my "new" Brumby - good job by Subaweck:SA

[henpecked]

Paul at Subareck in SA has just finished putting me back into a brumby.

After my original Beige 1990 one had been written off in April by a blonde in a BMW. He had bought the resultant wreck at the local auction. It had 5 speed (EXTREMELY noisy), rear disks , aircon, power steer and an Alarm w remote Power locks. a really nice aluminium rollover bar and a good bullbar and towbar, front driving and fog lights, a new radiator, new alternator, and a very rust free body and tailgate etc. -(sob)-

It had taken me 9 months to find it and had bought to SA from Victoria.

I wanted to replace it w another brumby, but could find nothing remotely as good anywhere in OZ.

Then, in the spaces of 48 hours, I picked up a 1987 white Brumby with Air-Con and 3/4 of a 2" body lift kit, a very strong engine, a loose windscreen, a huge 5 pillar bullbar, white canvas camping canopy with a front and rear carry bars in the tray, two thermo fans, a "well used body, crappy seats, whiny gearbox and a speedo that did not work because of a hugely overheated gearbox, and 2 days ofSA rego left !........But the price was V right.

Long story short, Paul and the boys sold me back my rear disk brakes, towbar, the power steering and then added the fittings for the gearbox to a far better '92 5 speed and rear diff, and moved them all over to the '87 car.

I'm really happy with the work and while it was not fantastically cheap ( we all want something for nothing) , it sure was not as exorbitantly over-charged as some of the conversions I've heard about.

They were honest about the work estimates, let me know it really needed a new clutch and gave me a good price on that as well. I know that they had supplier problems with the mix and match gearbox/clutch combination that took at least 2 days to sort out.

Have been running it for the last 5 weeks, and just put it back with them today to do a bit of a touch up on the gear linkage, AND they replaced the reversing lights sending unit on the gear box (under w'tee !!!:D:D).

The work was done well, and the two things that needed a little attention later were done with no questions asked at all !!

I think most people are happy to pay a fair price for good work, that the business is prepared to w'tee, and that sort of security is worth paying good money for, as far as I'm concerned.

so I thought I would post this up to both celebrate my formal return to brumbyhood, and to also give Subaweck a little plug. Their website is down ATM , but will be back up again in a week or so.

cheers

[guyph_01]

Good to hear your back in a suby. Put some pic up of the car etc.

[AlpineRaven]

sounds good and good to bring subaru back in life! Show us some pictures.
Cheers
AP

[someguy]

Paul is a top bloke and always done good work.

Glad to see another happy customer :P

[henpecked]

Steve at Rising Sun has also proved to be an absolutely great bloke to deal with. on his recommendation and advice , we used the front suspension, front brakes, wheels, tyres and seats from the parting up of his 6 cylinder brumby to finish off my Brumby project.

Progress as it now stands


Installed

L series front disk brakes (Steve - rising sun)
Vortex rear disk brakes (relocated from my beige wreck by Paul at Subawreck)
Air con converted to HyChill HR12 (Clay Auto)
Twin electric radiator fans ( existing when purchased)
Nissan Skyline R32 seats (Steve - rising sun)
1992 L series 5 speed dual range gearbox + diff (mounting kit from my Beige wreck, gearbox + Diff from Paul at Subawreck)
Power steering rack (relocated from my beige wreck by Paul at Subawreck)
2” body lift , ( existing when purchased) + lengthened front struts and springs.(Steve - rising sun)
Replacement exhaust system ( existing when purchased)
6”x9” Door speakers ( existing when purchased)
Front and rear rollover bars (removable) + canvas cover ( existing when purchased)
Transponder tag - 3 point immobiliser (Dynamco P205) (Clay Auto)
14”rims with 27x85x14 tyres (Steve - rising sun)
Tomtom “One” GPS – essential due to change in tyre diameter.
5 pillar bullbar ( existing when purchased)
Towbar (relocated from my beige wreck by Paul at Subawreck)
Tinted windows ( existing when purchased)

Waiting for installation

Replacement semi-sealed glass headlights with HID kit
am/fm/cd/SD generic YumCha head unit
headlight on buzzer alarm .. Already had 2 flat battery experiences ;-(
Car alarm w power door locks
Good hard Canopy ( will put on when we go camping to give fly free ventilation ! )

AND I need to fabicate up a centre console for the above radio and some power take offs for the tom tom, phone , etc

to come ?

power windows - I'm just lazy

[henpecked]

photos

[olddog642]

Well there has certainly been some good work going on. Now it is about time you pulled the covers off and posted some pics please so we all can see the transformation.
Hylton:twisted:

[d_generate]

Have much trouble towing?

