Al Zhiemer

Probably won't have the same product in Aus but sharing a name would be good please, others can then try it. Maybe we could get a sticky started where people can recommend products they have had success with. On the condition of course that it doesn't turn into a brand bagging sticky, lets keep it positive and not bad mouth companies please. Hate to admit it but I've actually poored about 2 Litres of Diesel/Kero mix into the sump of a car, worked a treat but not something I would recommend. Hard to find over here, well thier oil is, a lot of places can order it in but in my area, no one stocks it but I use a lot of liquimoly oils, additives and the likes. I really like them and they always seem to give great results. Honestly, I rate thier oil as one of the top oils on the market. Was a Castrol man for a lot of years and still think they make a lot of good products but thier oil doesn't rate compared to Liquimoly. This is of course only my opinion. But for those who take close attention to fuel mileage, engine noise and general feel of an engine, try it, I think you'll be pleasently surprised. Regards, Al

Ok, so I know I'm dragging up an old post here but did this idea end up working and how well? Looking at trying to give the rear end a little more support. Constantly loaded I carry... Solar Panel mounted on a basic steel frame with an awning 2 X 130 AH AGM Batteries (plus charger, inverter and a host of electrical accessories) Camera case housing drone, camera, gopro and a host of accessories 45 Litre Fride On occassion a 40 Litre Freezer 20 Litres of water Then that doesn't include all the accessories fitted to the vehicle so all up, poor little Ruby is probably running close to her limits. Now to top things off, I'd like to put my camper trailer behind her every now and again. I have an EA82 rear sitting outside and have been looking at installing the rear shocks off of this and putting them into Ruby. I reckon I'm probably close to carrying between 250 - 300 kgs constantly. Any suggestions? Cheers, Al

Yes, I did forget to mention about the clutch pedal thing. I've noticed here in Aus there seems to be at least 2 different styles of pedal boxes in the EA81 series cars, with possibly even a third different style as well but I can't remember which vehicle I removed it from now. I think in the end, it was an easy job to cut out the old EA81 clutch pedal and graft on the new EA82 clutch pedal but in saying that, I did notice on a couple of the other pedal boxes I had, this wouldn't have been such an easy task. Cheers, Al

Gearbox will bolt directly up, clutch is the tricky bit. If you are lucky and have the larger 8" flywheel, your life is easy, a little machining on the flywheel and you can use the complete EA82 clutch kit. Other options are doing dodgey crap or re-drilling the EA82 flywheel to get it to work or a mix and match clutch kit. Standard EA81 shafts will slip in and fit no problem. Pretty sure by memory I used the 5 speed manual shifter and grafted the 4 speed high/low range selector to the 5 speed gearbox so I didn't have to cut any holes in the floor and be able to use the standard EA81 interior trim. Custom make some rear gearbox mounts, not difficult to do. Tail shaft will need something made for the center bearing to be mounted to or go to the expense of modifying the one piece tailshaft. Far cheaper and easier to make a mount for the center bearing. Starter motor will need to be spaced out approx. 4mm, can either make a complete spacer plate out of aluminium or just gap it out with a washer or two. I know I modified my pedal box for the clutch cable but I think that is only a RHD thing. Cheers, Al

Hhmmmm... Same problem as mine.... Someone needs to remanufacture the tailgate trim. Mines a bit beaten around but I removed it to try and save it while its in reasonable condition. Nice looking little Brumby though mate. If those rims ever go missing, I don't know anything about it LOL Cheers, Al

Here ya go Beenie, here's one in your neck of the woods. https://www.graysonline.com/lot/0037-20007009/classic-cars/1983-subaru-4wd-1800-4wd-manual-wagon?spr=true

Yeah, keeping my eye on it. Thinking I might have to call a mate over there and get him to go check it out for rust. My thoughts exactley about the original km's, looks clean enough. Cheers, Al

