daeron

We disagree on nothing; I only said that it sounds like that its what these kids are trying for.. either a Z or a Mazda sound. maybe its just an old skool jap car bias showing up In any case it usually sounds like crap. Nothing will turn my head quicker than a "right" sounding honda exhaust though.. I am always guilty for snapping around like that at a honda, but when theyre built well they scream with a note that begs to be revved higher. It isn't my favorite, it is just something I appreciate. A great motor is a great motor, even if its in a pinto.

Would someone please tell me a bad experience they have had with Seafoam???? Please? I have never heard of one, other than hearing of people who have heard of one. If anyone has had one, I would love to hear of it; I trust it nearly implicitly, so if there is something I should know I would LOVE to hear it.

The final generation of heads that were manufactured for the late model Nissan 280ZXs in 1981-83 had steel liners cast into the exhaust ports that look just like those. This was the last generation of L-series six cylinder motors, there were about ten different head permutations from 69-83. I could dig up pictures if you want, or you could take me at my word. Some people go to the effort to remove them; but it is apparently more difficult than simply dropping the valves on those heads. Most don't think twice about simply leaving them alone. They are designed to get red hot and ignite any unburnt fuel in the exhaust gasses; it is an emissions-type thing, although I have never (in my minimal experience) heard of it on a subaru head. Flow testing, actual dyno charts, and butt dyno experiences seem to say that having these liners in the ports is no detriment to flow characteristics (ie, performance) whatsoever. I cannot say that the same thing must be true for the subaru heads.. but how much area are they really taking up in the footprint of the port? Just a thin line is all. If it is any more difficult than you anticipate to remove them, I wouldn't sweat leaving them in there. If it is easy to yank them, then go ahead, I guess.. I probably would, too.

personally, I LOVE the sound of a well built honda engine being driven at threshold... its like no other engine on earth, really... ..but the PROBLEM is, for every well built and tuned honda engine on the planet, theres about twenty poorly built and tuned honda engines, with godawful exhausts on them that try to make it sound like either a big I6 or a rotary engine... instead of a hi-po four. For every decently set up honda engine on the STREET (most of the good ones are in race cars) the "craptastic" number is probably more like 100. So don't sell honda short because they sold cars to people who were ignorant as for the "why" on the sound, its simple: its a boxer, how often do you even hear a V-4 in an automobile? Outboard motors are the first example I could think of. Its simply a class of engine to itself, so it sounds unlike any inline or V6 or V8 or rotary or whatever other engine configuration you run. It has nothing to do with lifters, they are radically different across the production span.. pre-82 non turbo models had solid lifters instead of hydraulic, which is totally different technology that SOUNDS totally different, but the exhaust note still has commonality. thats all.

My answer to that question is simple enough: do you like the idea of the red brumby? If you don't actively want something different, then you save ALOT of time changing the color of the car. Even painting it a different red entirely is simpler than painting it blue. Personally, I say that it was born red for a good enough reason to let it stay mostly red; but blue looks nice, white looks nice, the right silver looks nice.. so many to choose from... If you have a color in mind to go for, then its probably worth it.. but if you are idly debating it, then I wouldn't think too long before deciding to just stick with some red color, probably fairly close to what it already is. Thats my two bits, anyhow.

"scarey bad," huh? my name is Shawn Carey, so Scarey is kinda my initial and last name.. but I comment because coincidentally enough, it is exactly what I have thought of the condition of the tires on the back of my 2wd for the last 2,000 miles. It is AMAZING how slowly those tires wear with only 35% of the weight of the car rolling on them... Less, without much gas!

To re iterate, we red line it regularly because we find excellent, excellent results for longevity and reliability when we do so. Maybe we don't need to go all the way to 6500.. maybe 5200 RPMs is enough for the same effect.. Maybe my beard is made of green spinach.... once again, black and white: I regularly rev above six grand in any vehicle I drive (as long as everything else is kosher) and have had nothing but positive results. I am not saying it hasn't given me a probem, I am crediting it with helping my engine run in top notch shape. If the point was that these actions hadn't given me any problems, then fine, why run it all the way up. But I am not saying that. I am saying that it is good for the motor. And I am ignoring this thread from here out.

