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

[FujiFan]

Hey Bennie the clip is coming up as UNAVAILABLE:???:

J

[guyph_01]

Hey Bennie the clip is coming up as UNAVAILABLE:???:

J

+1

[RSR 555]

It still amazes me what others see in images that are posted for an entirely different reason!

The bar went very well, had a blast offroad! The scorpions did their job very well too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyIVAb_1OH4



Cheers

Bennie

Yep.. always looking at others ideas and love that vid.. good to see you didn't take the chicken route

Hey Bennie the clip is coming up as UNAVAILABLE:???:

J

+1

Works for me

[guyph_01]

It works now:)
Are you using a welded diff?

[Dann]

looking gwd bennie:)
must be loving those new wheels ha?
(*sits there very jealous*) haha

[El_Freddo]

Hey Bennie the clip is coming up as UNAVAILABLE:???:

+1

Yeah sorry fellas - I uploaded it before youtube had authorised its broadcast - I had to sleep after driving to Hotham and needing to start work at 9am...

Are you using a welded diff?

No, just acquired skills Still running the open diff as we were headed to the snow + I don't like the idea of an EJ with a welded diff and good offroading tyres - bound to bend or snap something serious that I don't want to deal with at the moment!

looking gwd bennie:)
must be loving those new wheels ha?
(*sits there very jealous*) haha

Yes I am! They are a seriously awesome upgrade for the L series! After working on a mates liberty I'm feeling an itch for the 5 stud, mainly for the drive shaft/bearing assembly setup but not being able to have these rims is slowing that idea down tremendously! I would like better braking though. Might look into slotted discs, I know the rears are hard to find if available

and love that vid.. good to see you didn't take the chicken route

I wasn't out to use the chicken track We got Bcoutback's stock outback through that hole too! It required a couple of goes but he got there in the end after finding the rev limiter Good times, we were very surprised that he got it through. Unfortunately I wasn't filming that bit - not happy as it would have been awesome footage!

Cheers

Bennie

[El_Freddo]

Update: Last friday I finally finished off the cruise control install - AP60 is the model number, simple to use and easy to install and tune. My only gripe is that there is not a button to disengage the cruise on the control pad - its brake or clutch (once I install the clutch pedal switch!) or turn the whole thing off. Still a dream to drive the freeway with though - I'm just used to the VT's cruise...

Saturday was the big test day. Got up a 3.15am, in the subi by 3.40 heading off (after a 20 min warm up) to melbourne. Once on the freeway hit the cruise and it was very easy driving - the hume is generally a shit drive, police speed cameras everywhere and driving "by foot" is not much fun on such a dull road.

We were in melbourne by 8am for the dentist (fun), then in the cbd to catch up with some cousins, then the northern burbs to pick up a new work mate, after this we headed home (after some very important Dan M's shopping) to grab some gear, then to a mates where we blew a fusible link on the way, we jerry rigged a 30 amp fuse that seemed to do the job - until I put the high beams on (good one bennie!). We drove for 10 mins by "candle light". Long story short eventually made it to holgates for a "soft drink", got a replacement fusible link that my brother bought with him for me, then headed for hotham. Arrived hotham 2am sunday morning.

I couldn't have done it without the cruise! It lags up hills but I didn't care, with stuff on the roof and towing a trailer I would've expected it to. Ruby did very well.

The downer on this is that when swapping in new shafts I found that I've cracked the spot weld on a part of the radius rod plate that mounts to the fire wall - the plate itself is actually cracked before the spot weld. Need a photo to show really And I'm enjoying not hearing any clicking - hope it stays this way for a long time, Ruby Scoo feels tighter to drive now

I can show some pics of the cruise if anyone is interested. For ~$250 its a great investment!

Cheers

Bennie

[Dann]

I'm pretty interested, please and thank-you

[El_Freddo]

I'm pretty interested, please and thank-you

No worries - I'll get some next time I have her out of staff parking. Interestingly I have to check some parts on the cruise as its surging on the flat which means that either a magnet has moved or something has knocked the sensitivity switch on the main control box that's mounted under the dash. Its usually set to "M" for medium - I'm guessing that it has been knocked to "H", you can work out what that's for

Cheers

Bennie

[El_Freddo]

I'm pretty interested, please and thank-you

As promised!

The dash mounted control pad. I have hacked up the panel behind to get the cable and plug through there but it looks neat where it needs to:



^ and yes, my interior is filthy

This is my setup with the magnets and sensor. The mounting bracket for the sensor is bolted to the back of the gearbox where there's a couple of tapped but unused bolt holes. 2 minutes in the shed and I found a bolt that did the job. This is how it has come up:



And this is the actuator that does the throttle work. Three wires and a vacuum line:



^ That fits in very well and also makes use of the liberty's cruise cable lever on the throttle body. Works well!

Last time I drove her the cruise was surging, not badly but enough to annoy me so I'll have to check that out tomorrow - I think it could be magnets moving on the wire so that they're not 180 degrees apart... Will have to do a troubleshoot tomorrow. I should also get around to tidying up the wiring as I want to put it in some conduit or the like.

Otherwise cruise is awesome on the freeway!

