Quad Raider

Thank you, General. That was a quick response! The car has a lot of miles on it, but I can't remember exactly how many. My brother owned it since 1990 and he babied it for most of that time. I think he may have put a rebuilt engine in it, possibly twice (one of these days we'll sync our schedules and be able to talk about it). The interior is in good shape. The exterior is straight and looks good, but it's starting to rust in the usual places. The tires are brand new. It's FWD with the 5-speed. I don't want to spend a bunch of money, but am willing to do the work necessary to make it reliable. If my daughter can get a year or two's use out of it, it will be a success. My bottom line is this: Because I know most of the history of the car, and because I know of the brand's reliability, I'm inclined to keep it. In many ways it's a perfect first car for my daughter. I just finished rebuilding and reinstalling the 350 in my '92 Silverado, but I've never worked on a small Japanese car and I find it a little intimidating.

Saturday I cleaned up the outside of the carb and what I could reach of the inside without a disassembly. I tightened the four bolts at the bottom, reinstalled the carb and she started after a little cranking. I also changed the oil and replaced the bad vacuum hoses. While I was under the car I noticed the passenger side CV boot has a big hole in it, as does the steering boot on that side. In a short test drive it ran fine, except for a slight hesitation when I first pushed on the gas. The only problem I saw was the ECS light coming on. What does that light mean? This car was given to us to do with as we please. I don't want to spend much money on this thing, I'm just looking for basic, dependable transportation. The question is, is it worth doing the intake/carb conversion?

Not yet. The carburetor is so covered in grime that I figured I'd check to see how difficult it would be to rebuild it. I won't have a chance to work on the car again until this weekend, but will try a gentle clean-up and tightening the bolts/screws.

Where's the best place to find the Hitachi manifold. Salvage yard?

Thanks, General. That's much more than I bargained for. We're looking to get this thing running as cheaply as possible, so the daughter can get back and forth to work (and I don't get that "Daddy, I need help" call. Now that you mention it, I do believe it is the one-barrel carb. What would be the easiest and cheapest way to go?

That's what I hoped. I was worried that based on its age and status as an import a carb kit would be impossible to find or very expensive. I'll keep checking around. Do you agree with me that the loose carb was probably the cause of the problems?

My daughter got a hand-me-down 84 GL from my older brother (for free). He took good care of it, but hasn't done any work on it for quite some time. It will run fine for a while, then will suddenly die. I discovered that the carburetor-to-mounting plate bolts were loose -- I could move the carb back and forth while it was still attached to the engine. The parts store says no one sells a carb kit for it anymore, and they want $300 plus for a new carb! Should I try to just clean up the carb and bolt it back on, look around for a used one, or what? I've always worked on my own cars, but never a Subaru. I think the carb is a Weber.