The new L series

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guyph_01
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Post by guyph_01 » Sat Mar 24, 2012 12:51 pm

El_Freddo wrote:
And did anyone else pick up on the stress in Guyph's post about extra cost??

Cheers

Bennie
What stress??? What post?
The project, EJ22 --->>> EJ25 Quad CAM:D touring wagon
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Post by steptoe » Sat Mar 24, 2012 10:04 pm

Jonno stops in his tracks - looks right and well waddaya know ? Not all the power window switches were tossed - still got the drivers door ain't he ?? :D

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El_Freddo
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Post by El_Freddo » Sun Mar 25, 2012 8:40 am

guyph_01 wrote:What stress??? What post?
guyph_01 wrote:
RSR 555 wrote:we just have to put more effort into changing Guyph's ones.. more
I thought it was More time = More Free stuff???

Lol
Ok, so maybe not quite the stress I first read it as... But I still thought it funny - the "???" makes it I reckon - a hectic question that you want the answer to...

Anyway, I gotta get going!

Cheers

Bennie
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El_Freddo
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Post by El_Freddo » Sun Mar 25, 2012 10:42 pm

Well we've changed the brake fluid, dad installed some studs that are larger than the original bolt's diametre and enlarged the cam tensioner's mounting holes to make it fit. It's all holding well together and all quiet.

We do however get a knock once it's warm, still VERY VERY dull and only when the gearbox is under load, light/heavy it doesn't really matter, it's just there - so we're going with this being the torque converter or flex plate... We're just stoked that the engine is quiet az!

RWC tomorrow, hopefully rego a day or two later :D

Cheers

Bennie
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Post by NachaLuva » Sun Mar 25, 2012 10:50 pm

Good work Bennie :mrgreen:

Best of luck tomorrow for the RWC ;)
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El_Freddo
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Post by El_Freddo » Tue Mar 27, 2012 8:27 pm

nachaluva wrote:Best of luck tomorrow for the RWC ;)
Thanks mate, all went well. They did a wheel alignment as ordered. Apparently they had to bleed the brakes - Dad and I did it Sunday arvo and I question this as the brakes were fine, no fading and the pedal doesn't feel any different!

We've got a few questions about the RWC mechanic's motives for a few aspects of the certificate. One the 1st inspection they noted that the brake fluid needed replacing, the rear swing arm inner bushes were stuffed, the engine was dirty (after our degrease and wash already!), the front discs were .5mm out of spec and the rear brakes needed adjusting.

Brake fluid, well ok that can be changed but we think it hardly necessary. The rear bushes, as you can see in the above pics were fine. It's made me wonder if they were hoping that we would palm that work off for them to complete for us at our cost.

There was one tiny patch on the engine that I missed the first time around, there was the usual country dirt and 2 long dead locusts there! Other than that there wasn't much more to clean!

The rear brakes, well, they're auto adjust! When we got the completed report back it said the HAND BRAKE needed adjusting! If you know your L series then you'd also know that the hand brake operates on the FRONT wheels! So the dude hadn't even taken the time to work out which end was what with the hand brake. Needless to say that we didn't touch the front hand brake yet it still passed :confused:

The front discs, they were probably fine for the job but I got dad to get a new set anyway, $50 each, I think that's cheap insurance in the long run.

Now it's rego time on Thursday - the earliest we could get it in after the RWC was completed on Monday. Our options were Bendigo or Kyneton - Bendigo was the one we got into earliest. And apparently the booking fee covers your permit to drive it from home to the VIN inspection and registration.

Other than that we're pretty stoked. It still needs a head unit and I'd like to get a front wrap over bar like what Ruby's got as well as a set of driving lights - but that's something for my sister to look into if she wants them.

Now I get all my time back to put into Ruby Scoo :D Stoked!

Cheers

Bennie
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Post by dobo » Wed Mar 28, 2012 9:32 pm

Well done Bennie. some mechanics must make a killing telling people they need more than they should for a roady, especially if they're selling the car as they will do whatever to have it happen the quickest!
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Post by El_Freddo » Wed Mar 28, 2012 9:50 pm

dobo wrote:Well done Bennie. some mechanics must make a killing telling people they need more than they should for a roady, especially if they're selling the car as they will do whatever to have it happen the quickest!
Yeah painful! The first big drive in it tomorrow from Cobaw to Benders for rego. The plates will start with "Y", as I saw a fella walking out with a set of new plates today that started with the Y.

