Red Targa Brumby

[El_Freddo]

Water pump replaced on the morning of Mother’s Day so I could take the brumby for a drive to my folk’s place then a trip home the long way via my sister’s place. That was a bit more than 300km in total.

I didn’t trust the threads on the block that hold the water pump in, I used a torque wrench for the required 16nM, chickened out when I thought they were tight enough - even the I’m not sure that one or two threads holding the bolts in aren’t on the edge of letting go. I backed the torque wrench back to 10nM and none of the bolts are at that tension either.

The +300km was the “test” run after idling up to thermo fan cycling temp - zero issues. And none so far either. I wouldn’t be surprised if it started leaking at some point if it doesn’t just fall off.

Next issue will probably be the radiator that I think is still the original… or a head gasket, maybe

Not much else going on other than getting good fuel economy - 750km to 65L (partial fill and full fill up, which I had a long range tank!). That equates to 8.6L/100km Now that I’ve equated that it seems really nuts from a vehicle that’s over 30 years old and uses some oil along the way. With that said my driving for at least 300-400km was country cruising, and that fuel adage includes the wood collection above too. Pretty stoked!

Since the carby rebuild I’ve really noticed the usable power and smoothness across the rev range up to about 5500 - that’s about the maximum I’ve pushed it since the rebuilt carb. Before the rebuild the engine felt “rattley” and not good like this in general. Now it just goes which is grouse!

When this is EJ’d I’m going to miss the unique noises of the EA81.

Cheers

Bennie

[Silverbullet]

Excellent fuel stats! Does she run slightly warmer than normal if the rad is not up to scratch? Might contribute to better mileage, I always got better fuel economy on stinking hot days in my Brumby. A trick I recently learned regarding gaskets; if it's the paper type, you can smear it with fresh grease, both sides until it is completely drenched then wipe off the excess. Doesn't harm it at all, it helps sealing if anything with the bonus of not being laminated to the block if/when you remove the gasketed part. Might help in situations where you can't torque aged tiny threads to spec like an EA81 water pump.

Carbie rebuilds do so much good, more people should try it.

[El_Freddo]

Rad is up to scratch, I’m just worried it’ll be the next weakest link to let go. It doesn’t run hot, if anything a bit on the cool side, even with a piece of cardboard blocking almost half the radiator! This helps warm the engine up quicker.

Today it did a bit of a pub crawl across the district - benders to the Redesdale pub, across to Maldon with the roof glass out because I could (missed the ice creamery by 7 minutes - annoyed at that!), that was a fresh run, heater good though; after the Maldon pub and finding out the other one in town was temporarily closed (our preferred one for dinners etc) we headed back to Castlemaine for dinner there. Then benders and now home. Didn’t miss a beat as expected.



^ the Redesdale Pub

Next thing to track down are some oil leaks, probably the valve cover gaskets again

Also, that grease trick is a good one. We use it with our students in the small engines class since the gaskets are out twice a year… I’m yet to try it on my own vehicles, I’m skeptical that it’ll work on the cork gaskets on the rocket covers, I don’t really have anything to lose by trying out other than making a mess in the process!

Cheers

Bennie

[El_Freddo]

Had some issues with power steering fluid being uber low. I’ve filled it with some penrite stuff that has the additive that does stuff to seals to make them do their job again. It seems to be holding up for now.

Other than that Redback keeps cruising along. Between playing plumber at my folk’s place yesterday it also did “some farm stuff”:



Needless to say, performance sucked. It felt worse with just the trailer but I think this was a mindset as seeing the load and feeling more weight I wasn’t expecting as much from the Brumby and I held gears longer with a lighter throttle. It sat under 100km/h on the way home for the most part due to undulating terrain.

I had a couple of people comment on my Brumby throughout the day - this seems to be a more commonly occurring thing as time goes on.One notable instance, I had a young girl, probably mid to late teens, stick her head out the door of the car she was in, in the pouring rain, to tell me she liked my car. She probably had no idea what it was but I guess she found it cute. I can live with that.

Cheers

Bennie

[Bumpty]

You need a PTO on Redback, so you can feed that bale out!
I can also relate to the general public waving or making a point to stop and say Gday, and then more often than not they reminisce about the Brumby they had 30yrs ago!

[Silverbullet]

+1 for comments from public. Nearly every time I fill up the wagon there's a comment from someone. And yes there's definitely still a strong representation of Brumbies on the road, possibly even increasing in number as they get into classic/collector status.

That Penrite fluid with the stop leak worked for me on the EA81 P/S pump front shaft seal. It may take some time though to start working its magic.

