el_freddo

Any grinding when down shifting is usually due to worn synchros - this means the gearbox has been well used or the previous owner doesn't use the clutch properly. Rev matching is the best way to avoid this as a gearbox rebuild really isn't worth while unless you know what you're doing/own a gearbox specialist workshop... Cheers Bennie

Yes it's doable - but as mentioned be aware that seals etc are very well worth the effort while the engine is out. Rear main is a must! Is this EJ a twin overhead cam (DOHC) or a single overhead cam (SOHC) EJ? IF it's a SOHC it'll drop straight in, if DOHC you'll need to hammer/notch the chassis rails to clear the cam covers... As for the radiator, just use the stock unit with a piece of the factory EA hose size with the EJ hose over that done up nice and tight - much like those rubber adaptors you can get. Have you already filed the flywheel to fit the EJ crank bolt pattern? With an adaptor plate you need to use the EA flywheel to make use of the factory EA clutch. WIth a weekend swap the neatness of the wiring will be very tricky - and that's just fitting it to the vehicle. You'll need to work out where you're going to source your power(s), earth, fuse panel (yes, run an auxiliary one between the EJ harness and the Brat's factory loom to protect both from eachother); also to consider where you'll fit the ECU and it's check engine light (must have!), how you'll mod the exhaust and how you'll run a fuel return line - will you be using a "swirl pot" for the EFI pump? If you're going to cut the wiring down over the same weekend that you'll fit the engine you'll be pushing tin with only two of you with neither having done the conversion before. Get the wiring cut down and if possible do a bench test fire of the engine, if it runs go from there, if not reassess your wiring! I know of a "double conversion" done over a weekend in Western Australia - but this was a bunch of mates (4 to 6 from memory) that did everything from a pile of parts and a Friday Arvo. In my opinion, get the wiring cut down to only what you need. You'll need to source a wiring diagram/schematics for that particular vehicle to know what you'll need. I suspect you might need the security part of the wiring loom to make it work, but I could be wrong here as I've only messed with a mid '90's EJ loom. All the best with the conversion, it sounds exciting with the weekend challenge! Cheers Bennie

Two things: First, the worst: You could have bent a con rod but not enough to stop the engine or really notice it when the engine is running, only a pressure test will determine this. Second - you could have a crank case full of water so the engine was working harder to move all that liquid due to it's height. As you cranked without removing the spark plugs you were probably forcing water past the rings into the sump - and possibly doing more damage to the rings too. Always, always, ALWAYS remove the spark plugs before trying to start a hydrolocked engine! It's also a good idea to turn it over by hand a few times before using the starter motor with the spark plugs still removed. I hope you've not done any damage and it's just a case of a high sump level - check your oil to make sure it's not a water/oil soup Cheers Bennie

Mate, hats off to you for your effort! That's real commitment even after that embarrassing break down - I think many would have just gone home straight off the bat from that blow out! Also, either your oil pressure sender unit is reading low or you have a low oil issue. I remember the EA82 pumping out about 60psi from 2750rpm onwards. What does the new block push? That new block is just an NA Carb block - no SPFI there. So with that block you'll be running a higher compression too All the best for the next event! Cheers Bennie

There's a weird metallic noise I can hear, particularly when you rev it up and it plateaus. I'm wondering if this is messing with your knock sensor. Also, what exhaust are you running - that's not restricting the engine is it? Cheers Bennie

Yeah, sorry, pretty tired when I wrote that... We were bloody lucky it didn't let go, we would've been badly stuck. Sorry mate, I wasn't that guy with the EA72 - never heard of that one. Cheers Bennie

