el_freddo

.B) read up on the conversion process (search the forum). Not overly difficult. And a lot less difficult than pulling a 4spd apart for some worn synchros. Cheers Bennie

.A) what needs repairing? .B) everyone is with the 4 speed box. Your efforts would be better spent on fitting the L series 5spd box. At least there's some hope if you open up one of these Cheers Bennie

There are two different clutch sizes for the MY series. Typically the smaller is the 2wd and I believe the early 4wd unit. I can't see anything wrong with that pressure plate going by the pics but that doesn't mean much. Have you had time to look at the other components in the clutch system? Cheers Bennie

Make sure the dust boots are in good condition. If not it's probably a good idea to pull the calipers and put a new seal kit in them. If the piston on the driver's side is really badly rusted I'd recommend either a replacement piston or a refurbished set of calipers left and right. Cheers Bennie

After reading this thread start to finish my first thought was the timing chain, then the O2 sensor which I see GD mentioned too. I'd be looking at this/these sensors. If it was timing it'd be doing it from the first start of the day. Cheers Bennie

It could be a possibility. I'd be looking at the rim as the rim's mating surface with the nut will be showing some signs of severe contact if an air gun was used to tighten up the nut. Not much fun there. All wheel nuts should be done up by hand rather than an air gun. Cheers Bennie

I'm not sure that they're aiming to run it as a business that turns a profit, rather supplying a run of replacement tailgates to make many Brumbys look good again - the tailgate is usually the first thing to be dinged up or start to rust out if not internally cleaned out from time to time. Cheers Bennie

Hmmm... I don't think we got dingers in our subi's unless there was some cheeky action going on... I also don't remember any chimes in our Gen3 ('99 model) like you describe. Are you sure you've got a key in chime for that model vehicle? Personally I don't see the issue about the key chime - I find them super annoying and with the function of remote locking it's pretty rare to lock the car manually anyway. This negates the need for an annoying key in chime. Cheers Bennie

Don't skimp on replacement driveshafts! I got a cheap set once. One clicked as I rolled out the driveway, the other clicked within 300km. I was lucky in that I was able to return them for a refund. Cheers Bennie

Yep, I second this. The "other way" that's unofficial that I think Cob Cruiser is talking about is to set one cam at 12 o'clock and the other at 6 o'clock and fit both belts at the same time. The issue with this is that one of the cams is not in it's relaxed state - as in without any valve springs acting on the cam's lobes. Really it's not too hard to fit one belt, rotate the crank 360 degrees and fit the second belt. If you don't rotate the crank you'll only ever get the engine to run on one bank at a time, not matter how many times you rotate the dizzy timing 180 degrees! Trust me, I know this first hand with my first and current L series. It took me about 6 months of working on it on and off to work out what the problem was. It wasn't until we did the timing belt on my sister's L series that it showed up with the same problem. Once dad and I worked out the timing issue on sister's L, mine was running perfect less than an hour later Cheers Bennie

Any chance you could leg it to your mum's place in the subi, then do the work on your car once at the farm with the readily available parts aquired? This way you can help your mum then sort your subi - if the travel gamble pays off. Or see if you can get the vehicle transported to near your mum's where you can then drive a shorter distance from there. Of course these ideas are easier said than done... Cheers Bennie

Pulling the LHS cam cover does expose the cam tensioner if you get on the right angle. We had a bad one in our '99 Liberty that knocked but didn't show any sign of the typical bouncing you see in youtube clips of this issue It sounded like rod knock too. But the only way we nailed it as the tensioner was with a stethoscope. Our noise was immediate on start up. If it's not the tensioner I'd be looking at the oil pump, making sure the internal O ring isn't toast, while that's off replace the O ring anyway If it's an auto make sure the torque converter to flex plate bolts are done up tight enough for the job. Cheers Bennie

For the cone washer try hitting the axle shaft with a swift blow to get as much shock through the washer as possible. This usually gets it sorted for me when mine are stuck. As for the caliper - any caliper with a built in hand brake function is a screw in piston job when swapping in new brake pads. I've found this tool invaluable: Simple to use and works a treat! Beats using long nose pliers like I used to do! Cheers Bennie

You can find them on ebay and I think gumtree too. Pre-orders come in at $AU599 IIRC. Pretty sweet to have such a battered unit available again. It'd be even better if they sold just the trim piece on its own. I know they're doing the whole trim set reproductions but not the tailgate piece separately - which is where I reckon they'd make their money! Cheers Bennie

Sounds like it might be easier to run the whole legacy wiring loom and splice the MV plugs for things like head and tail lights to the legacy loom. Still a big job but it might be easier than playing around with that rat's nest. Cheers Bennie

