1992 L- Series Subaru Enduro Turbo Wagon
Regular club trippers from around the time Beth and I joined the Queensland Subaru club will have seen our Subaru undergo a great many modifications which took it from your standard bitumen-road-quality passenger vehicle to the off-road capable beast that it is today. We affectionately call it the Bloody Tough Subaru, as its Queensland number plates begin with the letters BTS, but with the recent addition of a turbo engine, the Bloody Tough Subaru is a lot tougher now.
Our car is a white L92 Enduro Wagon that began its life travelling country roads with an agricultural planning company. When we bought it in Feb 96, it came with a log book and was in great shape. Shortly thereafter, we joined the club.
The Early Days - Rainbow Beach 1996
Our first club outing was a maintenance day at the Subaru Shop where we each had the opportunity to get our cars in the air and check them out. Beth and I were just a little embarrassed when David Martin and Co started taking the mickey out of us for having a car that was in a totally pristine condition underneath with nary a scratch, let alone a dent. A couple of outings later and it soon looked like a veteran with dents asunder and the odd bash in the sill panels. Our first off road sojourn with the club was to Sundown National park which we found to be a titch unforgiving on unlifted vehicles – particularly the fuel tank which had its capacity and useable fuel somewhat diminished by a fair size dent directly under the fuel pick-up. That problem has since been corrected with the installation of an "Arnold" tank – an extended range 83 litre job that was fitted in time for the Simpson Desert trip of ‘97.
Sundown National Park Trip Report
Dune Action - Simpson Desert 1997
It took us some time to get 14 inch wheels and a lift kit, but once they were installed, we were able to get progressively more serious. During preparations for the desert trip we changed the front and rear springs to 33% heavier duty King Springs, installed heavier duty front struts and changed the rear shockers to the 86/87 KYB model with three-step adjustable collar. Khumo 185–75–14 tyres were fitted (great in sand but downright dangerous on wet bitumen) which gave great clearance but necessitated some front guard trimming and the addition of rubber guard flairs to make the wide track of the Speedies look a little more legal. The underneath work was finished off with rear boot protectors for both the inner and outer CV joints, however, the inners have since been discarded to make room for the larger tank.
The Elusive Lift Kit
Up top, we fabricated a cargo barrier which sits behind the front seats and made a relatively light steel mesh roof rack which attaches to the Rola roof bars and enabled carriage of two spare tyres for the desert trip.
Well, that’s the configuration that took us out and back on many trips, including the Simpson Desert, which saw us cover over 7,000 km in 17 days. The only maintenance casualties for us on the trip were a bent front strut on the Ghan Railway leg and a runaway throttle during the sand crossing (scary stuff). We even got over Big Red under our own power – albeit after four lengthy run-up attempts.
Big Red Run Up
Since moving down south, we have improved the car further by installing an RX EA82 Turbo from an imported front cut (87K on the clock), and added to the stopping power by changing the rear brakes to RX discs. Suspension-wise we have corrected that nasty rear end camber/toe-in that some folks will recall seeing, by swapping out the rear trailing arms with a rebushed set from a vehicle that had not been worked as hard as ours (thanks Ben). Up front, an additional set of gas shockers have been installed, and in the rear, a set of Monroe Air Adjustable shockers have been added, to maintain body height under extreme loads (both designs courtesy of John Petersen). With the latest batch of 195-80-14 Dunlop Adventurers, clearance is an even 310 mm all around (measured at the standard points), or 54 cm at the tow bar – a more meaningful indication of vehicle height.
Powerplant Transplant - BTS is now an L-RX Turbo Wagon
Sedate Hill Cimbing - Jacob's Ladder - Tasmania 1999
During our trip to Tasmania with the club, we stopped off at Suba Mods in Melbourne and had Mark Towns of the Victorian club install a 3.9 ratio gearbox and limited slip diff. That didn't prove to be very satisfactory as we seemed to lose a lot of power on the road, so we switched back shortly thereafter. Although the turbo provides a big boost in power over the normally aspirated engine, the power lost through driving very large diameter wheels is also very noticeable when switching from the 13 inch bitumen set to the off road 14 inch. To remedy that, we aim to switch to lower profile rally tyres in the very near future. Very good for rock climbing I’m told, but I still prefer a lot of clearance over the sand dunes.
Lake Pedder - Tasmania 1999
So what’s next for BTS? Well, not a lot really. Since moving down south we found it a bit impractical to travel often with the VIC or NSW suba clubs and tend to go it alone more than we did in Queensland. As a consequence, there is a greater chance of getting stranded with silly little things going wrong - as happened at Easter in 2001 - 5km up a steep fire trail, another 34 km from the nearest town and 200 km from spare parts. As a consequence, we have moved in to something a little more robust - a 2001 Nissan GU Patrol .... but we still have the Subaru for 'sports' outing with the suba club.
