Al Zhiemer

Just wondering if anybody has a single center cap laying around for the Sunraysia 14" rims? I have 3 of them but cannot find a fourth, don't care if its rusty as long as its in good condition. The ones I have at the moment are a "Speedy Wheels" brand. I have tried the manufacturer with no success and it seems no one will sell a new one or set without buying the complete wheel. And I've already got 13 Sunraysia 14" rims now, I don't need another. Cheers, Al

Hhmmmm... They show up on my chrome browser on the PC... Back to the drawing board then I guess Bennie, I used the front regs but have kept the rear for spares as they look identical units. If nothing else the motors will be salvageable for spares anyway. I didn't reposition the cog enough, I still have about 10mm above the door and YES it was a pain in the arse. And because I was a dumb arse at the time it and didn't take enough notice how the spring went back in and several weeks between removal and reassembly, it took me several attempts to get that mongrel back in. And to this day I still have no idea why I found that so difficult to do at the time. Haven't been overly fussed about it at this stage, I'll look at adjusting them when I strip it down to do the body work and paint. And holy c@#p mate!!! I didn't think trying to mount electric motors into the mirrors was going to be that difficult that it takes 10 years, I think I'll just stick to putting my arms out the window and adjusting them :-) Wiring for the electric windows is easy enough to figure out, I'm thinking that mounting the motors into the mirror is going to be a bigger problem to solve. Cheers, Al

Thought I would have a play and see if I can display images from my Onedrive account and share some images of Ruby. When I picked her up... I had to fit a carby and buy a battery and tinker around for about 2 hours just to get her to come to life again. Jumped online, got a permit and drove over 2 hours home. Not bad for $400 I thought. Home Cleaning up the bull bar. Interior was half pulled apart with bits missing but the majority of it was there. First donor car, bought this one for the rims, instrument cluster and a few other bits. $200 with a couple of months rego, there is a real story to driving this one home, I've done some crazy spoob in cars in my time but driving this thing home was terrifying. So far I've wrecked the Leone Sedan, L Wagon, MY Wagon, a partial stripped Brumby just to keep piecing Ruby together. Out with the old... In with the new... While I had everything disassembled I took the opportunity to reseal the ventilation system, no more leaks and good air flow through all the vents. Put all new felt underlay on the floor and up the rear wall of the cabin. The doors, roof and anywhere else I could get to also got treated with sound deadner. The doors really close with a nice solid sound. I guess this is what you would call stage one of the interior, put back together and cleaned up getting ready for RWC. Still a few little odd jobs to go but almost complete again. Changing the gearbox oil just before road worthy inspection and this fell out, pretty sure that wasn't meant to happen and belongs with the syncro's. Still done about 6,000 Kms on this box that I know of and never gave any hint of trouble. About the time I changed the oil and noticed my little present falling out, I thought I should turn this into... Into this so I could get the 5 speed out of it and get it out of my back yard. Sorry Beenie... I did keep a few parts out of the wagon for later reference, the tool box/storage in the cargo area of the wagon we are grafting into the tray of Ruby and turning it into a dual battery box (Hopefully). Kept the 13" alloys, not sure why yet but they polished up and cleaned up real nice with a paint job so they are just sitting in the shed gathering dust for who knows what. Kept the rear sub-frame out if it, figured that was a great starting point to make a kayak trailer out of. The electric mirrors and switch, I would like to try and mount the motors into the brumby mirrors oneday. Yeah... It sort of fits LOL Basically a quick mock up to see where I would have to mount bars at the front to give it added support. This is in kayak mode, no roof spot lights. Roof rack is removable, with the greatest of difficulties, takes about 35 mins to remove but I can still at least carry the kayak without having to tow my 8X5 trailer everywhere. Which makes it great for getting up into some of the back creeks. Stage two of the interior install, installed this center console when I done the electric window conversion (Shout out to Bennie for his write up here, confirming my suspicions that the wagon regs would fit). At this stage just a gear knob off of a 5 speed FWD, waiting for future 5 speed upgrade. I had still managed to avoid cutting the center console up at this stage, am still trying to avoid doing so. Made a box to go behind the center console at this stage as well to relocate the stereo head unit and to mount the rear speakers in to. Apart from a few other little mods here and there, this was Ruby until a couple of weeks ago... Once its finished I'll update with a few current pics then. And yes, I'm scared of the dark :-) Cheers, Al

