oobnuker

Funny thing about buying the exhaust - I was going to register the car for the first time, and I was under the assumption that I would need to get it inspected and therefore need the exhaust replaced as it was all rotted out. Well, the CT DMV and their bastard marriage with whatever vendor was doing their emmissions testing was coming to an end amidst all sorts of corruption and other BS. So I bought all that crap, brought the car back to OEM spec, went to register it - and the lady at the DMV just handed me the plates. No inspection, no exhaust, no emmissions testing - nada. It took about a month before I had hacked that exhaust to pieces in search of a little more power... $500 down the drain...at least I didn't pay anyone to do it for me... Oh well - live and learn.

The "second layer" is probably heat shielding. No real biggie there. There IS supposed to be a second cat in the mid-pipe. Only two holes are used. If they strip out, you can have a shop cut and rotate the flange 90 degrees and put studs in the un-used holes. I can tell you right now, that I replaced everything from the Y-pipe back and it cost something like $500 for just the parts. The mid-pipe is $270 or something ridiculous. Most shops won't touch the car if the stock/original cat is not used or if they are not replacing it. Add insult to injury in the fact that most junk yards will not deal with exhaust related parts if they involve the cats... Are you sure the front pipe is leaking? It might just be the gasket between the Y-pipe and the heads. If the front pipe is not leaking, not sense in replacing that....

How about a dual SPFI setup? Custom Manifolds. Something would have to be done with the fuel pressure I guess - or maybe swap in a smaller injector. Fabricate some throttle linkage. A larger, electrically compatible MAF would have to be used I imagine... Could be intersting.

Welp, I need a new air filter - I bid on one of them. There are like 5-6 auctions going. If no one else buys one, I'll let everyone know how it works out. Auction ends in 13 hours. I hit it for the lowest bid (because I am broke and cheap), so I am going to just ride it out, but I don't expect to get outbid...

I was thinking about this. I'd have to do rough cuts with a hacksaw and then grind the rest off with a Dremel - but I only have one MAF and I don't want to screw it up. Hence my interest in this low-buck solution. Also mounting directly to the MAF creates another issue - mounting the unit itself. With the ears ground off, how did you mount it so it doesn't bang around and ruin the thing?

I hear you. I have gone through periods of absolutely hating my car. Particularly when I had the opportunity to drive a newer car for a couple of months... In the 2.5 years of owning this car, I have done 3 axles, the 02 numerous times, timing belts twice, distributor, fuel pump, EGR solenoids, alternator a couple of times, water pump, power steering pump failed (yanked it). On the other hand, the thing hauls me to work and back 100+ miles a day, gets 23 MPG, and will get up to 100 on the highway. The odometer broke 25,000 miles ago, the car was given to me for free as the 7th owner with 140,000 miles - now has close to 200,000.

Does this look like it will work: Ebay I had cobbled together a 'custom' adapter out of some home depot parts, but I need to replace the filter now. The one I originally used was a $25 APC unit from Advanced Auto. If this item on Ebay will work, it includes the adapter and a filter for $17.95 shipped...

I don't want to sound like an rump roast but... fuel pump - new generic - ~$90 CV Axle - ~$60 02 Sensor - ~$25 Water pump - ~$35 Brake pads/rotors - ~$60 If you did all the work yourself, with the help of everyone here...you'd have saved hundreds of dollars. All of this could have been done with a cheap 100 piece toolset and a couple of oddballs (big socket for the axle, etc.)

That thing is so freakin cool. I hope you have a details on what went into making that.

The valve cover gasket set should include the grommets for the bolts. It will be tight, but you should be able to get it to go - you may have to be creative in getting the gasket to stay in place while you are trying to get it all back together. Make DOUBLY sure that you cover the distributor cap - there is some kind of optical sensor in there that goes screwy if it gets water in it. Other than that, I think you've got it covered. Check the Cam Shaft seals, Crank Seal, Oil pump - these are all on the front of the engine. The the cam/crank seals should be pretty easy to find, the oil pump is right where the filter attaches. Also the Camshaft carrier -> Head seal sometimes leaks. Check that too. Check the passenger side CV boot - right above the catalytic convertor - it tends to get dried out by the cat and crack and spew grease everywhere...

Sounds like the actual grease from inside the CV...Another thing to check is the dipstick - my friggen Loyale notoriously decides to pop the dipstick up now and then, letting loose a quart of oil all over everything. The O-Ring is worn to hell and just needs to be replaced for that one...

This happened to me once and it turned out to be just a loose hose at the pump. The hoses are usually bolted down with little brackets here and there, so they may seem tight but might actually just be resting up against the pump. If it is just the pump and you can live without, these little cars are remarkably easy to manuever without power steering - I ended up just getting shorter belts and disconnecting mine and removing it.

It should be a piece of cake - but make sure you put the entire front end up in the air (both sides) otherwise the forces of once side will tweak the swaybar and cause you a lot of headaches. If everything is just hanging free it should be no problem at all.

Great info - thanks. I'll let everyone know how it turns out.