Same for me Cheers Bennie

Datsun L series engine The way I did it wasn't fantastic as I used two bolts per solid lifter and the measurement I gave the machinist was nice and tight yet I found that each HVLA were slightly different. I used two bolts fitted inside a gutted lifter, hence why they were all slightly different. What I'd do a second time around would be use a threaded sleeve that I'd lock into the gutted lifter with a grub screw drilled in at an angle to put pressure on the wall of the lifter slot/hole. This would also sort out the adjustment locking nut to lock properly without having to stop the whole assembly from spinning. Solid lifters were a PITA to adjust - engine out is the only way, removing the cambox and replacing it to check the change in the tolerance was a crap job to say the least! Get one wrong and it either taps away or the valve doesn't seal. Once they were in the stock MPFI seemed sluggish - until you hit 4000rpm, then it screamed from there upwards! I was running the same cam profile of the HVLAs, which was probably part of the issue. What ruined these for me was that I sent in 16 bolts to be shaved down and only got 15 back. I was on a deadline so ran one lifter without a second bolt - this ended up letting go and it almost sent a valve into the cylinder, one of the half moon clips on the top of the valve dropped out and the other wouldn't have been far away - we had to limp 1km to pull over. And we were on a trip across Australia, 2 hours east of Ceduna with the engine in bits to replace the modified units. Here's the result of the busted one: I got the idea from a mate in QLD that's running the same setup in his bug with a carb EA82 - that thing screamed right through the rev range! Cheers Bennie

I did my wedges like this: It's upside down due to making them on the engine stand with the cross member on top of the up side down engine Make a wedge for each side. Cheers Bennie

My thought was trying to reset the ECU too. Don't forget that you shouldn't touch anything for the first 5 minutes after starting to let the ECU work out it's parameters. Having the second O2 sensor would help out too. My other thoughts are that your fuel pressure regulator might be stuffed. Or there is something between the donor vehicle and this one that you're missing. It really is a guessing game without being near the vehicle to physically check it out All the best (subscribed) Bennie

Being that this is an MPFI turbo the drive shafts should already be the larger 25 spline like the EJ units. If not a new set of front shafts from a MPFI EA82 or MPFI EA82T '87 onwards will fit the EJ output stubs. Or if you're really keen, split the box and swap the output stubs with a set of 23 spline EA units The EJ22t swap would be dope - and it's been done before, do a search for Turbone (I think) - he's got a schmick L coupe that I could only dream of owning something like it (even with an EA82!). Cheers Bennie

That has me up to date for now Cheers Bennie

Same breather hole. I can't remember how long I had that last set up but there was a considerable amount of oil in the breather line. I'm much happier with how I've routed the hose up higher, any oil that ends up in the line will drain back. Cheers Bennie

I'd be checking the timing belts on your current EA82 - sounds to me like you've skipped a tooth and a belt tensioner is loose. Couldn't hurt to check while you're getting the Ej sorted. As for the conversion, it really transforms the L series into a very driveable vehicle. I certainly like mine. Usually you'd go with an EJ engine that's a drop and go or at the most a head gasket swap - a rebuild just adds to the time and cost of getting the conversion going. By all means go for the EJ - but you'll need your EA to keep going until you know you've got the EJ ready to go. I bench tested my wiring before I put it in the L Cheers Bennie

Info on that leggy? that thing is dope! The Liberty is an EJ20t conversion, auto, not sure of the specs there. Two inch strut top lift. Went pretty well offroad, but the larger turbo didn't do well in the boost department at altitude, and it wasn't great altitude either - ~1400 to ~1700 metres... I'm now looking into some rooftop lights for Ruby Scoo, but dunno how it's going to go as the snorkel will get in the way I reckon... Cheers Bennie

I did the same trick a few months ago, but I ran my line up the middle of the trans tunnel to behind a front strut tower - this keeps any fumes outside of the cabin - I'm not convinced on the fuel filter trick. One thing I'd do different is try to protect your line along the moustache bar - I did this on a previous diff, it ended up splitting due to a rock being flicked from the front end, diff oil went everywhere as the breather ended up being full of it as I didn't put a large enough bend in the top of it... Cheers Bennie

I wouldn't mind a set of those rims for my brumby... one day maybe! Cheers Bennie

It was awesome fun. So much so that I went out again the next day with a Canadian mate to film a particular track that the camera stopped filming due to me stalling... Here it is here: That mob of Land Rovers had just come down the track - almost 2 hours later they were still there with the last two vehicles waiting half way up the track - I'm sure they must have had lunch first! There was a request on another forum to "make sure you take some pics" - so I made sure of that! I had about 300, mostly sequences as you can see with Deadman's forester later in the pics. Cheers Bennie

