Ratbag's 2006 Fox XS - Roo2

Gidday Folks

Guess I should start a journal. Seems a goodly system of keeping this stuff organised ... :poke: :lol:.

Anyway, I have fitted the OEM roof bars and Rola basket to Roo2 in the last couple of days.


E-30_JAK_2012-_4037410_Ew.jpg



Took it for a spin into town today on the Nepean Highway.

From about 70 km/h, it started to purr.

By about 80 km/h, the purr had become a more of a roar ... :( :(.

This will drive me NUTS, in short order ... Fortunately, it is my intention to fit the basket to the lid on my rebuilt trailer, where it should be out of the wind, and the noise should be well behind me ....

Will keep you posted about all this ... :iconwink: ;) :raspberry:
 
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^ That would be good. Maybe meet up with some of the Brisbane crowd too.

I have a friend in Caloundra whom I will be visiting while in Brisbane, so have to drive past Woodford's front door to get there.

Will probably be leaving Brissy at the end of the first week on December, assuming that I get there at all ...

I'll probably come to Adelaide in early 2015 and catch up with family and friends there as well. I plan to do the Flinders Ranges and Coober Pedy area on that run.

We will just have to see how it all pans out. I was originally heading for Brisbane in April LAST year ... :(!!
 
Possibly the longer one depending upon time constraints.
My, still working, (much) better half is holiday challenged as she (we) have grandiose plans for 2016 including a Simpson crossing with the SA SCC for their 40th I think it is and she wants to accumulate some time. Being a retired free agent holidays don`t restrict me.
I have previously traveled the shorter route a couple of times. You can access Lake Eyre from Marree via a property, Manorina(?), which is well worth the small deviation, about 200 kms return I seem to think.
I think both routes would be pretty good. I haven`t traveled either the full Birdsville or Strezlecki Tracks, only sections at odd times.
Log onto wwwsubaclub.com to get an idea of what they are up to although the website is often well out of date.
Regards
ateday
 
^ Good to know, thanks Ate.

My (also much better) half is doing a Fine Arts degree. Neither of us are still working, but her lack of facility with the computer is keeping me nailed down here, as it would be tantamount to 'desertion in the face of the enemy' to leave her to her own devices. So much of what she is doing requires an intimate facility with the computer and a whole swag of programs just to lodge her assignments etc, and she hasn't got it. She is learning, though ... :iconwink: :).

I have only been to the very southern parts of the Flinders Ranges, and that a very long time ago. I have never been to Wilpena Pound.

I also have a desire to stand and look out over the Ediacaran Hills before I die (may that latter be a long time coming!), as this is where fossils of the first complex life forms has been found on this planet. It seems fitting, somehow.
 
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"New" SubaXtreme bullbar for Ratbag's SG Forester

Well Folks, TB delivered the new (to me) SubaXtreme bullbar today, as arranged.

Lovely to meet such a terrific human being too. He squeezed in time for a coffee, and an all too short chat. He has to get back to Sydney by tonight ...

Anyway, I have just used turps to remove the stock number. Came off easily.

Took it out onto the footpath and gave it a good wash down with TurtleWax. That's removed most of the gunge and bug guts :). The rest will need some cutting polish to get it off. Not to worry. I will do that after I have given Roo2 its yearly bath while I have a bucket full of TurtleWax, and hopefully the energy!

I have taken photos all round of the bar - front, rear, side views and detail shots of the mounting bracket for both the car side and the actual bar (the bits they gloss over so completely in the SubaXtreme video!). Also the fog light mounting brackets.

There will be before and after shots, which I will post up later today.

The surface finish is hammertone grey, and appears to be very well applied. There are some small areas of damage to the coating, but nothing that needs a re-spray or even touching up. The cut and polish and a further coat of Porzelack Carnauba wax should make it look just great.

The mounting bar needs a little bit of cold galvanising paint and top coat in a couple of places before it goes on the car. No worries, might even get to painting that today.

The bar is complete - as per TB's photos here (and reproduced below):

https://www.offroadsubarus.com/showpost.php?p=86263&postcount=5

2qbgftk_smaller.jpg


Nice that it has the mounting holes for spot lights (or a light bar ... ), and specially that it has the mounting bracket for my UHF aerial!

It will be substantial enough so that if I am unfortunate enough to cross paths with any animals at high speed, there may be cosmetic damage to the car bonnet, but the unfortunate beast will not be able to proceed through my radiator! Currently, there is no impediment at all to this sort of damage.

AFAICS, the bar complies with all the new bullbar regulations introduced in NSW (only there, so far ... ). However, I will probably retrofit some indicators and running lights (parking lights) to the bar itself, like the ones on the series I SG bar (and on TB's Outback bar ... ).

Photos and more later. One very happy camper here!

Again, thanks to TB for having the generosity of spirit to snaffle this when he saw it, knowing how rare these are second hand. And for passing it on to me at a very reasonable price.
 
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Ratbag,

The only other essential parts you'll need to fit the bar on are 2 support plastic pieces for the front grille. These attach to the top of the grill and serve as an extension to the mounting points near the top of the radiator.

