July 20th, 2005.

Sorry about the delay since the last update. There's been little report really, which is a good thing as well as a bad thing. Offers for him have been non-existant, so I really think I keeping him. I've just been driving Zak and enjoying him as much as is practical. He had a 1600 starter until last thursday but thats mostly sorted now. He really is top fun to drive once you get used to the gear shift.
The most amazing thing worth mentioning lately is that Zak got through rego this year with out being knocked back on anything. Hans Klaack tells me the front end will need shimming soon but everything else was fine. Added to that, Liz' Suzuki Swift did the same thing later that afternoon. Two pink slips in one day and no issues.
A couple problem solving things have happened recently. The first is the problem starting him when hot has dissappeared. Just before my last update I had huge dramas with Zak not starting. It turned out to be the main ECU power relay. This is a known potential fault for Subarus as Anthony (my Subaru guru) tells me. The other problem is that they are in excess of $100 and take a day to come in to a Subaru dealer. Luckily I picked one up out of a front cut from an import dealer for $10! I was so happy. Anyway, until I'd sorted my starter issues I didn't realise that the new relay had fixed the other problem with hot starting. Just goes to show you never can tell. Of interest is that Brad from Custom Offroad was recently telling me that he replaces both the fuel pump relays and power relays with more easily found, generic Bosch items. I think I might do that soon.
The next thing I fixed recently was the starter as I said before. It was my intention until recently to fit a high torque starter ($400 and cheaper than a reco kombi auto starter with a new gear), until I talked to Brad while in Brisbane a few weeks back. It seems that he is using a standard 2L kombi starter to turn over his EJ22 powered crewcab with no dramas. This got me wondering. What if the problem wasn't the 1800 starter but an earthing problem? Brian suggested fitting a dedicated battery cable from one of the starter mounting bolts to the negative pole on the battery. Well, it seems to be heaps better. I hot started the car many time last weekend in less than ideal conditions and the 1800 starter did the trick every time.
The other thing that has been done recently is a wheel alignment. As we were planning some highway driving, it seemed like a good idea to sort the front end out. I was having dramas with pretty serious vibration at 65mph on the freeway. I ducked round the corner to the local tyre shop and had the whole front end looked at. The wheel alignment was fine, however, it seems the front wheels are slightly buckled. Another thing to fix at some time. Oh well... thats what you get from second hand wheels. Having said that, the car is now stable at well over 65mph...not that I've gone that fast. Just the speed limit you understand... ;o)

After what sems like an age, I have finally driven Zak on Stockton Beach just last weekend. On friday we packed the car up (you'll be amazed how much fits) and went up the freeway to Newcastle and beyond it, Stockton. The freeway was a hoot. Zak pulls up hills on only a little throttle is a joy to drive. When we got toStockton the tyres went down to 15pds and we went onto the sand. Then the fun began. Subaru motors are AWESOME! Easy 2nd gear in the dunes and 3rd on the beach.

Unfortunately, by the time we were at Anna Bay (the other end of the beach) I was having dramas getting the clutch to disengage properly. I tensioned it up more and Brian and I went for a play on the dunes. Talk about power. The only thing stopping it climbing dunes is ground clearnance (I can hear Brad saying 'I told you so' already). Then there was the bowl I was playing in. 45deg plus power slides around the birm until the clutch got a bit smelly. Brian suggested we drive down to the Wreck for a look and give it a rest.

To the far left is Brians New truck since Grandpa was rolled last year.
Mmmm...turbo diesel.

Apparently Brian was run down by a speeding buggy...
I find beer and pizza usually cures this. ;o)

The next day we went for a toboggun and played with some kites. However I was still having clutch dramas so I had to take it easily. After go over the suspected problems we gave up. I'm going to have to pull out the motor to fix it. General consensus now seems to be that the pressure plate nuts are likely to be loose. Saturday afternoon we came home followed by friends just in case we broke down on the way. However, Zak got us home just fine, happily doing 110kmh all the way. Just a shame we had all the issues whith the clutch.

Till next time... :o)

Up top of the sand dunes on Saturday afternoon.

August 4th, 2005.

Not good news tonight. Last night I finally took a spanner to Zak after having him sit still since we got home from Stockton. I took the starter motor out in the hope that by looking in through the hole in the belhousing, I would find some clutch bolts holding the pressure plate to the flywheel loose. All I found was the top starter bolt was loose. This is a real pain as it means I have to pull the motor out completely. I didn't really want to do this because, A/ the last time the motor was out of the car, the body wasn't on. And B/ there are a number of things i want to do to the chassis and engine mounts and they involve taking the motor out, not something I want to do twice. Consequently, I find myself not having the time to pull the car apart again completely, but still needing to pull the motor out. Probably need to speak to, Roger, my engineer in the near future to figure out what to do next.

Anyway, these are my intentions for the car;
1. Have the gearbox and motor sit lower in the chassis allowing more downward travel and ground clearance. Ie, new engine and gearbox mounts and strapping.
2. Shorten the sump dramatically.
3. Seam weld the chassis horns.
4. Brace the shock towers and chassis horns.
5. Discard the frame under the car and rebuild the floor pan with with chequer plate and tube along the sides.
6. Redo the lower mounting points for the engine cage.
I'm sure the gearshift might get some attention at the same time. As you can see, it's not for the faint hearted. And that's not including any issues with the clutch. Oh well, have to talk to Roger first.

