Brumby front cut export

[subybrumby]

Ok everyone...here's a story for you. I'll try and keep it a bit brief and post some photos for you shortly. I also acknowledge Ausubabru member 1111giles from the UK in this post.

Sometime ago, a friend of mine was rear ended in his brumby by a forester would you believe. So the brumby was written off and sat in a 4wd wreckers here in Toowoomba for a while. It was slowly being cannibalized but I saw as I drove past that it had airconditioning installed. I knew that some members had been wanting to acquire air con for their brumbies so I posted the info on site.
[ATTACH]1891[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]1892[/ATTACH]

I was at first contacted by an ausubaru member, Giles in England who was after the aircon unit to be removed and sent to him in England. It was doable but as we got further into the process, I found that Giles was also after a number of other parts including certain panels and in particular the metal fuel filler pipe and stone guard, plus front sill (valance) and panels about the radiator supports..but why???

Apparently in England, the brumby is sold as an MV 1800 pickup. No airconditioning was available in the models sent to England and because of serious ice on the roads, rock salt is laid down to help with the problem. Now we all know from our sunny days on the beach, what salt does to our cars. Here are some of Giles pictures including his 'Brumby' that he has restored and done a good job I might add.

UK Brumby

[ATTACH]1893[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]1894[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]1895[/ATTACH]

[subybrumby]

Here are some more pictures including the rust problems from the rock salt on the road...pictured are the fuel filler and tank

"English Brumby"

[ATTACH]1896[/ATTACH]

Rust from rock salt

[ATTACH]1897[/ATTACH]]
[ATTACH]1898[/ATTACH]

It was starting to be a big job to retrieve all these items so I asked the wreckers if they would do a front cut and (wait for it) send it to England...

And that's whats happening as we type this.....

The brumby here in Toowoomba is being cut straight through the floor, keeping all the dash, engine etc, parts from the rear are being thrown inside and the front cut is going on a pallet to Halifax in England via ship and should be there after about 4 weeks.

Now this has been cooking for a few weeks now and I haven't said anything about it until Giles had finalised the deal. I have been in contact with him almost daily and he has been very keen to do this. I know that he has bought the front cut and I have been liaising with him to some degree between the wreckers, and Pack and Send who will pack and ship the cut. He has given approval for this thread to be posted and has told me that he will continue to post info and pictures once the front cut has arrived in England to the final instalment of his air con and panels. The motor is going to be used also as with most other panels etc that he requires.

That's about it..I'll post further photos when the cut is ready to be shipped from Toowoomba...and good luck with it Giles....

Oh..and here is his other toy...a diesel outback..
[ATTACH]1899[/ATTACH]

[1111giles]

Hi - Firstly thanks to Trevor for his post AND a big thanks also for his help in getting me to this stage with the aircon / cut.
I must point out however firstly that the rust pictures are in fact from one of my donor car's and not my restored truck !!!!!
Rust here in the UK really has been the killer blow for the Scooby Brumby truck's, that and the farmers who were the main buyers from new.
They are really very very rare now. I saw only 3 others on the road during 2009!
The pictured RED restored truck was saved from the wreckers yard - I owned at the time a '88 brumby truck (bought to transport my Beta trials bike around) which was okish and had found a truckman top on ebay here.Problem was it was someway South of where I live. I'd put off travelling to fetch it for a while and then one weekend off I set.
When I got there (it was 2 miles from Silverstone F1 race track) I realised there was what was left of my (now restored) truck.
It was being broken for spares and was really no more than a rolling shell. Engine gone, tailgate gone, all the trim etc etc.......
However, the shell was in remarkable condition, AND the rear load area had been always covered from the elements by the truckman top and had fitted from new a made to size wooden load liner.
The underside of the truck had been treated with a lanolin based rust preventative. RESULT!!!
The other bit of luck was that the truck had lived its life in the countryside in the south of England, and there they dont salt the roads like here in the north so the rust demon was held off the trucks underside.
A bit of haggling and £100 later (166ish AUD) I had bought it. Problem then was how to get it home??/
See the Merc Sprinter in Trevors pictures....we found 2 off 9" by 3" balks of wood pushed the Brumby onto a slightly higher level, positioned the Merc and after supporting the woods with a steel animal feeder tank, 3 of us pushed the dead truck up and onto the Merc. (Bl%%$Y hard work I can tell you steering as well up 9" slippy ramps!)
After strapping down -I brought here home.
That was early 2009 - I sold my existing 88 truck (for profit) to assist funding the resto of this newer truck -its a 1992.
I had scrapped 2 dead rusty trucks earlier for salvage so I had all the parts needed to rebuild the new red truck.
I have managed to buy many new parts eg tailgate which came from Subaru Japan!
I have fitted a weber carby conversion - from Aus via Dave at Recarb.
Full glass out respray new trims bumpers and bumperrettes etc etc.
My truck has also been treated to a colour coded Speedliner spray on bed liner system. Looks the dogs wotsits! and is a tough as hell.
Despite having had the worst winter here in the UK for 12 years (I can still see snow on the ground from where I am sat) we do get hot and sometimes sticky Summers here so air con is a must - hence the reason for this project.
I will post more pic's in due course as this project proceeds.
I run the outback pictured and the Missus runs a Forester. Scooby through and through!

