pyromanic

Removing entire harness is an option. Thing is, I've never owned a vehicle with fuel infection before, so I don't know squat from first hand experience. I'd like to see a manual called "removing entire SPFI harness to prepare for swap". I'm joking of course, I know that's not gonna happen. Well see. No hurry, Hitache runs fine for now, and have lots of other projects to tend to. Learning this stuff is a curve, takes time, but I'm a stubborn old coot, might just figure it out before winter. Might not too. Pyro

I downloaded the manual for the EA82 SPFI swap. Read it a few times, and the first thing I notice is that the feller who wrote it put a lot of hard work and time into it. Great job. Next thing I noticed is that it's not a manual for dummies. (like me) I'm pretty electronicly challenged, yet mechanically inclined. There just isn't much info there on REMOVING the harness. I don't have it in front of me, but I think all it says is "remove complete harness", or something like that. So I hoped maybe that part would be self explanitory. Well not for a dummy it aint. I got the fender off, stripped all the tape and protective tube off, pulled the plastic off from under the steering colum, then dropped the computor, pulled the plugs. Then I cut away the big rubber grommet in on the drivers side where the wires go through, chased down the o2 sensor, stripped it back, but jeeze, theres freaking wires everywhere. Actually, theres only 6 to maybe ten, that come from the engine compartment and are surely part of the harness, but don't go to the computor, and a few more that leave the computor but don't seem to go to the EFI system. I don't know what to do with these. I'm to tired right now to study the manual any more tonight or to putz with it at all, and besides, I'm feeling pretty sure I'm in over my head. Maybe the old Hitache aint so bad after all. Runs fine, just thought it would be cool to upgrade. Maybe later, cause I don't see how with my limited knowledge anybody could talk me through this. Am I wrong? Should I give up? I really think that if I could get the right stuff out of the donar car the right way, that the manual is pretty complete as far as putting it all back together and making it work. Hmm. Better go throw pots. My brains fried from trying to figure out all those wires. Pyro

Oh yea, copper for sure. Every plastic line set up I've seen leaked. I run copper. No leaks. Also, if one can afford the extra dough for "full sweep" gauges, they are, in my opinion, worth every penny.

I have always been under the impression that mechanical is the most acurate. But of course this could be wrong. Pyro

Well, rebuild kits are around 25 bucks from the dealer. That will stop leaks for sure, but the growling I'm not sure. If you have had the system open for some reason, you could have gotten air in there, and then they get growly untill you bleed them. Just a thought. Pyro

Did I mention that I want mine black? Guess not. Black please! Pyromanic

When I swapped to DR 5 sp my axles were the same, but I don't know with yours. I think it might be differnt. sombody will know for sure But nope on the driveline, you need another complete driveline from a manual rig. Also need a longer speedo cable, and the back crossmember for the manual. I can't think of anything else right now. OH, I had to change the rear diff. Which one is in there now?

On some wagons there are places for bolts two bolts underneath also, but often they are missing as they wind up not being put back in by somebody who has taken the rad out and realizes that they really have no purpose. I grabbed a couple from one of my parts cars and stuck 'em in there just for the heck of it. Also, sometimes it's easiest to remove the mechanical clutch fan before trying to pull the rad up and out of the engine bay. It probably can be done without bothering with that, but it can in some cases avoid rad damage. Four little nuts on the fan, if your car even has one. Mine has both mechanical and electric fan. I take them both out first. And this is important, in case any one doesn't know, Anti Freeze is very POISON to dogs, cats and critters in general, which wouldn't be much of a problem except that it seems to taste sweet to them, and if they find a puddle on the ground the WILL drink it and die a horrible death in a few days. So be careful if there are animals around, don't leave antifreeze in puddles in the driveway or on the ground or in open buckets or cans Pyro

Well yea, what he said, but I get the impression from the questioner that that it drives ok, just shakes a bit (how much?) when at a standstill. And that wierd, cause like previously stated, new belts should not have affected distributor timing. So----yea, did that mechanic know Soobs? It all makes me wonder if the mechanic maybe didn't, and futzed around with distributor timing unnessesarily (wish I could spell!) since I can't think of anything else that would make it shake now, if it didn't before it was worked on, since supposedly only belts and pump seal was done. Good luck and keep us posted on this puzzle. I'm curious now. Pyro

