Ruby Scoo’s epic build, ten years and counting...

[subaruby]

Love your work Bennie. You seem to be doing a very thorough and calculated aproach. I wish I had the skills and patience to do what you are doing. Don't know if you have seen "love the beast" with eric bana, but i think you should do a little "mini docu" of your build.

[GTlegs]

Thats awesome work youre doing there chief. Look forward to seeing it in the flesh.

[El_Freddo]

Love your work Bennie. You seem to be doing a very thorough and calculated aproach. I wish I had the skills and patience to do what you are doing. Don't know if you have seen "love the beast" with eric bana, but i think you should do a little "mini docu" of your build.

Thats awesome work youre doing there chief. Look forward to seeing it in the flesh.

I can't wait to have this thing going! Still a lot of work to go. Subaruby, I havn't seen the movie but it is on my list - if I can ever get outta the shed! I hadn't thought about how calculated my approach was until you made that comment. I think it may have been a little over calculated but I'm happy with the progress.

Here's the write up for saturday's HUGE effort!

This is how it all looked when I started at about 9am - a warm day for this time of year which made things easier:



After doing some disconnecting, getting the tripod in place and sorting some "custom" jack stands it was time to get the subi front end up high enough to drop the engine, gearbox and front end out from under the subi. This is how it went:



^ I love that pic!



With the subi on the "jack stands" I've removed most of the front end at this stage - ready for removal. And here's the result after some smooth sailing with the drop out (got it on film ):



With the EA put into "storage" the EJ setup was brought in to be fitted:



The EJ setup was lifted and bolted into place without any problems - I was very happy with the whole operation. EJ engine and EJ cased L series gearbox with the L series engine crossmember and matching powersteering:



Next was to get the control arms, hubs, new driveshafts, steering, exhaust, gear linkages etc sorted before I dropped it back down on all four wheels. Here's a pic of me connecting the gear linkages:



^ You can see the new shafts in the top of the pic. I've got some new tie rod ends and ball joints coming, for now I've got the old ones installed.

[El_Freddo]

This is how I seal the exhaust manifold at the head. Since using the high temp silicone I've not had one burn out unless the exhaust gets a decent knock. I was initially a skeptic and was desperate one time for an answer, this was it:



^ Remains flexible and is oxy sensor safe.

Thrusday arvo I picked up my now modded radiator. This rad is an all brass/copper 3 core custom job I ordered about 18 months ago. It had the standard L series radiator inlet and outlet port shapes. When I originally sent it in to have the ports changed I wanted them to be 40mm diametre facing straight out at the engine. After checking out a mate's L with an EJ25 we settled on this:



^ It was a big concern of mine that the radiator wouldn't fit in without modding the body work to allow more room between the engine and the front top frame of the engine bay. I was very pleased to see that it fits in easily - the radiator is 2 inches thick, the gap I had was 2 1/4 inches, then 3 and a bit inches after a fan belt guard was removed. I can't run my old thermo fan setup - I think I have more room between the EJ and the radiator but the fan belts/pulley's are spread out and in different locations to the EA. So I'll have to sort out some slim line units.

This is how I left Ruby Scoo later in the night (but with the radiator fitted) after playing with some wiring:



Here's me checking out the wiring, this is what I have to tackle very soon to get Ruby Scoo running and back on the road:



Cheers

Bennie

[steptoe]

Great pics, it is hard to remember to take pics as you go, involves hand cleaning or a filthy pic taker. You have done well. You have a BIG project to finish off there, from the last shot !! Having those right angle rad ins and outs , will you lose flexibiltiy of the hoses when fitted? You'll need some to stop pulling the fittings off like an STi Brumby I know

[El_Freddo]

Just a quick note to say that Ruby Scoo fired up this arvo! SO STOKED!!!

