NVBigBlue

Sorry, my mistake..... I should have said if the temp and the dew point are within a couple of degress apart. The drop in air temp through the carb condenses the water back out of the air, and walla.....you can get ice. And you'd be surprised how much air temp can drop through a venturi... you can read a pretty good article about it here: http://www.sacskyranch.com/crbice.htm NV

Most pilots can tell you, that if the air temp and the humidity are within 2 points of each other, you can get carb ice....... and you are spot on about what happens when you get it.... go...slow...stop.....melt....go....slow....stop....melt...

Hey guys, Not to rain on anyones parade, but I thought I read somewhere in a rulebook, that all exhaust must exit the rear of the vehicle. This may have been for WRC and not Rally Cross though, and I maybe totally mistaken. But it would really suck to go through all the work of building a great exhaust system and then find out you can't run the car in an event. Just my $.02 NV

Not a big deal really.....but, since the disty came out, (and the crank probably isn't @ TDC for #1) you're going to have to set #1 to TDC. The way I do it is: (this works for all engines BTW...) The first part of step 1 can be skipped sometimes.... 1. Pull all the spark plugs (makes it easier to turn over engine by hand) If not all, at least #1 spark plug. 2. Put finger over #1 spark plug hole 3. Turn engine over by hand using a socket on the crank pulley bolt, until you just start getting air pushing out the #1 plug hole. Make sure you're turning the engine the correct way, e.g., the way it turns when it's running. When you get air pushing out the hole, the piston is on the compression stroke...stop turning the engine. 4. Remove timing cover plug (if it's still there....) and as you slowly turn the engine, look for the timing marks on the flywheel to come around. When they come up, set 0 (zero) at the timing mark. Now the #1 piston is @ TDC. 5. Put disty cap on disty. 6. Pick a terminal to make as #1 (I can't remember what mine is, but it doesn't really matter.....) 7. Use a pencil or marker to make a mark on the distributor housing, right below the terminal you choose to make number one. 8. Remove disty cap. 9. Line up rotor pointing to the mark you just made on the housing. 10. Insert disty into block. You might have play with this a little to get everything set. The goal is to get the disty in the block with the clamp bolt about in the middle of the adjustment slot, while still having the rotor point to the mark you just made. You may have to pull the disty up slightly turn the rotor one gear tooth left or right and then put it back in to get it right. Make sure you install the clamp bolt to keep it from jumping out while timing the engine. 11. Once the disty is back in, put the cap on, and install the wires starting with #1, and following the firing order install the rest. Install spark plugs. 12. Engine should start no problem. 13. Time the engine to specs, or your personal favorite settings. 14. Tighten clamp bolt. Good luck, NV If I missed anything, I'm sure someone will gently point it out to me....

FJ, I have an '86 carbed, that I just replaced the pre heat hose on. I have noticed a slight loss of power in the mornings when it's sucking warm air off the manifold, but it does run smoother when it's warming up and at lower speeds on the hiways in the mornings. Do I really need it? I'm not sure....probably not, I've only ever had a carb ice problem one time many years ago in a suby wagon I had (with the same engine and carb that's in my hatch now!), but it was ubber cold (-17 as the daytime high for over a week), and I was out blasting through snow and such. In fact, most of the carbed cars I've owned were usually missing the pre heat hose, and I never replaced them, and they drove just fine. I would say if your happy with the car now, and it would kind of be a pain to fab something up, don't bother. Besides, it cost me $16 for the stupid hose at autozone! NV

$75! Hehehehe......I only paid $50 for my hatch. But of course that doesn't count the several hundred $$$ I've dumped into to get it drivable. So I guess you still win... j/k Welcome to the club!

Well I'm battin' .500 '81 Wagon, no go, but good for parts.... '86 Hatch.....finally getting to put some miles on it! (and getting 26.8mpg with a carb I might add...:cool: ...engine used to get about 21 when it was in the wagon...is a jdm)

Excellent stuff Jibs!

