GL RIP or Shell Resurrection

[Animated Meat]

So….bottom line….I don’t think my GL is worth reviving.

Here is where my insanity rears its ugly head…I really like the small GL wagon footprint.

Modern 4WD wagon type vehicles are freaking huge compared to the GL…I think they call them SUVs now.

My question is…anyone know of someone who has put a GL body on a different 4WD chassis that reasonably fits the GL body?

I know…work involved…probably really stupid…$$...but still curious.

Just an fyi…my DD is a ’99 OBS…and I have a ’93 Dodge W250 Cummins for utility.

Thanks for any input in advance…you folks on USMB are indispensable.

 

and…. as always… Kitty wishes everyone joyous adventures!

[XHighOctanex]

What's wrong with the gl?

[DaveT]

If the body structure is rusted too bad to fix, find one that isn't.  Even if you need to have it shipped.  Don't care if it runs, you have all the parts in your existing one.

 

The body is the frame, so I don't see how trying to put it on some other frame would gain much.  Usually, the stuff that's rotted away is combined with the visible and the frame.  At least that's what has taken my previous ones.  Rusty as heck, looks like a beater, then some frame part breaks, time for a new body.

 

I don't want the bigger newer  cars either.  All the newer ones are huge. 

 

MY current 2 EA82 Wagons, I bought due to extremely little rust.  Any other problem, I can fix.  Now the plan with them getting scarcer, is just to keep ahead of the rust before it gets away. 

[Animated Meat]

Well….XHighOctanex….I was hoping to avoid a rambling dissertation…which I tend to be very guilty of when writing…I will try to be
brief…not easy …bear with me…you asked! Ha!

 

History: Bought with - 160,000 miles. Ran/idled great...but sputtered and bucked around a lot when manipulating the throttle. Did a bunch of trouble shooting …and after many FSM tests…TPS…..IAC…CTS..MAF…etc. The TPS per FSM tested bad…took it apart  to try and clean it…with no success…horribly corroded….bought a complete throttle body from ebay with a good TPS…that problem solved. The CTS was badly corroded and I didn’t get a consistent reading I liked…so replaced it. I drove it about a year
as a DD…had a blast with it on and off road.  Also….I did replace the MAF cause I found one cheap online. IAC was taken apart…cleaned…and seems okay…it tested okay anyway. Replaced a few suspect vacuum lines just because.

It was also throwing some codes…EGR solenoid…and the one for the TPS….I don’t really remember what they are…I may have it in an older post…anyway…I replaced the EGR solenoid…got one on Amazon cheap. ..all codes were eventually fixed. It was, and is not currently, displaying codes..but then again..it wont run!

Also replaced

four struts,

one suspect wheel bearing,

ball joints

tie rod ends

wires/plugs

fuel filter

rocker cover gaskets…cause they were seeping bad

rear hatch shocks

radio…had to have the freaking modern radio

Then....it started dying while warming up while I was in the house getting ready for work….and it started bucking and sputtering again..loss of power when trying to accelerate etc.

I was able to get it to stay running  by massaging the pedal…and it would still get me to work once I got it rolling…but every time I let off the throttle…stop signs….crossroads etc…it would die…always started no problem….but getting it to

stay running and going…nope.

Finally got so bad I couldn’t get it to stay running and get it to go anywhere.

Had it towed to a mechanic…diagnosis…little compression on one cylinder…which frankly…stupidly…never occurred to me to check. I had a jeep years ago with low compression which still ran okay…nothing like this.

His speculative explanation: exhaust valve is bad…dumping fuel….causing the o2 sensor to tell the cpu to be lean…causing fuel starvation.

So…I took off the head…saw the normal cracks…freaked out until I leaned it was normal. I took the head into a local shop and he

re-ground the valve seats and lapped the valves…called it okay. I put it all back together….at the same time replaced all

four lifters and resealed the oil pump… and it ran GREAT!..even the TOD was gone....took it for a spin…drove around the valley to get the temp up…stopped at the store to get the celebratory suds….started and ran perfect when leaving store…..came home…parked it…went inside to clean the grease off etc….then decided later since it seemed like all was okay I’d move it and swap out the studded tires….it started…and wouldn’t stay running. Same damn thing as before. A couple times it ran okay after this.. it will always start…but will not stay running without massaging the pedal….and it is missing and snorting the whole time…like its running on two out of four….same as before . I borrowed a compression tester from a fellow at work..dont remember the exact numbers…also posted in the past…same cylinder that the mechanic found bas was better than his number....but still not within spec….and barely within the percentage range that the FSM says that all four should be.

