NVBigBlue

Hey guys, This '86 Hatch I got for my son is driving my bonkers! Finally got it running again today after a few months of letting sit in the cold weather. Ended up swapping out the coil to get spark again. Now I just rebuilt the carb, and although I got it running again, it still has some problems. It wants to pop and snap back through carb just a little. Not a full back fire, but to me it sounds like the intake valves aren't quite closing all the way. I ran out of time to check the rocker arm clearances, but I'll do that next time I work on it. I did set TDC and verify correct dist. positioning, but still doing it. However, this thing has a few electrical problems as well.....ecu lights flashing, no temp showing, cooling fan won't come on, etc.....sooooo....I was thinking that maybe I'd just strip out all the electronic crap from the car, and get back to basics. I'm not worried about the smog stuff (I live in NV, and in a county that doesn't smog check, so no probs there). So any thoughts on the stuff I might want to keep? Additionally, I've given a lot of thought to just ditching the carb and swapping in the SPFI unit, replacing most of the wiring in the process..... Now before you start commenting....remember...I only paid $50 for this car (mainly to get the BRAND NEW tires off of it....!!!) so if this is gets too far out of hand, I'll just buy him another little car (I happen to know where I can get a 5-spd justy for a song) and use this car as the doner for a project like Sweet82 has. Thanks, Bill

Hey guys, The Army Corps of Engineers uses this formula for calculating how much weight ice can support: h = 4 SQRT P That is: h equals 4 times the square root of P where: h is the thickness of ice in inches and P is the load in tons. This is based upon hard, CLEAR ice. Always use caution when on ice......vehicles are expendable....people aren't. NV

Hey guys, I've been reading through most of the posts here, and it seems to me like most of the wheels being used to increase tire size on our Subies are either: 1. Wheels from Peugeot's. 2. Wheels from other vehicles that have been re-drilled to fit our pattern. 3. Wheels from other vehicles be hacked together with a suby hub. So I mentioned this to a machinist friend of mine the other day, and he asked a very simple question. If there are so many people wanting to run bigger tires on their cars, why don't they all get together and pay someone to manufacture a custom wheel for them? Or better yet, why not use a simple adapter plate? So being the curious guy I am, I pass this question on to you. Why can't this be done? (PLEASE... let me know if this HAS been done!) My machinist friend, who is semi-retired (he's 78 now, but still works for the University 25 + hours a week), has enough equipment in his shop to produce just about anything he wants. I'm sure that if enough people were willing, he would be able to crank out a very custom, very slick wheel, or adapter plate for us. As an example, you ever watch American Chopper on the Discovery Channel? Ya know when they design a wheel for a bike and they show that really cool, 4 axis milling machine spinning a big chunk of blank aluminum around, slowly spitting out aluminum chips as the design comes to life? Well, he HAS a machine in his shop that can do that. This guy has forgotten more about machining than I will ever know. He says that while a one-off is the expensive item, cranking out 75 or 100 items starts making things doable. SO? Any one interested in a 14" or 15" wheel or adapter plate with a custom USMB and Pleiades star cluster in the center? Just a thought.... hehehe NV

No I don't have the original trans, but the second is still there. It did have very little travel when I first bought the car, but I should have mentioned...to make it drivable, I welded a piece of flat steel to the top of the clutch peddle where the cable connects. This moved the pull point up about an inch, and gave me a slightly longer pull.....enough disengagement to be able to drive it. Oh ya, I did replace the clutch, pressure plate, and t/o bearing when I swapped the engine. And for color...well....it's some type of silver. I think. Altho sometimes I think it might have been a blue....or green....or gray.....

CO, I'd have to agree with OZ. I used to run my '91 Legacy up and down the long beaches at a local lake all the time. I would air down to about 5 to 7 psi, and go anywhere I wanted to go (be sure to carry a compressor with ya to air back up tho). There is a lot of VERY soft sand in spots, and way deep....so there is hardly any chance of digging down to solid ground. In fact, it was very satifying to be able to give a guy driving a "real" (his words) 4x4 some help one day when he got stuck. He was driving a lifted (6"+) 3/4 ton, crew cab Ford.....buried to the doors from rocking back and forth. I drove right up and asked him if he needed help. He was not impressed. I finally got him to air down the moster boggers (very agressive tread) he had on it. He was convinced he would have to be pulled out. He would rock the truck back a little, I pushed sand into the holes, then he rock foward and I'd fill the back of the hole. Then we'd repeat. Each time he rocked, the truck would come up out of the hole just a little. Took us about 15 minutes to get him out. Made a new friend that day! BTW, I use this trick a lot in the rocks too. Not quite so little air, but soft enough to let the tires wrap around the rocks a little. I made up a hose assembly for just this purpose. Basically, a hose with a clip-on air chuck at each end, and a tee in the middle. Off the tee I run another hose (about 4') to a pipe nipple with a valve in it. This way I can let the air out of two tires (f or r) and check the pressure from one spot. Is also nice when filling them up. Good luck in the sand! NV