I'm not actually requesting photochops, just making suggestions and voicing my opinion, heh. Truth is I love your vehicle. I cant call it a car, truck doesnt feel quite right, I feel like a poseur calling it a brumby too often but it isnt a Brat technically, either, so vehicle and brumby are my only two labels for it. thats one of the things I love about it. Whatever you call it, I am in awe of it, so the idea of you asking for ideas and thoughts gets me thinking, and i get a little over enthusiastic. Believe it or not, I *have* curbed my enthusiasm a good bit

You use anti freeze, right? instead of water? (living where I do has certin advantages, that aren't really advantages.. the ability to run straight water year round is one of those double edged swords) Sometimes some water pumps with stamped sheetmetal (thick sheetmetal but sheetmetal) impellers can have the impeller rust away, leaving you with a pump that just spins an axle and vaguely stirs the water up a bit.. In other words, a non functioning water pump that gives no sign other than odd overheating. If you don't know when the water pump and timing belts were changed last; and you are having cooling problems despite a new radiator, hoses, and thermostat*; and you know that there is PLENTY of air moving over the radiator, it has no clogged AC condenser in front of it or anything; AND your cooling fans are working as they should (you said new parts, but didn't say "yah it comes on when it gets hot, and blows air real swell, in the right direction and everything," heh..) then water pump is the next rule-out part to throw at it. *OEM thermostat? that is the only one recommended, I run no thermostat, see double edged sword above The pump and timing belts should be changed, and the timing belt idlers and tensioners checked and greased, simply because you don't know when they were done last anyhow, so it will hurt nothing. Even if you discover that the water pump seemed fine, and your problem persists afterwards, at least you know the pump is good; you cant "inspect" it, really, unless you want to take the output hose off and crank the engine on briefly.. although, I suppose that would work.. :scratches head: Make sure that all the bases leading up to the "water pump" conclusion are firmly checked off though. It isnt a difficult job, but it is a somewhat.. tedious? one.. it takes alot of simple disassembly and re assembly, and you want to be fairly certain it is your culprit before embarking on it. (Even though you really ought to do it anyway for peace of mind) One final thought: make sure your radiator hoses aren't collapsing under high rev; did you replace them? did they fit well onto the new radiator or did they have to be stretched or pushed in at all? When you have a hose thats a little too long, or too short, but not incredibly so you can often stretch or "squeeze" it into shape, and doing so can result in a tendency to collapse at awkward times. Definitely common enough to be worth looking into.

line the front of the stripes up with the uprights of your bull-bar, or whatever you wanna call it.. in other words, move those same tripes out about 4-6 inches (10-15 cm)

REALLY digging the black and red contrast with the silvered accents of the bumper and roll bar, man... Re paint the plastic trim on the sides and the thing looks like its had a renaissance. Seriously, you have built a MEAN truck, but a civilized one.. the red and black makes this guy look like Attilla the Hun in a finely tailored italian suit.

Don't forget that every 360 degrees you turn the crankshaft the distributor only turns 180 degrees.. in other words, every cylinder wire on the distributor has one point on the crankshaft where it will be aligned, but every spot on the crankshaft where it lines up with a cylinder will correspond to two different points in rotor rotation. Its surprising how well an engine can run sometimes with the wires all jiggered.. My brother told me I had to run high test because the thing pinged badly on low test, and I remember a great deal of difficulty getting the timing all squared away when we put timing belts on the thing; lo and behold, when I did my headgasket and tore all that apart and rebuilt it per FSM spec, I put it back together and my spark plug wires fit the engine bay well. The distributor was adjusted towards the opposite extreme from how it was, and guess what? I can cheap out on fuel and get 87 instead of 93, woohoo!

Ye Gods, man.. I don't want to go against what you said, I am certain it wouldn't be that difficult to do for the right person.. but sometimes you gotta throw that bone out there with a big disclaimer that if you dont feel like you were born with a welding torch in hand, don't try it!

Repairing the door skin is a waste of time; repairing the bottom curve of the door is a sick, masochistic, twisted waste of time, patience, sanity, and un-grey hairs. 10 goto "junkyard" 20 :junkyard: take "newdoor" 30 goto "home" 40 :home: take off "olddoor" 50 install "newdoor" 60 end

i run 185 70 and never have a problem finding tires, and they ride better than the 175-70s that were on it when i got it. both sizes were run as "factory" size depending on trim and options, driveline etc...

