TeamCF

So I just put a "new" engine in my GL last week. It had a slight coolant leak since then and I figured it was the old heater hoses (one was seeping a bit) so I replaced them today. Got it all cleaned up and filled back up and such. warmed it up. Still coolant coming from the top of the engine. Close inspection revealed a it was coming through the top of the block, small crack. Any way to seal that up? (like a JB type deal maybe) Engine runs great and it would suck to scrap it and hunt down a new one. Especially since I blew my funds on all the gaskets and seals for this one. I've had good luck with JB Weld type stuff in the past on various things. Had it not work so great on other things. Which one of those things might this be? It's just a seep right now. Can barely tell it's cracked. I thought it was coming from the rear bolt on top the holds the block halves together but it looks to be originating further up and kinda has a crack type line to it.

Just air down and keep it moving. Slowing before the top and then gunning it will make you end up like I did in those couple pics. The rule I usually follow (but didn't that time) is on a climb if you start to feel it lose momentum. Just let off and back up before you put the body on the sand. Great part about dunes is you really have put yourself in a spot to really get stuck. You can feel when it's not going to go anymore. All the skinny pedal in the world will not help, it'll just bury you. Just back off and reverse.

Yeah this was last minute that I found I could go. There's various runs happening all the time. I think Gregg wants to do a shakedown run either this weekend or the next with his hatch before WCSS. I'd say 90% of the runs I go on these days never get a post up here or anywhere else. And proly 75% of those I chose to go solo. (I know against the wheeling rules but some days I prefer it that way, just go do my thing) Been slow lately though as I'm prepping the Soob for the show a bit and it's been taken apart on and off. We'll all have to get a decent local run going. Like the old days when they would get planned well in advance. (old days... last year... hehe) Try and get everyone out at once like we've tried a few times.

This is my story and I'm sticking to it. Got up around 6 or so and headed on out to sand lake. About half way there I heard lots of debris going through pipes...... Then the heater turned cold. I forgot to flush when the new engine went in.... Rest of the system was working fine so I continued. Got to sand lake, aired down and went for a lap to see if everyone was already there. Got back to the lot and mthoodsub had just arrived with his buddy and a quad. Went and messed around till lunch and after lunch we spotted Scott in his new dune machine. After awhile the group got seperated and it was just me and Scott. Went down to the beach where Scott fixed a guy's 3-wheeler for him and then flew a kite. I took a lap to find the missing members of the group. It was late after the kite flyinf so Scott and his family took off for dinner and I resumed my search. Found mthoodsub stuck near the beach in a big washed out area of sandy mud. Pulled him out and we farted around on the sand for a while longer so I could get myself stuck too. I had a stupid "more throttle will do it" moment. After that we rolled around a bit and then aired up and got out of there. My stuckage resulted in the right front getting sand in the bead so I had a nice bead leak all the way home. Good thing I brought a spare air compressor. mthoodsub in a bowl. Group shot. Scott flying a kite. My shame. Tried to find China with the rear tire. I don't think I did. End of the fun. Wish I would have gotten more pics but it was raining most of the day and my camera gets janky. Amazingly enough (well not so amazing, I knew this going in) I find my old street tires were better in the sand for the EA81 power. They didn't have the tread to dig in and make holes. I had a heck of a time getting up hills that were easy before. Now I just dig in more rather than stay on top. Airing down about the same. Agressive tread is only good if you have lots of HP to spin 'em real fast. Look at the big sand buggies they do tours with (on dunes where they do that) They have giant slicks on them, all four wheels. They just float and don't dig themselves graves.

HaHa! (like anyone concerned will see this at this point...) I'm gonna make it tomarrow. Not sure what time I can head out though. I'll keep an eye out for Soobs on the sand.

83 GL 4WD D/R Built 11/82 EA81 #399491 I just replaced that old rod knocking monster (had a bad rod knock for the past two years) with #536170.

Nice collection. All I have is a beat up (but not too bad) '83 RX7 GLS sitting behind the shop. Was a project at one time then the engine seals went (still runs great, just lots of white smoke). Trans bearings went. Money got diverted to the Soob as it required less of it. I can't seem to part with it though. One day I guess I hope to have the extra funds to throw at it again.

Yeah it would be nice to see more products tested. I wonder if any results are hiding away out there somewhere on the net...... I think they included WD40 just to prove how bad it was.

No problem. I figure someone would like those monster Soob engines. The fact a 4WD mag thought enough of them to include them in a crate engine article made me think it was a decent find. If only I had an extra $9,000 laying around. A 900hp H6 sounds like it would be a blast (or at least a big KABOOM! from the drivetrain) under the hood of my old GL........

205/75/14 About 26.1" tall AT tires. (there are companies that still make 'em small, just gotta special order) Pugs with no lift on a 1983 GL. Minor trimming just to be safe. Taken it out a couple times so far with no rubbing. Not exactly what you are thinking but since you asked.

http://www.outfrontmotorsports.com/ I don't have a new gen (still rockin the EA81) but I ran across this in my 4WD & Off Road mag (they say Soob engines are great for rock buggies ) I thought you guys with the newer rides may find it interesting.