[El_Freddo]

Redback Brumby did this on the way to work on the 26th of July - I just happened to look down and managed to snap a pic before it rolled over another km…



And today it’s now got another 400-odd trouble free kms added to it. Good drive to drop off a gearbox to a fella that was chasing a dual range in his EA81 based buggy. It’s really well built, I was impressed. If I had some land I’d be building one!

Other than that she’s doing the usual.

Cheers

Bennie

[Bumpty]

Congrats on the milestone!

And that Buggy doesn't happen to belong to a certain Mr Cook does it?

[Silverbullet]

Nice Pretty low k's for a car of this vintage!

Are you at all worried about that oil pressure? I would have expected more than that at 3k rpm. My tacho dash on the EJ20 is always pegged at the max reading EA81S was also always high.

[El_Freddo]

Nice Pretty low k's for a car of this vintage!

Yeah… I don’t know the exact kms on this car. The original speedo chewed out the odometer gear and I don’t know for how long or what distance before I got it.

Are you at all worried about that oil pressure? I would have expected more than that at 3k rpm. My tacho dash on the EJ20 is always pegged at the max reading EA81S was also always high.

Nope. Always been like this since I installed the dashboard. I know this pressure sender unit matches the cluster too as I pulled both off a wreck at the same time. Engine runs fine, not had any oil issues except the usage which is high. No smoke though. Have a look at the start of this thread to see why it burns oil, I’m not concerned. So long as it keeps going so I can drive it.

We’re also gearing up for another Subinats trip this year. It’s coming up fast, got accommodation sorted, need to sign up forthe show and shine - then decide how to present the brumby as it will most likely be the biggest nugget there. Doing a bit of a B&S/ute muster theme keeps grabbing my attention

Cheers

Bennie

[Silverbullet]

We’re also gearing up for another Subinats trip this year. It’s coming up fast, got accommodation sorted, need to sign up forthe show and shine - then decide how to present the brumby as it will most likely be the biggest nugget there. Doing a bit of a B&S/ute muster theme keeps grabbing my attention

Cheers

Bennie

Argh yes I saw that, I was on the fence 2 weeks ago leaning towards doing the drive over and I still haven't done anything! It is not long now. Have to book the time off work. Was thinking of doing a FB post in the Brumby group to see who else is going, whether we could organize a convoy drive into the event so we could all park up together.
Just hope my gearbox holds out for the road trip

[El_Freddo]

I’ve heard there’s about 14 Brumby’s signed up for the show and shine. I booked my spot last night so we’re in now!

I always stress about drivetrain components, my gearbox has a little whine in it and it leaks oil which reminds me I should check it again, it’s been awhile. I’ll run it and see how it goes. I also need to pull my rear drums and check the shoes, one makes a noise each time I initially start braking, also want to check out my rear bearings as I’ve never done them and I know they can be an issue when “old”. Best to do that in the driveway at home…

As for convoying up, I’m headed up early this year - planning on doing some camping in or near the blue mountains & do a day walk, drive Redback over the big coat hanger etc. I’m definitely keen to park up with the rest of the brumby crowd. Hopefully Mitch, Alex and Harrison make it again this year.

Hopefully it all goes without an issue. Can only prepare as best as possible and hope for the best from there. It would be awesome to see you with your wagon running and in a completely different state than mine or yours, but I realise it’s a LOOONNNG trip for you compared to my travel distance. As it is I prefer the longer route through the blue mountains, and I’d like to check out Bilpin a bit more this time around.

Cheers

Bennie

[Silverbullet]

Count me in! booked my entry into the show and shine 10th year of SubiNats who could say no to that. Will definitely be booking a week off of work and making a bit of a holiday of it instead of doing a cannonball run style trip. Stay a night or two in interesting places on the way there and back, see some sights. I needed a holiday anyway It will be the longest road trip I've done ever so it should be interesting to say the least. I figure the number of K's from Adelaide to Sydney, I do that in a few weeks of commuting to work anyway so it should be all good mechanically. Although I can't do the drive with my rear tailshaft in place, will have to re-install it when I get there if I want to do skid pan stuff

Keep the gearbox oil topped up in Redback, she'll be right

Dunno which route I'll take yet but we should meet up somewhere along the way.

[El_Freddo]

YEAH AWESOME Sam!!! Can’t wait for Subinats The show and shine is in the arvo this year which will be very different to last year. It might give us older Subaru nuts more time to group together for the bump in. It would be the best if we got everyone in a factory non-EJ model lined up right at the start so they’re the first ones you see walking onto the skid pan where the show and shine occurs.

In prep Redback is copping some love - it’s a bit dependent on a few things: money, weather, other priorities with house/family.

