casm

Seafoam's more of a one-shot deal than something that lives in your crankcase for the rest of your vehicle's life - the way I usually do it is to spray about one-third of the can down the intake while the engine's running, switch off and let it sit for around 15 minutes, then put the rest into the fuel tank with a full tank of gas. Be careful when pouring or spraying into the intake since adding too much at once puts you at risk of hydrolock. I personally prefer the spray because it's harder to accidentally spill in too much at once; it's also easier to get it distributed evenly throughout the intake. At about the point where the engine starts bogging down, back off on adding more Seafoam, let the idle come back up to normal, and add more. After you've added your third of a can and let it sit for 15 minutes or so, start up again (it may be a little reluctant to catch, but this is normal) and set the idle at 2000rpm. Enjoy the smoke show; once the volume of smoke coming out of the tailpipe is around half what it was initially, crank the idle down to around 1500rpm. Once that one's down to half its volume, re-set the idle to normal and let it blow the last of the carbon out. This is how I usually do mine; unless I'm feeling less lazy than normal I don't bother with getting it directly into the intake manifold via the brake booster vacuum line or similar. And I have to say that while I don't believe in miracles-in-a-can, it's worked very well for me over the years on both carburetted and fuel-injected vehicles. With 173,200 miles on the clock, the Brat now has much improved throttle response, smoother idling, and less top-end din (it still needs a carb rebuild, but there's only so much Seafoam can do ). For about six bucks a can twice a year, it's well worth it. One thing I'll add: I've never used it in the crankcase. My preference is to do a diesel flush prior to whichever oil change falls at the six-month mark, so can't really comment on Seafoam's effectiveness there.

Aaaand she's home Did the 400-mile drive from Sacramento without any problems at 70-75mph all the way. Found that the fast idle screw likes to back out (Carter/Weber carb) of position this morning, but at least I know what the issue is and can adjust it as needed. Planning on doing a Seafoam and oil change tomorrow as well as checking the plugs, rotor, etc. - all the usual basic stuff you do after getting a 'new' car. The good: Engine pulls well, clutch is good, everything works, but the tranny's in need of attention. Basically, it's extremely sloppy in all positions and third's a real bugger to engage smoothly - I suspect that the synchro is on its last legs since it goes in OK as long as you rev-match it, but that's really tricky (particularly on downshifts) given the lack of accuracy in the lever. I haven't got in to look at it yet, but if it's a fairly easy fix (bushings or similar) I'd appreciate knowing about it; the Haynes manual wasn't exactly specific in this regard. The bad: rust is worse than I could tell from the photos. The passenger-side outer wheelarch was eaten through and Bondoed at some point; the Bondo's mostly flaked-out by now. The inner wheelarch on that sid isn't too bad though there is some bubbling, but the driver's side inner wheelarch also got the same Bondo treatment, most of which has also gone AWOL. Shock mounts are good, though. Overall I'm pretty happy with it. Think I'll leave it stock (at least as long as it has the EA-81 in it), but definitely want to look into a 5-speed D/R conversion. Should make for a fun little runner, and photos are up here.

Good call. Thanks Sounds good. Are there any online sources for cheap OEM parts I should know about? If it doesn't run to too much, I'll probably just order the whole lot in one go.

Cool. I can deal with (mostly) bolt-on upgrades Will an '82-'87 compressor from the junkyard be OK to use R134 in, or should I look for a rebuilt unit? Obviously a rebuild is better, but if I can save a couple of hundred bucks... Yep - electrolytic corrosion between the head and the block! This one's coming from an area that gets snow, so it's been run with antifreeze (checked this with the seller). I'll likely have to deal with rear wheelarch rot, but from the photos it looked a lot better than my last one was in that regard. Sweet. One last question: is anything in this list Brat-specific, or can I use items from a GL sedan/wagon? I'm guessing it's all straight-swap stuff, but want to be sure before I scour the junkyards - I think I've only seen one Brat in there in the last two years, but you can usually throw a rock and hit a half-dozen GLs. Confirmed I tried playing catch-up in traffic' date=' but never quite made it. Nice Brat! Sweet! Does that retain the 1.5:1 low range, or is it the 1.2:1? I really want to keep the 1.5:1 ratio - to be honest, it's not as deep as I'm used to so don't want to reduce it any further until I've got a feel for it. Cool, thanks very much! We'll have to figure something out for a meet & greet after I get the thing down here - should be back late Tuesday night if all goes according to plan.

