Monster wagon

AndrewT · Post by **AndrewT** » Fri Jan 09, 2009 7:49 pm

the bar hanging down is an old folded bit of metal i used to use as a bracket for a bash plate back in the 3" lift kit days. I bent it down again the other day when I did a quick look-see as to the plate's suitability for the 6" kit. Looks like it will need a few changes to get it to fit. Naturally I really need to make a whole new bashplate from scratch but one thing at a time

Matatak · Post by **Matatak** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 9:29 pm

Took this quick one while they were sitting together before we went out on sunday.

Bumpty · Post by **Bumpty** » Mon May 18, 2009 9:08 am

It doesn't look too bad, AndrewT

Question is, would you do it again!?

AndrewT · Post by **AndrewT** » Mon May 18, 2009 11:58 am

Dunno, I'll get back to you when she's finished.

Subafury · Post by **Subafury** » Mon May 18, 2009 8:34 pm

AndrewT wrote:Dunno, I'll get back to you when she's finished.

it'l never be finished hah

AndrewT · Post by **AndrewT** » Mon Jun 15, 2009 12:45 pm

Bit of an update;

Havn't really done any further mods recently, and she hasn't had alot of driving - I've just been too busy. I really miss offroading!
Most recent mod was just a couple of days ago, I finally ditched the fugly black rims and got some 15" Forester mags onto her - got the same 29" AT's swapped on and balanced.

The offset is a little closer to the car and it's now crucial that I widen the rear track. This is a good opportunity to properly match the rear wheel track to the front (rear is abit narrower at the moment, still L series spec while the front is Liberty). I will be ordering two proper billet steel bolt-on spacers for the rear end shortly.

Also she's got a new better looking bullbar, some colour coded side mirrors and two replacement doors to replace the dented ones on the driver's side so should be looking much nicer soon enough! (none of these are yet fitted).

In other news I'm going to push ahead with the next major phase. The combination of having the engine and gearbox spaced 6 inches down from the body, and running an AWD gearbox really isn't workable long term. The engine hangs out too far and is too vulnerable, with a bash plate there I'll loose too much clearance. Also the gearing of the AWD gearbox just isn't suitable to this size of tyre, plus it's too expensive to get decent low range.
This means I'm doing the transfer case conversion definitely.

My ideas for this have changed slightly over the months but this is *roughly* what I'm going to do now;

Phase-A
- Get an RS Turbo 5spd AWD gearbox with turbo pull-type clutch setup.
- Modify the gearbox by removing it's front diff, blanking off it's front stub axels, and locking the centre resulting in a tough dedicated RWD gearbox with a very decent clutch. Gearbox and clutch are both specced to run the EJ20G motor and won't require any beefing up from factory specs.
- Install a second engine crossmember above the 6" spaced-down one.
- Raise the engine up so it sits on the upper crossmember and install the RWD gearbox (so both are now sitting up in the stock location).
- Remove the front two driveshafts and install blank outer CV's.
- Strengthen the rear diff mounting system.
- Install a tailshaft from the gearbox to the rear diff (the 4.111 Clutch LSD).
At this point the car is drivable again but only on-road as it will be just RWD. This will give me a chance to fine tune everything and make sure it all works properly. I might drop a skid or two

Phase-B
- Obtain a second RX turbo clutch LSD plus a 4.111 open diff, combine the two resulting in a second 4.111 clutch LSD. Then construct some mounting points for this and install it backwards in the front of the car (yes, it does work).
- Get the inner CV cups of the RS Turbo front driveshafts swapped from 25spline to 23spline and install the complete shafts back in the car, plugged into the front diff.
- Remove the tailshaft and ditch.
- Here's the biggy....Obtain a divorced transfer case from a 4x4. Still undecided exactly which model to use but it may be one from a Suzuki of some sort. Then custom mount this just behind the RWD gearbox. I'll need to make a crossmember and make an extra hole in the transmission tunnel for it's second gear lever to come through.
- A small tailshaft (likely with a slip join) will link the RWD gearbox to the transfer case. This will likely need some customisation with regards to length and uni joint flange compatibility.
- Then one tailshaft will go from the front side of the transfer case to the front diff, and another will go from the rear side to the rear diff.

Now I'll have the following key features;
- Selectable RWD, 4x4-Hi, 4x4-Lo. RWD is what it will run for everyday driving on tarmac. 4x4-Lo will actually have a decent low range, better than L series. Plus I will have the option of installing even lower after-market low range gears which are available off the shelf.
- Clutch LSD both rear and front. Can't wait for the front LSD this should be a great help offroad.
- Engine and gearbox mounted back up in the stock location. This will raise the centre of gravity abit but according to people who have actually done it, it hardly makes a difference to how far it can lean when offroad etc.

I've lined up a well priced RS Turbo gearbox already, plus somebody to do the RWD mods on it for me. Hopefully this works out okay, who knows, but I won't know until I try it!

I'm off in a couple of days for an overseas trip for a few weeks so there won't be any updates for a little while.

GOD · Post by **GOD** » Mon Jun 15, 2009 2:49 pm

Possibly a silly question, but wouldn't a back-to-front diff turn backwards? Or does the transfer case fix that?

Looking forward to seeing this bit:

AndrewT wrote: I might drop a skid or two

Dane.

AndrewT · Post by **AndrewT** » Mon Jun 15, 2009 3:02 pm

Yeah, it runs the correct way solong as the transfer case is suitable. Don't have to run it upside down or anything like that.

Brumby Boy · Post by **Brumby Boy** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 8:38 pm

That thing is nuts, if i was going to that extreme tho i would do a SAS, but thats just me..

