To spend or to scrap ?? Help :)

[carlie400]

Hi All,

For those of you who know of me you will know all the dilemas I have had with my beloved 78' brumby...

For those of you who dont, who are interested, Im sure theres a search option where you can look at my old posts to find out whats going on and find a couple pics

I have come to a crossroad..

The now second motor that I have in him which I believe is a EA71 motor I think is at the end of it's life span.. it leaks oil like a %$$#h and has started blowing an amount of smoke thats going to get me fined very shortly...

I do have the motor that I had to take out of it due to doing a head gasket which I MAY have reconditioned... Thats one option..

Another option I have is to sell/scrap it and buy a car with air con, that doesn't leak oil and doesn't blow smoke, and that can increase in speed going uphill....
I'm not entirely keen on this option however. I have always preferred the older cars and feel they have more 'spunk'

So... I'm after an opinion or a few... I would like to have the whole car 'overhauled' as such... I want air con ! no oil leaks ! a little bit of grunt ! I still want 4wd.. a comfortable interiour..
Basically.. I want my car.. but all new bits inside and under the bonet....

IS THAT POSSIBLE ??? HOW MUCH DO I HAVE TO SPEND ??? AND WHO WOULD DO THAT KIND OF JOB ???

Any help / advice / opionions would be greatly appreciated

Hope everyone is doing well, and when you get that 4wd trip down my way, if the brumby's still running, I'm in
Cheers guys!
~Carlie

[AlpineRaven]

I can understand that you would love to keep her, as I would myself. I've always loved "old" unique cars that isn't normally on the roads in these days so that is a special thing such as your Brumby. I do not know or havent seen a Brumby same as yours.

Anyway, since its a 1.6 litre (EA71) this is what you expect out from a 1.6 litre. For me, if it was my situation as I am fussy about "original condition/belongs to that car" I would rebuild the engine top to bottom. Air Con would be rare for EA71 - I havent seen one yet - I dunno if there is one or not, if there is one it would be worth getting one and fit it in yours - it wouldnt be hard i believe but only problem is for you to source one!

Other option which is possibly cheaper is to get EJ16/EJ18 engine from Impreza (Jolly Rogers in Dandenong has 2 EJ18s as known from 2 weeks ago) with air conditioning attached but the hardest part is inside the cabin which would require mods to suit.

To get an engine from Jolly Rogers if you get it yourself, you're looking at around $400-$600 with wire loom, ECU, complete engine plus extras with it. It might be worth considering about converting it to AWD? which would require more work for transmission drive line & mounts etc

Cheers
AP

[El_Freddo]

G'day Carlie,

I'd be trying to keep your old gigger on the road - retro fitting what ever you want into your ute... The biggest problem will be fitting the A/C box under the dashboard.

Probabily best to talk to L88 I think his name is, the guy with the green L88 with the turbo job...

Good luck with it.

Cheers

Bennie

[AndrewT]

I think to achieve what you want.....with a similar amount of ease as just buying another car.....would set you back probably 10 to 15 grand + (VERY roughly - the sky is the limit).

I'm taking about a massive drive-in/drive-out job performed by a professional.

Spend a long time finding a suitable mechanic/mech workshop that specialises in restorations and custom conversions, then request the following;

- New custom interior (that's new door trims, reupholstered seats or WRX ones modified to fit, new roof lining, reconditioned dashboard skin, new stereo setup etc etc) - ie, making it new and nice.
- Aftermarket airconditioning kit
- an EJ engine conversion (probably just a nice n/a motor, like an EJ16 or 18 as suggested)
- a later model 5spd gearbox conversion.....suggest an L series gearbox. Maybe even an AWD conversion if you want to go really spiffy.
- have any rust in the body fixed up and a full re-spray
- renew all suspension bushes and suspension
- new wheels and tyres
- new brakes
- new exhaust


This would cost a similar amount to just buying some newer car, but still achieve your desired outcomes. Yes it's spending a heap of money on an old car....but it's really no longer an old car is it It certainly would be more fun!

Check out some of the restoration jobs documented on here by "The Suby Boys".

[dfoyl]

Why not buy the wagon subasquid had for sale - based on the listing it appears to be good mechanically, and the engine swap should be cake. Strip off the spares you can use (trim, fenders, etc), and get a scrap metal dealer to take the rest away ?

The other bonus is you can use the wagon interior for `updating', then swap over when ready (so if you get the dashboard retrimmed you don't have the Brumby off the road while you're waiting).

Linky: vbclassified.php?do=ad&id=168

A/C - should be easy to pick up a under-dash unit from a 70s Fairlane or similar. New drier, seals for R134a, and away you go. There was a factory setup available, btw.

