Ross

If nothing is wrong with the breaks, the wheel bearings could be at fault. Play can only be felt if the bearings are very worn, you could still have a shattered ball in there. I have had this prob before, not sure what caused it, but it was making very disturbing cracking sounds. If you do find that the bearings are at fault, check the dimensions of the knuckle and spacer against a known good one. The bearing may be locking up sometimes, wearing the spacers. I ended up having to shim the outer race spacer after this happened.

Seriously, just weld it. Any decent engineering workshop should have a TIG welder. It will only take them a couple of minutes and the transmisison case will be as good as new. Go somewhere that specialises in aluminium welding, they will already have the correct electrodes and filler wire. Its really not a big deal to do, i'd do it for you myself if i lived a little closer! In my opinion, even if you do have to pay someone to do it, its better to spend this money and have a reliable fix than to do it cheap and have to worry about it.

An old post on converting ea81ts to manual say that the driveshaft must be replaced. I have done this, but they appear identical and the driveshaft from the auto is in much better condition. I would therefore like to swap the two. Am I missing some subtle, yet important, difference? The same post also said the speedo cable must be replaced, but I am using the auto cable without problem.

Just a comment for those that are interested: To stop an existing crack from propogating further, just drill a small hole at either end of it. This drastically increases the energy needed to propogate the crack.

Those mechanics must have some serious head problems!! (Or be lawnmower mechanics!)

Fusible link hangs around the positive batt. terminal (on NZ models anyway). Another thing to check is the grounding of the engine & coil. This may sound weird, but do your winscreen wipers turn on by themselves when the car dies? This sounds very like a prob i had with my '81, and it was caused by the wiper relay shorting out or something...... Or is there any other odd behavior of the accessories?

When ordering parts from my dealer, they are usually ex-Japan, and take up to THREE MONTHS to arrive!!! Count yourselves lucky!!

Why should you need to do this? If the engine isn't up to temp, no water should be flowing through the radiator anyway, as the t'stat should be closed.

Is the entire system staying this cold? if so, it must be a t'stat prob???? Can't think of any other explanation, unless your engine has decided to disobey carnot's principle!

yeah, i was just checking that you wern't using the same solenoid on all three starters. Check that the engine/gearbox assy. is properly earthed (with a large gauge wire).

How far down the cylinder is it scratched? If it is right down the bottom, it isn't A big prob. If the bore is within manufacturers tolerance, it should be ok, but it really depends how fussy you are. It will certainly mean that the engine will not last as long before another recondition (and re-bore) is needed, but this may not be a prob, as it should still last well enough if it is serviced reguarly. The wear may cause the rings not to seat as well as they could, resulting mainly in slight oil consumption. If the bore is within manufacturers tolerances, the loss in compression should be negligable.

Are you replacing the solenoid with the starter? If not, the contact in the solenoid is most likely at fault.

What gearbox do you have?

Is there any resistance when you pull up the handle? When you pull the handle, does the Splitter bar (where one cable turns into two, under the center console) rotate about the center pin? Both of these symptoms would indicate a broken cable/cable mount.

Just a few suggestions/comments: The fact that there is no water in the oil does not necissarily mean that the problem is not the head gasket/cracked head. A common problem (at least on ea82t) is for the head to crack between the water jacket and the exhaust port, so that most or all of the water goes out the exhaust. A little water coming out of the exhaust as you describe is normal, as water is a product of the combustion. Its only if there is a considerable amount that you should be worried. Blue somke = oil. Valve seals? Does it blow smoke when driving? if so, may also be piston rings. hope this helps.

Thanks, thats good to hear.

There are also others............ i have some factory subaru 13" "cheviot turbo" imitations, that came on my '81 gl wagon. Also, i have some aftermarket 14" "hotwire" imitations, with removable rims (real not fake).

It is quite common for petrol to dissolve into your engine oil. It is simply because your rings/valve seals do not make a perfect seal, and is generally nothing to worry about. You will probably notice after a long run that the oil level has dropped more than usual. This is due to the petrol evaporating out of the oil. Check things like spark plugs, ignition leads and coil regarding the misfireing under acceleration.

You just need more practice!

who needs synchros? just double clutch properly

As the title says, i have recently noticed small drops of water at the top of the oil filler tube. There does not seem to be any water or milky oil on the dipstick though, and the coolant water does not bubble with the engine on (like i would have expected it to do if it were a head gasket prob). Does anyone have any ideas as to what might be causing this? Could it just be condensation?

A friend of mine had a ea82t that had cracked a head/gasket and had been left sitting for a while. When the heads were removed to replace the head gaskets, the bore in one cylinder was found to be severly pitted. This was due to water sitting in the cylinder the whole time that it had been out of use. You may find you have this problem too (if, in fact, it is a blown head gasket/cracked head, on this i'm not sure), in which case, the block will have to be replaced.

I'm not familiar with the loyales, but i'd say someone stripped the threads on both sides. Seems odd that it would be one on each side, but i cant think why there would be one larger bolt from the factory.

Yeah, the ea81t has many probs with the manual transmission swap. We did a conversion on an ea82t in 1 day, this has taken me a week so far........

The downpipe has it's mount still. the Gearbox has a large bolt around 30 mm from where the mount bolts to the auto, but i am reluctant to remove it before finding out what it is. The ea81 gearboxes do not have a mount intended for a turbo downpipe.