G'day all, I've been lucky enough to get out bush again for a few hours this time after our commemoration of the sacrafices our armed force's personnel make to allow us to do and have what we have today. This occurs every year on the 25th of April - ANZAC day. I started with the dawn service at Mt Macedon with my brother - we camped out to avoid the new bus system. It was once again a good and moving ceremony. Then at 12pm I met up with Subaruby (silver foz) and Deadman (white foz). Subaruby was in a stock foz, Deadman's foz is a stock 2L drivetrain and wheel combination with a 2 inch strut lift, custom front bar with winch. My L series - Ruby Scoo - has EJ22, 4.11 ratio diffs with front LSD and centre locking awd L box, 3 inch lift and 27 inch tyres. Here are the pics, enjoy - feel free to make up your own captions. It was an awesome day out! Tracks hit up: Pole Tk, Camp Tk, Soil Pit Tk. From here Subaruby departed. Then Reily's fire break tk, some random fire track, Croziers loop tk, another random track or two before popping out on Mooney's Lane to end the day's session. Thanks to Subaruby and Deadman for coming for the day. Apologies for not having done a reccie before the day as the tracks had severely changed since I was last in the area! Cheers Bennie Cobaw State Forest: -37.239759,144.629173

New video of one of the tracks that took about two and a bit hours to get from one end to the other: Cheers Bennie

Thanks for the feedback guys. I enjoy organising these trips, participating in them then sharing our experiences in the form of what you see above Glad to hear it mate! I'd love to have Ruby Scoo on some trips out your way too! Best of luck with that. An oxygen tank or three would help out too Rust proofing could be a bit of a short term issue! Cheers Bennie

Editing all sorted - word processing program had them as links and the forum made each image a link instead of an image. Some editing time sorted the issue, so enjoy! (I can't work out how to delete this post). Cheers Bennie

