edrach

Thanks for the compliment Pat. Sorry I couldn't be here to wish you off. I wish you a safe trip and Godspeed. It takes courage to make a x-country trip at this time of year; good luck to go with it. ---Ed---

Pat, you are smart to pack it in and make a new start tomorrow. Fatigue is not your friend when trying to drive cross country. You had me worried when my wife told me when you made it to our house. Good that you did the sensible thing rather than push on in the dark and with the snow in the mountains. Best of luck tomorrow.

You have an EA81 unless someone swapped it...unlikely. You can see the EA81 embossed in the engine casting just to the left of the crankshaft pulley. Whether it has a computer or not depends on whether it was made for California emissions or not (I think); the computer would be under the dash in the vicinity of the steering column.

Re-reading your post; I would suspect a short in the switch cluster around the steering post if it's shorting internally when you turn the wheel.

All the little red warning lights on (or glowing dimly) whenever the ignition is on, indicate a bad alternator. That would also cause your battery to not re-charge. Most auto parts shops will test the alternator for free; of course, they'd like you to buy their alternator so shop around by 'phone first for the best price and availability of an alternator. Be prepared to shell out for a battery too at this time of year.

You might opt not to do this at this time. Two of the bolts holding the fender on are hiding behind the bumper. I just did two fenders at PAP; luckily one bumper was already gone; getting at the two bolts on the other one was difficult at best. I wound up removing the bumper skin so I could get at those two bolts with a small 10 mm wrench.

I'm with qman on his thoughts. Only problem I have with mine is that in my unlifted Brat, the regular air cleaner doesn't clear the hood and I had to go with the low profile air cleaner. I believe it does cost me top end power. I'm thinking of having carbs unlimited check and re-jet mine for optimum performance with the new engine.

Here's the info for those of you wishing to party. It's on January 22nd at the PDX Holiday Inn. http://www.oregonscca.com/info/forms/banquet.pdf

Too bad you're so far away. I have a set of Legacy seats that I was going to install in my Brat except I got racing seats for it at Christmas. I posted them in the marketplace. Check the forum for a price.

Dan, I'll defer to the previous thread. Hopefully that'll work out for you. ---Ed---

If you don't mind outside parking I can ask a neighbor. He might want a small fee for it, I don't know.

Best shop in your area is Smart Service in Shoreline (just off I-5). Carter is probably the best dealer but I suspect Smart Service could do some--or all--of the warranty required work; check with them first. http://www.smart-service.com/ for all the information you need.

Zap, drop me a PM with your 'phone #; I tried to call but you have a new number.

Also, there's a sedan at Everett in pretty decent shape also.

Too late; I've got the rad and someone else was there and grabbed the front passenger door. Bumper is loose but still there as well as the fender; he didn't have time to get that. Sorry Matt.

Both Everett and Lynnwood yards have a Legacy that arrived within the last few days. I snagged a set of decent headlights and what appears to be a brand new radiator. The engine's valve covers were shiny clean and the timing cover had 147K written on it so I suspect the engine is a replacement; and judging from the condition of the radiator and heads some decent repair work had been done recently. Body is clean and it's the metallic blue color. Some ding-a-ling pulled the sparkplugs so if you're interested in the engine get in there soon (it's at Lynnwood). By the way, the price of the composite headlamps has gone up since they now charge extra for the housing assembly that the headlamps are mounted in. So far they're not charging for the bulbs themselves.

The Optima battery and others can be had for the best price from the Interstate warehouse in Everett. It's off of 128th about 4 miles from the Everett PAP.

Old cars are like old people; things start to go intermittently! But lots of TLC helps in both cases.

Warren is a gem. He's saved me over $1000 in un-necessary costs over the last 10 years and we never had to waiver the car. When he was done, it passed.

You would have had to spend over $150 to get the waiver.

Glad to hear it's finally through. Happy New Year!

No. Sorry they don't interchange since the rears don't need to turn the car, they don't have the same CV joint on the outside. Try www.cvaxles.com for a decent price and quality on re-manned axles.

All your non synthetic oils start off as plain old 30 weight. It's the additives that enhance the oil so it meets all those oil petroleum standards. The first time you start the car after the oil change, the additives start to go away; by the time you get to 3000 miles you are back to plain old 30 weight oil. That's why I change my oil at 2K; if I miss a weekend I can still get it done before the 3K mark. I got this from an oil engineer a long time ago and it seems to work for me. I generally get pretty decent mileage out of my cars...in excess of 250K typically. Changing the filter every 4K comes from the owner's manual which now says change the filter every 7500 miles. Call me conservative. Simplistic explanation, but I'm a simple guy.

I've never had problems with Fram, but that's probably because I change my oil every 2000 miles with a filter change every other time. That said, I buy my OEM filters by the case (of 6) and find the cost is the same unless I find a super sale on the Fram. I have switched over entirely since the cost is virtually the same.

I took one when BP was doing them in Canada. Great fun. The best course I had was a three day course at the Bertil Roos Performance Driving School. What a ball!