The AUSubaru.com.au Forums

howdy AUSubaru-ians. some of you might remember me from WAY back in the day, i remember going to one of Bretts anual BBQ meet and greet. i brought along my gen 1 wagon and SVX.

well alot of subarus later.. I've got myself a '90 Targa roof Brumby, its in fair condition i think most of the panels have some sort of a dent, but there is no internal/structual rust, only surface rust where the dents have gone through the paint.

the plans i'm looking towards are much the same as most of the boys here, jacked up, bigger tires/wheels, smooth the pannels and paint it blue. and an EJ conversion

and here is where im doing my head in as to where to start and how to achieve the proper outcomes.

register the car first? (so smooth the pannels and get it painted)

convert it to EJ first? (keep the L gearbox or upgrade)
(how to upgrade the brakes? / 5stud)
and then try get it engineered then smoothed/painted?

id say im fairly mecanicly minded (i've done turbo, suspension, brakes swaps on my old forester.

id just like help to prioritise what should be done, and then maby a little help explaining how/what/where etc

any help would be VERY much apreciated

Cheers Tony



also.. if anyone wants them rims and bullbar.. will swap for help hehe

I would do all the conversions and modifications first! (maby without the wiring loom.)

Then pull it all back out to paint. That way anything that has been modified does not have to be painted twice.

Is this for off road or a road racer?

I think the body should come first, as it is the basis for everything else.

If my two cents count, i would say make doublely sure that the body of the car is good before spending money on it.

I'd start inside and work to the outside, that way there is no chance of the paintwork being scratched during the reno.

Rego first for sure, it is far easier to get a car registered standard than it is a modified one. Especially one with a lift kit. Obviously you will have to make it look presentable but it doesn't have to have your final paint job on it. A quick sand of the rust with the dents still in place and then a touch up with a pressure pack is all you need for rego.

Once it is registered, dummy fit the engine to make sure all your cutting is correct then paint the engine bay. Once it is all running then spray the body. It would be a shame to have a nice new paint job and then mark it with a spanner or some thing while doing your mods. I think spray the outside last.

so the idea is to get it to roadyworthy condition, then start modifiying

a few questions.. how have you guys up-graded your brakes and to 5stud?

should i keep the gearbox thats in there and have a adaptorplate for the EJ?
or upgrade to the EJ gearbox?

will a Gen 1 liberty dash fit in the brumby? would it be wise to fit the lib dash and save the wiring loom.. or keep the brumby dash and cut up the loom?

Good advise so far Id say.
Get it tidy enough to be rego'd, make sure the shell is sufficently rust/major bend/damage free to warrent spending the time on.
OB's comment is bang on - you will be surprised how many little things will need modding and you don't want to cut/scratch/grind/weld your painwork doin it. Don't worry what it looks like untill the end, 6mths of grease, dirt, welding, grinding, swearing, tools, blood, spilt rum etc all take their toll on panel and paint.
Go 5stud if you have the coin - an EJ20T with std brakes gets scary the 2nd or 3rd time you try to stop in a hurry... crossbred kit is the way to go, hands down.
These other guys will give you a better lead on the lift kit, gearbox solutions to suit your application - my car is set up for rally, not offroad so I know diddly about lifting & low ranges.
Best advise i can give is don't rush it - test fit everything several times, take your time to allign everthing and wire it right first time - many projects have died at the 85% stage when someone has suddenly discovered something they did right at the start was wrong and they loose heart with it.
Keep posting here - personal experiance tells me that encouragement from this lot helps to keep the conversion juice's flowing.