exister99

Thanks for the bump, guys. As a postscript to this story, a few weeks after this trip my transmission started making horrible noises. When I drained the gear oil out came a severed tooth from one of the gears. I am installing a Brat transmission now. Then it will be time to party once again.

Yet you still recommend changing the rear main seal while the flywheel is off? In any case, there is visible oil at the end of the crankshaft where this O-ring goes.

Thanks a bunch for the part number! I think the Brats kept the same drive train that I have until the end of their production run, so it is probably the same part for my 1984 GL Wagon. It looks like a part I could get away without, but it has a black oily residue on one side, so I am willing to bet that its absence is the cause of many of those "unfixable" oil leaks. I will try to get ahold of one, or a couple, and install it for good measure. Thanks everyone for weighing in.

Thanks, I'll give it a shot!

I took the flywheel off of my 1984 GL Wagon last night and on the back of the flywheel there was an orange rubber ring. This ring is in pretty sad shape and I would like to install a new one. Has anyone found this item new anywhere? If so, can you pass on the source and part number? Does anyone have the dealer part number? Thanks!

You should be punished for this. That is all.

Yeah, I have been considering that. The exhaust was banged up, but still airtight. The noise turned out to be from losing one of the nuts that holds the y-pipe on to the exhaust manifold. That caused some leakage past the gasket. The worst damage to the underside was the smashed sway bar bushing on the driver's side. Fortunately the bracket that holds the bushing in place was crushed but still functional, preventing a suspension catastrophe.

Thanks! It was 100 miles in and 100 miles back out. I had hoped to connect to another road and make it a loop, but rain and long deep water crossings dictated otherwise. I didn't want to have to break out the fence puller and execute a self rescue. I will try accessing that area again by another route.

Thanks for all the props and comments, folks! It was a hell of a trip, but not my last for sure. Currently the Soob is suffering from some rather severe transmission knocking noises. I bought the car at around 150,000 miles and I think it still had the original gear oil in it. Now it is pushing 190,000 miles and the tranny is suffering. In any case, I got a replacement tranny out of a Brat shipped to me from Tennessee and I am currently in the process of swapping it out. As soon as I do there will be much more joyful adventuring in Mexico, and I will make it into the Maderas del Carmen Mountains. Stay tuned...

Thanks Brian, I'll try that.

Thanks GD, By admitting that this thread is ancient you are also pointing out that whatever it says cannot be "latest and greatest." Consequently your laboriously typed reply is both uninformative and pointless. Thanks anyway for trying!

So what is the latest and greatest source for new EA81 half-shafts?

There seems to be some difference of opinion on this board regarding what exactly to apply to the threads of the exhaust studs prior to installation. One poster said anti-seize and another locktite. After a recent offroading trip my exhaust got a lot louder. Upon inspection I discovered that I had lost one of the studs entirely and the other 3 were loose. This would lead me to believe it would be best to apply locktite to these high vibration fasteners to keep from losing my Y-pipe entirely. Any thoughts? Also, I plan on ordering a new stud from McMaster.com. Does anyone know of another source?

Or, for just a few bucks you can pic up a flush kit that splices into your heater hose. You tap a garden hose into it and run the engine until clear water is gushing out of the top of the radiator. Works great and beats the heck out of stressing the threads in the cylinder head every time you want to flush your cooling system.

I haven't yet seen an EA81 oil pump for less than $100. Do you have a URL where I can find one for $65? Thanks, exister99

Could you elaborate on this position? My '84 GL is running strong at 187K miles on the the original oil pump. Are you saying that EA81 oil pumps fail catastrophically sometime after 100K miles or does their performance degrade resulting in increased wear on the engine? Also, do you mean that one should replace the whole pump ($$) or just rebuild it somehow?

Basic physics. The length and diameter of the exhaust pipes dictates how much energy is required to push exhaust fumes out of the cylinders. It isn't much energy, but it is a measurable amount. This resistance is factored into the design of the engine and exhaust system. Dicking around indiscriminately with this design just for noise and kicks is not only annoying, but pretty silly from a performance and egineering standpoint. Have fun...

Here is the abbreviated version of the first post in this thread. "Waaaa, I bought an old Soob and stuff needs fixin' on it! Waaa! sniffle sniffle"

Thanks for all the comments, guys! Sorry about the occasional outages on the web page. It is hosted by the company I work for and the space still has all of these silly traffic quotas. I check it every so often and fix it, so if you can't see the page try back the next day. The first month I owned my Soob I took it out on a nasty 4x4 track in Idaho. This was before I had replaced the useless factory shocks or clicky CV joints. After a water crossing and bottoming out the chest plate many times I made it out and back home. I figured if the car could make it in that condition then it was a keeper. Obviously I've spruced it up quite a bit since then. The beauty of these old cars is that they are field strippable, like an M-16. Once you know how to swap out a carb and disty, and hot wire the fuel pump then you will pretty much always be able to get her running. Then just make sure your drive line is in good shape and you'll be good to go. Before this trip the bearing grease had well over 30K miles and many mud and water crossings on it, so it was kind of marginal. On the way back I started to get a squeek, and by now it has become a full on bearing growl. While off roading in Mexico I also smashed one of the clamps that hold down the torsion bar, so overall it looks like time for some front end TLC on the Soob. Two spare tires and two jerry cans of gas gave me much comfort indeed. As for the spare parts kit I just got a big plastic tool box and filled it with things in descending priority until it was full. Carb and disty are obvious things that you have to have and are hard to jimmy rig, so there was a working one of each of those. I also packed one pair of front wheel bearings with their seals, an alternator, a fuel pump, an exhaust patch kit, a tire patch kit, several dozen feet of electrical cord and of course a big ol' spool of bailing wire. I figured if I kept going I would eventually just have a rebuilt engine in the back and that would get kinda silly. Anyway, it was worth it all for the thrill of thrashing around in a mud pit 100 miles from civilization.

Your symptoms may also be caused by too much fuel being dumped into the intake. Take a look in down the throttle when idling. If you see what looks like a small waterfall then your carb is dumping liquid fuel down the intake and the engine will consequently run like crap. Whatever the cause it sounds like you need a carb rebuild. If one of the internals is rotted out then chances are other things inside are falling apart as well. Rebuild kit at Napa: $40 Time for rebuild: one tedious afternoon getting to know the guts of your Soob carburetor: priceless

Suit yourself. I'm not sure how much money you hope to save by getting a part that is likely only a couple of thousand miles away from being as broken as the one you are replacing. When you throw in free shipping I doubt the EGR valve from partsamerica will cost much more than a used one. Good luck.

http://www.partsamerica.com

That's right, no Soobs in Mexico so parts would be tricky. Many of the parts were also used on other Japanese cars though, so you might be able to find some. To be safe my spare parts kit included a carb, distributor, fuel pump, alternator, front wheel bearing kit, bunch of tubing, several dozen feet of electrial wire, exhaust patch kit and of course loads of bailing wire. Someday when I have more time I may decide to take the Soob to Central America and parts beyond. Wouldn't a picture of a Soob in Tierra del Fuego rock?

Thanks! Yes it was me. This was a test of Soob reliability. Like I mention in the write up 100 miles out in the Mexican desert is no place to get stuck. Based on the years I have been working on my Soob I put together an "everything but the kitchen sink" parts kit that I carried in a plastic box. Thankfully I didn't need it, the Soob performed flawlessly. Next time I might bring 3 spares and 3 jerry cans of gas though.

For a full trip report and pictures of the Soob in action go here: http://andrews.home.texas.net/Cuatrocienegas.html Enjoy!