Also…even after replacing the struts….tie rods…and trying to get an alignment…it chewed up a brand new set of tires inside 15K.

The local shop said it couldn’t be aligned…only the front could be adjusted…I agreed with them that the front only has the tie rod adjust…but pointed out that the back is somewhat  alignable by adjusting the bolts…they acknowledged this…but they wanted nothing to do with it because it would take too much time for their advertised modern car alignment fee.

So…there it is…more or less! I think I just discovered this series of cars too late. 

DaveT:  The body and sheet metal is in great shape…there is no rust…its a CA car not near the Ocean…it’s

the motor/suspension that needs replacing….doors actually shut better than my OBS!

Which is why I was curious if anyone has ever used this body style on alien running gear.

 

thanks again guys for your interest.

[XHighOctanex]

Well….XHighOctanex….I was hoping to avoid a rambling dissertation…which I tend to be very guilty of when writing…I will try to be

brief…not easy …bear with me…you asked! Ha!

 

History: Bought with - 160,000 miles. Ran/idled great...but sputtered and bucked around a lot when manipulating the throttle. Did a bunch of trouble shooting …and after many FSM tests…TPS…..IAC…CTS..MAF…etc. The TPS per FSM tested bad…took it apart to try and clean it…with no success…horribly corroded….bought a complete throttle body from ebay with a good TPS…that problem solved. The CTS was badly corroded and I didn’t get a consistent reading I liked…so replaced it. I drove it about a year

as a DD…had a blast with it on and off road. Also….I did replace the MAF cause I found one cheap online. IAC was taken apart…cleaned…and seems okay…it tested okay anyway. Replaced a few suspect vacuum lines just because.

 

It was also throwing some codes…EGR solenoid…and the one for the TPS….I don’t really remember what they are…I may have it in an older post…anyway…I replaced the EGR solenoid…got one on Amazon cheap. ..all codes were eventually fixed. It was, and is not currently, displaying codes..but then again..it wont run!

 

Also replaced

four struts,

one suspect wheel bearing,

ball joints

tie rod ends

wires/plugs

fuel filter

rocker cover gaskets…cause they were seeping bad

rear hatch shocks

radio…had to have the freaking modern radio

 

Then....it started dying while warming up while I was in the house getting ready for work….and it started bucking and sputtering again..loss of power when trying to accelerate etc.

I was able to get it to stay running by massaging the pedal…and it would still get me to work once I got it rolling…but every time I let off the throttle…stop signs….crossroads etc…it would die…always started no problem….but getting it to

stay running and going…nope.

Finally got so bad I couldn’t get it to stay running and get it to go anywhere.

Had it towed to a mechanic…diagnosis…little compression on one cylinder…which frankly…stupidly…never occurred to me to check. I had a jeep years ago with low compression which still ran okay…nothing like this.

 

His speculative explanation: exhaust valve is bad…dumping fuel….causing the o2 sensor to tell the cpu to be lean…causing fuel starvation.

So…I took off the head…saw the normal cracks…freaked out until I leaned it was normal. I took the head into a local shop and he

re-ground the valve seats and lapped the valves…called it okay. I put it all back together….at the same time replaced all

four lifters and resealed the oil pump… and it ran GREAT!..even the TOD was gone....took it for a spin…drove around the valley to get the temp up…stopped at the store to get the celebratory suds….started and ran perfect when leaving store…..came home…parked it…went inside to clean the grease off etc….then decided later since it seemed like all was okay I’d move it and swap out the studded tires….it started…and wouldn’t stay running. Same damn thing as before. A couple times it ran okay after this.. it will always start…but will not stay running without massaging the pedal….and it is missing and snorting the whole time…like its running on two out of four….same as before . I borrowed a compression tester from a fellow at work..dont remember the exact numbers…also posted in the past…same cylinder that the mechanic found bas was better than his number....but still not within spec….and barely within the percentage range that the FSM says that all four should be.

Also…even after replacing the struts….tie rods…and trying to get an alignment…it chewed up a brand new set of tires inside 15K.

The local shop said it couldn’t be aligned…only the front could be adjusted…I agreed with them that the front only has the tie rod adjust…but pointed out that the back is somewhat alignable by adjusting the bolts…they acknowledged this…but they wanted nothing to do with it because it would take too much time for their advertised modern car alignment fee.

 

So…there it is…more or less! I think I just discovered this series of cars too late.

