Red Targa Brumby

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El_Freddo
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Re: Red Targa Brumby

Post by El_Freddo » Mon May 23, 2022 5:25 pm

Yeah that’s the optional pole in the door dent, it complements the factory tailgate pole dent :lol:

I have a straight door to replace it, but I’m waiting until I’ve got time to clean up a few elements of the brumby to replace it. I’ll probably add the power windows at that point too as these bits are waiting for mods to make it work properly.

Cheers

Bennie
"The lounge room is not a workshop..."
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Silverbullet
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Re: Red Targa Brumby

Post by Silverbullet » Mon May 23, 2022 8:03 pm

Coincidence, a series of photos of that other red Brum came up on the FB group this week, apparently he (Liam) was doing a trip across VIC.

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Re: Red Targa Brumby

Post by El_Freddo » Tue May 24, 2022 11:27 am

Good to see it out and about. I wish I stuck around to have a chat to him, compare Brumbys etc but alas…

Maybe I’ll bump into him again at some stage, who knows!

Cheers

Bennie
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Re: Red Targa Brumby

Post by Bumpty » Sun Aug 07, 2022 2:25 pm

El_Freddo wrote:
Wed Oct 16, 2019 9:15 pm

I love this beast!

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Cheers

Bennie
YUM!

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Re: Red Targa Brumby

Post by El_Freddo » Mon Feb 06, 2023 11:02 pm

Not much happening with the brumby these days other than topping off the oil about every tank of fuel. I’ve stressed Subarino out with pushing the fuel gauge limit before I run out of fuel… I’m yet to be caught out!

This was last week’s effort after driving ~40km from home into Bendigo. I could’ve filled up near home at the only servo in town but where’s the fun in that :lol: I’ll get caught out one day though. This fill took 48.5L. So I still had another 7ish litres to go…

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Behind the scenes I’ve got a build on the go that’s a bit experimental at this point that I’m both itching to share and hesitant too. I’m going from a post on the USMB where two VW fellas were doing the build and shared enough information to get me going on mine. But the thread falls dead shortly after that info was posted (one said he got his fired up) so I don’t know if this will be a success or not. What I know of engines etc it should be fine. Time will tell!

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^ this is it currently dummied up in a brumby front cut (don’t worry, it was a cornflakes model before I cut it in half), I haven’t got everything sorted in place yet but it’s progressing well this year.

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Basically what I’ve got for the test setup is a SOHC NA block under the EJ205 turbo gear. This avoids modifying the engine bay of my precious brumby, and from what my previous (now retired) engineer said, it should avoid the need to be emissions tested.

Everything from the EJ205(turbo) bolts up to the EJ202(NA) because it’s phase 2 gear but some areas on the SOHC heads need to be shaved for the extra turbo coolant line and the turbo coolant crossover pipe and for some reason the fuel rails on the RHS need to be tweaked to let the intake manifold bolt down properly. 90% of the “usual” mods to oil and flow coolant through the turbo remains the same as the EJ22na-t setup.

Once everything engine wise is sorted, wiring will be laid out, fuel and coolant systems fitted and test run ahoy!

I will do a complete write up on this process and how it turns out, good, bad or otherwise. If it fires up, idles and revs, the heads will be pulled off, skimmed etc and fitted to the EJ205 turbo block that everything else came from. Then it’s into the brumby with an AWD box (more work there to be done too).

The aim is to have an engineered sleeper in the end that’s more fun to drive than it is now. I’m hoping to run the water to air intercooler from the RS Liberty to avoid cutting the bonnet for a scoop which will be added to the test fit once I locate it (in a box somewhere…).

This will be a slow burn now that I’m back at work again. I’ll keep you updated once I know more. I’ve got a list of things to write about in the build once I’m ready to compile it ;)

Lastly, the idea of the half cut is so I can work around the MY engine bay with the EJ turbo in there without having down time on my brumby. The wiring loom was cut down a long time ago (probably two years ago or close to it!). This setup should allow me to lay it out the way it will be in my brumby at which point I can then do the loom wrap on it. Many conversations have bounced across the continent with Subarino throughout this process, we love this stuff! I’m really hoping my wiring cut down is up to scratch for the EJ205 loom with factory security. And yes, I have the matching key, ignition ring part and security box.

I was originally planning on the EJ22na-t conversion but my engineer said I’d need to pass an emissions test (at $750 a pop back then, I believe it’s more like $1250 now and only one mob certified to do it!) because I was doing two modifications to the intake - turbo AND intercooler. It’s an interesting rule. Hence the SOHC build which should skirt around this rule, plus the ECU is programmable so if needed it can be tweaked, where as the EJ22E’s management is fixed and only modifiable with piggybacking from what I understand. And I should be able to run full factory boost that’s also ECU controlled.