Hello all, So here's a story for you all. And then two questions. Round about 1991, I ended up with fairly nice little GL wagon. It's an '81, nice interior, decent body, 4spd, dual range. Got it for a song ($50 and a case of beer! ). It had about 110K on it. Was my daily driver for about 3 months, then something "bad" happened. After leaving for work one cold winter morning, I start overheating....no water in radiator. Refilled radiator, and immediately notice water running from a 2 inch crack on top of one of rear cylinders! Appearently, my coolant wasn't quite as good as the guy that sold it to me had stated. (Yes, I know I should have checked it myself...) So at any rate, turns out that when your coolant is probably around 10 below, but the nightime temp runs 40 below, it WILL freeze. Hence, then crack. So here's where things start get frustrating..... After a couple of months of scraping cash together, I buy one of these "30,000 miles or less" import motors. Simple swap. Decent price, runs great, hey I'm golden....except....for two things: Thing #1: The accelerator pump on the carb is shot, irritating on take offs, but otherwise runs great... But guess what? The tag on the carb isn't listed in any parts books. Store guy says not gonna find a match because it's an import engine....grrrrrr:confused: Thing #2: For some reason the clutch is very adjustment sensitive.....in fact, I can't get it to adjust correctly. It really felt like I was not getting enough throw out of the fork to fully disengage the clutch. Now while trying to figure this out, the tranny kind of disinegrates going down the road....lots of noise....and I have 2 gear left. I don't know what failed....I never tore it apart. I get a used tranny from a pick-n-pull and swap it in. Back on the road, but still not enough throw. About 500 miles later...THIS tranny craps out. OK, now I'm really starting to get irritated. About this time, I get a nice little Tercel from my mom and I basically give up on the GL. <time passes> OK, so now it's a few years later (gee....has it really been 13 years?), and I've been hauling this GL around with me everywhere I move, because I refuse to junk it out......it's got a great motor in it! (well that's what I tell the wife;) ) Now I come across this board (I wish I'd found it a few years ago...) and I read where you have to swap out the bell housing to exchange an auto tranny for a manual. While this might not be my case, here's question #1: Is it possible that the import engine I bought, might have a thicker bell housing? If so, that would move the tranny (and fork) back, and hence, not quite enough throw. Anyone care to comment? Am I on the right track here? I don't know why I never considered this before, but hey....we've all missed the obvious some times.... Question #2: I've been reading a lot of posts about some of you running weber carbs on the ea81. Are you buying these new or pulling them from another vehicle, rebuilding them and away you go or what? Also, what model numbers, etc. should I be looking at? I'd like to replace the tranny (and carb) and get this car going again, but I don't want to repeat the past. My oldest is almost 16 now, and of course, wants something to drive. I know this would be a great starter car and with some of the mods he's seen on this board, he's starting to get interested in something besides the playstation and tv! I appologize for such a long post, but once you find people that will listen...... Thanks for the input guys (and gals?!?), NV P.S. As a side note, while trying to get the money together for the new engine, I patched the crack with JB Weld, and hacked up a radiator cap so it wouldn't build any pressure and ran that puppy for almost 2 months. I was only going about 10 miles each way....but it was good enough to get back and forth to work, and to the store, etc.!

Ya, I saw his icon after I posted this. I thought that's what it was. Thanks.

Hey there! I came across this site while looking for a "buggy" project for my son. http://www.rhinobuggies.com.au/ They have a couple of machines that look pretty slick. And since I happen to have a couple of Suby's just hanging around the back forty so to speak..... I have a few questions for them, but nothing that can't be figured out. So the question is: Anyone here built one of these or even seen one? Thanks, NV

Hi guys!I believe that the "truck" rating has nothing to due with carbs, efi, or anything else. I think it is all about ride height. I had an '81 AMC Eagle SX-4 that was classed as a "truck" due to the clearance it had under it. And from what I've read, this is true for the newer Suby's as well. The manufacturers and worried because the new CAFE ratings are based on emmissions only, not what kind of vehicle it is. I might be wrong tho. :-\ BTW, that SX-4 was a hoot in the mud! Cheers! NV