Caboobaroo

Ok I'm sick of this car officially. F this wiring garbage......

You have to remember that it did in fact. WCSS9 when I first met you and i had my buddy with me? My silver car on the 15" steelies:lol:

So got more work done... then another problem arose. For the harness in and connected and for some reason the fuel pump relay isn't getting grounded through the ecu like it should. Everything else checks out good... bad ecu maybe?

But IIRC, Rob has had more issues with his RX breaking down on the way to WCSS in the past then anyone else I know:lol:

IIRC, there's a sensor in the intake that controls the gauge. The one in the radiator is just a thermoswitch, so when it gets to s certain temp, the switch closes and powers the fan. Kind of like a relay but instead of a power closing the switch, the heat does.

HOORAY for progress!!! Yesterday I took my harness down to Suberdave's and we went through it checking it out. Glad to have another set of eyes on it since I was going crosseyed everytime I'd look at it. Did a couple small connections, figured out all the other loose ends and its ready! I came home yesterday, put it in the car, found out my fuel pump is no worky and stopped. Went onto do yardwork instead:rolleyes: I just ordered a NEW Walbro 255LPH pump since the used one I have is crap. Now I just gotta wait for it to show up, along with a new oxygen sensor, new serpentine belt, an alternator, and a few other small items I've been needing. With any luck, I might just get a trip permit and bring it to the show instead of the XT6:rolleyes:

The factory thermoswitch is located in the passenger side of the radiator in the tank, on the lower portion of the tank. Also, since you don't have an overflow bottle, make sure you only fill the radiator up until it covers the tubes inside, no more then that. If you fill it up beyond that, it'll purge the overflow onto the ground and thats no bueno.

I had originally swapped the gen 2 parts onto gen 1 stage 2 knuckles but after I did, I realized I needed ball joints as mine were shot. This is when I proceeded to the part store and found out gen 1 stage 2 ball joints were like $40 a piece:eek: Gen 2 ball joints were $16 a piece. So the extra time I spent making the lower control arms made up the difference in price but it was worth it.

I've had my hand in this pot for some years now since I've done a little bit with modifications to gen 1 suspension and brakes. I know in mid '83 on the EA81 cars, they went from solid rotors to vented rotors. You can use the rotors on a gen 1 stage 2 car but I'm not sure about older (maybe i should go grab my stack of 70's FSMs lol) but you also need the calipers as the calipers for the vented rotor cars are wider. I went as far as to use EA81 control arms on my '79 wagon to use the EA81 ball joints and the EA81 knuckles.Llet me find a couple pics.... I bolted the main control arm section of an EA81 into the crossmember then made new strut rods the identical length and size as the gen 1 stage 2 rods, welded them on after I had the weight of the car on the control arm (which is why its on a jack in a couple pics) and voila, done. I had access to a metal lathe when I made them so I could turn the ends down where they go through the mounts at the tranny crossmember .

There's supposed to be both an electric fan and a mechanical fan on the gen 1 4wd IIRC. A lot of the clutch fans were removed throughout vehicle maintanence since they can be kind of a bear to deal with. You should also have an electric fan on the passenger side of the radiator. There will also be a thermoswitch in the lower portion of the tank on the passenger side as well to control it. See pic below of my old '78 Brat... The canister looking deal at the very bottom of the pic is the motor for the electric fan

I'm willing to bet there's an issue with the alternator or the external voltage regulator. While cranking, the fuel pump gets direct power to fill the bowl on the carb but the instant you let off the key and the vehicle is running, the fuel pump power comes from the alternator (or the VR but I can't really remember). Once its started, the fuel pump won't run and the engine will run for a few seconds or until the bowl of the carburator is emptied. I thought my old '78 Brat had some weird issue and turns out my alternator crapped out on me. I found out after I had stripped the car:mad: I also had a headlight issue. Its real common for the main power that comes into the fuse block for the headlights, burns right at the connection and causes no lights. Mine didn't give me any warning, just no lights one night. Just ran a new power wire on top of the harness from the battery to the back of the fuse block (or maybe it was the headlight switch?). Damn CRS:lol:

just don't drive it till then. Less risk of blowing something up again:lol:

Nope, trying to get other things done and bills paid. Kinda on a back burner and I work on it when I'm not totally exhausted:-\

Hey lazy, post up some pics of the wagon. I searched for them but all the links for them are bad so all are red X's. You don't even have them on your myspace anymore, just that POS VW:lol: So get to eeeeeet!

