daeron

Wise choice. If the brat already has a motor in it, and you are thinking of building a new one simply for the sake of learning and upgrading, then I would highly suggest you do the SPFI swap first, then build your motor on a stand in your garage. That way, you know the swap works 100% before you go after installing the new longblock. This method also makes the engine rebuild an option that can be delayed or hastened upon at will, it turns one big bite into two smaller ones. a no-brainer, really.. something tells me that when it came time to do it, you PROBABLY wouldnt literally be working on both jobs at the same time... You could even (!) just build your motor, then build your ECU/FI steup, and test it on your new motor standalone before you install it into the vehicle.... anyhow, good luck and have fun. You chose the right car to try with.

oooooOOOOOOOoooooOOOmpy!!!!!! xt6= ROCK!!!!! :headbang: my dad bought one brand new in january of 89, and that was without a doubt the COOLest car i have ever even SAT in.... and there is always the option to upgarde to the EJ-22 motor if you want a turbocharged BEAST that should pull under 13 second 1/4-mile times... :grin: Just dont name it Mary Lou. I have an uncle who goes by Buck, and his ex-wife (30+ years ex) was named mary lou. == b*tch that would just be freaky. and yah, I have an Uncle Buck. Wanna fight about it?

where are you located?? your profile says "international", and some places outside of US and Australia might well fetch 2,000 USD for something along those lines.... but ANYwhere in the states, 2K is WAY to much to pay for a car that will likely need a new tranny in short order (judging by your statement of flakes in the fluid)

yah.. out side of a few typos and apostrophe errors, (oohh, god Forbid!!) it is truly top-notch, right?? he let me take a sneak preview a little while back, and its the best combination of technically precise and specific, AND conversational, and easy-top-undertand, that I have ever read. top five, at least, anyhow.... and the pictures already posted are fantastic. the final reveal is going to be impressive, to say the least.

hey folks. Since I got my 87 GL-10 from my brother, it has given me difficulty "slamming" the driver side door. By "slamming," I simply mean closing by throwing towards the frame, rather than pushing into the car with your hand in contact the entire time. As long as I keep my hand on the door to "follow-through" it shuts just fine.. but sometimes, when I "slam" it (push closed without "following through") it only closes halfway, leaving the dome light on.... Now, I have worked with car doors, and top/sill-less car windows a great deal, and I am confident that I can figure out the issue. It matters not to me, whether the door itself needs adjusting, or if the window is a little out of whack.. BUT I was curious if anyone else has had issues similar, and if so, whether any of y'all have determined the window, or the door, to be the likely culprit. This is a "background" problem, something I have just been too lazy to investigate myself, and I figured I would ask the USMB what they thought/had experienced in the past. it is a sedan, by the way... and JUST to avoid any complication, my doors have no top frame for the window.... the glass butts right against the doorjamb weatherseal.... so if your door is different, your info does NOT apply to me anyways, all help/tips/thoughts are appreciated. Like I said, I've worked alot with car door AND windows before, and know about adjusting them.....and I know I am merely stabbing at the dark; asking the forum if they have had similar issues, BUT I figured before I tear into it myself, may as well ask if anyone else has had similar issues....and any tips or tircks are welcome. Even if I already know them (like the penny behind the hinge trick) it is good for posterity's sake (ie, peaople in the future searching on this subject.)

there are only two. 4.0 inches times 25.4 mm/inch == 105 mm (well close enough) and 4.3 inches times 25.4mm/inch == 115 (again close enough) good thing you didnt pay extra for the 115mm one!

a yes/no compression test

i am pretty sure you do. My car is non turbo, but I had to take them off for the water pump.. and I can't believe your engine would be any different. See sonicfrog's recent thread on the subject of timing belt covers or indeed, most of this forum's history. I have mine left off.

sandpaper, file, emery cloth, dremel tool, bench grinder, nitric acid (this one's fun!!) all work well. I cannot recall exactly what type of connector is used on this sensor, but if its a bullet connector the males would be easily cleaned by taking a small, but long and skinny strip of sandpaper or emery cloth (3" x 1/2" or so) and holding both ends of it, wrap it one-half way around the bullet.. like a U.. and pull the paper back and forth. rotate your U to get all the way around. the female connector is the reason most people like to solder it. crimp connectors are just as bad as terminal plugs, and you cant check or clean the crimp.

I seem to remember reading something that GD wrote about the ECU needing to get power on a certain pin in order to tell the ECU that it was cranking (in start position.) I think he was discussing his EFI swap, but it would indicate a possibility that a bad ignition switch could make it hard/impossible to start. at this point, when I have a moment I am going to re read this while thread... anyhow, if you say youve visually confirmed proper TBI operation, thats good enough and I will drop that do you have access to a timing light? have you inspected the adjustment bolts on the disty? is it possible the disty timing got bumped somehow?? spark timing, or inadequacy or impropriety/abundance of fuel delivery, seem to be the two candidates left.. beyond compression, which is an issue that will already be determined when it can be. Sorry to nag you about it, I'm jes tryin' to help!!

