el_freddo

I forgot to add that the brake sponginess is most likely due to the rear brake shoes needing adjustment. They’re manually adjust via a small square headed boot on the diff side of the backing plate, under the bearing. If you’re really lucky you’ll have the factory rubber cover on them still. If not no stress. Spray them with some penetrative lube and let them sit, repeat several times of they’re stuck good. You can adjust the brakes with the wheels in the air, this will let you know if they’re too tight or not. The bolt will roll over with a lumpy feel to it. This ensures the bolt can’t back out and loosen off your brakes. That will make a huge difference to the feel of your brake pedal. It could be worth removing the drums to clean out the years of crap that will be in there. Also a good time to inspect for slave cylinder leaks and the general condition of the brake shoes. Cheers Bennie

What you need to look for is a flat mark on the lip of the cam wheel. Do not use the arrow on the arm of the cam wheel - this is used to indicate which cylinder is at TDC depending on where it’s pointing. You should be able to rotate the engine by hand easily enough. Make sure it’s not in gear - and if the cam wheels are in a free position, where they can be easily turned back and forth freely, this indicates that the valves are in the closed position and there’s no way you can hit pistons and valves when in this position. If you still can’t rotate the engine you might have bigger problems at play. Hopefully this isn’t the case! For the crank there is a mark on a tooth at the back of the crank timing gear. All the best with it. Cheers Bennie

Looks good l75eya! Bit of rust that us Aussies baulk at but seems to be no issue on your side of the world. I’ve not seen a rear bar like that before, looks tidy even without the bumperettes to finish off the sides. Good score on the targa top too - not really a targa as I found out last year but that’s what they’re know as over here. If you’ve still got the instruction sticker on the roof lining panel the roof glass is referred to as a “fun top”. And I have to say it - modifying a classic quote from a classic Aussie movie you guys would probably know… “That’s not a bullbar… …THAT’S a bullbar.” I’m sure if you can weld in new panels to fix that rust you could weld up one of these five posters while you’re at it I’m looking forward to seeing where you go with this one! Cheers Bennie

Awesome score on the brat! How long before the legacy drivetrain ends up in the brat?? Enjoy it, but don’t overload it or throw crap in the back if you want to keep it in good condition. You’ve got the fun top version too, the best! Cheers Bennie

Good detective work! How’d that sort of wiring damage come about? Hopefully you’ll get this thing tuned properly now and have some real fun with it! Cheers Bennie

I’m hoping there’s a reply answer! I’m enjoying some of the thread digging going on - it’s good to see ppl doing searches on the forum, via google or otherwise. Cheers Bennie

Well done! Glad it’s sorted and I hope it stays that way for a long time to come! Enjoy the snow. I’m trying to savour what’s left of the relatively wet and cool summer we had down here! Cheers Bennie

I hope it’s the fix! Looking forward to hearing how the new ignition switch goes. Cheers Bennie

Ignition switch should be held in by two Phillips head screw/bolts opposite to the side that the key goes into. You should only need to remove the steering column cowling and maybe drop the steering column off it’s mount bolts to get more access. You don’t have to pull the ignition barrel out to replace the ignition switch! That has the funny looking bolts without a head on them. They’re designed to snap off once torqued up so the ignition barrel can’t be easily removed by thieves. I’m not sure that the starter relay mod will dive this issue since you mentioned it cranks over fine and will run in the start position but die in the ON position. You’d only need a 30a horn relay - same as what you hook driving lights up with. Cheers Bennie

My first thought is what voltage are you getting at the ignition switch when in the “ON” position? By running the wire from the positive of the battery to the coil you’ve effectively bypassed the ON setting of the ignition switch. This to me suggests an issue with the ignition switch. It’s possibly over 40yo so it’s done well! You could do this test twice - once just using the factory wiring as is, if that shows a low voltage reading then hook up that positive wire between the battery and coil then see what the voltage is at the back of the ignition switch, I’d expect it to be back feeding 12v if you got a low reading the first time. Cheers Bennie

