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86' 3 Door Coupe Off Road Conversion Project

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Here is what I'm Starting with.

 

Only 130,000 KM (80,000 Mi)

parked indoors, everything working and complete,

tick of death, needs an axle and the steering dust boots are torn.

this car has seen a lot of speed bumps and road debris.

Bought from the original owner, only locally driven ect. The owner warned me about taking it on the highway, hadn't been in years he said.

 

so carbonized.

 

And now, after..

drove hard on highway, tick got louder.

put half can seafoam in oil, half in 1/4 tank gas,

drove for a day, drained and fresh oil and filter 10w30.

Italian tune up,

? it worked !! ?

drove at 4000 rpm in 4th gear, for 15 minutes.

No tick!

 

Front wheel drive, carb.

 

I have a dual range trans and diff with moustache bar in storage,

 

what other parts and mods am I looking for? other than the lift components I am familiar with.

post-39283-136027659661_thumb.jpg

will need 4wd rear cross tube ( it has the front mount for the diff) will also need 4wd rear arms with hubs, basically the complete rear suspension, will also need driveline and center bearing mount on the body, I welded some angle on the one I did

  • Author

Thanks Scott.

I know the cross tube has been replaced, It would be nice if it's a 4wd.

Have to crawl under for a look, dang this thing is low compared to a wagon.

Also, are the front axles the same on a fwd or awd? The yard seems to charge more?

Is the carb different on a fwd?

Basicaly, what is different about this fwd carb 5 spd coupe, from the common awd wagon.

This car is eligible for collector status and plates, here in British Columbia, also considering restoring to all OEM era correct and applying for collector plates?

Wheeler vs. collector

Any thoughts?

...This car is eligible for collector status and plates, here in British Columbia, also considering restoring to all OEM era correct and applying for collector plates?

Wheeler vs. collector

Any thoughts?

 

I vote Collector, because the coupe is Rare and too much work involved to convert from FWD to AWD; plus it looks to be in good conditions.

 

 

 

... Is the carb different on a fwd? ...

 

No, but the Distribuitor is different: Nippon Denso with Faster advance curve on FWD's Vs. Hitachi on AWD's.

 

 

...Basicaly, what is different about this fwd carb 5 spd coupe, from the common awd wagon...?

 

FWD ones does sit 2" Lower than AWD ones, 'cos the FWD shock absorbers has their base plate for the Coil Springs, welded two inches lower in their body.

 

Kind Regards.

you want the rear control arms/hub assemblies/disc brakes off of a EA82 Turbo. Its a waste of time doing a conversion and putting the stock N/A drums back there. EA's are underbraked to begin with, so adding the turbo rear discs help when ur running bigger tires.

 

Only axle difference is the front axles and the deciding factor is turbo/non turbo

 

non turbo = 23 spline

turbo - 25 spline

 

you have a big project in front of you if you wanna offroad it. I say find a 87-89 4wd SPFI and build a lift. The amount of time converting to 4wd and then lifting.

 

I say fix the major stuff and drive it the way it is and look for a 4wd version of the coupe if you are really set on a coupe. gotta remember that back window is huge, you hit a hole hard enough it will shatter that window

  • Author

I was thinking of removing the back hatch, and having a fabric cover made,

Kinda looks like a brat with the hatch off.

Removing the weight of the glass, and avoid breaking it, because it will be hella difficult finding a replacement.

But this car is complete, and very clean, so I am thinking of just keeping it close to stock and getting collector plates, that will get some strange looks at the classic car meets.

But If I'm going to restore this car, it needs sexy wheels.

And I do have a 92 spfi wagon, I can put my DR in that.

yah I'd def. put the DR in the loyale and refurbish the coupe. I like how in your state u can get vintage plates er w/e they are called on an 86. I've been trying to do that for a while now with my 86 wagon (650k+ miles on the body) It aint pretty but the fact that its done 300k+ on 2 different engines tells me it wants to stay registered for a while lol.

 

btw that coupe back glass, I've had guys pay 500+ dollars for that liftgate+window at my junkyard, and I think we sold the last one 2 years ago (if that tells you how hard they are to find) I've had 3 or 4 coupes with no rear gates for a while lol

  • Author

I knew the coupes were rare, but how many were made, and are still out there?

I heard somewhere only 2600 rx, were ever made?

  • Author

I found the coupe while looking for an engine for my wagon with the cracked block,(JB weld held for a year of rough driving) but after HG replacment can't get the heads torqued right because of the crack, still runs on 2 cyl.

I got the car for $300 it's old enough for collector plates, but needs some bodywork and paint first.

Link to the applicaton form.

 

http://www.icbc.com/csDelPrd/Satellite?blobcol=urldata&blobheader=application%2Fpdf&blobheadername1=Content-Disposition&blobheadervalue1=filename%3D%22collector-status.pdf%22&blobkey=id&blobtable=MungoBlobs&blobwhere=1381376883172&ssbinary=true

 

Can't have much fun with all stock and what's the car really worth to a collector?

FWD no frills?

Maybe an RX bodykit, and some performance enhancements?

Sawp it out with the spfi and 4wd. do it up with rx skirts. Make the car nice. Off road capable, just don't scratch and dent it.

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