[sven '2']

Steve at Rising Sun has also proved to be an absolutely great bloke to deal with. on his recommendation and advice , we used the front suspension, front brakes, wheels, tyres and seats from the parting up of his 6 cylinder brumby to finish off my Brumby project.

Nooooo...not the Brumby!!

Well done. You have some very choice parts there. Steve's Brumby was an awesome piece of kit off-road. You will be very pleased with the results.

Very nice ride BTW - keep the good work coming

[olddog642]

Heheheh hey thats a good setup you should save a motza on tyres for the trailer
Hylton:twisted:

[henpecked]

Have much trouble towing?

Heheheh hey thats a good setup you should save a motza on tyres for the trailer
Hylton:twisted:

Very happy to answer your questions guys - I can quite understand how some people may be a bit baffled in this respect, particularly if they have had some small but significant difficulty in attaching a trailer in the past .

I have no problems towing at all, see the cops in SA give you fines for having the tow ball obscuring the numberplate, but its OK for the trailer to obscure the numberplate.

So to avoid more fines, I went and got one of those new-fandangled groovy reversible and relocatable tow balls !!

You see they have specially machined inclined recessed groves in the small shaft that inserts through a marginally larger hole in the towbar tongue , this enables a hexagonal edged doughnut shaped flat disc of steel, which has vertically mirrored but otherwise identical inclined recessed grooves within the internal faces of its own hole, to be wound down the aforesaid groovy tow ball shaft and thus provide a resultant small but sufficient clamping force upon the tow ball. As the remaining vertically protruding shaft and the nut ( technical term I could explain in a PM if you are currently unacquainted with the concept) do not obscure the numberplate , I no longer collect fines !!

WHAT WILL THEY THINK OF NEXT !!!!

Fortunately this is removable and reversible, so when I need to tow some thing I can easily remove and reattach said groovy tow ball in an upright position so that the tow ball receptacle of the item to be towed can be placed over this ball, thus forming a reasonably flexible but secure mechanical link between the tower-er and the tow-ee ( I can explain how that works to you in a PM if you like ).

For a small cash fee and an airline ticket I could come over and personally show either of you how it works, I'm always happy to help others out !:-D

[d_generate]

OK, ticket on it's way lol.

[olddog642]

MMmmmmm could not have explained it better, the Dodo had something similar and was able to vanish up it's own fundamental orifice after flying in ever diminishing circles.
Hylton:twisted:

[Working Dog]

Hi there Henpecked,

I am brand new to the world of Subaru's and have just picked up a 1989 Brumby last weekend.

Earlier in your post you have mentioned some semi sealed HID headlights - Now that you have installed them, what are your thoughts and would you recommend them to others? What sort are they?

Also, the canvas canopy that you have on the car? Was that on the car already or did you have it made up as a kit? If so, Can you let me know where it was from please?

Thanks in advance

[steptoe]

I am now puzzled myself, as to how the L Series brakes and stuff are treating the suspension, steering and tyres. Phizinza has found this combo dos not work real well on MY models. Or what is Steves trick ?

[Battlewagon]

Why fit a headlight warning buzzer? When you fit the HID setup, wire in a master relay that shuts them down when you kill the ignition. No annoying buzzer then.

[steptoe]

$3 unit and two wires to jook up a headlight reminder

[RSR 555]

From my understanding on HIDs, it states on the packets not to start (turn over the starter motor) with your headlights on. It has something to do with failure to the ballast. My friend was looking at fitting HIDs to his 06 Outback and he nevers touches his headlight switch (they are always left on) and the only thing I could think was to buy a timer kit from Jaycar that would wait 30 seconds after the car started, then it would switch a relay to supply the power to the headlights. Any other suggestions would be much appreciated.