Red Targa Brumby

[Silverbullet]

Man does that thing look sweet! It's come a long long way from when you got it, top work! Legit personalized plates too, an extra bit of unique-ness. Are you going to leave the tray open? I see you don't have any pegs around the edges for a tonneu, you'd be forgiven for being cautious about drilling lots of holes in it too. Custom hard cover maybe?

Looking forward to seeing the other bits too, plenty of write ups I hope

[El_Freddo]

Man does that thing look sweet! It's come a long long way from when you got it, top work! Legit personalized plates too, an extra bit of unique-ness.

Yeah I couldn't believe those plates were still available! Couldn't help myself with those.
Redback isn't the greatest in the paint department - she really needs a good respray. The main thing is that she's straight in all the right places and only has a bit of rust in the tray area which I hope to tackle this summer when I get her back from dad (she's headed back to him once he's back from OS - he cooked his Rangie )

Are you going to leave the tray open? I see you don't have any pegs around the edges for a tonneu, you'd be forgiven for being cautious about drilling lots of holes in it too. Custom hard cover maybe?

The tray will remain open. It did have a tonneau at some point but it's had the holes welded up - not a fantastic job from what I've seen inside the guards.

Looking forward to seeing the other bits too, plenty of write ups I hope

When they happen and I find the time to write it up they'll be here

Cheers

Bennie

[Tweety]

Re:respray. I've learned that time can produce wonderful things. A couple of years and opportunity might arise. You meet a guy that is good with a spray gun, you tell him you'll mask it all off and rub it down yourself and presto, he gives you a price you can afford.
Anyway its looking good and functional Scott.

[steptoe]

give yourself a slap on the back for bringing Redback to a former glory a good one, to almost knock you to your feet
A simple $2 can of silver spray paint does wonders with std steel rims on a red ute - black sort of looks a bit of a shadow or something on them.

Your Y pipe replacement is 'just' MY not L Series ? If you were considering a Willy style non Y pipe to get the 2.0 EJ sound, be best to get it before rejetting ?

Reckon if Willy had a 4 WD option in his 2 dor, it would sound even more rexy - as the 4WD engage changes load on everything - changes note - on my EA81 anyway .

Love the plat3s - never seen a 3 represent a B before - does a great job !

Get it out there.
As for your dad - the cook - he needs a Watchdog device !

[El_Freddo]

Love the plat3s - never seen a 3 represent a B before - does a great job !

Get it out there.
As for your dad - the cook - he needs a Watchdog device !

Thanks mate.

Dad's looking into the watchdog device for all our vehicles. He tells me that Redback uses oil but doesn't drop it. A 5 day ~40km/h daily commute sees the dip stick go from the full mark to just a drop on the low side

Still goes well.

The Y pipe I swapped in was an '84 touring wagon Y pipe with cat converter. It hangs a bit lower due to the spacers for the exhaust recirc gear of the later engine but it does the job and runs like it should.

I wouldn't mine more of a subaru rumble from the exhaust but again that's just $$$s I don't want to spend on the vehicle!

Cheers

Bennie

[El_Freddo]

Ok so I've been a little bit naughty, finally got some decent pics to share as Dad's done all the fitting and I've not seen Redback in person for three weeks (and it's killing me not having either subi to drive )

This is the latest addition to Redback - and I got to go for a drive with it today into the northern burbs of Melbs. *I just wish Redback would move quicker when I want her to, but I also don't want to do a massive conversion either - anyway, I digress, here's the new bar:



Now with those naughty in your face (if you stop to read them) BnS stickers removed, the Wandi pub one can stay for now. *Took a few poser pics out at Airport West roof top parking where it was quiet traffic wise:










.

[El_Freddo]

And the Money shots:







Driver's perspective (commodore style ):



The bar itself is a bit rough, got some rust and the left hand corner has been repaired at some point, apparently the number plate hides a bit of this. *Dad fitted it once it arrived as he's borrowing my wheels (dad's car = cooked - still working on the replacement, but worse still mum's written off her little GEM with a roo 3 weeks ago - not a good time for them!). *He added the LED indicator lights and light bar. *I'm currently adding the wiring for the spotties to see if they work, plus who doesn't like a bit more light at night?

