107 replies to this topic

[Loyale 2.7 Turbo]

Your Subaru Looks and is Really Awesome; I like everything you've done to it.

 

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That's exactly the kind of "Mountain Adventure" offroadings I do with my Family on Weekends, on my Subie.

 

Kind Regards.

[El_Freddo]

Hey Hey JesZek, you've made it across the puddle

 

Yeah that was a good trip and the last one in my home state (last year!).  Not anywhere near enough 4wd'n action going on unfortunately at the moment.

 

And now I've got to dig up the pics of the rear bushes to post up.  They were fairly rooted to say the least!  Next to check is the bearing play, if there's any in there I'll be up for new rear bearings, which wouldn't be a bad thing since the last time I did them was almost 3 or 4 years ago...  And we all know L series rear hubs love to drink water in river crossings :/

 

Cheers

Bennie

[El_Freddo]

"Track" session coming up this weekend...

 

CAN'T WAIT!

 

Pics to come later next week

Cheers

Bennie

[El_Freddo]

On the weekend starting on the 5^th of August at 4:30pm, a mate and I packed up and headed bush for a weekend of camping with some 4wd'n. We headed to a place I'd not been before – Toombullup State Forest near Tatong and Tolmie; at the Kelly Tree Campsite (roughly at -36.8754822,146.2347008).

 

Friday night we legged it out there to get camp setup and the fire going, it was freezing!

 

 

^ Saturday Morning Camp. After a bit of a look around the campground, we headed out to check out the Kelly Tree and the site of the Police Camp shooting. Pretty interesting.
Then we hit “the tracks”:

 

 

Quality 4wd tracks were few and far between, we had fun looking around and the little pockets we found were good.

 

There were some decent rivers and creeks in the area, especially with the amount of rain we've had recently:

 

 

Traffic report:

 

 

Track report #1: Smooth and loose    

 

^ The irony in the above pic is just after taking it a local fella trundled past us – we got stuck behind him shortly after...

 

We hit up Middle Creek Track, it was pretty easy going for 99% of it. The area is heavily used for logging – native forest and pine plantations, so most of the roads are “bush highways” really. This was an area with some negotiation required, as usual the photo just doesn't do it justice.

 

Track Report #2: Rocky and a bit technical over this rise:

 

 

Track Report #3:  Wet conditions (and deceptively deep):

 

 

^ We had a few of these but this one was the most concerning as it was quite deep in the middle and fast flowing.  The other issue was our hubs were super hot from the braking decent we'd just completed to get to this point.  Hot hubs and near freezing water = hub water ingestion...

 

One of our activities in our cruising around was to checkout all the campsites marked on the map as this place is pretty strict on where you camp (if you stick to what the signs say). This was after visiting one of the better campsites that had a fun track in and out:

 

 

After another creek crossing and bumping into more hunters (we'd been seeing them from about the first half of the Middle Creek Track) we started to head back to camp. The hunters became spaced about 500m apart on the track as they were tracking deer in the area. We noisily cruised through the area then cut some wood when we finally found some dried out stuff.

 

On our way back to camp we swung by to check out a historic grave of Emma Sophia Heller. Tough life back then to say the least.
 

 

Once back at camp first priority was to get a fire going before the sun went down and the night chill visited:

 

 

Oh yeah – this was THE BEST fire I've had in a long time:

 

 

Dinner prep – pretty important when you start on a few cans early and skip lunch – rookie mistake! Chicken Parmas on the go:

 

 

All I needed in this pic was a rum (it was in the side pocket of the chair – not enough arms!). It doesn't get much better than this:

 

 

Sunday we packed up and headed home. While airing up the tyres I had a bit of a mud splatter appreciation moment. My favourite mud splatters are on the lower right part of the rear view mirror:

 

 

Last pic of the trip – Tatong Pub on our way through to Benalla:

 

 

Another good little trip. I think next time we'll hit up the Strathbogie Ranges and focus on finding the good 4wd'n pockets, but it was fun to get out and about again for a mid term trip.

 

A few maintenance issues showed up on the return trip – front bearings need to be seen to very soon. I wouldn't be keen on any long trips with the noise they're currently making. Other than a few other niggling things that need doing a new set of tyres would be good.

 

I hope you enjoyed the read, I'm hoping to make a video of a few sections we remembered to film, we missed one awesome section – two tyre track ruts around a fallen tree in some mud where some hunters watched in disbelief

 

Cheers

Bennie

[Sven Smergberd]

fork this looks so good.

