NorthWet

Are you looking specifically for trails in/through the Ho Rain Forest?

Probably doesn't have the ability to do coolant work on this car yet... Gunk seems to accrete in the expansion tank. I would imagine that what setright is talking about would take care of things. Do you know if the heater puts out heat? The heater core is usually the first thing to plug if there is debris/gunk in the coolant.

Operative phrase here is "really old car". Last I heard (and I believe was implied earlier), if your car is 21 years old or more you have more leeway with it. I was waiting for my '71 to reach that magic age, but got out of Cal before that happened. California has its own version of the EPA, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) which, for decades, has had pollution regulations far stricter than the EPA. They require that car parts that could potentially effect the emissions be certified as not adversely doing so. The techs that do the emissions testing are generally not ignorant yokels; they have a good idea what belongs and what doesn't, even if sometimes it is in a rather slavish manner. When you cram that many cars (they are an absolute way of life in the West, and even more so in California; mass transit is still just catching on) and have bad geographical regions (the LA Basin and such), strong pollution regulations make a certain sense. Still, I am glad i am not a car nut in California.

*edit - On my home from work last night I realized that "Sept 80" made this a MY81 manual, so please ignore the Gen1 references... - end edit * My wife just walked in the door and said, "I bought you a book", and hands me an FSM, Body and Engine, September 1980 Edition. Pretty good condition: Cover shows some manhandling, but pages look clean and well treated. I guess I have to get a Gen 1 to go along with the manual!!!

I just went through an experience of trying to get a quarter window for an XT. Well, actually it was more like me watching a Board member valiantly try to remove the glass. In the process, the glass got scratched and eventually shattered. So, my choices seem to be: Shatter another couple windows before I successfully get on out, pay $230 to have it replaced with new, or go with Lexan/Acrylic. Lexan has a drawback of being very soft and easily scratched; may have to use "tear-offs" like helmet visors...

The Hillholder should not come into play except on a fairly significant grade (I forget what my older soobs are spec'd at, but I think it is like a 5% or 6% grade). If you are getting engagement on level surfaces, then I think that you have a problem that needs attention. The cable adjustment only affects how much clutch depression is needed to activate the valve. (If too tight, even with the clutch pedal all the way up the brakes will be locked, and vice versa.)

Their NGK prices are more expensive than my local auto parts store. How many do you need, and how quickly do you need them?

You can tell hime the hillholder is like a "line-lock", except instead of locking the front wheels it does the diagonal thing.

Its a vent/overflow tube. It hangs down, usually held by a flexible strap on the frame rail, or someimes (like on my XT) passes through a hole near the frame rail.

Yeah, WJM was probably talking about both cams. I was doing an oilpump reseal on a new-to-me XT today, and noticed that all of the timing marks were recently dabbed with paint... ... and both belts were off a tooth. So much for it being simple.

I "got into" cars, and especially Porsches, when the 914s were in production. I wanted one, and still do. I always thought that it deserved more than the VW engine that they started out with, was happy to see the VW 2.0 put into it, and even happier with the 914/6. Neat car! I want it... or maybe, how about a "new" 914/6 with a 3.0 H6 in it???

The hesitation could also have a less exotic cause, like sparkplugs/wires. Before digging in to the TPS or other sensors, make sure that your normal tune-up stuff is in order. My 87 t-wagon ran like a dog (fast, slow, nap, fast:grin: ) when its plugs and wires went bad on me. Oddly enough they failed shortly after I put injector cleaner into the fuel tank. I figure something during the cleaning process (mixture leaning due to minor clogging or actually getting clean so they didn't run rich) overstressed the sparkplugs, and everything went downhill from there.

I used to replace front seals on GM and Ford compressors, many years ago. It really required special tools, the seals were expensive (the cost to our shop for a GM seal was $50 in 1976), and a fingerprint could ruin the ceramic seal. Unless the Hitachi and Matsushta/Panasonic are quite different, this really is a job left to pros.

Check to see if it is in 4WD before you start chasing the indicator circuit. If you need to chase the indicator circuit, I would start at the switch to see if it is making proper contact. The easiset way to do this is probably at the connectors where they come up into your engine compartment.

I still have the original 35 year-old, 320k u-joints on my Datsun. As fas as I can tell, they and the sliding-spline axles are as good as the day they were made. For road use at least, I would rather have the u-joints. Sure beats replacing axles because of torn boots. It does remind me of a story about trying to find axles that would survive racing a lowered Datsun. They decided that the original u-joints couldn't handle the angularity, so they swapped on a set of later-model CV-axles. Took it out on the track for awhile and the boots exploded... the joints heated up too much and the air pressure had no where to go. (They eventually went back to a u-joint axle from a later-model that didn't flange-mount at the diff, giving another 2 inches of axle length between joints.)

Your 87 GL-10 has a wastegate unless someone removed it. A dashpot is a diaphram in a housing that has a linkage rod, usually to the throttle linkage, and a metered orifice, usually vented to the atmosphere. Its purpose is to hold the throttle open for a specified period of time after you close the throttle. I have heard that the EA82ts use a dashpot to keep the throttle from being slammed shut during overrun so as to keep the turbo somewhat spooled. I have heard this in the context of instead of a blow-off valve (BOV) or recirculation valve we have a dashpot. (Not much of a substitute :-\ . ) So it may be that you heard that your 87 doesn't have a BOV but has a dashpot.

Munged meant more like "bent". I am NOT familiar with this engine, but it sounds like the intake and exhaust cams were still synchronized with each other by gears? If so, sounds like the valves are OK unless someone knows better.

Another thing to consider, after rereading your first post: If this camshaft was NOT turning properly, and the intake camshaft was (DOHC, right?), have the valves in that head been munged by each other???

If I were to make a WAG, it looks like the sprocket bolt(s) backed out and the sprocket did some damage... but sprocket issues weren't mentioned. :-\

No planetary, just regular gears shifted by a shift fork, living in the front diff housing.

The tension is needed only if you are starting from zero information (i.e. staring at a bare set of pullies and a belt in your hand). Since the "granularity" (how much difference there is between one possible setting and the next) of the setting/alignment is one tooth, if you have the right number of belt teeth between the marks on the pulleys, it should work. This method is actually more direct, as the "normal" procedure utilizes the indirect markings on case and flywheel to transfer the alignment to the sprockets. If done properly, this method should be foolproof, which is more than I can say for using flywheel marks and cover markings.

After 30 years of tightening 6mm bolts into aluminum, I have gotten pretty good at it. Even 1/4"-drive torque wrenches don't like 10 ft-lbs and below. Miles suggestion on rechecking tightness is excellent.

Remove the t-stat, hard-wire the fan so that it runs all of the time. You'll get cool.

Get it on a loose surface (dirt, gravel) and see if you get spin the rear tires. The light comes on in response to a switch on the back of the tranny, being activated by the 4wd transfer mechanism (the shifter fork, I think), so if the light is on you should be in 4wd, but if it is not then it could be switch, wiring, light.. or not being in 4wd.

If nobody has a better idea, try finding a crankshaft shop that might be willing to do a build-up of the journal with weld and regrind. Might still cost you $100-200.