Gotta make the Brumby go harder. Opinions ?

Pete · Post by **Pete** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 9:36 pm

G'day all, Long term project is to make the old Brumby go harder. I bet you have never heard that one before

The ute is required to pull about a 750kg GTM 8x5 up the Adelaide South Eastern freeway at 100. (steep ass freeway for those who do not know it) My '04 XS Forester Auto will not do this without hunting so that is the benckmark I want to reach. Mainly because the XS is damn close to hunting on the flat at 100.

Oh yeah, looking to sell the XS once I get the ute sorted.

Not at all concerned about off road ability. I like to have a play in the sand but that is secondary to the trailer and reliability. I am happy to lift it if required to get the engine in, and it can be done legit.

Anyway, I am after opinions on the best course of action. I am undecided on either the EA82T , EJ20T or even possibly the EJ22 route.

Same same on gearboxes, I understand the gearboxes a very similar to LEGO ie mix n match. But I do not know the what variants are out there. At this point I expect to stick with whatever comes with the engine but that is open for discussion.

I plan on getting the engine in a half cut for the ECU, loom and emission gear, see below.

I also believe the disk rear off a 4wd L can be swapped bolt for bolt with the MY rear drums? Are there any other disks that will fit as a bolt in replacement ?

I used to have a 92 Brumby running an EA82T, straight LPG and with the air to water intercooler ran 20 PSI. HP wise it would have been more than ample for what I am trying to do now it that helps the decision process. It also BADLY needed an AWD box, I was once a bit energetic on a damp evening and managed to torque steer a lane change at 90kph. Scary but Wow! 8O .Awesome grin factor but I am not going to be happy with straight gas on this one. Too many country k's to not be able to run unleaded.

Number one priority, it must be street legal. I am happy to do the leg work with engineers if anybody knows a subie friendly engineer in Adelaide ?

After that, reliability as I do a lot of long distance towing
Fuel economy, the ute is dual fuel currently and I would like to continue that. Yeah I know, HP = Fuel burn

but when I am not flogging it hard towing the trailer I would like it to have a reasonable fuel consumption.

Anyway, open to opinions and ideas.

Pete

BaronVonChickenPants · Post by **BaronVonChickenPants** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 11:15 pm

In my opinion your best bet for towing would be an EJ22 and matching 5spd AWD box, for the benefit of towing try hunting down one of the lower ratio 4.11 or 4.44 (were 4.44 available in manual? anyone?) models or even get a dual range box with L series low gears for that extra pulling power but the EJ22 may not be entirely legal, your best bet on that aspect would be to speak to an engineer or someone in the know at depertment of transport.

As far as rear discs yes they are more or less a direct bolt on, the trick is finding them.

Jordan.

smoov · Post by **smoov** » Sat Jan 14, 2006 3:03 pm

i don't believe subaru make decent towing vehicles.

perhaps a H6 is what you're after, if you're keen on sticking with "the marque of the stars".

remember the brumby has a torsion bar rear end, and is prone to problems here if is its overladen. if you reinforce the rear end (eg using springs), you'll have another kettle of fish worth of issues.

better off with something else, minimally an EJ20 Turbo. (L series perhaps if you're bothered, else go with something already that has a better car to it)

sorry to sound negative. my 2c. better off with a different car for the dosh.

BaronVonChickenPants · Post by **BaronVonChickenPants** » Sat Jan 14, 2006 5:12 pm

Granted a standard brumby towbar has a downward force limit of about 55Kg but a dual axle trailer will generally take car of that.

I see no reason an EJ22 AWD manual brumby would have trouble with a 750kg load.

Jordan.

TW83 · Post by **TW83** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 12:47 pm

I agree with baron. I have towed up to a tonne with my touring wagon. It seems to handle it pretty well and the weber lets me sit on 100 with ease. Having a well balanced trailer helps a lot as well, you see so many with the axle too far forwards/backwards.

The only problem I had was with slowing it down, a warning light on dash would come on when on the brakes, (any ideas why?).

Matt · Post by **Matt** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 12:58 pm

The reason the light/lights came on the dash is to tell you the stop lights aren't working without a trailer. Off memory there is a resistor in the dash board that has no voltage drop across it when the bulbs are short circuit and 12V when they are open circuit blown, thus causing the dash light to came on.
Matt

Jeff · Post by **Jeff** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 5:27 pm

I tow a trailer for work every day with a brumby with EA81T,awd 5speed dual range,lsd[rear]and with a water to air intercooler and i have no problems anywhere Jeff

Pete · Post by **Pete** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 7:16 pm

Jeff, how do you find the trailer at highway speeds ? Do you have Aircon in the Brumby as there does not seem to be much space left for the intercooler radiator.

