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Gertie (the L series touring wagon)


KiwiGL
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8 hours ago, 573417h said:

Is that skippers canyon road?

Nah those last photos are from the Flea Bay road, up behind Akaroa. I've actually been into Skippers 3 times in the past year but haven't taken Gertie in there.

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  • 5 months later...
  • 3 months later...

Have just spent a few $$ chasing down a wheel wobble and getting the brakes completely rebuilt front and rear. 454,000 kms and counting!

Next stage will be lift, Torqlocker, and 195r14 muddies on (probably) some Speedy 14" wheels. At this stage I'm planning on holding out for the yet-to-be-released Subarino 2" kit.

I may also have a lead on a cheap EJ22, so as it'll need cert for lift and tyres, might as well go the whole hog... This will be a good few months in the making however.

At this rate I'll be able to sell my gas guzzler Pathfinder and buy a Leaf to daily! Just need to fit some front recovery points to Gertie and get the Land Rover club safety officer to sign her off... We'll see how we go haha

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

Well, just finished up installing the Jeszek twin fan mod. https://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/125754-easy-guide-on-five-steps-to-twin-electric-fans-swap/

Works a treat, temp stays at 1/3 or less everywhere now.

Used to spike up to 3/4 on hot days at lights or when going uphill.

Total cost, $150NZ or thereabouts. Could have done it cheaper by raiding the junkyard but was easier just to order new stuff.

Definitely worth it!

Now to sort out the cooling problems on my other subie... Good thing I've had plenty of practice with my Pathfinder this year!.... Sigh.

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On 3/28/2021 at 10:45 PM, KiwiGL said:

Well, just finished up installing the Jeszek twin fan mod. https://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/125754-easy-guide-on-five-steps-to-twin-electric-fans-swap/

Works a treat, temp stays at 1/3 or less everywhere now...

Exactly!

Thank you for your Feedback. :)

Also, this Photo of your Subie and Landscape:

On 3/9/2021 at 11:11 PM, KiwiGL said:

...NQTR6Mg.jpg

is just Wonderful, thank you for Sharing,

Kind Regards.

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On 3/29/2021 at 9:06 PM, KiwiGL said:

Just ripped out all the door trims so I can replace the speakers, shampoo the fabric and replace the vinyl uppers. Big job ahead! The old speakers were blown out completely.

I installed 6½" Speakers in all four doors, but to substitute the crappy 4" in the front doors,

I had to install the bigger ones on the Plastic of the door cards, not directly on the door itself.

Kind Regards.

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On 4/3/2021 at 5:50 AM, Loyale 2.7 Turbo said:

I installed 6½" Speakers in all four doors, but to substitute the crappy 4" in the front doors,

I had to install the bigger ones on the Plastic of the door cards, not directly on the door itself.

Kind Regards.

My late model Omega actually came factory with 6.5" speakers in the front, with a plastic adapter ring/spacer. My aftermarket Sony speakers just bolted straight up!

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Well, I have now replaced all four speakers, and made a good dent in getting the door cards retrimmed. Have finished the rear passenger door!

4QgCBL9.jpg

Still need to put the other three back together. Amazing what some cheap blue vinyl and 3 mm foam plus some contact adhesive and elbow grease can do! I also vacuum washed the carpet on the door trims, water was pure filth...

 

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On 4/12/2021 at 1:12 PM, el_freddo said:

Feel free to come over and do Ruby Scoo’s door trims. You can see the dirt and dust in them from the various trips we’ve done! 

Your trim work with the vinyl looks tops mate ;) 

Cheers 

Bennie

Thanks mate! Unfortunately the vinyl didn't quite stick to the fronts where plastic bends out slightly, but they still look way better than they did! It now has a flat battery though. I wonder if the dual fans have killed the alternator... Was a warm day the other day and they kicked in a few times. Kept the temps down nicely though!

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Well, alternator seems to be ok. Think I just left the boot open slightly.

Unfortunately, the power steer pump has started making bad noises... also has toouch play in the shaft. Have ordered a new one. Water pump also has shaft play so will do that while I'm in there. Glad I'm running sans timing covers!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Twin fans working well. 

However, I think the alternator may we'll be dead.

 

Not charging battery. 

Alternator sounds weird.

Gets really hot.

Charging light doesn't come on (when ignition in "on" position before starting car, or at any other time)

Charging fuse intact. Wires look ok.

Plug is a bit crusty but looks ok.

 

Bad alternator? Thinking this is likely as it's probably the original one at 455,000 kms...

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As Bennie says I had alternator issues this week, traced it to the LEDs I had put in the dash warning lights. Same thing would happen if your warning light globes were blown, no current going to the alternator field windings so no charging. Although I would think the slightly more modern L series would have a resistor across the globe filament so the alt would keep working if the globes blew. 

But it sounds weird as well and is getting hot, if it is the original alt then it may well be on the way out. 

Edited by Silverbull3t
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11 hours ago, Silverbull3t said:

As Bennie says I had alternator issues this week, traced it to the LEDs I had put in the dash warning lights. Same thing would happen if your warning light globes were blown, no current going to the alternator field windings so no charging. Although I would think the slightly more modern L series would have a resistor across the globe filament so the alt would keep working if the globes blew. 

But it sounds weird as well and is getting hot, if it is the original alt then it may well be on the way out. 

Thanks guys. I've got a spare alt, will pick up some globes and replace those, check wiring and swap alt if it's bad.

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So. Have pulled dash to bits. Turns out charge bulb and light work and no connection problems there either.

The old alternator had no resistance between the earth and output posts so I think it's stuffed...

I also have an errant ground on the "position" circuit. When I tested with no battery in it, there was no resistance across the battery leads (which there should be). Therefore I pulled all the fuses and put them back one by one... Tedious. 

So will also have to trace that circuit.

I then swapped the alternator over and put a battery in it - the charge light now comes on with key in on position! Didn't start it as I need to swap the pulleys over.

Getting there...

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21 hours ago, Silverbull3t said:

As Bennie says I had alternator issues this week, traced it to the LEDs I had put in the dash warning lights. Same thing would happen if your warning light globes were blown, no current going to the alternator field windings so no charging. Although I would think the slightly more modern L series would have a resistor across the globe filament so the alt would keep working if the globes blew. 

But it sounds weird as well and is getting hot, if it is the original alt then it may well be on the way out. 

And having pulled the dash apart, I can confirm there is no resistor across the light...

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Well, after a quick Google it turns out the position fuse is for the parking lights... When I cleaned the dash I must have clicked the switch on the column... 

So after turning those off, that cured my mysterious grounding problem. Thank God, as I really didn't want to trace a bad wire.

Alternator is definitely still dead though.

Will swap the pulleys over and keep the good one in there.

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She's alive again! Unfortunately my replacement alternator (came with a spare engine) definitely has a bad bearing. It makes one heck of a racket. At least it charges though! 

I think I'll order a 1990 Maxima alternator off rockauto and do the upgrade mod unless anyone has any better options? Would prefer a higher output than the factory 60a.

 

https://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/97208-bolt-in-ea-series-alternator-upgrade-nissan-maxima-alt-installation-guide/#comment-818145

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