Cool, thanks - this sounds like the route I'm most likely to want to take. I'll definitely do some digging on the Off-Road forum. Wasn't aware that it's a hang glider launch spot - but I'm very familiar with that area; been geocaching up on the Santa Clara divide a number of times. Ever been up to the old Nike missile silo on Magic Mountain? It's been converted to a microwave repeater site for L.A. County, but you can still see the old launch tubes and water tanks. Link's here if you ever want to check it out. Cleghorn Road (starts here) off of the 15 and runs back up to Silverwood Dam on the 138 is another good day run - most of it's mild fire trail, but there's some interesting stuff off to the sides. Watch for quad riders and dirt bikes... Edit: it just occurred to me that I have Google Earth .kml files for a lot of this stuff, and they include routes - if there's a way for me to attach them, I'd be more than happy to post them. Could be handy for folks with GPS receivers.

Not to flog a dead horse, but I've owned a few Citroens over the years and can fill in a few things that weren't in the Wikipedia article. The Mehari was the world's first all-ABS-plastic-bodied car. The early bodies had virtually no reistance to UV, and as a consequence tend to tear like paper in parallel to the chassis, or 'starfish' around the rivets that hold them to the skeleton. Running gear is basically the same as the Citroen 2CV - 602cc air-cooled flat-twin, front-drive, interconnected trailing- and leading-arm suspension. Chassis are basically the same as for the 2CV, though the trailing rails are shortened about six inches: they're generally pretty strong, but original ones (which weren't galvanised) are susceptible to rust. Gearing is about 20% lower than the 2CV, and top speed's around 70mph flat-out. The 4WD variants had a 'real' 4WD system - two- or four-wheel-drive (FWD when in 2WD) with selectable high- and low-range, and a manually-lockable centre diff. I was buying one of the ex-Irish Army 4WD models before I moved here in 1998 (I'm half-Irish; grew up there): it had been used as a radio car, and was converted back to 12V from 24V. Still had the service clocks on the dash showing hours-in-service and one other item I'm forgetting. All 4x4 Meharis were LHD, and can be distinguished by the hood-mounted spare - actually, the spare mounts through the hood via a hole cut in it to a hinged frame underneath. They're really nifty little cars. Don't expect a lot in the way of sheer power, though - the 602cc engine put out a maximum of 29.5hp, but swapping the air filter for one from a Citroen AX GT could bump that up to around 31-32hp. They're great little load-luggers and surprisingly capable off-road courtesy of their long-travel suspension and light weight. Really fun, underrated little cars.

Got it. It sounds like 4.1 is the next bump up in gearing, which wouldn't be that much of a jump over 3.9 anyway - less than 10% for more than that in tyre diameter increase. What are the largest gears that my diffs can take, and are there any direct swaps with deeper-geared diffs if they won't? That sounds about right. I'm not sure on the 30s since I was just eyeballing them while moving; that was pretty much just my best-guess estimate and they could easily have been smaller or larger. Cool, sounds good!

Thanks for the replies, folks. It looks like I'll be bringing it home a week from Tuesday, so I'll post some photos once it's here. Anyway: Interesting. How horrible of a job is it? Any vehicle I've ever owned with broken A/C (or that didn't come with it as an option) I've just left that way and suffered, but this may be worth doing if it's not too bad. Is it all fairly drop-in, or are there any gotchas I should be aware of? Did A/C and non-A/C cars both use the same mounting brackets for the steering pump and alternator? Not a lot of RXes around here (I don't even remember the last time I saw one), but GL-10 turbos occasionally crop up in the junkyards. Good to know thanks. Awesome, thanks for the info I'm OK with FT4WD, but want to keep low range and would like to have the option of locking the centre diff if at all possible. My guess is that I probably currently have 3.7:1 gears, so if I do end up going to bigger tyres it looks as though 3.9s will be the only option that let me keep low range. Most of the off-roading I do falls into the 'trail riding' category, though I do have a habit of taking any technical stuff I can reasonably do without breaking my daily driver too badly. Been through Calico, parts of Johnson Valley, the Mojave Road, a good chunk of Big Bear, Rodman Mountains, Gorman, and a lot of random stuff in the general area. Not too big on dunes, to be honest - I've been to Glamis and Pismo and while it's fun, I'm more into the 'let's go see cool stuff' aspect of off-roading. If there's an abandoned mining camp, ghost town, petroglyphs, or something else to look at at the end of the trail, that's the sort of stuff I'm into. I'm in Pasadena. Funnily enough, I was passed on the freeway a few months ago by a really nicely-modified blue Brat and couldn't catch up with it in traffic to get a good look at it, but from what I remember it looked like it was on around 6" of lift with about 30" tyres. Rear quarter panels were diamond-plated, I think. Dunno if it was his or not, but I'd be more than interested in talking to anyone locally who has already done this - I like having some idea of what I'm getting into before I start getting into it In any event, thanks for the advice, everyone. I'll probably end up running it stock for a while until I figure out what exactly it is that I want to do with it, but this is certainly giving me some food for thought.

