El Presidente

Your blinker fluid is low On my 87 GL, if the hazards aren't plugged in at the switch, I have no blinkers at all.

I've haven't heard of not dropping the crossmember on anything over 2", but I can see how it might be better. So to lift like Tosh did, you just drop the rear diff and then move the shock-mounts down? Can you do that at 6"? or would it be best to put a 2" block at the crossmember? Thanks for all the input guys!

Yeah, I'm trying to do my homework before I get started. Thed front looks awesome! Your rear tire looks like it would mash pretty good on front of the well if you put some weight on that tire..any problems with that? What size tire are you running? Is that a 6"front/6"rear lift? By Mike do you mean michael appel?

You've got a sweet ride man! I think yours was the one that got this whole idea rolling in my head.. How much drop do you have at the crossmember? Any change in handling?

So theres no difference in handling? Whenever you move the balljoint or strut tower forward/back, your changing caster angle, which has most affect at highway speeds and corners. Some vehicles are more sensitive to caster change than others thats why I'm asking, to gauge whats best for me and what I do/planning to do. 16" from where to where? Do you have some pics of your rig? I thought about 4",but I don't want to have to bash and cut the hell out of my rig. I want the body clearance a 6" provides and the way I see it, if I don't like 6", I can go to 4":grin:

White smoke is coolant, so you gotta figure out from where. There are water jackets near intake runners under the carb, and where the intake meets the engine. These areas can leak coolant into the air stream, which is burned off. It could also be a head gasket that slowly going out. Worst case, its a crack in one of the heads.

Right on, somebody thats done it! I've got some 30x9.50's BFG Mudders ready to go on... How does it affect your driveability on and offroad? We are talking about a ea82 right? Did you sleeve it like Uberoo suggested? How much suspension lift do you have - difference in lift between the struts and the engine crossmember? I'm planning on 1" lift and 5" drop at the front.

Yes, I'm trying to move the ball joint forward, not out. Did you notice an improvement in handling and tire wear by moving your radius rod forward 1/2"? Do you know what your castor angle is now? Thanks

Interesting, my understanding is that the GL EA82's generally have slight negative castor which amplifies any positive camber from a lift and creates understeer in corners. From what I've read, extending the radius rod will provide slight positive caster, which will help with this. Am I wrong? The only thing I can see it screwing up is the castor(which I'm trying to adjust) and the toe, which can be adjusted at the tie rod ends.

I've been researching the best way to lift my 87 GL, and have heard of a couple guys running extended radius rods, from 1.25" to 1.5" more, to improve castor angles. From what I can tell, it also helps move the front tire away from the rear of the front wheel well, which helps when running bigger tires. How are you guys doing this? I've heard of this mod as "sleeving the radius rods", but I can't find how this is properly done. I'm thinking you just cut the radius rod, and put a piece of 3/4ish square tube over it and weld it up...sound right? Pictures would be great! I'm building a 6" front/5" rear with a 5" drop on my engine crossmember, 4" tranny/radius drop

Looking at the first picture, going from left to right towards the battery, directly in front of the carb is the power steering pump and pulley, then the AC compressor and pulley, then your alternator and pulley, then your battery. How do you know the AC compressor is bad? Before throwing good money at bad, diagnose your system. Leak check your system to look for leaks in your hoses and cores, then check the pressure on the low and high side of the compressor. If thats above your head, I'd take it to a shop. An over charged system can give poor results just like an empty one.

I called him and it is a 5sp, sorry. Thanks for the info on the splines Numbchux!

Try napa or carquest for the washer/cone Its not a suub, but my jeep had a similair problem and it was a leak in the windshield that was allowing water to get to the intermittent control module. They go by different names on different cars, but I'd take a look at that, especially if hi/lo works, but intermittent doesn't. Your heater problems are probably due to a vacuum leak in one of the lines. The vacuum setup for the HVAC on these rigs isn't to complicated. There is a black vacuum connector on the side of your right lower leg, might want to check that. Getting to the back of the heater control isn't to hard, just take you time and don't throw any tantrums and tear it off with your bare hands, like I did the first time. You can then use a vacuum pump/brake bleeder to individually activate and diagnose each vacuum solenoid. I've never heard of a bad vacuum solenoid, but it could happen. Yes, they're great leakers. If your motor leaks less than your power steering, your doing OK. Welcome to the Forum!

My buddy has a 85 or 86 2wd 4sp. Ea82 GL parts car and I robbed parts off it to get my GL to his place. Will the front CV axles and hubs work on my 4wd GL? I'm either hitting his parts car, or pull a part tomorrow I've found conflicting info on spline counts and axle differences. Regarding the front bearings, I heard going to bearing suppliers is the way to go, can anybody recommend a place in snohomish county? I'm driving my Jeep right now at $4 a gallon and its a thristy pig.

Thanks for the replies guys! I know I'm looking at a new hub and probably more, is there any aftermarket/replacement hubs available, or is it a JY item? Dealership maybe? How about the axle nut/washer/conical washer? Are dealerships the way to go there or is carquest/napa OK? After replacing all the seals in my oil pump, I've realized how much better and moderately priced subaru is..

