Caboobaroo

next week, keep an eye open for more updates. I'm going to see about getting the driveline work done this week if I get time to take it down to the shop. Then it'll be stuffin the tranny in, modifying the rear tranny crossmember, wiring and cooling, plus exhaust and getting all the little stuff done. Stuff thats tedious and a PITA but has to be done for it to run RIGHT. I ain't gonna screw this up like my last RX that most of you know the demise of that car... 3 blown EA82Ts in 300 miles and back to the junkyard from where it came from:lol:

I'm running 17x8 45mm 5x100 Enkei RPF-1s on my RX. Had a little rubbing in the rear on the wheel well but with some rolling, took care of that issue... I'm even lowered quite a bit...

yeah well I'm a busy guy... I work two jobs, basically from 9am-11pm almost everyday and the ays off I do have, well its usually doing laundry or something to that extent... or helping Rob with his own cars:lol:

FINALLY an update for good news! Got the VLSD and axles installed today after having to run down to Rob's house to get the studs for the mustache bar since the diff didn't have them. Went to install the tranny, realized that I don't have a clutch fork or the clips for the TO bearing (well I might but I have to look harder) woo for stuff gettin done!

Those are going to be for EJ cars and maybe XT6? I put a lot of those into WRXs and STis. Erik, go back and have the alignment redone. You'll end up shredding the inside shoulders of the tires with negative camber, negative toe. Have the toe set to 0.00 degrees

if you plan on using all EJ stuff, you still need 1 item in order for it to work. The XT6 hubs for the rears. That is the holy grail of the 5-lug swap. You can somehow modify everything else to get it to work but in order to do any 5-lug swap, thats the piece you need. For me, I opted for direct bolt in for now. I have only XT6 front and rear swaybars, rear hubs and backing plates, front lower control arms and outer tie rod ends.

Rob, get the front end up on stands and check how tight the strut rods and control arms are. I left them "snug" because as I was explaining the way those bushings work in the control arms, since they've had a chance to settle, go back through and make sur everything is tight but keep the front end loaded up.

on loan eh? I thought you gave it back to me lololololol Was kinda pooped last night as well but glad it came out as good as it did. Still needs a few things like some new bushings and calipers but me, whatever, its swapped:banana: After 20 million years of owning it, we got the 5-lug done:lol:

Corky I missed you! Even though i haven't seen you for like a month, heh...

So I have a question on the front for you. When you reset the camber to -0.5 degrees, what did you set the front toe to? My current setup which I came up with for my RX with EJ parts in it has -1.20 camber +/- 0.75 degrees of tolerance. When I initially did my alignment, I set to a negative camber but set to a stock toe and since the EA cars initially have a positive camber/negative toe, going to a negative camber/negative toe gave me massive wear on the inside shoulders of the tires. So hopefully you had them set it to a 0.0 toe on the front when they gave you the negative camber. I dialed my RX in to a point where it handles like my friend's '05 STi on Tein Flex's. I also put in adjustable caster rods too though so I gained about 1.75 degrees of positive caster in the front. Road feel FTW!

We'll shoot for 2015, give you a bit of a head start so it doesn't sneak up on you like it does every year:grin:

Steve, I got one word for the pics you've shown over the past couple weeks.... SEX:slobber: Keep up on the awesome work my friend. I love seeing the level of meticulous work you're doing. No one else would have done it to this extent

I have a cam tool for EA82s to tighten the timing belt tensioners. I took a cam sprocket, welded a 1/2 drive socket to the back of it in the center, and welded two bolts through the holes so they poke out the front. Slide the bolts into the two holes on the cam sprocket on the engine, put a 1/2 breaker bar into the socket and tighten the timing belt. I'll get pics when I can

I'm willing to bet its the hose that goes from the top of the block to the intake, right dead nuts in the center of the engine, basically right behind the PS pump. They never get replaced and will split, causing a coolant leak. Gonna say thats it.

and they're 4x100, guy converted the hubs I say do it s'ko!

The Maxxis Bighorns actually wheel pretty decent. When I worked for Les Schwab, a coworker put a set on a '85 Bronco II, 30x10.50R15s to be exact. We had to do a "custom" lift for it and a lit of fender whacking but it went like a banshee in the mud:banana:

So its been a couple long months of no time to work on the car. I work 2 jobs and lemme tell you, the spare time I do have, has been spent doing other work, like packing to move once again. Good think its across town and not halfway across the friggin country this time. So since I worked on it last, she's sat and making me depressed. Most of you probably seen the part out thread I had posted a few weeks back but decided finally against it. But a bit of an update! Got the 3.9 VLSD I got from The Scooby in along with some good rear axles. Also, I have the XT6 crossmembers as well, just need to modify the rear one to bolt into the car. Just gotta get the tranny in then its all downhill. Also had to replace the front wheel bearings since the old ones didn't like being rolled around without axles in:rolleyes: I still got a few small things to do to the engine itself, evap the AC, install the radiator with fans, get the wiring in and get the driveline made and I should be good to go:banana:

EA82 coupe Connie? Or is it the seal for the EA81 coupe that goes between the door glass and the rear quarter glass?

