Brumby WRX project

PeeJay · Post by **PeeJay** » Mon Apr 27, 2009 5:45 pm

SUBIIE wrote:Do they simply come off the MY version and fit into the EJ version? Surely not!

Yes, they do actually! But it you want them to stay in there you need to machine a groove in the stubs for the circlip that holds them in. Have a look at the Impreza shafts and you will see what I mean, the brumby stubs are held in with a bolt through the centre. Oh, and make sure you seal up the hole with silicone or something so your diff oil doesn't leak out.

SUBIIE · Post by **SUBIIE** » Sat Aug 29, 2009 9:21 pm

bump!

just to let you know that it is all still on the go. Just waiting on lift kit bits to lower the engine and also nee to find a 14mm die to thread the end of the imprezza steering rack so i can run power steering.

ScubyRoo · Post by **ScubyRoo** » Wed Sep 23, 2009 9:09 pm

Looking good, enjoying reading the write up. Where have you learned your fabrication skills from? Some sweet looking custom work there, keep it up!

I have a few things in my mind that require welding and other fab skills... wondering where the best place is to learn? TAFE course or similiar? MIG welding sounds to be the best from what i've read...

SUBIIE · Post by **SUBIIE** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 4:57 pm

Did fabrication at TAFE night school a few years ago, but unless you take a pen and paper to write down stuff you are going to learn not much in the course. But it is a good way to be introduced to welding.

SUBIIE · Post by **SUBIIE** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 1:38 pm

Steering rack.

Well according to information you can run the imprezza rack in the brumby MY crossmember. However, you do need to remove bash plate on crossmember, cut and die ends of imprezza rack to make it fit the track width, file out mounting brackets to fit rack into crossmember. Following are the images that should make it easier to understand.

Firstly you will need to take the bash plate off that protects the rack. simply drill the tack welds out (you can see them if you look up close). then file to fit in four bolts that will later hold the plate in place. This image is after completing the modification.

Image shows the different lengths of the two racks. The longer is the imprezza rack and the white line represents how far I need to cut the thread to equal the MY rack.

Image shows the die being used to cut the thread. Note; the die must be the right size and the right pitch, test it first by running it smoothly over the existing thread. I used vice grips and a vice to hold it in place and then used a lot of machine oil while I rotated the die back and forth to easily cut the thread. It takes persistence but it is important to get a smooth finish. Run the nut over it at the end to ensure it is ok.

Image shows the steering rack with the new thread. The white line mid way along the thread represents where I need to cut the rack off to fit the tie rod ends on.

image shows the die below where I am going to cut the rack off. This way you can cut the thread back off when you wind the die off, instead of trying to cut a new thread over your cut. This is fairly critical.

Image shows using a set square to line up the tie rod end so as it is in approximately the right place.

Lastly, The rack fitted into the brumby crossmember. Note; the mounting brackets that hold the steering rack on need filing out where the studs run through the separate bracket to allow the rack to fit. this will become obvious when you go to mount the rack into the crossmember as it just doesn't quite fit with the brackets.

SUBIIE · Post by **SUBIIE** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 2:02 pm

Lowering Engine.

The EJ20T sits very high in the MY engine bay so as I saw it I needed to lower the engine to be able to fit the bonnet on. So I purchased 2 inch lift kit blocks from the AUSUBARU BYB site for the engine crossmember, and gear box crossmember. This also lowers the angle that the drive shafts sit at.

The fitting of the blocks is very straight forward, just be sure to have the engine and gearbox balanced so as it is easy and safe to mount the blocks.

To cater for the change in height of the engine and the crossmember the steering knuckle needs to be lengthend. I sent mine to AUSUBARU to have it lengthened.

Photo is before it got lengthened to show how much needed to be added;

guyph_01 · Post by **guyph_01** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 2:46 pm

Very interesting, detailed and therefore very helpful:)
Did you also install the rear part of the liftkit or did just put the front part?

Also when you say "file out mounting brackets" is that just to remove the bash plate to get the rack in or file the mounting holes to bolt in the rack?

And do you think a gen1 Liberty rack would also work?

Thx

maxxair · Post by **maxxair** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 5:23 pm

hey mate. ive recently done this EJ20T into Brumby for a friend. notes, Change sparkplugs BEFORE fitting engine. he has coil on plug setup and now engine must come out to acces these. will chat further later, cheers, rohan

guyph_01 · Post by **guyph_01** » Fri Dec 04, 2009 1:01 am

Might be good to get those platinum plugs so at least you dont have to replace them every 5000-10000 and rather at 100000 or something?

SUBIIE · Post by **SUBIIE** » Fri Dec 04, 2009 1:23 pm

Thanks guyph 01.

