The Beast I Drive

Glad to hear you got it back! -Bill

Wow, thats crazy! I kinda want one now, but just a regular 'ol '85 4wd Toyota is hard enough to get a good deal on out here, all the off roaders horde them like gold. I think Ill just stick with subes -Bill

yeah its an 88 DL, I almost bought that car, if I had had the cash I wouldve. It is really clean and straight and will make an awesome EJ swap project. Should be a pretty quick little ride when its done. Oh Rob, if you are interested I will trade you some GL headlights and corner lights for that DL setup, I still need a set of those corner lamps for the Turd wagon, one got broke somewhere between the time I sold it ans when I got it back :-\ -Bill

No, this engine came from the Hatch I got from AC Bush a little while back, I dont think its the original motor for the hatch though, that car was beat. The motor I got from you blew a head gasket and has a light tick of death, and is currently residing beneath a tarp on a pallet waiting to be rebuilt. To comment on the Hijack, I didnt know the Toyota deisels were available here? Sounds interesting.... -Bill

I would go with locking hood pins. Also, make sure you have a good kill switch set up, you DONT want that car stolen -Bill

Zap, Sorry about that, will keep that in mind next time Thanks for the replies, I wont really know what happened for quite a while now, got to get my latest wagon running so I have a driver besides the RX from hell. I hope its not the crank, but it does seem like it could be. I know its not bcause Im using an EA82 flywheel that it vibrates, as I stated it was doing that before even when it was in my Hatch with the stock setup. Honestly i am afraid of takin the motor apart because I have never gotten an EA81 oil pump off the motor without breaking it , although I never overheated this one so It shouldnt be siezed on like the others. Connie, I Want one of those calenders!!! My car is an attention whore, it loves pictures, thats why it gets mad at me when I ignore it for too long, or when i work on other cars. I prolly wont get around to fixing this motor till later in the summer/fall, depending on funds/time, but if i find another motor for cheap you can bet its goin in. I dont want to throw away this motor if I dont have to, its a hydro lifter motor and it runs so good. Of course, this is me, I dont throw away much if anything -Bill

Good luck! I want to hear that that coupe is back up and running! -Bill

Well, The Beast may be down for more than a little while now. Yesterday I noticed an abnormally large puddle of oil under my car, as well as oil dripping from my skidplate. So, I opened the hood, and low and behold, oil on everything. Now this aint the first time Ive oiled up my engine bay Really good, but this time it wasnt because of me leaving the oil cap off So I looked around, and it looks like the source of the oil is the front of the engine, but i can not distinguish whether its coming from the front main seal, the oil pump, or somewhere else On a side note, although this engine always ran great (as long as i kept up the high-maintainence parts) it always seemed to vibrate more than my other motors did. (this is the 4th motor in this car) It had this strange vibration when it was in the car I pulled it from as well, so I didnt think much of it. All my other motors ran a little smoother. Im wondering if I dont have something way out of balance on the rotating assembly, or even a bent crank Either way, its time for an overhaul, I need to replace all 4 axles now (drivers side let loose a couple days ago ), the passenger side wheel bearings and possibly rotor, all the rear wheel bearings, and replace my modified sub frame assembly with a beefed up stocker and install one of my kits on it, as well as a 4.444 5 speed D/R Im workin on, and rebuild the motor with a little more Umpff. Right now Im just curious as to what yall think might be my oil leaking problem? Thanks for lookin! Oh, and the vehicle in question, my 87 GL wagon, EA81 swapped w/Weber carb + various other modifications -Bill DON'T BYPASS THE CUSS FILTER

Ill check when she gets home, she rotates between the Jetta and the 86 GL that she has, it costs about the same to drive either one due to gas and deisel price differences, the GL gets a consistent 29 mpg when she drives it. I could never get better than 25 mpg when I drove it -Bill

No s**t? thats almost as tall with no rubber on there as the stock tires on a Brat But with 35' tires it should look alright and perform pretty good on and off road. I personally like 14 and 15" wheels, I like as much tire as possible. -Bill

I would just tie it off to something that it wont rub on. Try it out, if it doesnt look like it will work, cut the zip tie and try another spot -Bill

^ Yes. Contrary to what some believe, adding RTV or sealer to every gasket install isnt always the best way to go. Certain gaskets are designed to work best dry. -Bill

Zip ties man, or Bailing Wire (my personal fav ) -Bill

If you decide to go the lifted route, I can whip up a kit that will easily hold up to the torque of that motor With that kind of power you will be able to turn larger tires with no problems at all. Since you plan on mating it to a Sube tranny, Im sure you are aware how different the power curves are, and you might want a 3.7 trans for better highway driveability, the Subaru engines power band is usually between 2000 and 4000 rpm, where a Deisel redlines around 4000 typically. On a related note, my mom has a 2000 Jetta TDI with the 5 speed, and it hauls a$$ once the turbo spools (can you say LAGGGGGGGGG). I dont care much for the body of the Jetta, but you cant argue with a consistant 48 mpg -Bill

I shouldve thought of this earlier, but why dont you look in Speedway's Online Oval-track parts catalog, speedwaymotors.com They sell everything you could ever need to build a race care, which also means longer racing studs, and the prices are usually very reasonable and the quality is very good. -Bill

I only see a red x. -Bill

With individual controls for each corner, it would be perfect for controlling your flex and you could do some crazy stuff :cool: -Bill

Why not take some of those long-travel Nitrogen charged units like the Monster trucks use, build a plate that bolts to the upper mount on the car with an eye on the underside for the shock mount, then machine an adaptor that the bottom can slide into and secured with the bolt going through the adaptor into the eye of the shock and tapped into the opposing side of the adaptor, then slide it into the EA knuckle of choice? There would be a little machining but it would allow the use of almost anything you want. I plan on doing somthing like that for my Turd wagon, but with different lower mounts. I might try to draw a picture later if I am feeling adventurous -Bill

Damn, dont tempt me like that scott -Bill

No, its normal for the 3at to rev that high on the highway, thats one reason so many people hate those trannys. The 4eat tranny have that extra overdrive, but they are computer controlled. -Bill

If it is howling like a TIE fighter then the bearings are shot. i had that problem in my Mom's 86 wagon, and I replaced it with a Hayden Slimfit fan and mounted it to the front of the radiator, and run it full time. -Bill

There should be a little sticker somewhere around the radiator support with a letter and a 3 digit number IIRC. -Bill

I would advise you not to use RTV on automatic trannies, ATF fluid eats sillicone like I eat pie, and you'll have a leak in no time -Bill

My 86 hatch got about 27mpg, and i have a heavy foot -Bill

Hmmm, I never thought of that, i was just lookin at how the tail light lenses had the same profile and basic shape, i didnt think about the different backing plates. Would one be able to say remove the lense from a coupe and attach them to the Hatch backing plate? -Bill