kiwishooter

Thought I'd bump this post. My Brumby has been going for a few years now and it has been totally reliable. I've had a few wanting to buy it............they never come back when I tell them what the offer has to exceed, the wife says I'm not allowed to sell it anyway........too handy in the snow. Being permanent AWD it is awesome in the snow, I can get home without diff lock or chains, and most 4wd require chains to get to my place in the snow & ice. One thing I've been looking for is a straight rust free bonnet (hood to US citizens) but they are about like chicken teeth...........the only ones I've found seem to be attached to Subarus. I would also like to fit a decent steering wheel but cant seem to loacate a boss that will fit the Subaru splines, does anyone know which boss to use?? One modification I did was raise the seat 25mm, still feels a tiny bit low but is a lot better on trips now than before.

Now I know this isn't in the US but I've seen a few sell in New Zealand for around $5000.00 I've also seen a few one owner ones list on the local auction site for around $10,000.00. Mine owes me more than that last figure.......Kiwi

Cyfun there was more than one thread running about it and by the time some made up there mind they wanted one exchange rates changes and so did prices........Kiwi

Yes it's mine I did the build a couple a years ago, have the rest of the chrome trim fitted and the deck Rhino coated now, I'd say it's about 95% finished. Original thread here when I got it going http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=107107......Kiwi

Some awesome Subies pictured in this thread.......here goes a Brumby with Ej22, 5spd full time 4WD, lsd rear diff, centre diff lock ......Kiwi

Yes quite a few early RS legacy's had that type of steering wheel here in NZ, it's a Momo wheel......Kiwi

Hi tried to organise this back in 2010 and ended up with nothing but grief from some members on here. In the end the idea died............the gearboxes I had lined up ended up in the scrap metal yard. Here's a link to the original post http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=103125 Kiwi

You should be able to get a set of nuts to suit at Mag and Turbo, that is where I got a couple of replacements, just can't remember if they were new or used.

Give me a call at work 4555133 about the Cheviot.......ask for Ian....Cheers

Yes they are standard Subie pattern. They are Aunger Trident mags, I also have one Cheviot mag the same as this http://www.indysworld.com/80s/general/wheels/Cheviot-13-alloy.jpg

Yes it is a '83, the first of the sport utes that came with white spoke steel wheels, rev counter, oil & water guages and the twin sun roofs. I've even got a book at work that tells me what they sold for new......can't remember off the top of my head but I've seen a couple on Trademe (local auction site) that people have been asking around $10k for which is around what they sold for new.

It's the original colour and only the second Brumby I have seen in this colour......the other one was owned by my brother who bought it new and still had it when I first met him.....he sold it shortly after I met him. Just wish I could find a straight bonnet as the one on it has humps and hollows all over the place, which was why is was painted matt black. Although the black is growing on me. I also have a set of original white spoke wheels, these have a good set of off road tyres on them and came with it when I bought the Brumby.

Kaz, That's what I was aiming for......some people have looked under the bonnet and think it's original (not Subaru Junkies obviously..) I still want to get a alloy rear rollbar made and a front nudgebar, plus I want a cover for the deck instead of running around with the canopy on the back. 140km of round town running and the fuel gauge is down to 3/4, depending on how the guage reads it might even be econimical, but I will wait and see how many km's it does before I have to fill the tank again.

Thanks everyone it has taken a while to get this running.......especially when work comes first. But I am most impressed with how it goes, Subaru should do a Imprezza ute. I still have a bit of electrical to do, switch for the centre diff lock, engine check light, fan relay and also have to work over the centre console as the gear lever is a bit far back and if I screw the front part of the console down I can't get it into 2nd, 4th or Rev........just a minor hitch. A couple of other details I used an EA82 clutch cable and an Imprezza accelerator cable......the impreza inner cable was lengthened 30mm. Accelerator pedal had the Imprezza cable end welded onto the Brumby accelerator pedal.

I used the original Brumby inner joint, consisting of the inner race balls and cage, and fitted 1990 Legacy outer cage on the Brumby inner joints. This gave me large splined inner CV's that fitted on the Brumby 1/2 shafts. What gave me the idea to do this was when I looked at the Legacy inner joint and the size of the joint looked to be the same physical size as the Brumby. I removed the boot and the wire clip from both joints and found the outer race from the Legacy joint fitted perfectly on the Brumby joint. Others have reported this doesn't work........it worked for me.

For brakes I fitted EA82T disc brakes to the rear and front and used a EA82T master cylinder. The steering is power steering rack from a Brumby and as the Legacy power steering pipes run along the intake manifold to the back of the motor I just had some hoses made up to connect the Legacy pipes to the steering rack. Since my Brumby was non power steer I had to change the front cross member to one from a power steering vehicle.......easier said than done as there weren't many early Subarus with power steering and a lot of them have been crushed for scrap metal. To give me some comfort I fitted a set of Recaro seats, these are mounted on the original seat rails but with a 25mm thick piece of alloy betweeen the seat and the rail, I also moved the seat outward (toward the doors) approx 20mm.