Have a look at this post on my thread and you'll see the 2 plastic pieces where the top of the grille attaches:

https://www.offroadsubarus.com/showpost.php?p=80058&postcount=179

If you didn't get them, let me know and I can pull mine out and measure them up for you...

Pedro.
 
Thanks, Pedro.

I haven't got that far yet ... I reckon Clark Rubber will have something if I can't make them out of ice cream container lids ... :iconwink: :lol:.

Roo2 has had its annual bath, and so has the bar (both parts).

Have just located my can of cutting polish etc, and the various marks are polishing off the bar quite well. However, there are lots of these, mostly bug guts, and I am approaching the knackered state pretty quickly. Time for a rest and a cuppa, methinks!

I might also get the mighty RonnyRoo washed today. I hate doing it because the front has so many fiddly bits and the roof is so high I have to get out the short step ladder to reach the middle! It takes about twice as long to wash properly as my SG ... :(.
 
Gidday Pedro (or anyone ... )

The top bars on mine seem to be slightly un-square to the bumper part it bolts into. Very roughly, the D/S is about 12mm higher than the P/S at the inner pair of the 4 bars where they attach into the sockets on the bumper part.

Is this a normal manufacturing tolerance? Or should I remove the bar assembly completely and have a look at what's causing this?

Assuming that there is nothing obvious that's causing this, should I either cut one side down a bit, or pack the lower side up with a big washer or two?

Any/all thoughts welcome :poke:.
 
^not exactly sure what you mean, Ratbag? Do you mean the tube section attachment to the body of the bar itself? If so, you can remove the tubes by unscrewing the 4 points from inside the bar skin - there are 6 bolts total from memory. You can then investigate what's wrong...

In regards to where the top of the grille should attach, i've taken the following photo to help you out:

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Cheers,
Pedro.
 
Nice score! :biggrin:

Do you mean the hoop is sitting higher on one side? I wonder if the holes on the bracket that attaches it are slotted...If so, you would be able to adjust it
 
Thanks for that photo, Pedro. I will make up something to fit there, whether plastic or aluminium. Depends what I can easily lay my hands on, I guess. I also need to make up an insect screen for behind the grill. I have some heavy duty mesh that I can use for that.

When viewed from straight on from the front, the top part of the assembly is not parallel to the bottom part from side to side. I have taken some photos, but need to have a shower ... everything hurts ... :(.

Driver's side:

E-510_JAK_2015-_6148230_Ew.jpg


Passenger side:

E-510_JAK_2015-_6148231_Ew.jpg


I have slackened off the four hold down bolts (the ones through the bumper section into the bottom of the tubular uprights), and removed the four locking bolts that go through the bumper section into the sides of the upright bars. Lubricated everything ...

Maybe tomorrow I will completely remove these 8 bolts and separate the two parts so I can see what's happening at the join/s.

Even if I do nothing to any of it, there is no structural problem, just a slight aesthetic one.

I also need to buy some appropriate bolts, nuts and spring and flat washers to attach the bar proper to the car side of the mounting bracket. It's all pretty flaming solid! I must remember to weigh the bar and bracket before fitting. I will weigh the OEM bumper and reinforcing bar after removal for comparison.
 
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Gidday NL

NachaLuva said:
Nice score! :biggrin:
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Yup. It will help protect things a bit more ... :biggrin:.
There is (very roughly) about 30-40 mms more clearance than the OEM bumper.

Do you mean the hoop is sitting higher on one side? I wonder if the holes on the bracket that attaches it are slotted...If so, you would be able to adjust it
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That's the problem. The light mounting bar is not level.

I have just finished uploading the photos and posted above.
 
Ah, now I'm with you...

It could have been welded crooked. Can you check parallelism between top bar and driving light bar? If they are parallel, than it's worth loosening the bolts and re-aligning.

I would be interested in your weight readings. Never compared them, even after a few removal and re-installation cycles.

Pedro.
 
^ That occurred to me as I was processing and uploading the images ...

I don't think I can measure anything very accurately until I have it hog tied - i.e. on the car. It's just too difficult to hold it steady while measuring it!

The aesthetics don't bother me. If I run into problems fitting a light bar level, that will irritate me a lot ...
 
I rubbed mine back and gave it a wipe with prepsol then sprayed with a colourmatched can from auto1. Mind was coated in the hammertone and its held up realy well for the 2 years since. Really cleans up the look and well worth the $30 odd and couple of hours to do.

Mine is a little out of square too.
 
Gidday ST

I'm of two minds about repainting mine. Leaving it as hammertone means that I shouldn't have problems with reflection from the headlights.

However, it also makes the car less visible ... Having said that, I always drive with my headlights on during the day on the open road.

Interesting that yours is also out of square :shrug:.

Managed to measure the difference - it's around 10 mms out.
 
Maybe so, Taza, but there would be a lot of work involved.

Because I'm so sensitive to glare, the back of the tubes would either have to remain as hammertone (one lot of masking), or be painted matte black after the top coats of the front half have hardened properly (a couple of weeks, at least).

Another alternative would be to strip the tubes back to aluminium, but that's another rod for my poor aching back!

Perhaps a good, practical compromise would be to paint the bumper part and leave the tubes hammertone? That might look OK too.
 
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