Clean example. Be nice to know if the mileage was genuine. https://www.graysonline.com/lot/0001-60014822/motor-vehiclesmotor-cycles/1992-subaru-brumby-4x4-manual-ute?spr=true Cheers, Al

I use a 19mm piece of pine with a hole drilled in it that the shaft will go through, once I can get the nut on, I slide the pine over the shaft so it is sitting on the hub. Put the nut on and proceed to do it up and pull the shaft through the bearings. Cheers, Al

Sounds to me like you need to get in to the business of building custom gearboxs @el_freddo LOL Like I've said, time to take Ruby back to original for me... Plus, I'm getting use to the idea of a nice Ranger being parked in the driveway :-) Cheers, Al Pretty sure I could source another set of 4.44's for you for your trouble ;-)

My rant on lifting... Don't get me wrong, I love the look of Ruby (Brumby) with 2" lift and the bigger tyres, we go on many adventures and she is well kitted out for it. Now I know she has her limitations but she continually surprises me with her abilities. Not sure there is anything such without a whole heap of work for the best combination from my research. 27 X 8.5 14 is the tyre size you are looking for but depending on who you talk to, as to whether or not you will need to do some gaurd trimming as well. Gear ratio's on the other hand, thats a whole other story. Ideally from what I can workout, EJ gear ratios, L series low range. Does anyone know if the EJ internals will fit L series case? Even once you've done that, your ratios are still going to be a mile out. Next solution, diff ratio changes. Needing to go from factory 3.7 to 4.11, you will need to change that in both the gearbox and rear diff, even better you would like to go to 4.44 but very hard to find and I don't think they will allow you to have the L series low range. Next is rear diff, time to rip out the R160 and bolt inplace an R180, which also seems easily achievable. This all comes with another very big but... But then the R180 requires custom CV Shafts, once again achievable but it certainly doesn''t make the bank balance look very healthy. To be honest, this is what turned me off of doing a 4" lift personally... Once again, this is all just my personal opinion. I ran an EA81 with weber, 21/4" exhaust with a sports cat, L series D/R 5 speed and about 25" tyres. Ran them fine all things considered but low range 4WD was probably about where 4WD high should of been, it certainly improved where it was capable of going but my clutch hated it and not really having a true low range I found was the biggest pain in the arse and the fuel economy was C R A P. Even now with the EJ22, sure, I've got the power to drive the 25's but I still doen't have a low range. Where I live is fairly hilly, just driving around town we have some pretty steep pulls, there are times now even with the EJ in her that I take off in 4WD low because I'm either going to punish the clutch to get going or start shredding tyres and god only knows what else by basically dumping the clutch. To be honest, I hate it, its come to the point where I'm about to return Ruby to stock trim and buy something a little more suitable for my adventuring needs and retire Ruby to the full restoration I've been promising her for the last few years. Honestly, driving on 27" tyres with stock ratios would S H I T me to tears. Sorry for the story. Not trying to talk you out of it, just my thoughts. Cheers, Al EDIT On a side note, all up you will achieve in the vacinity of 6"'s of lift over all. Standard tyres are approximately 23", going to 27" tyres will give you 2"'s of lift plus the 4"'s of suspension lift. Cheers

Repco or Autobarn... Same spoob different packaging, they are pretty much all made by "Protex" or thats what you'll be given in general. I've had fronts in for over 15,000 kms with a 50 mm lift and no problems so far. Check Fleabay, sometimes can find them on there (Protex brand) cheaper if you have the time to wait but I think Repco gave me the best deal in my local area. Regards, Al

Yep... Welcome to the world of working on 30 year old cars that have been abused for the majority of those LOL Do yourself a favour and go and get a good anti sieze to put on the bolts befor you reinstall, makes your life so much easier in the future. I find also that if you have the time, trying giving them a good spray with some possums piss a couple of times over a few hours before you start trying to remove them. Good luck