Well after a lot of putting this on the back burner I have finally managed to get the Brumby running......fired it up on Thursday last week with no exhaust.......sounded great :grin: The only problem i had with the wiring was connecting the starter solenoid wire to the power wire for the ECU.............found that everytime I turned the key on it started cranking.....swapped the wires around at the joiner and everthing went like clockwork. The Brumby is running a EJ22 with Legacy 5spd Hi/Lo ratio gearbox with the RX locking centre diff and RX crownwheel and pinion. Custom lengthened driveshaft and original front 1/2 shafts with the inner DOJ consisting of the original inner race, cage and balls with a Legacy outer housing. This enabled the original 1/2 shafts to be fitted to the large stubs in the front diff. I used a EA82 gearbox cross member and modified it to fit the Brumby, it uses the original EA82 gearbox mounts. Since the EA82 cross member steps down on one side where it mounts to the floor I put in a spacer. All it took to modify was a angle grinder, some gas for heating and a big hammer. For the shifter I used a EA82 and shortened it up a bit then cut and welded a WRX short shift gear lever onto the EA82 assembly......works great with a nice short shift. For the Hi/Lo lever I used a Legacy cable shifter, just took a bit of angle iron to adapt this into place. I mounted a set of Legacy Hi/Lo solenoids onto the firewall and the wiring harness for the ECU (which is mounted in behind the heater) passes through a hole I made in the firewall, while the fuel pump and power relay wiring pass through the original rubber grommet on the passenger side. I used a Toyota fuel pump (I've had it sitting around for about 10 years and finally found a use for it) and mounted the pump where the original was mounted and then mounted a Legacy fuel filter bracket to the back of the cab panel. I pulled a fuel line from another Brumby and routed it beside the original fuel lines to act as a return. The vent pipe is also connected. For a return in the tank I removed the tank and soldered a new return fitting in. I heated and reshaped the swaybar so it would go around behind the gearbox, then had it re heat treated. The exhaust just fits between the swaybar and the floor, but when you accelerate hard in 1st and 2nd, the exhaust comes down far enough to vibrate on the swaybar, so I need to space the swaybar down about 5mm or so. For the exhaust I used the front pipes off a legacy joined into a collecter and the rest is 2 1/4" pipe to the muffler at the rear. For the intake I used a late Subaru 6 cyl plenum box (should've fitted the 6cyl.....it would've fitted according to my ruler), this is flipped upside down to get the intake pipe on the right side. the breather, IAC and crank vent nipples were cut from a Legacy intake pipe and plastic welded to the plenum box. The air cleaner box is from a '92 Nissan Maxima with the Subaru airflow meter fitted to it. The intake pipe was custom made from exh tube. For wiring I got the whole harness from the '94 Legacy the motor came out of, I then opend up the harness and removed all the wiring that wasn't required ( i used the Subaru wiring diagram to sort this out). I kept all the Legacy diagnostic plugs, and all the wiring I wanted to keep I cut at the plug or joiner that would give me the longest length of wire. For the alternator I cut open the Brumby wiring harness and shortened the wiring so that now the alternator wiring comes in from the battery side. The igniter is mounted on the L/H inner guard near the airflow meter. I replaced the Brumby fuseable links with a Nissan Maxima main power fuse box, which gave me a couple of new main fuses, one I used for the ECU the other I used for the cooling fan. I used some multi pin plug and sockets (seen above the brake booster) for joining the Legacy wiring into the Brumby wiring, all guages work (except for the oil pressure, as I need an original oil pressure sender unit, my old 1800 didn't have one on it) the warning lights for Hi/Lo work and I have to wire a light in for the centre diff lock. For some of the power wires for the ECU I used the Brumby coil + wire and cooling fan + wire. (I need to draw all this up for my future reverence.) I haven't connected in a vehicle speed signal and it doesn't seem to matter at the moment.

Sorry to all those that are interested in one of these gearboxes. Right this is where it is at now........I can't get the gearboxes for NZ$300 from the new person......he says they are worth NZ$550 each and if I want trim etc that is also extra. I also called the transport company and the price of freight would increase with the fluctuation of our exchange rate This means the price of a gearbox would go from US$350 including freight to approx US$401 plus freight so over US$500. So at the moment I am going to cancel this deal and perhaps look at it again when the exchange rate is more favourable, at US$0.55 the price would drop to approx US380 per gearbox. Thank you to all the members who were supportive of this deal......I know there are good Americans and others......just like there are good New Zealanders and others. Sorry the way this has worked out but that's the way it goes sometimes.........Cheers to all.....Ian

Hi, Thanks for that post.......I do know that all Americans aren't arrogant as I have some very good friends that are American and have spent a bit of time in the US on holiday.

