My '83 GL Coupe - Hardtop SSS

[TheLoyale]

I was looking at Tokico Rear Calipers I have today and noticed I have one set of 31.5mm and 3 sets of 30mm.

Here they are compared side by side. 30mm is on the left in the first pic with the Stampings "7tR and 7tL" The 31.5mm are on the right with the stampings "CL9T" L&R

 

In the second picture the 31.5mm are on the right, and you can notice the piston housing is Larger.

I am guessing the 31.5mm is from a Wagon body, possibly 4WD, while the other are from various 2WD and Sedan body cars.

Needless to say, the 31.5mm will be going onto the Safariwagon, and the 30mm will be going on the Hardtop.

 

Also last night, I ordered EA81 Slotted rotors for the front, EA82 2WD Slotted rotors for the rear and new Front EA81 Calipers.

[TheLoyale]

Brakes are all done! Drilled/Slotted 9" Rotors all around, New calipers, 30mm Calipers in the rear, New NTN Bearings/seals, New Brake hoses and as much stainless hardware as I could get. Now if you stop in a hurry, it'll be ejected thru the window!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now onto other little fun things! And back to working on the Safariwagon....

[TheLoyale]

Added some high decibel horns today. Not Hella Supertones, but they were $25 and on the self. Took them apart and painted them with Cherry blossom red with a silver grille.

 

 

 

 

Drove it to work for the first time this year! Brakes work so nice.

 

 

[TheLoyale]

Changed the tail pipe around on the Hardtop with a  3" Stainless section. Sounds much better, nicer cleaner note.

 

 

[TheLoyale]

Brakes have been working flawlessly along with everything else. Although, I found out I needed to replace the inner/outer tie-rod ends on the passenger side, along with the Ball Joint. New tie rod went in quick, Ball joint not so much.

 

BJ bolt will not budge, it is melded with the knuckle. Along with the Control arm bolt being fused to the bushing. There is no saving the Control or the Knuckle. I will be replacing the knuckle and control arm as soon as I get them, I already have all new hardware which mimics the other side that I did last summer.

 

After this, there shouldn't be anything keeping it from hitting the road again. New front struts will be in the future. The tophats are toast, lots of slop in the bushings and I'm sure the strut shafts are knocking around also. I will be using the original springs though.

 

Also in the future are some Hella 550s and some other goodies.

[86BRATMAN]

Really loving the progress you've made man. Really an inspiration. Makes me realize I need to stop being lazy and start a new build thread.

[TheLoyale]

So last week, I made a Rallye' Bar for the Hardtop, I fab'ed it up from a lower section of a brush guard for an FJ80, and the rest is made from EMT. 1/4" steel light mount tabs for the top and bottom all painted Semi-gloss white.

 

The Hella Comet 500s are on the bottom and I am waiting for a set of Hella Rallye 2000s for the top. I will be wiring them up in tandem separately with two switches. 

 

 

During the mock-up.

 

Also had to change the trans mount, the day of our 160mile trip to go hiking, the trans started vibrating against the crossmember, didn't sound pritty Lol.

 

 

Keeping it Subaru Alliance, Keeping it Subaru Ambassador.

[TheLoyale]

Original Hella Rallye 2000s. 8.75" Round!

[el_freddo]

Nice work mate!  The coupe is looking awesome and those brakes - there's really no words to describe them!

 

I bet it stops on a dime now!  How good are braided brake lines too?  Best thing I did to Ruby Scoo's brakes after the rear discs and new front rotors!

 

Over here the Cibie Super Oscars are the lights to chase.  I'm after a set but can't justify the price while my little Hella 100s hold out (about 10-15 years now!).  I smashed one on the trans continental trip last summer, so down to two now - it doesn't look right!

Keep up the good work.

Cheers

Bennie

[TheLoyale]

I've been wanting to get braided lines, just never got around to it. Perhaps with the EA82 I can get braided lines, gonna need longer lines anyway. The Cibie lights are the ones you see on most of the 80s Rally Subarus eh? I just couldn't pass up these Hellas for $130.

 

New window cranks today, finally Hardtoping once again! Window cranks are Dorman: 76968. These are for the 1st gen Hardtop, but they work great with a little modding to the spline shaft. Best part is, these are metal. No more slipping cranks!

 

 

 

Also got a shirt ready for the 2016 FL4TFEST on Aug. 6th.

 

 

-Tom

[TheLoyale]

Hella Rallye 2000s and 500 Comets all wired up cleanly. Dual Rubber coated toggle switches in dash, 20amp fuse block, 16ga. wires and all factory connectors. Direct power from battery.

 

 

Got it all done, in the nick of time! Tomorrow is FL4TFEST '16 7am-5pm. We'll be leaving at 6am to get there a little after 7.

 

Also changed the oil, now fresh Amsoil 10w-30 and 25,000k Amsoil EA filter.

