WoodsWagon Posted July 2, 2008 Author Share Posted July 2, 2008 So, as a resolution, I towed it home. I drove out to wyoming in my Tacoma with a crossmember from my 86 3-door, really rusty but serviceable and not snapped in half like the one out of my 92 or 89 wagons, a pushbutton 5spd, flywheel and tranny crosmember, a strippped 5mph bumper off of my 89 and a fully dressed 302 sbf in the bed among a pile of other things. The truck rode 1/2" off the bumpstops the whole way out. I've never really felt a truck "shudder" going over a bump before, but you could feel the frame shake in the truck when you hit stuff. Probably had at least 1,000lbs in the bed, plus the two of us and our gear in the cab. I put the engine forward of the rear axle, so when you went over a hump in the road, the front would float and then get rammed down and held by the weight. Poor truck. Got 22mpg though. I five speed swapped the wagon while I was out there, put the rear crossmember in, put the pedals in and all that, went to start it and all it would do was spit and cough. Found the fuel pump was jammed, and no amount of compressed air and solvent would break it loose, so I put a ford F-150 pump in. Started up and ran OK. It's a little rough at idle and just moving off, but it runs as good as an EA82T can under boost. And yes I boosted it hard. Lots of times. Without changing fluids or filters. Digi Dash is sooo eightys and very entertaining. I will have to find a way to make that work with the EJ swap. The redline alarm was put to good use. I put the stripped down 5mph bumper on and tossed the bent up 86 flimso bumper. I welded heavy angle iron on the bumper for tabs and put a tow bar on. I tapped into the turn signal wiring, parking lights and brakes and set up a plug on the truck and car. Welded up a reciever hitch for the taco and hooked it all together. Using 3rd to get over hills at 60mph was not rare up at 6k feet, even with the 3.4l. I actually checked the rear diffs and transmissions on the subaru and the Taco becuase it felt like something was burning up based on the amount of drag. I had to stay on the gas going downhill to maintain speed. I set the cruise for 80 and let it hold the accelerator to the boards for hours for me. Other than the drivers in Chicago not getting the concept that you can't nose your way in between a truck and a towed car, the trip was pretty unaventful. Yes, there was some tail wagging dog action under decel, and I did come close to loosing it on some offramps, but it all worked out. Average mpg: 18.6 Total cost of trip: $1,200, Of which I paid $200. I put the 302 in the 71 bronco it was destined for out there and everthing worked out. I'll get some pictures up soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zukiru Posted July 2, 2008 Share Posted July 2, 2008 nice! looking forward to the pics of this bumper you fixed up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daeron Posted July 2, 2008 Share Posted July 2, 2008 Awesome!! Good luck keeping the digidash with the EJ.. I must admit I am somewhat dubious about your prospects with that, but if you think you can take it on, more power to you! Personally, I would love to see someone house one of those megasquirt display screens in a trip computer housing. Let that suffice for your digidash itch, and swap a standard console in for the gauges, or cut a console up and install aftermarkets. The way I see it, you are using this chassis and another engine/driveline to build yourself essentially a "new" car, so why not order some options on it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zukiru Posted July 2, 2008 Share Posted July 2, 2008 Fury still has the digi on his EJ20T swapped Vortex. he's on the XT site a good bit and has write ups and such. there's no reason it won't work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daeron Posted July 2, 2008 Share Posted July 2, 2008 Fury still has the digi on his EJ20T swapped Vortex.he's on the XT site a good bit and has write ups and such. there's no reason it won't work! OK, I stand corrected, it is possible... but good luck with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zukiru Posted July 4, 2008 Share Posted July 4, 2008 bump fer pichers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WoodsWagon Posted September 23, 2008 Author Share Posted September 23, 2008 "Pichers" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zukiru Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 (edited) well that took long enough! that tow bar set up is sweet... I am going to make one! and buy a truck... and then... in ten years I'll be able to get another suby. Edited September 25, 2008 by zukiru redonkulus spelling error Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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