How do I keep the internals from spinning? I haven't tried my impact wrench yet, but I am wondering how to keep the stuff from spinning. Edit: I'm thinking now if I'm not concerned about the pulley on the new alternator, I can just use a vise or big vise gripes and a pipe...But that still leaves me with getting the pulley off my old alternator... Still looking for anyone who has actually taken one apart. I may take you up on that offer for the other alternator if you're gonna be down here anytime soon. Don't want to make you drive down for nothing...

Many thanks to WagonsOnly for the alternator! It was a nice drive up to Northern CT this afternoon... Anyway, I didn't even look at the alternator when I grabbed it from him. It turns out it has the wrong pulley on it - Serpentine vs. V-Belt. I can't get the pulley off for the life of me, so I'm wondering if I can simply yank the voltage regulator out of the good alternator and slap it into the bum one. Has anyone ever taken apart an EA82 Alternator? I know, I know, reman. units from the Auto Parts store can be had for 50-60 bucks, but right now, I don't have that money... Anyone? Looking for experience taking an alternator apart.

If it's the driver's side turn the wheel all the way to the right ( all the way to the left if passenger ). You don't have to take the caliper off the spindle to change the pads. True, there are two bolts to remove the caliper, but there is one smaller bolt at the bottom of the caliper that once you pop it out, the caliper will swing out from the top to expose the pads. Take care not to mess up the little metal thingies in there as they don't come with the new pads. The piston needs to be turned back into the caliper - NOT PUSHED with a C-CLAMP. There are special tools that you can use to do this, but I usually just use a common wrench to fit in between the little bumps on the face of the piston. Do not put a wrench or vise-grips on the outer edges of the piston as you'll score it all up and cause a leak. You'll see what I mean once you have it all apart. Jack the entire front end up if you can. This way you can consult with the other side of the car if you forget how things go back together, etc. You may have to scoop some brake fluid out of the master cylinder to make room as the fluid gets pushed back up into the system when you push the pistons in. Don't expose any of the bits in the bottom of the master cylinder or you'll end up having to bleed the brakes. Not a bad idea to bleed them now anyway though... It's not a hard job at all, just be patient.

If you look up where the Y-Pipe meets the heads you should be able to see burnt out spots around there if the gasket is shot. If you still have the timing belt covers check them for melting too - that would be a good indicator. Also CAREFULLY check the exhaust studs for tightness - this is a pretty common failure on these motors. I stress carefully because if you trash the threads by over tightening you will have to either helicoil them (good luck with that - never worked for me 5 times I tried it), or you will have to use the unused pair of holes on each head and have a muffler shop chop your Y-Pipe and re-weld it 90 degress off. In general, look where any of the joints that you may have created meet and look for soot deposits indicating a leak. Often a fresh exhaust clamp will loosen up after you first put it on and a few heating cycles...

Seconded on the exhaust leak. My entire exhaust (all 3' of it) is a patchwork of do it yourself pieces from the autoparts store - leaks like sieve. Causes all sorts of pops and burbles just as you described. Check around the Y-Pipe to Head - those gaskets SUCK as they are paper with steel mesh inside. The paper burns away over time (like a week) and all you are left with is a nasty leak. I love the way the car sounds when it is whole, but it doesn't stay whole for more than a week, so I stopped bothering.

If the moaning is just when doing real low speed stuff while turning the wheel (like pulling out of a parking space), it could be the power steering pump/fluid.

Moosie had this problem when he got his turbo wagon - turned out to be a real simple one: the little hose that goes from the turbo to the plenum atop the throttle body was loose - it should be pushed on all the way to the little stop that is machined into the plenum. Worth a shot - and free! His car seemed to do exactly the same thing.

This is probably the most annoying thing I have ever come across with my Loyale. I managed to strip out the threads on the distributor shaft, so the set screw would walk out every now and then. Why they did not engineer a key-way or something to keep the rotor inline whether the screw is present or not is beyond me. It is a tiny screw like you said, but that stupid little screw will leave you on the side of the road cursing. Bumping the engine so you can rotate the shaft ever so slightly to get to a "clear" spot where you can jam your hands in there and blindly go about attempting to put that screw back in.... This happened to me about 4 times. I eventually replaced the distributor with another junker, but the inherent problem is still there. The screw can fall out and the rotor free wheels on the shaft leaving you ANGRY.

Check this out: http://bankruptsoul.org/gallery/displayimage.php?album=5&pos=25 This is my side-exit cherry bomb (Actually Thrush, but whatever). It's a 2", and it's the shortest length I could find - I think 25". Most auto parts stores seem to have these, so you could save yourself some shipping be checking around. Sounds awesome.

I was thinking the same thing. Clean engines are so damned sexy...

I ran them with the front's off for a while, but I honestly think it's better with the cover completely removed. Oil and grime and crud used to collect in the remnants of the covers. Now there is no where for that stuff to go but out and down. Also note I have had the belts break twice on me - once with full covers, once with half covers, but NUNCE (None, nada, never, nil) with no cover.