1992 project Brumby from Finland

[FinnishBrumby]

Hello and thanks for letting me join the forum.
I'm Tomi and I'm from Finland and here is little bit story for my model year 1992 project Brumby.



I bought it at November 2019 and it cost 190 euros (about 300AUD). I'm third owner and the first owner was older lady who drives the car actually weekends and holidays. Second owner was her brother who bought the car for restoration. Brumby was then just a little rusty but one night the car was subjected to vandalism and alternator with bracket was stolen from it and the front fenders had been kicked into the dents.





Then the car owner began to annoy the whole thing and the car was left in the yard to stand for eleven years and one day I find it for sale in internet. After payment the seller agrees to transfer the car to me in the yard of my cottage where I gonna build it.
At first I started to hunt spare parts for it but here in Finland Brumby is very rare car and today I don't find any parts for sale it in here.
I join Subaru Club Finland online forum and there I meet a guy who has spare part Brumby at his yard.













I made a call for this dude and he said to me at I can come there and take any parts what I need for my project. He didn't wanted any money for the parts and the reason was at he was trying to sell parts from that Brumby but here in Finland are no buyers for them. When I call for him at first time he was really amazed that someone still have a Brumby in here. And he didn't know what price he can ask for the parts so I get the spare parts for free.
I really wanted to pay something for the parts so I bought couple beer basket and wine for him and he was very happy for that.







As you can see Finnish model Brumby is with a longer bed than usually and the only reason is much cheaper car tax when car has new and registered as a van. In Finland, a van at that time was defined as a car with enough liter capacity in the boot or on the bed. Original Brumby was not suitable as a van (not enough liter capacity on the bed) so they put a sequel to made longer bed and that's it. Finnish law is a bit complicated with regard to cars. Here you have to pay every year propulsion tax as well as fuel tax on the car when you use it in traffic. Here the tax is more expensive for a passenger car than for a van.

Here is a good example: Car is model year 2006 Subaru Forester. When it is normal 5 seats passenger car you need to pay tax about 1000 euros per year. When you remove back seats for it and registered it for a van you need to pay tax only 300 euros per year. Strange? I agree, I don't even understand either the logic of this car taxation. These prices are not entirely correct but indicative.











Car is an originally condition, rusty and dirty and only 109k km (about 68k miles) on the odometer. Need lot of work when I can drive it in traffic. The brakes are stuck and there's couple of holes in the bottom. But engine is working great, the carburetor is dirty so the car does not react well to the gas but it starts immediately.













The interior is dirty and slightly broken but not from the worst end. I am really pleased that the interior is original condition and other speaker elements have not been retrofitted to the door cartons.

My plans for this Brumby?
At first I want to find couple important parts what I need for this.
The MOST important parts I need to find now are front windshield rubber seal and new front struts with springs.
Windshield rubber is maybe the most important part what I'm hunting. I have not find this part anywhere, not even ebay. Couple Australian websites sell these but seems at they don't sent parts to Europe . Maybe have to sent an email and ask is it possible. Or if somebody knows who can send new windshield rubber to Finland it would help a lot.

Another things what I have planned is:
-2" or 4" lift kit
-Older nissan maxima 90A alternator
-Distributorless ignition (Ford EDIS conversion)
-4x140mm to 6x139,6mm lug wheel conversion
-15" wheels
-rust off (=lot of welding)
-paint job
-New exhaust system. I don’t want to modify good original exhaust, so I’m making a new one.
-32/36 DGV Weber carburetor Conversion Kit
-New seats or fix the old

This should be my first post on the forum. Hopefully there is no difficult text to read because English is not very easy for me .

-Tomi

[Suby Spanner]

That'll clean up fine, most of it's there.

Can confirm I got my windscreen rubber from ebay.com.au, but I am in Australia: They're definately available, like you say, ask a couple of the sellers, one of them would have to ship international. I also got my carpet from here in Australia.

I got genuine new front struts from subaru, that way i could keep the height adjustment. I haven't been able to find after market strut tops/mounts for the 4WD though, only the 2WD.

[Silverbullet]

Welcome to the forum! I had completely forgotten about the special Finland model with extended tray, it looks so strange compared to the standard body. Good to see you are determined to keep it alive, must be a very rare car over there by now.

The original carburetors respond quite well to a rebuild e.g take it apart, clean everything, re-assemble with new gaskets etc. A rebuild kit should be available online still. That is if you want to do anything before upgrading to a Weber. Also an exhaust upgrade with larger pipe and better flowing muffler will help the engine breath easier. With a Weber and larger exhaust you can more easily get to higher revs in each gear before it runs out of breath.

EDIS is a worthwhile upgrade, the distributor is a major weak point on these engines IMO. I've done the Megajolt conversion to my wagon with the Ford EDIS module, if you need any help on this subject then ask away

[El_Freddo]

G’day Finnishbrumby!

Awesome story you’re brumby has there! Is it actually called a brumby over there?

That interior looks awesome. Your seats look good too, we didn’t get that style of seat in our brumbys.

I reckon you’ll find an eBay seller that will mail one to you. If not, I’m sure someone local could send it your way after it arrives at theirs.

No stress on your English mate, you did well! Keep it up! Good mix of pics too

Cheers

Bennie

[FinnishBrumby]

Hello and thanks for the comments .

Suby Spanner: I found one seller from there who can send windscreen rubber internationally. I have to ask them how the package sending thing goes in this Corona time because in here Europe couple car part online stores sending time is very long, about 2-3 weeks at they send products.

Silverbullet: Yeah, the bed (or a tray as it is called there in Australia) looks little bit strange but it is Finnish tax avoidance art .
I was thinking at I do in the future Weber conversion after I make a new exhaust system. At first I gonna rebuilt original carburetor.
I have read a little of that EDIS conversion what you have made and wrote in this forum. If it is okay for you I put PM for you when it's time for my EDIS conversion and if I have something to ask .

El Freddo: Official name for the car in Finland is just Subaru Pickup but enthusiasts talk about the car by name Brat like in USA. When I speak about this car for other people I use name Brumby or Pickup. The seats is indeed a little different looking than those sold Brumbys elsewhere in the world and Finnish model Brumby have not never got power steering, air conditioning or rev meter.

At first I gonna find new windscreen rubber and front struts with springs before I start building this car.
And have to see, when I got more time for this because I do evening work and night work and I have two little kids and the third is coming in a couple of months.
See you next time...

-Tomi