All was going well with the maintenance on Ruby Scoo so this trip was on. I also needed it! Packing Friday after work saw me leaving Shepp at 8:45pm and arriving at the campground in Walhalla at 1:30am. I was very glad to see that Venom was here too, I thought he had bailed. After an ok night of sleep, once interrupted by a bunch of drunk rednecks being a pack of, well, you can come up with your own word for that one... We decided we'd have breakfast in town and got an awesome bacon and egg muffin with a white chocolate mocha. We got the group together and headed off. First place to go was our favourite and really the only places we knew – Coopers Creek: Bruntons Bridge: From here we decided to head East to then head North as we didn't really want to back track. Once back in the bush from Seaton we hit up a stretch of “commuter tracks” - old logging tracks where AWD/4wd really is a good bit of fun. Lined up on Williamson Spur Rd to discuss where to go from here: Along the way I found this tree in the middle of the burnt out area, to me it looks like it's in shock with what it sees around it: From Williamson Spur Tk we headed northonto Army Tk: When we dropped into this area via Army Tk we thought we might be in a spot of bother as this track was pretty steep and the weather was still very light rain on and off. Once at the bottom of Army Tk we decided to hit up Morning Star track – this track started climbing again up the other side of the valley: There was a bit of winching involved with my mate's Pajero. I think we had a go at it about 3 times on a very slippery slope. Venom and I got up without an issue. Once the Paj was up Nachaluva was sceptical that he'd make it up – but with his new found “rally style” he had nothing to be worried about. I wish I had my camera for all of this. I also broke a thong while carrying the cable up the hill for the Paj... From here we hit up the commuter track again to look for a camp site. This was McEvoys Tk where we tried out the Mt Useful 1434 tower and hut site. You beaut, no one here, there's an industrial portable hut with a car port and the communications tower behind it. Once out of the vehicles it became apparent that this was not a suitable site overnight due to the noise of the portable generator powering the tower! On we went until we ended up hunting around for “Johnson's Hut” off S14 tk. This was all good but there was no hut to be found and some dodgy tracks going in too. Dodgy in the way that they were not “official graded” tracks of any type. We found a little clearing and setup camp. Nachaluva and I took a ride in Ruby Scoo to find another nearby hut. It too was on a dodgy track but was already occupied by some young kids that were clearly into the country scene but still drank UDLs and the like (not something I associate with the “country theme”). We headed back to setup. This is what camp looked like: While out collecting wood I stumbled across the “Johnson Hut” - it was well hidden with all tracks to the hut concealed from the track we came in on. Sunday we packed up and headed off to find more tracks like what we found late arvo yesterday. It certainly didn't disappoint! We headed west from our last camp site and were well north of Walhalla at this point. Our aim was an intriguing looking track called “Trig Tk” that has marked on the map that there's 12 switchbacks due to the steepness! So we weaved our way in that direction: Venom on O'Keefe Tk: Nachaluva coming down O'Keefe Tk: At the low point of O'Keefe Tk, small river crossing: I honestly can't remember where this switchback was! We then headed through Aberfeldy on our way to the next track, Dream Creek Tk: Once on CMF Tk at the intersection of Trig Tk we had a bite to eat while viewing what was to come: Before we heaed off we saw Adrian and Lucy off in their Paj from here. It was great to have an old school mate along for the ride – and to see different 4wd in action. Adrian really wished he'd found the time to fit his muddies! Thanks for coming mate! We then jumped into Trig Tk! You can see the other side of Trig Tk in the background on the other side of the valley above. Looking down at Venom: Nachaluva's foz looking mean at the top of the switchback on Trig Tk: Going down: Switchback fun: Nachaluva has some great shots of Venom and Ruby Scoo heading down the hill at this point! Nachaluva headed down at the lower end of Trig Tk: I got this shot to have a dig at a mate who keeps telling me to get a real 4wd – he's just got himself a landrover 130 long wheel base ute; I'm yet to see it off road. I've also used it to “annoy” another mate who offroads his Range Rover – some of you might remember that vehicle from a trip to Mt Cole. Once back at the bottom of the Valley we headed off to see Venom's end to the trip. The section of Trig Tk above CMF Tk was a good climb too! Nachaluva and I headed back down the hill to camp where we left his car – it seemed we were racing a group of 4wd's that were coming down the switchbacks. We don't know what they thought about seeing a forester at the camp site but they weren't sticking around for a chat anyway. So we setup and got the fire going, with a little bit of drizzle around at times we knocked this up: The next morning this was bliss: Once we were packed up we climbed out of the valley to the “main road” - Walhalla Rd where we then hit up Beardmores Tk. This track followed a spurline down the front of the Thompson dam: Then to the river where we had a lot of fun messing around in the river crossing: I love the lighting and the detail in this image: It was now time to head into Rawson for fuel – only to find they didn't have any as their delievery hadn't come through! So off to Tyers we headed, it was about 20 kms down the road and made more sense than heading all the way into Moe. From Tyres we headed back along some rough old logging tracks to the Old Coach Rd that took us to Bruntons Bridge. We had a quick bite to eat and headed to