Red Targa Brumby

[El_Freddo]

@Suby Spanner - that’s awesome. I reckon I’ll have to give something like that a go.

I’m not sure about the acid wash but since I’ve got the new tyres on the rims. I desperately needed new tyres so the painting took a back seat

Thanks for sharing how you guys did it. I wouldn’t have thought about tyre shine/cleaner! And it sounds like you managed to do it in a weekend time frame.

Cheers

Bennie

[Suby Spanner]

I didn't use a tyre shine, it was a wheel cleaner like this https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q ... 3701695842
As for the acid wash, it's sold as a cleaner, but the active ingredient is just acid.

Yes, I pressure cleaned and scrubbed them one day, then the next day blew them off and my mate painted them. It was at my shop, and trust me, I didn't stop work for too long to do it

But like I said, the result is pretty damn good.

[El_Freddo]

Glamour shots:





I wish my paint was actually this good!

Still got the pinging issue once the engine is up near the trigger point for the thermo fans. I'm now wondering if it's got something to do with my valve clearances that could be too tight - but I've always thought they become loose overtime.

I've got a few things to look into at the moment. Front driveshafts don't seem to be happy at all. On my last trip to Melbourne I didn't think I was going to make it home. I was almost at my destination when I suddenly experienced a vibration that felt like it would shake the vehicle to pieces if I needed highway speeds. This would occur after a standing start too, there was steering wheel wobble and noise associated with it. Luckily I managed to limp her home (loaded and towing at this point - I don't do things by half!).

This weekend I'm hoping to get Redback Brumby into the shed for some work and a windscreen replacement. The glass dudes will remove the windscreen then come back later to fit the new one after I tidy up any rust etc under there.

Cheers

Bennie

[El_Freddo]

Windscreen came out in a bout 5 minutes this afternoon.

Left bottom corner looks mint. Very little rust in the seam in that corner. The rest is factory mint! The right hand side has some rust bubble action, but I don’t think enough for a hole in there.

The upper section of the windscreen area has the typical worn paint mark where the edge of the hardened windscreen rubber has worn it away. Some sections look like they’re down to bare metal. Work will be done to seal this up before the new windscreen and rubber is fitted.

There’s a bit of work ahead of me, but I’m looking forward to it! While the brumby is in the shed I’ll be cleaning up some other small areas of rust

Cheers

Bennie

[El_Freddo]

It’s August 2019 now, the windscreen work took some time to complete - finding time was the first issue then painting had to wait for the best possible weather conditions was the second.

In the mean time I’ve done a few other things. This little red brumby will cop an EJ22 conversion. I’ve collected all the required parts over the last year or so.

The loom was cut down. This is what I started with once I stripped all the conduit and wrapping off:



Once the job was done I was left with this:



That loom was tested with the engine I have lined up for the conversion.

That loom is wrapped and laid out in the brumby waiting for the rest of the conversion. A second standard inlet hard fuel line was fitted through the cab with the stock lines. This will become the return line for the efi system. This will minimise any back pressure in the return system.

And this is the other thing happening while the windscreen is out - needs a general clean up and some foam tape on the air duct joints:



Old dash and cluster is up top, the stock unit. Below is the long dash and six gauge analogue cluster from a touring wagon/coupe/GL sedan. This will make my interior much nicer to look at!



After this I hope the windscreen will go in next week. Pay my rego, clean up some rust in the tray before it gets any nastier, then drive it!

Once back on the frog and toad, other things can be looked at - electric windows are definitely on the cards!

For now I’m very excited about the dash and cluster swap!

Cheers

Bennie

[TOONGA]

love those dashes pity they are not plug and play.

Looks like you had fun with the harness as well.

TOONGA

[El_Freddo]

love those dashes pity they are not plug and play.

Yeah they are! So far in my experience anyway. The main plugs behind the dash plug into the brumby loom and we're off!