I had not given thought to the EA81T until now. Did they ever officially come into Aus ? That would make the changeover a hell of a lot simpler esp with a half cut.

As an aside, does anybody have a link to or a list of stock HP to engine ? I don't need every model variation, just an indication for the different block types ?

My understanding of the blown brake globe widget is it has 3 coils would on a transformer core, one for each tail light would in opposite directions so they cancel each other out when there is equal current flowing to both. And the sense coil that only generates a voltage when there is an imbalace between the two lights.

Essentially the same as your household earth leakage circuit breaker.

Pete

TW83 · Post by **TW83** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 8:37 pm

http://www.geocities.com/subarushrine/engines.html

SubaRute · Post by **SubaRute** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 10:08 am

i tow a 7x5 trailer with mine loaded to the max and the ute as well,and travels fine at 110km highway only.

89 mod brumby 3'' kit ej 22 awd 5sp

Matt · Post by **Matt** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 5:01 pm

You might be right there Pete, either way that is why the light is caming on.

vincentvega · Post by **vincentvega** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 6:22 am

I saw a stock looking agquip brumby last night loaded to the hilt and towing a big builders trailer. The cops had pulled him over and the copper seemed to be writing alot of stuff down as he walked round the rig...

It looked way overloaded though. hope nobody on here owns it

BRUMBERTY · Post by **BRUMBERTY** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 9:02 am

EJ22, Manual, Brumby (Its a Wonder), AWD.
Tows like a good thing, but remember you are towing with 1000kg, anyone who forgets this is going to be in the bushes eventually, not neccessarily the right way up.

I have pushed the limit of the clutch getting off the line when towing a large tandem trailer full of sheep poo.
(around the farm)

Got a little slipping action and some nasty clutch smells.
It is currently shuddering just a little on take off.
I suspect this was due to me not having a very low, low range (RX Box).
All up it weighed about 1100kg.
About 300kg too much!

Get it rolling and you should have no problems, go as heavy duty as you can with the clutch or even ...ahem, an auto!

Pete · Post by **Pete** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 8:22 pm

Tas, how does the Wonder Brumby handle the hills with a decent load on the hitch ?

BRUMBERTY · Post by **BRUMBERTY** » Wed Jan 18, 2006 8:24 am

A whole lot better than it does with the load in the back.
I am never in a hurry when towing, it pulls well, I run it a gear lower than normal and it keeps up with all the traffic.

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 8:39 pm

JESUS ! I hope towing 750 kilos is a lot safer and easier on the ute than 750kg in the tray. I've done it a coupla times for short distances but highway driving, no f way !! The steering gets real light and there is a bit of weight to stop quick. Go ahead with the conversion but bloody hell an old dirty XB Foulcan ute 'd be a bit safer I reckon. On LPG they don't use much more than a EA81 does and loads more horsies.

Pete · Post by **Pete** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 12:17 pm

I am already doing it. There is only 50 odd kilos tongue weight so the steering is not affected. THe big issue is getting the whole lot to stop where and when you want it to. The brakes are marginal in an empty brumby (compared to the 04 fozza ). So I am also in the middle of converting the trailer to electric brakes to keeping things safe / legal.

I ran the trailer over a local weigh bridge recently and it is 850 kg GTM so the brakes are required. Anybody with experience with elec brakes ?

BaronVonChickenPants · Post by **BaronVonChickenPants** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 12:29 pm

I towed an empty car trailer recently with my MY wagon, it weighed abouut 800kg and had hydraulic brakes, the wagon stopped that better than it stopped my 200kg box trailer empty, might be an easier/cheaper way to go.

Jordan.

Pete · Post by **Pete** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 11:21 pm

Had an interesting thought driving tonight re: surge tank...

Why not fit a small surge tank to the engine bay instead of mounting it near the tank. This way no need to mod any fuel lines in the cabin space. My only concern is whether the factory fuel pump on a 1.8L Carb is going to keep up the the EJ22 ? Any thoughts from thoes who have gone before ?

Is this a good/bad/ugly idea and is there any practical or legal reasons for not doing it like this ?

BaronVonChickenPants · Post by **BaronVonChickenPants** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 7:14 am

This is one of the common ways of doing the EJ conversion, the EA81 pump feeds the surge tank, a high pressure EFI pump goes between the surge tank and engine and the return lin from the engine comes back to the surge tank.

Apparently the EA81 pump has no problem with this setup.

Jordan.