Yeah mate it is. Located in Australia

Found this old girl earlier today... https://www.graysonline.com/lot/0027-3434685/motor-vehiclesmotor-cycles/1984-subaru-sportswagon-awd-manual-wagon?spr=true Cheers, Al

+1 for Bennie's comment... I reckon I could already have a pretty good guess as to why they are breaking shafts. All this doom and gloom towards the EA platform is getting tiresome. Yes its old... Yes its hard to get parts for... Yes there are parts that can no longer even be bought brand new... And yes it is a dying platform, we've all heard it a million times and those of us that own them are also fully aware of this but the whole EJ platform doesn't offer us a small 4X4 ute. No one does, unless you want a Proton Jumbuck, even then that isn't 4X4 and to be honest, I'd rather push my Brumby around then buy a Jumbuck. At the end of the day, we love our MY/V and L series and do what ever it takes to keep them on the road, if we wanted to buy a Forester, then I guess that is what we would have done. And please explain your comment GD... Everyone who has owned a conventionally lifted GL had to get out of them?? What do you call conventionally lifted?? Are you talking 2" lift or 6" lift?? As I see it, the main thing you have to make sure you are on the money with is the front strut top mounts. Making sure you keep the geometry here, nothing changes. But those that are making serious modifications to their suspension, steering geometry and/or installing 6" of lift with big tyres can only expect to have nothing but issues, your expecting far more from this platform than it was ever designed for and making parts fit that were never mean to be there in the first place. Just because you can fit a WRX strut into a MY, doesn't mean that you should. Just because you can put 6" of lift in to it and run 33/12.5X15 tyres, doesn't mean you should. You hear of it happening all the time, myself included, I sold my GTR33 because it was modified to the point that there was always some niggling little thing wrong with it. Sometimes it could have something to do with the engineering of it or it could just be that dodgy 20 cent o-ring installed on an injector. The more you modify, the more there is to go wrong and break. I think the question that people need to be asking themselves is this, "If I need to put 6" of lift on to my Subaru to go where I want to go, is this the correct vehicle for me and my needs?" Me, I'm just in the process of building a 2" lift kit for mine, simple install, doesn't look like some mini monster truck wanna be and with a nice tyre combo, it will give me more than enough clearence to go anywhere I want to. And most of all, make it easier for these dodgy knees and back to fold into and out of. So once again, is this the correct vehicle for me? Probably not but its as close as I'm going to get. How about we just stick to the topic at hand, offer advice on the question that was asked and stop this whole EA's are crap thing that seems to be taking over. Maybe its time to start looking for a more EA friendly forum. Sorry Dakotas86Subaru for taking over your post... Rant over... For now LOL

At this stage, although it can be hard to find a good one, we still have a few running around here and you still stumble across them parked up out the back. But yes, you are right, if I had of had the space to store them I would have kept them for latter day projects. In the mean time, I have just about gathered everything I need to get Ruby to where I want her. Cheers, Al

As far as the lift is concerned, it also depends on how handy you are. Although there is absolutely bugger all difference between installing a 1" lift or a 6" lift, its going to be all the little things that are going to cause the headaches. Things like wiring needing to be extended, re-hanging your exhaust, getting your shift levers to sit in a nice location are just a couple of things that may cause you problems. Personally, and this is just my opinion here but I think 3" of lift on these vehicles is more than enough, 3" - 6" and I think you are going to start to feel the vehicle become very unsettled in corners. With 2" of lift and 27" mud tyres, you get approx. 110mm (or about 4.3") of lift all up, 2" in the body mounts and you gain about another 2 and a bit inches in tyre height. With 3" lift, that would take you to about 135mm of lift over all. And Subarule, I'm glad you're not here. In the quest to build Ruby, I've wrecked out an MY sedan and wagon, a "L" series wagon, all of which were in to good of a condition and should never have been pulled apart. It saddens me that I wrecked them but its the only way left to get parts to keep this old girls on the road and going.

