GeneralDisorder

The stock gauge is merely a rough guess at the actual temp. They are notorious for reading high. Get a laser temp gun and check the inlet/outlet temps of the radiator. Chances are that if the fans go on/off at regular intervals then there is nothing wrong other than a poorly reading guage or bad sending unit. GD

Should be fine - this is an EA81 after all - and a 2WD one at that. Light car, 75 HP..... not exactly a performance machine. Any of the availible offerings should do you just fine unless you drag on the brakes all the time or drive like grandma - if you compression brake like you should, rarely use them on the freeway/highway like you should - they will outlast the car. GD

VERY critical. If they don't hold pressure they will tick. Have them rebuilt. There are links around here in older posts to places that will rebuild them for less than $10 each IIRC. Also if they are worn like that it generally indicates a problem elsewhere in the oil system - such as the o-ring between the cam carrier and the head, the oil pump seals, or a weak oil pump. GD

I inherited an old Wards 220v AC stick machine from my grandfather - I think perhaps there are some bad connections in the pig-tail (it's been extended a good stretch with a couple splices and sections of not-so-nice looking cord). I couldn't make it work the way it was and I already owned the 110v MIG machine so I just stuck it in the corner. I intend to pull it out when I get a chance and go through it. I will chop off the crazy long cord and try again. I have a good Milwaukie 4.5 grinder so that's covered. Also recently got one of the new "red" Harbor Frieght 10x6 bandsaws - that's a very handy thing to have I must say. Still trying to clean and organize this mess..... GD

The spring and it's wax-expansion valve need to be exposed to the hot side to work correctly. That would be the side opposite the radiator hose. GD

Thought I would share a picture of my new toys! The woman came into some money and let me spend some of it (I've been half supporting her for a few years). And I've been missing the big welding/cutting gear from work since I was layed off. So - $1500 later...... So now I have to build a bottle cart for my torch setup, and probably reiforce the HF welding cart or build a new one. It will be fine for my HF 110v machine but this Thermal Arc is about 4 times heavier and I think it's going to crush that poor cart in short order. I was REALLY surpised at the weight of the Thermal-Arc 180. We had a TA 251 at work running on 460v and it's been a great machine for years. My welding supply rep says the TA stuff is easily on-par with the Miller offereings but a longer warantee and a bit less expensive (~$150 less). With this I can easily weld 3/8" plate, and I built a 50' 8/3 SOOW extension cord so I can reach anywhere in my garage/shop. I can get all the way out to the driveway if I need to GD

