The AUSubaru.com.au Forums

hello all

I have just purchased a straight 82 model brumby. It has the single headlight and the dual range gearbox. Not much rust but what's there is quite fixable.

This is the first subaru I have owned and I find the ea81 a little gutless, no power steering or air conditioning is also a problem.

What I would like to do is buy a complete donor vehicle rather than a japanese half cut which should cut down on the engineers certification.

I want to set it up as a daily commuter rather than a rocket ship so can anyone suggest what donor vehicle I should look for? auto or manual doesn't really bother me but all wheel drive is a must as I don't like front wheel drive.

Any suggestions and reasons why would be gretly appreciated

jimbo

anything in a 2ltr/2.2ltr, with a awd box manual as a lib auto box wont fit.

My donor car to you would be an MY touring wagon with Aircon, powersteering and maybe the better wider dash - I prefer the 6 guage sports dash to the digital one.

Check out this thread about Sunnie the Brumby.

The other donor vehicle would most likely be a liberty or some EJ vehicle in the Single Over Head Cam variety to drop in the mighty brumby.

Cheers

Bennie

If you are chasing more power then it would be hard to go past changing the motor to the later model EJ series of engines. "Easiest" to do would be the Ej20 or Ej22 as they are fairly cheap and almost bullet proof, these motors have an engine management system and require high pressure fuel pumps and lines. Many on here have also done such a conversion.

thanks for the replies guys

I am leaning towards a gen 1 liberty as a donor. do these have the EJ or the EA motor? and why won't the awd auto box fit? is it too large for the brumby tunnel?

what do you think?

jimbo

All liberties have the EJ series engine. They started in '89 and are the current series of motor used for the subaru brand. The number associated with the EJ depicts its size. For example an EJ20 is a 2 litre, an EJ22 is a 2.2 litre. Generally if it has a letter on the tail end of it there's a turbo involved. To fit one of these to the brumby requires some rail modding to make way for the Double Overhead Cams (only the turbo motors).

There's plenty of info on the EJ swap here to keep you reading for the next week if you start now.

Cheers

Bennie