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:
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!
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!
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:
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.
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!
^ 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!
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:
![Twisted Evil :twisted:](./images/smilies/icon_twisted.gif)
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:
Alex's award winning Brumby:
^ WRX interior fitted and customised by Alex himself. Very tidy! Harrison's Webered EA81 with the MINTIEST Scorpion rims I've ever seen!
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!
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:
And some silo art in the same town:
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:
^ 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:
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