Welp, after searching on-and-off for the longest time, I finally found The Brat. It's an '85 GL, jump seats & T-tops, no A/C. Won't be able to pick it up for about 10 days or so due to work commitments, but I'm looking forward to getting my hands on it and thumping it around the deserts and mountains. I had a base-model '86 years ago and loved it, so it'll be nice to be back in one again. Anyway, I've got some questions and hopefully people have answers I did some searching earlier, but could use clarification on a few things. 1) I'm probably going to want to do a 5-speed swap, but will need to keep low range. My recollection is that there was an early-'90s Legacy or Loyale that had the 5-speed gearbox with selectable low range; what years did it come in, what engine was it behind, and what were the codes for that engine and transmission? 2) I don't have A/C, but live in Los Angeles. Was there ever a retractable screen or similar available for the T-tops? Sitting in traffic in 100degF heat is going to be pretty unbearable if I'm trapped under a glass bubble with the sun beating right into the cabin. 3) Lift kits. Experience in the Jeep world (I have a 2000 Cherokee lifted 3.5") has taught me that everyone has their own preference in this department, but I may eventually want around 3"-4" of lift on the Brat. What is the largest-diameter tyre that can be fitted without having to trim the wheelarches, and how much lift is required to achieve that? How do they affect suspension, steering, and driveline angles? What are the pros & cons of the various kits? Is there a FAQ I should be consulting that would answer this? 4) Last question: what are the options for deeper gears and/or traction aids such as LSDs or selectable lockers? I figure that I'd like to maintain economy and acceleration as much as possible with larger tyres, and fully-open diffs kinda suck in certain situations Again, is there a FAQ I should be reading? Thanks in advance for answering my questions - I'm really looking forward to having one of these little beasties again and re-learning what I've forgotten about them

Okay, after looking at the third car in from front in the picture below: I guess I now know what the 'cyclops eye' Brats were. But I'm curious as to how it operated - only with the high beams, or as a foglight? What happens to the Subaru badge when it's on? In any event it's very cool, reminding me of older Tatras.

Yeah, I've seen rollbarred Brats like this around here before - mostly when I was a kid, but occasionally one sneaks by on the freeway. The rollbars usually have BMX padding on them, FWIW. And just for the sake of being pedantic, those photos are probably from the Pacific Northwest, judging by the weather - the one interior shot we could see was of a LHD vehicle, but Japan's a RHD country.

Leaking injector? One could be dribbling gas into the cylinder while the vehicle's off.

Incidentally, for anyone who hasn't seen it yet: the Axial Vector Engine. Looks promising, just hoping it's not vapourware.

A couple of basics are at play here: increased frontal area from lifting, and taller overall gearing from the larger-diameter tires are definitely contributing, but a two-thirds drop over stock sounds way off the charts. Dumb question, but could you be losing fuel anywhere? Possible leaks under delivery (i.e., not while parked) from cracks in lines, a damaged tank, etc.? Assuming the carb is OK and not sending too much fuel to the cylinders (and that the timing's correct), I'd start looking for possible leaks. This has caught me out before on a couple of cars. Also, how are you calculating your fuel mileage?

And even going beyond the finances, nobody takes into account the energy and materials spent in making a new car - save natural resources, buy used. Oh, and not to mention that those 60/50mpg figures are under ideal conditions; most owners are reporting numbers in the low 40s. My 1977 Renault LeCar used to get the same mileage. Hybrids really were a great job on behalf of the auto industry in terms of pulling the wool over the consumer's eyes. Too bad that we can't get them in the five CARB states right now On the upside, though (and admittedly it's not vegetable oil, but still cool), the Jeep Liberty CRD leaves the factory with B5 biodiesel in the tank, and VWoA apparently just approved B20 for use in the TDi-engined cars.

The Citroen SM is an excellent car, but suffers from poor timing gear design. Expect to do the timing chains every 25000-30000 miles without fail, or have SM World debug yours. If you're not familiar with Citroen's hydropneumatic system, I would strongly recommend having someone else work on that aspect of it - and it's a little different between the SM and DS (likely the only other Citroen you'll see in the US with it, though some CXs and XMs did make it in). The Peugeot 604, what can I say... I'm a French car fan and have owned several Peugeots (still have my 405 Mi16), and wouldn't touch a 604. They were great cars on paper, but the problem is that every stereotypical French build quality joke applies to them. They're heavy and the emissions-strangled PRV V6 engine has a hard time lugging them around, which is why they had the dubious distinction of getting the worst EPA fuel economy of any vehicle sold in the US when new. The turbodiesels weren't any better, and parts interchangeability with the 505 and 504 was virtually nil. Also a good car; my dad had one (Series II) when I was a kid. From what I remember nothing ever really went wrong with it, but servicing it was a pain due to the engine being partially under the windscreen - you couldn't reach things like the two rear spark plugs. I know it had some minor issues, but don't really remember what they were. Just beware of Jensen's spotty build quality and, again, owners trying to do things their own way...