They probably stopped production earlier than that as sales dropped off - then sold off the remaining vehicles from the stock already made, labelling them the model year as the one they were sold in. I always thought production stopped in '91 with remaining stock sold off in '92 as this is the latest model brumby you can get in Australia. What is it that you're chasing in the wiring diagram? Cheers Bennie

Don't underestimate the weight of that box. Even if it is 40 or so kg, that's a lot of solid weight to have on you from under the vehicle. Use a trolley jack as a minimum or better yet is using a motor cycle jack. Cheers Bennie

Yeah sorry CF, I meant cast iron! Cheers Bennie

Anyone willing to get a cast on the go for a few more? I know a guy out my way that's pouring a cast for his tractor heads. He does tractor pulls and cracks/destroys heads all the time apparently. He can't find replacement heads due to the age of the tractor (probably from the 50's) so he's casting and machining his own! Maybe a set of cast heads might be the way to go... you know, to "counter act" the performance the turbo gives with a bit more weight in the engine! Cheers Bennie

It could be a blocked heater core or a dodgy thermostat. Or worst case, something to do with the water pump, especially if it's one of those pressed metal impeller units. Are you running good quality coolant too? Cheers Bennie

^ That's different. Here's Ruby Scoo, still plugging away: and my Brumby (red one) that's still stock with the addition of PS from a touring wagon and aftermarket cruise, they're really the only two changes; white one in the background is my mother inlaw's: Cheers Bennie

Sorry Ski, but you're wrong on that. EA internals can be swapped into the front EJ cases of the phase one gearboxes. This works for both part time and full time 4wd L series boxes. For you guys you're stuck with single range swaps, over here we can do it with the dual range boxes. How do I know? I've done three box combinations. My first was an L series dual range PT4wd box into a Gen1 series1 EJ case set. Worked a treat - the input shaft bearing housing was interchangeable so I saved a lot of work there. The second box was built buy another fella, it was the full time L series AWD box with the centre locking diff, again in EJ cases (G1S1). This box had the 1.59:1 low range, an OBX front LSD and a modified diff ratio of 4.111:1. It also had auxiliary low range oil feeders for cooling. This box worked well but eventually 2nd gear let go. So I rebuilt it into it's second incarnation: It's now running with SG foz internals (1st-5th ratios) in the phase two cases, running the same 1.59:1 low range (interference bush fitted to the L series input shaft so it fits into the phase two input bearing), 4.111:1 diff, OBX LSD and the locking centre diff with the matching pinion shaft. I added the auxiliary oil feeders to the cases for the low range. I've managed to match the speedo drive gear (27 tooth gear from memory) too - so now I have a very accurate speedometer! I've not had any issues with this mk2 AWD box build. It uses factory EJ flywheel, clutch, TOB, fork etc - and it bolts into the vehicle without any further modifications The way I see keeping the L series alive is with an EJ engine - mine is on it's tenth year. I've done the head gaskets once. Otherwise it's been the most reliable engine I've ever had in the car (It's run three different EA engines!). So, anything is possible with the gearbox build - you just need to have the right parts. Do take note: The phase 1 internals will physically fit into the phase 2 cases and *should* work (I've not tried this) - but phase 2 internals into a phase 1 set of cases will fit and work - except for reverse! There was a change in the distance from the main shaft and the reverse slider gear's shaft of about 2mm or so. The reverse slider and drive gears are larger to compensate for this change and are probably stronger to move the larger models of that era. Going back to the original post, I recall some ppl messing around with the EJ piston in the EA engine, but IIRC, the bush in the gudgeon pin end needed to be removed from the EA conrod. Do a search and see what shows up - I doubt there's an update on what the end result was though Cheers Bennie

I could tell you why I swapped an ej22 into my L series over a decade ago! Still goes great too. My spark gaps are set by the recommended spark plug for the 22 as per the manufacturer's parts catalogue. Cheers Bennie

I'd inspect the clutch pedal mounts first, then the cable (replace if history is unknown) and then the clutch itself after pulling the box or the engine. The clutch might have some broken or well worn fingers/springs that the fingers act on - maybe. It could be worth swapping it out while you've got it all apart. You'd go nuts if you didn't find anything on your inspections, checked and put the old clutch pressure plate back in only to find the same issue is there! Better to rule it out if you don't find an issue in other parts of the clutch system (pedal/cable). Cheers Bennie

Best of luck with the hunt. I couldn't tell you what my L came with when I got it over ten years ago! it was probably just a hole in the dash until I installed my aftermarket head unit. Cheers Bennie