Red Targa Brumby

[El_Freddo]

Hehehe... I forgot we had Bendigo members on here. Hopefully we'll be back in town permanently before too long.

Redback will still visit from time to time. For now you'll have to "admire" Sheldon ("silver ash" L touring wagon) at the Lake View

Yeah I was surprised that bar was still there when I contacted the guy. It only worked out for me as I have family that lived close by, otherwise I'd still be bullbar-less. I think the black on red goes really well!

Cheers

Bennie

[Green_eyed_liberty]

Hehehe... I forgot we had Bendigo members on here.

my Uncle is in Bendigo. has a few Brumby's, Coupes and an MY Wagon last time i saw

[El_Freddo]

my Uncle is in Bendigo. has a few Brumby's, Coupes and an MY Wagon last time i saw

Nice. In good knick or outside getting done over by the weather?

Cheers

Bennie

[Proton mouse]

I love that shot of your Brumby with the engine out, next to the giant, wooden legged, engine lifting platform (and I thought they called you tripod for other reasons)
I see you have the same shed as me, same colours and all!!

[El_Freddo]

I love that shot of your Brumby with the engine out, next to the giant, wooden legged, engine lifting platform (and I thought they called you tripod for other reasons)
I see you have the same shed as me, same colours and all!!

Hehehe... nah, no wooden legged tripods around here. This one is definitely a home job though - three lengths of three inch box steel, dunno the thickness but it works a treat and is very mobile.

That shed was the stables, but when my sister spend quite a bit of time overseas it sort of became my loose parts stash shed Needless to say she's not happy with me!

Anyway, in other news, I had a very welcome visitor today:



I love this little detail:



Great to catch up with Tweety and for Tony to finally see the brumby in the flesh!

Cheers

Bennie

[El_Freddo]

Seems that we're not having a very good run with the brumbys recently. Sunnie the brumby broken into and an attempted theft and now my brumby backed into by another vehicle that drove off:





If it wasn't for someone that observed the whole thing and grabbed a number plate I'd be stuck for options as to how to repair this (probably pull it out roughly and deal with it in a few years).

After a few calls/messages with the offender the brumby is now booked in for an assessment. This is all new to me so we'll see what that's like. It'd be nice to get a few other dents pulled while she's in there for that panel work.

Got off lightly really - had the other car not been a 4wd the front driver's wheel could've been damaged but it was missed and the panel took it all.

That's all for now.

Cheers

Bennie

[El_Freddo]

All fixed now and looking mint - on the front right corner. I need to bring the rest of the car up to speed with that new, freshly painted guard :/

I'll get pics soon

Cheers

Bennie

[El_Freddo]

So... haven't got those pics :/

But I do have some news on the lighting front. My headlights have always sucked in this brumby. I have a set of high beam spot lights fitted to the factory high beam light position - these look stock but have a stick "for offroad use only". Yeah right, like anyone's paid attention to that before.

Problem was they were koala spotting and giving off heaps of glare off the bullbar. So I replaced their mounting bracket with one that I knew I could adjust (the one on the brumby had shagged out screw tabs). Now lights are adjusted well.

I then added a secondary wiring loom from fleabay to get more voltage to the lights. After dicking around with that wiring I got it working properly and it goes really well. Those spot lights really make a difference! Not done there I had a set of square IHF's that I had planned to drop on the RS once it was going but waiting got the better of me:



This pic also made the banner on Subarino's bookface group

Ironically I haven't been able to give these a good test run at night yet. The night I thought I was going to have a good run to benders the car died a little while later. I couldn't get it started.

Long story short it was a dead coil that then killed the dizzy module. Only thing was that I'd replaced the module with a new one - and killed it too. New coil and a 2nd hand module of unknown condition and I was running again. Took a while to figure it out!

Got a few other issues to sort out: leak in rad kept at bay by running fans all the time; temp gauge not working (two clusters and two sender units still didn't fix it. wiring checks out) and I might have a rear wheel bearing on the way out

For now it's the moving house mule:



It's going well other than some pinging at light throttle up hills or WOT with a down shift. Just need to find the sweet spot in the middle

Cheers

Bennie

[El_Freddo]

It's going well other than some pinging at light throttle up hills or WOT with a down shift. Just need to find the sweet spot in the middle

So on this front I'm thinking it's time for an SPFI setup. If it continues to ping with this I've got other issues - mostly likely low compression or too much oil droplets in the air/fuel mixture, from what I've read recently this effectively drops the RON of the fuel and thus creates detonation.

