carfreak85

WOOOHOOOOO!! Just picked up the ranchos! :banana: Wont have time to fiddle with them until later this weekend, but another little niggling problem has arisen. How the hell do I get the shock bellows over the top mount of the shock? Do I even need to run them or can I leave them off? I'd like to get them on if at all possible, but if you guys reassure me then I'll just throw them on and forget about it. *EDIT* Finally got them on with a little soapy water and a lot of patience.

I ended up getting the Ranchos at Schucks for $48 a peice!!! They get here on Friday, so we'll see how they fit then. Full speed ahead on the front end until I get the shocks and bolts for the torsion bar!

How close are they to bolting in? Are they worth the extra cost over standard Monroes for a chevelle and where is the best price you can find? How is the ride considering they are for a jeep?

I have also heard that the shocks off of a 97-01 TJ Wrangler with the 2.5" Rancho shocks will work with some minor modification. Part # RS5241. It is kinda spendy, but they are apparently a better fit than some of the other options. Anyone else tried this?

I sent PK an email to see what he says on the subject, but who knows when I'll get a response. I'm still torn between the longer shock and beating the body. Zap, do the stock shocks actually limit the travel of the rear suspension? Why else do you run the stock rears?

Mick, I remember asking you about those a while back. If you run across another set or know where to get them, let me know!

The metal surround that mounts to the body and sort of circles the shock. Notches have to be cut in them where the lower part of the strut extention.

Oops, just fixed that, thanks!

I bought an 81 hatch that was fitted with a BYB lift kit. That car is on its way to subaru heaven right now and I am in the process of swapping the lift to an 85 hatch. Both EA81s. Now my problem is this: BYB's web site states that the kits are to bolt in and not require any cutting. For the rear upper shock mounts, this is not an option. The 81 has some metal surrounding the shock cut away. Also, the rubber pad between the torsion bar mount and the body is much thicker on the 85 than on the 81, and it doesn't appear to be age related either since the 85 has a higher mileage chassis than the 81. Has anyone else had these problems or could it just be because of an antique lift kit? All the blocks and spacers look to be in excellent condtion except for some minor surface rust.

Sweet blog! I would have to say that I agree 100% with the ugly, gorgous statement. My parents used to have one of those old Terks, 2wd, but I still remember that car fondly. I plan on finding one of the 4wd ones some day!

Well, the wagon is not my daily driver right now, so I might as well wait until I get teh WRX unit on there since it has an O2 bung.

Sweet lookin cars guys! I can't wait to get my lifted rig back on the road.

Officially, half of this problem is solved. I found out that I wasn't flowing enough exhaust gas out of the stock EA82T downpipe and that the cat must be fried. I fixed this by using the original EA81T downpipe which was known to be in good condition. The other half that remains unsolved is the location of my O2 sensor. It was in the crossover pipe from the factory, but after the header, the only option was the EA82 dp until I get an aftermarket one. So there we have it, until I get a better down pipe and a full exhaust, I will be limited to near stock performance.

I have loved that car for years and I'm upset that I passed on it when it was first up for sale... That being said, what was the big secrecy involved with the last owner? Why didn't they do a lick of work on it?

Could a plugged cat cause this problem? I think I'm going to swap back to the stock downpipe to see if that helps. I will be losing the O2 sensor in doing that, but if it brings my power back, so be it... Anyone think anything about this?

Where do I begin... My wagon has been sitting for the last two months with a massive crack in the crossover pipe just before the turbo. My SS header was too short to reach the turbo so I had to wait until I could have some spare material welded in. Well all that is finally finished but now I have an even worse problem. While on the first drive since installing the header, EA82 downpipe and cut airbox I found that the car wouldn't make boost until about 4.5k rpm... Going down hill... I can't think of what to check because I really didnt touch anything on the car while it sat. I've checked some of the vacuum hoses, checked for exhaust leaks (The noise from the cracked x-over pipe is gone) and checked the intake for blockage. The ECU is throwing codes 11 and 12 which are normal, and the fuel pump is cycling. My ignition has good components in it, and I didn't touch the timing, but I'm about to check that anyway. What the hell could be wrong with it? Anyone ever had this happen to them before?

Go with black. The car would look sick, kinda like an old school drift sube!

I have a VF11 that I plan on throwing on my car in the coming months. Its going on an EA81T though, so the efficency might not be as high. Thats one reason to choose the VF 11 for me, a lower VE and thus less exhaust velocity and volume.

Now the diff hanger I might be able to do, but I'd have to wait until a big enough peice of scrap came through that I could make one with. We have the tubing to make the ends out of so that part is taken care of and those show up all the time. Thanks for the idea, hahaha.

Since I work at an aerospace manufacturing plant, I have access to a lot of fancy stuff. I figured since I have access to materials like titanium and inconel, I might as well make some parts for my car! I made these brackets to replace a pair I made of steel to mount my throttle junction box. I originally had to make these when I did the 5 speed conversion and because I had some spare titanium, I whipped some up. The large steel bracket weighed 33 grams while its titanium replacement weighs a paltry 8 grams. The small steel one weighed 8 grams and its replacement weighs 4 grams. Not a huge difference over all, but since the material was free, as was my time, it was a fun little project and I can say I have ti parts on my car!

That price is unreasonable in my opinion, hell my wagon was nearly that nice and I got it for under $400! Superrallysube got his old one for even less than that! These cars are rare and pretty freakin sweet, but there is just no market for them, they don't even register on most peoples radar. The tranny swap is actually really easy on the auto cars. If someone can claw this out of the sellers hands for around $1500, go for it, you will love this car especially with a 4 or 5 speed!

Actually it probably does apply to N/A EA81s. Maybe not in all directions as with the turbo manifold, but I can say personally that the EA81 carby manifold is poorly cast and would benifit from some port matching.

This one probably takes the crown for original engine EA series. Sweet friggin car man!

So, any progress on the coupe? I haven't had any time to dink around with mine since I started my new job.

Dude, its off topic, but I gotta say that your avitar is the BOMB!!! Top Gear for life!