Coopers Creek crossing where some kids that were camping there took great delight in watching the two vehicles cross the river. Since we'd already crossed it we didn't bother stopping to check it. From here we took some tracks that we'd only just noticed on the map – they turned out to be a bit of fun with some good climbs in between – there was a 1km long climb to begin with We then aimed for our intended camp ground on Fulton's Creek Tk. We took Dry Gully Tk that ironically followed a spur for most of the time we were on it. Once it started to drop into a valley we were stoked with the terrain! We ended up back at the river to have another look around and a play: We decided that none of the campsites on the river suited our requirements so we headed back up the spur to a bogan camp we passed earlier. And we setup: Unfortunately we saw too much rubbish on this trip – empty cans discarded out the window of moving vehicles halfway up tracks, water bottles everywhere and some of the camp sites where people had burnt logs and thrown deck chairs, aerosol cans etc into the fire only then to leave the remains. This camp had plenty of aluminium cans, buried rubbish, broken glass and markings in the bark of the surrounding trees. It's very disappointing to see in this day and age! Tuesday we decided to follow the full length of Fulton's Creek Tk that we camped on – we were only just below the start of the track. It was interesting to follow as at times it used sections of other tracks to get back onto the next section of Fulton's Creek Tk. Some of the highlights were steep climbs and descents as well as the creek crossing, this one inparticular was a highlight for me – beautiful rock wall and a crossing that required you to head upstream a little bit: The next crossing needed a bit of track building on one side, then Nachaluva decided to follow the proper crossing track: ^ Here Nachaluva really needed a bit more speed as his tyres were fighting for grip as the car started to float at one point, but he got the required grip to keep moving forward and got out without issue. He did have a wet engine though! I took a different line with Ruby Scoo in the second part of the crossing as I didn't trust Ruby to stay grounded and I didn't want to end up getting the ECU wet if things went wrong in that section of the river in the last pic! We continued along until we ended up back on Williamson Spur Tk. So we dropped in on Army Tk that we did the other day back down to Donnelly Creek Tk. Since the hut at the bottom of Army Tk (northern end) was now vacant we checked it out... but failed to take the camera! Following along Donnelly Creek Tk I developed a knocking noise with a distinct clunking through the steering system. After two checks we discovered that my wheel nuts on the front left were barely on anymore. I don't know how this happened so quick without any noise with any of the ascents or descents we had done earlier. All of my wheel nuts were tightened! We checked out O'Toole's Flat – a large open and well groomed campground. We then decided that Flats Tk was the go to get us to where we wanted to be. It was a bloody rough track with mutiple options in several sections. Ruby Scoo certainly worked hard to get to the top – where I found that the track became well graded and did a hair pin turn to head down hill, while it continued up in the direction I was travelling! Ruby Scoo at the top: The problem here was that Nachaluva couldn't make it up, so I headed down on foot to help guide him, then it was decided that the winch was needed (turfor). I headed back down in Ruby Scoo, parked up, go the gear together then headed down on foot to Nachaluva. It must have seemed like an eternity to him while waiting for me! We ended up getting Nachaluva off the track without the use of the winch, there were some hairy angles his foz saw in the process which he didn't really enjoy, but we got him down safely. Both vehicles headed back down to find the new “official” start of the track, only to eventually end up passing where Ruby Scoo was parked in the above pic. We travelled some good tracks from here, checked out Merringtons Flat Campground and ended the 4wd'n part of the trip via Sullivans Tk. We aired up and hightailed it to Walhalla via Walhalla Rd – we passed the start of Fulton's Creek Tk where I had a bit of a chuckle as we looked DOWN this track a few years back thinking “that's epic” only now to have done it up and down in that section! Once in Walhalla we pulled up as I was keen for a White Chocolate Mocha. I ordered two white mochas (with a different girl to Saturday morning), Nachaluva and I were stoked when we got them. The first sip was awesome until the brain kicked in and said this isn't white chococlate! Anyway it was a good coffee none the less. We travelled home along the freeway together talking on the radio – I enjoyed that part of the trip, it was a good end instead of travelling all the way home on my own. Thanks to Venom, Nachaluva, Adrian and Lucy for coming on this trip. I'm looking forward to our return to this place as we now know where to go! There will be “requirements” for this trip so that everyone has a chance and it's an enjoyable experience :twisted: Cheers Bennie

That's a score mate! I bet there will be some jealous members out there about the price you paid and the jump seats you've got with it!!! I wish we got those instrument clusters from the factory in the Brumby/BRAT - we only got them in some sedans and the coupes; some of the early touring wagons have them instead of the digi dash too. Cheers ​Bennie

I've often thought about the Gen3/4 rear strut/shock fitting into the rear of the L series - I'm sure it could work, but the double rubber setup on the L series shock could be an issue. I reckon the load rating on that spring and strut/shock would be higher with the heavier body of the Gen3/4. Just need to find a set of second hand units to have a play with... Cheers Bennie