The aim now is to sort out the lights I want on the bar (indicator/clearance etc), fit them then remove everything and send the bar in for some sand blasting action and a good coat or two of primer/semi gloss black. *This will take some time as it's all about low budget for me on this one... I don't mind doing some work on it to get it to where I want it but in this case I'll take it somewhere to have the work done as I really cbf'd doing it. Plus beggars can't be choosers, for the price I paid I can't complain (plus it looks awesome!). But *I am having trouble containing myself as there's things "I just want done now" on it, but I guess we're all like that to a degree!

Cheers

Bennie

[subaruby]

nice
looking like a b&s ute, needs some 14's and a roll bar

[Silverbullet]

Looking more tough by the day

+1 on the 14's, looks like she could use some bigger wheels and tyres to fill up the guards better. Even if you don't go that much bigger in diameter (losing performance) 14x6 rims will give you more width which is all I got when I put Desert Rats on my ute, but it improved the look so much. Powder coated gloss black with a big chrome can hub cap really sets it off. Well, as much as you can on a 30 year old ute with cracked paint

Performance wise you might be happy with just a bigger exhaust and Weber conversion without spending huge $$$ and time on EJ swaps etc.

[henpecked]

Looks VERY good

[Proton mouse]

Love that low down front on shot with the twin roofs popped up

[Tweety]

Nice pics.

Pacing yourself with expenditure has only come about with me in the last 5 years...and I'm 59yo. Up till then its been "gotta do it now " with sacrifices immediately.

Some expert I read once said its a sexual thing with young men. I dont doubt it. Cars, trikes etc could have satisfied me for a while when I was single a few times. Like women and makeup.

Only for a while. .....

[El_Freddo]

nice
looking like a b&s ute, needs some 14's and a roll bar

Thanks mate. I've thought a tidy looking B&S ute could be a good bit of fun. The 14s aren't going to happen, unless someone sports me a black set of those new scorpion style rims...

Looking more tough by the day

+1 on the 14's, looks like she could use some bigger wheels and tyres to fill up the guards better. Even if you don't go that much bigger in diameter (losing performance) 14x6 rims will give you more width which is all I got when I put Desert Rats on my ute, but it improved the look so much. Powder coated gloss black with a big chrome can hub cap really sets it off. Well, as much as you can on a 30 year old ute with cracked paint

Performance wise you might be happy with just a bigger exhaust and Weber conversion without spending huge $$$ and time on EJ swaps etc.

Not going with the 14s. I don't like the desert rat look on these. I'm happy with the 13s and the mud + snow tyres I'm currently running as they look tough, provide loads of grip and are quiet.

Performance wise I don't think an EA will ever satisfy my power lust. But I'm keen to keep the EA81. I'd love a set of Willy's extractors to really unleash the subi beat in this one. The current exhaust is a two inch cat back but the note isn't as "clean" as I'd like, but it's better than a factory exhaust or factory replacement...

Looks VERY good

Cheers mate!

Love that low down front on shot with the twin roofs popped up

I agree. I should get that one printed up

Nice pics.

Pacing yourself with expenditure has only come about with me in the last 5 years...and I'm 59yo. Up till then its been "gotta do it now " with sacrifices immediately.

Some expert I read once said its a sexual thing with young men. I dont doubt it. Cars, trikes etc could have satisfied me for a while when I was single a few times. Like women and makeup.

Only for a while. .....

Good to know Tony! You'll read below that quite a bit of work has been done. All up I think I've spent $95 on bits over a few weeks so it's not that expensive overall. I've had the bulk of the bits laying around until I could do the work.

So, an update: I managed to get close to Redback this week as M&D are still borrowing her. The only positive thing to come out of Mum's car being written off is that I got the after market cruise thrown my way.

After a day of stuffing around with some new connectors, wrapping wiring, making brackets and getting confused with a wiring issue I now have sorted the cruise control. I've used the AP60 kit, usually retails for between $230 and $250, about the same price as the "base" level speeding fine in Vic.

Here's a few pics of how things have been fitted; first up is the actuator mounting position and the cable fitment:






.

