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Cyfun

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Posts posted by Cyfun

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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> :rolleyes:

  6. 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.

  7. 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.

  8. Considering the cost of shipping tires, you'd probably be better off getting some rims that will fit your lug setup and buying tires locally, new or used. I got mine from Walmart for $79 a tire.

     

    And bear in mind that if you have the stock 4-lug pattern, you'll have to drill out some steel rims to fit that, or convert your hubs to 6-lug.

  9. The old bolts were too long. With the new idlers, the bolt head surface is deeper into the hole. Coulda just used a few washers but that would have probably made things weaker, or at least more likely for the bolt to come loose.

     

    I remember reading something about this issue in other posts, but wasn't counting on it being such an odd bolt to find. The tensioner pulley came with a new bolt, they should have thrown in bolts for the idlers, especially when I'm spending $200 on a supposedly comprehensive kit. The kit really should have come with a new hydraulic tensioner adjuster, too, cause I don't want to have to tear into this again.

     

    New water pump and gasket, came with the kit. Didn't put any RTV on the gasket as there was none on the old one. Not seeing any leaks. I'll try to get a video of it, just sounds like a loud whirring. Could be the belt or an idler I suppose.

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