BRP tourer

Steel wool will do a good job of cleaning glass as long as the paint is not too heavy and won't hurt the glass, lots of body shops use it. Be sure to rinse well afterwards, the small filings left by the steel wool will get into cracks and rust, won't hurt anything but looks like crap. If there is a heavier coat of paint, scrape it first with a razor blade as previously mentioned.

Non-resistor will sometimes give you some buzzing or static in your radio, and may affect some high-tech electronics (I-pod, GPS, etc). The proper resistor wires and plugs will not reduce performance, and are generally easier to find.

I have an 81 GL that gad a similar problem, sometimes crank ok and start, sometimes when I'd go to crank it everything would go out. Wait a bit, or turn key off then on, dash would light up, but when cranking suddenly everything go out. Turned out to be a rotten neg battery cable, not obvious from the outside of it. New cable, no problems since.

Over the years working as a mechanic I have seen many water pumps leak a little for a while, then suddenly puke everything out without warning. I would change it ASAP if it is leaking.

Did you try getting it warmed up good a taking it for a good run? That sounds like too much smoke for the amount of leak down you have. I still think it is seafaom collected in the exhaust, especially if the smoke smells sweet. Those leak down readings look like a tired engine, but not totally done yet. I would clean out the air cleaner, check the oil, and run it some more, see if it clears up. It ain't gonna hurt.

Quick, easy 2" straight through exhaust on my 81 GL wagon.... I cut off the original exhaust about 1" behind the flange that bolts to the cat/ headpipe. Then I took a 5.5' piece of 2" straight pipe that just fit over the cut off stub and welded it on. Then, 2 45 degree adaptors to make a sort of lazy S shape to go over the rear axle, and finally a 5" round straight through muffler in the original location. A couple of generic universal hangers to secure it and done! Easiest custom exhaust I ever did.

See what your plugs look like. It is possible if you really drenched it with seafoam, that a large amount of it collected in the exhaust without burning. Then when you started driving, the exhaust got hot enough to burn it out causing the big clouds. The oil in the air cleaner sounds worrisome though. Perhaps try a dry, then wet compression test to see how the rings are sealing. If the plugs look ok, and compression is ok, take it out for a hard run to see if the smoke clears and the air cleaner stays relatively clean. It may be fine.

The problem with replacing a fusable link with a fuse is that the link will support surges in current over a short time which are acceptable in some circuits, the fuse is designed to pop immediately once the max is reached, therefore, a fuse of too heavy of rating for the circuit must be used. Fusable link wire sections are available at most auto parts stores, I buy a piece and a couple crimp connectors ( I prefer the heat shrinkable weatherproof type) and good to go. Forget waiting for overpriced dealer crap. Another hint, I have needed a heavy link for a car ( can't remember which) and only been able to get the lighter 16 ga. at the time. I took 2 lengths of 16, stripped the ends, twisted together, and crimped in 1 12 ga connector. worked fine. As to the cause of your meltdown, hard to say from here but I would first suspect the alternator is overcharging, particularly when hot. I always test alternators, regulators, etc. on the car, I have found that the tests they run on the bench at the parts stores are very unreliable.

Not sure off the top of my head of the disty rotation but... take off the cap and bump over the motor, watch which way the rotor turns. You want to turn the dist housing the opposite way to advance the timing. If not able to watch while cranking, put the car in high gear, brake off, and pull the car forward with your hands while watching dist. rotation.

The Precision brand is made in USA and have been making quality u-joints for many years. I have personally used them in everything from small cars to big rigs to drag cars for many years and feel they are as good as any you can buy.

I just changed mine out on my 81 GL wagon today, I think they are the same for a Brat... They are Precision part #391, my local NAPA store had them in stock. Hope that helps

As said before, hard to diag without hearing it,,, If the sound started right after you did the single belt conversion it is possible the belt is vibrating against something. You might want to remove the belt and run it for a minute or so to see if the noise is still there, don't run it long, before you pull the covers. You can also use a long screwdriver between your ear and various parts of the engine to pinpoint where the sound is coming from. If it is a lifter you should hear it loudest from the valve cover.

Another possible solution... Most modern sound systems have two power leads, one is to be hooked to battery power (hot all of the time) to keep memory alive, this draws very little power. The other gets hooked to accessory power ( hot when key on only) to power up radio. If the wires are reversed, it will cause a battery drain when off. If they are hooked together, it will cause a drain as well a power up other accessories with the key off ( this sounds most like your problem). There is often a 3rd power wire to be hooked to the dash light circut.

My recently purchased 81 GL wagon has a pretty loud rumble between 35 and 45 mph that seems to come and go. At times it is rather intense, feels like a u-joint ready to fly apart, other times barely noticeable. I haven't had a chance to get under it to check the rear driveshaft yet, ( I hate working in the snow) but was tinkering a little today and looking from under the hood noticed that the inner cv joints seem to be at a pretty sharp angle down. I don't know if a previous owner may have lifted it some by changing the struts to longer ones causing this, or if it is normal for these cars. Any one notice the angles on their inner joints? I have tried popping it in and out of 4wd, gassing it, backing off, pushing clutch in at speed and nothing seems to affect the vibration. I also feel the vibration some in the wheel at times which has me wondering about the front shafts. Sorry for the long post, it is getting late and I tend to ramble.

What have I done to my Subaru lately? Well... yesterday I bought it (81 GL wagon) Today... I towed it to the shop in a snowstorm Tomorrow I hope to find a distributor and finally drive it! Gonna take me a while to catch up to y'all.