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Someone wanted to know what my RX has done to it because somewhere down the track it will be up for sale . This will get edit lots because it takes time to think of every detailed thing .

Body shell is std because I try hard not to cut and drill holes when avoidable .
Interior is all standard checkered 86 RX L .

Suspension , one off made larger anti roll bars 24 and 22mm wit urethane bushes .
Spaced compression/radius rods with urethane bushes .
Standard 86 RX front and wagon rear springs , std height adjustable dampers .

Engine , EA82T spider turbo from an Australian delivered 87 Vortex XT4 .
Heads were ported and 89 non turbo cams fitted because they are a tad warmer than the turbo cams .
Lightened flywheel , new water pump , good original oil pump , all new belts and tensioners , bearings/seals/gaskets , genuine piston rings .
ALL hoses that see cooling water were renewed and my engine doesn't leak a drop .
Clutch is a new one uprated by the old hand from Penrith brake and clutch .
The spider inlet manifold plenum was modified to take a std L MPFI throttlebody so I could run the early twin switch TPS and computer .
Exhaust manifold is a fabricated stainless steel almost equal length TWE style one wrapped in Thermotec heat insulating material .
Turbocharger is a Garrett GT2554R ball bearing unit with a braided oil supply line . Water cooled using Nissan SR20 banjo bolts and steel lines you can get at unlike the original equipment turbo . New steel pipes were fabricated for air in/out of the turbo and takes all the std breather hoses etc .
Being a Vortex engine this one has the timing pointer and scale at the front referenced off the crankshaft pulley .
I chose to use L Series V belt type pulleys because you can buy belts anywhere cheaply . I do have the multi v pulleys as well .
At the time we had to buy some genuine timing belt casings ex Japan because we could not get usable ones here , very expensive these things .
All the AC gear was removed from my engine inc the condenser core but its here if needed . All the loom and sensors for it are untouched and tied neatly out of the way .
My airbox was modified to have a larger through the inner guard inlet and the filter is a new K&N panel element .
The distributor has a rebuilt vacuum/pressure can on it .
Ignition leads are new Bosch ones , coil is from an Alfa of some sort .
Currently running NGK 6 heat range spark plugs but have 7 heat range ones to go in , doing this because the European spec 135hp EA82T's use them .
Electrical fittings , Coxy kindly spliced in those nice Bosch finger clip connectors so you can get the plugs off the four injectors/water temp sensor/throttle position switch . The airflow meter on is std and they come apart easily anyway .
The AFM has had the aluminium plug removed so you can set idle mixtures simply with a screwdriver .
The AFM lid is now easily removable to make global mixture changes if needed .
I have a Turbosmart adjustable fuel pressure regulator fitted so its possible to change pressure and mixtures that way .
EFI pump was changed to a Bosch VL Turbo one and has the std connector spliced in to make it easily removable if need be .
Radiator is a 32mm thick twin core one and the fans are std L mechanical and electric . Both hoses just replaced .
Thermostat is a Tridon high flow (larger than std valve) 76 degree one .
My gearbox is a hybrid of a Vortex AWD lockable center diff type but converted to dual range and using the low L Series wagon LR gears .
Main ratios are I believe 1st gen Liberty meaning closer than std RX L Series .
Tailshaft is a two piece one I had made up to take the std center bearing and renewable Torana XU1 universal joints , again not a cheap exercise .
Rear diff is the standard R160 with the clutch plate LSD center .
Brakes are std with new rear pads and fluid .
The hill older valve is there but its cable is not .
Exhaust is a fabricated 3" engine pipe off the turbocharger to a 3" carbon ring spring loaded swivel joint using all the std gearbox bracing points .
Behind the gearbox is a 3" cat and from there the exhaust steps down to 2.5" and has a straight through resonator and muffler down the back in the std position . This exhaust is about a month old and while mildly sporty sounding is not obnoxious at all , no drones or annoying resonations .

Ellies a honest car and I think fairly clean for an almost 24 year life , 9/86 date on its compliance plate . Genuine RX body number and plate too .
It drives a lot better than when I bought it three years ago and is cleaner too .