I don't own the Northern Tool version, but looking at the pictures and having just upgraded from a Harbor Freight 110v Mig/Flux machine, I can say that the Northern Tool looks like a similar machine. While they work and I have used mine for a number of small projects, I'll give you a heads up on the problems I've run into: 1. The gas valve is a cheap plastic thing that is IN the gun. It's purely mechanical and so anytime you pull the trigger (even with the machine unplugged), gas flows. Nicer units have a solenoid in the machine that's tripped by a switch in the gun (no gas if the machine is OFF). This also means that you can never upgrade the gun to something like an aftermarket Tweco. Being the most used/abused part of the machine and the most often replaced that can be a problem as getting those spare parts may not be possible at all in a few years or you will have to mail-order them. No one local will carry anything but tips. 2. The connections of the gas tube and the wire feed tube inside the gun are very weak. I have had to remove the gun, shorten the main power lead and glue the feed tubeing and gas tubing into their respective ports. I was somewhat succesful. It's still a POS. 3. They claim you can weld aluminium..... I tried and have welded aluminium on a Licoln Sqaure Wave TIG machine.... it didn't work well for me. I wouldn't reccomend it. 4. At 110v, any voltage drop through your extension cord or circuit to the machine is a BIG problem - it will not weld for beans. Not a problem per-se, but budget yourself for a nice 10/3 or 12/3 AWG extension cord for the machine - up to 50' should be OK with 12, anything farther and you are going to want 10. If you are an enterprising individual such as many of us here are - you can buy bulk SOOW cord in the size you want and then just install the plugs. I just built a 50' 8/3 220v extension cord for my new machine and it was under $100. 5. Penetration is limited. 1/8" is about the limit with 110 machines. If you need to do anything structural, multiple passes would be required, and that's just not an option with a Flux welder. So you would at least be looking at adding a gas bottle. These machines benefit GREATLY from gas. Penetration is improved and there's no slag on the weld. 6. Duty cycle is painfully inadequate for even small jobs. You can realistically weld about 15 inches on 1/8" plate before the machine overheats and has to sit for 15 minutes to cool down. If you are in a hurry.... well you best just not be in a hurry. ...... good example - I cut a 4x6 opening in a catalytic converter to remove the broken, mangled contents - welding the plate back over the hole took over an hour because the machine had to cool 3 times. If you can live with some of that stuff, and you understand the true cost of owning one.... here's what you have to figure: Machine + shipping - $350 Extension cord - $100 Gas Bottle - $150 Welding Cart - $50 (Harbor Freight) Mask - $35 (4x6 glass, #9 or #10 shade) Gloves - $10 Total - $695 Now - I just upgraded to a 220v machine. It's comparable to the Miller 180, but a bit less expensive. It's made by Thermal-Arc, which is a division of Thermadyne - they own Tweco, and a bunch of other big-name welding brands. Their MIG welding line is Thermal-Arc. It's a NICE machine - a Caddilac to the Harbor Frieght's (Northern Tool, whatever - insert your favorite flavor of Chinese) Yugo. I picked it up from my local welding supply for $625 and it includes a 5 year warantee. My sugestion is to ante up the extra clams and get something decent right from the start. The difference will be about 30% more in cost, but you will save yourself a ton of headaches down the road. Especially if you are learning to weld - learning is hard enough without poorly made chinese equipment. Anyway - thought I would give my perspective.... GD

I would probably reuse the nut. The few I have taken off haven't been that tight. I took the last one off with a 1/2" breaker bar and a hammer. Just repeatedly hitting the handle of the breaker bar - works like an impact but slower - you just have to be patient. The preference is to use an air gun but my compressor was out of service at the time. Knock out the detents and the nut should come off fairly easily. Napa will likely have some sort of anerobic flange sealant - probably a permatex brand. You can hit up Fastenal or a similar industrial supply for the Loctite products (which I prefer). Use VERY thin amounts. It's a flange sealant so it only needs a few thousanths to do it's job. GD

Stop shopping at automotive parts houses and hardware stores. Those places NEVER have what I want. Go to a legit industrial supply house. Call around first. GD

You don't need anything fancy for a gauge - call up your local industrial supply and get a 0 to 100 psi bottom-mount gauge in your choice of diameter's - some brass hose barb fittings and a couple feet of fuel injection hose. You can easily make something that you can be reasonably sure will read accurately (within 1 or 2 psi) without breaking the bank. Gauge should run about $10 to $15, another $10 for the hose and maybe $10 or $15 for some fittings/metric adaptor's - I've made my own metric adaptor by cutting off the threaded portion of an old sender and drilling/taping for 1/8" NPT.... If you really feel like building a nice rig - get some teflon or nylon clear tubing (1/8" will do), and the fittings for it - run it to the cab and mount the gauge there - a nice glycerin filled 2" back mount and a gauge bracket for the dash.... There's a ton of ways to do it - the Napa thing you found was a guage marketed to mostly auto-mechanics - who in large measure don't understand how cheap/common that stuff is in the industrial world. GD

Just buy all-thread and make your own studs. Takes 5 minutes. GD

How "quality" is the mechanical gauge you used? I don't like to see any less than 20 psi at idle when warm. Should easily be up near 40 at 3500 RPM. Something isn't right. GD

There is no need to connect them together - it's a thermo-valve and if it's not hooked to something *else* then there can't be a vacuum signal to it - thus it is an inert item as far as the engine is concerned. There are several thermo-valves used on the EA81's - could be for the EGR, or for one of the mixture signal's to the carb. Most of us don't have one located there so I'm not sure what to tell you. I say take a critical look at which functions you want and which you don't - EGR could use a thermo-valve as it makes cold-running really poor. When I hook up EGR to the Weber's I typically run it through one of the thermo-valves (assuming they are working) as that keeps it from opening when cold.... GD

