heartless

ok, yeah - it is possible if you disconnect the rear driveline - but seriously - how many "average" people are going to go to that trouble? Not many...

unless the car is running, the FWD fuse will be useless - for an AWD vehicle it is a must to get all 4 wheels off the ground for towing any distance. it would be ok to tow a very short distance (mile or 2) with all 4 wheels on the ground, but not really recommended. DO NOT tow on a dolly - period.

personally, i have never used a torque wrench or anti-sieze on my plugs, altho the anti-sieze may not be a bad idea - doesnt require a lot, just a thin coating. hand thread the new plug until you hit "bottom" - plug should turn easily, if it doesnt, DO NOT force it!! - then use your wrench to snug up about a 1/2 - 3/4 turn or so - no need to really crank them down - thats where problems occur. a little trick i use to start plugs correctly is to turn the plug backwards (as in removing) with very slight pressure, until i feel it "pop" into the threads - (this also works well for fasteners that are easily stripped - like screws into plastic...) if you run into a problem removing the old plugs - give a small squirt of PB Blaster to the plug hole, hook your wires back up and run the car for a few minutes to warm it up a little - be careful not to burn yourself, but try removing the plug when it is still warm, should be easier. Good luck

another product is "Goof-off" - similar to Goo-b-gone, but works a bit better imho. have used it many times on big trucks, removing old stickers & lettering - no problems with it harming the finish, altho it does leave a slightly oily residue that will need to be washed off.

Who said anything about being "in thier right mind" ? I think it could be done - albeit, not very practical... Motorcycles run on chains with nothing more than a squirt of chain lube periodically... as mentioned - the waterpump sprocket would be the biggest issue...getting the correct size...

first - pop the hood & check your plug wires - make sure all are tight - had a problem with mine running rough once & it was a loose plug wire. Next - get those codes!!! the CEL is there for a reason - you need to know what that reason is before you can begin correcting problems.

go get a grade 8 bolt, nut and some washers (both flat & lock type) of an appropriate size and bolt it in - did the same thing you did on the 89 GL - snapped the stud...seems to me i was able to pop the stud out of the tophat, but it may need to be drilled out. kind of a trick to get it up in there but it can be done - especially if you can get a helper with small hands to feed the bolt up from the underside.

chances are if the bike sat for an extended period without being properly prepared for storage the carb(s) are all gummed up & will need to be torn down, cleaned thoroughly - lots of tiny passages that can get completely blocked, possible kit installed and re-installed on the bike. it is a time consuming process, but not all that difficult. had to pull the carbs on my KZ550 apart twice and it has 4 carbs! (didnt have the kit the first time) Once i got the carbs properly cleaned, rebuild kit installed, and everything put back together the bike runs GREAT! when i got it, it would only "run" on a shot of starting fluid...

+1 on what are you working on - if it is a ford truck (especially an older one) go to: http://www.fordification.com/forum/index.php great bunch over there - similar to here...

if you are having problems printing it as is, you can copy and paste to your word processing program (such as MS Word) and print that way...

as a parts car, sure, it is usable - many parts can be salvaged. as a dependable DD - eh, maybe, maybe not. just because the front end doesnt "look" bent doesnt mean it isnt. the only way to know for sure is to get a lot of measurements - a good body/alignment shop would know what the correct measurments are, and where they should be taken. only other way to know is drive it a while and keep a very close eye on tire wear. I had a 78 Chevy Malibu wagon (also a unibody) once that got T-boned lightly (caved rear door, but still drivable) only visible damage was the door and a slight tweak on the B pillar. both doors still worked! - started wearing out the rear tire on the side that got hit = structual damage... These are unibody cars - the body "framework" is structural - and once bent is very difficult to straighten properly.

I would be very cautious trying to make a "reliable" daily driver from a wrecked car. if the damage is light with no serious structural damage - then maybe, yeah. but if there is serious structural damage i would pass. damage to structural areas can cause all kinds of issues with driveability, inability to properly align the car, uneven tire wear, tracking funny... you say the trunk is having problems closing - did it get hit there, too? if not, i would be very leary of this car - if it was hit in the front, but the trunk is not closing properly, that says to me serious structural problems...buyer beware...

my 90 LS wagon, AWD, 4eat gets around 28-29mpg overall average - a bit less in winter (26 or so) with warm-up time. different color hatch could mean a lot of things - from an actual fender bender to something as simple as the glass getting broken - often cheaper & easier to replace the whole hatch, than to try to replace just the glass...would find out the reason for the hatch change. would also try to talk the price down a bit... 2200-2500 would be reasonable in my mind

yes, the access plates for your sedan are in the trunk, directly behind the rear seat. you may find it easiest to pull the back seat out to get to them rather than leaning in from the back end.

have to agree with everyone else - replace the bags with coilovers - very easy job - did it on my 90 LS wagon. parts you will need are: springs, struts and tophats - the tophats are a must - the airbag tops will NOT work with standard coilover system. those you can get either used (the way i went) or new (depending on the depth of your wallet...) unhook/cut air lines, remove old struts, install new struts - pretty much that easy. oh, and unplug/disable the air compressor system....under the drivers seat i think... ps: this thread should be in the new gen....