It worked in Sunnie the Brumby over ten years ago and he’s still running well with the dash conversion.

The wiring between the digital cluster and the analogue cluster is different. You can’t just pull the digital cluster and throw in the analogue unit, you need all the wiring from behind the dashboard that matches the cluster you want to use. I’ve got both

Cheers

Bennie

[El_Freddo]

All foam strips on the air ducting was replaced today with single sided foam air gap stuff. 2.5m (as stated on the box) was apparently just enough to do the work, I doubled up on the main heater box and air duct pieces. Everything else was one side only.

The AC box copped a vacuuming. That was filth! Everything got a good wipe down before the new dash setup went in. No issues there so far.

Tomorrow I’ll be pushing the brumby out of the shed and sorting out all the plugs in the driver’s side. Door access is “a little cramped” in our current shed...

Pics to come of course!

Cheers

Bennie

[Suby Spanner]

That'll be one sweet ride when done.

And I haven't touched mine in months

[El_Freddo]

That'll be one sweet ride when done.

Thanks mate! There’s still a lot of work to be done - surface rust in the tray apparently from battery acid. Rust on the edge of the seam that passes behind the spare wheel. And some odd patches of surface rust here and there. I’ll chip away at it though. And one day it might get a full spray job (I wish!!).

Dash is in now! Still got some small things to sort out such as console and glove box until it’s properly fitted but it looks good.





Almost everything works. I don’t have indicators so I must have missed a plug (hopefully!), headlights high and low beam work though. My fuel pump runs whenever the ignition is on. I’m certain that I have the fuel cut relay plugged in. And I need to find my intermittent wiper relay canister, they now don’t self centre and I can’t find the plug for the canister to connect to - it could be tucked up high since the dash went in.

I need to fit my oil pressure sensor as I’ve only got the oil light switch connected/installed atm. I think the pressure sensor is on an oil pump at m&d’s, so I’ll have to hunt that one out.

I don’t have an alternator or an air filter at the moment. Both were “borrowed” to keep Sunnie the Brumby going while Redback was out of action. So I don’t have any warning lights st the moment - that or I’ve plugged something together that shouldn’t have been connected.

That’s all for now. Windscreen will go in then I’ll sort out rego payment before going for a long overdue drive again!

Cheers

Bennie

[El_Freddo]

As of Monday I’m back in the brumby while M&D have Ruby Scoo (long story that starts to sound like the castle).

I slapper her back together Sunday night after a weekend at my parent’s place - tidied up the wiring above the driver’s feet, bolted the passenger’s seat in, threw a “replacement” alternator in from one of my parts bombs... later put the old alternator (from Sunny the Brumby) back in and it ran better than the replacement alternator that died after three starts!

Going for a drive - I’d forgotten how slow the EA81 is compared to the EJ22 at all revs! Then the romanticism of driving Redback was quickly replaced by the “fix it” list that follows the brumby like the plague in the Middle Ages. Pinging issue still there, even in this cool weather.

“By chance” I decided to put 95RON fuel in due to the 91RON pump being out of action. No pinging so far - which I’m more than happy about!

But the front left hub area isn’t happy. Major clacking going on, without consistency. I reckon it’s the bearing collapsing - maybe, could be a real bad CV joint (outer) but I can induce a big steering wheel wobble, inparticularly when accelerating from a stand still.

And the interior is a disaster zone with the EJ loom and ecu spread out over the passenger floor space, no trims there either, no glovebox or console... there’s work to be done!!

I’m still loving her though and the new dash is awesome!

Cheers

Bennie

[moonbuggy]

That dash is awesome! I keep ooh-ing over it. I'm sure it doesn't make up for all the work yet to be done, but it's a little oasis of lovely that can at least distract from it a bit. Also, perfect 'fun top' weather right now.

[El_Freddo]

That dash is awesome! I keep ooh-ing over it. I'm sure it doesn't make up for all the work yet to be done, but it's a little oasis of lovely that can at least distract from it a bit. Also, perfect 'fun top' weather right now.