But no one has added that this will put a lot of added stress on your wheel bearings. If you do decide to do this, you'll probably eat up the wheel bearings rather quickly and they tend to get expensive when you gotta replace them every few months...

Keep an eye on ebay. About 6 months ago, I scored a complete rebuilt XT6 rack for $25 + shipping, which came to $45 after shipping.....

Very true. I also thought of worn springs which is a problem the older Rangers/Explorers/Ford trucks have, causing the camber it go way in on the twin I-beam suspension. Anyways, typically if the alignment is far out, there is potentially another problem that has not been addressed and the alignment can show it. My thought on aftermarket camber/caster adjustments is this. If there's a need to use them on a stock car to get a value back into specification and is pretty far outside the manufacture's specified range, then its just a band-aid to fix a problem instead of actually fixing the problem to begin with. Just my $.02

Crap! I JUST packed up my '78 FSM or I could have mailed it to you to use....

No individual wheel caster adjustment,but adjusting front/rear ride heights unequally on a 4wd will alter caster collectively. Well IF you want to be techincal,y ou're also forgetting Included angle as well. Yes, problems with the SAI, IA, thrust angle and scrub can cause pulling but unless you're out sliding over curbs and bending your suspension components, SAI and IA should be within the recommended factory specifications. I use SAI and IA to diagnose bent suspension parts because if its bent, the SAI and IA will basically tell me what portion of the suspension is bent. Like as been said already, even though the FSM doesn't say that its adjustbale for an EA81 (just checked my '83 FSM), it IS adjustable, though just enough to to get it back into specifications IF its a hair out. Like I said before, if you're out wheeling curbs, you're going to have more issues then the alignment. Also, yes, ride height can be an issue but you have to have it pretty far whacked out in order for it to really cause issues with the alignment itself. You're also forgetting the fact when people lower their cars, it'll throw the SAI out as well (hmm wonder why that is?)

Ok, I'm an ASE alignment tech (even though it just says I took a test and passed) but I'm one of the few that actually know what I'm doing. If you have any doubt, go to the NWIC section of NASIOC and search "caboobaroo alignments" and you should find a few threads about me. Anyways, Gloyale is right, the 3 bolts ARE an adjustment, even specified in the FSMs I have which I have ones covering numerous years. Its not much, only about .40 degrees of movement but enough to get it into spec if its a hair out. No camber or caster adjustments in the front, again, very minimal camber adjustments in the rear. You can get a slight camber change by rotating the strut tophat sometimes, I've done it on a few different makes of cars. Unless you have a EJ car or a EA car with a 5-lug conversion like I did (EJ parts combined with the XT6 parts), then this does not regard to you but if you do have any questions, feel free to ask. ALL EA cars have a positive camber, negative toe setting in the front which is the main reason why they have such bad positive camber when lifted. If the front toe is toed out, then you'll start getting inside shoulder wear, not so much since the positive camber counteracts it BUT, if its toed in, then you'll get nasty shoulder wear on the outside of the tires. In regards to drifting, pulling, etc. There are a few things that can cause this, one being radial pull. So my suggestions to you is cross rotate the front tires and see if it drifts back the other way. If not, then you've now narrowed the search you can do at home before you go spend money. So, if that doesn't fix the issue, and you've made sure your front steering components are tight, then you might have another issue with a control arm being bent or strut rod bushings being shot. To chekc at home for a bent control arm, tape measure is all you really need. Measure the gap from the back of the tires to the fender, parallel to the ground, If its the same side to side, then move on, if not, ta dum! If the strut rod bushings are shot, you'll be able to shift the wheel back and forth in the wheel well with a prybar put between the body and the control arm in such a way that if you pull on the prybar, it'll shift the wheel forward, or replace them anyways since they're real cheap and easy to replace! Once you've done that, now go get your alignment checked. Like I said before, there's only a couple things that will cause a vehicle to drift, and one to make it pull. Drifting issues are: Radial pull Cross caster being ~ .8-1.0 degree Cross camber being ~.8-1.0 degree A pull typically is cause by a low caster value on that side. Remember! A vehicle that has a drift or a pull will ALWAYS go to the direction with the higher camber and/or low caster value! I usually see cars that have been curbed hard due to sliding out of control to have a high camber, low caster scenario on whatever side was hit. Now that I just dumped mroe info into your guy's heads then I should have, now have hopefully more knowledge about alignments! I've been doing them for quite awhile so I know quite a bit about them. Again, any questions, I guess just post up here!

On the gen 1 Brats, there's supposed to be mounts welded into the floor of the bed (which typically get cut off) that the bottom frame mounts to. The headrests get mounted right above the rear window, there's tabs for them hanging down. As for the dash, its already been said unless you can find a mint dash (good luck, ask Paul about that conquest), best bet is to get a carpet cover for it. The vents should blow in the "vent" position which is pretty self explainitory but since Mick made a mention about the PO putting in a new switch, might want to check to make sure its connected properly. Do you get any heat at all? If not, you could have a faulty heater core valve, which is located on the heater line right under the dash, next to the heater core inlet. Also check the cable that runs to it, seen them freeze up and break. The relay under the seat looks to be the timer for the seatbelt buzzer/light.