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

[Dann]

loving the pics from the hotham thread
And you really did a number on that clutch plate haha nice to see it's going back together and "off the road" again

[guyph_01]

cool, Looks like its pretty much what happened to mine. Except i didn't keep driving to completely destroy it:D

[Alex]

your clutch reminds me of mine



looking good mate. Keep more pics coming

[El_Freddo]

And you really did a number on that clutch plate haha nice to see it's going back together and "off the road" again

cool, Looks like its pretty much what happened to mine. Except i didn't keep driving to completely destroy it:D

your clutch reminds me of mine

Hehehe... Thanks fellas. It didn't really dawn on me that I could have a bigger issue on my hands (not propelling forward to get home) until I said something to a mate that afternoon that it happened just before we left Lakes Entrance!

Alex - how the hell did you do that? I still don't understand how I did mine but that one looks toast! EA clutch I presume? Crazy.

I don't know when I'll get to work on her next, still waiting on a few little bits and pieces to come through and to find some time off from work - it's hard working night shift as I sleep during the day so if I spend a day working on her between shifts I essentially don't get my sleep

I'm looking forward to getting her back together and either getting off this mountain and going 4wd'n or heading back down to Lakes Entrance to catch up with mates again!

Cheers

Bennie

[El_Freddo]

Ok, so I could be a little toasted so bare with me... Alex, if you've forgotten, this is what we love most so take note

Here's a few more pics of the damage that I've noticed while looking at the various parts that used to be my clutch disc:











Even found some cracking on the throw out bearing:



New and old:



...

[El_Freddo]

A few differences between the new and old pressure plates:



You can see the scoring marks on the old pressure plate:



Cleaning up the engine and engine bay - I should have got a photo of the engine bay but i forgot to - my bad!



^ I've got some oil residue below the rear cam blank on the passenger's side head in the above pic - anyone know how to seal this or is the oil coming from elsewhere and gathering on the lip of this blank??

A pretty productive day to day - it was great to be back in the shed an with Ruby Scoo. SOOOO can't wait to be cruising in her again!!

Cheers

Bennie

[FROG]

o ring I think
i'll post you one

[El_Freddo]

Thanks Andy. Let me know how much it is... I'm thinking i should also look at a can of upper engine cleaner for this EJ as I've never done it before and I reckon it's about time it created a smoke plume!

If you could sent both of these items and txt/pm me the cost I'll have it transferred asap

I think it's time I located and read the manual on this little fix - I don't want to go damaging anything as I've got no spare parts for it up here!

Cheers

Bennie

[El_Freddo]

Well I've had some very productive shed time in the last two days totalling about 8ish hours in total.

A story in pics:

Machined flywheel - no more cracks, just heat stress marks I presume:



In the middle of replacing the rear main seal:



Showing the difference between the old cam cover seal and the new:



With a lot of cleaning the new seal is in place and the cover is ready to be installed back on the side of the EJ:



Machined flywheel, new clutch pressure plate and clutch disc. Rob (shed host) made me a clutch alignment tool but it turned out that I got this one spot on by eye - or close enough to it:



And this is how I left Ruby Scoo on Thursday night:





Today I got all the auxiliaries installed/put back where they should be, slotted the radiator in, re-mounted the three thermos (easier than expected), filled her with coolant and got her fired up after finding an engine plug not fully engaged - codes galore!

After finally getting her to fire up and run properly I adjusted the clutch and took her for a drive. Very happy that she's mobile again but not real happy with the feel of the clutch. I'm hoping this will be a "wear in" thing or it could just be me getting used to a different clutch. I'm thinking I should have wound out the pivot ball a little for the clutch fork.

So now she's parked on a hill after the run, battery disconnected for code clearing. Pulls like a trogan, LOVE the EJ in the L series

I'd like to take this moment to thank the boys at O'Dea's Auto Spares in Romsey (Tom, Chris and Dave - 5429 5114) and FROG on the forum for sending many parts up to me at Hotham; and Ric at the mechanics in Omeo (Billy's ski hire one, can't remember the business name) for the initial tow and the machining of the flywheel. Without these fellas the task would have been much more drawn out and difficult. Special thanks goes to Rob and Robin whom let me use this sweet as shed for the work!