Alternatively, I could dump the car into the weeds and have a street buggy....

What do you think? :o/

August 7th, 2005.

Here are just a few pics of me some of the way into pulling the motor out. It took me about an hour and a half to pull the cage/radiator/scoop off the back of the car. And that was taking my time. It wasn’t nearly as hard as I thought it would be. Makes me feel more confident about how I put it together to begin with. The whole back of the car is held on by 12 bolts. There were more cable ties than bolts. What took all the time was disconnecting the electrical connections. I also pulled the bootlid off. I could have left it on but the risk of scratching it was so much higher so I pulled it off first. When I got the back off I noticed how much sand was on top of the motor. Most of the top had a layer 10mm deep. So before I pull the motor out next week I’ll give it a good hose down and maybe a degrease.

I’ve decided to leave the motor and gearbox mounts as is until December when I have more time to change them. I also want to be able to drive him for 3 months instead of having him sitting in the garage in bits distracting me from studying. Besides, I yet to talk to Roger properly about what I want to do. Definites are that the floor will be chequer plate and square steel tube along the sides. The standard thin sheet pan floor is going. I’m thinking I might be even be able to do this without having to remove the body from the pan, which would be a real plus. I’m also rethinking how I’m going to pick up the rear roll bar mounts onto the frame horns. What I’ll be aiming to do is triangulate everything with smaller size tubing, rather than have everything totally over engineered like it is at the moment.

Just one of those things I spose. I reckon I might have to try and pull it out with and easy-out and then get another one off Snowy. Because of the situation with the post, the soft-top flapped open twice on the way home, until it was taped down with duct tape. I didn’t want to take the car out of gear, so Liz got out and did an admirable job. Mmm…duct tape, it and Araldite keep the world spinning.

Expect a report on what I find in the clutch. Just pray it’s not too expensive. We’re kinda broke at the moment. Till next time…

August 14th, 2005.

Well, yesterday was the day. After hours of mucking around and fair amount of frustration the motor finally came out. Most of the dramas revolved around the fact that parts of the adpator plate stopped me from being to undo the engine mounts from the motor and slip it out backwards. However, once I got over that and actually got the motor out it became very clear why I was having clutch dramas at stockton.

I was talking with Hans Klaack on friday while I was down in Fairfield, and it was his opinion that the clutch was full of sand. After I mentioned the gap in the motor underneath he was even more sure. Well, he was absolutely right. He was also right about what would have happened to the sand once in there. He said it would be ground into a fine powder. Well the whole mechanism was clogged with the powder. If you look at the photos below, you'll see what I mean.

Powder is caked around the friction plate. It's a wonder it could grip at all. Below, a different picture shows the contrast even better.

This pile of dust on the ground (about a handfull) only represents about a third of the stuff that came out of the pressure plate and friction plate.

The Bellhousing shows a similar mark. The dark patch down the bottom is from wet sand that was caked there.

Now that I know how the sand got in, it's clear to me that it's also full of dust from all the dirt roads and motorkhanas. I really think the sand was just the last straw. However, you'll be happy to know that the thrust bearing was the only part I had to replace. The friction plate was a little scored but everything else was just very dirty. If anyone tells you standard VW clutchs are not up to heavy duty use, they don't know what they are talking about. This is just a German Sachs unit and it has stood up to this with amazing style.

What is the moral to the story?
MAKE SURE EVERY OPENING INTO THE ENGINE AND GEARBOX IS COVERED BEFORE DRIVING OFFROAD OR ON SAND!!!! :o(

Gee I hate learning the hard way...

The motor is mostly in but everything else needs to be put back on. I'll be finishing all that in the coming weekend. Before I go to the trouble of putting the radiator back on though, I'll be testing the clutch.

Til next time...

August 24th, 2005.

The adventure continues. The car is all back together now, but wouldn't you know it. It won't start. I managed to get to run for a few seconds without the radiator of exhaust connected and ran a bit rough. The second start supplied me with a big back fire. It seems that while there is heaps of fuel and spark, the timing is a bit funny. Brian and I spent some of last saturday afternoon trying to figure it out, but I've been sick since then and so it hasn't had a look in. Ah, the joys of Modern EFI. Oh well, hopefully it'll be sorted on saturday arvo. I'm sure, just like so many other things on the car, it will be simple and silly. Coz if it's expensive, there will be a very pricey VW ornament sitting in the garage until early next year. :o(

August 27th, 2005.

Well, the beast runs again. Don't know what caused the issue, all I really did was pull a few electrical connections apart and check them. On plugging them back in the computer threw a code when provoked and the engine ran fine. An initially rattle was traced to a spark plug I hadn't torqued up when I was trying to diagnose the problems of before. I also fixed the anchor post for the soft top that broke off at Stockton. Snowy kindly gave me a few spare ones yesterday. I am yet to touch up the paint, that can wait.
The only other issue was a weird grinding noise coming from the back drivers side wheel. Couldn't find any good reason. I really think it was probablly just yet more sand stuck in the brake drum. Anyway, all good now. I took Zak off to the local car wash for a rinse down after all the dirt of the holidays and Stockton. All went well and he started fine afterwards too. Now he's back on the road I have to say, I forgot what I've been missing out on. Driving wise, he's not very refined, but he goes hard. Can't wait for the weather to get that little bit warmer so I can take the top down and cruise. ROLL ON SPRING!!!