A side project I have on the go at the moment is building a trailer. I was given a trailer tent that suits a 2130mm X 1220mm (7ft X 4 ft) trailer, my plan is to build a trailer out of a L series rear suubframe I have laying around. I like the idea of using this for several reasons... A - Stud patterns are the same. B - Wheel track is simular to the Brumby. C - Build it light weight and to suit my specific needs/requirements. D - Independant suspension. E - Gets a bit more crap out of my shed that I've been keeping for some unknown reason. F - Because I enjoy stuffing around doing this sort of crap LOL The general plan for the build is in place, there are a few points to still workout, like an electric brake conversion but I think I've got that sorted now. Now I guess my question is, keeping in mind I will be keeping the L series rear coilover strut set up, do you think the suspension will be capable of supporting a trailer with a maximum load rating of 750 kgs (1650lbs)? Not that I think it will ever get anywhere near that weight but thats my maximum weight limit goal. Regards Al

Without sounding sarcastic... Yep... Good luck with that. Apart from a complete custom tank, only choices are to clean the old tank or source a good secondhand unit. Sourcing a good secondhand unit is probably the best option if yours is seriously rusted on the inside as well. You will become very capable of the remove, recondition and replace technique with these old girls and find yourself with an extra one or two cars laying around for parts. Which is a shame because there are better quality cars now being scrapped by those of us in the quest to keep ours on the road. Regards Al

As for the dash, youtube "Flocking"... Have watched a couple of videos on dashes being restored with this method, although it doesn't leave a vynil finish and more of a felt/suede finish, the results do look good and can be a DIY project. And for a few hundred dollar investment, it is a cheap way of restoring your dash. Regards Al

@Numbchux - Thankyou, that is the sort of info I was seeking. At that rate, it really shouldn't be hard to wire this in. Regards, Al

@el_freddo - Yeah, clutch and brake switches will have to be mounted but thats easily done. The drivers side already has the auto up/down feature with the switch that is mounted in the door. Not really interested in converting the passanger side so it does it as well. And yeah, I hate blanked out switch panels as well, hence why I still have two switches that do absolutely nothing LOL Cruise control has been removed from a 1999 Liberty but it has been that long since I looked at it, I can't for the life of me remember how the cruise control combination stalk functioned. Pretty sure there was a seperate on/off switch, then i think you pulled the stalk to set/cancel and then operated the stalk in one direction to increase speed and then in the opposite to decrease the speed. Its a pretty basic setup and I would imagine that it only takes a positive or negative signal to make it do what it is supposed to do. Thanks for the info though people. A little more research is needed and some time sitting down with the system and having a bit of a play is in order here me thinks. Regards, Al

Someone out there with a bit more electrical know how than what I've got might be able to answer this. When I converted to electric windows, I also installed the center console that has the control panel for all four windows. Now obviously I'm only using two switches and figured oneday I might come up with some genius idea of what to do with the other two switches. So... Here is either my genius or my stupidty... After doing the EJ conversion and keeping the required parts for the cruise control, just incase I could figure out how to make it work, which I think I may have solved but will require a bit more research yet. As we all know, space inside for mounting things is a little bit restrictive and I hate cutting up plastics. So, here is my question... Does anyone see a way of being able to use the two spare electric window switches as my controls for the cruise control, I know its not as simple as it sounds but here is my thinking. Window Lock - Possibly Cruise On/Off, depending on how the system works Left Rear Up - Cruise On Left Rear Down - Cruise Off Right Rear Up - Set/Acc Right Rear Down - Cancel/Dec I know I know... There are probably far easier solutions to this but I just like the idea of at least using those couple of switches for something or removing them, this at least gives me somewhere to mount the switches and keep a nice clean factorish looking install. Any ideas before I go and spend a few more hours on research? Besides why bother going to the effort... Because I can, thats why, I enjoy stuffing around nutting these things out LOL Regards Al

