I was installing the engine into my brat last night (finally!) and had a bit of a time wrestling it onto the tranny, but thats pretty typical. I had to jack up the tranny a fair amount to get clearance and I think maybe I jacked it up too high or something as now...

 

The engine and tranny combination wont sit straight. When we first set it down no engine mounts would fit in the cross member. Now with Craig and I pulling and yanking on the assembly we got the passenger side in the hole decently and the drivers side is finally into its hole, but not far enough down to get a nut on. So something is holding the assembly up.

 

Hints/ideas:

 

Brat is lifted 3 inches (pkdavis) and engine and tranny fit perfect after lift, but before I yanked engine to work on. I had all gears before.

I pushed the carcass around my parking lot to let my 86 in and out of the garage and I had no engine in it at the time. At this time I noticed that the drivers CV (the side that is getting pushed up on by the way) has the boot kinda funny looking. Maybe like the joint is extended a bit and stuck??

Now the shifter doesnt like to move around so much because everything isnt in the right place.

We even unbolted the tranny cross member just to try to level stuff out and it helped a bit, but the engine still hasnt come down and home.

 

 

I am tending to lean towards the linkage or the CV joint causing the problem but all input is appreciated as this thing needs to be running by the 15th of December for our move!

move?? Where are you moving to? Wyoming right? Umm try and have Craig push down on the side that is up and see if you can get a nut started. Maybe pull the alxe out and see if it'll sit straight then. All you would have to do is unbolt the suspension from the ball joint after its been jacked up of course, wiggle the axle off of the tranny and get it to sit down straight. Then figure out what the hell is up with the axle, replace if necessary and VOILA!

We are moving to SE Portland for the purpose of shorter commutes, so we will be Closer to Jason, but farther from Craig by the time this brat is done I will owe craig some cash or some nice fancy garage tools for all the help he has given.

 

I will have a 2 car garage now though and an 18.5 month lease so I wont have to worry about getting cars finished by a specific date right on time.

 

I am considering yanking that CV. I was hoping i could just wrestle it off with the car jacked up and the engine yanked up a bit too. I really dont want to though. I swear it got stuck in the extended position though (on the DOJ) Cause the boot just looks REALLY strange.

maybe get it off of the tranny and beat on it with a hammer? If you need to get it running so you can get it to where you're moving to, that might be the best way, even if you ruin the axle in the short run. You can replace it later once the move is done:)

I would imagine that the CV is hyperextended. You'll need to either take the inner bolt for the control arm out or pop the ball joint out of the socket in the spindle. That way you can take the joint off of the tranny. Then the motor/tranny will probably sit down as it's supposed to. The only way to "FIX" it is to remove the boot and reassemble it. Then reinstall the boot and clamp. The DOJ is supposed to have a spring clip inside the cup that prevents it from doing this. Unfortunately, most rebuilders do not reinstall the clip.

Ok thats kinda what I figured. I'll probably try to yank the unit and take it down to Richie and his dad to re-assemble and regrease. I knew the boot looked funny

The engine and tranny are sitting in there now. The axle need to come off the tranny to do this. Since the axle need repaired, I ended up giving Mike a crash corse on how to take out an axle. Talk about rust being used to hold thing together. We actually need to put in some effort to get it out.

The axle is now in the capable hands of Richie's shop so this weekend it looks like its back to sheet metal and maybe exhaust work. When I get the CV back we are gonna try to fire this bad boy up!

you're probably going to want your battery back then, arent ya?

You really do have to learn how to rebuild axles yourself. Simple stuff. Although it is in good hands, the time you took to drive it over there is about three times as long as it takes to do it. . .

 

Qman nailed it though, that was my guess too.

 

 

As for moving to Wyoming. . . I've been there 2 times, what a godforsaken (can I say that without offending biblethumpers?) place. . . Like a big desert with grass. They only have 4 numbers on the plates. lol The onlyu place I've ever been where I had to stop on the highway cuz a bunch of cattle were being hearded across the road.

According to Jeapardy, it's also the coldest state in the Continental US. Don't do it FLO!!

We are moving to SE Portland for the purpose of shorter commutes

he isn't Zap and hey Mike if you want to learn how to reboot and rebuild halfshafts come over when I get the supplys to do the pass side inner boot cause of the cheapo boots they used for the rebuilt shaft

Jason, if you're looking for parts to do your own rebuild, www.cvaxles.com will sell you quality parts also.

he isn't Zap and hey Mike if you want to learn how to reboot and rebuild halfshafts come over when I get the supplys to do the pass side inner boot cause of the cheapo boots they used for the rebuilt shaft

k thanks Ed I will keep that in mind for the next time I need a halfshaft but I am just gonna repack it and install a SUBARU CV boot instead of a cheapo crapo piece of junk especialy when it's over the cat

With your talents you should be able to solve the "over the cat" problem. The other Jason welded a heat deflecting shield over my y-pipe. It gave me another 1/2" of cooler air flowing over the top of the heat shield by putting an air scoop on top of the heat shield. I never lost another inner boot on that side again. You can see it on the '86 wagon that flowmasteredGL is working on right now; a bit crude but it did the job.

especialy when it's over the cat

Took the axle apart the C clip was there, but damaged, and all the balls had come out. (that is what was holding it in that wierd position) Got the balls back in and a new C clip and it is ready to go. I left it where you had it Mike since I won't be around tomorrow and I know you want to get going on your project.

 

Soon Mike won't have a problem with losing his balls, Shannon will have them in stored in a box.

 

Soon Mike won't have a problem with losing his balls, Shannon will have them in stored in a box.

 

 

We would know, huh Richie? lol

looks like I'll be showing mike how to put the axle back in, in a day or two. hmm should I be nice and let him use my axle puller?

Woo hoo!... I'll try to grab it after school tomorrow. I will come by probably Tuesday (before work) to give you your money.

 

Zap, I am moving to SE Portland because my commute is killing me 15 miles a day each way gets expensive when you get 20-25 MPG. Shannon would then be able to walk to work rather than take mass transit or bum a ride (I til I teach her to drive a scooby)

HAHA Richie---

 

Your not funny! I'm officially taking away your invitation to the wedding. :-p

 

I only post on this board when I feel like I have to defend myself!

 

Shannon

Soon Mike won't have a problem with losing his balls, Shannon will have them in stored in a box.

no comment from me from my own life lol

 

anyways Ed from what I gather the boots that you can get from the dealership have a better setup for being right over that cat but I might make an extra heat shield for that also but right now I just need to reboot it

Jason, you're quite correct that the boots from Subaru are the best to use as replacements. However, the heatshield will make any boot last longer.

anyways Ed from what I gather the boots that you can get from the dealership have a better setup for being right over that cat but I might make an extra heat shield for that also but right now I just need to reboot it

aww come on Zap, Wyoming isn't THAT bad since I found my blac RX here for 150 bucks. There's also a dead XT6 sitting in a street halfway between my house and work (Wal-Mart). There's also ANOTHER XT6 in the j/y I got my RX from that I'm gonna hopefully get the 5-lug off of for 50 bucks. I also have the luxury of having lots of free soobie parts from gen 2 sedans and 4wd wagons to gen 3 4wd and 2wd wagons as well. So dealing with the cold and the wind is one thing BUT I have all these nice things as well:D

 

Sounds like you got her under control Mike. No not Shannon, the Brat:D I thought I might have to come back and help you fix it, LOL:D