Interior - door panels can be re-done at home. I bought some leather offcuts a few years back and re-did all my upper door panels for about $100 (not on my Brumby, an earlier car). Rolls of auto fabric for lower doors aren't expensive if you're not too picky on colour (Super southern swapmeet is coming up in 1st week of March, there's generally a few sellers there with plenty of colours cheap). Roof trim I'd leave to the professionals (try Regal Auto Trimmers, they aren't far away from you). Seats - I'd assume similar dimensions to EA81 so you have the same range available (even some MY touring wagon seats if you want velour ).

Dean.

[sublime]

As much as I hate to say this, I think you may be better off with a more modern car! I agree with AndrewT in terms of cost 'the sky is the limit'.

I drive my 78 wagon every day and while it has been mostly reliable there is always something to break or need fixing, it is a fact of life with a 31 year old car. You almost need to have a spare parts car to keep them going. eBay and places like Subawreck become your only friends while you trawl for spare parts (1970 Subarus are an addiction:D).

A 1978 Subaru is still basically a Leone that was first shown at the Tokyo Motor Show in 1971 for release in 1972. If you were to spend $20K you would still end up with a car designed in the late 1960s. Dynamically not up to scratch and certainly not safe in a crash. Everything would need to be fabricated from scratch, very time consuming and expensive. Unlike (for example) a Mustang or early Porsche there is no aftermarket support to rebuild/restore.

Still if you have the money and do not mind buying/driving another car while all the work is being done I say go for it!:D 1970s Subarus are so damn cool! I can't help but think a nice EJ18 would be the ideal engine and it would be quite simple to rig up A/C with one of the old underdash Mark IV units from the days before A/C was integrated. There are businesses that can help with retrofitting A/C (Just do not have any that come to mind).

[riksta]

I like what you guys are saying (DFOYL, SUBLINE)

I have always liked the older subys, had one myself some years ago, a 76 wag and I had a L88 wag for spare parts and it had AC in it, if I still had it you could have it but it is long gone now.

I think if your going to keep it as "dfoyl" said buy that car and put that motor in it and then you will have some sparts as well. Thats the cheapest way out.

And as "subline" said if your best bet for is to put a EJ18 in and then get AC on that.This way you get a much newer motor that dose not leak oil when you stop.

It would be nice if you could keep the brumby on the road, but if the cost of doing that gets to much then you mite just have to buy a newer one with all the things on it that you wont on it.

Rik.

[carlie400]

Hi All..
Thanks for all the help..
As for keeping it orig.. I dont even know what motor is mean to be in it.. the 'maybe' EA71 that's in it now I brought from a subi wrecker for
350 or something when the 'maybe' EA81 did a head gasket and was going to cost 900 to machine and fix.. something to do with two halves to the engine block... whatever It was cheaper to replace. Anyway, I was going to have the one that I had taken out rebuilt.. Just havn't gotten around to it yet. Im tippin it wasn't the orig motor anyway, but wouldnt have a clue
I have gotten onto the guy selling the 77 brumby !! Thankyou all !! For letting me know Hopefully he will get back to me soon and I will go pick it up shortly.. I am VERY keen on it !!
As for what to and a/c... I will have to think about it a bit more.. I dont want to spend 20k on it.. I was thinkin more like 7 or so I would be happy with that.. I know I can buy a good little clean reliable car for that but I love suby.. and want to keep him.. Im not unrealistic.. I know it will still be an old car.. but I like that
Anyway.. I will go back and read all of your posts again and collect the very useful information you have all given me and try to make up my mind as to what to do
Cheers everyone!!! and thanks again !!
~Carlie
p.s... got a date for the 4wd trip up my way yet ???

[GTlegs]

I think the easiest would be to get an EA81 from the next generation cars (1800cc). This motor drops straight in. These (1979-1984) cars came with power steering and air conditioning as fairly common options.

If you get a motor with the aircon fittings already attached, all you need to do is put the cooling coils (a type of a small radiator) inside your interior in between the fan and the air outlets (the same 1979-1984 wreck will have it - under the glovebox).

this way you'll have a much more powerful motor, and aircon. If you are lucky it will also have the power steering pump attached to the motor as well, giving you that option later.

If you have a realiable mechanic, the cost should not be more than $600-$1000 all up (depending on the cost of parts - about $200-$400, and labour - not sure about $)

[dfoyl]

>>I dont even know what motor is mean to be in it..

EA71 is definitely the original. If it's a late EA71 or any model EA81 it will have it marked at the front of the engine, to the left of the distributor, facing straight up. If there's no marking there it's probably an earlier EA71 which is marked (from memory) somewhere near cylinder 4 ?

Dean.

[carlie400]

Looks like im back to square one... I missed out on that car by 1 day.. I really need to get on here more often to avoid that happening again...



I will get onto you GT.. sounds like a good option to explore...

thanks again all

Carlie