off a guy Brian in Aussie on the 4x140 or GTFO FB page. Make a post up there and he'll probably reply, he had a batch of 12 made a while back and has some left. Interestingly, the core I pulled out also appears aftermarket and is full copper but had a bad braze down one seam unfortunately.

Removing the rear diff proved beyond me at home (CV locked in diff even with roll pin out), so it's going in for a WOF and locker fitment next week. On the shortlist for a Subarino lift, number 7! Then I'll throw the EJ and legacy box in it and get it all certed! Getting there slowly. Also loving having a heater in it again - replaced the core a wee while ago. Might think about fitting AC when I do the swap as the EJ has a compressor on it...

Thanks, watched the video from Subarino, have you got any other tricks?

Exciting stuff...

Haven't done much with this one lately, just been enjoying driving it mostly. I did pick up a big valve hydro lifter EA71, so will work on fitting my EA81S twin carbs to that instead. Hopefully a little more power and revs, and avoids the need for a cert as it's still an EA71. Though unfortunately it's a side starter motor and I suspect it may be a fatcase EA71 as well, so I don't think my top mount bellhousing will fit. Might need a new gearbox. PFA (repost I know, I'm terrible at taking pictures)

Finally acquired a set of Peugeot 14" steelies to fit my Maxxis mud tyres to. Looks good if I may say so myself. Before anyone asks, Torqlocker is in the mail... Just waiting on Subarino to finally release their lift kit, then I can crack on with putting that in, along with an injected EJ22 and a rare part time 4wd dual range EJ box from an early Legacy. And then get it engineer certed haha 😂

Nope the rally car came with a PT4WD box, the full time box is out of a different car so hopefully all good! Will be getting into it early next year after getting married, with any luck.

Better to use and enjoy a car than let it sit and rust to waste.

Have been enjoying driving her lately. Have now acquired full manual swap parts with a rare FT4WD box and Link ECU from a rolled rally car. This combined with s 5 stud swap and full STI brakes and wheels are sitting in my garage... Exciting stuff.

Nice, I see you bought John's one. That has been waiting a restoration for a while! Will be cool when it's done, I own its sedan sibling

Yes, will need to talk with a certifier re getting the rails cut. Diff output is 25 spline on the box I have - it's a legacy one. Might see if I can get an Impreza one though (or just split it and chuck in an LSD and 23 spline shafts). From the Legacy service manual I have, they did actually do a disc brake rear end with the 2wd model. Might have to try track a setup down... I think I'll probably just throw my spare clutch in, replace the wheel bearings, and call it a day for now.

Clutch is tired and slipping under heavy load, both front wheel bearings need doing, has a slight knock at startup... Thinking about giving this EJ swap a crack. I have: Carbed EJ22 EJ 5 speed FWD box First gen Legacy front hubs, calipers, struts, shafts Looking at the swap info, will need to modify front control arm to take an EJ ball joint. Will probably need to use EA82 control arms to make it wide enough to use the Legacy shafts too. For the rear end - how does one go about 5 stud swapped a FWD rear end. Does the legacy FWD stuff bolt on? Any help is welcome.

Lift kit, springs and bullbar are being arranged from Australia...

Looks great! I've also got a set of those DL spec headlights to install on mine so I can fit some LED sealed beams for decent light output.

Should add remote control for the central locking! One of the best mods I've done to this car, super cheap to do and dead easy.

Yes, in some ways I like the EA82, it does have a wonderful unique rumble to it, subtly different from the later model engines. It will still eventually be getting an EJ though.

Problem is it needs cert if I do that and the vehicle currently doesn't have a warrant of fitness. I instead just pulled the motor and replaced the freeze plug. Managed to do it leaving the cam tower in place. Unfortunately one of the bolt holes for the rocker cover broke so there's now no left front bottom bolt in it... Had to throw a random bolt through the hole in the rocker cover and silicone the gap, looks very hory. I'll start the EJ swap once I get it WOFed again, though looking at the gearboxes I'll probably have to swap the EA82 PT4WD transfer box onto the EJ PT4WD front case as the shifter setup on the boxes is quite different and I would prefer to keep the EA82 style 4wd shifters to make it look stock. Also need to rebuild the right front CV as the inner CV was destroyed in the crash that wrote off the donor vehicle - I kept the 25 spline Legacy inner CVs so we'll see if they fit the EA82 shaft. Here's a couple of pics of the busted freeze plug and the replacement. An annoying amount of work for a $5 part. And after

Pulled off the left side rocker cover today to try and investigate why I've got a milkshake for oil. Looks like there's a small hole in one of the freeze plugs. Now, do I throw in my EJ and box?...

Sure am! Part of me is tempted to install the spare rear LSD I'm getting (3.7 ratio not 3.9 like the box), and to just put axle stubs back in the front, so I can run it RWD for a bit...