Vehicle X

Coming soon..

Not quite sure what I'm going to do with it yet, Would look pretty wild with a lift and some muddies on it..

 

[Ben Up North]

Sounds like a plan! Very excited to see how this build progresses




Ugghhh, the internet strikes again lol. The 6 spd comes with the R180 rear diff, when fitting a 6spd into another Subaru, it's almost always done with a R180

Ahh! got me! You're exactly right and I can't read proper and good like..


I mistook N/A as not available.. I believe it it should be Not Applicable - as it is standard with a R180, whereas the 5spd WRX came with a R160 (I think)?

 

[Ben Up North]

First two mods done!
1. I removed the horrible '90's mobile antenna, came off pretty easy with careful application of heat gun - jeepers those tihngs get hot!

2. Pulled the fuse on the radio/CD to stop the horrible whining noise of the CD player whenever I turned the car on.


It's a pity the stereo's shot, because that's about the last thing on my list of things to do.

Fortunately the engine sounds fantastic (reminds me a bit of my Dad's 911 which he had in the late 70's/early 80s 3.0L flat six I think it was), so I don't think I'll miss having tunes until it's been back on the road for quite a while.

I'm so keen to start on this, it's a good thing I don't have the cash to do anything at the moment. By not having the cash, I'm pretty much forced to research, plan things and do it right instead of my usual method of rushing at like a bull at a gate and almost invariably utilising a bit of bodging and bush technology.

There are some situations where a roll of 12guage wire, a pair of pliers and a hammer just aren't good enough.

 

[Ben Up North]

I've been reading through the paperwork on the beastie. Originally purchased by Quicksilver cruises in '93.
I've picked up a little bit of local history! I bet it was a head turner up in Port Douglas at the time. Mind you, it still is a bit of a head turner. :ebiggrin:

Oh, also discovered she's had a bit of a bash in the rear right panel. It's been replaired/replaced but the paint is crazing and they've rolled the edge of the drivers door to make it flush. I reckon it happened some time ago.
Can't tell from underneath which is good and it doesn't sound like they've used much bog.

Shopping list so far:

New brake liines to the calipers (one has split, may as well do them all.
Transmission cooler hose
Possibly a new sunroof frame - have to get it out and see if I can repair it.
2 x new tyres, front ones are near new RE003s, back are soome dodgy chinee brand that are very old and about to fall apart

After all of that, I've got to get the air-con going (not looking forward to that expense) and fix/replace/upgrade the sound system.

Once all of that's done (maybe not the radio, not really fussed about that) then I'll start work on Off-roading her.

 

[Ben Up North]

Pulled off the rear panel with the reversing lights in it as the diffuser(?) wasn't seated properly on the reflector thingy.
- If someone can help me out with terminology that'd be super!
So, it's got this black goopy sealant stuff (same sort of stuff you find when you pull apart a headlight) Anybody got any tips for how to remove it?

 

[Kevin]

Turps maybe?

 

[Ben Up North]

Dunno, I've been reading/watching a bit about it, the general consensus seems to be to bake it in the oven to soften it up, then push it down and put new over the top to seal again. It appears to have been like this for some time, I'm gussing it popped in the bingle and was never reseated, so there's a fair bit of crud in it so the common method is probably not going to do. also it's way too longto fit in an oven.
I think I'm going to try a hairdryer to see if that softens it enough to push down/take out.

 

[NachaLuva]

If it's the same stuff as headlights, you heat up the oven then turn it off, the sit the lights in there to soften the goop.

It's important to have the right temp & right length of time as you don't want to damage the lights.

Plenty of people have done this with headlights on Fozmafia, sorry, I don't know the details

 

[Ben Up North]

Problem is, the darn things too long to fit in an oven..

 

[NachaLuva]

Ok, safest way is with boiling water, a heat gun will work but you can very easily get it too hot

 

[El_Freddo]

Check out this link to applegeeks's Gen4 3.0 RB Liberty work on his rear tailgate garnish. Post #322 (on the page in the link).