.

[El_Freddo]

And I'd better mention Chaddy who let me drive this beast to get to Ruby Scoo to work on:



^ Sweet subi to drive but doesn't feel like it's got the balls that Ruby Scoo has - corners VERY well

Tomorrow or Sunday will see Ruby have all the final checks and a can of UECleaner put through... Smoke plume here we come!

Cheers

Bennie

[guyph_01]

hummm bennie, Nice work putting it all back. That engine bay looks good but somehow i feel it looks like something is missing:( I recon some yellow and some red should fix that:)

[El_Freddo]

hummm bennie, Nice work putting it all back.

That engine bay looks good but somehow i feel it looks like something is missing:( I recon some yellow and some red should fix that:)

In the wise words of the Fonz "SIT ON IT!"

But thanks for the advice, I'm going to ignore it completely! The only thing missing is the fancy cover from the early EJ's that sits over the throttle body. Actually I've also lost the dust cover on the TPS so I'll have to clean up another unit and install it before this one gives out. I think it's been like this for about 5 or 6 months!

Cheers

Bennie

[pezimm]

And I'd better mention Chaddy who let me drive this beast to get to Ruby Scoo to work on:



^ Sweet subi to drive but doesn't feel like it's got the balls that Ruby Scoo has - corners VERY well

Tomorrow or Sunday will see Ruby have all the final checks and a can of UECleaner put through... Smoke plume here we come!

Cheers

Bennie

I've driven one just like it when I had my car being serviced... Had the same impression around corners, it seems the car runs on tracks!

Glad to hear Ruby Scoo's back on the road!

Pedro.

[El_Freddo]

Glad to hear Ruby Scoo's back on the road!

And on the road she is! Here's what I got up to before I took her for a drive to Omeo.

One can of Upper Engine Cleaner into the EJ - I was expecting the massive/impressive plume that Owen's old liberty got when we were down at Aire River when he put a can through, this is about all I got:





Then I thought I'd take the mickey with this pic, basically copying the one from friday:



^ Only problem is that the sun was not behind a cloud this time so Ruby Scoo was in complete shadow...

The EJ all complete and running:



And in Omeo out the front of the Golden Age Hotel:



The clutch issue that I've got as mentioned is most likely because I have not touched the piviot on the clutch fork. I'm not sure how much meat was taken off the flywheel - probably should have taken a photo of the thickness before it when in and what it is now to compare. Anyway... I guess i'll pull the engine again near christmas to make it right - for now I'll have to not push real hard to use the clutch as it's not going all the way to the floor, I think this is due to the pivot not being pushed out and the clutch fork is now hitting the bell housing when I put the foot in...

Stoked that she's going again! Love that subi note, something the liberty lacks - I'm trying to change that though without luck!

Monday will hopefully see her back on the mountain, I had two cars and one driver today so I'm going to hitch a ride tomorrow with a mate

Cheers

Bennie

[El_Freddo]

G'day all,

Well my fleabay special that I purchased at the start of July have finally arrived. Glad they got here and the seller was really good with their communication, positive result in the end.

Anyway, I've taken a look at the rails on these seats and they're different to what I was expecting - both sides don't unbolt to allow me to use the L series rails. Here are some pics:

Outer rail driver's side:



Inner rail driver's side:



I've noted that on the outer edge I can undo the two bolts that hold the rail in as you can see the one here in this closer pic - white dapped paint at the end of the rail, another at the other end:



I'm thinking that I could drill out the "hot rivet" style rivet on each mount as well as the spot weld beside it and bolt my rails on where they need to be - there will be some mods needed to the L's rails but it should work out, be strong enough and still be legal too as there's no welding involved.

Here's another pic of the "hot rivets" that can be drilled out:



What do you think? Is there a better way of doing this, has anyone done this before for an L series with late 90's seats from a foz?