Looking forward to seeing this puppy on the road. There's some debate about the name of it. I think we've talked my sister into Dirk for some reason... She usually goes for "B" names but couldn't settle on a good one, apparently, and it's sad to say, our suggestions were too "gay" :(

We had Bruno, Bevis (as in Bevis and Butt Head, you work out who butt head would be :rolleyes:), Brodie, Brick Betty, Bernie, Bernice, Bernadette and Bosley.

Borat, Barny, Baz (her 1st subi), Ben, Boris, and I can't remember the rest are already taken :???: From phones to computers and her car in Canada she's named them all - including her horses.

Anyway, we'll see what she comes up with...

I'm also keen to see what economy the 3 spd auto comes up with the MPFI in front of it.

Cheers

Bennie
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Post by El_Freddo » Thu Mar 29, 2012 12:17 pm

Well he/she/it's all rego'd now! STOKED!! Still yet to pass it over to Sis - it'll come with a lecture on how to actually look after it!

Plates start with a Y, not that it's an issue - Ruby S's is a U and that was about 6 years ago now I think...

The auto is carnage - cruises well but at 100km/h it's pulling just over 3500rpm and at 110km/h you're looking at a notch under 4G rpm! Crazy! Pretty good for the sunday driver though, it's very pleasant to just "squeeze" on some throttle gently and let it do it's thing :mrgreen:

That little light knocking is still there but when we pulled up in benders after an hour's drive it had gone. 10 minutes later it was there again and still remains :confused:

I was talking to Kez on the way up here this morning while cruising the freeway - I can see why people are hanging on to their older cars (L's were the topic, but it's still generic across the board I reckon) if they've been well maintained. This one's comfortable, clean, pretty well maintained, easy to drive and looks like it'll be pretty economical, even with the auto.
I figure that people in this uncertain economic time will hang on to their tried and trusted older cars if it's not giving them any problems - there's no extra service fee, you don't have to pay monthly installments + the interest that goes with it, insurance is generally a pot load less and tyres/parts are generally cheaper. To me it makes economic sense to me if you're still happy with it. I also reckon the joe blow mechanic actually enjoys working on these older vehicles too.

I'll get some pics of him/her/it before I pass over the key and I'll let you know what it's name is from the new user's mouth...

Pretty happy it's going and now out of the way :D

Cheers

Bennie
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Dirka - as in "ar, dirka dirka dirka"

Post by El_Freddo » Thu Mar 29, 2012 3:30 pm

Photos as promised:

Dirka and Sis - the new driver/"lookerafterer" of Dirka

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We gave him a "leak test" AKA took him through the car wash. He definitely holds up better than Ruby Scoo does on the driver and passenger's window seals!

Hopefully the maintenance and care lecture sunk in too.

I need to get Ruby S on the road, I've discovered that I'm having some serious withdrawals after the drive this morning, plus I can't wait for that EJ growl again!

This thread will probably go quiet now that all the work as been done to get Dirka on the road, unless others have questions or there's something to update. Hopefully Dirka will still be around to replace Ruby Scoo if that day ever comes around (hopefully not ever, or in the near future!).

Cheers

Bennie
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Post by steptoe » Thu Mar 29, 2012 9:23 pm

You've sexed him then ? And your sister knows you have her up in here ? Where we can, what is it, right click, set as desktop background and Viola - bennies sis is on our desktop :D

When the first hubcap gets crushed lemme know, I got just one with my wagon

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Post by El_Freddo » Thu Mar 29, 2012 9:50 pm

steptoe wrote:You've sexed him then ?
Yeah it looks that way... It's Dirka...
steptoe wrote:And your sister knows you have her up in here ? Where we can, what is it, right click, set as desktop background and Viola - bennies sis is on our desktop :D
Does that put you in the "dirty old man" category???
steptoe wrote:When the first hubcap gets crushed lemme know, I got just one with my wagon
You want the other three :p

Cheers

Bennie
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steptoe
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Post by steptoe » Thu Mar 29, 2012 11:58 pm

I was wondering if you wanted the loner for the spare - you know tidy up the engine bay a bit. Actually, got me stuffed why none of us have started a cut down of the hold down screw so to turn the buggers upside down and store all our breakdown tools and bits in the bigger bowl !

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Post by Smokey » Fri Mar 30, 2012 10:46 am

Probably coz 75% of us cant fit the spare in there anyway. 10% have catch cans, intercoolers or second batteries in that location. And 10% are too lazy to care and probably didnt read your post. That leaves you in the 5% minority category. Does it even fit upside down? Im pretty sure I tried this back when I had a stocko...