[Bumpty]

Traffic report:

 

 

Track report #1: Smooth and loose    

 

^ The irony in the above pic is just after taking it a local fella trundled past us – we got stuck behind him shortly after...

 

Damn hoons, get off my road!

[Loyale 2.7 Turbo]

Hey Hey JesZek, you've made it across the puddle  ...

Yes, it is a great Honor for me, to be here.

Besides the Awesome built you have done to your Subie,
 
I really Like and enjoy the Photos that you are Sharing.
 
This particular one:
 

 

Regarding a 90 miles long, straight drive, really surprises me. 
 
In my small country, Honduras, we have extremely Mountainous terrains, I've drove from the Caribbean coast to the Pacific ocean's coast, and the longest straight road has around eighteen miles long; then I drove in a little in the USA on year 2001, from Miami to Key West, also to Orlando (Florida), and I never faced such long, straight roads until I drove there; those straight roads driving on a Sustained speed in Highways, makes to drive, a slumber thing, that could be Dangerous.
 
But in such Wonderful nature as you share in your Photos, the Straight drive sounds pretty interesting, Different.
 
Kind Regards.

[El_Freddo]

JesZek, The irony of the 90 mile straight is that if you have a southerly wind while travelling east or west, you can't keep your vehicle straight for the duration of that distance!

 

Lastest update:  I killed a tyre on my last off roading adventure for my brother's buck's party.  Good news is that the Subaru did not require any form of help on the tracks we took - I copped a fair amount of shit from some old mates in a patrol - which we ended up spending a lot of time winching out of mud holes (same for my brother in his patrol) .  The subaru floated through it all with the right line - credit went to my future brother inlaw (I hope!) who "pioneered" the line to take through the mess.

 

Pics to come once I've got them uploaded!

 

One unfortunate thing that did happen was that I killed one of my 4wd'n tyres - so now I'm on my road tyres that I purchased a few years back and never liked.  A USMB and Ausubi member has developed his own rear 5 stud L/MY hubs that is the key to a 5 stud and EJ brake conversion on the L series and MY subarus.  I've secured as set of these hubs so now I need to get the brakes sorted and work out a hub offset and tyre combination that'll work with what I want from my Subaru, which is basically offroad performance while keeping tyres and suspension components clear of each other!

 

Cheers

Bennie

[FR34KO]

Great read, great photos!

[TPSSA]

Hi Guys,

 

I'm new to this Subaru forum, and being the proud owner of a "Father & Son" GL Wagon, I'm keen to find out some helpfull information on a few things. Firstly we purchased this little GL Wagon from Port Lincoln a few years back and have tinkered since. We've put the 14" steel wheels and mud tyres on it, fitted a snorkel and installed a stereo. 

 

The only real problem we have now if since fitting the larger wheels, she's VERY slow and underpowered!!!! Would someone be able to point me in the right direction to look at swapping the little tired 1.8lt for something with a bit more ooomph?

 

PS: How do i add a picture to this post?

 

Sorry for hijacking this thread..... I've started a new post in "Introductions"

Edited by TPSSA, 19 May 2017 - 02:04 PM.

[El_Freddo]

Thanks Fr34ko!

TPSSA, I've replied in your introduction thread

No real updates - just tying to tighten up the drivetrain's rear end to get rid of some noises. Now need to sort some better rear shafts as this is all that's left to replace...

I also we'd to sort out some more trips - it's been far too long again I'll need a new set of tyres for that though, I killed my old set during my brother's buck's party sometime ago

Cheers

Bennie

[El_Freddo]

I've finally got around to collating the fuel cost and usage for our WA trip in the summer of 15/16.

Fuel usage headed over wasn't as bad as I'd thought it'd be - especially for the day we did 115kmph with a stong head wind. Car seemed happiest at this speed. The worst economy we got was 15.5L/100km on our return with AC cranked, 115kmph, hot day and a strong head wind. That even beat a sand 4wd'n trip :/

Some WA trip specific stats:

Average fuel consumption: 13.51L/100km
Total cost: $1,585.40
Litres of fuel used: 1,146.32L
Total distance travelled: 8,552.9km
Ave fuel cost per km: $0.17

Usage stats from the start of the WA trip up to the last fill up:
Ave cost per km: $0.14
Average fuel consumption: 11.16L/100km

I'm missing 4 fuel dockets, all being from this year which is odd.

I've now got a set of new rear shafts from an auto L series that's probably never seen any use in 4wd. Just need time to fit them.