[El_Freddo]

Speed sensor pickup - the mount took some time and stuffing around to get it right. I prefer to mount off the gearbox so the sensor moves with any drivetrain movement eliminating the sensor rubbing on the magnets:



And the all important control pad which is also mounted on a tin plate that's been shaped to fit as best I could behind the little coin tray/storage bucket thing in the dash on the right hand side:



Then I pulled this from the parts bomb the next day:



Cleaned that up, put a new set of boots on and fitted it to Redback. To get the rack in you need to typically drill out the four spot welds that hold the jacking plate to the engine crossmember:



The brake booster vacuum pick up gets in the way of the PS pump, so I relocated it to the other side of the manifold and extend the hose to fit. The bung from the other side is moved to plug this hole. I then had to shave it down to allow the pump to fit without rubbing on the bung or manifold:



And a longer thermostat housing needs to be fitted to clear the rear of the power steering pump:



Here's a dodgy pic of the power steering pump fitted in place - it's hidden pretty well by the air cleaner, the reservoir lid pokes up behind the air cleaner:



This mod transforms the feel of the Brumby - it makes the vehicle feel much lighter than it actually is and now I can throw the vehicle around much easier than previously. The exact same experience I had after fitting PS to Sunnie the Brumby.

Lastly, I checked out some seats from another vehicle to fit as I was pretty keen to swap the original seats out, even though they're not a bad example of MY seats. I came up with a bracket that adapts the Honda Integra (early 90's model I think) seats to the MY rails for a direct bolt in application. Pretty stoked and the seats are awesome, even though the ones I'm using are pretty worn out - I wanted to make sure they would fit and work before I really invested in this mod. Total cost for these seats to be fitted is $15 on 2m of two inch right angle steel. They fitted much better than I thought they would.

Pics to come on that mod - I want a better set of seats for the pics!

It's been a busy few days and an amazing change in some vital areas of a vehilce, you wouldn't think this is the same vehicle going by the feel of how it drives. I also took the time to track down a whistling sound that occurred since putting the bullbar on - turns out it's the mounts for the LED light bar...

Now I can't wait to drive it for some time!!!

Cheers

Bennie

[Tweety]

Re: "But *I am having trouble containing myself as there's things "I just want done now" on it, but I guess we're all like that to a degree!"

You and I are in a similar position. Budgeting necessity means a time factor. Pacing ourselves when bills keep rolling in and of course you have the little mites needs too. Isnt easy.

My younger days saw me with less patience. I could not contain myself either. But age does relax you and you get used to the short, medium and long term goals and setting them.

Red Targa's long term life will be fine. Eventually your dreams will solidify.
Tweety is the same. I'd love to redo the windscreen with a different design, replace the sunroof so it works but we are riding around Oz winter 2016 so whats the chance?

[Subydoug]

I had that cruise control system in my wagon and I could swear you took pictures of mine. I pretty much installed it in a identical fashion . Not in there anymore. It decided one morning that it was going to hold my car flat out in neutral . Turned out to be the seals in the vacuum solenoid.

One sexy looking Brumby though. Nice to see red vs the common white or beige. Poor EA81, your carrying half a ton of steel on its nose .

[El_Freddo]

One sexy looking Brumby though. Nice to see red vs the common white or beige. Poor EA81, your carrying half a ton of steel on its nose .

Thanks mate. I wanted to track down a blue targa but got sick of waiting for one at the right price, this one popped up in the mean time close to me at a good price.

As for the weight of the bar, dad tells me that it's pretty light for what it is. We've got a steel bar like this one below, it's BLOODY HEAVY! He reckons it weighs less than this bar! Pretty happy with that.



I'll have to weigh the one we've got to get an idea of exactly how heavy it is! It's not fitted to a vehicle yet, but it's destined for Sheldon (L series).

This Wednesday I'm headed to the big smoke in Redback for some parts yards visits and a subi meet from another forum (details in the vic pages, no takers by the looks of it ). I'm looking forward to spending some good time driving and enjoying Redback!

Cheers

Bennie

[El_Freddo]

The pick a part sessi

[El_Freddo]

The pick a part session was good, I managed to score a six gauge dash - always the way, totally unexpected! Now to sort out the dashboard. I'll have to have one reskinned as both that I have are worse than a dried lake bed :/

Last weekend (23/24MAY) I was excited as mum's replaced her old car so I get Redback again - or so I thought! I got about 30km from m&d's and had to pull over for communications between the two vehicles. When I returned to Redback there was a massive pool of oil under her.

I flipped out a bit. Then investigated the issue. Seems that the crank seal had let go but it would "only leak" above a certain rev, but without a tacho I didn't know what this rev limit was.
I managed to limp it home to leave there until I can find a weekend to pull the engine and get an oxy torch to heat the crank pulley off. Not happy!

Then came back home in shepp again brumbyless

That's the update :/

Cheers

Bennie

[Proton mouse]

Ahhh good score on the 6 guage cluster Bennie! What was the donor car? An illusive Touring wagon or a coupe/sedan Leonie?