Plan is to give the bullbar a lick of paint to make it all one colour. Finish isn’t expected to be great, I just want to get rid of the rust patches for a while…

The rims will get a coat of paint. Question is, which colour to go for?



This image is a good representation of the actual colours for once! Which would you choose?

Bullbar - satin/gloss/hammer tone black? I’ll be painting around my stickers as there’s one in particular that I can’t get a replacement for anymore. Again, not going for show quality.

And thoughts on some bright green caliper and drums for shits and giggles?

I’m keen to see what others reckon I should go for in all of those departments.

Lastly I’m finally installing a stez. Nothing over the top but it does make me edgy about someone breaking into the brumby when thinking about having a proper headunit etc. Speakers will just be some 2way 6 inch jobbies until I can make my proper custom door cards with the 6x9s that are lined up.

That’s it for now.

Cheers

Bennie

[henpecked]

looking good

[El_Freddo]

looking good

HENPECKED!! How are you mate? Good to see you on the forum again. Tell your mates to get back here too

This (below image) all started out with a simple headunit and IHF radio install. Since I needed to remove the door cards I thought it a good time to finally install the central locking I got a number of years a go. On the list while I’m here is a front and rear dash cam - again, had that one for a long time too.

Thinking about it now, I probably should have run my power window wiring That will happen one day too.

Here is how Redback was left at dinner time (and will be until the next time I get to work on her again):



Things definitely got out of hand! Two weekends left to get everything done - mainly painting of calipers and the bullbar on top of finishing the above and an oil change.

Cheers

Bennie

[Silverbullet]

Ah yes classic "while I'm here mighit as well..."
Anything involving the door jamb wiring grommets and inside the doors themselves isn't a trivial job The central locking is a nice upgrade, people still do a double take when I walk up to my car and press the button. Where's the UHF going to live?

And for the wheels, if they're going to be white you might as well make them white the pearl white looks brighter in that regard. For the bar, satin black is never a bad choice. Although I've seen both gloss and hammertone bullbars on other vehicles either looks fine.

Looks like there's going to be a stellar turnout of classic Subies at Subie nats. There's a group chat going in bookface land with 35 people in it although Subarino Dave has said he's flying over. On that subject, I got an email over the weekend to say I was accepted into the "elite" show and shine in which they're judging engine bays and interiors....yikes!

Looking forward to seeing everyone!

[henpecked]

I just noticed that your "lights on" photo of your dash looked a little greenish in the photo, but in the last photo of it in the daylight, it looked Blue. Can you confirm that the gauge markings are translucent blue with light coming through them ?
if so do you know exactly what year / model it came out off ( was it a Touring Wagon eg does it have a 4WD indicator light ? ), or if the part number on the back was 785013090P ?
cheers
PS if I had friends I'd ask them back, although Sam ( silverbullet ) is one

[El_Freddo]

Whoa Sam that’s AWESOME! And recognition of your efforts with your wagon build. I’m guessing you submitted some pics of your wagon to be selected? You must be stoked!

I’m thinking I should have sorted the power window wiring to add to the grommets now rather than later. Too late now anyway, and I’ve got some work cut out for me with getting the electric window regulators sorted… on the to do list (and possibly bumped up the list).

UHF location - do you want me to spill the beans or show you in a pic once it’s done or leave it until Subinats for you to check out in person. I’ll say this, zero holes in the interior to mount it too with the way I plan on doing it.

Henpecked, I’m sure you have other friends, just maybe not Subi nuts like the rest of us that are still hanging around here!

The blue look is without the lights on and yes, the lights are a green back light when on. I initially didn’t like it so much but I prefer it over the orange in Sunnie the Brumby. I’ll pull it when I get a chance and find out for you as I’ll need to source the tacho wire for the near future EJ conversion - I’m hoping to have it done for next year’s Subinats. That’s the plan anyway!

The instrument cluster came out of a blue four door sedan. ‘84 model I think but can’t really remember. The dashboard I got separately later on as I was cash strapped when I found the car at the wreckers and was lucky enough to get the cluster and wiring loom from behind it.

Tomorrow I’m hoping to pick up the freshly coated rims to then drop off again to have the tyres refitted. Then off to my folks on a last minute parts run to save build time on the weekend.

Can’t wait to see these rims!

[henpecked]

a mate has just taken a blue sports analogue dash out of a 7/84 build touring wagon. I have never seen one with translucent blue marking. Yranslucent in respect of partially transparent.
My 83 parts catalogue showes no less than 6 sports analogue {assembly) numbers for each - all of which are different from the number on this one, and different from the several I pulled, all of which have the usual white reflective markings, same parts number and one of which I know came out of a 4 door ( I think - edit required)