Cyfun

What a *********************. My local dealer's parts guy complained that I didn't have a VIN to give him when I just needed a new thermostat. Told him it's a '93 with the Phase 1 EJ22, and if I can go to Napa or Oreillys and they can figure it out, then he should too. Took him about half an hour, though. Apparently their computerized parts catalogs are a pile of suck. Find a car with the same engine and give him that VIN. Could probably find one on eBay or just go out to their car lot.

Very nice, perfect candidate for the switch to synth. Read up on the Mobil 1 5w40 TDT if you're interested. Mobil 1 and I believe Royal Purple are the only true fully synthetics, the other's still having some petroleum based processing. Very popular in European cars, too, as Euro spec often calls for 5w-40 with special additives. With a fully synthetic oil you can go much further between oil changes as well, as they resist sludging and breakdown better. They say you can do about 12-15k, but I changed mine at 10k cause it'd been almost a year.

Those lights are only 5x7. I've been considering getting a pair of the headlight housings for these size bulbs and bolting them up in place of my proprietary GL lights, then getting an HID 5x7 conversion kit off ebay.

Get some small led fishing weights and crimp them over the cable down by the pedal. And new cables are only like $12. Funny that it keeps stretching for you, though.

Big fan of the Mobil-1 5w40 Turbo Diesel Truck oil myself. Run it in all my vehicles, summer and winter. Can be found on sale for about $23/gal. But since it's full synthetic, you run the risk of getting leaks if you switch to it from petroleum based oil (probably why my valve cover and rear main gaskets are hemorrhaging on my ej22). In that case, I'd stick to Delvac, which is crazy cheap at like $12/gal.

Ooh, fancy! What's next? Some sort of magical electric candle that allows you to drive at night time?

Not like you had a choice if the tow truck wouldn't come out that far. Only other option would be to leave it, catch a ride home to get a new radius rod, come back to install it, and find that the car had been used for target practice.

Agreed. I hope this isn't just gonna be a drag car. Would make a sweet track car or drift car, hence why it seems odd that it isn't a stick.

For that price, killer deal if it runs okay. Would make for a good fuel efficient daily driver so you tear into your 4x4 some more.

Holy balls, that went south fast. Would it be worth replacing the whole engine? Might find a fuel injected EA82 for cheap somewhere.

Nice! Thanks!

Having a good body is probably the most important thing. Everything else can be replaced fairly cheaply. Unless you're wanting to build a beater offroad rig, check the fenders behind all the wheels to see how bad the rusting is. Also check around the windshield for rust, especially at the bottom. Check the CV boots to see if any have torn. Common problem that most folks don't notice. Peek under the front to see how bad the oil leaks are. Leaks at the valve covers are common, and as long as it's not hemorrhaging over the exhaust, it's probably fine. The big one is the rear main seal, so check the bottom of the bellhousing. Jack it up if you can and wobble the wheels top to bottom to check wheel bearings. And on the test drive, listen for them squeaking. Helps to swerve back and forth a bit. And get onto a highway to see if there are any high speed vibrations. Also, from highway speed, jump on the brakes and hold the steering wheel loosely to see if it pulls to the left or right when braking, and if there's any pulsation from a warped rotor. A $1000 pricetag is a pretty good deal if the body's in decent shape. Even if not, if the mechanicals are solid, that's still a good price. And if you do find anything wrong, it isn't necessarily a dealbreaker. Just bring it up with the seller and figure how much it'd cost ya to fix.

I'm not too worried about it. I looked everywhere around the cams and the crank and didn't see any place they might go. And if there are old o-rings somewhere, then they're still there. As long as there's no oil leaks, that's all that really matters. I am curious, though, there's a way to get to the oil pump through the crank?

Was tempted to get a drill doctor, but you need the expensive version to sharpen bigger bits. I ended up getting an old Craftsman drill sharpening apparatus off ebay for about $20. If you already have a bench grinder and aren't afraid to use it, that's the way to go. If you want something easy and automated, get a drill doctor. They have one for $55 that does up to half inch bits.

