AKghandi

So recently I did the maxima alternator upgrade. super simple. just had to redneck machine the spacer under the pulley and attach a few wires. while I was at it I unclusterfked the wiring from the guy I sold it to, the bought it back from I then replaced the redline weber adapter with the transdapt 2107. A few months ago I took it on a road rally. was a blast. And today I discovered the engine I put together which is a combination of an spfi block and the carb engine heads and cams, is high enough compression that it needs premium..

so. Its been a while, did some work, then I sold it. Well yesterday I got it back. Pics to follow

Well I wasn't 100% till you mentioned the reverse thing. Yeah idk why it does that. Did it the whole time I had it. Sometimes reverse just wasn't there. Oriellys has those struts in stock. Sorry I think I said they were 93, it's 98

So for the parking brake, make sure your front pads don't need replacement first. If they do then adjusting it won't make a difference. There is a small panel between the 4wd shifter and the ebarke handle if you pop that up there's an adjuster underneath

so funny story, I'm pretty sure I lifted that one. is hard to tell from your pic, but im pretty sure that rear door dent is the same, if it is the same wagon, i put 1993 toyota 4 runner front struts, with honda accord front springs in the rear to lift it.

send me a pm I got a lot of random knowledge in my head

just out of curiosity, do you have a picture of the car? or maybe the strut itself?

Got the control arms and radius rods extended. lengthened the control arms, 1" and the radius rods 3/4" its not pretty, but its strong. Now the CV axles fit and work as they should. 4X4!! Though I did have to ditch the inner wheel seal in the knuckle. its gunna hold till it doesnt!!. and yeah thats a chunk of leaf spring welded to the bottom of the arm.

Thats exactly what I was thinking I'd need. I am glad to see someone else has done this before. As soon as I get some more free time I'm going to go ahead and lengthen them. I'll probably just go an inch to make life simple for me. a few extra mm shouldn't hurt anything. small update, she got new shoes. some "lightly" used 235/75r15 BFG K02. if you're wondering why you see light under that back tire, its not a camber issue. these tires came off a old ford with a bad alignment so theres some uneven wear on 2 of them, i mean hey they were free.

Well, after a nice slumber Talkeetna rides again! I had her sitting in storage waiting for her time to shine. cant believe its been almost 2 years, wild. Anyways She has been pulled out and wheels and tires fitted, front fenders trimmed, and the interior was given a first round of cleaning. Next up is actually getting the front CV situation sorted. After much thought and a AHA! moment I know what needs to be done. The front control arms need to be lengthened somewhere around an inch or so. the front track width does not match the rear. and that will sort out a couple issues I have so far. I have been driving it RWD for the last few days and man its a blast, the suspension on this thing is killer, you cant feel curbs when you drive off them, its like they arent there. And here she is next to my other rig, a 1991 astro van awd with 6" lift and 31s, 2 speed tcase and winch. with awning and a bed.

its a dual range trans so 2wd/4wd. you know, Im not sure how well the cv's will last. i think the suspension geometry being more on par with stock should help.

Ran into a few more minor issues but overall my plan worked exactly how I wanted. First of all, 93 fwd impreza axles DO NOT WORK. they are too long. in a lowered application where the hub would be further out they may work. getting the rear struts together was.. interesting. the coils on the accord springs are too tight to use a normal spring compressor. there she sits. no spacers no crossmember drop and no positive camber. still need to bleed the brakes and sort out the front axles. figured out what combination works i just gotta order a couple more.

Today I got the front end put together. I ran into a few minor snags but, it all worked out more or less how I planned. Only real issues were; changing the top hat on the outback struts, and opening up the strut towers to make room for the larger struts. These wheels and tires are only temporary, they are too big. more positive camber than I wanted but I have lots of room to adjust via elongating the top hole on the strut. You can see the axle hanging down, need to order the correct axles soon. next weekend I will tackle the rear, should go much smoother.

Got a chance to pull her into the shop and get a few issues sorted out. First was no heater blower, turned out to be the relay, swapped it with the rear defrost relay for now. Second the car overheated just after I got it, the fan switch in the radiator had a bad connection and the fan was hitting the radiator a bit. I cleaned the connections and spaced the fan out some, problem solved. Lastly it would start like it had a dead battery even with a good battery and a jump. The positive cable end at the starter was really bad, the washer under the nut turned to dust. I cleaned it all up and she spins over perfect. Shes rusty but atleast it still has rear wheel arches!.. for now. Next up is a full detail, the interior is filthy. then I'll start on the brakes and suspension upgrades.

Not a great pic but it's something! I'm busy as all hell during the week

Well the 5 lug swap changes the front strut mounting, From the slide into the knuckle type to the standard 2 bolt macpherson mount. Which adds camber adjustments. Ej swap may happen but we shall see.

Well I have been roo less for a while now and the itch just wouldn't go away, no matter how many shot of penicillin I got. So I went ahead an bought a pile of roo for a few hundred dollars. Talkeetna is an ugly as hell 85 ea82 GL wagon. 5 speed dual range manual everything, even steering. though it has power mirrors... Sadly I dont have any pics of it right now. but I do have a pic of a previous parts donor. this was an 88 xt6. it was a project that didnt work out, the rust was just way too bad. so I pulled all the 5 lug parts and scrapped it. When I had the xt6 I bought a bunch of parts. a bunch. and I have just been sitting on these parts with nothing to do with them. Until now. parts I have; Full 5 lug/ rear disc parts 2 new 02 outback front strut/spring assembly's. front 86 accord springs new front 94 4runner struts new all new brake pads all new brake hoses 4 rotors which are within spec to be turned. my plan for now is to fix a few things then clean the car, and then add all the parts I have to make a hopefully decent offroad rig. I dont know of anyone who has done a lifted 5 lug on a wagon before so hopefully my educated guesses on lift height will work. I do have what appear to be new legacy front struts if the outbacks lift it too much. I know how much the accord/4runner setup will lift the rear. My hope is that I will end up with a stiffer suspension that can actually add negative camber in the front so the front wheels dont \ = / when I accelerate.

Got a bunch of parts in the mail. Pulled the carpet out of the parts car so I could get a look at the floors, thankfully they are in much much better shape so I will be able to swap them over. There is still some minor rust through, but only in small spots that I should be able to fix. The important mounting points are still solid. right now I am waiting on a spot weld drill bit to show up so I can get it pulled apart and start patching the floor before I weld it into the other car.

Yeah that was the make or break on this project. After all when it broke the last time the car got parked for 10 years

outback strut assemblys, 4runner struts and accord springs on the way. plus new brake hoses and pads

Things have been moving along, gutted the bad interior and swapped the rear window. thats the biggest hurdle done. got a huge shopping list coming from rock auto soon, but next thing to tackle is rust.

I've got my work cut out for me thats for sure

these are the tires and wheels I'll be using, I think they will match the early 90s RC car image I'm going for.

Not much to update as of yet, started pulling the interior, i plan to replace everything from the dash back. But before I do that I'm going to get the floors patched. I did get a set of wheels and tires, 235/75r15s on cherokee basket weave rims. I'll be using adapters to make them bolt up. I also have decided to do the car in a RC car motif. The car also wasnt running right, after swapping a few parts from the parts car I think I found the culprit in a bad CTS I have 2 cars i'll be selling soon to fund this so things will pick up soon.