My thoughts exactly Beenie. And yes a built gearbox with 4.44 is on the cards when I do the EJ conversion, already have the front and rear diffs, my biggest problem is finding a SOHC engine around here that doesn't have half a million k's on it I used the same bolt as the factory put in there in the first place so I see no reason for this to be a problem. The extension was created using all factory Subaru Brumby/L series components, the way the knuckles clamp around the spline it creates tension on the bolt, only way for it to come loose is for it not to be done up properly.

Nice, you are far keener than I am Bennie... I thought about going 3" lift but around here, lets just say that I'm not expecting it to take long before I see some disco lights in my rear vision mirrors. Tyres are the next thing to sort out,was going to run some 27" Kuhmo's but am a little concerned that it might be to much tyre for the little EA81 (Bring on the EJ22/25, if only I could find a nice one). Any thoughts??

Not sure if this has been covered before and everybody seems to have a different idea on how to extend the steering shaft down to the steering rack. I know I have a few parts laying around to pick from so this may not work for everybody but this is how I made the extension. I used two (2) of the universal joint style steering knuckles, one on the steering shaft and one on the steering rack, the two joints mate up perfectly inline with each other. Seeing as I have just converted to power steering and swapped over the steering column for the tilt adjustable one that came with the power steering, I had a spare steering shaft laying around cluttering up the place, so I cut the spline off of bottom of the old steering rack, notched a place for the bolt to go through on one end and used this to join the two universal joints together and hey presto. Steering is now connected, fits perfectly, nice clean angles through the universal joints and the steering has no notchiness about it. And best of all, it was SIMPLE. Hope this helps out others if this hasn't been covered somewhere else before. I don't do photo share websites but if someone has an email address that they would PM me with, I'll be more than happy to take some pictures to post so this is all clarified a bit better. Cheers, Al

Thanks guys, the plan has rapidly grown... Figured while the old girl is pulled down this far I may as well start making the 2" lift kit for it at the same time, so off to buy some steel today and start making up a couple of gearbox mounting brackets and the lift kit. Oh... And off to the tyre joint to order some 27" Kuhmo KL71's. I really need to find a good condition Gen 1 2.2 motor now, only been able to find some real POS in my local area. Thanks, Jono but I really want to keep my center console, it's out of the touring wagon that has the center dash and center console blended in together. Its in really good condition and I like keeping things at least resembling period correct. I never have been a big fan of cutting up interior plastics, even more so on older cars where its hard to even find good clean replacement plastics. Using the 225mm EA81 flywheel, got the step machined down to 21mm, went down and enquired about it, was told to come back and pick it up in a couple of hours and $55 later. Combining that with the EA82 clutch disc, pressure plate and throw out bearing. It seems the clutch pedal modification is the way to go? For $125 (mates rates), I was just going to get the "L" series cable made with a Brumby pedal box end on it. Bennie, its a RHD vehicle... Sunshine Coast area. Am yet to start on the levers, figured I'd wait until the engine and gearbox are back in the car and try and work it out from there. Cheers P.S. If I could work out how to post up pics of Ruby Doo and the work thats been done and going on I would.

Ok, so the time has come to do the conversion. I think I have read every thread I can find on the topic and just want to clarify that I have all the correct info before I start as at times there seems to be some conjecture on what you do need and what you don't need. "L" SERIES PARTS I HAVE... 5 Speed Manual Dual Range Tailshaft Clutch Cable Pedal Box if needed Gearbox Cross Member if needed Complete Clutch Kit Basically everything I could find relating to the 5 speed manual out of an "L" series wagon when I wrecked it. THE PLAN... Machine the EA81 flywheel down to 21mm to accommodate the EA82 clutch kit. EA81 starter motor with a 4mm spacer between the starter motor and the bell housing. Modify the EA81 gearbox cross member mounts to fit to the EA82 gearbox, for the resources I have on hand at the moment I think this is my easiest and quickest option. And knowing in the future that a EJ22 conversion is on the cards, I'll deal with it properly then. Use the "L" series tail shaft, will need to make a mounting point for the center bearing. Modify the Brumby pedal box to accommodate the "L" series clutch cable. Thinking I might just get the Brumby pedal box cable end fitted to the "L" series clutch cable for this. Modify the Brumby gear levers to fit to the 5 speed gearbox so I can keep the original Brumby shift levers. I want to keep my center console. Any body done this and has any advice on what needs to be done would be greatly appreciated. Other than that, I think that is all that is needed to be done. Any advice?

