fishboy

Okay, thanks chaps!

I'm thinking of getting one of these to remove a bunch of hail dings in my car (it was not insured). It would cost thousands to have them professionally removed which I can't afford, whereas for significantly less I'm thinking I could buy one of these and get most of them out myself. If I get it 80% back to normal I'll be happy. Has anyone used one of these? Is it something that a novice with access to youtube could manage? Anyone have any experience with these cheapie chinese ones on ebay? Or do you really need to spend $500 for it to actually work? http://www.ebay.com/itm/Paintless-Dent-Repair-PDR-Tool-Hail-Removal-Dent-Lifter-Set-24-Pieces-/331356731965?hash=item4d26667a3d&item=331356731965&vxp=mtr

Ok great - I'll give these suggestions a try on the weekend and let you know how I go. One question - if I have a couple of wrecks lying around with reasonable gearboxes in them, will it be quicker and easier just to swap one over than replace bushings etc as suggested?

A 1992 Subaru L Series I recently acquired has an issue with the manual transmission – it is difficult to “find” the gears – especially 3rd and 4th. Usually I can find 3rd and 4th easily by just letting the gear stick come the center and then pushing it straight forward or back, but not with this car - it refuses to go anywhere if you push it straight up. You have to gently maneuver the stick around until you locate 3rd - slightly to the right of center. Even with practice I still find myself ramming it into 1st from time to time - it's really hard to locate the correct gear. I’d just deal with it except that I’m trying to persuade the wife to drive a stick, and this transmission is making this impossible! What is the problem likely to be? Is it going to be pricey / a lot of work to fix?

Thanks folks!

I’m about to replace my alternator belt on my EA82 Subaru L Series and it turns out the A/C compressor belt needs replacing too. I never use the A/C though, so is it possible to just take of the A/C compressor belt and leave it off, and just have the alternator belt in place? Or does this belt serve some other purpose besides running the A/C compressor? The car has A/C but NOT power steering.

So the cooling system should have still been able to work and not destroy the engine even with the kink?

So I went ahead and bought the auto-transmission L series as per this thread. Just drove it home, started looking it over, and noticed this: As always, the heater core has been bypassed, probably due to leakage (no problem), however the bypass hose has a great big KINK in it. You can see it in the picture. Is this bad?? If I recall correctly, you need the coolant to be flowing freely through an un-kinked bypass hose so the cooling system can do its job...correct? I'm not sure how long the previous owner has been driving it like this....is it likely to have inflicted much damage?

Awesome thanks all. Sorry Jono, i bought it :-)

Yes, there is a red button on the gear stick. So I guess that means 3 speed, and worse fuel consumption on the highway than the manual?

I'm considering buying a 1993 GL EA82 All wheel drive wagon (AKA Leone / L series) in really good shape, but the only thing I'm not sure about is it has an Automatic tranny. I've only ever owned manual versions of this car. Are there any major disadvantages to having auto over manual? I assume it means I will be without high range/low range. I could live with this I think - but are there other disadvantages, or are they still very good? Will it impact fuel consumption on the highway? Thanks!

Great suggestions guys. Cheers!

Have looked into the Suzuki Sidekick (Vitara here) and other mini SUVs but I've got my heart set on something tiny like this - assuming I can make it work. It looks like you're all recommending larger wheels. Does this make such a big difference? I was hoping to keep approx the same wheel diameter to maintain it's on-road efficiency. Would just some more grippy tyres suffice? Or is it going to be totally useless off road with such small wheels?

In pursuit of the ultimate super-efficient vehicle, I am trying to work out whether this fine beast of a machine could be made to handle a bit of off-roading from time to time. The kind of off-roading I’m talking about would be the occasional jaunt in the woods on dirt/mud/gravel sort of stuff. Daihatsu Centro/Handivan - 3 cylinders / 660cc of unbridled muscle. Now before you laugh and click out of this thread please hear me out! J PROS: - Super low fuel consumption at 5.5L per 100km (43MPG) - Weight: a mere 640 kilograms (1400 lbs) curb weight. CONS: - It lacks 4 wheel drive (it is front wheel drive) - It’s ground clearance is not great So I was thinking, maybe I could get away with the odd bit of off-roading despite it only being front wheel-drive. I could fit some grippy tyres to it (or perhaps some snow chains or something) to improve the traction. I expect I’ll still get bogged fairly frequently but no matter – I could also fit a small (hand?) winch to the front, or even carry a rope + block and tackle in the trunk....being so light-weight it would be super easy to pull out and resume driving. Maybe I could even raise up the ground clearance a little (do you think such a thing might be possible on this sort of car?) I mean, I know normally many would be inclined to say “nah mate...you need a 4WD”, but I was thinking this thing is so tiny and light perhaps you could view it more like you would a motorbike than a typical big old 2WD car... Thoughts??

Okay cool. Thanks for the suggestions guys. Might go down the track of some good on-road/off-road tyres and an air compressor.