Scoobywagon

I won't give away his secret, but a friend of mine has an L-body wagon that is in the beginning stages of getting a 4WS mod. Won't say who it is or how he is doing it, but it IS coming. Hopefully will be trail tested before WCSS8.

Makes me think I should take pics of my system and post them. Alpine 3-disc in-dash changer, Alpine EQ w/ remote head, Clarion 3-way Crossover, 30x2 Coustic for highs, 100x2 Sony Mobile ES for mids and Lanzar 200x2 for the sub. Memphis 6.5" separates, Memphis 12" sub, custom box, custom door skins. Wow...that's a lot more than it looks like in the car.

I've towed an 81 wagon on a dolly with my 83. No problems at all. These little guys can grunt pretty good when you need them to. As Snowman pointed out, if the car has an auto, you might be a bit leary. Then again, maybe you want to install a trans cooler and switch over to synthetic ATF. If you've got a 5-speed, that's a bit easier. No cooler needed, but you'll want to go easy on it. As far as problems to be expected, well...there's the normal range of problems associated with a car this age on a road trip that long. Change the oil, both engine and transmission, flush and refill your cooling system. Make sure your alternator is putting out properly. I'd carry along a "mechanics tool set" and add a breaker bar and 36mm socket. I'd bring along at least one axle and a pair of timing belts.

Me three! Well....I once broke the law by switching license plates from a not-running car with good plates to a running car with bad plates...just a couple days, mind you... I'm about to drive nearly 2000 miles (to Laramie, WY and back) to rescue my poor 82 GL wagon. Is that dedicated enough?

Its standard on all EA-series cars. Its an option on EJ cars.

I should point out that it'll be easier if you remove the plastic parts from the column. There are 2 wire bundles that come out of there. One runs the lights, the other comes off the ignition switch. You'll want to make sure you're working with the right one. Of course, it could be fun to have the car start when you turn the lights on.

Well, I'm reasonably certain I have a faulty FPCU, as a known good fuel pump quit working months ago. Found that it just wasn't getting power, So I ran power from the ignition coil. Was not aware that the FPCU also controls the choke. On the other hand, It doesn't seem to make a lick of difference whether the choke is connected or not. So where is the FPCU?

If I had $400? sure! Care to make a donation? remember, "I donated, you should too!"

Looks good...Mine is a GL, so it may be a bit different. I can go check colors and such, but here's how I figured it out on my own. 1) Get a multimeter. 2) Probe the wires at the block connector with the key in the off position. YOu're looking for 12 volts. That'll be your constant power. 3) With the key in the accessory position, probe the wires again until you find 12 volts. Some cars will have more than one wire on accessory, but I don't think Soobs have that problem. Either way, as far as you are concerned, it isn't a problem anyway. 4) with the key in the on position, probe again. This will be your ignition wire. 5) with the starter (little) wire disconnected, turn the key to the start position and probe once more. That'll be your starter wire. Voila.

Federal car...no O2 sensor to change Ok ok guys! I get it! Calling around looking for reman carbs, now.

No, but I would expect a carb to lean out with age and miles.

Ok, so the 83 is running REAL rich...no idea why. I did a motor swap a while back and it ran great for several weeks and now it just rich as anything. To the point that it starts to foul plugs within about 10 minutes. I've checked for vaccuum leaks, I've changed coil, cap, rotor, wires and plugs, thought the cat might have been plugged, so I changed that, too. What now????

My 83 has keyless ignition. Really pretty simply. I used 2 small toggle switches, a push button and three relays. 1 toggle for ignition, 1 for accessories and the push button runs the starter. It wouldn't be hard to wire it up for remote keyless ignition, either. I can show you how to do it. Hell, you buy the beer and the parts, and I just might be talked into coming over there to do it with you.

I'm kinda wondering if you guys aren't over-analyzing this a tad... I'm assuming that you're talking about a 4-wheel dynojet. If that's the case, then one of the things the computer on the 'jet will try to take into account is the increased losses inherent in an 8 roller dyno. 4 rollers lose more than 2 rollers and 8 roller lose more than 4. This brings up the question of tires. WJM, I have no doubt that your engine is probably making more power the JWX's. However, if his tires were able to hold on to the rollers better, then the dyno will show his car making more power. This could be due to a better compound, better tread or simply because is tires were slipping on the rollers less due to less power output from the engine. What I would do, to eliminate that question is run both cars on the SAME tires. THEN compare dyno charts.

Its difficult to answer your questions because it all depends on the quality of the components being used and how you use them. I do some work at a local stereo shop and I keep a small 30 watt Coustic amp around to demonstrate with. Many people believe that a 500 watt amp will eat a 250 watt subwoofer. While this is a legitimate concern, it isn't as big a deal as most people believe. The key is keeping your power clean up to a point just beyond your normal listening level. The demonstration I do is I wire up my 30 watt amp to a sub that lists a power rating in the 3-500 watt range and proceed to blow it up. How? Simple...drive the amp into clipping and wait a few seconds for the voice coil to come apart. The other side of that coin is the setup I have in my car. I have an 800 watt amp on a 300 watt sub. Is that a problem? No. The way my system is tuned, that amp will never produce all 800 of those watts. Its loud enough to make your ears bleed, but my amps will never clip, so my speakers will survive quite a bit of abuse. The problem you run into at high volume levels is heat. Build up enough heat in the voice coil of your speaker and it will come apart. Mostly, that's kinda hard in the confines of a car because the resulting noise is so loud that it becomes uncomfortable and most people turn it down long before heat becomes an issue. So I guess the short answer is "Be nice to it and you shouldn't have a problem".