Also need to sort the new brakes so I can then get some new tyres. Why new brakes then new tyres? I'm dropping the 4 x 140 PCD for better brakes (EJ 5 x 100 PCD) and a larger range of decent rims with better offset to move the rear wheel away from the rear strut without the tyre poking outside the guards (want to avoid flares!). The tyres I want I think are wider than what I had and will rub on the rear springs. Something I want to avoid!

That's about it for now

Cheers

Bennie

[Adictions]

 The worst economy we got was 15.5L/100km on our return with AC cranked, 115kmph, hot day and a strong head wind. That even beat a sand 4wd'n trip :/
 

 

That sounds crazy high for that sort of driving, guess you were loaded up well.

Is there any 5/100 wheel hubs with matching brakes that can be swapped over fairly easily?

[El_Freddo]

That sounds crazy high for that sort of driving, guess you were loaded up well.
Is there any 5/100 wheel hubs with matching brakes that can be swapped over fairly easily?

We were loaded up and I also put the fuel usage down to putting the wrong 5th ratio in the box on the first rebuild (blew 2nd which was a bit dodgy from the start). Something I'd like to rectify.

No brakes are a direct bolt on unless you have a crossbreed conversion kit (not made anymore). I've got a set of rear hubs that have been made specifically to mate the EJ hub design to the EA rear stub axles. This will allow me to put the rest of the bits together to run any EJ brakes I want to

There's a set of brakes in a parts yard I'd love to pick up but the timing isn't good

I'll get there in the end...

Cheers

Bennie

[El_Freddo]

Well I haven't done much to Ruby Scoo except head bush last school holidays - then to Radelaide and back home again. She didn't miss a beat.

What I am noticing now is that if I don't drive her regularly, and on the odd cold morning, after starting she runs rough as guts and has black smoke out the exhaust. This tells me she's running rich.

The question is: Why is this occuring? Leaking injector(s)? Something else at play?

This also has me questioning if this is the reason for my poor fuel economy in general.

If anyone has any thoughts on this over fueled rough start I'm keen to hear from you.

I'll have to get the last lot of pics up from the trip too!

And replace those rear shafts, fix the rear bar and give her a general clean out...

Cheers

Bennie

[NQRSoobee]

I suppose it depends on the colour of the inside of the tip of the exhaust pipe and what the colour the plugs are.  What about oil soakage past the rings while it's sitting?  If it's due for an oil change then maybe its thin oil getting past the rings.  A check of the all the spark plugs should normally show that up pretty quick.  Although with a big bag of black smoke at start up then settling down I'm leaning the same way as yourself that it's a leaky injector.

 

Good post btw, same as others am enjoying the pics.

[El_Freddo]

Good post btw, same as others am enjoying the pics.

 

Thanks NQR.  I'll have to do some investigating and see what I can come up with.

 

I wanted to reduce my oil viscosity as I'm running 20W-60 extra ten for when I'm offroading in the heat, keeps the oil pressure up nice.  But it's got me wondering if a thinner oil will improve my fuel economy a little, but with this start up smoke it's now got me wondering if I'll just burn it all super quick.  One way to find out I guess...

 

I'll report back once I've checked things out.  Don't hold your breath

Cheers

Bennie

[Adictions]

They do oil testing at my tafe and I met guy who ran it, had test showing thin oil could give a surprising power and economy increase and he recommended it. I still think whatever the engines safest with is the best option.

[NQRSoobee]

I "agree" with Adictions.  Too thin an oil will rip past the rings.  Here's 2 supporting arguments:

 

1.  A long long time ago in a galaxy far far away a mate drove a VB Dunnydoor (Commodore) S 202 auto that he bought from brand new where after the 12 month warranty finished the local garage was putting in top spec Shell synth each service.  Good oil no doubt but oil consumption was wickedly high as it was too good an oil for the engine so was getting past the rings with ease.  A change back to dynosaur oil & the 'chew-oh-2' was a much happier beast not using much of anything between services.

 

2.  Was talking to some Rotary fellas a few years back and they were all over the RX-8 and its high oil consumption plus shortened engine life.  They told me to make the economy better it was decided to recommend a slightly thinner oil than what it really should use.  They also told me if the oil is upped by 10 from the recommended the engine life pretty much doubles and oil consumption drops dramatically but with slightly increased fuel consumption.  I've never confirmed the prior info as the 2 fellas I know who had 8's have moved on due to family circumstances.

[El_Freddo]

Thanks guys, I'm well aware of oil being too thin and passing the rings etc. That's why I have concerns with returning to a thin oil straight up only to find it gets burnt more than ever before.

I also need to change my PVC. That's never been done :/ For a few bucks it might sort out some things.

Cheers

Bennie