I got a Rigid 18v cordless set (Impact, Drill, Flashlight, Radio, 2 batteries, Charger, Carrying Bag) for $179 (+10% military discount) from Home Depot probably about a year ago. One of the best things I've purchased in a long time. I get tons of use from the Impact. After doing some research on cordless impacts I found the rigid has the best torque (120 Ft/lbs) of the inexpensive options. If you want a decent one, the Snap-On one's are supposed to be good but beware - they are NiCd powered so if you don't use them at least weekly and cycle the batteries, they will die after sitting for a couple years and you will have to buy new packs. They aren't cheap unit's either but I think the big 1/2" one puts down something like 600 Ft/lbs - on par with many 1/2" air guns. GD

Yeah - they are rotary vane style pumps - any bit of corrosion will stop them from starting as the starting torque of those DC motors is very low. GD

You will have to swap the entire front cross-member, and most of the wireing. Way too much work for what you gain. GD

There is no drilling required - run a 7/16x20 tap into the holes and be done with it. Yes - tap the ASV spacers as well. GD

For the case halves I would use ultra-grey, and for all the thin paper gaskets I would replace them with Loctite 515 or 518 flange sealant. Hopefully that socket works out for you. Did you verify with them that this will not have an OD greater than 45mm? Might have been easier (depending on your locality) to buy an axle socket and have a local machine shop turn the OD down. That's what I did as it was a sure thing but my boss at the time used to be a machinist and did it on his personal lathe for free. The trick (from what he told me) is that you have to build a center for the bolt end of the socket so it doesn't flop all over in the lathe. GD

Yes - remove the pedal and inspect the pivot & bushings etc. I generally lube them with a bit of moly grease. Replacement may be needed as well. GD

It runs the A/C to dry the air (more effective defrost, and keeps the windows from fogging in the heat/bilev modes) and to keep the AC compressor from sitting idle all winter. There is no reason *not* to run the A/C. It's good for it - ciurculates the oil and keeps the o-rings from drying out, etc. GD

Just leave the gauge installed - zip tie it to something so it doesn't flop around. Even better if you can manage to make it readable while driving. Beyond that - have you cleaned the MAF? How are the shaft bearings in the distributor? How's the spark color? Check the coil resistance values? There's a number of components in the SPFI system - check each one in a systematic way. If the problem is intermittant you may have to hook up some probes in a way that will let you read voltage's and such while driving. GD

Chef Tim had it done to his lifted hatch. Said he would never do it again. Took a ton of body work and he had a good body man out there grinding away body filler with a cheese grater..... GD

The EA82T isn't worth the hassle. For *less* work you can have an EJ22 and get 20 more HP with NO turbo. Buy a donor gen 1 legacy for ~$250 and you get everything you need except the adaptor plate. Either way you are looking at quite a bit of wireing, but with the EJ22 you are actually looking at less mechanical modifications. You see - the turbo would require that you change the engine cross-member, which involves R&R of the entire front suspension and steering rack. Pain in the butt is an understatement. GD

You are correct - they have been made in Mexico for the past few years and the failure rate is excessively high. It has been noted in automotive forums across the internet and discussed at length here a number of times. And even though the older one's seem to work fine - they aren't buying you anything. The stock coil is all that's needed for a stock engine. If you are going high compression or forced induction that's another matter (in which case an MSD system is probably the direction you should go), but to just replace it because the Accel is pretty and yellow and the box says you'll gain 10 to 15 HP..... they lie. GD

If you buy a new, stock Hitachi coil it will outlast the car. There is nothing to be gained by the Accel coil's besides frustration and some under-hood bling. Paint the stocker yellow.... The one and only purpose of the ignition coil is to ignite the fuel - the stock unit performs this function at 99.95%. You will gain zilch from installing a bling yellow coil - but you may end up replacing it from time to time and it doesn't match the ignitor in the distributor so you may burn a few of those out as well. GD