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Hey everyone

So long story short, my soobie is going to to be the second vehicle in convoy with a motorhome in an 8000km round trip around to the Alice and surrounds which does include hundreds of kms on unsealed roads.
Ive got a few questions ... first off, what should be done to make sure it survives the trip. Anybody done this sort of thing before in their soob before?

Im thinking dual core radiator since these love to get hot, the outback wont do it any favors keeping in mind im running the stock EA81 (185xxx on it though ). There a triple core available?

It tends to sag a bit when loaded so ill have to replace the torsion bar? any ideas on price for it? Worth doing the shocks too?.
Any other bits that would need upgrading?

Spare bits to take? drive belt, air filter, oil filter, dizzy cap, leads, fuel pump. Anything i missed or somthing i listed that i wont need?

Ill be after a fair amount of touring parts over a good part of the year (trip will probobly be sometime around sept).

First on the hard to get list would be MY touring wagon front seats. My povo pack seats are a killer after 200kms. Ill also be needing a bullbar, bigger the better, being the lead vehicle and having unknown travel times i wouldn't want skippy to destroy my car, land in my face then have the motorhome finish the job from behind...

A rear bumper replacement bar with spare wheel holder and jerry can holders would be really convenient also. But im probobly dreaming.

A lift (to fit 14's) and 14's would help tarred road cruising keeping revs lower thus fuel consumption lower. Although will go for this after i buy the jerry cans, watertank, camp gear, spare bits etc etc unless the price is right. Also have a nice peice of A pillar rust that has to go asap.

Sorry for the long post, any information, advice, or part sale offer's are appreciated greatly! Id rather be overprepared than under.

lols i thought you meant an MY and a subaru outback haah

yeah twin or tripple core radiator, maybe check if a EA82 one is bigger/ more effecient.

before going id do timing belts, water pump, flush all that stuff new battery, a duel setup wouldnt go astray

you got my spares list pretty well except after doing all the updates you take the originals.


How do you plan to tow it? front wheels lifted? rear wheels lifted? or all fours rolling?id go with a bullbar and rear bar, aircompressor for wheel work and such

and do you actually need a lift to fit 14s?

spike wrote:lols i thought you meant an MY and a subaru outback haah

yeah twin or tripple core radiator, maybe check if a EA82 one is bigger/ more effecient.

before going id do timing belts, water pump, flush all that stuff new battery, a duel setup wouldnt go astray

you got my spares list pretty well except after doing all the updates you take the originals.


How do you plan to tow it? front wheels lifted? rear wheels lifted? or all fours rolling?id go with a bullbar and rear bar, aircompressor for wheel work and such

and do you actually need a lift to fit 14s?

Haha. Well water pump is maybe half a year old, will get the system flushed
Timing belts - Will do.
New Battery - Once all the electrical systems pile on i shall, also will get a dual battery kit installed.

Im not planning on towing it? If it needs to be towed (which i hope not) it'll be rolling all 4's connecting the tow vehicle to the bumper replacement bullbar.

I have an air compressor already and as much as i gather, 14's with a lower profile fits (same diameter as stock 13" wheel and tyre combo), 14's with what i want to put on it will rub like no tomorrow, especialy when loaded up.

My to do list just keeps growing! Thanks spike.

yeah i didnt know just cause i look at my L and see the massive amount of space underneath gaurds

the way you descibed it the car was going to be towed captivly behind the campervan

Ah yeah, well sorry for the misunderstanding, theyll be separate, family in motorhome, one other and I in the soob. We might go for a 4wd and caravan if we can find sombody who does them (without costing 20 grand...)

You may have trouble finding the timing belts on a ea81;)

Well care to enlighten me? Id like to know as much as i can about these ea81's...

Timing gears?

Yes the cam shaft runs straight off the crankshaft via gears and it has pushrods and rockers to open the valves.

You can put brumby torsion bars in as they are a little thicker and there it is possible to put l series rear springs over the rear bump stops (providing you have a lift kit) this acts as a helper spring so you can carry more load.

Put in new front struts with hd springs and landcruiser (or similar) rear shocks (lift kit required) to give you much more rear rear wheel travel.

Spare igination module or points, check the distributor bush, spare cv shafts, spare gearbox mount, spare strut tops and spare cv boots.

I am sure there is more that I cannot think of right now?

TheInterceptor wrote:Well care to enlighten me? Id like to know as much as i can about these ea81's...

Timing gears?