Cheers

Bennie
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Re: Red Targa Brumby

Post by Silverbullet » Wed Feb 08, 2023 7:37 pm

:o
Exciting times! A turbo EJ in the stable ;) That looks and sounds very interesting. Am I reading correctly that you've got a EJ20 SOHC N/A engine to do the turbo test run, then you're going to put those heads on a EJ205 turbo block? Why not keep the EJ205 heads? or are they DOHC :?: What gen donor cars did these engines come from?
Questions questions :roll: Watching keenly how you get on with this little project, getting ideas for my wagon :lol:

Re the fuel gauge, I got to the same point in my car and it took 37L to fill up (45L tank) I'm never game to see how much further it will go once the needle is all the way down there, have run out of fuel once before, it wasn't fun :lol:

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Re: Red Targa Brumby

Post by El_Freddo » Thu Feb 09, 2023 9:44 pm

Hehehe… I can see the excitement in your words there Sam!

The EJ turbo learning curve began with the RS (that still isn’t going, but hopefully updates coming soon!). All factory EJ turbos are DOHC which require chassis rail cuts that I don’t want a part of. Any EJ turbo using the factory turbo exhaust off the engine will require crossmember modifications for the up-pipe scallop which will require a certified welder for engineering purposes (in Vic anyway). Unless you can find a rocking horse poo MY turbo crossmember…

So the EJ20G/K/H?/R?, EJ205, EJ207 and I think EJ208 are all factory turbo engines in the RS Liberty (20G), WRX and GT forester. I think the XT foz and same era WRX was the first for the EJ255 engine that is the 2.5L turbos. I’m sure someone reading this will be abusing their screen right now as this really is the noob understanding in the learning process.

Yes, NA EJ202 (phase 2 engine from the series 2 SF5 Forester, Imprezas and Libertys of the same era, c2000 to dunno when) is the test mule. Then the heads will be moved over to the EJ205 block for the conversion. This saves me wasting new head gaskets for nothing in the event this doesn’t work. The EJ202 will be fine with the test run as there won’t be a load on it since it can’t drive in the halfcut, plus it has a suspected HG issue so long runs might not be possible.

Also note with the phase two engines (NA at least, can’t remember about the EJ205) that two head bolts have their bolt head painted. These two bolts are dedicated to the centre two bolts of the six. I got it wrong the first time I did a HG replacement on my sister’s EJ251, and this EJ202 is no different. It’s also worth removing cam retainer plate to reseal it. Ideally you’d put the head on the engine first, torque it down, then fit the cam retainer plate with fresh quality sealant. Something to remember if you ever play with these SOHC engines ;) The good thing is these engines fit in the MY engine bay, with about 10-12mm clearance each side. It’s tight but it fits without engine bay mods.

If you’re looking at going EJ read up on the EJ251 - my opinion is that with the correct HG shoved in it this phase two engine is like the EJ22 but with a linear torque curve. Subarino has one in Hatchie now and while he’s still skeptical about it because of the dreaded “head gasket” issue it goes like stink with the 3.9 ratio gearbox (if you happen to find one let me know pls!). And I love my sister’s RX manual Liberty with the EJ251 (over 400,000km). My MIL’s EJ251 (~370,000km) auto SGII foz goes well too. I think they’re a great engine with the correct maintenance/care.

My EJ205 block isn’t without issues and I’m expecting it to use a little bit of oil as a result which isn’t ideal but I reckon it’ll be less than what the brumby is drinking atm. I originally got the roo-hit GT foz (auto) as a donor for the RS engine but when I saw the bit of corrosion on no1 cylinder I binned that idea - but for this setup it’ll be a good starter to see how it goes to know if it’s truely a long term goer. The RS has another engine lined up for it now…



The brumby had a bit of a rough week this week. Redback was borrowed by my MIL who drove Sunnie the Brumby for many years - the reason why I got my own brumby when I got the chance! She saw the fuel gauge in the red and freaked out so filled up to the first click with 91ron. Dunno why but Redback doesn’t like 91ron fuel let alone on hot days. So I drove home monitoring for pinging, had plans to drain the tank and fill with 98 but got busy and didn’t do that. I drove to work the next morning in the coil air no worries, filled half a tank with 98RON in the arvo and it seems to be happy days again. That aside, my MIL loved driving a brumby again which is awesome in my book!