You might find some handy hints from what he's done with his trim

Steady as she goes is certainly the way with this beauty! I'm sure thee love to see one of those on the forum if you've got time to extend yourself.

Cheers

Bennie

 

[Ben Up North]

Ok, safest way is with boiling water, a heat gun will work but you can very easily get it too hot

Boiling water, good idea!

You might find some handy hints from what he's done with his trim

Thanks for the link Bennie

 

[Ben Up North]

Removing this stuff is incredibly tedious. Boiling water softens it a bit. Wondering whether I should dismantle it as much as possible before applying boiling water to too much of it.

Hmm... never finishid this post..!
I've now moved on to using a hair dryer. works well! not hot enouh to affect the plastic, but warms up the goop nicely enough to scoop out some and squish the rest down.
then I'll probably get some new stuff and layer it on top.
At this stage I'm pretty confident it'll work out ok.

 

[Ben Up North]

Attacked the bit I really needed to do before I bothered about anything else.
The sunroof frame's a bit cactus.

First attempt at re-gluing hoodlining:

I wonder if I can get a roadworthy on it without a sunroof in it!

 

[Ben Up North]

More rust.
Will need to cut out an replace where the battery sits I reckon. This car definitely lived outside for a wet season or three, as well as having a dodgy battery in it.
Still confident though, if between that and the sunroof frame that's the worst of it I've come off lightly.
Going to have to pull up the carpet though. I'm sure there will be more.
Fun and games!
I shouldn't have said anything, I'm probably going to find buckets of it in the floor pan.

But... I think I've found tyres for it! (eventually - it'll end up with stock for roadworthy)

Bridgestone (bang for buck I can't buy anything else cheaper) D697 235/60/16.

Although could possibly put 215/65/16 (same as I've got on the forester)
but apart from width the thing that grabs me is speed rating. the 235/60/16 in D697 A/T have an 'H' rating versus 'S' for the 215/65/16.

And being that the SVX is a 'high performance' vehicle, it makes sense to get a better speed rating, because who doesn't like going flat out in the dirt? :ebiggrin:

 

[Beachworm]

Does the tyre placard in the door jamb specify speed rating? If it does, you need to follow that as a minimum to get a safety cert.

 

[Ben Up North]

I'll be getting the safety cert (roadworthy up here) with Potenzas on it. The larger tyres will be down the track a bit.
Got a fair bit of work to do before I worry about A/T rubber.

at some stage it may become a case of "what placard"

 

[Ben Up North]

Replacement sunroof frame went in today. Hooray!
Sunroof doesn't work the best, but with a bit of a nudge it opens and with a bit of a nudge the other way it also closes!

Next step, Oil transmission & brake lines.
Got a fella coming to have a look at the air con on friday too, would be a bonus to have that working, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[Ben Up North]

Minor update
Oil transmission cooler line fixed (cut it shorter) until I get around to replacing it.

Managed to crack the rear light diffuser a bit. dang it.

Looking at the potential of putting a 6 speed box in it, Guy in Townsville has one out of a Spec B liberty 05ish but the centre diff is binding aparently. If the price is right I might get it. He has another with 130,000k's oon it but wants too much.

Then I'd need to get clutch and pedal, from what I've read the conversion's not too difficult.

Plan on pulling out the brake lines this weekend, maybe just one side so that I can see about getting new ones made up.

Edit: Air Con guy seems to think it just needs gassing but their might be a slight leak in the evaporator.

 

[Kevin]

Good to see it progressing

 

[El_Freddo]

Yes, very nice progress going on here.

Searching gumtree the other night, there’s an SVX auto box up for grabs in Vic for CHEAP! E-go could have it to your door for a reasonable price to have yourself a cheap/reasonably priced SVX box as a spare or a build up unit.

Cheers

Bennie