Been showing the old girl some love the last couple of weeks. New engine oil, oil filter, front and rear fuel filters, washed the air cleaner. New top and bottom radiator hoses. Both the inlet and return heater hoses. All three of the bypass hoses. Went back to an exhaust manifold without a catalytic converter and relocated the cat converter down into the straight pipe, this has been a far better result than I expected in both performance and sound. Remote Central Locking. Which is wired into the electric window circuit and will wind up the windows from the remote. Kenwood 7" Double Din Head Unit. Carpeted the stereo/rear speaker box. Mounted LED Combination Stop/Tail/Ind and Reverse lights on to the rear ladder bar, has been wired in with a plug on each side so that the bar can still be removed. Fitted LED Daylight Running Lights to the bullbar, both the front DRL's and the LED's that I have mounted on the rear ladder bar have been wired into the ignition so that they come on as soon as the vehicle is started, with a rocker switch that I can also turn them off for those secret squirrel moments. Finally gave in and decided to butcher my nice unmolested center console. Where the original stereo use to be I have made an aluminium plate to cover it up that houses 4 rocker switches which control the Spotlights, DRL's, Fog Lights and Reverse/Work Lights, with a USB/3.5mm Aux inputs for the stereo. Have also been considering drilling a hole into the cavity/pocket in front of the gear shifter to mount the USB/3.5 Aux Input into but I really don't want to cut my console up anymore than I have to. Tilt adjustable steering column. And the big one, POWER STEERING!!! Has totally changed little Ruby Doo to drive. Replaced all 3 belts, power steering, A/C and Alternator. Replaced the pigtail on one of the Hella Rallye 4000 spotlights, its good to have all the spotlights working again :-) Ordered a complete nolathane front suspension bush kit. And seeing as the tailgate mechanism likes to go a little weird on these things, mine wasn't working at all, to get the tailgate open I had to remove the inside panel so I could open it from there. I replaced it with another one that I eventually found that is in really good condition, to avoid having to use it, I fitted an electric boot release actuator into the tailgate so that now I can open it from the central locking remote or the button inside. Things to come in the near future (hopefully within the next couple of weeks, if this rain doesn't PO soon that may turn into within the next couple of months) is a 5 speed conversion. Pretty sure I've got all the parts required to do this with now but am yet to pull Ruby's engine out and see if she has the larger diameter flywheel. Pretty sure that has been the majority of the work so far.

Stupid question but the distributor hasn't been put in 180 out?

Morning all, I was out at the wreckers this morning scavenging parts for one of my other cars and stumbled across a couple of "L" series wagons. The first one is a white one and to be honest, it is in exceptionally good condition with all its bits. $650 buys the complete vehicle, I don't know if it runs or not but he seems to think that it does. The second one is in not so good condition but still very salvageable. Both have the 5 speed dual range transmission. Figured I'd post it up on here if anybody was interested in the parts before he crushed them. Depending on what you want, I can help with delivery to some areas or storing the parts until you can get up to pick them up. Cheers, Al

I got a set of Rockford that fit perfectly. Al

Cool, thanks bud. Will leave it up to Bennie but that might also work out. Thanks, Al