B - swap LSD centre into the diff housing with the desired diff ratio. Easiest option when changing diff ratios with the LSD that’s retained. Cheers Bennie

Subarino auto in Perth sells a complete 2 inch kit for the MY and L series. Shipping to you would be the costly bit, no harm in asking about the kit anyway. Cheers Bennie

Some form of aftermarket engine management will definitely benefit your build for best performance and longivity. GD dealt with Link ECUs, others on here have used other brands, many of not all seem to do what’s required of them. Cheers Bennie

Sometimes you just happen to get both lights blow on the high or low beam. Replacing the globes rectified the issue? If not, that’s when to start digging deeper into the problem. Cheers Bennie

Sometimes it’s the simple things that cause the most grief (and wallet pain!). This relay mod is common on the early Liberty/Legacy’s too Cheers Bennie

Heads and all the associated gear will move over to the replacement block regardless of where it came from. The thing to check out is any differences in the pistons that may affect small things that may or may not become an issue. Sorry I can’t be more definitive on that front, I haven’t played much with the later model engine blocks so don’t know for sure. Cheers Bennie

Did you swap the timing gears over from the 2008 engine to the replacement 2001 engine? If not, that’s you’re issue I reckon. Cheers Bennie

It would all depend on what info the TCU wants and/or shares with the ECU. If it’s just a matter of throttle angle, speed sensor, engine revs it should be sweet if you wire it in properly. If it wants more from the ECU then it gets more complicated from there… could do a whole body loom swap and drag over the matching engine for the complete setup 🤔 Cheers Bennie

That was one of my thoughts but there’s a captive thread in that so where did the nut come from? I’d double check that you do in fact have the ball joint retainer bolt in place on either side and done up appropriately tight. You don’t want one of those ball joints dropping out and letting your hub take its own unplanned trip! My other thought was also the engine pitch stopper rod, I wonder if this was replaced with another bolt from somewhere else… Being that this was a “we” job - as in we did this and we did that… old mate isn’t stitching you up by placing this Subaru looking bolt in the mix of all your other nuts and bolts? That’s something a good mate might do as a prank! Cheers Bennie

The good news is that I can’t see it being a bolt from a major component like a ball joint or hub retainer bolt as they have captive threads, rendering that nut useless. And it’s too short for a suspension arm bolt. I’ve had this many times without issue. Keep the left over bits aside in a labelled container incase you find a missing bolt. While they’re off the vehicle consider the effort as weight reduction. Cheers Bennie

Thanks mate. Got the starting and idle issues sorted it seems. I think the idle mixture was too lean and driving it around hard for a bit may have moved come internal crud. Who knows?! Good news is it’s running well and seems to be returning good fuel economy. Cheers Bennie

I’ll chime in on GD’s behalf. Burn it. Burn it to the ground and get some old school GM gear to drive into the Armageddon. Ok, maybe I lathered that on a bit thick but that’s kind of how I read GD rolling. Cheers Bennie

And then buy what? Another car with someone else’s issues? I’d keep the vehicle you’ve ironed the issues out of. Otherwise trade it in at a dealership for a new vehicle and let them deal with it. Cheers Bennie

Worked perfect before I touched the carb. I didn’t strip any of it down and left it as is since the rebuild. It’s also summer down here atm - not very cold for morning cold starts. Cheers Bennie

Ok finally got an update on this one! I bit the bullet on buying a carb kit - for a DC 306 hitachi carb. This was a HTK-421 kit. Apparently for the needle and seat for the float valve I’d need the one from the kit HT432 but I didn’t bother and didn’t swap this bit as it wasn’t flooding the bowl. All went well with the rebuild. I’ve had to readjust my idle since tuning. Other thing I need to look into is why it’s hard to start when cold. The old double pump and crank trick doesn’t get it started. Once warmed up she fired up no worries! It runs well without any misfiring which I’m stoked about! Cheers Bennie