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brumbyrunner wrote:We prologued 3rd in class running on 2 cylinders. 50th out of 83 nominated. Changed injectors this afternoon and fixed the problem. All set for tomorrow now.

40th place by the results I just looked at.
http://finkedesertrace.com.au/2012-car- ... ompetitors

INEEDABEER wrote:40th place by the results I just looked at.
http://finkedesertrace.com.au/2012-car- ... ompetitors

Made 10 places then,go hard.

This is looking good for the crazy brumby

I guess it's about time to revive this thread and continue on with the build. The anticipated ruin of Extreme 4WD (the old class 8 ) hasn't happened.
In fact, there are quite a few front-engined cars being built now that will certainly keep this class exciting into the future.

Last year I decided to step away from the gold Brumby for 12 months and help out a mate who was getting back into the drivers seat after a 20 year absence. He had been crewing for me for the last 10 years and, if you've followed this thread's build photos, owns the engineering workshop where a lot of the work was done. The wheel arches, tyre carrier and sump guard were all built there by him and I and that beautiful metallic paint was sprayed in his paint booth.

So early in 2010 he must have decided that I couldn't have all the fun and imported a Ford Ranger from the US.

It had done a few seasons over there and was basically ready to race.
It slotted straight into our Performance 2WD class (the old class 5) so with a fresh coat of Landcruiser Pewter we were off.

Like me, Dan runs his own business, employs a bunch of people and has a young family so it's difficult to find time to get away. We ended up getting to 3 races: Round 1 of the North QLD c'ship at Charters Towers, Finke and Gundy. Charters Towers was so wet and slippery that they cancelled half of it but we still won our class. We had a great run at Finke, only replacing a uni-joint at the overnight stop and then finishing 3rd in class.


Gundy was a cruel ending to the AORC with it being rained out and cancelled for the second year in a row. A long, long journey just to turn around and drive the 2,000kms home.

Here's a few more of the Ranger.






Much to everyone's surprise I had a ball being co-driver and would do it again. It's definitely a cheaper way to race and I encourage anyone who wants to get into the sport to give it a go. It's a great way to learn the ropes.

I guess it's about time to revive this thread and continue on with the build. The anticipated ruin of Extreme 4WD (the old class 8 ) hasn't happened. In fact, there are quite a few front-engined cars being built now that will certainly keep this class exciting into the future.

Last year I decided to step away from the gold Brumby for 12 months and help out a mate who was getting back into the drivers seat after a 20 year absence. He had been crewing for me for the last 10 years and, if you've followed this thread's build photos, owns the engineering workshop where a lot of the work was done. The wheel arches, tyre carrier and sump guard were all built there by him and I and that beautiful metallic paint was sprayed in his paint booth.

So early in 2010 he must have decided that I couldn't have all the fun and imported a Ford Ranger from the US.

It had done a few seasons over there and was basically ready to race.
It slotted straight into our Performance 2WD class (the old class 5) so with a fresh coat of Landcruiser Pewter we were off.

Like me, Dan runs his own business, employs a bunch of people and has a young family so it's difficult to find time to get away. We ended up getting to 3 races: Round 1 of the North QLD c'ship at Charters Towers, Finke and Gundy. Charters Towers was so wet and slippery that they cancelled half of it but we still won our class. We had a great run at Finke, only replacing a uni-joint at the overnight stop and then finishing 3rd in class.


Gundy was a cruel ending to the AORC with it being rained out and cancelled for the second year in a row. A long way to travel just to turn around and drive 2,000kms home.

Here's a few more of the Ranger.






Much to everyone's surprise I had a ball being co-driver and would do it again. It's definitely a cheaper way to race and I encourage anyone who wants to get into the sport to give it a go. It's a great way to learn the ropes.

Bradenrm wrote:Read whole thread. time for sleep. awesome work!

I'm as confused as a fat kid with a salad though, are you still allowed to run the brumby?

Yes. The only thing that's changed is that now you're permitted to mount the engine in the rear if you want to.

FROG wrote:If todays comedy of errors and bad luck comes to fruition then this thread will hopefully see a revival and I will sleep well tomorrow night

LOL

El_Freddo wrote:Best of luck tomorrow! Looking forward to some pics!

pics are coming...