DF, I guess you could drive like that, I wouldn't recommend it. My suggestion would be to pull the shafts and throw on a new boot kit, see: http://www.partsamerica.com/ProductDetail.aspx?mfrcode=MCQ&mfrpartnumber=662301&parttype=942&ptset=A Thats for an 86, so get the right part, but at less than $10 per side, not a bad deal. Not as good as replacing the whole shaft, but at least it gets new grease in the joint, and will keep the crud out. Replacing the boots is pretty easy. I've done it a couple of times to keep a car on the road until I could replace the shaft with a new one.... As for the tranny, you probably don't have to drain it, but doing so might keep you from having gear oil leak out the tailshaft. You'll have to slide it back enough to get to the back of the engine, so I usually just pull it all the way out. I haven't done it in a while, so I can't remember what all has to come off first. I normally pull the engine (seems to be much faster for me....). Good luck. NV

Unless I'm mistaken....coolant flow should be: Pump gets water from lower radiator hose and the heater core return line, through the block to the water outlet and out to the heater core. There is also flow through the by-pass hose from the block to outlet and to the base of the carb. If you look at the hoses coming off the firewall from the heater core, one will attach to a pipe that runs over the block and is connected to the top of the water pump, this is the heater outlet. On this pipe is a small nipple that supplies water to the base of the carb. The other hose connects to a pipe that runs parallel to the manifold, this is your heater inlet hose. The by-pass runs from a nipple located near the center of the block, under the manifold and behind the disty. It runs to a nipple on the water outlet (where the thermostat is located). I'd suspect that either....... one of these little hoses has decided to leak.... or that the pipe has corroded through and is leaking. The by-pass hose is fairly easy to replace.....however, the other one (going to the base of the carb) isn't so easy because of where the nipple sits under the manifold. If the pipe itself is leaking, it would probably be easier to pull the manifold than to try and wiggle it out. One other thought.....when you replaced the water pump, you may have damaged the hose that runs from the pipe to the the top of the pump when you disconnected it..... In the last month, I've had the by-pass fail....twice. I replaced my pipe with one that was less corroded when I had the manifold off. I also had to replace the water pump a couple weeks ago...... $39 autozone, lifetime replacement. Good luck...

Any chance you might have a build up of ice somewhere? Guess I could have clarified.... Any chance that you might have gotten what inside the gearbox? I had that happen on an old chevy 4x4 one time out hunting. Made a river crossing no problem, but the breather hose was cracked and it let water into the trans. Froze during the night. Finally let loose when it started warming up during the day.

Here's Nevada's rules: Here's all of the stuff: http://www.leg.state.nv.us/NRS/NRS-484.html But here's the part talking about height: http://www.leg.state.nv.us/NRS/NRS-484.html#NRS484Sec7385 Based on max height vs GVW You can also find the limits on lights, mudflaps, tires, chains, etc..... But I don't think they really enforce it unless it's a safety issue.

Thanks for the input guys. Yes, it is (basically) stock. All the tires are the same. Same air pressure, etc. Sounds like it's just a quirk of the car. No biggee.

Hello all, Well, I finally got to put some miles on the hatchback I've been working on for the last month or two. And I noticed something that may or may not be a problem. After driving down the highway about 10 miles, I pulled onto a gravel road and put it 4wd (hi and lo) and kind of got on it a little bit to see if it did anything unexpected (that is, pulled left or right, etc). Everything works great, except the rear end of this car is real easy to get sliding. I mean, I had a couple of really nice power slides through the gentle S turns on this newly graveled road, and I was only running about 15 to 20 mph. But it only takes a quick turn on the wheel to get the rear end to want to come around. Now is this normal for these cars? I'm thinking it might be due to the short wheelbase and light rear-end, but I know this car was in an accident at some point and may have been up-side down as well..... But going down the road it doesn't feel twitchy or want to wander. And under hard or soft braking, it doesn't pull. And nothing looks bent or out of alignment in the rear. So is this normal or should I be looking to fix something? If it is normal, I can't wait to get it out on some nice dirt roads or go play in the snow! Thanks, NV

OMG, I'm glad I'm not the only person to think that.....I can totally see it now.... What a great mental picure!