Question to anyone out there does anyone know an English Guy living in Australia - Brisbane I think but not 100% called Andy Tweedale??? Settled and married to an Aussie girl. I've lost touch with him and would like to make contact if poss....can you help?
That's it for now keep watching this space!
Giles

[brumbyrunner]

What a great story! Thanks for sharing.
subybrumby, you're a champion of Suby owners everywhere.
One question Giles: I notice you must have used older model interior on your '92 model, but why the single headlight front panel? Subaru changed to twin headlights in late '89.

[El_Freddo]

Giles, Kudos to you mate! Awesome looking brumby you have there!! And subybrumby - huge effort on your part...

That's an awesome effort, hope its not costing an arm and a leg to do it - When you said you got a NEW tailgate from japan I shuddered a little when I thought of the price. A decent second hand one over here can fetch between $300 to $500!

Facebook might find your lost mate...

Can't wait to see the pics of the AC going in, got any more you'd like to share about your brumby (engine bay etc)? If you need any help with the AC install I've done it once before to Sunnie, it gassed up and worked the first time which was a great result!

Bloody salt. I worry about my infrequent beach visits - they're nothing compared to rock salt IMO.

Keep up the good work!

Cheers

Bennie

[AlpineRaven]

wow what a good read above... good on you have "English rare brumby!" eheh, i did thought you were nuts getting a tailgate until then i realised why..

Bloody Salt (they're biggest killers!), that is why i try avoid beaches as possible(!) keep us updated with the progress...
Cheers
AP

[Captain Obvious]

nice work!! shmick looking ute!! keep us updated

maybe this should be in members rides or resto build up mods???

[TOONGA]

well done Giles she looks brand new as per Brumbyrunners question did you put the earlier front end on the 92 or did it come like that from the wreckers probably older/new stock re vamped and sent to England, Like what the rest of the world does with its computer products for Australia

once again well done I wish mine looked like that

TOONGA

[subybrumby]

Hi again...Giles is probably in bed...we worked out I think it is about 10hrs difference. He usually answers my emails by blackberry when he is at work. He is in Halifax in the north of England if anyone wants to see where it is and I think the front cut will be going to HULL on the eastern seaboard.

Pack and Send at Toowoomba are ready to go, we are just waiting for the yard to cut the front of the brumby here. I visited yesterday, and I know they have bought some extra cutting gear to do the job apparently. There has been a holdup as the banks at either end double dipped and left the yard a little bit short on funds but that should be sorted soon. I haven't mentioned any costs here because I felt that this was Giles business and if he decides to disclose that information then that's his prerogative. If he does, everyone should bear in mind that yes it is expensive but appreciate what he is trying to do here and what he is hoping to achieve with his restoration project.