Yeah cheers! I love looking at it while driving, not enough to be a hazard on the road though :P

The weather over here has only had a few days worthy of the fun top being cracked open, none for a “tops off” run yet, but that weather is about to be knocking on the door.

But...

Redback is held up in the driveway undergoing some front end work. New bearings and while there I found a dead outer CV joint on the lhs. This explains the noise and the steering wheel wobble I was experiencing. I was hoping the issue was the wheel bearing!

So I’ll do both front wheel bearings and I’m thinking I’ll replace the cv shaft on the rhs too, I’ll keep that used shaft as a spare.

I’ll also lube the caliper slides to ensure they’re not causing or about to cause binding when braking.

Cheers

Bennie

[moonbuggy]

Yeah cheers! I love looking at it while driving, not enough to be a hazard on the road though :P

I'm guessing the opposite! You're just very conscientious about your speed, which just so happens to require frequent glances to the lovely dash. :P

Gah, you always hope it's the fix you think it will be and occasionally the gods are kind enough to make it so. Not often enough, though. At least she'll be humming along smoothly after all that work.

Cheers
Sarah

[El_Freddo]

Yeah cheers! I love looking at it while driving, not enough to be a hazard on the road though :P

I'm guessing the opposite! You're just very conscientious about your speed, which just so happens to require frequent glances to the lovely dash. :P

Except I have cruise for that... I can’t complain though, it really changes the feel of the interior, even though it’s still in bits.

Gah, you always hope it's the fix you think it will be and occasionally the gods are kind enough to make it so. Not often enough, though. At least she'll be humming along smoothly after all that work.

This issue is kind of self inflicted in that I’ve known for quite a while that there’s an issue, but I’ve not done anything about it until now... so she’s laid up once again for a while.

Cheers

Bennie

[henpecked]

Great job all round, well done !

[El_Freddo]

And Redback is back in action as of this afternoon!

New front drive shafts and bearings, plus painted hubs. If you ever pain hubs just make sure the paint doesn’t build up where bolts etc go. Not fun sorting that out, especially in threaded sections.

So I’ve finally lost my steering wheel wobble under all conditions, plus the clacking noises from the front left and the steering wheel shudder under brakes that was the initial issue ages ago.

It’s bliss! And I forgot how much I enjoy driving this little beast!

Now that everything is smooth up front, I reckon I’ve got a niggle up the back now. I’ll look into that in time as I’ve got a few other things to do first - get Basil back on the road. Engine HG, cambelt kit and reseal jobs all done, gearbox replaced. Now it’s a centre diff issue so boxes are apart!

And we have a new member of the family join us yesterday. More on that later

Cheers

Bennie

[Bumpty]

Fantastic Benny!!

Was the wobble just build up of dirt on the rims...?

[El_Freddo]

Yay! Finally some fun stuff - pics!

While I had the front end apart for new bearings and driveshafts I took some time to paint the hub knuckles in an attempt to clean up my brumby one part/area at a time...



^ Always wear a face mask and extra eye protection when using these wire wheels! Copping one of these in the face isn't fun... and I'd know! A set of welding gloves doesn't go astray either.



I'll have to get a couple of pics of them installed. While the paint work wasn't great, and I've already chipped some while fitting bearings etc, they look good in situ (no pics yet). Now to get the rest of the stuff done like the control arm, radius rod, steering arm, dust shield...

Was the wobble just build up of dirt on the rims...?

Nah Bumpty, it was actually the outer joint, it would lock at one point in the rotation of the driveshaft, thus pulling on the steering creating a wobble like effect! I'll have to dig up a video to demonstrate (I made one for a good mate to show him what the issue was).

I love this beast!



Cheers

Bennie

[Bumpty]

So schmick, Benny! Nice job.

Is it a full time job looking for spare parts across so many suby models!?