I like the silver wheels on red color scheme myself, it is a classic for a darn good reason if you ask me... BUT, I also really like the black contrast idea, and the wheels look GREAT on the Brumby with the black paint, if you ask me.. the black hood, in reality won't be so starkly "different" looking as in the photochop, and I think it will combine with the black plastic trim that is on the vehicle either way in a nice, nice looking manner. In other words, with the black and silver wheels, all the black already on the car almost begs you to paint the hood black... The contour idea would work as well.. I say go for it, hood and wheels. the satin black color idea is intriguing as well, for the hood. Have you looked into Rustoleum'ing the whole vehicle?

i'm assuming welded joints in the exhaust? I have flanges so its easy to just, take the cat off and see. idling isnt THAT loud.. resisting the temptation to gun it once or twice once you actually hear the IDLE with no exhaust, is kind of difficult it doesnt really sound like the kind of problem that would arise from a clogged cat, but it never hurts to check. The "smoking gun" to me on my last clogged cat diagnosis was the fact that the exhaust immediately behind the cat cooled off in no time flat, while the cat was still burning hot for 30-45 minutes. The cat SHOULD be hotter than the exhaust.. but not THAT much hotter. Have you inspected your pitch stopper and motor mounts? these engines arent the smoothest in the world, in the sense of normal operational vibrations, and a worn mount or bushing could easily cause the shaking. As for the idle miss, have you put in a new O2 sensor?? couldnt hurt, only about twenty bucks, file it for future doing.. you COULD try testing the output of the O2 sensor, it should read about 0.5 volts DC across the wire and the body of the O2 sensor when the engine is running, and idling at the right ratio, and the O2 sensor is hot. (HOT, no ride to the corner store, get it good and hot!) You can actually use the multimeter on the O2 sensor to tune in the idle bypass screw (NOT an idle mixture adjustment) properly; a good, new O2 sensor will read about 0.5 volts at stoich, and higher voltage up to about 1.0 for lean (i think) and down to minimal for rich.

for the record, chopped fiberglass is designed to be used in conjunction with sheet fiberglass, usually at the same time (same batch of resin) or as additional steps in the process of the sheet fiberglass repair. It is basically bondo for your fiberglass job. Fiberglass work is FAR EASIER than bondo work.. you just need to achieve a rough shape. Try using cardboard jigs to form the "panels" that you lay in, and it will be a piece of cake; (as long as you can get the cardboard out from behind afterwards) AND it will give you practice getting the plane of your repair right. Fiberglass sheet repair is rough work, designed to be a base to smooth out and shape with various fillers and sanding, and work heh.. But it isnt that much more "work" than any other aspect of body repair, and you seem to have a knack for that. Some people prefer sheetmetal and some fiberglass, but truly there are proper times and places for each. It won't be difficult for you. You might not like doing it as much as sheetmetal repair, in the end, but it won't be beyond your abilities. (and I was going to make a straitjacket joke when I read the subject header, HAH!)

not exactly the same, but my uncle has two datsun roadsters with air conditioners installed in the trunk, heh. Compressor under hood, air handler (fan and evaporator coils) in a box in the trunk. Dealer install thing, would be easily retrofitted onto any project car (or van, or wagon.. just need multiple sets, or one larger than the type used in a datsun roadster)

Can you just bring the motor inside to clean it? It shouldnt be THAT much more involved than disassembling a fishing reel or a gun to clean it, so a large solid table covered in newspaper would be more than sufficient. If you can accomplish the rebuild inside, then all you have to do is remove it, and re install it. Remove it one night, starting at around eight or nine, and rebuild it that night or the next day, and re install it the next night. it can't be too difficult?? I dont know the engine bay but my point is, the removal and reinstallation is all that needs to "happen in the parking lot." Just close the hood after you take it out.

Bummer! Good luck, I hate it when this stuff happens. sounds like youve got the fix under control though.

Yah, thats the biggest reason to spring for a maxi fuse block. They *do* make single inline maxi fuse holders, available with high gage wiring (i think even in a variety) for under ten bucks without the fuse. The way you have run it is just a little old-fashioned; the key part is in making sure you have enough amperage rating in the circuit. The blade style fuses only go so high; BUT if memory serves I found higher rated fuses online than I typically do in my parts store, I think as high as 40 amp. In any case, if a short occurs that would blow one fuse the other would be dying anyhow. You have simply designed a system biased towards caution rather than zero maintenance, no big deal. Anyhow, Just keep extra spare fuses and you should be good. I like the heater hose idea; it is not dissimilar to the stock positive battery cable on my GL10.. (black wire with an extra red insulating sleeve on it) but more functional. I will DEFINITELY file that idea for future reference; it might make the idea of running wires through frame rails a little more palatable to me in "cleaning up" certain crowded engine bays.