Then yesterday this happened between parking in the morning and returning in the arvo:

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Not Happy JAN! - is the least I can say about this damage!!! I don’t want to say much about this as it's very easy to jump to conclusions. It is being looked into and once I know the outcome I’ll update the thread.

That was my straight rust free door with pretty good factory original paint. I wish this happened to my rippled, repair-dented driver’s door!! I might not be so angry about the driver’s door being damaged - I couldn’t post about it last night because of my anger, I couldn’t have a drink either as I had to drive the bus for school today…

All that aside, the turbo project has slowed right down since being back at work. I’ve got a “family bus” Pajero to get back on the road that’s taking priority now and while I’m doing the rear bearing replacement work I’m thinking I’ll drop the later model factory diff locker in too since half the work is already done - it’s been on the to do list for about 18 months while I waited on myself to get some small but key parts to the swap which I now have :mrgreen:

Cheers

Bennie
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Re: Red Targa Brumby

Post by Silverbullet » Fri Feb 10, 2023 8:17 pm

Epic post there Bennie, good and bad, that door! :cry: Such a nice factory door too. Have been there, hit and run, door caved in, parked right outside home too! Was fuming about it for weeks afterwards so I feel your pain. If yours happened at school during the day then hopefully someone saw something.

Good info for me, I've never really considered an EJ swap until recently so never researched which engines had which heads and whatnot. Food for thought. Fighting to live with the thought of losing my under-bonnet toolbox though, and with added complexity comes possibly compromised reliability... :mmm:
What made me seriously consider it; the drive down to Beachport a few weeks back, coming past the coorong, a headwind coming almost directly head on had me mashing carpet with right foot and only just managing to hold 100km/h on the flat :neutral: A/C was on the whole way but :roll: :lol: 11.8L/100k averaged for the whole trip down but I digress...

If and when you get that RS going again it could become quite collectible in the future I would think, it was in pretty good shape cosmetically if I remember right? Re the turbo crossmember, unless you go full custom on the exhaust (and even if you do :?: ) you're going to need to get the Brumby X-member scalloped as part of the build right? Unless you've found some rocking horse poo you're not telling us about :lol:

I daily drove a gen 4 Lib with an EJ 252 (I think it was) for 5 years, if the 251 is anything like that then it would be great, that car was always happy to zoom off smoothly up to the redline without much trouble, factory headgaskets and all. If your turbo adventure doesn't go the way you planned then a SOHC 251 would surely be a worthy backup.
it goes like stink with the 3.9 ratio gearbox (if you happen to find one let me know pls!)
Well I may or may not have just dropped these off this very afternoon to get professionally rebuilt :mrgreen: (sorry to hijack your thread with photos!)

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L series 5 spd with 3.9 ratio and rear diff, dual range too. The only one I've ever seen and it was at U-pull it closest to me. Sorry you can't have it ;)

Pajero is still going strong then I take it, would be nice to be able to think about such things as "factory diff locker" when thinking about old Subarus :roll:

Top work over there Bennie as usual.

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Re: Red Targa Brumby

Post by El_Freddo » Sun Feb 12, 2023 12:32 am

Thanks Sam, I’m good at epic posts, sometimes not for good reasons. No stress about your pics, fire away. It’s a good looking gearbox ;)

You should get an early EJ dual range gearbox, another L series gearbox and have a play swapping the EJ front cases onto the L’s gearbox internals. There’s a couple of bits that need some specialist work (that you could probably do yourself with a lathe) to do this. The rest drops in, rear housing bolts on, no mods to the mods you’ve done to have the EA82 box in there - this gives you the ability to run the factory EJ clutch with the EJ engine and not require an adaptor plate or custom clutch.

On the EJ front, anything SOHC fits in the MY engine bay. Anything DOHC requires chassis rail mods. And you’re correct about the turbo - the crossmember needs to be notched and reinforced/have material replaced to maintain its strength. Done many times without issue. Any decent welder/fabricator will nail this easily enough.

You won’t need to lose your tool box with an EJ engine (unless it’s turbo with a factory intercooler) - it might need some tweaking and you might need to get creative with the air intake and filter for the phase 2 EJs, the phase 1 should be easy enough to deal with. In Ruby Scoo I have a storage shelf above the engine with the EJ22E.

The RS is already somewhat a collectable for those that know what they are. Mine is the classic theme of pretty much all of my Subarus - good from afar but far from good!

I believe the 3.9 ratio five speed was found in the series 1 L series from ‘85-mid ‘87. It’s a short series run for a vehicle that had a 10 year model production lifespan.

