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This in response to thread Shufflbag put up a little while ago and is about is the 2WD Auto I mentioned back then. If anyone else goes this way I can say it wasn’t too difficult, just time consuming. Converting a 2wd auto sedan to a 4wd wagon.

Firstly the plates to bolt up the “moustache bar” were easy to fabricate. Then we had to unpick the spot welds on the old tailshaft center bearing brackets and transfer them over to the sedan. The transmission tunnels seemed identical. Actually the entire floor pan was virtually the same. As for changing from Auto to Manual the pedal box was swapped and the brake system from the 4wd as well. Not sure if this was necessary but there was a valve in the brake circuit that had a cable attached to the clutch lever and it was completely foreign to me so I fitted it anyway. BTW can someone please explain what that was?

As for the dash > The auto dash has a tacho which I wanted to keep so I bridged out the “park” signal on the Tbar selector and I’m about to marry that harness to the gearbox harness so that when you select Low Range the 1st gear light will switch “on” on the auto dash and maybe light up the “D” light in 4wd, and so on. Still working on that.

Eventually I’m going to fit a front tube bar and bash plate and a fiberglass front guard/bonnet clip to make it easier to wash down after a trip up the beach. The tube bars don’t collect sand like the original bars that was the main reason for the mod and of course to fit the big spare. I’ve just finished and painted the rear bar and the wheel cover. The cover is a disc that fits in the center of the spare with the rego plate, an LED rego plate light, an LED stop light and the 7pin trailer socket. The holes in the bar are to accept the toe of a HiLift or shackles etc.

Also intend to alloy checker plate the roof and boot lid with some tie down rails welded directly to the plate so that I have a board rack and hopefully a spot to tie my double swag on the boot. I’ll post some pics in this thread when it happens.

Cheers, John

As we bought it . ’88 2wd Auto

The old rusty wagon.

Having a forklift helps too.

Now 4wd.

14” Hankooks on and the rear bar tacked only. Still needs the front wheel arches cut away and rubber flares to be fitted allround.

First off nice work looks really good.Like the rear bar

whatcharterboat wrote: Not sure if this was necessary but there was a valve in the brake circuit that had a cable attached to the clutch lever and it was completely foreign to me so I fitted it anyway. BTW can someone please explain what that was?

Hillholder .
Was the pedal box difficult to fit?Did you have to remove the dash?

Pedal box was really easy. Only had to remove the panel under the steering column and the steering column itself but the dash stayed in place. I've pulled a dash out before to replace a heater core. Never ever want to do that again.

Like the rear bar

Thanks. Should be really strong too. It picked up the original mounting points plus the tow hook mounting points on both sides and also it attaches through the rear panel where the old rego plate would normally go. I'll post one of the bar all finished next week. Painted it Charcoal Hammertone and fitted it up with S/S Dome Allen bolts.

Hillholder

Huh??? How does THAT work???

stop on a slight incline, remain in gear with the clutch in, lift your foot off the brake pedal and the brakes remain on preventing your car from rolling back. When you engage the clutch again the brakes automatically disengage.
It removes the need to yank on the handbrake when doing a hill start. If it doesn't work then it probably needs adjusting.

whatcharterboat wrote:Huh??? How does THAT work???

That feature is only in manual transmission unless someone removed it or needs adjustment.
Happened in L series and all Liberty/Impreza/Foresters and Outbacks.

AndrewT is correct.
Cheers
AP

That feature is only in manual transmission unless someone removed it or needs adjustment.
Happened in L series and all Liberty/Impreza/Foresters and Outbacks.

AndrewT is correct.

Hey, Thanks for the explanation. Glad I swapped it over then. If it doesn’t work properly I’ll adjust it. Sounds good.

The master cylinder on the manual has 3 pipes coming out of it and the auto had 2 so I had to swap that over along with the extra plumbing in order to run with the “hill holder” from the original wagon.

whatcharterboat wrote:If it doesn’t work properly I’ll adjust it. Sounds good.

Hell yeah its good! I'm surprised other car companies havn't picked up on it yet - it really makes hill starts childs play

Fair effort with the swap too - the wiring you're talking about with the dash sounds like it'll be a bit of fun! You could go to the effort of finding a manual 4wd dash centre and shove that in, then try to wire in the auto wires to suit the 4wd manual box and dash centre display... Just a thought

Cheers

Bennie

Fair effort with the swap too

Thanks It was way easier than my last swap. 4x4 XY Falcon running gear under an XB Falcon Coupe.

he wiring you're talking about with the dash sounds like it'll be a bit of fun! You could go to the effort of finding a manual 4wd dash centre and shove that in, then try to wire in the auto wires to suit the 4wd manual box and dash centre display... Just a thought

Didn't realize I could do that and still retain the tacho. I thought they would have been one complete circuit board. Shame cause I left the old dash in the wagon which is probably a little cube by now. I don't think it will be any drama though. However at the moment the only sense I can get out of the gearbox is the "Reverse" signal and no "Low" or "4x4" so maybe a plug is undone on the side of the box or something. The wiring up to the dash is no worries.