You should get "Draggin Wagon" on the back window of it:lol:

I don't think anyone said anything but the bumper sticker on the back of the Bug is priceless!! "I Brake for... Oh ************! No Brakes!"

I'm working on two different sets of tools since I'm a mechanic both at work and at home. I'm currently using a Matco series 6 box at work in yellow (I got it for real cheap since it was used by a coworker for a year or so) and I have an older Snap-On box from the 80's that I bought a few years ago, in my garage. I'm using most name brand tools (Snap-On, Mac and Matco) at work and the stuff that I used to use (mainly Craftsman) is taken residence at home in the garage. For air tools, I don't use anything from Harbor Freight and don't recommend it. Craftsman is all right but my experience, I mainly use a Mac 3/8" impact gun with a set of Mac deep impact sockets ranging from 8mm-24mm and I tend to use them all. I don't usually use my Snap-On 1/2" impact unless I'm working on something that requires a bit more oomph. I also have a Mac angle grinder, Blue Point cut off wheel, Mac air hammer and Mac 1/4" air ratchet. I really don't use much more then that as far as air tools for now but I'm guessing later in life I might need to buy something else. I still like the reactions I get when people who don't work on cars for a living, ask me how much money in tools I've spent... My dad asked me and when I dropped a $50k answer including my house box and tools, I thought he was going to have a heart attack:lol:

Woo woo! Progress is slow but continues! I'm currently working on the exhaust for it since it was another thing I needed to do. Picked up an ERZ 3" bellmouth catless downpipe with a broken hanger and an Esplier JTC-500 catback from my buddy's '05 STi monster. I got the downpipe fixed yesterday and will be installing it today. Then I might hit up the junkyard to see if I can find the 3AT crossmember I need and see what I can do to make it work. I also have all my electrical stuff at the house now (Power Probe, DVOM, etc.) so I can figure out what's going on with my harness. Time to get crack-a-lackin!

I've pulled a gastank from a 4wd EA82 wagon before without removing the diff all the way. I left it connected to the axles, dropped the hanger and mustache bar and removed the bolts for the driveline. For removing the tank itself, there's a plate behind the passenger side rear wheel that covers the fuel filler neck and after removing the plate, you can access the hose clamps much better.

Here's my Brat with the springs and bumpstops taken out of the front and the torsion bars cranked down after half the rear bumpstops were cut off.

Just because it has the controls for it doesn't mean it ever had it. It was a dealer installed option but came from the factory with the label on the controls. Subaru did that up through the '80s. The bracketry for the alternator is different since it incorporates the bracket for the AC compressor IIRC.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Sucker! You made fun of me for not getting on the ball and getting mine finished:lol: Karma's a b****

Another thing to do while the tailights are out, is to cut the tab on the body closest to the license plate into a slot so the stud from the tailights slides into it. It makes it much easier for removal/installation and less likely to break the tailights.

If you come out, it'll beat trying to ship that cargo cover:lol:

You can do the shimming of the rear hatch latch but the easiest way to figure out if its the seal for the hatch or something else, I'll let you in on a bodyman's secret. Go get a can of athletes foot spray (since its white and kinda sticky), spray it onto the hatch where the seal will hit the hatch, close the hatch, open it and look for the white on the seal. Thats where the hatch is hitting the seal. If its black, then you know the seal isn't hitting the hatch and thats where its leaking.