4x4_Welder

On my 81 Hatch, I have to use the key to open the rear hatch or, have somebody pull the handle while I lift the rear hatch. Is there supposed to be a spring or something to pop it clear of the latch? Or is this just a function of the struts? The struts seem to hold it up just fine, I accidentally left it open overnight and it stayed.

Easy way to tell, if the engine is a regular looking inline four, mounted crossways, it's a Justy. If the engine is a flat four, it's a Hatch. Also, on the tailgate it should say either GL or Justy. If it is a Justy, wait about six months and drop it off at my shop. I'm always looking for custom jobs like that, that's waht I am building my business around.

I've rebuilt Chrysler FWD autos before- that actually was my test transmission in school. My roommate and I finished ours in about 45 minutes, and it was the only one that went onto the dyno without any trouble. I've done GM Th series autos, (that's where the plastic governor gear comes into play, very common failure point for them), Ford c4 and c6 autos, and many manual transmissions. At any rate, keep us posted on this thing, I'd like to know what the failure point is.

Yeah, I'm much more at home with Ford automatics. I can rebuild a c6 in less than three hours. I thought all the AWD cars had a diff lock switch?

I don't think Napa and Autozone have distribution centers in Sweden- Wheel bearings are fairly easy to do, a lot easier than swapping out the whole knuckle assembly.

If you have access to a mig welder, you can put in a fitting for the O2s anywhere. Most exhaust shops have them.

If the fluid is low with the engine off, then it's severly low, probably not even on the stick with the engine running. IIRC, the add mark on the dipstick is only 1pt low, don't overfill it or you will get nasty milkshake out of the vent. If adding fluid doesn't fix the problem, there are a couple other minor tests. Disconnect the lines from the cooler, and place in a 1gallon container. While watching the lines, have somebody start the car in Neutral. If no fluid comes out, the pump isn't pumping and the problem could be the drive on the back of the torque converter, or the pump itself came apart. Also, check the dipstick for shiny bits. If the oil is sparkly, it's the pump. If you only get a trickle out of the lines with the engine running, pull the pan and look for debris in the pickup. If there is plastic or metal shavings in the pickup, the pump or governor has come apart, and major work is needed. Also, hit the diff lock switch and see if the car will move. It could be a broken shaft or stripped ring and pinion at either end. When you put the car in gear, does it sounds like it goes in gear, or sound like there is any load on the engine? Is there any change in the way the engine sounds from before this happened? Any noises from the tranny at all?

To tell the two styles of MAF apart, just look at the housing- If it's just a round can that the air flows through, with a rectangular box on top, it's a hot wire. If it's on top of the air cleaner assembly, and has a pie slice shaped part on top, it's a flap style. Usually, though, a bad MAF will just make it run rich, or not run at all. The timing will go to base because the computer is in limp home mode. With the wandering timing, I have to wonder if the ECU is grounded and powered properly, as well as the condition of the timing belts and distributor. Have you taken the cap off and checked the rotor for free play?

Does the wastegate linkage move freely? It should have a spring holding it in the closed position, the spring is inside the little can the linkage comes out of, pulls the rod in.

The part number I gave is for his car- I posted that i have the same -brand- not the same exact clutch.

Part number NU31144, $140 at partsamerica.com, I have this same brand in my 81 Hatch, six months of beatings with no problems. You can order it on the site, or print out the page and take it in to any Checkers, Schucks, Kragen, or Advance Auto Parts stores, they will match the price.

Man, that's starting to make me wonder about my own lift- You went 3", i'm planning on 5" with the same size tires.... I might have to go up on tire size just to make it look right. Nothing worse than a 4x4 with too small of tires, they just look wrong. That thing does look pretty sweet, though. Now go get some pics of it muddy! I want to see what that thing will look like all one even shade of brown.

Here's something for ya: http://www.puresuzuki.com/rockcrawler_dl.htm How's 6.5:1 sound to ya?

The hand operated vacuum pumps work great, too. I use one nearly daily at work, also good for fluid transfer with the larger reservoir container. That ebay pneumatic one has a pretty deceptive ad- they are not quiet, they are actually quite loud, think running a blowgun constantly, and they consume from 6-9cfm of air, so you need a decent compressor to run it.

If it doesn't have a catch tank, only fill the radiator to the line about an inch below the filler opening. Are you judging overheating by the gauge, or just how much coolant it looses?

The thing with FT4wd, especially limited-slip center diff systems, is that they "scrub". That is, as you corner, the front tires are trying to turn faster than the rear tires, and can push through the corner without affecting the direction of travel that much. I just really like that you can recover from taking a corner too fast much better with RWD. With FWD, you're only hope is to saw the wheel, play with the gas and brake, and hope that you grab enough traction to not totally loose it. In RWD, hit the clutch, rev it up, pop the clutch and countersteer. Or, if you have enough HP, just stomp on the gas and countersteer, walk it around the corner, and you're good to go. Oh yeah, I learned to drive on a frozen lake in Maine in an 80 Ford F-100 with a three-speed column shift, and no snow tires. You learn slide recovery real fast that way.

It's the blower resistor assembly, if it's anything like any other car on the road. Where it is and how to replace it, I couldn't tell ya though.

That's not bad, probably getting better mileage as the rings wear and loosen up. I'm getting 25-26mpg out of a carbed beaten EA81 with 196k on it. It's weird, if I'm nice to it, it gets 23-24mpg? This is with RWD, using low range around town for the fast takeoffs.

What's the part number/ order info on that? I need to get an EA82 flywheel and clutch for my 5speed d/r swap.

I'm moving to that area for a reason-

Ya know, I might have to try one of my spare Autolite/Motorcraft 2150s on my car. I think I've got one that's a 285cfm, and another that's a 354cfm. Non have chokes, though.

Only if you're using a t-case, there isn't a way to fit a second reduction unit inside the tranny case. Of course, if you do use a t-case, the ones that fit these cars have deeper ratios than 2:1, Samauri cases are at or right near 4:1.

What size is that, about a 525? Does it draw enough to open the secondaries?

Forgot to ad- Myd/r 4speed is on it's way out, it came to me with bad synchros from the previous owner not fixing a clutch issue. Since the tranny is already scheduled for replacement, I beat on it. Hard. Actually, the rear end is starting to clunk around, the bushings on it were all nasty dryrotted to begin with. I have gotten it to burn first, second, and third, and chirp fourth pretty loud in low range, with no damage, no flying parts, just the clunk. I do have to give the Japanese engineers credit, they know how to put a drivetrain together to last. I'm flogging a 25 year old car that has 196k on it, doesn't smoke, doesn't knock, and goes straight down the road. Now if only they would build them that tough today.

I'll second the better handling in RWD thought- My hatch really likes tight, windy roads and dirt roads too as a RWD. Handling is much better, steering is lighter and more responsive, and the car is far more controlable at it's limits. Where before spirited driving would cause massive understeer and uncontrolable slides, now I can corner until it feels like the wheels are going to fold under the car. I'm thinking about putting in strut braces to help with that, though. For now, if I give it a shot of throttle when I'm turning tight, I can walk the rear end around and spook all the little ricer guys in their Hondas here. Oh yeah, don't try that when you're in the inside of a two-lane turn lane when there's an old guy in an SUV near you. They tend to panic when they see cars being driven hard.