funk

She green! She rusty! She cost less than a pair of Nikes! 191k, three pedal, 'lil ugly but mechanically & dynamically sound .. just bought, pics soon

You just made my day. Kia Sportage hubs were the plan, but this is just elegant.

You do not want larger tires on the back. Overdriven back tires will try to walk around on slick road, very unstable. Put the new ones on the front & keep the back tires slightly overinflated, remember that the back tires carry less weight and have a greater circumference at the same PSI than tires on the front which bear more load. Just a few extra PSI should make up the difference ~ this way you won't have to subject your new tires to uneven wear from underinflation or sacrifice their longevity by trimming down tread. On a level surface, carefully measure and adjust PSI accordingly.

skishop69 ~ Locking hubs would still allow FWD, and I doubt durability would be an issue given the relatively minor loads. You make some good points regarding the complexity of a conversion like this, but I am reasonably confident the factory knuckles can be persuaded to accept a locking hub, which would eliminate said copious amounts of suspension recombobulating. I will investigate. The track width issue is a concern, however I think the overall discrepancy would be more like 2-3" total, which I concede, would still need to be compensated. Rear wheel spacers, trickily backspaced front wheels, some combination thereof, plus realignment should set things straight. Maybe. I can deal with a little bumpsteer. To address the FWD/RWD question, heheh, what can I say? I am a dyed in the wool E30 guy. Out of the 40-odd cars I've owned, 2 of them were front drives. I have an '86 Brat somewhere that has been RWD for the last few thousand miles, no issues and I love being able to peel rubber in third with 80bhp. I'll have to go dig that thing out one day. mikaleda ~ As you know, there are many IFS applications which have selectable hubs. There are many oldschool applications where the hubs made the difference between 2 and 4WD in otherwise fulltime systems by simply allowing the axles to freewheel with the hubs unlocked. It's not a matter of what's already been done, if I find a relatively straightforward way to do this, and it works well, it could set a precedent. I know the CV shafts will need longer splines, so if the application calls for a different shaft diameter or spline count, I'm already halfway there. I can reshape and enlarge the bearing cradles. Getting the selectable to mate up with the factory equipment will require a fair bit of adaptation, but I know swapping out the whole undercarriage can be avoided. I am not opposed, however, to the idea of employing a pirated 'Yota hub. More on this, please. If this proves sound, I may have to mass produce 'Any-Wheel-You-Want-Drive' conversion kits. Call this a prototype. Heh. But in all seriousness... Thanks guys for your input.

Because RWD. Creative engineering, odd brand sourcing, machining... I have the resources to make this happen. All the knowledge and experience represented on this board ~ please help me piece this puzzle together. Breaking stuff doesn't bother me. If the diff explodes, I will upgrade. For the moment though, I'd like to sacrifice as little originality as possible. Expect lots of pictures and detailed documentation... '88 DL 5 speed

Manual locking hubs up front. '88 5 speed guinea pig DL. Yes, I am aware that I am unstable. But we all know this is a great idea. Help me out here

if I knew how to make work in my photo editor... ...but I'm lazier than usual today

Sinister is bueno for me, but that's because I'm a pirata ~ something as small as a single pinstripe around the perimeter of the spokes ~

that yota unit sat in my shed for years, I had no idea I'd actually use it for anything one day ~ I had taken it out of a truck I had years ago to see why the heater wasn't working ~ mice had built a nest right in the fan! because it was summer, I never bothered to put the motor back, and ended up crashing that truck within a few weeks of removing the blower ~ the mice actually did me a big favor by giving me a reason to put the motor aside even though I had cursed them at the time... probably every japanese of this era car has one of these: EDIT: this image is much larger than it appears here, download for full resolution

It looks worse than it is. Road salt is awful stuff, but rinsing your car thoroughly at least twice a week will prevent new rust from taking hold and slow the existing rust. There are very few old cars in Vermont because people do not give their cars proper care, especially now that most choose to lease instead of buy. That said, I just got this car. Rust will be gone before too long.

In other words, the silver wheels are aburrido, but all black ones would be amanezador, siniestro, pavoroso. A yellow accent would be a nice, sutil touch, soften the effect and not frighten the papooses. I am given to hipérbole.

I've had this bone stock base model dl for about a month and a half ~ 5 speed, efi, power steering, am/fm ~ this thing didn't come with a tach, roof rack or a passenger side mirror ~ it does have great tires, a block heater and a set of chains ~ the lights, stereo heater and wipers work and it goes anywhere I point it ~ if I baby it, it can clear 37mpg ~ it's sure footed, rides great, handles great, pretty good for having 220 thousand+ miles... ok, it's not perfect ~ the fellow I bought it from is decidedly not a car guy, and it needed a lot of things that had nothing to do with the fact that it sat for four years before I got to it ~ it runs hot, which I suspect is caused by an excess of stop leak in the radiator ~ it's also cold blooded, on very cold days the first couple minutes of driving requires a sympathetic foot ~ starting in ambient temps below 10 or 12 degrees makes me thankful that I am a patient soul ~ then there's the rust ~ Vermont pours salt on the roads like it's going out of style, but lucky me, this thing is from Alaska where they only use sand, the result being that this is the only Leone I've seen on the road in years ~ the belly and chassis are all there, the rust is mostly superficial... I said 'mostly' ~ if I knew it wouldn't get worse, I'd just say it's charming and leave it as is I have lots of ideas about what I'd like to do with this car, don't we all ~ peugeot alloy 14"s and a bumper delete are on the menu, and down the road I'm thinking I'd like to source a glass roof from one of those stretch minis ~ for the time being, it needs a new windshield and I gotta take some construction adhesive and glue the door seals back on where they pulled away from their clips ~ needs a little exhaust work, I'll probably get one of those $15 galvanized mufflers from tractor supply, and burn a few more incense to get rid of the last little bit of mousy smell ~ maybe cut up one of those deep-pile persian rugs they sell at big lots...

close enough. the people have spoken, daytons & white walls it is. suppose I should redeem myself here... how about a direct comparison? this car is basically two tone. my reaction is that the silver wheels are pedestrian and compromise an otherwise strong statement. on any other car, they would work but here they come off as mundane. black wheels would complement the overall theme ~ the black windows, stripe and trim provide balance and make the yellow work, and the black wheels translate. a single yellow pinstripe around the outer edge, though, please. think of the children.

bought and drove home, blasted out dirt collection, fluids, greased, fixed windshield wipers, tightened loose coil leads, replaced missing headlight mounting screws, dialed back timing to stop pinging, replaced non functioning blower with one out of an 86 yota pickup ~ direct fit ~, replaced autolite spark plugs with basic copper ngks for $10 even though autozone tried to sell me some fancy autolite junk for like $7 apiece

there is clearly only one solution to this all in favor say 'aye'