Ok...lessee....there was the 02 F-350 extended cab 4x4 longbed pickup on one occasion. That one went about 300 feet to a good spot to get off the road. Not sure what one of those weighs. Then there's the "beach incident". Toyota Prerunner truck had got stuck in loose sand. 2WD Ranger was stuck right behind it. I hooked on the back end of the Ranger, the ranger hooked on to the Toyota. Low Range and Reverse got them both out nicely. THe GVWR badge on my wife's long bed 2wd ranger says 2857 curb weight. Found 2745 for the Toy. Both were loaded with weekend beach goodies, so based on my experience with my wife's Ranger, I'm gonna call the 400lbs of beer and beach balls for each truck. That comes to 6402lbs plus the fact that both were buried nearly to the axles in loose sand. Someone once told me that you can assume you'll have to move 1.5 times the vehicle's normal weight under these conditions. That's 9603. Not too shabby for a carb'ed car with 280k or so on the clock.

What size do you want? The local autoparts chain (Westbay Auto) carries pretty much everything from 1.75" all the way up to 6" in stock...full sticks only, though.

Well, I'm gonna head out there. Be nice if I could hook up with someone to carvan out there. Unfortunately, I have to close my store on Fridays, so I don't usually get home until 1 or 2 in the morning. And seeing as I work in Bremerton....not likely the 8am thing is gonna work for me.

You're thinking like a consumer. Isuzu never did terribly well in the consumer market for various reasons. While I don't disagree that partnering with GM didn't do Isuzu any good, the facts speak for themselves. Isuzu makes their money in the commercial sector. See all those city driving box trucks on the road? About 2/3s of them say Isuzu on the side. The other third says Chevy, but they are rebadged Isuzu trucks, sometimes with gas engines rather than diesel. Isuzu's best products have ALWAYS been commercial products rather than consumer products. That isn't the case with Subaru. Subaru doesn't make ANY commercial equipment. The GM partnership made no sense without Subaru because GM already had its own line of light, medium and heavy trucks as well as Isuzu's medium and heavy trucks. Toyota, on the other hand, could stand to gain a lot from this partnership. As someone else has pointed out, Toyota stands to gain access to the best AWD technology on the planet, as well as some advanced battery technology. On top of that is FHI's commercial vehicles and aerospace division. So there's a lot in it for Toyota. What's in it for Subaru? We'll have to see. Frankly, I'm not seeing a lot in it for FHI as a whole.

Since it sounds like you are more than capable of turning your own wrenches, I'd say keep it. Heads can be resurfaced CHEAP. Having said that, I'd think that maybe, since you're otherwise looking at the best part of a rebuild, you might look into just getting an EA-81 and doing a motor swap. Might save you a lot of work. Just a thought.

I'd think that Toyota's benefit in this is reasonably clear. If you look at FHI's balance sheet, you'll notice that Subaru is a relatively small portion of their income. For august, Subaru sold a whole whopping 17,426 cars in North America. Toyota sold 205,362 vehicles in the same time frame. So I doubt Toyota is actually after Subaru. I think they are after Fuji's heavier stuff. According to their financials, FHI makes the bulk of their money in the automotive division. However, their aerospace and industrial divisions are in pretty good positions for the coming year with large contracts to the Japan Defense Agency, as well as both Boeing and Airbus. FHI supplies avionics and controls to both of the aircraft builders. Merging Toyota's industrial base with FHI's makes some sense with the added benefit of carrying along FHI's aerospace division.

The locking collar is not, but you can pull the key cylinder and switch out of it. They are separate pieces.

If I was going to do this, I would mod a Toyota AC compressor and use propane tanks. They'll hold more than enough pressure and are generally cheaper and easier to come by than diving tanks. I'd mount them in a Safari rack. AS far as inverters go, you usually get what you pay for. Yes, you can get a huge one from harbor freight, but it will not generate a sine wave. YOu'll get a square wave and that just won't work for some things. COmputers particularly, but some tools won't appreciate that, either. For portable AC power, Honda builds a really nice little 500w gas powered generator. Not a whole lot bigger than one of those compressor/jump box things they sell these days. Also pretty quiet.

I don't have an AA lift, but I have seen one in action. I was there at WCSS when he jumped over the gravel pile. It wasn't the strut spacer or any OTHER part of the lift kit that failed. What broke was the strut itself. THere's some pics of it somewhere. Really impressive. Bent the strut in 2 places, broke an axle or two and I think he even bent some of the sheet metal at the top of the strut tower. But the lift kit itself held up just fine.

I'll be coming, I believe...gotta get the wagon going again...had a spark plug related whoops. Anyway...I' have to close the store friday night, but I'll try and drag my backside out of bed early enough to get there at a decent time. Been thinking about putting on an event like this out at Tahuya.