 

Had a little fun at Denny's last night

 

[TheLoyale]

So after thinking I had a failing HG because of coolant in the exhaust, turns out one of the Fel-pro Intake gaskets failed, letting water into the air port. So as of now the motor has both heads off, I installed new Valve seals and cleaned up all the valves, springs, Push rods, Rocker Arms, etc.. Heads are all clean and ready to go back on (Whenever it stops raining) Going to run Perma-Dry HGs and follow the torque procedure in the FSM
 

 

1st 22.ft.lbs

2nd 43.ft.lbs

3rd 47.ft.lbs

I have quite a few photos which I need to upload. So stay tuned!!

-Tom

[TheLoyale]

Got the motor back together, other than the Oil pan and some new Denso Iridiums. Waiting on an oil pan gasket from Rockauto. I wasn't planning on pulling the oil pan off, back while reinstalling one of the push rods, a HLA fell out, into the pan. I will say one thing, with the pan off, sure makes putting the Pushrods back in easier (You can see if they are actually sitting in the HLAs before snugging up the Rocker shaft)

 

I will get the pictures up soon, just need to find the motivation to deal with Photobuckets lame upload box.

 

Also planning on making a UEL header from EMT (Electrical Metal Tubing) if menards offers 1-3/4" sizing. Mainly because I was looking at making a proper header with real mandrel bent Mild steel tubing from http://www.Columbia River Mandrel-bends.html but after pricing everything, I'm looking at about $200 before shipping (The Merge Collector being the most expensive part at $56 bucks) They also offer manifold flanges which are close enough to the EA81 with the stud holes being 3.125" apart (Genuine is like 3") They also offer Copper flange gaskets which I thought would be a improvement over stock. So at a later date, I will probably make a proper header.

I will need to buy a cheap merge collector off eBay though to make this quick/cheap header work. I will make sure to snap pics of what I come up with.

 

-Tom

[TomRhere]

Won't find 1-3/4" conduit. 1-1/2" or 2" is trade sizes.

 

McMaster-Carr  sells various bends in mild steel and stainless. Not sure on pricing though, it's been a few years since I looked at that stuff.

[carfreak85]

Don't skimp on materials, don't build an exhaust with electrical conduit or mild steel.  Back when I was considering a header for my turbo wagon I knew that paying more up front would net be a better product in the end.  I ordered pre-bent 304SS mandrels as well as 304SS plate material to fabricate flanges.  I'd have to look it up but I think I paid ~$200 for materials and some other amount for fabrication.

 

If I were to do it all over again, there are a few things I would have insisted the fabricator do differently (thicker flanges, weld inside and outside of the pipe/flange joint), but this header is still going strong with only minor repairs after 11 years on my car.

 

Even if it cost me $450 out the door, the header only cost me $3.41 per month for the last 11 years, less than the cost of one monster Starbucks drink per month.  100% worth it, IMHO.

 

Vibrant Motorsports has really good prices on mail order materials, price check with them too.

Edited October 7, 2016 by carfreak85

[TheLoyale]

Yeah I figured out there was no 1-3/4 conduit after a little research. I bought two 1.5" EMT 90s just so I could patch the old header together with home made flanges some dude sent me. Flanges them selfs were pretty rough, but I cleaned them up and flattened them out. Its only temp anyway.

 

The new header/exhaust setup realistically probably won't happen before I tuck the car out of the way for Winter, I dunno. I gotta get the Bonneville's top end seals all replaced two weekends from now, and I should replace the Header gasket on the Landcruiser before winter. Hissing from the leaking gasket is getting old.

 

Oh yeah. I don't drink Starbucks...

 

Lol.

[TheLoyale]

2 days after the engine reassembled and everything seems solid. No leaks that I can see, I checked the torque on the intake bolts and the few Head studs I can get to and they checked out. Been taking the car to work and will be for the rest of the week, planning on taking a drive this weekend just to get the car out and about with some non-town driving.

 

Here are some pictures from the Clean up and assembly.

 

 

 

 

Sprayed some penetrating oil in the cylinder bores before I stuffed rags in them (Since it was going to sit a few days without the heads on) The walls are in great shape, still have the original boring marks and no discoloration. Somewhat surprised considering how this car was neglected from past owners.

 

Spring compressor from Eastwood tools. Pretty had design, it locks into steps for ease.

 

New Stem seals (Got 4 extra I guess lol)

 

Someone stole my Valve and spring!

 

 

New seal.

 

Cleaned out the majority of the sludge and carbon buildup. Also cleaned out all the buildup of glycol from the water passages and flush both the heads and block.

 

Soaked the valves in Oven-degreaser and then took a wire wheel to them. There was a noticeable edge on all the valve seats and them seemed to seal good.

 

Went with genuine Intake gaskets this time, as the the Fel-pro ones are what failed causing water to enter the combustion chamber. (Head gaskets were still good to be honest) But I installed new Fel-pro HGs that I had. Hopefully these won't fail.

 

Genuine (Left) Fel-pro (Right) Genuine is made of some type of metallic compound. Fel-pro is basically pressed paper.

 

Now I normally run NGK plugs in everything, but I figured I would give these Denso's a go. They were the same price of NGK Iridiums anyway.