As 78sti said - timing gears. Basically the EA81 is bomb proof so long as you:
1) keep it cool = keeping coolant in cooling system
2) keep it lubricated
3) don't be flogging it all the time! (not saying that you do)

As for the big rubber reducing revs and thus fuel usage it can be the other way around. Because the engine needs to work harder to get to the same speed you might use a heavier foot on the go faster pedal to get there with the same acceleration that you're used to without the larger tyres. When cruising you may need more throttle to maintain the speed at the lower revs as the engine might be outside of its power curve for light throttle when cruising. Experiment with it when you do it though.

Check out Subaruby's setup - 2 inch lift and a slightly larger tyre diametre, but not 27's. He's still got some lower revs but his fuel economy hasn't taken a beating with it and his MY still does the same thing up hills from what I understand.

I think you'll find that the MY radiator is a 2 core all copper/brass unit. The L's radiator is inferior IMO as its a single core AND has plastic end tanks. Stick with the MY radiator at the very least. There are places that do custom radiators - I got my 3 core made by aussie desert coolers in Perhan in melbs. I since found out that my local radiator place in benders (that I didn't know about when I got the 3 core done) could have done a 2 or 3 core cheaper than ADC did it for, and 2 core wasn't an option

If you know someone with some fabrication skills you should be able to knock up a rear bar with wheel carrier and jerry holder pretty easily. My uncle did mine for me and is going very well - can't say the same for my paint job...

Cheers

Bennie

bollucks hahah
i dnt know much about the ea81 but should of known that much =/
sorry majour oversite

TheInterceptor wrote:Ah yeah, well sorry for the misunderstanding, theyll be separate, family in motorhome, one other and I in the soob. We might go for a 4wd and caravan if we can find sombody who does them (without costing 20 grand...)

well we have a caravan down here in SA for sale, 8grand ill try and get some photos for you

78sti wrote:Yes the cam shaft runs straight off the crankshaft via gears and it has pushrods and rockers to open the valves.

You can put brumby torsion bars in as they are a little thicker and there it is possible to put l series rear springs over the rear bump stops (providing you have a lift kit) this acts as a helper spring so you can carry more load.

Put in new front struts with hd springs and landcruiser (or similar) rear shocks (lift kit required) to give you much more rear rear wheel travel.

Spare igination module or points, check the distributor bush, spare cv shafts, spare gearbox mount, spare strut tops and spare cv boots.

I am sure there is more that I cannot think of right now?

Great i was on the right track then haha.
Ok, brumby torsion bar, will look to do this but if it turns out that its just as worn then there is virtually no point?
Must get a lift kit but the people i will be getting parts from as still helping out in brisbane after the floods (good on them).
Adding hd front struts to my list along with the crusier springs for the rear (v good suggestion thanks)

Thats alot of spares, will add them also. Thanks!

El_Freddo wrote:As 78sti said - timing gears. Basically the EA81 is bomb proof so long as you:
1) keep it cool = keeping coolant in cooling system
2) keep it lubricated
3) don't be flogging it all the time! (not saying that you do)

As for the big rubber reducing revs and thus fuel usage it can be the other way around. Because the engine needs to work harder to get to the same speed you might use a heavier foot on the go faster pedal to get there with the same acceleration that you're used to without the larger tyres. When cruising you may need more throttle to maintain the speed at the lower revs as the engine might be outside of its power curve for light throttle when cruising. Experiment with it when you do it though.

Check out Subaruby's setup - 2 inch lift and a slightly larger tyre diametre, but not 27's. He's still got some lower revs but his fuel economy hasn't taken a beating with it and his MY still does the same thing up hills from what I understand.

I think you'll find that the MY radiator is a 2 core all copper/brass unit. The L's radiator is inferior IMO as its a single core AND has plastic end tanks. Stick with the MY radiator at the very least. There are places that do custom radiators - I got my 3 core made by aussie desert coolers in Perhan in melbs. I since found out that my local radiator place in benders (that I didn't know about when I got the 3 core done) could have done a 2 or 3 core cheaper than ADC did it for, and 2 core wasn't an option

If you know someone with some fabrication skills you should be able to knock up a rear bar with wheel carrier and jerry holder pretty easily. My uncle did mine for me and is going very well - can't say the same for my paint job...

Cheers

Bennie

Well it'll be sorta flogged when it goes on other 4wd trips before this one.
Anywho, the 14's and bigger rubber is mostly for treks before and after this trip so its a win win sorta thing. I should hopefully have a weber installed by then aswell.

I gotta find a fabricator then. Thanks!

spike wrote:bollucks hahah
i dnt know much about the ea81 but should of known that much =/
sorry majour oversite




well we have a caravan down here in SA for sale, 8grand ill try and get some photos for you

Ah i meant to rent mate sorry for the misunderstanding again haha.

Thanks gents!