Scoobywagon

Essentially what you'd be getting is one complete car with a few spare parts. I might be willing to go a bit higher than $200, but I certainly wouldn't go past $300.

Here's the way I look at it. "This is my car. There are many like it, but this one is mine!" Well...sort of like that. My cars aren't worth much to someone else, but they are worth PLENTY to me. Now, in the case of your car, you're looking at about $1000 to get it all fixed up, unless you pay someone else to do it in which case you're probably looking at something closer to $3k. Having spent that $1-3k, you will have a car that will last a LOOOOOOOONG time to come. The other option is to take that $1-3k and buy another car. However, 3 large isn't much of a down payment on a new car and a $3000 car is still a bit of a beater. Since there is a REASON why someone is selling that car, and you won't know what it is until after the ink is dry, you would be inheriting someone elses problems. If, on the other hand, you put that money into a down payment on something newer, you'd then be looking at between $100 and $300 per month in car notes. Now I don't know about you, but there is a HELL of a lot of fixing and modding that I can do on $1-300 per month. No, my personal preference is to turn my own wrenches. Not particularly good at it, but I do enjoy it. I also tend to buy a car and run it until the wheels fall off (sometimes literally). If you don't enjoy turning wrenches, then maybe a newer car is the way to go for you.

I'd think you'd want to run some kind of crossover tube anyway. Having owned a dual-carbed Austin-Healey Sprite, I can tell you from first hand experience that tuning and syncing two carbs that can't see each other is a COMPLETE PAIN IN THE BUTT! Then again, those were SU carbs and were a pain anyway...

WOW! If an empty coffee can on your exhaust is good for 15 hp, then a full Chef Boyardee can on the turbo should be worth at LEAST 25, especially if the can is cold. You know, cause the can draws the heat away from the turbo resulting in a cooler and therefore more dense air charge....er....right? I'd think that migh be a bit hard on your low-friction muffler bearings, though.

Monroe makes a fairly generic set of air shocks that could be modified relatively easily (screw plate adapted to the top eyelet). Just need to make sure you get shocks with correct travel for your application. Don't know anything about their overseas availability, though.

The sad thing is that I am actually old enough to remember that ad slogan on the television. Oh well...at least I'm still older than the car I drive.

Sorry, the interior is blue, but you are welcome to whatever you want.

Last Bump. Get together is this Saturday. Start at 10 and end when the remains of the car fit in the bed of my wife's Ranger. Rules are: 1) Bring your own Booze 2) Bring your own dangerous tools (sawzall, torch, etc). 3) Other than the engine, ecu, whatever other parts I need to keep to do a transplant, the rear end, and some bits that are already spoken for...take whatever you want. 4) have fun while indulgine your more destructive impulses.

My ultimate offroad Soob would not likely be street legal. Not sure that I have the skills to actually build it either, but hey...not that it couldn't be done. Start with an EA81 hatch. Ej22 power, 4-speed D/R (lower first gear than 5-speed), T-Case, 5.70 gears at both ends (custom made), 33-35" tires on Toy 6-lug 15" wheels. Add on a full eternal cage and on-board air and you've got the beginnings of a REAL nice trail rig.

DAMMIT!!!!! I'd LOVE to go, but I'm striping a car on Saturday. Any chance to do it another weekend???? :-\

Are you sure about that? I stripped down an 87 T-wagon and used the hubs on my 81 NA/ No fitment problems at all. They just bolted right up and off I went. Now, the history of that wagon in entirely unknown, so its possible that at some point someone put NA axles and hubs in that car. Either way, best to make sure.

My question is, how do you intend to keep that engine from sucking the rest of that little car in through the intake and spitting it out through the exhaust??

I'll cover every model that I can, but 10 years worth of Soobs is, in technical terms, a "Screaming Butt Load" of data entry. If I can get a few volunteers, I'll set up a web app that will let others enter data into the database. Speaking of which...doesn't someone....(WJM?) work for a dealership? Could that person hook up a complete parts listing? Preferably one in digital form?