Hello all, Just thought I'd let you guys know what I think was the problem with my '86 hatch.... Problem #1: Acting like a vapour lock and starving for fuel. Actions: Replaced all rubber hoses, filters, blew out lines, replaced pump with after market unit,etc. FIX? Well it turns out the fuel return line was blocked at the tank. This was causing the pressure in the supply line to reach a point where the fuel pump couldn't pump anymore fuel. I tried blowing it out, running a wire down it to clean it, but no go.... I rerouted the fuel return line to one of the vapour return nipples (hehehe....I said ... nipples on the tank. Not exactly the fix I wanted but at least fuel is returning to the tank. I also ended up installing a new fuel pump, so even if it wasn't the pump, at least I have a new one ($39.99 @ Kragen). I by-passed the vapour seperator as well (wasn't being used) Problem #2: No heater blower. Actions: Check switch, power, fuses, etc. Fix: Pulled blower and hotwired it to battery, no prob, runs great. Reinstalled blower, started chasing wires and looking at wiring schematics....my Chilton's doesn't have the diagram for my car, but the ones it does have gave me a place to start... Turns out that it looks like the car is missing a relay. Found the plug the relay is supposed to plug into, cut, strip, tap into back of fuse block (fused side of course) and wah lah.....the heater works on all settings!.... sort of... I get hot air, but not as hot as I think it should be... I suspect the core is either plugged, or that I'm not getting a good flow of water through it. Still working on this, but at least I could defrost the windshield if I had to... Jibs, you might want to consider problem #1....almost the exact same symptoms your brat had at the moon rocks eh? At any rate, I put about 150 miles on the car this weekend, so I'm going to be driving it to work this week. If it runs ok, I guess the hatch becomes mine and not my sons.... oh well.. his loss! Hope everyone had a good holiday. NV

No, no my gallery link. I'm gonna try a few things on my computer.... maybe a hung cookie or somethign...

Ah, I think I know what you mean now..... My Chilton's mentions using "Remover tool 921122000 or 922493000 or equivalents to seperate the halfshaft from the spindle housing." Basically they look like a special tool that bolts to the rotor and presses the shaft out of the housing. The installer tool (927210000) does the reverse.. pulling the shaft back into the housing. I think that equivalents means some sort of dead blow hammer.... because that what I see most poeple use...(and me). hehehe I had a couple of axles come out rather hard, but nothing a little heat on the housing and a dead blow couldn't pop out. NV

You guys sure he isn't talking about the cv-boot band clamp pliers? I have 2 of them that I got from NAPA. NV

Ya, I catch $h!t everywhere I wear that shirt usually.... It's from one of the rib cook-off events in Reno..... GREAT EATS! If you ever get a chance to go, I highly recommend it... But now we're making progress.... I don't actually get an upload button... actually, I don't even get a profile button either.... I suspect that might be the problem...... and to think.... I just donated the other day... I'll shoot an email to the admins and see if they can help.

OK smartguy.... I know how to get there..... but I can't find a button for like "upload" etc. Arrrggghhhhh....

I have another pic showing the smoke from the clutch leaking out of the hood..... hehe.. And excatly how do I upload to the gallery? As a computer guy by trade, you'd think I'd be able to figure it out, but ......

Hey guys, Here's a couple of pictures we took up there. Is there any way to exceed the 50k file size limit I keep running into? NV

Wesley, Just a guess, but I'll bet it's dying when you make right turns, yes? Check the float level. No baffles in the bowl, right turn forces gas to left side of bowl, intakes for the jets on right side of bowl.....jets starve for fuel. I played with the float level for about a week before I got it to stop. Sorry about the hijack. As for Markjs's problem.... Is it starving for fuel or flooding? More info please.... NV

I've heard car "noises" described a lot of different ways, but I don't think I've ever heard that one before! Good luck fixing it! NV