BTW I think we spoke a couple of months back when I was debating whether or not to go with the Hankook RT 01's over the Nankangs. Mate, they've been absolutely awesome so far. Very noisy on the bitumen but we don't drive it on the road so much.

So you had a manual dash with the tacho? Bugger! That dash would have slotted in no problems too - except for the centre display bit... The speedo and tacho sides are one circuit board but the centre bit is completely independant from the rest of the dash...

I'm not sure about the tyres discussion, I know I'm always keeping an eye out for options when I can finally afford some real 4wd tyres (as opposed to roadies that I go 4wd'n on atm), but its good to hear you're happy with the choice

Cheers

Bennie

Took some more today. Big holes in the checker plate ends are for the Hilift and the small ones are for shackles. Boot lid only just clears.





This trailer socket is to plug the wheel cover into.



Here’s the wheel cover in place. The panel is 6mm fiberglass and it’s Occy strapped around the back. Really quick release so I hope it doesn’t get knocked off.


All LEDs lights the actual trailer socket at the bottom.

Don’t know if anyones had much to do with riveting to fiberglass as I’ve done here but you have to use a special type of rivet. When you pop them the shaft splits the rivet into 4 curled claws at the back. Normal rivets wont hold as they tend to pulverize the fiberglass and eventually fall out.

very nice bar work!

the allterrainwarriors site explains it those things are cool

by the way - the 4x4 low range signal comes from a micro switch mounted to the low range lever in the cabin.

El_Freddo wrote:Hell yeah its good! I'm surprised other car companies havn't picked up on it yet - it really makes hill starts childs play

if its not my car, work car or a rental, just shag the clutch!

whatcharterboat wrote:Don’t know if anyones had much to do with riveting to fiberglass as I’ve done here but you have to use a special type of rivet. When you pop them the shaft splits the rivet into 4 curled claws at the back. Normal rivets wont hold as they tend to pulverize the fiberglass and eventually fall out.

Do you mean the riverts that flange out when you pop them?

awww a friend for my leone she also started life as a fwd shitter
good work mate, like the rear bar

very nice bar work!

the allterrainwarriors site explains it those things are cool

Thanks. Work definitely has its perks.

I wasn't happy with the welding though. It's strong enough but I'm usually a real perfectionist with a MIG. Couldn't find my favourite helmet with the magnifying lenses so used a borrowed one. I'm blind as a bat up close.

by the way - the 4x4 low range signal comes from a micro switch mounted to the low range lever in the cabin.

Thanks again. I saw all the wires from the gearbox and just took it for granted that's where the switches were . Well if its from a microswitch on the lever that will be a piece of cake. Just wire it straight into the old Tbar plug.

Do you mean the riverts that flange out when you pop them?

Not sure what you mean. It's like I said. They split into 4 curled claws at the back. The shaft head has 4 corners which do the actual splitting of the alluminium tube. So they don't swell or flange out like a normal rivet. If you want a pic I'll post one up tomorrow.

awww a friend for my leone she also started life as a fwd shitte

BrennyV, I spend alot of time on Expeditionportal.com cause of what I do at work and they also have a section for "crossover vehicles" of which they include Subys. Virtually everyone is a yank and it was only on the weekend that they were looking at your youtube footage of the Wedge trip. Most of them have never seen anything like what goes on in the Subaru scene here.

Cheers

BrennyV, I spend alot of time on Expeditionportal.com cause of what I do at work and they also have a section for "crossover vehicles" of which they include Subys. Virtually everyone is a yank and it was only on the weekend that they were looking at your youtube footage of the Wedge trip. Most of them have never seen anything like what goes on in the Subaru scene here.


^^^ HEHE. thats the go. show em how its done hey. hafta catchya up nxt time im in noosa too mate. im in yeppoon near rocky.

Nice nice looking work.. Looks good for 27" tyres.
Cheers
AP

hey mate looks great , if you had a wagon you wouldnt need the tralier haha

hey mate looks great , if you had a wagon you wouldnt need the tralier haha

Went to take my mower to the shop the day. Had to put it in the back of my Honda City as it has more room. The sedan might look cool but as you can see I am already regretting the convenience of my wagon.

Will be starting on the front bar with integrated grill/bashplate in a couple of weeks.

John

Hey Forgot. I promsed to post some pics when I finished the front bar. Don't know what happened to the old ones of the rear. Anyway I took another of the back bar. That was on the barge to Magnetic Island last week. Had a good time up there exploring tracks a bit. Caught the v8 on the way home. Great time.

There LED front blinkers on the front bar. The rear rego plate , light and an extra stop light that were on the wheel cover > I extended the cable so that it could be mounted remotely wouldn't be blocked by the kids bikes. Was booked for that last trip. Also fitted some HID high beams. Awesome. 3500lumens, 5000k, 55w, ADR approved and a simple plug in interface at the H4 plugs.

Going to fit the winch next and some brackets in the boot for the hi lift, shovel and a pick.

John.