swisscheese

By the way, I am not that far from Concrete. Just bought some land a little north of Trafton. If your friend is tired of that 383 and tranny being in his way, I will give it a good home.

Back in the '80's many thousands of young men, many with room temperature IQ's, put small block chevy V-8's into their vegas, with just minimal reinforcing of the unibody. Often they kept the stock vega rear-end, but since the tires would break loose so easily, the 3-4 times increase in power was manageable. I think a soob unibody is stout enough with some common-sense reinforcement to handle a SBC. However, I would recommend replacing the driveline, use the chevy tranny and find a solid rear axle at the pull-a-part, something out of a S-10, maybe. I think they are still less than $100. You should be able to re-use the front suspension, just eliminate the drive components. I say go for it. Yeah, you will need to do some fabricating, but how else do people learn but by doing? Go to some V-8 Vega websites for some good info on low-$$$ V-8 swaps. I just happen to have a fuel injected 350 and a turbo 700R4 in running condition and am contemplating making a nice little sleeper out of a EA-82 wagon myself.

I have 14 x 5.5 white spokes off a '88 mazda 2wd pickup.

You are right, as I check further it is seeming more and more like a wheel bearing after all.

Will the noise go away when brakes are applied? I am getting more of a scraping noise from front left that goes silent when i apply the brakes

6:00 pm Saturday, Everett, WA. He had not decided whether or not to keep driving or wait until tomorrow to head for "Spokidoki".

Pat just left my house in Everett at 6:00 PM. He is running 8 hours late, and was debating whether to drive all night or wait until tomorrow. His next encounter may have more info.

Very nice! What brand of bender did you get? I am looking at a JD2 brand myself.

If it is out of an S-10 it is probably a "New Venture 233" It has an aluminum case and weighs 74 pounds. It has a 2.76 ratio. If you could work the driveshaft problems out it might make a good candidate for a T-case job. I think they are made with a variety of outputs, so it would have to be done on a "case by case" basis (no pun intended )

Yeah, the gasket set looks like it has several intake gaskets, so I think I am set. (no pun intended) Thanks for the info, I am sure looking forward to some turbo-powered acceleration!

Yeah, the pistons are different, lower compression, but I can't find any resource with any good info on whether my NA rings are the same. I am pretty sure they are the same size (thickness), but they may be another material to handle the higher heat/pressure.

Thanx for the info!

Yeah, I need to know if the FWD and the 4WD take the same clutch. Centerforce lists only FWD applications for the EA82.

I have a '88 EA82 N/A SPFI, I got a complete set of engine gaskets and rings for it. I also just bought a '88 EA82 turbo. Will the gaskets and rings interchange between the two, so I can re-ring and re-seal the turbo and ash-can the N/A, or do I need different gaskets? I have been trying to figure this out via various parts supplier web sites, but haven't met success yet, they are too confused.

Me too, I have to drive a long way from everett to get into some trails that are challenging, but not likely to be fatal to my stock wagon. I am hoping to use the christmas holiday break to install my lift kit so I can put on the big meats, but until then I don't want to go broke on gas for the highway driving.

I'm gonna measure that backspacing today, and see if that is indeed the problem. Thanks for the input!

That is a good idea I will give that a try tonite. New question, is it possible that I have EA-81 wheels? They are black steel 13x5 I think. When I got the car it had 8 spoke enkeis, not even close to a rubbing problem.

My 88 gl wagon's front pads were down to about 1/16" of friction material, so I got me a set of them thar new pads and new rotors. Put it all back together and now the calipers have "floated" outboard to the point that they scrape the stock 13" wheels. I put a washer over each wheel stud to space them out (about a 16th of an inch) and it is enough to relieve the scraping, but that is not a good fix, has this happened to anyone else, and what could I have done wrong?

Here is a similar but different idea I have had for a while. What if you were to enclose the air to air intercooler in an insulated box and pipe air-conditioned air into it? It would be like a refrigerator for the intercooler. Do you suppose the increased power would offset the losses from turning the air conditioning compressor?

Check the big central axle nut on the outside (32 or 36mm) Mine was loose despite the cotter pin being in place and the wheel rubbed the caliper.

It must take a lot of nerve to say it was the parked car's fault

After I do the fender cutting-out, I am gonna do the bottom half of my off-road wagon in black rubberized rocker coating stuff. This will protect my lower half from all the dings and scratches of offroading, and cover up my crappy bodywork I believe most factories use 3M "schutz" coating. It comes in black with a rough texture and beige with a smoother texture in 28oz cans. You can get it at any auto paint store which carries 3M stuff. Probably other paint companies, such as PPG, have their own version.It is paintable. You spray it with an undercoating gun, which can be had from Harbor Freight for 7 bucks. Another alternative is "durabak" It comes in several colors, also sprays with an undercoating gun or brush on, about 90 to 120 dollars a gallon, a gallon covers 60 square feet. But you gotta use it all once you start, you can't put the lid on and save it for later, it will harden in the can, so you may as well do inside the fenders, and the cargo area etc. while you are at it.

HOW DARE YOU,SIR! Questioning me? The SP-135T and SP175T have six position taps, The SP-135/175 Plus both have infinite voltage control. I have the 175T, and have never really missed having infinite control. Someday I will get a TIG and that will give the really fine adjustments needed for the very thin metals. And TIG is much better for aluminum, stainless and chrome-moly.

A buddy had a Justy with AWD and the CVT. He says it was and still is the best snow car he has ever driven.

DON'T get the chicago electric. Trust me. I have one that actually works OK on thick material, but to weld sheet metal you need much more adjustment capability and a more stable arc than the Harbor freight model can provide. I suggest a Lincoln SP-135 Plus or a SP-175 Plus. (because I have not used either a Miller or Hobart in comparable size, I can't comment on those, other than to say Hobart is owned by Miller and is the less expensive brand with less bells and whistles) These have infinitely variable voltage and wire feed, come all set up for gas. I suggest NOT using flux core on sheet metal. Good luck, welding will open up a whole new world of fabrication for you. You might be the next Jesse James!