Actual fitment will be a while off I reckon - depends on the time I can scrounge to chip away at this while keeping the brumby operational for semi daily duties atm.

First step is to bust out the wiring loom to see what I've got to deal with and how it will be laid out in the engine bay. Also I need to refit all the intake manifold gear to the intake manifold...

I must also thank Tweety for the opportunity to use the SPFI kit, this is the same one that his EA81 powered trike was running a few years back. I just needed to sort out an intake manifold to make it work. Hopefully I'll be able to keep the EA81 factory PS pump setup with the EA82 intake manifold... time will tell.

Cheers

Bennie

[Silverbullet]

Hopefully I'll be able to keep the EA81 factory PS pump setup with the EA82 intake manifold... time will tell.

Cheers

Bennie

I think you'll have difficulty, since the EA82 thermostat housing pokes out right about there. That's what is stopping me putting P/S on my Brum

[Suby Spanner]

Regarding the pinging, have you tried a higher octane fuel?

I did my apprenticeship at a suby dealer, and at the time (bout 99) my brumby had done about 10,000km, (yes, only 10,000km) and that used to ping. Took the boss for a ride and showed him the pinging... Pretty normal for one of these he said...

Fast forward to late 2000's, I was at a Nissan dealer, and yep, the petrol V6's like to ping on Aussie fuel...

Fast forward to now, and the wife bought new 2014 Impreza, and guess what? It pings... Had it in for some warranty work just before the warranty run out, I ask, is there an ECU update, this thing pings on a hot day... Guess what??? Yeah that's normal!

I also have a VL turbo... yep that pings...

And a GTR skyline... that pinged hard... and broke a piston but all the others never had damage from pinging.

Alot of it is due to Aussie fuel being junk. 91 is going to be outlawed in the near future, and it's probably not a bad thing: The emissions are bad, it kills catalytic converters..and imported cars hate our 91.... Ha, all car's are imported now... No more aussie cars.

As for power steering, I have mates who use the astra electric hydraulic pump in their modified cars, I'm thinking that's how I'll try to put power steer in my brumby. Haven't looked too hard into it yet.

[El_Freddo]

I think you'll have difficulty, since the EA82 thermostat housing pokes out right about there. That's what is stopping me putting P/S on my Brum

My thoughts are that I'll be able to reverse the thermostat housing to point the outlet backward(ish), then with some custom rad pipe work I'll re-route it along the factory lines and shove an aftermarket temp gauge sensor in there too. I'm hoping it'll work!

Regarding the pinging, have you tried a higher octane fuel?

I did my apprenticeship at a suby dealer, and at the time (bout 99) my brumby had done about 10,000km, (yes, only 10,000km) and that used to ping. Took the boss for a ride and showed him the pinging... Pretty normal for one of these he said...

Fast forward to late 2000's, I was at a Nissan dealer, and yep, the petrol V6's like to ping on Aussie fuel...

...Alot of it is due to Aussie fuel being junk. 91 is going to be outlawed in the near future, and it's probably not a bad thing: The emissions are bad, it kills catalytic converters..and imported cars hate our 91.... Ha, all car's are imported now... No more aussie cars.

Hmm... I don't have any issues with my EJ22 pinging and with my mother inlaw's brumby (Sunnie) we had this same issue. I pinpointed the carb being the issue - shaft play was one part of the issue. Swapped the carb for a low km unit and the pinging is no longer.

So I'm hoping that the SPFI kit will rid me of pinging - at least it'll be able to monitor and adjust the fuel/air mixture with the oxygen sensor, unlike the carb that's pretty much set and leave the rest up to temp/atmospheric pressure!

I wouldn't be accepting that it's "just how it is". To me that sounds like incorrect setup of the vehicle for the given market. The VL, well, I can understand that one!

As for power steering, I have mates who use the astra electric hydraulic pump in their modified cars, I'm thinking that's how I'll try to put power steer in my brumby. Haven't looked too hard into it yet.

Interesting. What year is that from?

Cheers

Bennie

[El_Freddo]

Ok, finally an update on the driving lights and secondary headlight wiring to reduce the loss in the old original system. By swapping four plugs I can easily revert back to the original wiring on the side of the road if need be.



Low beams:



High beams without driving lights:



High beams with driving lights:



You may have noticed the glare from the rail of the bullbar. I've since added some of that anti slip step tape that's got a sand paper like texture. Before applying it I've sprayed it with matte black spray paint.