Kiwi Subie, Otago wreckers have the XT6 but like I said there isn't much left. Adrian, nope none of those bits left, like I said it is almost a bare shell left and that isn't in very good condition either.....Cheers Ian

Glad you managed to find something that will work for you.....from memory I think the RX box I was looking at has Hi/Lo ratio.......the XT6 that is at the wreckers is almost only a bare bodyshell now......and a pretty stuffed one at that.......Ian

Sorry I have been busy working, had one worker decide he wanted to play with trains so he quit and is going to work as a shunter for NZ rail. Brian, sorry I didn't answer this earlier, anyway the category and all paperwork would be done by the freight company that is handling the shipping, as I have said (i think) the price included everything from my door to Scooby's door in Seattle. Scooby, I need to see if this is going to proceed, but the crate would be delivered to the address you gave me. I have no set dates for anything as yet, please read below. You would have no duties freight or anything to pay is what I understand from the transport company. Jim my friend who would handle the money transfer would have nothing to do with the gearbox shipping as he lives in Indiana. Now to refresh a few points 1/ With the fluctuation in the exchange rate the price of the gearbox in US$ has increased. NZ$ has gone from US$0.66 to US$0.72 2/ The quote for the freight expired on the 28th and now with the fluctuation in the exchange rate the freight will also increase. 3/ The person I was doing the deal through at the wrecking yard finishes working there tomorrow. And since the gearboxes are still in vehicles I doubt if he could remove six or seven gearboxes in a day.......I am hopeing the person replacing him will sell me the gearboxes at the same price, but I won't know until next week Number 3 is the big issue as the cheapest I could find Legacy D/R gearboxes elsewhere was NZ$650. As long as we have buyers for six gearboxes the only difference in price would be due to exchange rate fluctuation......providing I can still buy them for the same price, but I won't know that till next week. I hope this answers a few questions and hopefully I will have firm answers about everything next week.......Ian BTW anybody looking for a job working on auto transmissions and wants to live in Dunedin NZ?????

The gearboxes are out of 89-93 Legacy's and pretty sure thay all have cable clutch as only the RS had hyd clutch during that era, as yet I haven't come across any with VLSD. Since the gearboxes are still in cars I can give the mileage, which is in km's, for the vehicles which still have speedos. I haven't counted how many of these have centre diff lock just the number that have Hi/Lo which is 9 or 10, and possibly 6 or so have centre diff lock. What do you mean by 4bolt ot 8 bolt?? As I have put in a post to GD, I can find out other details, like final drive gear ratios etc but this will take time during business hours. I have already been down to the Subaru dealer and the workshop manuals aren't on the workshop shelves anymore after all the vehicles are almost 20 years old. So finding out details will take time which I would need to be paid for. After all while I'm working on these I'm not working in my business.......Ian

To me it is personal when you start inferring I am a scammer. As for the number of posts I think that means diddly squat, I have purchased on Ebay off people with no history and haven't been burnt but have been burnt by someone with over 1000 positive feedback rating. No I am not unwilling to endure your questioning but as I have stated I'm not making a profit on this transaction so if you want me to answer your questions to the fullest then "Pay Me" for my time because while I'm doing that I'm not working in my business. To find the answer to your questions I have to do it during business hours which is when the wrecker and Subaru dealership is open. But it seems you would rather have me put in countless hours answering your questions for nothing.....I have stated what I'm prepared to do for no pay, so if you want the answers send your money to Scooby, and that money is non refundable, the cost of a gearbox is over and above what you pay for my time. I am not attcking you, I'm just replying to your posts about me......which I guess really is just a waste of my time. Internet scams inside the US aren't prosecuted either.....I know that from experience, and I have never scammed anyone in my life. Perhaps that is why I am not as full of scepticism as you. Well if you can afford a half dozen gearboxes than paying the US$350 - $400 for my time should be very achievable for you. As I have said I'd rather not sell you one, and as I stated in one of my other posts anyone selling one to you after they arrive should charge you $700- $800, after all you were the one stating you "would " pay that for one. As you state the crowd interested in these aren't "into the money" (as you put it) which is the reason I don't want to make a profit out of it, therefor transferring all savings I can to them. If old Subaru parts depreciate so much you should see what Subaru Brumby utes are being listed in car sales for here......the dollar figure is more than what they sold for new.

Numbchux I have stated in other posts that theae gearboxes are coming out of NZ NEW vehicles, in other words Subaru's that were first registered from new in New Zealand.......so where does this "Japan specific" come from?? New Zealand is a seperate entity to Aussie so if any Aussie commenting on this actually knows the NZ car market they probably will spin a load of BS. Also I haven't said any of these gearboxes have VLSD and so far with both the EJ Hi/Lo ratio gearboxes I have opened up, and bothered to count the teeth to get ratios, have had the same ratios as the EA RX gearbox I opened up and have posted the ratios in another thread and neither had the VLSD. This is assuming that everyone buying one of these gearboxes does want to pull the gearbox apart and alter it to something other than what the factor put in there. Some may just want to buy one because the can just unbolt one gearbox and bolt the new one in. This is in your experience, I for one would have been happy to buy a EJ Legacy Hi/Lo gearbox with 1.47 lo ratio center diff lock and just bolt it in place instead of going to all the trouble of pulling a EJ Hi/Lo ratio box to bits and fitting up the RX center diff lock.....perhaps others wwould want to do the same.......Ian