sorry to put it this way.. but the GOOD news is, junkyard motors are NOT expensive, and honestly not very difficult to install. If you can make a film of yourself removing the old one, and make sure you get one that is identical, you can just watch yourself take the old one apart and put the new one back together like that. IF you have the tools and facilities.... my point is, even though you rated yourself a novice mechanic, changing an engine for an identical stock engine, is REALLY one of the easier things to do.. as major as it sounds. A straight swap is just that: plug and play. Patience, and willingness to communicate with people here on any issues that may arise, certainly come in handy.. but my MOM (no wrencher, to be sure) swapped motors in a VW van once when my dad had a broken leg.. he just sat there and told her what to do, and she did it. no big deal. You may have complications, (read: you will almost certainly have SOME complication at least....) but its not something you are diagnosing/troubleshooting.. its not something that requires a great deal of "tuning" or adjustment like suspension changes or fuel system "customizations." It is unplugging everything, unbolting everything, putting a working motor in its place, and hooking everything back up. No more, no less. and yes, unfortunately.. ignoring an oil idiot light is almost like driving on the wrong side of the road. some idiot lights, sometimes, can be ignored for a short while.. but if you had no temperature gauge, and your TEMP light started shining, would you keep driving it? Not to demean you or anything, but as GD said, it means that the engine is already not getting enough oil, and you have "coasted" thru your warning period already. thats what a dipstick (or oil pressure gauge, if you dont have the digi-dash, like you and I do) is for. The light is there to show you you are in the danger zone Now. If you want to get adventurous when/if you change the engine, you could always buy a cheap aftermarket oil pressure gauge and install it, too... that way you would have something else to look at all the time, rather than a light that only comes on to say its about to die.

s'ko answered it. Acid bath!!! :headbang:

I cant tell you offhand which one, but the info IS here somewhere.. try using the term "deck height" as that is the technical name for the parameter you are talking about.... ones like, just under 100 mm and ones like 110, right? But i cannot remember which was which.. Sorry for the semi-worthless reply, but i know its a common thing, and it DID come up within the last month or 8 weeks... no guarantees a search will work, but its worth a shot.

Classic! Russ, that didn't hurt your shoulder too bad there, when he twisted your arm, did it??? back on topic, this is a GREAT thread! common car knowledge that is NOT that common! thanks again, USMB!

AWESOME!!! congrats man, you just dove in and proved me right!!! these cars are pieces of cake, are they not? so many of us are so used to automobiles being pieces of something else, () that it IS hard to believe at first.....

they dont. they use them on most modern automobiles, because they are cheap to manufacture, cheap to repair/replace, and easy to maintain. MOST trains and planes don't use them, nor large trucks, nor ANY pushrod motor (all your oldskool american V8s, NASCAR engines, etc.. OHV.) They Break. Reliably. That is a concrete, indisputable fact. they break before most of the rest of the engine does (unless said engine was a Taiwanese Yugo-knockoff..) Why would you engineer something like that into a vehicle that is designed to be supported by nothing more than the lift, created by the thrust, provided by the engine? Airplane engines are not built by people who have the term "planned obsolescence" in their vocabulary. They are built by men who dont want people to die When a truly reliable machine is desired, chains or gears (or OHV) are used. Whether that machine is a Street car, a work truck, a pump station, or an airplane... EDIT And yes, as phiz mentions below, this has gotten WAAAY offtopic. sorry, lets try and drop it

it is somehow funny in a different way when its a guy working at a tire shop, you come in on the donut, and you go to get the wheel with the flat... reach into the car, and pull.. the HOOD release :- )

Now I see what you mean by "looks like a 4wd" with the pugs. these steel rims sure are ugly, when they are bare and unpainted. Mine included

I second all his statements. Good stuff to be had.

13 lb radiator cap is right, theres a good chance that whatever event "blew" the water pump may have cooked a hose, too. fill it back up, and get it warm. chances are it will stream out somewhere......find the hole, and fixit.

his earlier post, #46 tells you to check the compression, spray some starter fluid in it, and try adjusting the distributor timing while you crank it. Two of those you have tried, (disty swap I assume would entail trying different timing settings ) and the compression you cannot check. that one is sorta important, go to harbor freight and get a tester :-p And, still, I would say it would be wise to put a large screwdriver agains the TB, with the other end in your ear, and see if the click you are hearing is in fact, the injector firing. You are probably right, but how angry would you be if you didnt verify that now, and then after another week of dead ends and bruised fingertips, discover that the injector WAS bad?

GD: you're just talking about giving the gasket a rubberized cladding like you do with the oilpan gaskets, right? that just makes gasket sense :-p

I think he may not be clear on what vehicle you have.. do YOU know if its a carb or SPFI? top, center of the engine, does it have a large black rubber boot that says SUBARU EFI on it going over to an air filter box? I have not access to fotos to show you what it looks like.. but they can be found (im sure when GD replies he will have a pic to show you) or is there a carburetor, with an air filter attached around it? Anyhow, if you have a carbed vehicle, and your talking about installing the trans from a carbed vehicle, then this VSS should be a non issue.

NICE!! I thought it looked russian/eastern european as well, but I pictured a machine gun turret in the bed... Welcome aboard! There is a member who posts on here almost daily from sweden, his name is joostvdw (i think.)EDIT: I thought he was from sweden.. i just saw a post and I'm wrong. My Mistake! Holland! (stupid american, :-p) Lots of international folks here, to be honest. Its a nice place to come and get a drop (at least) of non-US perspective.

the wiring method is really a question of thoroughness, and how willing you are to be re-engineering a vehicle based on designs and using parts built by Fuji Heavy Industries... It would be a much easier question to simply make the SPFI harness work in the car that came originally equipped with the turbo. However, even to do that is at LEAST half the work of completely re engineering it.. and completely re engineering it offers the advantages of A) Having a clearer picture of how everything goes together in each vehicle, Having a clearer picture of what needs to be eliminated and C) Having a clearer idea of where certain things need to be crossed/bypassed/switched around. Its not that much more WORK to do it "all the way," it simply requires MUCH more patience and a bit more analysis. The end result, however, is a product of your own creation, that YOU KNOW works 110%. You also know How it works, 110%. But, it does take more time, effort, and patience. It brings you knowledge, though, rather than requiring you to obtain it. This is from all that you get to SEE....