Cheers

Bennie

[Dann]

cheers mate, might have to look in to that... after the EJ;)

[El_Freddo]

cheers mate, might have to look in to that... after the EJ;)

You don't have to wait for the EJ - the only parts that are engine specific are the throttle cable from the actuator and the vacuum hose. Both would be easily interchangeable. You would need to re-tune the system for the EJ but this is very easy to do and you have to do it after you install it anyway.

Well worth the effort!

The issue I was experiencing with the surging was that one of the magnets had moved a little bit so that it wasn't 180 degrees opposed to the other magnet. Once moved to where it should be and a little electrical tape was used to help secure it all worked VERY well again. I should check that tape

Cheers

Bennie

[El_Freddo]

I forgot to say earlier that Ruby Scoo rolled over to the other side of 450,000km today enroute to bendigo on the Calder

Pics of proof will be provided tomorrow

Cheers

Bennie

[El_Freddo]

I forgot to say earlier that Ruby Scoo rolled over to the other side of 450,000km today enroute to bendigo on the Calder

Pics of proof will be provided tomorrow

Pics!

Almost there:


Bingo!


And still going


Also got this:



^ I'm thinking of mounting the scoop (from a vortex) about where it is in the pic. What i might look at doing for a neater fit is make a mould of the scoop, cut it down to size so that it fits between ridge lines of the bonnet. The fins in the scoop have been damaged since I last saw it so I'll probably replace this with some mesh or another reproduced mould of the original if I ever get around to it.



I also grabbed the vent ducting from under the scoop - glad I did as I'll probably either cut this down or make another one so that it "scoops" the air from the direction of the radiator as well as acts as a drain for any water that makes its way down there. I'm also thinking of trying to make a flap so that I can shut it off when in the cold weather. I've found that the EJ "runs hotter" in cold weather because the radiator is bigger than it needs to be in those conditions - so I don't want a vent moving more air through the radiator at speed in this situation.

Cheers

Bennie

[steptoe]

uh oh, Bennie has started his Vortex parts collection, next car Bennie? Otherwise I hope you felt guilty affling those bits

[El_Freddo]

uh oh, Bennie has started his Vortex parts collection, next car Bennie? Otherwise I hope you felt guilty affling those bits

I was eyeing off the sunroof too other than that there's really nothing else other than rear discs/LSD and the 5spd AWD gearbox that I'd want from them...

Next car - a subi of course! Probably a touring wagon. Would love to do a sleeper EJ20G setup with a WAIC setup But they're dreams at the moment. I'd have to convince the minister of fun and finance... Hopefully my proposal will get through without an issue.

Cheers

Bennie

PS - its not a collection when you use the parts Jonno

[El_Freddo]

Just an update to say that the clutch died about this time last week. Here's the thread I started about it in the Subaru Chat section.

I've ordered a new clutch kit, new rear seal and I'll also replace the cam cover seals. All going well I might add some other goodies but it's unlikely at this stage due to postage etc.

This is where we stopped moving - a very nice part of the world with a great road that follows the Tambo River:



We had to go for a walk to get mobile reception - we found some that would only work if you stayed in a 1sqm patch... fun fun.

Anyway, so Ruby Scoo is now at a mate's place off mountain, I spend 2 hours on her during monday arvo and she now has 3 bolts holding the engine to the gearbox waiting for the hoist this weekend.

I can't wait to rip into the clutch to see what failed... There will be pics I can say that!

And I'm yet to find out the damage to the bank account too

Cheers

Bennie

[El_Freddo]

G'day all,

Today I spent probably about half an hour on Ruby Scoo once we got here into my mate's dad's shed. DEFINITELY the cleanest shed she's ever been in. I felt bad for having such a dirty vehicle in it - Ruby Scoo is pretty much the opposite of this shed! Anyway, here's the pic of her in this awesome shed - good weather today too for hanging out in the shed:



One very dirty engine bay. It hasn't been empty in 18 months! A record...



This is what it looked like when the engine was secured on the floor:



And after the pressure plate was unbolted and dropped off:



These are what used to be my clutch disc! I counted 18 pieces in total with one chunk MIA:



The pressure plate - still in one piece but with some scuff damage to the bottom of the fingers:



The flywheel - a few little cracks starting to show up on the clutch disc mating surface - I'm wondering if it is worth sending it in to be machined since a whole new kit is going in, thoughts?







...

[El_Freddo]

Fatigue cracks on the clutch disc:









Good times.

Guyph, if you're reading this - I think I've out done you're clutch disc that broke...

By the way, this is an EJ clutch setup, second hand flywheel and pressure plate, new disc about 18 months ago when the conversion was done.

Now just waiting on the new clutch to arrive in the post - it was sent on wednesday, I was hoping it would have been here on friday with our twice weekly mail... But it wasn't, so hopefully it'll be tuesday with the engine back in a week from now. If I manage to put in a good day's work on it I might have it back on the road in a week with all going well (aka wishful thinking!).

Cheers

Bennie

[El_Freddo]

My Clutch Kit arrived in the post last week. The clutch disc looks a lot beefier than the old one that had only 4 springs of equal size:



I am a little concerned that the spring paint scheme reflects something of a younger Guyph before he settled on his red and yellow paint scheme!

Cheers

Bennie