It works well enough to get a lot from the driving lights, previous to this any gains from the lights was lost on the glare that came back at you. Sorted now and it's awesome to drive with at night!

And the SPFI conversion has started:



Getting one of these "little toilet gaskets" in Australia could be some fun... (edit) For future reference, the part number for this little "toilet bowl" gasket is 16175AA020



More updates on the SPFI to come as it progresses

And hanging out with Sunnie the Brumby:



Cheers

Bennie

[El_Freddo]

So I've stripped down this wiring and found a few of the wires miss-labelled. One did have an assumed label name with a question mark.

The main one was one of the power wires, I wanted to know for sure whether it was permanent or switched with ignition. Turns out it's switched with ignition

Now to lengthen the O2 sensor wire and the AFM wires. These will be shielded properly to reduce/remove any possible interference.

I've also downloaded the SPFI manual from the link in the wiki manuals. So I'm pretty happy with that as a few of the tables in the printed manuals from other forums are fuzzy with the finer details. This is how I worked out what that power wire was... including a some time physically tracing the individual wires to get my head around it.

I'm also hoping to find out exactly what designation/model SPFI ECU/system I'm running:



This may be achieved from reading the specification code from the ECU itself. 05(MT) or 07(AT) flash code will mean Federal (US) or Canada, 06(MT) or 08(AT) will mean Californian spec. Given that I don't see an EGR temp sensor I'm going to say that I'll be getting 05 or 07 code.

Fun fun - but I'm looking forward to having this installed in the brumby, at least the wiring anyway. Then I'll be able to plan the rest of the install. At the moment I can't find my EFI Y pipe with the O2 sensor hole so need to work out what to do with this - I've got evil thoughts of a turbo style UEL extractors

And I reckon running a surge tank will be super easy for this job. The MY setup has a fuel pump cut relay. When the coil is not firing off for spark a little module under the dashboard stops the fuel pump from running. I should be able to keep this system and factory wiring for the existing low pressure fuel pump. The hardest part is making the surge tank...

It'll get there!

Cheers

Bennie

[El_Freddo]

Not much happening on the SPFI front. It’ll get done some day...

I’ve replaced the PCV valve and this made the car run better in the pinging department. I was able to drive with little pinging in 45*C heat. Middle throttle with light load would see pinging occur. At cruise it was more evident.

I also got some new rubber and decided to ditch the 13 inch sunnies for my second set of scorpions:



I’m not completely sold on the more rim than rubber look but it’s growing on me. The brumby seems to handle better too, probably a combination of new rubber and a lower profile tyre.

I’m hoping to paint these rims a fresh coat of white soon. I’ll be aiming for “good from afar but far from good” sort of work until I can find the time and spare coin to get them sand blasted and powder coated...

Cheers

Bennie

[El_Freddo]

New pic from today. Really happy with how these rims/tyres travel. Very sure footed so far. The white is coming around on me. Looking forward to finding the time to paint these rims:



This was after an awesome tops off arvo drive

Cheers

Bennie

[El_Freddo]

Hehehe... Redback right at home, except for four x bit. It should just say “beer” or bundy would be fine by me



And I’m definitely digging these rims and Redback’s new look!



I’ll ease up on the pic updates for now I hope those reading are enjoying the updates, not that there’s much traffic in here these days... *waves fist at bookface*

Cheers

Bennie

[pitrack_1]

I'm watching!

What's the bull bar originally off- an 80 series LandCruiser?!!

[El_Freddo]

I'm watching!

What's the bull bar originally off- an 80 series LandCruiser?!!

Hey Patrick!

The bull bar is custom made for the brumby It’s lighter than it looks too which is good. It needs to be sand blasted and coated but for now it looks good/mean. I’m hoping to make it look good in the next year or two with the rest of the brumby...

Cheers

Bennie

[Suby Spanner]

I got a mate to paint my 13inch white rims... Money back deal ie. he didn't charge me.

We just pressure washed them.
Hit them with some 'wheel cleaner', the spray can's from the reject shop, works waaaaayyy better than it has any right to. Gave them a wipe with a rag, and a rub with a brush.
Then hit them with a acid based degrease, same deal, quick wipe and rub with a brush.
Pressure cleaned again.

Then he blasted them with white: I reckon it was an enamel, not sure. He just went to the local paint shop and said he wanted paint for his brothers boat trailer wheels, and this was the left over.

And ya know what: It looks way better than it should. Is it as tough as power coat, no. Did it cost as much as powder coat? No... can you keep wheels perfect on a street car? Especially a brumby... Hell no. lol.