The Pajero goes great. But working on it everything is HEAVY, and done up what seems to be super tight! But what it offers is almost a “grown up” version of the Subaru platform. They’re all independent suspension, you can select 2wd, full time 4wd (selectable AWD), 4wd and low 4wd; all the high range settings can be selected on the fly which is awesome. To select low range you must be below 8km/h for the system to allow you to select low range.

The option of factory diff locker is awesome. Can’t wait to put it in! Some say it’s not up to the task, others say use it as needed and here’s no worries. Mine won’t have the control unit that limits when you can use it (low range only I believe, or it’s locked 4wd high or low range but below a certain speed. Above this set speed it will automatically disengage the diff lock). Mine will just have a switch for when I want it on or off ;)

I also love the 81L auxiliary tank I fitted from purchasing a second hand tank with 2 of the three body mounts it needed. The rest I put together. It’s a game changer for travelling and even when you fill up - the wallet hurts bad (170L capacity!) but you don’t see a servo for about two weeks or so. And you can maximise the savings when fuel is “cheap” if that’s ever a thing again…

Since having the auxiliary tank on the Pajero I’m wondering how I could add one to the brumby under the tray behind the cab, that would be handy, especially if it could be 40 or so litres!

So update on the build: I managed to look at it today and that’s it :sad:

Cheers

Bennie
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Re: Red Targa Brumby

Post by Suby Spanner » Sun Apr 23, 2023 6:36 pm

Nice! I haven't logged on in ages....
The SOHC engine, being turbo'd is something I've been thinking of for about 12-18months now. And given the price of WRX's/turbo liberties/foresters, this will probably happen in my world too. I've got another project I got to finish first, but watching this with interest!

Keep the posts going! Any/all info is appreciated.

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Re: Red Targa Brumby

Post by El_Freddo » Sat Sep 02, 2023 11:43 pm

Another really cool chapter in the “Saga” of Redback…

This one started unbeknownst to any of us way back when Subarino shared some exciting news. Then the night he arrived in Skidney he messaged me to say he’d landed! I remember Mrs El_Freddo and I were getting take out since most of our kids abandoned us for sleep overs at their Aunty’s or Grandma’s for the night (that blew out to seven nights!!). I said to Mrs El_Freddo that I should duck up the road to see Subarino and that I could take the Brumby. Her reply was “why not?”. That sealed it for me.

So the next day the Brumby copped a much needed oil change and I packed the usual camping gear, tools and spare jerry can for the trip while I waited to hear from Subarino that he’d have time to chill out with me. I got that notification that night, the next morning I was off earlyish, 7:30 - only to find out local coffee trailer was closed, so I had to wait until I got to the Elmore Bakery for a coffee. Worth the wait. Driving conditions were challenging with a windscreen that was fogging up and the amount of fog outside the car too, it was very taxing driving! This was after 1.5hrs driving when I thought I should take some pics of this trip, the fog was lifting at this point:

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Subarino had told me he was chasing some bits for the MY so I thought I might be able to help out since Sydney wasn’t turning anything up via the usual social network channels and there was bound to be lots of wreckers in my travels. I drove past a place I knew on the other side of Shepparton with half a paddock full of various cars with some being old Holdens from the late ‘60s. Curiosity got the better of me so I hooked a U turn and asked if they had any old Subarus. They didn’t have any Subarus let alone old ones! But the old fella there told me of a wreckers in a town in the direction I was headed in that might have something that I was chasing.

So off I went to this town, topped up with fuel, filled the jerry can and gave Redback a much needed wash to make her more respectable:

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I went to the wreckers on my way out and called the number on the gate. The dude said that they had a 1985 wagon and a 1989 wagon. I knew both of these to be the L series but thought it worth checking them out. While waiting I spied a flat roof of a beige wagon from the front gate but couldn’t see anything else to identify it, and I thought maybe they had it listed incorrectly. The fella let me check it out and it was indeed a 1985 Subaru wagon - of the MY variety! Never heard of any MY other than the brumby being from ‘85 onwards! And it had the bits I was looking for! A price was negotiated, a forklift was almost bogged getting the wagon out of the yard and I had a small pile of parts to take with me as the end result. Here’s the MY wagon some may recognise:

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After that bit of excitement it was lots of this:

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I had planned to camp out at a place off the side of the Hume but worked out it would be better to drive all the way into Skidney and find some accommodation. I booked some in Greenacres. More on that later.