When the drivers side rear trailing arm broke at Finke in 2010 we sort of slid to a stop into some scrub as I tried to steer off the track. I managed to avoid all the big trees but the pass. door came to rest against a bush. Couldn't open the door but the panel damage was minimal.

Autopsy reveals there's not a lot holding the bearing carrier onto the factory trailing arm.



If I was starting again, I'd machine up a new thicker housing from billet but for now I just want to repair and strengthen the existing arms so will reuse the factory ones. Spent some time lining everything up and welding it back together properly.

Made some cardboard templates...




...and turned them into steel

A few years ago when I built the front strut towers, the remote canister hose just fouled on the bonnet. Because I wanted 10' travel struts with only a 2" body lift, I jacked the rear of the bonnet up with spacers until we got around to fixing it properly.

First step was to cut a hole in the bonnet big enough to allow it to close without the bonnet spacers.


CAMS rules that you must not have suspension protruding through body panels so I welded a dome shaped cover over the openings in the bonnet.


I didn't take any pics after the bonnet was painted but here we are in Alice Springs for bi-annual scruiteneering. Looks much better with the bonnet back where it's supposed to be.
We'd gone down for the Zaglass Memorial Short Course which is a night race so we'd fitted 50watt HID inserts to all four headlights as well as 70watt HID 5" spotlights to the bullbar.

Woo the Brumby lives

Have loved reading this thread with all the ups and downs. Good luck with racing it again

brumbyrunner wrote:When the drivers side rear trailing arm broke at Finke in 2010 we sort of slid to a stop into some scrub as I tried to steer off the track. I managed to avoid all the big trees but the pass. door came to rest against a bush. Couldn't open the door but the panel damage was minimal.

only a small dint......... but i did notice the string line being used for the wheel alignment was it

LOL Love it !

awesome to see some progress shots gain mate. im always impressed with what you can build in that shed of yours.

AshR wrote:Woo the Brumby lives
Have loved reading this thread with all the ups and downs. Good luck with racing it again

Yep, it's definitely a work in progress. Thanks.

alang wrote:only a small dint......... but i did notice the string line being used for the wheel alignment was it

For wheel alignment and to keep everything square as I build the suspension or change bodywork.

vincentvega wrote:awesome to see some progress shots gain mate. im always impressed with what you can build in that shed of yours.

Awesome to be working on it again Dane, and there's some big improvements planned for the rest of the year.
Unfortunately that means we won't be ready for Gundy.

Didn't have a real good start to the year when we went to Alice for the Zaglass Memorial race. We got about 3 minutes into Prologue when the motor blew. It actually kept running for a few minutes and made enough power to keep us limping towards the finish line and towards the pits. Didn't make it in though, so had to get towed the last half a km.
Popping the bonnet revealed a little problem with the block.

What I was saying about the water cross over the other night won't work with the factory parts. The return/outlet hits on the bell housing. You will have to make it up if you want to change the direction of the water.

Outback bloke wrote:What I was saying about the water cross over the other night won't work with the factory parts. The return/outlet hits on the bell housing. You will have to make it up if you want to change the direction of the water.

You're right, I've tried it already. What about the EJ22 water manifold? Had a feeling they were different and had been used for this. Anybody got one they can test fit to a block for me?

After the motor destroyed itself in April we had to get a replacement sorted out so we could still do the Finke. Jeff from ********* tracked down a version 6 STI which was a direct bolt-in and we were good to go. No pics but it looks exactly the same anyhow.

Finke continued to be a great learning curve. We got our first ever flat tyre (for Finke), drove it so hard I ran out of fuel 10km from Apatula (also a first), tapped a Performance 2WD from behind because he wouldn't pull over (another first), and broke the 5 speed gearbox for the last time. Everything else worked really well, shocks didn't bottom out much, car ran really cool and rich, boost stayed under 15psi and even though the sumpguard smacked the ground a few times, it held up fine.

Suspension setup has improved to the point where the car is now fast enough that I don't think any built 5-speed will handle the shock loads so I'm getting a 6 speed built.

The other main problem is the approach angle. It's not an easy problem to rectify but to do it properly the exhaust crossover pipe and sump have got to go. We'll be installing a dry sump, custom exhaust manifold and new high clearance sump guard to raise the bar a couple more notches.

exciting stuff mate. you thinking of using a DCCD center with the 6 speed or another tight viscous coupling?

Scott's STI 6 speed is stock and its put up with heaps of abuse. What are your plans for the built box?