I'm super keen for these to work well and to be in Ruby Scoo asap! They're super comfy in front of the TV!

Cheers

Bennie

[El_Freddo]

Hmmm... Looks like I might have to pioneer this one eh?

I've got one suggestion from USMB and that's been it so far, I'm guessing that people usually go for the earlier EJ seat.

I really really HATE not having a shed to easily access, otherwise I'd be out there in the cold fitting/nutting out how to fit these seats!

Cheers

Bennie

[GOD]

On my first attempt at fitting new seats, I did as you describe - drilled out the weld and rivet holding the mounts onto the Lib seat rails, then bolted (and welded?) the L mounts onto the new seat rails.

That put my head too close to the roof, so I redid the driver's seat by pulling apart the whole assembly and fitting the L lower seat frame into the Lib seat cushion and back, and sat it on original L rails and mounts.

Surely your Foz seats aren't that different to what everyone has done before?

Dane.

[El_Freddo]

In other news today Kez and I went for a long drive in Ruby Scoo after hitching a ride with a mate to his place to pick her up. It was great.

We passed through Omeo, a great little town, I love the sleepy atmosphere of this place!

After grabbing some burgers with the lot for breakfast (yes, we're healthy!) we headed to Hinnomunji bridge for some fishing. It was very windy so we ate and left - headed to the Blue Duck Inn. A great little pub for a feed - opens again on Sept 1st. If anyone happens to be visiting I'd highly recommend booking a seat/table in advance then get there early to secure a table by the fire! This place has to generate it's own power due to the remote location. The road out to here is a motorcyclists dream, wish I had a tuned WRX for this drive... Love hearing that EJ doing its thing. Here we are at the Blue Duck Inn with the old wooden bridge - the pub has some great historical photos of the place from the beginning too:





We continued on to Joker's Flat - a campground that Subaruby, Kez and I stayed at last year on our offroading trip last September, plan was to do some fishing but we ended up sleeping for about 2-3 hours! Lovely area and we had it to ourselves, the river was up with the ice melt, I'd say about a foot to a foot and a half by the look of the vegetation under water. I didn't catch anything in the half hour I had a go at throwing a lure in - haven't had any luck in this section of the Mitta so nothing surprising there. Here's Ruby Scoo on the banks where the camp grounds are:



I've still got a code or two to sort out - on start up no check engine light, give it 15-20 seconds and the check engine code shows up. When we fuelled up in Omeo we got 158km to 13.5L which is awesome! The drive out and back from the Joker's Flat is not straight by a long shot and I wasn't taking it easy either! Pretty stoked with that.

Best bit is this:



^ Ruby Scoo back in staff parking where she should have been for 99.9% of the season! No snow around anymore, it's looking really dismal up here even though there's still an average of about 70cm of base snow (read: ice block) left...

So a few things to iron out, need to clean out the interior then look at the steering - new rack ends to go on, already got new tie rod ends and ball joints, then a wheel alignment is in order. After this I'll be looking at the brakes - got a seal kit for the front callipers and will be looking at a new brake master cylinder as well as extended braided brake lines at each corner. I've got new discs to go on as well - had them for a while now just haven't done anything with them... Going to be busy when I get home!

And thanks Dane. I'm starting to think that there's going to be some serious work needed to be done to these seats to get them to fit - I'm going to have to wait until I'm back at home to have a real go at this. I don't want them to sit high either, so that piece of advice is good to know, thanks for that. I've got enough L series seats sitting around to work something out with the various pieces required!
These seats only have one side that un-bolts, the other side is integrated into the side of the seat frame work. I could put up more pics if you want.

Cheers

Bennie

[El_Freddo]

While digging through some images I found this pic that I thought I'd share.



I think I'm wet now...

Cheers

Bennie

[Venom]

Hey Bennie i'm glad you've got Ruby Scoo back on the road! This thread is like the ultimate DIY for a custom L series, very inspirational. The black rims look really good with the colour of the car.