The way I keep my engine running with seafoam in the carb is I just pour it in really slowly. Another way is to use your finger on the throttle linkage to rev the engine as you pour. No, running it through your fuel tank will not do the same thing as it will clean your fuel lines and the innards of your carb before it ever gets to the valves. Yes, you should change your oil after adding seafoam. NOrmally, I don't use seafoam in the crank case. I use ATF there. However, were I to use seafoam, I would buy some relatively cheap oil and a cheap filter. Change the oil, add the seafoam, drive around for a few miles or until the engine gets good and hot. Then, change the oil and filter again, this time with good quality oil and filters. I personally use Valvoline 5-30 and Wix filters. Remember, though, that Napa and Parts Plus both have store brand oils that are repackaged Valvoline products.

The only things in it right now are an all-aluminum replacement radiatior from Performance Radiator (which doesn't work NEARLY as well as it sounds) and Front CVs from a company whose name I forget at the moment. I'm thinking about hitting up my local dealer for a complete parts list for every model from 1980 to 1985. That'll give me a complete listing of EVERY part of an EA-81 car. Then I'll move on to the EA-82 cars. That would take quite a while, but would result in the most complete listing of OEM parts available. Then all we'd have to do is get part numbers for aftermarket replacement and upgrade parts. Any volunteers to help do data entry?

Puhhhlease....muffler bearing drag only becomes noticable if you aren't using synthetic turn signal fluid in your bivalve extruders. Besides, the new sodium filled canuter valves really open things up for you!

I'd be all over that. The catch is that the price would have to be fairly low. I'm thinking not more than $20-30 bucks a wheel. Then again, I'm poor, and it'd be a stretch for me to get TO that price point, much less past it.

Just bumping this one up again. Haven't had a lot of time to really work this thing, but I'm getting there. Still needing some information to populate the database with so I can get some testing done before I start letting you guys beat on it. Bumpity BUMP!

What makes a car have an affinity for a specific brand of plugs? Anyone know? What I've noticed is that my Ru's are happiest with NGK plugs. Not that they don't run right with other brands, but I do get the best mileage out of NGK's. On the other side of that is my wife's Ranger. It doesn't seem to car a lick what spark plugs it has, and its seen them all. Its got motorcraft plugs at the moment, but its seen Bosch, NGK, Champion, Delco, Denso and a few others. No noticable or measureable differences in performance or mileage. Any ideas?

SeaFoam is a detergent that can be added to nearly any petroleum-based fluid in your car. Run it through the gas tank and itll clean out any gunk that may be in the filter(s) and lines. Suck it up through a Vac line and it will do a SCREAMIN' job of cleaning valves. Put it in the crank case and it frees up lifters and de-gunkifies oil passages. If you want to see how well it works, try this.... Drain the oil from your crankcase and change the filter. Leave the drain plug out and start pouring oil into the engine. Watch as it comes out and put the drain plug back in when you start getting clean oil. Fill the engine with oil as you normally would, then add 1/3 of a can of SeaFoam. Run it until the engine reaches operating temperature. Drain the oil again and note the color. Generally, I've found that SeaFoam could probably clean the black off pavement. Also makes a good spot degreaser.

If you need space, PM me. I'm just down the road from you and I've got plenty of space. Especially for T-wagons.

Contact your local towing companies. Most of them auction off any vehicles that they have held for longer than a certain period of time. 90% of the time, you can get cars CHEAP at these auctions. Also, check your local wrecking yards. Sometimes you can get a screaming deal on a decent little runner. Other than that....hang out here a while.

It's an auto and is fried so far as I know, though that's second hand at best. Haven't looked at CV's. Let you know in the morning.

Ok....date is set. 23rd. THose who are interested in pieces of this car are invited to show up any time after 10am. If there's enough interest, and the weather cooperates, I might even invest in some burgers and dogs and make a day of the deal. We'll also be stripping an 85 Jeep Wagoneer (the one in the background of the pics mentioned above). If anyone wants some heavy-duty axles....well...there they are. I've had a bunch of requests for me to pull stuff before hand. I really don't want to do that, mostly because I'm a lazy SOB. However, if you REALLY need something, I'll see what I can do.

Since you are replaceing the wheel bearings, you might try this... Get one more 36mm castle nut. Run one on the backwards as far as it will go (brake drum off, of course) and another one the right way. Snug them up against each other to spread the load over as much thread area as possible. Get a BFH and whack the crap out of it. Heat up the bearing GOOD and hot. Get a BFH and whack the crap out of it. Heat up the bearing GOOD and hot. Repeat ad nauseum....or until the little beast breaks loose.