When doing road trips you’ve got lots of time to think about things - like the fan belt that runs the water pump and alternator that you forgot to replace before leaving home - an hour before close of business! Typical…

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The mechanic in this town was awesome to deal with but unfortunately didn’t have the belt size I needed. Yass had a store that probably had what I needed but I was still ages away and there was no chance of getting there in business hours. While in town I had a toilet stop and emptied the jerry can into the Brumby’s tank.

So on with the driving, listening and monitoring for that belt letting go. I figured my voltage would drop pretty quick and the temp would to rise at the same time if the belt snapped. If this was to happen I was dead in the water until the next day when I could work out a game plan. Fortunately only this happened:

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If you squint closely at the odometer it rolled over the 250,000km mark. Nice trip to do it on I reckon.

I got to my accommodation at Greenacres. I went with this place for the price and because it said it had parking… that was a back street public car park, not really happy with that. The place was crawling with ppl when I arrived at 9pm, my brumby was the oldest piece of tin on wheels by a long shot! I was nervous about its safety. I setup my room then headed over to see Subarino at his hotel about 20mins away to catch up before returning to my accommodation that had a mattress that was far too soft… average night sleep had!

The next morning I picked up Subarino from his hotel and we grabbed a cafe brekky before heading to MCM HQ.

At this point I thought it would be some sort of a meet and greet, hand over the parts I collected and off we go to cut a lap of Sydney and cruise over the big coat hanger that is the Sydney Harbour Bridge - two mates on a cruise in a brumby in a big city... Nope (not disappointed!).

I was invited in to check out the brumby project then ended up removing the dashboard with Moog. Subarino worked on other stuff that I don’t remember and I can’t remember how my brumby ended up in the Super Garage but I’m stoked it did! When Moog did the filming with me about Redback I thought it might end up as a short video on MCM2 - but to my surprise it made it into the opening scene of episode 4! Here she is, chilling out watching us work on a fellow project brumby:

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An awesome day and experience had! I didn’t think I’d be meeting the boys let alone working on their project. I’m forever grateful to the MCM boys and ultimately Subarino for opening up this awesome opportunity for me to be part of a) the MCM self described biggest project yet, b) have my car featured in one of their main videos for a moment and c) doing all of this with a best mate of mine! Unreal is an understatement!

Marty sorted me out with a new fan belt (thanks mate!) and some gearbox oil… old cars! And I failed to check this before leaving home. Rookie mistake but no issues.

At the end of the day we packed up, Subarino and I jumped in Redback, we fuelled up the brumby and the jerry can too, and had an interesting drive navigating our way to the airport. There’s one intersection I’m sure Subarino will remember for the rest of his life, no near-collision or anything like that, we were just in the wrong lane but wanting to turn right… EA81 pow-ah :twisted:

At the airport we smashed some dinner, I saw Subarino off then jumped in the Brumby to head for home myself. By the time Subarino was home I think I was at Gundagai refuelling.

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I drove for a few more hours, but once over the Vic border I felt that heaviness of fatigue setting in and knew I couldn’t make the three and a bit hours left of the drive home. So I found a decent back road to camp on the side of, set up and got an awesome night sleep. Waking up on sunrise after a truck rumbled past it was “a bit fresh”:

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I headed into Wangaratta as I needed some engine oil. I had breakfast in the carpark and the brumby had some too… After this it was pretty much a straight shoot for home. Once home I unloaded my gear then headed to my sister’s place an hour and a half away for a round trip to help her out; because family and what’s a few more hours of driving at this point?? :lol:

I got back home and my kids didn’t even know I’d gone since they spent so many nights with their Aunty or Grandma, that was kind of funny!

I hope you’re all enjoying/have enjoyed the brumby build series! If you haven’t seen it go check it out from episode 1 ;)

I was lucky enough to be asked back to help out later, as was Subarino! We were pinching ourselves on this adventure - two mates hanging out working on a vehicle we’re both passionate about with two other genuine fellas (that feel like old mates) that are in the same book!!

That’s it for now. Next epic adventure is Subinats at the end of Sept23… I’ll have a story there too I’m sure, hopefully another good one!

