el_freddo

Jack up the front end of the car and run it in 1st (very carefully letting the clutch out). Get out with it idling in gear and watch each wheel rotate. You could have a tyre with a bubble in it or it’s out of round, or you could have a bent hub (been there done that). Or it could be something like the hub not being completely centred on the hub and studs. Are they factory rims (less likely to be the issue)? The drift shafts to the front wheels could cause problems with vibrations, but not through the steering, you’ll feel that throughout the whole vehicle. All the best with it. Cheers Bennie

Electronic tuning radio? What is that anyway? ECU is what I know it as in that listing. Cheers Bennie

That a serious boat anchor! Move on. Either replace the EA81 or drop an EJ in its place and smile from ear to ear whenever you fire it up Cheers Bennie

Yeah righto... sounds like an overstatement to me! Mine’s full of dings and dents, and it has about three different colours of red over it (subtle)... and my rims need to be blasted and painted again. That’s dedication! Giles shipped a brumby half cut to the UK for one of his projects. He was stoked as it had the factory AC we got over here that was either rare as over there or not an option. That brumby was put to good use as it was destined for the scrap heap. Keep up the good work! Cheers Bennie

Fresh fuel, good battery, check oil. Check spark. Once running change oil and filter. Then go over other components - tyres, brakes if spongy (move it slowly and test brakes). Once all that checks out and you can legally drive it, go for a gentle drive to get things moving again. You might encounter dead CV boots shortly after getting her going again. Rust would certainly be an issue I reckon. Check the usual places. That’s what I can think of from the top of my head. Cheers Bennie

Any update on how this thing runs? It could be the solution I’m looking for to avoid emissions testing with what I want to do in turboing my brumby. Cheers Bennie

I won’t send a pic of my brumby’s rear end then. It might make you jealous. All the best with it. One of my mates lowered his brumby mega low. Rear diff wasn’t far off the ground and he was forever pulling out the inner cup on the rear left shaft. Namely when hitting larger bumps. I think he used an early L series shaft that was doj on both ends of the shaft. It was longer than the MY units and solved the issue if I recall correctly. Cheers Bennie

You could open the diff and fit the stub axles from the factory diff. Then run the stock drive shaft. You need the retainer plate piece that effectively holds the stub axle to the back of the spider gear. If you have an LSD this is way trucker to do unless you find the Gen1 turbo output diff stubs as they’re solid and held in by a clip like the male drive shafts are. Cheers Bennie

@Uberoo - going on from protontodd’s thread: you asked me about strengthening the L chassis after I made some comments about this. Below is what was shared with me. That’s all I’ve got and it’s not great quality in terms of sharp detail. Hopefully that gives you an idea of what was done for the rally vehicle setup Apologies for the delay in digging this up. It’s been in the back of my mind for a long time! Cheers Bennie

To be sick I bet! I’ve only seen SPFI and heard that referred to as carby controlled ECU. Who knows if that’s correct... Cheers Bennie

Which will be relevant to the dual range too. @Ionstorm66 - are you talking about the bushes in the shifter knuckle or the bush at the base of the lever/stick? Who knows? Maybe @Subarule could enlighten us..? Good point Steptoe, in which case I’d suggest the slot and bolt trick. Worked nice on mine. I recommend a metal lock nut. Nylon just doesn’t cut it with potential oil etc. Cheers Bennie

The conversion won’t impact any of the cluster gear so long as you use the wiring from the EA loom on the engine for the temp and oil pressure readings. While you’ve got the EJ out, have the EA temp sensor fitted to the EJ coolant crossover pipe. This will retain the factory temp gauge reading. The rest will stay as it is. Cheers Bennie

I still don’t get how it’s an EA81, originally with a stock hitachi carb and it has an ECU! Why has it got an ECU?? Is this a Californian emissions thing?? Ill leave you to it and hope that a) you get this sorted and b) someone can enlighten me. Cheers Bennie

Looks good @scalman! I hope you’ve done all the rust prevention you possibly can to avoid a repeat of your Gen3 situation. Cheers Bennie