it does have an aftermarket radio, but not a high power unit (i installed some yrs ago) slightly higher than the stock unit was, but barely...i forget the numbers but i do know it wasnt much. it also has aftermarket combo fog/driving lights, but she has also been told not to use them unless absolutely necessary (ie: dense fog) because of the measly 60 amp alt... the ground wire that was found to be bad was the very small one that runs from the coil harness to the block - has a plug in it...the plug was corroded thru on one end (fell apart when I tried to unplug it) and it also had a kink in the wire near the block that broke when I tried to straighten it - double whammy! used a heavier wire (14g) from the block to a new plug-in, and new plug-in on the opposite side using the original wire (maybe 16g, but thinking more like 18-20g - very tiny) All other ground points were/are in good condition (i knew about the coil bracket ground point - been there before! ) Thanks to all that replied - and a special thanks to subiemech85 for the links. We do appreciate the help, comments and suggestions. ps: sorry i couldnt respond sooner - got called to work (truck driver) that afternoon in the midst of running the new wires for the windows!

She was very lucky we had an alternator on hand already - no waiting for parts, no trip to the parts store - pull it off the shelf and drop it in. pretty sure the bad ground wire is what killed the alt - who knows, may have been the reason for the last one failing, just didnt catch it that time...oh well...live and learn as for the window, I was fairly certain is was a broken wire(s) between body and door - 20yr old car w/over 255K on the clock - simple (sort of) task of running new power & ground - all is good again.

here is a helpful tool i found - http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalcold.html choose the stock tire/wheel size on the left - then the "new" tire/wheel size on the right, the graphic will show you the difference using lines as the stock size to show you the differences - play around with different sizes until you find one that is closest to the original overall diameter and you have found what you are looking for. it also tells you the difference in speedo the change will make under the graphic - might want to pay attention to this as well... looks like a 205/55 is very close to the stock diameter.... good luck

hmmm - just checked battery with the digital meter - right at 12 volts, yet car will not start - acts like battery is dead (under 10 volt)... comments? suggestions? help??

ah, the dreaded space issues...i have to try to remember that not everyone has a couple of acres for keeping parts cars, etc! honestly, i dont think the 91 will have airbags either - dont think the airbags came until 94? - not sure of that tho... but they are more comfy, a bit larger, and, depending on the model, antilock brakes... i really like my 90 Legacy LS wagon - altho i do still have a soft spot for the old 89 GL...

just my .02 cents - go pick up that 91 legacy for your daily driver, keep & fix Brownie as a backup/second (or third) car

Thank you for the quick response & offer, Connie. We have a "new/rebuilt" alt on hand ready & waiting - guess i am just looking for confirmation that my "gut feeling" is right - lol did look over the grounds & cables yesterday when we were checking the battery, etc, and everything looked ok - no nasties on the battery cables, main grounds looked good & felt tight, but it is possible that I missed something - plan on double checking those before we do anything else... currently waiting on dear daughter to get up so we can get the car in the garage and get to work on it... hate to say it, but i think the time for permanent retirement of the old girl is drawing very near...she is having too many "issues" these days, mostly wiring related (windows not working, door locks failing, other odds and ends...) not to mention the dreaded "cancer" is really taking its toll... on the brighter side - it is finally getting above freezing up here!!! Come on SPRING!!!

first - clean the engine bay and be sure of where the oil leak is - as already suggested it could be something else. second, if you are not sure you want to put the money/time into this car, start looking around for something else and use the $2k toward that... a quick search of craigslist in the SFbay area revealed a couple of interesting options... these two are under $2K http://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/cto/1026897992.html http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/cto/1026671297.html and this one is a little more, but might be worth it... http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/cto/1026938616.html just some options - and i didnt even look that hard...

Daughter's car (my old car - Brumhilda)...89 GL wagon, 5 spd, FWD, 260K on the clock.... ok, daughter called last night - "help, car died & am stranded"... earlier in the day we had a discussion about the alternator maybe going bad - guage reading funny the night before - not trusting the guages so much, we grabbed the multi-meter and checked battery and alt output - everything seemed to be hunky dorry - battery tested full charge, alt reading ok, too - altho did not actually test it under load (ie: lights, radio, etc turned on) - i know - my bad anyway, off she went for the day - car seemed to be fine. on her way home from work was when the problem surfaced - after dark. here is what was relayed to me: lights on, radio on, heater on - tried to beep the horn at someone she knew - no horn & power cut to radio...hmmm then using the turn signal, same thing...power cut to radio, lights dimmed... She started toward home (about 25 miles) and several miles out of town it died - thus the call for help. rather than try to diagnose on the side of the road in the dark (after 9pm) and cold, we hooked up the trailer, went and loaded the car (with a jump start), and dragged it home. so, what do you all think?? alternator gone bad?? I am almost hoping so cause that would be a really easy fix - we have an extra on hand... btw - this would be the 4th alt in this car since I got it back in 2000....(damn cheap-arse rebuilt piles of u-no-whats!)

seems to be a common problem on the early Legacy models. after some searching a while back I had found a writeup on how to fix it and it does work! did the job on our 90 L sedan, and going to have to do the LS wagon soon... Here's a link to the write up... http://www.geocities.com/hobiegary/locks.html hope that helps hmmm, might have to get some pics of this procedure one of these days...