Made the necessary changes.

SUBIIE · Post by **SUBIIE** » Wed Aug 18, 2010 8:38 pm

Power Steering Rack;

The last thing to finish off the power steering conversion is the hydraulic lines. This was costly and hand crunchingly painful at times. I haven't driven or started the car yet but I would assume that if the lines touch the turbo or down pipe then the lines would burn pretty quickly.

I took it to a hydraulic hose fitter, and gave them the specifics. From memory the lines need to get shortened, but more importantly, where the lines fit onto the actual rack with the solid lines it is important to get a tight 45 degree bend. Try fitting the lines first to get a good idea about how hard it is to fit the hydraulic lines onto the rack so as you don't have to go back and forth to the hydraulic shop.

SUBIIE · Post by **SUBIIE** » Wed Aug 18, 2010 9:33 pm

Battery tray / wheel carrier

Again I am no expert on this, far from it, I have never seen a similar conversion only what I read on here.

I moved the battery tray from one side to the other, to match the same side that the battery on the imprezza is on. It is easy to remove the trays by using a good quality drill bit and a powerful drill. Just drill out all the little tac welds, that are easily identified by the little dots on the bracket.

Battery tray

Wheel Carrier

Jack Support

all the holes were re-welded shut, but be careful you don't catch stuf fon fire when you re-weld the wheel carrier!

maxxair · Post by **maxxair** » Wed Aug 18, 2010 9:58 pm

cool mate, looking good, especially the battery tray off. nice and neat. what are you going to do for the engine stay rod? all the best, looking good

D3V1L · Post by **D3V1L** » Wed Aug 18, 2010 10:17 pm

i love ur work mate

davo

SUBIIE · Post by **SUBIIE** » Thu Aug 19, 2010 11:03 am

Radiator.

Again, because I lowered my engine 2 inches the changes to the radiator might be different to others.

I took my radiator to a radiator shop and had them seal the radiator cap, run the solid filler line across the top and change the inlet and outlet to fit the imprezza hoses. The lower outlet should be a 45 degree elbow bend coming off where the MY outlet was and pointing straight down to the ground when mounted in the car. The inlet should be the same, a 45 degree angle elbow, but should point at a further 45 degrees across the radiator. This makes it easier to fit other radiator hoses.

Now it does get a little tricky here. In retrospect, I probably would have chosen my inlet and outlet sizes to suit cheap radiator hoses. The imprezza radiator hose size is not particularly generic, however I managed to pick up a Holden Torana top pipe for the inlet, but it needed to be chopped to fit. Luckily I still had a radiator hose that had been chopped in half off the half cut. This fitted onto the new outlet pipe.

unfortunately this image doesn't show the inlet with the elbow.

The addition of the air conditiong radiator proved to be an expensive issue to deal with. I had thought that some slim line fans would fit between the radiator and the engine. But even the 50mm DaviesCraig fans did not fit. At $220 each it was an expensive mistake. I ended up mounting the fans on the other side and they nicely fitted onto the body of the car inside the grill. I then mounted the AC radiator on the engine side of the main radiator. Using 'oil cooler' plastic bolts and nuts this very effectively attached the two radiators together. Stay tuned for how to link up the EJ to MY AC.

RSR 555 · Post by **RSR 555** » Thu Aug 19, 2010 11:57 am

Nice work going on here but I would talk to your local aircon guys about mounting the condensor on that side of your rad.. I believe you'll end up with higher gas pressures and that will mean less gas being able to be put in the system.. less gas = not as cold aircon

78sti · Post by **78sti** » Thu Aug 19, 2010 12:33 pm

When I last did power steering lines I just got a hose doctor to come to me. Most hydraulic fitters have mobile vans and can pretty much build any hose from the back of there van.

I also think that that air con will not work very well on the hot side of the radiator. Better off mounting the radiator 20mm further back and put the air con and the fans all on the front. Just make sure they are wired to run backwards.

If you persist it is amazing what you can fit in front of the engine. My ute has a 14&12" fan then the radiator then a 75mm thick intercooler on the front. My grill has been modified so it sits forward at the bottom and much of the plastic behind has been carved out to fit the intercooler. Also the bonnet catch was modified as it hit the top of the intercooler.

dibs · Post by **dibs** » Fri Sep 24, 2010 8:55 pm

any new updates YET

DIBS

SUBIIE · Post by **SUBIIE** » Wed Aug 10, 2011 8:25 pm

Hi team,

car is running!!!!!

OMG!!!!

put a quick vid on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOsOgf2ub2A

SUBIIE · Post by **SUBIIE** » Wed Aug 10, 2011 8:26 pm

car getting exhaust system tomorrow