Yes and no... Remember that the standards vary country-by-country, so some may test for one thing that the others don't. Particulates (in the form of smoky exhaust) seem to be a fairly common denominator, though. Getting on to the hydrogen production question for a moment (and I'll admit up front that I'm a biodiesel bigot, but would get behind anything workable): the fuel cell issue may have been solved if there's any truth to this article. It'll be interesting to see how it works out.

While this is correct as far as it goes, California's been openly opposed to diesel-engined passenger vehicles for probably close to 15 years - that we'll start seeing them on the market again here over the next couple is hard to believe, knowing how much this state loves enacting knee-jerk legislation. It's one of the few smart things they've done for us lately. With respect to diesel emissions, I completely agree with tougher emissions standards for them. It would've been ludicrous to continue using high-sulphur diesel when new engine technologies effectively make its need redundant. It's also rather nice that the White House is taking an active interest in biodiesel as a workable fuel. I'd be interested to know the source on this, since as far as I'm aware there're virtually no mechanical differences between, say, a VW TDi engine sold in the US and one sold in Europe. This is correct, but most of that particulate issue stems from commercial vehicles, not passenger vehicles. Diesel passenger vehicles are about 40% of the European car market, and are subject to far more stringent emissions requirements than trucks - much like here. Modern catalysed passenger diesels typically run as particulate-free as gas engines.

Jaguars are good cars. Get one that has been taken care of all its life, and it should give you minimal problems. When it does start acting up (and it will), FIX the problem. Don't try to bodge it or work around it, just fix it the first time and it should stay fixed. A lot of the supposed unreliability of these vehicles comes from mechanics trying to cut corners, or not bothering to follow the correct maintenance procedures. The straight-six is a very robust engine when looked after properly, and you'll only ruin the car's balance by putting in a Yank V8. Transmissions... Well, I've never been a fan of the 3-speed auto, but they do last - again, if they're treated properly. Service them when they say they need it and they should last more or less indefinitely. Electrics: there's some truth to the 'Lucas = Prince of Darkness' jokes, but, again, in a properly-maintained vehicle this shouldn't be an issue. I've owned British cars on both sides of the Atlantic before, and have had absolutely nowhere near the nightmares with electrics everyone claims they do. This is on Jaguars, Land-Rovers, Rovers, Morgans, and MGs. The one problem child: an Austin Maestro (one of the worst cars ever made, period) whose wipers, lights, and heater all packed up at the same time at 2am in pouring rain in the middle of nowhere, Wales. However, that was another car that had been seriously screwed-with over the course of its life. Whatever you do, buy the best one you can find and take care of it. Cheap Jags are always trouble, and will be money pits. Not that better Jags won't be, but at least you'll be minimising the profile.

Much like hybrids, themselves an ill-conceived, marginally-effective, and at best overcomplicated approach to the issue. If it weren't for the California legislature effectively killing diesel passenger vehicles in this market (the US' largest), we'd probably be close to on a par with Europe in that regard.

Not exactly - it was actually the Metric Conversion Act of 1975 that prompted this. Thirty years on, we can see exactly how successful Carter's brainchild has been.

Don't touch 'em. About their biggest selling point is that they look crystal-clear; in actual fact, the optics suck and the reflectors aren't much better. Grab some Sylvania Silverstars if you want good lighting at a decent price - I've been running them in all my vehicles for about the past four years, and am extremely happy with them on a price/performance basis.

They look like 505 Wagon steelies - of course, that doesn't mean anything since Pug owners have long since resorted to cannibalism when it comes to replacing stuff on their cars. If you need lugs and the threads on the Sube's studs are compatible with the Pug threads, I'd recommend getting in touch with Dubarr Automotive (17571 Griffin Ln. # B Huntington Beach, CA 92647-6792; (714) 375-0991). They're a good source for Peugeot stuff, very helpful, and all-around good guys. Been taking my Pugs to them for years and have zero complaints.

Just a small suggestion: use rigid pieces on any section that doesn't need to have a bend in it. If you can use rigid pieces on anything that does bend, so much the better. The reasoning behind this is that under pressure from water, any flexible part may collapse somewhat. Depending on the depth of the water and location of the flex, this could allow water into the intake, typically at joins. Even using RTV or similar as a sealant isn't a guarantee - if it pulls up or tears, you'll suck in H2O. By eliminating flex points, this is less likely to happen. Just my $0.02 from experience with (thankfully) someone else's homebrew snorkel.

Apparently, someone did it. Very cool and very insane. http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=2180560