No pics til next week - I gotta get the rest of her together to drive her to the snow

Cheers

Bennie

[rtcb65]

Well done . I know who to talk to about the conversion when i do mine. lol

[guyph_01]

looking good mate, how much did that custom rad set u back?

P.s, i love all the farm equipment in those pic's:P

[AlpineRaven]

Went to see Bennie and catch up with him last Saturday, I had the part that he requires (engine - firewall mount) but it turns out it was about 20mm too long so he'll have to cut and weld - I'll let him explain..

When I got there, He was working on exhaust, gearbox shifters etc etc and later on the day he worked on the engine/radiator/airbox then inside the cabin with wiring (see photo above that I took of him sorting out the wires)...

It was interesting of what he was doing, I've done that kind of stuff but not Subaru and reminded me of my earlier years when I did that kind of stuff. (stripped to bare and swap top of the range wires replacing lower/basic range wires etc and interior etc.. engines etc etc) So much work but yeah... good experience... Its his turn now heh

Pic of Bennie lowering his Subaru... taken from my phone..



Upto today - very pleased that he started up his EJ powered Subaru!!!! Looking forward for auction!!! He'll have a good snow trip coming up soon!

Cheers
AP

[El_Freddo]

Yeah!!! So stoked with the performance of the EJ! I didn't get it back together in time before going to the snow... So a mate and I did the next best thing in the morning before leaving for the snow - 4wd EJ circle work! Had a blast and didn't feel so down about not taking Ruby Scoo to the snow.

She had her first big run last night up to benders - she went very well and actually PULLS up decent hills now!

Pics and write up will come a little later this week - I've gotta tidy up a few bits on the subi (not the EJ side of things) for now, I really need to put the bumper back on too!

Cheers

Bennie

[Venom]

Great work bennie! Excellent to hear the new engine is going well. Now to organise a trip for when its done.

[El_Freddo]

looking good mate, how much did that custom rad set u back?

$450 from aussie desert coolers in a northern melbourne suburb (I'm not good with my 'burb names). Its a three core - they only do single or three, no doubles... I kinda wish I had've got it made in benders as I've just found a good radiator shop that does the same stuff and I like to try and keep things local if I can.

Aussie DC's will freight stuff Australia wide, google them for their website.

This arvo I found a coolant leak at the water pump Not happy! I reckon its the painted metal gasket from the factory that has lifted more paint allowing coolant to pass between the gasket and the paint. Time will tell.

I've got my aftermarket temp guage tapped into the hot coolant heater hose (coolant from engine to heater core) - the guage has been sitting on a little bit below 104 degrees. Earlier it did the same but then dropped once the thermostat opened up and allowed the cold radiator coolant in. Tonight it didn't do that, its been raining and when I got home to pop the bonnet to physically check the radiator inlet and outlet temps the thermo kicked in about 30 seconds after pulling up. I think I might have to check the coolant level and really monitor the leak closely. If worst comes to worse I'll end up back in baz until I get the leak sorted...

Bit of a bummer but I'm happy that its something mechanical (and easy) rather than a wiring issue!

And it sounds awesome considering the EJ exhaust has been connected to the smaller standard L series pipe...

Cheers

Bennie

[steptoe]

Always good to hear of completion of a project of this proportion. Wel done. Now, you had EA82T didn't ya? Hows the EJ compare to that in seat of the pants feel?

[guyph_01]

Yeah, if you remember i had the same issues with my EJ two weeks after i got it running. Like you said, the paint had given way and it leaked coolant! Luckly it didn't take too long for me to change and install my new pump.

To what hose is that sensor conected too? top or bottom?
Could you put some pics? I also want to put a after market sensor and gauge in.