 

DaveT: The body and sheet metal is in great shape…there is no rust…its a CA car not near the Ocean…it’s

the motor/suspension that needs replacing….doors actually shut better than my OBS!

Which is why I was curious if anyone has ever used this body style on alien running gear.

 

thanks again guys for your interest.

Are you in california?

[DaveT]

Ah, ok .

 

Everything sounds normal for an old ea82, except the return of the engine problem, and the chewing up tires problem.

[Animated Meat]

XHighOctanex...yes i'm in California...about 45 minutes from the Oregon border.

[ferp420]

It sounds like you have a bad coil one low cylinder wont make it not run i drove one around on3 cylinders for a while even pulled a trailer with another loyale on the back of it just woundering if you tryed puting oil in the cylinder to see if it will raise the compresion also what cyclinder is low you might just need some rings

[Animated Meat]

I believe Its #3 cylinder....the one closest to the passenger. i havnt worked on the car since last spring when it died..and dont recall all that i did.

I did consider the rings...after all was put back together...but that didnt make sense to me because it ran great for a while.

No...I didnt try oil in the cylinder.

I have not tested the coil...just assumed it was good because it did run good.

When I replaced the cap and rotor I noticed that the distributor was full of sand....so pulled it and cleaned everything.....but this never changed how it ran. This was early on...before I discovered that the TPS was bad I replaced plugs wires cap rotor etc.

Your making me want to go work on this car again ......argrhhhh!

[XHighOctanex]

I believe Its #3 cylinder....the one closest to the passenger. i havnt worked on the car since last spring when it died..and dont recall all that i did.

I did consider the rings...after all was put back together...but that didnt make sense to me because it ran great for a while.

No...I didnt try oil in the cylinder.

I have not tested the coil...just assumed it was good because it did run good.

When I replaced the cap and rotor I noticed that the distributor was full of sand....so pulled it and cleaned everything.....but this never changed how it ran. This was early on...before I discovered that the TPS was bad I replaced plugs wires cap rotor etc.

Your making me want to go work on this car again ......argrhhhh!

Antelope has 4 ea82s, but of a drive for you though probably. I'm near sac, when I ej swap my wagon I won't need my ea, it has a jb welded hold in the driver side head, but you're welcome to the motor after my swap. Either swap heads or send it, it's got the fel pro gaskets kit already done a few months ago.

[skishop69]

A few things come to mind. A bad coil as previously mentioned. It's not uncommon for one to start and run fine, then go bad as it heats up. It's possible there's a short in the windings that only contacts after it heats up and the wires expand which greatly reduces the output of the coil. The fuel pump could also be doing the same thing causing pressure loss.  I've also seen injectors do the same thing. Worn distributor or bad pickup coil and last but not least, bad grounds on the block, body or ECU. You can test the coil, fuel pump and injector by taking a resistance reading cold, the start it up and run it until it craps out, then test again. A significant change in ohms will show the faulty component. If it doesn't run however, this won't work unless you have specs or a known good part to compare it to.

[Animated Meat]

XHighOctanex....thanks for the generous offer..i'm very appreciative....just not sure what i'm gonna do with the car yet.

getting it running would be great....but i still would need to correct whaterver is wrong with the suspension that is causing it to destroy tires.

i've got too many other time consuming rehab things going on with the house that takes up a lot my spare time...meaning weekends etc. my real job seems to be getting in the way of life..Ha!

i 'll probably sit on it for at least another year...cant seem to part with it yet....maybe it'll be parts car for another project...ya never know.

 

thanks all for your ideas and consideration.

 

still curious though if anyone has ever used this body style on other running gear.

[XHighOctanex]

XHighOctanex....thanks for the generous offer..i'm very appreciative....just not sure what i'm gonna do with the car yet.

getting it running would be great....but i still would need to correct whaterver is wrong with the suspension that is causing it to destroy tires.

i've got too many other time consuming rehab things going on with the house that takes up a lot my spare time...meaning weekends etc. my real job seems to be getting in the way of life..Ha!

i 'll probably sit on it for at least another year...cant seem to part with it yet....maybe it'll be parts car for another project...ya never know.

 

thanks all for your ideas and consideration.

 

still curious though if anyone has ever used this body style on other running gear.

 

I've seen a guy put a loyale body on an explorer frame he lives up in Placerville or Roseville or somethin. I have a picture I'll post it when I find it

[XHighOctanex]

Found it

[Crazyeights]

[Animated Meat]

not exactly what I had envisioned....but I guess it answers the question!...thanks for the pic.