Now he did send me a lot of photos while we have been getting this off the ground so I'll post what I have to answer some previous post questions.

The bike he spoke of
[ATTACH]1901[/ATTACH]

The other wreck with the tray cover he has
[ATTACH]1900[/ATTACH]

Engine bay and carb
[ATTACH]1905[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]1906[/ATTACH]

[1111giles]

Hi there, its about half past midnight here as I write so just a quick post before bedtime!, BIG thanks for all your appreciative comments.
In answer to some of the questions,
All Brumbys (MV 1800 or 284 pick up) that came to the UK were of the single lamp format. If you look at the piccy's that Trevor has just posted the tired looking truck is actually a 1994 truck - one of the last before they stopped selling them here.
I am told ( but I have not seen for myself) that the front panel is different on twin headlamp cars???
The estate or waggon version did come here with twin head lamps and a few trucks were altered using parts from the estate. A friend of mine did this to his - I have to give him credit for immense help with my restored truck. He is Howard Choppin of HDC Subaru in Hebden Bridge (10 miles from me) he has a garage which is a mecca to all things Subaru. He is a national group N rally driver with a beast of a classic Impreza (limited to 350 brake)
The trim in my truck is standard for that year and was infact the same through out the model's run here in the UK.
We never got the targa top or air con or any of the nice electric goodies you guys got. BUT we did get a wider range of colours than ive seen aval in Aus. We got cars in a dark metallic green, dark metallic blue and both look good.
We have fitted a pair or Forester seats in the truck and they look really good as if they could have been original ones! from a 2002 car and they are the lighter shade gray. VERY comfy. I have a Blaupunkt DAB/CD Woodstock to go in when I can get around to it also.
Any way will have to go to the land of zzzzzzzzz now.
Oh nearly forgot.... the tailgate was back ordered via a official UK Subaru garage it took 3 weeks to arrive from Subaru Japan at a cost of £370 plus vat(local purchase tax @17.5%) so approx AUD equiv $620.00 it was just the metal work with no screw on covers or catches/ badges etc.
I am really off to bed now.........
Cheers
Giles

[gx_rex]

Question to anyone out there does anyone know an English Guy living in Australia - Brisbane I think but not 100% called Andy Tweedale???

Was this Andy a Subaru and VW specialist? Owned a 22B over there?
If so this may be the guy but he is in Perth. http://www.perth-wrx.com/vb/showthread.php?t=30724

[steptoe]

I guess we can afford to let one Brumby leave the country, hope it does not start a trend - making our parts supply difficult then !

Interesting to see MV is used in the UK - we also have that on our Brumby handbooks and light truck on our compliance plates. Shame there was never a Brumby badge, yours would be rather unique in the UK with Brumby and ag quip decals !

I have one of each , single and twin headlight , so I'll have a look at the front panels for differences when I think of it - at times other than 3.00am Sunday

[steptoe]

Oh. and on the Foz seat install, just how tall are you? Curious to see if my 6'2" would sit nicely on Foz seats in my Brumby or do I need to shrink a few inches first. Noted a RS lib seat in L series are a bit too high for anyone with some height.

[1111giles]

Oh. and on the Foz seat install, just how tall are you? Curious to see if my 6'2" would sit nicely on Foz seats in my Brumby or do I need to shrink a few inches first. Noted a RS lib seat in L series are a bit too high for anyone with some height.

