So, went to drive the 84 GL to work today, and it really doesn't like starting cold ever, but it hasn't been below freezing here since I got the car home over the weekend. Made the trip from Denver to central Wyoming without a hitch.

 

And today when I started it, white smoke, in quantity, with the smell of antifreeze. Car's not even a week old. Now you all will get to sample my unbelievably bad luck first hand.

 

So, do I buy the gasket set and hope for no cracks, or do I man up and buy heads? Is this enough like a Beetle, that since I have the heads off, I may as well toss new pistons in?

 

Guess I need to call Shawn and find out about that 5-speed and the cross-members and stuff earlier than I had intended. Sigh.

Intake manifold gaskets or carb base gaskets. EA81 head gasket failure is rare.

 

In any case you will not need new heads and no - you don't want to be replacing pistons. This is almost nothing like an air-cooled VW.

 

GD

What does the stock carb look like to rebuild (1984 GL wagon)? I figure since I'm going to be ripping it off no matter what, and the choke doesn't appear to work, I may as well tear it down and service it.

They can be a pain in the neck if you aren't used to them. I've had problems with the quality of the rebuild parts that are availible. If I were you I would be putting on a Weber. The stock carbs are gutless and I can't even bear to drive around with one personally. Plus the Weber really cleans up the engine bay - starts to look a lot like an old Chevy truck under the hood.

 

GD

And thanks for the pointers, GD.

GD - would you recommend the Weber over an EA82 SPFI? That, with the 5-speed, was going to be a long-term goal for this rig. If you think the Weber is better though, I'll start looking for one...