Someone will correct me here again... Is it neccassary to change the steering column when you put the power steering unit in? I vaguely remembering something different about wrag joints and universal style joints? I didn't pay much attention when I did mine, just put the tilt steering column in because if figured why the F@@@ not, nothing else in here is original anymore LOL And I had to rig something up for the lift at the same time. On another note, when it comes time to do the dash, do not seperate the wiring loom from the dash when you remove it. It will make it a pain in the arse to re-install and look untidy as hell. Regards Al

I'm pretty sure the sub-frame for the power steering is different isn't it? Thought I had read somewhere that there was a slight difference between the two, something to do with where one of the power steering hoses need to run? I do believe you can modify the manual steer sub-frame to work with power steering though. Out of precaution I just swapped over the complete sub-frame. Still an easy thing to do but without an engine crane I think it would be an engine out conversion. Someone will correct me. You will also need to make sure you get the thermostate housing as well, its a different unit. I followed Wikiel-freddo's guide to doing the power window swap, pretty straight forward. Can be a pretty big job to accomplish though, depending on how far down that rabbit hole you want to go. Over here is Aus, most of the wagons that came with the electric windows, also cam with a 6 gauge instrument cluster or a crap digital unit. Its a completely different dash and so is the centre console, me being anal and like everything looking factory and in its place, it was almost a complete interior removal and reinstall by the time I swapped out the dash, centre console and removed the seats to run the wiring to the center console for the master control switches for the windows. Its a big mission but well worth it to keep that factory finish look about it. I will add, this is also a good time to add remote central looking into the old girl as well, everything is already removed and out of your way. While you are down this rabbit hole, you may as well do the air conditioning as well because its a complete dash out job. Thankfully mine already had the air conditioning but still easily achievable. Hardest part of the whole freaking job is getting the three screws out on top of the dash. 20 - 30 more HP... Hhmmmm... Only way to see those sort of improvements these days is with a full engine rebuild, weber carbie, exhaust and cams. As much as I HATE saying this because I love my little EA81, going the EJ conversion is really the way to go to see any sort of real world benefit, even a good running EJ18/20 is going to give you far more bang for your buck. Parts availablity for one, better fuel economy, more HP and more torque and all the benefits that come with running a reasonably modern engine and EFI set up. Once again, not cheap but can easily be accomplished. And yes, I finally gave in and done the bloody EJ conversion but one of my biggest reasons was to preserve the good running EA81's that I have and slowly gather up what parts I can to rebuild them. I plan to turn mine completely back to stock at some stage in the future, they are becoming worth a lot of money for a nice clean, rust free example over here and keeping the numbers matching engine is even better. Not sure what your mechanical abilities are but if your new to this, it can sound a bit daunting. Best suggestion is to attack one area at a time, first pick for me was the dash and wiring, everything runs to and from there in some way or another anyway, once you have that done, start focusing on the next piece of the puzzle. Regards, Al

Google it mate, there is a wealth of information out there on this conversion. Very simple and straight forward conversion, just a matter of getting all the right parts before you start. Cheers, Al

Ok, so I know I'm not the smartest person out there but that almost sounds like the timing is advanced rather than retarded, which would cause your problem as well. Maybe its just the way I read it. The problem will most likely be the plug wires, I made this mistake myself the first time. Number 1 & 3 cylinders are on the passanger side (LHD models) and 2 & 4 are on the drivers side. With the firing order being 1324, it fires both cylinders on the right side in sequence and then the same for cylinders 2 & 4. Cheers, Al

I wasn't ready to do the EJ conversion, am still not happy about doing it either but while its stripped down I may as well. Main reason is you just can't get the parts to rebuild the EA81, otherwise it would still be there. Cheers, Al

Well, in that case I couldn't have been using the EA82 manifold because I was running power steering. Sure I swapped over to the EA82 manifold... Anywho... All is good, EJ22 is sitting in there now :-) Cheers, Al