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Post by purp » Fri Mar 30, 2012 12:50 pm

Smokey wrote:Probably coz 75% of us cant fit the spare in there anyway. 10% have catch cans, intercoolers or second batteries in that location. And 10% are too lazy to care and probably didnt read your post. That leaves you in the 5% minority category. Does it even fit upside down? Im pretty sure I tried this back when I had a stocko...
As part of the five percent that still have a spare under the bonnet, I can say that turning it over occurred to me once, but I was too lazy to go to the trouble of cutting the screw thingy. Can't recall if I ever actually checked to see if it fit upside down...

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steptoe
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Post by steptoe » Fri Mar 30, 2012 12:52 pm

Mate. I keep thinking of it, never got around to it. I've always been in the minority category :)

Watch the"what have you done to your Subaru lately " for developments

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Post by El_Freddo » Fri Mar 30, 2012 10:13 pm

steptoe wrote:I was wondering if you wanted the loner for the spare
Yeah mate I was just having a dig! I'm scheming a set of sunnies for Dirka at the next tyre change... maybe, dunno yet.

I don't want to advertise this car being a really good unit for those bastard joy riders to ruin!
steptoe wrote:Actually, got me stuffed why none of us have started a cut down of the hold down screw so to turn the buggers upside down and store all our breakdown tools and bits in the bigger bowl !
This engine bay is already pretty tidy - no AC!! You'd be surprised how much room that gear takes up and how untidy that wiring makes the engine bay look in general!

And as for the tyre trick, I'm pretty sure you can't close the bonnet if you invert it due to the rise in the retaining bolt mounting bracket. I'm sure I've tried it and found that it didn't work!

Oh, and in other news, after asking Sis how her first drive went I got a thank you text. I know, I know, it was a text but I'll take that :D

Stoked.

Cheers

Bennie
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Post by El_Freddo » Thu Apr 19, 2012 11:18 am

El_Freddo wrote:It's Dirka...
Ok, so after the rest of the family bagged out Dirka it's now SHELDON - similar to Sheldon from B1g B4ng The0ry - he's neat and smart but not all there socially. There's no AC on this touring wagon which is very different to how I've known touring wagons previously - I thought it was a factory option!

Cheers

Bennie
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Post by El_Freddo » Mon Apr 30, 2012 9:41 pm

Sheldon had his first major hiccup. My sister rang me on the 24th worried about some white smoke coming from under the bonnet after she drove him for a small distance.

What I found was coolant leaking from the LH (passenger's) side head off one of the exhaust bolts. Very strange. So he got trailered home.

After the Anzac dawn service on Mt Macedon it was home for breakfast with some family, an early nanna nap then we got stuck into checking out Sheldon.

After removing the exhaust this is what we found:

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To inspect it further and to also fix the issue we removed the engine and then stripped it down to the block in about 3 hours from the initial start of the whole inspection etc. This is what I sent to my sister on bookface:

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^ I told her we'd give her the manual and she could put it back together :twisted: Yeah, that hasn't happened!

This is what the issue was: (That little white ring with the brown dot in the centre)

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Probably a poor casting which created a thin wall that retained the coolant jacket from the outside world. This is how we fixed it - $30 and half a day later (local engineering joint shoved it in between jobs):

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We ordered a head kit from our local to get a couple of seals we needed and I'm going with non genuine inlet gaskets due to time more than anything. I figure it's easy enough to do if we need to replace the gaskets.

Dad and Bros got to this point on Sunday after Dad and I spend a couple of hours late in the arvo on Saturday to get it to the long block stage with cams belts fitted:

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Ironically, the kit we got (massive discount too) almost made us fall over at the cost - more than twice what I paid for this L series! Anyway, the ironic bit is that this kit that's got "everything in it" including a turbo up pipe exhaust gasket doesn't have the MPFI inlet manifold gasket, just the carbie's units. So they should be here tomorrow and Sheldon back on the road Tuesday night. That's the plan anyway.

I'll drop this in here too - Ruby Scoo and Sheldon:

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Looking forward to having him sorted - this should also clear up some oil leaks too :D Always a bonus!

Cheers

Bennie
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Post by guyph_01 » Mon Apr 30, 2012 11:13 pm

El_Freddo wrote:
I'll drop this in here too - Ruby Scoo and Sheldon:

Image


Cheers

Bennie
Love the height difference:)
The project, EJ22 --->>> EJ25 Quad CAM:D touring wagon
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