I still have to see if I can get a day off. I got excited before I even looked at a calender to see what day this falls on. So I'm still a maybe.

So am I gonna be seeing a monster Legacy rollin' down 26 one day?

"Original Equipment Manufacturer" So not always the company that made the car but the company that made the part for the company that made thee car. Remember. These days most car manufacturers (at least the US ones, not looked into others) do not make all the parts that go into their cars. They make some key components (body, drivetrain), then gather all the parts from the companies they contracted to make their parts and assemble them. Most the parts in my Focus are from Germany or Japan. Including the engine (Japan/Mazda) and transmission (Germany). Ford just stamped out the body and put it together. Those compaines are still "OEM"

Lexus is Toyota. The "Skylines" (G35 I believe) are Infinity. Nissan's high end brand. We do get the new GTR here though. Seen a couple around Portland already.

Yeah google can take you for a fun trip sometimes and still never give you the answer you want. To further, quickly, explain it's the stuff you'd find on a Japanese car in Japan. Parts/accessories that would not normally be on the same model of car that they send to the US for example. Like if they put different lights or something on depending on the country it's going to. Or a different engine we can't get here. The tuner guys tend to really be into the JDM stuff.

Japanese Domestic Market.

I've seen an old Jeep inline 6 pulled using rafters before (not a light engine). And the garage was in almost ready to fall down shape. (A couple years later we pushed it over with the tractor and built a nice new one) So I guess if you feel lucky........ An EA81 is not that heavy though. At the very least just make sure everything is braced like has been said numerous times here.

Hopefully things work out so you can have it done for WCSS. I know you said it would be tight. If ya spot another LSD let me know so I can rush out there and pull it. They practically give them to you at LKQ compared to what you see them online for. The yard by me had a couple turbos and an XT with an H6 in..... but all of the 4-5 Soobs they even had in there were all missing the diffs. And none of them were EA81s. That was the first time I ever went into a yard and found nothing I could use.

I take it you're locked and ready to rock.

Yeah just watch out if using heat with the ATF mix. All of them are flammable. But with that acetone in there.... (I poured a bit out and lit it to see just how easy it burned. Lit right up easy, lots of black smoke. I lit it on fire so you don't have to, hehe ) I'd like to know just how it creeps as well. Maybe some experiments are in order. From what I've heard the ATF gets into places on it's own pretty well. The acetone is mainly to thin it out a bit. For reference I used an old "evian style" water bottle to mix mine up. Seems to be holding up the past week against the acetone pretty good. Just made a bit in the bottom to try out first. For the acetone I used some stuff in a can from the hardware store. I guess you could raid your wife/girlfriend's nail polish remover but it's not pure acetone. On a side note the PB Blaster which I have two cans of didn't do as good as I would have hoped. Oh well. Works great for lubing up dirty threads that are not totally frozen.

Yeah that was the next step I was thinking. Just been waiting for parts before I do another round on the Soob. (been lazy and just letting it sit on it's jackstands with the heat and all) If the other axle comes free then I may decide to throw the welded diff back in anyway and just drop the whole thing. If not I'll drop the arm.

It's kinda on the old side and I'm sure most of you have seen this already. But it's popped up and guys are giving it the rounds on the 4X4 boards I'm on. So I thought I'd share it with you. "The April/May 2007 edition of Machinist's Workshop did a test of penetrating oils where they measured the force required to loosen rusty test devices. Buy the issue if you want to see how they did the test. The results reported were interesting. The lower the number of pounds the better. Mighty interesting results for simple acetone and tranny fluid! Penetrating oil . Average load .. Price per fluid ounce None ................. 516 pounds . WD-40 .............. 238 pounds .. $0.25 PB Blaster ......... 214 pounds .. $0.35 Liquid Wrench ... 127 pounds .. $0.21 Kano Kroil ........ 106 pounds .. $0.75 ATF-Acetone mix.. 53 pounds .. $0.10 The ATF-Acetone mix was a 50/50 mix (1 to 1 ratio)."

Yeah when I was running my welded rear I couldn't remove the axles (diff is offset in my car so one does not come out without dropping the diff, and the other has been beat to death and will not come off the axlestub) So I was always running on the street with the axles in. Wore tires out like crazy and such. And I only drive it on the street to get to the trails. My new A/T tires will not see a welded rear on pavement. I can not afford to feed it tires and the fact I don't really need the welded rear for the types of runs I do now (I need reliability) prompted me to go back to open. (I'm the oddball, I've ran both, prefer open) I'll put the welded rear back in if I can get the axle with room to let go. It'll let me not have to think so hard about line choice. Currently soaking the pin hole in an acetone/ATF mix. ( http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?p=844289#post844289 ) Still welded is the way to go if you do the harder stuff on a regular basis. (TSF is closed right now so we have no hard trails down here...)