 

 

These run a gap of around .036, factory calls for .043 but I left them as these are pre-gapped and maybe that is what this plug calls for because of the odd tip.

 

Plugs and 19 Stainless M6 bolts for the oil pan.

 

 

 

All put back together and runs great! Looking forward to next year for when I build a proper exhaust for the car. Piecing the old one together looks crappy, but runs fine and sounds alright. No more exhaust leaks finally!

 

 

Next year I am also going to switch back to Amsoil and filter. I'm running 10w-40 GTX right now with Lucus Syn oil stabilizer just because I didn't have the cash for Amsoil.

 

The motor is the nicest thing on this car which is a shame.

Edited October 13, 2016 by TheLoyale

[carfreak85]

I would avoid using any Lucas additives in your engine, diff or transmission.  Their additives tend to aerate lubricating oils, and as we all know, air is not a good lubricant.

 

If they have that little gear-ladder-in-an-oil-bath display on the counter during your next visit to the parts store, give both hand-cranks a series of really fast turns and compare the oil afterwards.  While the Lucas-infused oil will climb the gears higher and more quickly (That's what their trying to sell you on), you will almost immediately notice that the Lucas-infused oil becomes filled with hundreds of air bubbles.  No bueno.

 

Oil manufacturers spend MILLIONS of dollars on their formulations.  Don't believe for a second that they would leave something out of the formula if it was truly needed.  Lucas products are, quite literally, modern snake-oil...

[TheLoyale]

I've actually seen the bubbles in the display, I've never thought about that factor to be honest. Thanks for the advice! I've done a little research on Oil standards (Probably not as much as I should've) but that is why I choose Amsoil over any other (When I can) I usually go back to GTX and a Wix if I need to go with something else. 

 

I have also used Water-Wetter in a few applications, can't tell if anything is running a little cooler (Mainly cause I don't have any digital temp gauges) Though I have talked to a few "Drift" guys and it does seem to provide some relief in extremes.

[TheLoyale]

WTF! I spoke too soon. I still have thin light gray smoking during long Deceleration, WHY!!!?

 

Here is what is going on:

 

I have a grayish smoke coming from the tailpipe after a long deceleration from highway speeds (50+ at around 3k) or coasting down hill at higher speeds. SMOKING ONLY HAPPENS DURING THIS. Takes a little to clear up (If you were to stop at a light) It will push out some smoke taking off from said light, but clears up in a sec or two.

 

SMOKING DOES NOT HAPPEN DURING:

 

Cold/Hot Starts.

Soft/Hard Acceleration from a stop or moving.

City driving/stopping.
Holding RPM/Speed for prolonged times.
I don't notice anything during free revving (maybe a little carbon or unburnt fuel at times)
 

I have changed:

PCV valve. An aussie told me I do have the PCV system routed correctly (If not, please let me know)

Just replaced Valve stem seals, HGs, Intake gaskets, AT Vacuum Modulator.

Smoke doesn't look to have any blue (At least now since I've changed the Stem seals) Its just gray and thin :/

I have not done a compression test. But I have a hard time believing the rings are going from the symptoms and the fact the cylinder bores looked new when I had the heads off. Also the fact the smoke is gray and just has an odd smell. 

So anyone have an ideas?

[Bantum]

Yes compression test will tell if rings are good ...

Are you sure the smokes coming from inside the exhaust ? As there could be a leak externally dripping onto it ?

Cheers, Bantum ...

[l75eya]

Auto trans?

[el_freddo]

Compression test will tell you if the compression rings are good. If you oil rings or landings are shot it could allow oil to be sucked unit the compression chamber when you coast or decelerate, when you go back onto the throttle it starts to burn the oil build up with the fuel mixture.

 

The longer you coast or decelerate for, the more smoke once accelerating again. Engine will use oil but run fine otherwise. I had this occur on an engine in the L series, we only just pulled it down a few years ago to find at least one cylinder with broken oil rings.

 

My other thoughts would be valve stem seals but since you've done all of them they can be ruled out...

 

Cheers

 

Bennie

[TheLoyale]

Alright, I think I had figured the issue out. I think it was from how I had the PCV system routed. I changed it up as I found a thread by JesZek which explains the PCV system and the best way to route it with a Weber swap. I haven't noticed any more smoking (Yet) I will see how it goes and post up if that was the issue or not.

 

Bantum, it was indeed coming from inside the exhaust and blowing out. I have no leaks (Other than some seepage from either the Oil pump or from the Pressure switch) not enough to run onto the exhaust. I also have a rear main which is leaking a little, but nothing unusual.

 

Steven, Correct, Auto trans. Vac modulator was already changed out. It needed one anyway, now it actually kicks down without WOT.

[TheLoyale]

This is the post I followed. It is about Swapping Weber onto an EA82, but it gives a good idea on PCV routing with a Weber and non factory airbox.

 

 

Post #9 Ideas-on-swaping-a-weber-carb-on-ea82´s