AlpineRaven · Post by **AlpineRaven** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 9:09 pm

interesting read there mate... looking good there, it would be never ending project there! It'll keep going and going!
Has given me ideas for something... wont happen this year, maybe next year or year after...

Cheers
AP

brumbyrunner · Post by **brumbyrunner** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 11:55 pm

With your divorced transfer case, are you going to be able to mount it so the front output shaft is in the centre of the car?
In other words, in-line with the front diff.

Have you considered a married gearbox and transfer case bolted to your engine to save modifying the suby box and building a jack shaft. The Suby box has the slip joint built into it.

AndrewT · Post by **AndrewT** » Thu Jul 02, 2009 1:38 am

Yes I have considered that but there are complications with mating a foreign gearbox to the Suby motor (starter motor position, making adaptorplate, figuring out clutches, stuff like that). It's easier to just use a Suby box and a divorced case, that way all gearbox and clutch items can stay bog stock.
There are some divorced cases with outputs which are centered in the car so that's what I'm going to try to get. With offset ones I'd have to offset the diffs too and get custom drive shafts - one short and one long - (way too expensive and then trail-spares would not be readily available). If I can't get a case with centered outputs I can soak up some of the extra angle by clocking the transfer case mounting arrangement on an angle to bring the outputs closer to center (it's gonna need custom crossmember mounts anyways) and let the tail shaft CV's soak up the rest....but this is not desirable - first choice is to get centered outputs.

mattl200 · Post by **mattl200** » Fri Jul 03, 2009 7:38 pm

you cant remove the front diff from a subaru gearbox
as the gears in the top of the front housing rely on the oil that comes of the crownwheel for lubrication

AndrewT · Post by **AndrewT** » Fri Jul 03, 2009 8:43 pm

That's interesting, something I can't really comment on having never even stripped a gearbox down myself. The guy I'm getting to mod the gearbox for me is extremely experienced in EJ AWD Subaru gearboxes specifically and was actually the one to suggest removing the front diff (to save weight) - I had planned to just leave it in there un-used. I trust his judgment but I'll certainly quiz him on this before it goes ahead.

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Sat Jul 04, 2009 11:37 am

mattl200 wrote:you cant remove the front diff from a subaru gearbox
as the gears in the top of the front housing rely on the oil that comes of the crownwheel for lubrication

I don't agree with the reliance of the crown wheel - this would only come into effect at speed when the oil would be flug off the crown wheel, so what happens at idel in low range? Or at low speed in low range???. At low speed no oil would get up to the low range gears if this is true. Since AT is not looking at having a subaru low range in the gearbox it should be fine without the front diff. The rest of the gears will still get their oil. If not it wouldn't be hard to tap in a pick up oil line to an external pump that then delivers it to several points high up on the gearbox casing... Or just run more oil in the gearbox.

If you need some pics of gearbox internals, I've got an EA and EJ box opened up on the bench atm. Just let me know.

Cheers

Bennie

AndrewT · Post by **AndrewT** » Sat Jul 04, 2009 12:01 pm

yeah no low range in the box. It will just be a completely standard Liberty RS Turbo 5spd AWD box at the beginning. Removed front diff and locked(welded) centre, ending up with rwd-only box. I will try and get pics of the mods while they happen. *hopefully* getting the gearbox this weekend!

AndrewT · Post by **AndrewT** » Sun Jul 05, 2009 11:21 am

I picked up the RS Turbo gearbox and dropped it straight over to get it modded. After thinking about it abit longer my gearbox guy said yeah there is a slight possibility of something running dry of oil if the front diff isn't there. The only reason to remove it was to save weight by removing redundant stuff, but we've now decided to just leave it there as it's only ~1kg anyway. Also this has the advantage of not needing to split the box now, and also should I ever wish to revert it back to AWD again it's just a simple matter of replacing the centre.
So now it's just getting it's centre welded up solid. I should have the box back in a few days.

In other news I also picked up a second RS Turbo front engine crossmember. Monsterwagon now has the engine about 95% removed (again, yay). Just need to crack the last stubborn turbo dump pipe bolt before hoisting it out so I can install the second crossmember under it.

AndrewT · Post by **AndrewT** » Tue Jul 07, 2009 11:51 am

Procurement update;

- Got the RWD modded gearbox back this morning. Locked & loaded, ready to go.
- Got a pressure plate and clutch disc with plenty of meat on it (can't afford a brand new one yet)
- Got new shifter linkage
- Got clutch fork
- Got dump pipe (gonna have to re-do half the exhaust cause of the new position of the motor)
- Picking up RS Master&Slave cylinder this arvo (my existing ones only suit a push clutch)

Just need a flywheel now and I rekon I'm set parts wise

GOD · Post by **GOD** » Tue Jul 07, 2009 3:44 pm

I have an EJ18 flywheel sitting in Carine if that's any good to you.

Dane.

AndrewT · Post by **AndrewT** » Wed Jul 08, 2009 4:09 pm

Thanks Dane, altho I think the turbo ones are different. I got one already anyways

Some pics of the recent new junk;

RS Turbo gearbox modded to RWD (not that you can see the mod);

A diff with 4.111 ring-gear inside, no centre, it will be getting a CLSD soon and will become my front diff.

Yet another new dump pipe to throw in, this one is an 02 STI one apparently

Other bits - fork, shifter, hydraulics (I'll be removing that mass of piping from the master), old clutch and pressure plate

I ended up springing for a brand new clutch disc and got the flywheel machined, also got new spigot and thrust bearings.

She looks alright with the hammertone bullbar ay.