I use our old rusty cake tins for this and collecting the odd oil drop from laid up engines or vehicles. They’re very handy for catching small amounts of oil when opening up rocker covers etc too. @UnorganizedMechanic - I reckon you need to bin that EA81. Keep the oil pump (do not hit it or you WILL crack the housing rendering it useless). Options: 1) find a good EA81 to drop in 2) EJ it. You won’t look back once it’s done. If doing a full DIY you need to push through the poo that so many give up in. Cheers Bennie

When cutting down a harness, you can’t assume before you cut. You must know what that wire does for the ECU before it’s cut out - or left alone. There are many wires that T off to oblivion, generally get rid of the oblivion wire while keeping the bit between the ECU and where ever it goes to engine or sensor. Earth wiring is typically black with white trace and from memory it might have a single or double gold dot. Wiring thickness will vary as many small earth wires come into the larger earth wire. There will be small earth wires that need to be cut out (from a T point) as these go to things we don’t need for a conversion. These earth wire ends need to be insulated for protection from damage later down the track (potentially to other wiring). If you have all the factory chassis earth points you’ll be good to go, no need to add extra earth points unless you really want to, I don’t see the point though. There’s no need to touch the engine wiring harness. Leave it on the intake manifold and plug it in once your cut down loom is fitted to the vehicle All the best with it! Cheers Bennie

If they don’t leak don’t stress about them. But if you want piece of mind, replace them. Use an impact screw driver, it’s the only way to get those countersunk screws out and snugged back in nicely. Are you putting this on an EA82 auto? Cheers Bennie

Got some pics you can share on this? Cheers Bennie

If the bottom end doesn’t have any knock in it on start up, keep the cases together. Pull the heads and replace the rings, maybe the pistons if they’re out of shape - but *should* be fine if the engine hasn’t been overheated. Replace pistons if you have cracked ring landings. Seen that before! Also have the valves check and new seals fitted. Or “just” drop in an EJ and enjoy the freedom of pulling up hills and actual acceleration! Sorry, it had to be said. Cheers Bennie

I fixed one real good - with an angle grinder, never to be in use again! The L series 4wd engaging mechanism has enough balls and dedents in there to keep you on your toes! I wouldn’t want anymore than that. Cheers Bennie

That’s a common practice from what I understand. You could learn to double the clutch between gear changes as this will help match the different speeds of the gears before you try slotting it in. The 4spd box isn’t easy to pull apart. The only one I’ve done ended up being cut open with an angle grinder (for parts) as I couldn’t get the pinion shaft bolt off to remove the centre casing - you can’t get a socket onto it as the hole to access it is offset and tight. 5spd L series box is much easier to work on in comparison. EJ even easier. All the best in your quest for parts, finding them will be hard. Doing the gearbox work will be no different IMO. Cheers Bennie

We have an EJ251 in my sister’s RX liberty. It’s now got about 450,000km ad still going strong. It mainly does country kms so it always gets a full warm up and a decent run, unlike many urban vehicles. Last head gasket job I replaced all the valve stem seals and lapped the valves while at it. You should adjust the tappets if you have “lifter” noise. These don’t have hydraulic lash adjusters, they’re solid and need adjustment from time to time. To me, bottom end = solid. Don’t redline it regularly (what’s the point of that, ring the neck of anything and it won’t last long!) The rod throwing is from the EJ25D era shortly after a head gasket job from what I’ve read. @GeneralDisorder will confirm, but I believe it’s due to bearing damage from use with a blown HG with coolant in the oil. Cheers Bennie

At 85,000m, I’d expect factory suspension to still be good unless you operate on rutted and rough roads regularly. Cheers Bennie

Go the EJ conversion. Done to death and the engine fits easily with an adaptor plate. The only things EA82 that should make it into your hatch is the five speed box and a set of rear discs if you can find some that are suitable for your application (2wd or 4wd - different hubs are used between the two). Cheers Bennie

Equal tyre pressures? Cheers Bennie