Bennie, I've got a reasonably good dash in a wagon up the back if you want it? It has the crappy digital dash though so you would need to find the 6 gauge analogue cluster. Pretty sure it has the intermittent wipers in it as well. Am always in and out of Singleton NSW for work and could deliver it that far if you know of anyone there that I could drop it off to until you can get and pick it up. Sure we could work out a deal. If you are interested I will have a good look at it and send you some pics if you want. I've put my window switches into the doors and left them in the centre console, all switches are located in factory positions. Driving light switches I mounted in the old radio holes with the big opening being where I mounted the Parrot bluetooth screen. No cutting necessary, which was the main goal as like I said, finding a good dash that hasn't been molested is hard to come by. I have a couple of Recaro seats from a previous project that will eventually find their way in to Ruby. Cheers Al

Bennie, I already have the intermittent wipers and 6 gauge instrument cluster fitted. Will have a scratch through my spare parts, think I may have a spare 5 speed shifter knob laying around, if I have, is yours for the cost of postage if you want it. A side project is gutting "L" series mirrors and attempting to put the electric motor into a spare set of Brumby mirrors to make electric mirrors for it. Not sure if it'll work but I'm going to give it a go. Cruise control may make its way in there oneday but Ruby is just a glorified dog box and kayak rack and doesn't get driven much and when I average 20,000kms/month for work, on the rare occassions I am home, for some strange reason driving isn't high on my list of things to do LOL

Sweet... I knew it could be done but wasn't sure of how difficult it was or what exactly needed modifying. I've got all the parts, plus more than I need, apart from the modified flywheel, but I'm hoping when I drop the gearbox to have the larger flywheel as all the ones I have already out are the smaller one :-( BUMMER Next time I'm home... 5 Speed conversion and fit the power steering :-) Once that's done I'll have A/C; Power Windows; Power Steering and 5 speed. Just a 2" lift kit and tyres, and to rebuild a motor for Ruby to go for the mechanicals. Plan is to get the engine bay tidied up and painted while the engine is out, then down the track, get the little bit of rust cut out and resprayed.

When most people do the EA81 4 speed to EA82 5 speed conversion, they use the 5 speed shifters as well. I don't want to do that. I've gone to the trouble of finding a nice clean unmolested interior, I pulled it out of a sedan I wrecked, it had the full 6 gauge cluster and centre console and since I'm trying to get the restoration on my little Brumby looking as stock as possible, I really don't want to go back to the original centre console or cut up my new centre console. What I would like to do is keep the original shifters and have them mounted in the original place. The sedan I wrecked had a 5 speed FWD box in it, so I have a factory 5 speed gear shifter knob to keep it in theme. Has anyone done the conversion keeping their old 4 speed shifters and what did you need to modify to do so?

Autobarn can usually source them. Protex or Protek brand, not sure of the part number but I can source that for you tomorrow if that helps. Passed through Singleton the day before the big truck incident last week, not sure but I will possibly be down that way for work in the near future. If all else fails I'll let you know if I happen to be passing through there again and I'll drop a set off for you. Cheers, Al

If I could be bothered working out how to post photo's I'd show what I done. I'm a bit anal when it comes to cutting up dash plastics, unless it can be replaced, I don't usually cut or drill plastics in my cars. I've got an unmolested centre console out of a touring wagon with the electric window switches in it and really didn't like the idea of cutting it up. So I made a cover to go over where the radio would usually come through and have placed the headunit/control for my bluetooth system installed there and then mounted a couple of toggle switches in to the holes where the knobs would be for the spot lights and fog lights. Then made up a box that sits in the centre behind the seats that I mounted the stereo unit and 6.5" speakers in to. On the bonus side, the box I made has given the speakers some really great bass.

I believe what you might be looking for is called a Deutsch Connector. Usually water proof and look like a factory plug, you can get them from Autobarn, or a Narva equivelent, which also work extremely well in my experience. You can usually find them in 2, 3, 4 and 6 pin configuration by memory. The only place I have been able to find a crimping tool for non-insulated terminals is from Supercheap but for a change it seems to be a solid crimping plier and works well. If all else fails, try searching on the web for a place called "The 12 Volt Shop". They have the genuine Deutsch Connectors and to my knowledge, they will ship anywhere in Aus. Hope this helps.