Hi. Guys with more experience and expertise than than me will chime in here before long, but since I'm here I'll offer my limited experience. I had "swoosh swoosh" and shaking for a while on my 85 GL wagon for a while. This turned out to be a combination of a warped rotor AND a slightly bent rim. Turned out to the inside of the rim, so when I blocked up the car and spun the front wheels, I couldn't spot it with my homemade "dial indicator". I got rid of the "swoosh" by replacing the rotor. While I was at it I swapped calipers with fresher ones, new ball joints, bearings, tie rod ends and swaybar bushings. No more swoosh. But still had the shakes a little at certain speeds. Thats when I set up the indicator, which was a large round of fire wood, with a board laying flat and the point a half inch from the rim. The outside of the rim my eye told me was running true. But I could see tire was not. So off to Les Schwab, since they were their tires. Their ballancing computor found the tweaked rim. Put it on the back of the car, no more shakes. Everything is peachy now. Though sometimes I think MAYBE I can feel that little bit of shimmy coming from the rear. So since youve been dealing with lots of big potholes, I'd worry about rims as far as the earlier shaking goes. Why it's gone now, don't know. But the swoosh sure sounds like maybe rotor to me, or some combination of the two. Are your bearings of some known mileage? A way to access bad bearing is to jack up the front, and see if have any slack vertically in the wheel. Grasp the tire high and low and try to rock it in and out. if there is any play at all, it's a problem and bearings need atention. Also check your castle nut if you havn't. Shaking and shimmy can be anything from bearings to tie rod ends, ball joints, castle nut loose, warped rotor, uh, thers probably more. Good luck, and hope this helps even a little, and does not confuse Pyromanic

So what are you thinking stopped the ticking, the Seafoam and oil pump re-seal I take it? Must have just had time to clean things out? Congratulations! PYro

Yea, the "crank walk" I think is pretty rare. Have only heard of like three cases. I have one. Still not sure what I'm gonna do about it. I'd happily trade it for TOD any day. Oh well. Luck of the draw. Pyro

Are you absolutely sure it's TOD? If you are positive, then feel free to ignore what follows. If not: The other causes of ticking/clicking sounds may be rarer than lifter noise, but it happens. One example is when the center main bearing begins to fail somewhow. That bearing is flanged, and acts like a thrust bearing. Then the crank gets to slipping endways, back and forth. To check for this stick a big prybar in the timing hole and pry on the flywheel, see if the crank pully moves. Now I'm not saying thats your problem, just suggesting theres no one size fits all to diagostics. Sometimes people forget that. And us guys sitting here in fron of our monitors don't get to hear what your hearing. Only you. Piston slap, I gather, is very rare in these engines, but not impossible. Probably sounds different that lifter noise, but I don't know how. Did you say 140 K? Thats young. But I only got 15000 on mine, and bad thrust bearing. (idiots did the rebuild, I have no idea what went wrong, wish I did. I don't remember how long you said you left the seafoam in the crankcase, but sometimes it needs more time to work than some folks figure. Others times it can work fast. One other thing, are you running the stock gauge only? They are notoriously innacurate. Mine said minus pressure at idle. Installed good mechanical gauge, and had 15. New oil pump brought it up to 25 at idle. Ticking went away for a day. Me? I'm tired of screwing around, gonna CCR the darn thing and be done with it. I think. Know this probably didn't help much, but best I can do at 1AM. Good luck

I too would like to know if stock hub center caps fit these rims? Thanks, Pyromanic

"Crankwalk". Thats funny. Didn't know that term, but it's perfect. So I gather that the main bearing which is "thrust", is center? I also gather it will just get louder and louder as time goes. (which it already has) Damn, this one had me confused for months. Everybody insisted it TOD, but now I guess not. I've got a couple extra tired EA-82's around, one is SPFI. Not sure what to do. Guess I'll drive it for while. But hunting season is not far off, will need to put some tough miles on it in October. I need it ready. PK's lift should ship this weekend (hope hope!) He said so anyhow......... The thing is, I believe that this engine has had a lot of good work done to it, and maybe some bad too. Hate to scrap it. It runs great, doesn't leak. Good compression. Hmmmmmmm................. I don't know. Pyro