Cheers

Bennie
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Re: Red Targa Brumby

Post by Bumpty » Sun Sep 03, 2023 1:27 pm

Wow, Bennie!
It’s sounds like the stars were aligned and everything just fell into place to make it work. What a fun sounding trip and full of excellent surprises!
Did you leave a cheeky ausubaru.com sticker somewhere on the brumby for the new owner to find one day and sign up? Haha

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Silverbullet
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Re: Red Targa Brumby

Post by Silverbullet » Sun Sep 03, 2023 7:19 pm

Yeah, wow! What an epic adventure :o

I did wonder how you came to be at MCM HQ, like were they lurking this forum and pick the most active and knowledgeable member? But yeah, the stars really did align with youself and Subarino Dave. Some much needed parts for the project luckily procured en-route, a roadside camp on the way home, this one had it all! :mrgreen:

Great write-up, really enjoyed the read. Makes me itch to go on my own road trips and make some memories...somehow don't think my wagon will be done in time for the drive to Subienats :cry:

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Re: Red Targa Brumby

Post by El_Freddo » Sun Sep 03, 2023 9:09 pm

Yeah Bumpty! Looking back it’s like the universe had a plan and we’re merely pawns in their much larger game…

Sam road tripping is what it’s all about when building cars - the problem is fitting them in and having an issue free run! This has me nervous for the next trip, if something goes wrong I’ve got zero buffer for work. If we make it there it’ll be Subinats on Saturday, drive home Sunday and back at work on Monday. Can’t have a break down or anything to slow down the trip home!

You’ve got to build/have the car running to go on road trips. Somehow I often find myself headed off for a long drive somewhere having just modified something before leaving - totally untested before the big trip, roll the dice! Lost a couple of times like my first trip to WA in 2007. I fitted solid lifters to my MPFI EA82. An hour before Ceduna one gave up the ghost (long story) and we were stranded on the side of the road, no mobile reception etc. Got there though!

What I’m saying Sam is that you’ll get there with your build and you’ll have a minty neat vehicle to enjoy for many years to come! Keep chipping away at it!

In other news the turbo halfcut fired up and maintained idle, revved etc with its own fuel system providing the Dino juice :mrgreen:
STOKED!! Now to hook up a cooling system and give it some run time to see how it settles down or whether this blown HG that the NA block apparently has stops that fun. Either way I can now refine how all the different bits will be mounted in the engine bay ready to transfer across to Redback once I’m ready.

Cheers

Bennie
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Re: Red Targa Brumby

Post by Bumpty » Sun Sep 03, 2023 9:16 pm

Silverbullet wrote:
Sun Sep 03, 2023 7:19 pm
Yeah, wow! What an epic adventure :o

I did wonder how you came to be at MCM HQ, like were they lurking this forum and pick the most active and knowledgeable member? But yeah, the stars really did align with youself and Subarino Dave. Some much needed parts for the project luckily procured en-route, a roadside camp on the way home, this one had it all! :mrgreen:

Great write-up, really enjoyed the read. Makes me itch to go on my own road trips and make some memories...somehow don't think my wagon will be done in time for the drive to Subienats :cry:
Haha that's what I wondered too. Did they jump on the forum and just search for most active member!
Also interested, Bennie, what were these parts that you picked up. The usual MY wagon goodies that a Brumby doesn't have?

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El_Freddo
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Re: Red Targa Brumby

Post by El_Freddo » Sun Sep 03, 2023 10:55 pm

Nah they didn’t suss out “the most active” member on any forum, just Subarino Dave because his webpage answered what they needed and he had the know how to do what they want.
Bumpty wrote:
Sun Sep 03, 2023 9:16 pm
Also interested, Bennie, what were these parts that you picked up. The usual MY wagon goodies that a Brumby doesn't have?
Something like that Bumpty. The part was seen in ep5. And with some detective work you’ll but it out in no time. Where’s the fun in me just telling you?? :twisted:

Cheers

Bennie
"The lounge room is not a workshop..."
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Re: Red Targa Brumby

Post by Bumpty » Fri Sep 08, 2023 2:57 pm

El_Freddo wrote:
Sun Sep 03, 2023 10:55 pm

Something like that Bumpty. The part was seen in ep5. And with some detective work you’ll but it out in no time. Where’s the fun in me just telling you?? :twisted:

Cheers

Bennie
Haha, I'll channel my inner Monsieur Hercule Poirot and watch for the clues!

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Re: Red Targa Brumby

Post by timmo » Fri Sep 08, 2023 7:47 pm

Nice work Benny

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El_Freddo
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Re: Red Targa Brumby

Post by El_Freddo » Wed Oct 11, 2023 8:01 am

Hey Timmo! Sorry I didn't reply earlier! Thanks mate - who knew all this Subaru fun would pay off with something that epic?!

Pack a lunch for this one... nothing unusual there!

Subinats happened on Saturday the 30th of September 2023. My preparation plans went out the window when I did my back for the first week of the holidays - very frustrating! So I got down to the essentials - put the interior back together = door cards, rear wall panel & roof glass straps. I got all that done between other work but couldn't find my straps so I'm guessing they're at M&D's.

