subynut

Thanks! The camera is a GoPro with the suction cup attachment. Keeps it pretty sturdy! I'll try and see if I can find a place to put the camera inside that will stay put. Not too may sturdy places to mount the camera inside, you know?

Huh, looks like I had already started rendering one of the videos from that day. Just never finished it! So, here's one for ya: Wasn't my fastest run, but it was clean.

Not yet. But I'm getting there!

PandaWagon looking pretty: These are not my pics, but a couple from the last RallyX I was at:

Cool paint scheme, LoyaleSmith! I love it! I wonder what that would look like in desert colors. Hmmmmm...... I'm curious, are those wheels 13" or 14"?

Nice pics, jj421!

How has that changed the response of the chassis, Carl B.?

Certainly is possible. On the PandaWagon, it was the u-joint at the transmission end. One of the axis of u-joint was almost completely seized! When I put her up on jack stands and let her run (4th at idle was about 15 mph with the turbo FT4WD tranny), the center part was shaking quite violently. I thought it was that u-joint, but it turned out to be the one at the tranny end.

Found a good used drive shaft to replace the bad one in the PandaWagon. No more floor board rattling shake at 15mph!

That Brat looks great with those 15" Pugs!

Replaced a flaky injector in Wedge. It was driving me mad: When cold, it was fine. Once it was halfway warmed up, I'd loose a cylinder. But if I continue to drive it, it would clear up after fully warmed up for 10 miles or so. So weird. But, it's solved now.

When I had a Weber on my old EA82, it would diesel some after it was fully warmed up or shutting down after running on the interstate for a while. Most of the time it was during the summer months where the air temps were consistently above 80*. I ran close to 20* in timing in mine, too. Mileage was 25-27 when I kept my foot out of it. If I was running WOT all the time, it would drop easily into the low 20s.

^ X2!!

Those will look awesome on a Brat, epix!

Found it! Front U-joint is seized. And here I thought it was the middle one since that was where all the vibration was coming from! Now, to find a new one. So far, the dealer is useless. Vin number doesn't match anything, therefore, they can't help me. So, I'm gonna see if somebody can overhaul it. Meanwhile, I may have to make a trip to Tucson and find a used one to get me by. This last one lasted about 30K with RallyXs, AutoXs, road trips, daily driving duties, and a number of top speed runs.

Discovered the shake-o-rama in the PandaWagon's driveline. Seized front U-joint in the drive shaft. Currently searching for a replacement. If push comes to shove, I may just have to pick up another used one till I can get the old one overhauled.

I put her on jack stands, and let her run at idle in 3rd gear. I actually had to lock the center diff in order to get the rear wheels to spin consistently - open center diff FTL I also noted that the right front tire always spins while the left front hardly ever spins. Both sides spin freely by hand with no problem. Could just be the open diff in there. Or.....dragging brake? The rear of the trans is bouncing around quite a bit. Bad trans mounts? They don't look torn, I'll lift the trans off the crossmember with a jack to really tell. I also discovered where I had ran the parking brake cables for the rear ebrake, they are rubbing on the drive shaft. I also found the metallic sound I heard was coming from the drive shaft rubbing on the glass pack - There's a little notch in there where it's slowly rubbing through the glass pack. :/ Gonna have to have that fixed. Next question: Is that the shake I'm feeling? When I had the back half of the driveshaft out to relocate the cables, I checked the u-joints - felt alright, no tightness or sloppiness in them. Hmmm.... More to check tonight.

You know.....come to think of it, I thought I heard a whistle coming from somewhere around the car when I had it up at highway speeds Sunday. Maybe it wasn't a whistle, but a squeal? I better check that drive shaft! A U-Joint can do that! It did on my F350 and they didn't have any play in them either. I have some wrenching to do! I'll report back later. Thanks guys!

I had the rear brakes apart Saturday adjusting the parking brake. They looked good. I have not looked at the fronts yet. However, the vibration is not affected by braking as far as coasting vs braking. Tires are worn, but no signs of funny wear. I rotated them a week or two ago, vibration didn't change. Vibration is not felt in the steering as far as it wanting to swing left or right. But there is the same shake as I feel in the floor, just significantly less pronounced. I had my brother drive the car while I felt around and it is strongest in the rear. If a wheel bearing is going, can it be quiet at highway speeds but shake at very slow speeds? Just another thought. The rear wheel bearings are a number of years old and have seen many races and many a high speed run. Still, I would have thought I would have felt that when I tried to wiggle them when I was working on the brakes back there.

The PandaWagon has developed this low frequency vibration below 15 MPH. It's most noticeable under acceleration, but if you push the clutch in and let it roll, you can still feel it. Kinda a thump thump thump kind of sound in the floorboards. Doesn't matter the gear. Once I'm above 15, it's smooth not one hint of vibration- even over 80. Last time I had it out, I went on about a 200 mile drive. It was fine till about half way through the drive and it showed up again and as I worked my way home, the shake was getting really bad. At one point, the shake was rattling something up front - a dull metallic sound. Again, only below 15 MPH. I've always had a ever slight vibration from the rear on take off for the last 10K miles. Especially when loaded. I figured it was the rear LSD. Well, it's gotten really bad in the last 3 or 4 weeks. All the axles have no bad boots and are quiet. I've felt the drive shaft - no play in the u-joints. I've been searching around looking for similar symptoms. So far, this is what I need to look at: Axles Drive Shaft Rear Diff Transmission? (btw it's a FT4WD 5 speed) Engine/Trans Mounts Rear Diff mounts? Wheel bearings have no play Trans is about a half quart down, could that cause it? I'll be topping that off shortly. I'm planning on changing the fluid in the rear diff, if that makes no difference, then I'll drop the driveshaft and check if there is a seized u-joint. The engine mounts are good, not sure on the trans mounts though. From reading some of the other threads around here, it could be a DOJ. I can try swapping sides to see if that makes any difference. But it's still there when power is not applied, so.....maybe not? anything else I should check? Thanks

Yup, our Subies prefer NGKs over most of the other brands out there.

Rotated the tires on the Pandawagon: Pinch weld was already pushed over in that area, might as well use it to my advantage, right?

That's interesting!

Over the long weekend, I finished putting the PandaWagon's engine back together and installed it in between the monsoon downpours. Drove her to Bisbee and back - no problems. Yesterday, I put about 200 miles on her, no more overheating.

Nice finds of the XT Turbo and the RX!