Well, all I can tell you is than in my opinion the Haynes sucks big time. Better than nothing I suppose, but it's not very accurate or inclusive. From what I have learned on the board here we need the FSM, which I think stands for Fuji Service Manual. I know I want one, just havn't got around to it yet. Pyro

So after trying detergents, a new oil pump and just driving a thousand miles, maybe my old machanic buddy has figured out this engine noise? Thought it was TOD for months, but could not consitantly get it to go away. What he discovered is a lot of end play, or forward and backward movement in the crank shaft. Stuck a prybar throught the timing mark hole and pried on the flywheel. I stood there and watched the crank pully move in and out. Maybe up to an 1/8 inch. At least a 1/16. He says bad thrust bearing. This soud is kind of hollow "tock tock tock", more than a click or tick. I expect lifters to tick or click. I see that main and rod bearing sets are not that spendy, and since the hitache carb is pretty much de-emmisioned, an engine pull is not really that big a big deal for me. But before I do this thought I should run this by the experts. So what do you guys thinK? Am I barking up the right tree? Oh, by the way, before I bought it, it got a re-seal, new belts and heads. Maybe 15000 miles ago. Was told it was a long block job, but I aint buying that now. Thanks, Pyro

Hey guys, my bad, I screwd up and accidently caused some confusion. I got counted twice. Y'all know me as Pyromanic, but my Outlook express signiture is Before the Wheel Enterprises, so when I private E-mailed Mr. Malarky at Allied, he apparently thought I was someone else. I have written directly to him to apologize for the confusion and to clear it up. I apologize to all of you as well. I am one person, seeking one set of these rims. Best Regards, Pyromanic, AKA, Before The Wheel (Enterprises)

Ok, I'm in but with one contingency. I'm in dependent on price, which of course is dependent on how many. I'll go 300 bucks, that means 15 people. I think lots have folks have been waiting for this for years and years. I actually expect a good turnout, but since it's a new product, ya never know. Some will want to wait for the reviews to come out. Sure hope enough folks sighn up to get the price down even further! Also, lets not be in a hurry. The longer this can run, the better price will get! Pyro

I would also check your u-joints. All of them. Pyro

Do you absolutly have to pull the engine to do heads? As in, no way around it? Pyro

I'm going to watch this thread closely cause mine doing the same thing (though maybe not as severe) Also have new wheel bearings. Pads were good when I did the bearings, only 400 miles ago. I'm thinking maybe we've got crap (sand? gravel?) between the pad and the rotor. I'll mention that my rotors were kida rusty when I was in there, and I didn't clean 'em up all that good. That might have been an oops. bet were gonna have to tear down the noisy side to find the problem. Dang. Pyro

I spoke to CCR (Colorado Compnenent Rebuilders) last week regarding rebuilt 5sp DR Trans, and their price is $550.00, if I recall correctly. I think this is incredibly reasonable. And you get their great reputation too. I was gonna pick one of these up, but then I was given another good donor car. Pyro

I just converted my 85 from mostly nonfunctional power windows to hand cranks all the way around. Is that what your considering? If so I'll mention that it took me a while to figure out that I didn't have to pull the window glass at all. Leave the glass rolled up, and pull the bolts out at each end of the bottom of the glass. Then the guts come out through the big hole near the bottom of the door. It was a lot easier to do than it first looked, once I figured it out. I'd never been inside a car door before. When trying to get the guts out through the big hole, you have to really slide the tracks around to the most compact configuration possible. Experiment. It will come out. I guess if your just trying to get the whole power mechanism out for service, same deal. Except you can take the motor off with out removing anything else. I hate power windows. Never met one that worked right for long. Pyro

In my ingorance I've always wondered why the steering is so much harder with a car with nonfunctional power steering, than a car with manual steering. I'm sure it's realy a simple matter mechanics, but I don't get it. So why is that? Pyro No intent to hijack, just wondering is all.