Gave the interior a clean out, removed the EJ22 engine management harness that I'd originally planned to run with the NA/t setup several years ago. I also pulled the instrument cluster out to investigate a chattering noise that developed on the way home from Sydney last time. It turned out there wasn't any issues developing that I could see, so I added some moly CV grease to the worm gears that had old lube present and this seems to have solved that issue. While putting it all back together I dropped a screw behind the heater control settings and spent two hours going down the rabbit hole with sorting that out.

With that we packed our gear, threw it under a tarp, strapped it in and we were off at 8:20am Thursday morning after fuelling up at our local servo. From there the first stop was Deniliquin 2hrs into the drive:

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It was the Deni Ute Muster weekend too. We missed being pulled over by the police that were everywhere. Following the GPS we went through town and past the Ute Muster paddock - there were loads of vehicles already in the venue with plenty more moving in too. After this traffic died down to nothing which was odd. It turned out since we were off to Conargo we should've been diverted around a big block of land to avoid the area. At Conargo it was a surprise (a good one) to see the old pub rebuilt. Last time we were here in 2019 it was a burnt out pub with only the façade saved. More on this later.

We had a great run into Griffith. I decided to detour the trip to Griffith to visit my old forum mate FROG. Sadly I never got the chance to meet him in person. I took the opportunity to visit his grave to pay my respects. The dudes mowing the grass in his block spoilt the moment a little, it was still good to drop in none the less.

At this point the brumby got 8L/100km from home to Griffith - probably because there's about two hills between start and refill and no wind. Still stoked! Cruise control made the trip very easy too - one of the great mods worth doing!

We filled up in Bathurst a number of hours later, many hills traversed with long steady climbs, loads of fun and good scenery too. 9L/100km. The engine also needed some oil at this point as it was sounding rattly. It usually needs oil added to the engine when fuel is added to the tank, which I failed to do in Griffith...

We continued on looking for a feed and a place to camp for the night. Dinner in Lithgow (they have the weirdest Bunnings that's retrofitted into an old pub, wish I took the time to get a pic even though it was dark). Camped at Mt York Campground and Lookout. We got there at about 9:30pm, the place was packed but we managed to find a little spot for ourselves. In the morning we were well rewarded with views and mainly by the still weather - this place would not be fun if it were windy since it's on top of the western edge of the Blue Mountains!

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We hooked off early and found a neat spot for breakfast that allowed us to take in the awe of the Blue Mountains - Mt Banks picnic area. Stunning views!

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Next stop was Bilpin! It was interesting because looking at the road maps on my phone I thought the road and the town would be in a valley like they typically are in Victoria where the settlers followed the gold or the grasslands up the valleys. Nope, this town was on a ridgeline. Stunning country, the town was tiny! This was the only big feature in town on the side of their cafe to note we were there, other than pulling over for a photo with an orchid or cidery's sign; pretty good and a bit of fun:

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We arrived in Sydney's outer suburbs mid morning, checked out our hotel location, contacted a mate and arranged to hang out with them for the arvo. Our other plan was to cut a lap over the big coat hanger (aka the Sydney Harbour Bridge), that wasn't needed. We checked into our hotel, had a bite to eat (tailgate cook up in the hotel carpark!), then headed off to pick up Subarino and Tim81coupe (who I haven't seen since my 2007 trip to WA!) in my mate's car. But that's another story! We got back to the hotel at 1am!

Up early the next morning to put the show and shine sticker on the brumby, give it some tyre shine and get into the line for an 8am bump in.

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Then onto the skid pan for the show and shine setup. I was totally out of my league here. Ppl were still polishing up their vehicles, I washed mine the night before at a car DIY wash 20mins from the hotel... Good from a-far, far from good. If there was a wooden spoon prize, I wouldn't be surprised if Redback took it out - it was all in good fun though. I definitely had the best bullbar there!

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^ There's Redback in the middle of all that straight, perfect paint sporting Subarus! I can't get over the amount of money people put into their cars! It was nuts thinking about how much coin there was collectively dropped into all of these builds. Some weren't for everyone, others were awesome. There was a concourse RS restoration that was up for sale. It was minty fresh and an awesome example of another awesome model. I digress...

There was loads of stuff to check out - races happening around the Sydney Motorsport Park (Eastern Creek), drift rides in the new BRZ, the Subaru display of their collection including the infamous 22B, a concept XV (offroader fitout) and the MCM built Brumby - it looked mint in the sun!