The hub isn't spinning on the axle, so I doubt the splines are gone. I drove it back to a buddies house from where I broke down too, just put new washers/axle nut on and limped 4 blocks. I gave it a quick look over and everything seemed ok, no sheared cotter pins etc. I'm giving it a detailed check tomorrow. Took it easy coming back, but got up to 25mph at one point, accelerated fine.

87 GL 4x4 5sp. D/R Ok, I've been having problems with a popping/grinding noise coming from my drivers front wheel ever since I got it 2 months ago...not CV popping, but grinding teeth(people teeth, not gear teeth) popping. I inspected everything and found the spindle nut looser than I felt comfortable with, so I checked torque specs and found it was way to loose. I don't have a torque wrench that goes to 145lbs right now and the consensus I was reading, is that you can't really over-torque the axle nut.. So I kept turning it tighter till the popping went away, however this morning I looked at my axle nut and saw that the castle nut had sheared off the cotter pin, but was still tight. I also was hearing the popping noise again, so I was a dumb monkey and just tightened the axle nut back up and put a new pin in. Then I was driving down the road when I heard a..POP!...BOING!...TINGINGLING.. I felt the car slump and knew what had happen probably because I was thinking about the axle nut/hub it when it did. Got it off the road OK, but I wasn't happy:mad:. I'm realizing now the axle nut wasn't the problem because when it flew off, it sheared some of the axle nut threads too. Lesson learned I geuss:grin: I'm thinking the popping/grinding noise is coming from bearings, but I haven't ruled anything out, like a worn hub. Can over tightening the axle nut cause noise? I've never really heard anything like this before, am I on the right track with bearings? Anything I should look for when I tear it apart? I've heard bearings go out before, but I've learn in the past few months how different soobs are too. Little help would be awesome right now - Thanks

I think I'd start back probing around to see where you do have power. I'd start by testing what voltage I have at the fusible links and keep moving downstream from there. I've had fusible links go bad without any visual indicator too. Widespread intermittent powerloss symptoms are usually an obvious fix...usually. Good luck

Have you checked your battery connections? it doesn't take much corrosion to make life hell.

Yes, make sure all your tie rods ends and ball joints are tight before having it aligned. Any decent shop willn't even try to align a car with a loose ball joint, but you probably don't even need an alignment, just new ball joints. The pictures you posted don't really show anything abnormal, but you can't usually tell where your alignments at by looking at it unless its REALLY bad. Also, if your inspecting your alignment, you need to so it when its on the ground.

The only fuel injection I recommend to anybody is Megasquirt. Its cheap, repairable, adaptable, %100 customizable, and can be used on one car, reprogrammed(at home) and put on another car. I've seen them on daily drivers to nitrous injected drag cars...not one bad thing to say:grin:

I'm not familiar with the hitachi carbs, because I did the Holley 5200 swap when I got my GL wagon, but the hitachi's have an idle solenoid IIRC. I'd check that and the choke system. Check for for vacuum leaks and deteriorated vacuum lines that are leaking or unplugged too. Sounds like a sweet find, but if its been sitting for 25 years, its gonna need a little love.

Right on! I'm new here, but not to forums. If we all take the time to share our tips and techniques, we'll all have better rigs. My attitude is TEAM SUBARU! Very true. The reason my fuel injection system on my Jeep runs better with ethanol free, is because the ECU is programed with set values to base the input from the sensors. Those baseline numbers for the sensors are for real gas, not E10. Most cars 2000 yr.+ systems adapt on the fly, but can have "learning curves"...basicly when you change something in the system, it detects it, and learns the best way to drive with the new values/input. During their learning time, they might run rough/idle up and down a little etc., but have it figured out in 45mins max.

Does it have a raise diamond around the top of the carb at the choke? Based on the description of the fuel bowl, your not running a Weber, but a Holley/Autolite 5200. I'd start by changing the fuel filter, checking pressure regulator(if you have one) and fuel pressure, then I'd start increasing fuel pressure. The stock Ford/Holley 5200 I'm running has an operating range of 3-9psi. They also aren't made to the same tolerance as Webers and can have "personality":grin:..... My Holley 5200 was jetted for a ford '74 2.0L/2.3L, and when I put it on my EA82 1.8L, it didn't want idle jets. Checked for vacuum leaks and found none, so I'm not running any idle jets(just the jet holder) on my primary idle circuit. Runs great now, awesome MPG's! What kind of surge are we talking about? It sounds like its leaning out going off your description of what the fuel is doing , but is it richening up? It sounds like you don't have a loss of power either if you can break your tires loose going through a tight turn, so what exactly is the problem/whats it doing when it "surges"?

Check the list, it says theres a 76 right in Bellingham that pumps ethanol free gas. I don't know the rules/laws/regulations regarding what has to, or doesn't have to, be posted telling consumers whats in gasoline, but my understanding is that IF there is ethanol in it, a sign has to be on the pump letting people know. The cashier may know too.