Ahh yes , only interior mod is a Turbosmart boost gauge on the LHS of the steering column shroud .
The diff lock solenoids were never wired in and quite frankly I've never had the need to lock it I guess because I don't off road it .
The wires have been partially run but not hooked up .

More later as I think of things . Mileage is about 331 600 , consumption is close to 600 for 60L provided you don't boot it everywhere constantly .

Coxy here is a career mechanic and would possibly give an honest appraisal of my car if he was asked nicely .
He drives a Brumby and got me interested in Subarus in the beginning .

Cheers Adrian in Sydney .

Ellie sounds very nice and would also love to see some pictures

^what he said^ would like to see some pics definately

I don't know if I can manage that today because daughter camera owner has a severe case of extended lower lip and stamping foot . Son and daughter were fighting literally over mums lap top and big bad wolf intervened with the shut down button . With looks that could bent cold glass she grated out "I had not 'favorited' my stuff" ...

Basically it looks like a reasonably clean white RX sedan with almost buffed away (by I assume previous owner/s) 4WD Turbo RX decals . It has all the standard rubber trim including the boot lid bob tail .
It has the standard H style factory RX alloy wheels and a tow bar that looks like a factory or dealer option . I changed the round trailer plug over for a flat can't remember how many pin plug .
If you looked under it the only eye catching things are the yellow anti roll bars and the tad larger exhaust system . If you know what the AWD gearboxes extension housing looks like you see that too .

Its rear end sits a bit higher than std because of the higher rated wagon springs .

The eyes in the trees must like this car because they leave their artwork on it too often and that's when its out from under the trees ...

Will be out with my mother soon and she has a nice digital SLR camera so I'll see what I can do . Will have to send via Gannon because I can't get that image hosting thing to work .

Cheers Adrian .

Why life always at a cross roads .

I have been offered a car I may not be able to refuse and if I buy it I cannot justify having three cars myself .

Therefore with heavy heart I have to look at selling Ellie RX Turbo L Series possibly in the next few weeks/months .

I have a new digital camera of my own and hope to take a few pics of my RX over the weekend . It is clean ATM but because the birds round here aim to please I'll have to wash it again for the snaps .

I think I can justify asking high fives for this car particularly since its just been re registered and has so many desirable L Series options not fitted to Australian spec RX Turbos .
I imagine only an RX enthusiast would consider this knowing that most of what RX people like to do is already done to this car .

Additionally I have just had a pair of front control arms modified so that the inner end bushes are not over stressed when pushed forward by radius rods with extra spacing and the all important extended crush tube .
These are not yet fitted but hopefully next week .
The aim is to make it turn in better though all things considered its not the under steering plough it used to be .

I always look after people who buy my cars , I service it and you get a tank of good juice thrown in .

I'll ask Coxy here to drive it over the weekend and because he's a mechanic and impartial when it comes to cars he can tell you what Ellie RX is about .

Would prefer Sydney/NSW buyer and someone who really likes and takes care of their own cars .

I miss it and I still own it - is this a Subaru thing ?

Cheers Adrian .

its a subaru thing, I missed my RS Turbo as soon as I decided to sell it, like you I couldnt justify 3 cars

Awww............


I was really hoping to see how it was gonna turn out

I always see a lot of words from you disco , but i haven't seen to many pics to back the words up. As the saying goes. a picture, speaks a thousand words.

fair go. read discos thousand words and you get the picture

rtcb65 wrote:I always see a lot of words from you disco , but i haven't seen to many pics to back the words up. As the saying goes. a picture, speaks a thousand words.

so true...

Adrian has sent photos to me in the past for me to upload for him as he doesnt know how to do it himself.

He is supposedly sending me some snaps soon of his rig so i can post them up for me.

Thanks Gannon , I took a few this afternoon but they won't be great because I'd been up the previous night and my eyes look like road maps - red ones .

Anyhow the net is running really slowly here at the moment so I'll E mail them to you later tonight .
Ellie really needs another wash and polish to look her best but that's two hours labor I didn't have the horsepower left in me to do .

I am considering throwing in , not literally , her original engine and gearbox which can include a turbo a header and if I can find it the up pipe . If I can't the winner can have an RS Lib one I have which is better anyway .

All sorts of odds and ends can go in the boot too .

Cheers Adrian .