Hi, I am around 5 foot 10. I would say you still have a couple of inch comfortably spare. The seats do raise the squab height from that of the original (Ouch their uncomftable) UK spec Brumby seats. I managed to mount mine and retain the sill side odds and sods holders which mean they are higher than you could actually achieve. I will take some detailed images and post them up you'll see what I mean.
I had to completely strip off the Forester mountings and get the seats down to the rails.
I then removed the Brumby seat fixings initially on a fixture jig thinking that I could simply don the 'captured' brumby fixing dimensions straight on.
In practice I had to lift the seat by 20mm to get it to sit where I wanted it to. and have a sneaky offset on the rear outer fixings.
My feeling is that you could keep it all lower if you are prepared to loose the sill side holders and maybe offset to the outside a little (so the inner side of the seat can clear the transmission tunnel).
I did the passenger side first and it seemed to take forever in out in out 20 or so times as its nigh on impossible to accurately dimension whats in the car to what you are trying to achieve on the seat base! Add to that the fact you dont want to burn the seat when welding the fixings on (Cover up weld remove covers over and over again) and it is a job I am glad is now ticked off the list!
Oh and I forgot it was done mostly outside in the middle of winter (January) it was BL&%$Y FREEZING and dark by 4pm!
Once completed the driver side was a doddle - its opposite handed though - but I hit it bang on first time.......phew!
I elected to retain the original fixed Brumby seat belt buckles they work fine even with the arm rests.
The comfort factor is now 100%
Ok I will take some snaps and post them up for all to see.....
Cheers,
Giles.

[1111giles]

Was this Andy a Subaru and VW specialist? Owned a 22B over there?
If so this may be the guy but he is in Perth. http://www.perth-wrx.com/vb/showthread.php?t=30724

Thanks for the help, but this isnt the same Guy. Although he is a Bonkers car kinda Guy !
Will keep on looking !
Giles

[1111giles]

well done Giles she looks brand new as per Brumbyrunners question did you put the earlier front end on the 92 or did it come like that from the wreckers probably older/new stock re vamped and sent to England, Like what the rest of the world does with its computer products for Australia

once again well done I wish mine looked like that

TOONGA

Hi Bud,
Me thinks that Subaru UK ship in a boat load of trucks and they sit on the docks till sold. They did this with the Isuzu Trooper Van here (same importer) and they ended up selling the newer 3.0 dohc trooper alongside the older (but still new) 3.1 trooper vans complete with the older style front end and all. The overlap lasted 2 years!
I guess we were never destined to get the twin headlamp version you got and that got to the US also.
Thanks for your comments - you too can have a Brumby like mine it just takes time and a little cash!
Cheers
Giles.

[steptoe]

Thanks for the reply on seats. Don't s'pose you have any six foot two friends to take a seat and comment. I like to think I am not all legs, so an average looking kinda six footer plus two shoved in yer drivers seat would do to find out if he she has good noggin clearance. I am also 80kg. Someone with a bigger girth sort of sits further forward on a seat because of the extra ahem , padding and distorts data , and the seat too, further down the road!

I got one Mazda 626 88 - 91 driver seat in with its height adjuster and would suit someone afew inches shorter so stripped more guts out from under and starting again by making forward backwards rails to fit the mountings on floor first - and stopped there with one seat in the bath, another cluttering up shed floor space.

They are a beaut match in velour grey. I like the warning on welding and NOT melting any plastic bits - I will have a small plastic welding job to do when all finished

I did spy early Mazda MX5 seats that would be my first choice, sexy, thinner in the back for long legs, mounting points look right, narrow seat and similar but more comfy than original Brumby seats _ I think we all got the same around the world from the sounds of it

I notice that you are about the only one that can make much use of the websites time clock, fortunate for you.

Jono

[steptoe]

WOW !! Just turned my pictures on! Now , that is one very tidy Brumby. I am sort of partial to red single headlight models. I 'll have to polish mine up and take a few pics to email you. We have a 15 inch version of the mini minilites that look so schmacko on a red car (my opinion anyway) Is that rust inside the tray at wheel arch tops? I have a tailgate that would look more at home on your salted roads:( . Shod with 195 50 15's they retain same size as the 175 70 13's for regualations

[steptoe]

http://www.homeimprovementpages.com.au/ ... enovations

about the sixth one down the list AT Constructions
email or mobile if you get real excited , international drops the first 0 of the 04 with a 61 before that (prefix) dunno if it is 0061, coz I seen ++61 expresssed at times, and my phone not have ++ on it

Tweeddale or Tweedale ??

[subybrumby]

Re the difference in the single and double headlight...Yes, the panel behind the nose cone is different...You would have to replace that paneling to alter the headlight arrangement.