Nice find. FWD will get you some badass fuel economy. My mom had an 82 FWD hatchie brand-new, and it would get 42mpg highway. You gonna keep it stock or swap in some 4x4 gear or another engine? Would make for a good sleeper with an STi swap.

Take them to court for the amount that it would cost you to have the dealer fix it properly. They not only didn't fix the existing problems, they created more.

Mine's a 93, makes sense that they had some extra parts for newer models. I got mine from theimportexperts. Perhaps the black ones are the new design but just a different color? Still, seems odd.

Yeah, I got the cam and crank seals installed fine. One thing I thought odd, though, was that the seals were black, and the previous ones were brown. I've heard that the black seals were an early design that had problems, and the brown ones were the newer design. Each of the cam seals came with an o-ring about 2 inches in diameter, and the one that came with the crank seal was maybe 3/5 inch diameter. I looked all over for where an old o-ring might be or have been but didn't see anything.

I forgot to ask, my kit came with a o-rings that were in the packages for the cam and crank seals, but I couldn't tell where they were supposed to go. Any ideas?

Would be worth looking into, if you wouldn't mind seeing how much the JY would want for them. Might also double check if the way they mount up to the DL looks the same as a GL. There are 5 or 6 junkyards in my town, and for some idiotic reason they aren't open weekends at all. A few used to be open at least Saturday mornings, but they did away with that. What are people supposed to do, take time off work and lose money just to go to the junkyard and safe a few bucks? It wouldn't be so bad if more of the places did proper inventorying and could tell me exactly what cars they have and what parts are left. But noo, I have to hurry out there after work and run around looking for myself. </rant>

Yup. As far as I know, those housings will bolt up to a GL easily. Then I can just get a pair of hi-low 4x6in HID conversion kits for normal driving, and a pair of halogens set up as fog or driving lights. Or better yet, quad HIDs with two of them aimed outward.

Wowza, $120 and up. Did you get that Morimoto H1 kit, or did you go with one of the D2S ones? The other direction I'm leaning is to ditch the stock GL enclosures, steal 7x6 headlight housings off of something like these, and get one of the 7x6 kits like this one. Less fabrication involved, and easier to replace down the road if I get a rock through the lens. It'd leave funny gaps around the lights, but my car is already pretty Frankensteined. If only I could find a DL to steal the quad headlight housings from. If someone on the forum could find a junkyard with a bunch of DLs, they could make some money selling the housings.

2 inch is a good place to start. I'm still at 2 inches with a ton of fender trimming. Those rims will probably work. Look at them and make sure the surface where you're putting the hole is flat on the outside. Also, be sure and look at how wide the rims are and how much they're offset. The first set of rims I had were 8 inch wide and like 4 inches offset. They stuck way out past my fenders, and I'd get mud coming in my window. And if I romped on it, the car would buck really hard. I switched to rims that are only 2 inch offset, and they are perfect. My tires just barely fit past the spring perch. The tires are the Wrangler Radials that are only sold at Walmart. They only come in the 235/75R15 size. The tread is reasonably aggressive but still very good for daily driving, and are rated for 50k miles. I would honestly recommend running a smaller tire if you aren't going to be lifting it past 2 inches. I made mine fit, but they still rub badly if I try to turn sharply. I'm planning on lifting it another inch or two cause I miss being able to turn on a dime. I'd recommend a 15 inch rim cause 16's sacrifice sidewall and make for a rough ride. And a tire of about 25 or 26 inches. Keep an eye on craigslist, and check out some junkyards. Walmart will mount and balance tires for $6.50 each, and that includes free balancing for the life of the tire.

Lookin good, I'm seriously considering going this route. Where'd you get your kit?

Holy crap, nice welding work. Would it have been easier, though, to just body-lift the car higher? I have mixed feelings about buying a cheap HF winch, cause if you're stuck to the point that you need to winch yourself out, you'd better hope you've got a good winch. Costco used to have I think a 3000lb winch for $80, which I'd probably trust a little more.