Also did you say you found a new place? do you think they can do a twin core? and do you know the cost involved?
Could you also show pic of your triple core clearance?
Did you install the fans under the grill?

thx

[Captain Obvious]

Bennie, im not sure that you would be getting a correct reading from the heater hose as the ej's circulate around the heater core before the rad. untill the thermostat opens. were a the temp sensor for the ECU to tell the fans to come on is on the water manifold under the intake i believe? maybe that something to look at

bryan

[El_Freddo]

Bennie, im not sure that you would be getting a correct reading from the heater hose as the ej's circulate around the heater core before the rad. untill the thermostat opens. were a the temp sensor for the ECU to tell the fans to come on is on the water manifold under the intake i believe? maybe that something to look at

Bryan - I've tapped into the heater line from the engine to the heater core for an accurate temp reading without any temp loss from the heater core etc. Its a mechanical guage and this is where its tapped in:





^ The hose is the top one from the engine that the plumbing T piece it tapped into...

Ruby Scoo boiled after I pulled up tonight - the motor was still running fine and it was just over the boiling point of water, since its under pressure I wasn't too concerned - until it hit 115 degrees briefly, it then stormed back down to about 95 before slowly rising back up to 104... The top rad hose was hot and the bottom was stone cold - so I reckon my thermostat isn't opening for some reason - its new as of last week so its got me stumped! The water pump will be coming off this weekend. I'm hoping that its not a headgasket, otherwise its more time off the road (not that it really bothers me as I've driven it so I know what I'll be enjoying once I iron out the bugs) but more $$$'s that I really don't want to spend...

Here's the finish of my install:

This is the engine/gearbox stabiliser bar that mounts to the fire wall. The longer one is the standard Liberty unit, the other is my cut down L series unit that fits like a glove:





Here's the exhaust - standard EJ Y pipe to the standard L series "cat back". They don't line up and I couldn't move the L exhaust back far enough as the rear muffler hits the rear of the cavity it sits in:





^ The pipe size difference isn't a perfect fit but it does the job for now.

I also swapped to an EFI fuel tank - it has a larger outlet to the high pressure fuel pump (5 ltr VN commodore unit - its cheaper than a VL turbo unit) and apparently has extra baffles or something inside so the fuel pump won't starve as easily:





^ Here's the cavity without the fuel tank fitted, looking towards the rear of the subi.

[El_Freddo]

Here's the throttle cable - the original hole is a small square thing:





^ It locks in like the factory Liberty.

This is the dash going in at about 9pm thursday night:



The ECU and fuse box mounted on the steering column - it'll probabily stay this way with the cable ties as it doesn't move and is easy to remove if I ever need to:



The EJ in Ruby Scoo's engine bay:



Here's the room left between the radiator and the EJ fan belts:



And after some friday morning pre snow circle work:





^ It wasn't a long session but it was a good one!!

[El_Freddo]

And Owen, here's the pics I think you were after:





^ I couldn't remember if it was the left or right side of the engine that you were after...

Here's my temp guage at cruise speed:



^ Don't worry about the oil pressure guage - its not connected and if I had any oil pressure issues I'm sure it would have reared its ugly head by now - glad it hasn't!

That's all for now, Ruby Scoo is in the shed cooling down to have the water pump removed and checked. So for now I'm back to baz - fun fun.

Oh, and steptoe, I had an MPFI EA82 a few years ago, it went alright, then that engine was completely toasted so I was running a "temporary" carbie EA82 for about 18 months before the EJ. The EJ is great for the seat of your pants low level flying! Love it!!!

Cheers

Bennie

[rtcb65]

Bennie,

That is amazing work. I hope when we start doing the Ej fitting in the brumby , we are doing now, i hope it goes as well for us. Where did you get the know how, to go at it like that. It looks like you have done it many time before.

[guyph_01]

hi bennie,

I have two main questions.
For the heater hoses, does it matter witch one goes where? or i can put any coming out from the engine and goin in any of the heater box. If not could you plz give me the proper order.

Also that gearbox bracket for the engine/gbox rod you modified. Is that stock on the ea82 box? I don't have one on mine:( Where can i get it from?

Apart from that the car is looking great.

thx