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Looks so good and it was great to finally see it all together with all of the interior fitted, it looked mint! Someone is going to be a very lucky person when they win this Brumby!

My Brumby got a new sticker - shout out to the Legend that is Marty for this one:

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:twisted: I just need to sort out an Ausubaru.com.au forum sticker now. There's also the Subaru 50th anniversary sticker in the lower centre now.

Alex took out Best Brumby Award out of the four that were there. Unfortunately we were spread out other than Alex and Mitchell that came down from Qld together in the EJ turbo Brumbys, they bumped in together. Mitchell's Brumby:

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Alex's award winning Brumby:

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^ WRX interior fitted and customised by Alex himself. Very tidy! Harrison's Webered EA81 with the MINTIEST Scorpion rims I've ever seen!

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Awards were done and we were "kicked off" the skidpan for the shoot out and gymkhana. Subarino, Tim81coupe and I began watching the skid pan action from the grandstand then moved down and hung out with Alex and Mitchell for the rest of the event. It was awesome watching the drivers become better with their skills as the day went on. There was also one Sigma station wagon that was there in the middle of the Subarus in the comp (including Alex's Brumby) - this wasn't a regular sigma - it was AWD! This was achieved by fitting the station wagon body to a caged WRX floor pan. Different!

Hanging out watching the skidpan action. I moved my brumby in because I could. In doing that I found another Brumby in the carpark - a beige lifted one with stock sunnies. That totals seven Brumbys known to be there on the day, I thought there would be way more!

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We were there all day until the last event! Awesome day seeing all the cars, the stalls and all the ppl met on the day. HUGE! After hanging out at the hotel for a bit with Subarino & Time81coupe, I got to bed at 12:30am - not great for the drive the next day.

We were up at 6am, packed the Brumby and off from the hotel at 7:10am - but since daylight savings kicked in that night it was "really" 6:10am! We fuelled up our third tank not far from the hotel and threw in a bottle of octane booster as I was anticipating warmer weather that brings on pinging with my EA81 - most likely due to the oil usage.

The drive through the Blue Mountains was spectacular - up and over 1090m above sea level from memory! Very enjoyable even though it was windy, it would be better with the EJ turbo AWD drivetrain... I was looking at fuel in Bathurst but we continued on and had our second breakfast at Grenfled (I can vouch for the bacon and egg rolls!) where we stumbled across this little beast:

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And some silo art in the same town:

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We filled up our fourth tank of fuel at Narrandera and this tank got us home easily. I don't have the fuel stats worked out for this yet.

Last stop on our way home for some pics were at the Conargo Pub where we swung in for a softie and grabbed a new bullbar sticker:

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^ Morning pics are WAY better at this location due to the front on angle of the sun ;)

And I stopped off to grab a better pic of the Deni Ute Muster site since the front gates were now shut and not blocked by copious amounts of utes entering the venue:

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We made it home by 7:40pm as the sun was going down. I'm yet to fill up the tank and get the final stats sorted for the run. The octane boost was a great insurance policy running in the warmer weather. My co-pilot (the senior little El_Freddo) did amazing throughout the trip and it was awesome to have him along with me! He was stoked to meet Marty and Moog in person this time!

Epic trip, the Brumby didn't miss a beat - very proud of it considering how I found the engine. The gearbox had a whine on the July trip and was eased with some gearbox oil, but this played on my mind for the first bit of the trip. Hopefully the oil burning and gearbox whining will be sorted some time soon (maybe several years yet who knows).

I hope you enjoyed my Subinats story! If you're keen to have an awesome day out, I recommend getting to next year's event - I'll be considering heading up there again in 2024, but no promises!

Cheers

Bennie
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Re: Red Targa Brumby

Post by El_Freddo » Sun Nov 12, 2023 8:17 pm

So now Redback developed a misfire at cruise. It’s weird - under load no issues. Hit that light throttle at cruise and on it comes, no rhythm to it, just random putting and loss of power that’s “gently jolty” at this point. I’m worried if I keep driving it I’ll be left stranded on the side of the road.

The old plugs were a bit how’s ya mum so I threw in a new set with no change.

I’m open to ideas on what this can be as I’m wanting to still drive Redback rather than wait for the EJ conversion to happen. Kids and other commitments keep that on a low summer but it’ll get there.

I run 98 octane due to pinging if using a lower grade fuel and timing is set at 4° btdc from memory. The two tanks of fuel before this one were 98RON +an octane booster bottle by nulon. Other than that everything else is normal as such.

Any thoughts appreciated!

Cheers

Bennie
"The lounge room is not a workshop..."
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