reoff

I'm trying to take the A/C compressor control away from the heater... I'm investigating it and it looks like it has a switch in the heater door area??? I'm really tired of the defroster taking 1/3 of my power away. Skip??? I believe you were working on this at one point... any ideas?

Okay... I've thrown up a website. It's very rough at the moment, but there are a couple pics of my car and such. Let me know what you think! (feedback page doesn't work) http://home.comcast.net/~reoff/ Rich

I'm sorry guys!!! I don't always remember that everyone doesn't already know what I'm drivin' these days. It is an '85 GL d/r 4wd (carbed) with ~130K on it. Last owner bought it as a second car to get to school (2 miles) and put around 2K on it in the last year. Before that it was driven by a very messy college student in Oregon (this is where i expected to find some "unorthidox" repairs). I meant absolutely NO offense, and very much appreciated any and all suggestions. I've been away for awhile, and in my time as a Ford driver have not been keeping up on the board. Just a lesson to me... make sure that before I call anyone a crackhead, I know exactly what is going on with the car. But I am still curious to find out what the REAL problem is. Rich

Awe... c'mon!!! That means even MORE work for this blasted thing!!! I would have gotten there at some point anyway, but now I'll have to check that in the next couple of days. Thanks

My '85 runs ~40-45 unless @ idle, where it sits around 10psi. My theory is: w/ hydraulic lifters, you'll hear LOTS of ticking before you have a pressure problem... no noise, no problem!!! After all, you aren't pushing your engine all that hard anyway. Rich

Let the drinking begin!!! Played with it again, and after being either 1-2deg BTDC at one end of one tooth, or 18-20deg BTDC at the opposite end of the next... I now realize that there IS NO CORRECT TIMING for this particular car!!! :cornfuzz: Needless to say, it runs better @ 1-2deg BTDC. So, there it is, idling in my driveway. I must say that is still MUCH better than when I started @ ~ 4deg ATDC. Anyway, time to get started. I think I'll be walking right past the beer and going straight to the hard liquer tonight. I'll save the greater cause of this problem for another day. Of course, any ideas would be GREATLY appreciated. Rich

Sooooooo........... I went out to the car thinking this would be a relatively easy fix. Since I DID already know that the teeth are curved, I took great care in marking the distributor and slowly pulling it out. I've made about half a dozen cracks at it so far, and decided to take a break (gets pretty !@#$ hot down there after running for awhile). As it is I've had it too far advanced, WAY too far retarded, won't start at all, and now back where I started from. I'm quite certain that I'll be drinking very heavily before the night is over... who knows, might help :-\ Too bad I have to get up at 4:30 to go to work in the morning. Rich BTW - I did disconnect the vac advance and set the idle to ~700 RPM.

Okay... so I have been smelling unburned gas and such in the new Soob. I went to check the timing, and it was WAY off. Problem is, as I was adjusting it... the best I can do is 2deg BTDC. That is at the extreme limit of advance adjustment. My best guess is that someone installed the distributor in the wrong position at some point. Looks like I get to take it off and move it forward a notch. OH BOY!!! While I realize this isn't a big problem, I just like to point out that you should never underestimate the power of a CRACKHEAD!!! Let me know what you think. Even (especially) if you think I'm an even greater crackhead for wanting to do this. Rich

This morning, I was headed off to work. I live about 40 miles from the small, rural town I work in, and live in the middle of nowhere myself as well. Needless to say, there are nothing but back highways between here and there. It had rained last night, and was still raining when I left for work at about 5:15AM. About 10 miles from work, I went around a notoriously slick corner, and off the steep bank saw someone that had slid off the road. Obviously concerned, I stopped to see if he was okay. He said he came around the corner and swerved to miss 2 deer in the middle of the road. Out there, there is no cellular service, so you are more or less on your own. I had thrown a bunch of junk in the back of the car to get it out of my way a couple days ago. As luck would have it, there was a recovery strap in a box. I thought there was NO WAY an '85 GL was gonna pull an '84 Chevy Celebrity up a steep bank covered with loose gravel. But I figured... what the hell! Couldn't hurt too much to try. Gave it a good yank (in 4low, of course) and pulled the thing right out. Made for a GREAT morning, but my G/F is gonna kill me if she hears me snicker about it one more time. I was, clearly, very proud of myself and my newly acquired subie.

Sounds good to me... I hear Boundry Bay is good, but if you can stand the extra drive out here (about 25 miles)... the North Fork is GREAT!!!

Hey Mike, I do plan to put up a new site for this little beast. Just have to get the time. Probably even include info on Amanda's '03 Forester on it. The choice to get the Explorer was based on the need to consolodate. I was tired of dumping cash into the old '86 GL-10, and sold it for $800 at ~ 265K miles. Sad thing is... it was a better car when I stopped fixing it than it ever was when I babied it. I figure... I still have the F-150 for heavy hauling/towing... why keep the 'sploder.

Don't get me wrong... I LOVE my Exploder.... i mean... Explorer. But the Subaru really is all the car I need. I talked myself into the Explorer in the name of "all in one" mostly based on towing ability. And I had always wanted one anyway. But the truth is... I have never towed a !@#$ thing with it. I don't even have a trailer hitch! Time to leave the car payments behind. Rich

Okay... I've been away form the board for awhile... How many of you are from "up north" anyway? And also... for all you Seattle people. I am interested in meet & greets down there too. Seattle is a lousy place to live, but a nice place to visit.

Along w/ myfavoritelegacy... I too live in the Bellingham area (Deming, if you want to get specific).

I'd like to go... but Monday is my only day off... I could probably head that way Sunday afternoon... but everyone would be on their way out by the time I got there. We'll see how it goes.

Well... I finally did it!!! I just got back home with my new (old) Subaru. Finally decided, with the help of $2/gal gasoline, that it was time to replace the Explorer. If you know anyone that wants one, let me know. But anyway... Here are the specs: 1985 GL 4wd Wagon Dark Gray Carbed D/R 5 Speed (of course) PW, PL, A/C, CC, lots of equipment for a GL around here. 128,000 Miles $900 in recent receipts (brakes etc.) A couple oil leaks (big surprise) Runs/drives just great! The guy even found the factory ski rack and cargo covers in his shed. Now for the best part... I picked this thing up for $400!!! Not bad if you really start to think about it. Anyway... just starting to think about throwing the brushguard on it and putting the rack together. So, as you can imagine, I'm REALLY happy to get ahold of this thing. I'll be even happier when I start saving BUTTLOADS of $$$ at the gas pump(as i am driving 80 miles a day 6 days a week for work).