My 89 rx worklog. alternate title: Wow this soob runs good on 3.5 cyls.

[bluto5]

Hello all,

 

As the title goes, this will be my worklog on my new soob. This is also my first soob but I am an experienced mechanic so I fear no rusty bolt. I would like to use the log to keep track of the mods and maintence stuff that I will be doing to the car in the near future. I will get into the alt. title later in the thread.

 

With what I have in mind I think This should be at least somewhat interesting. I wont be breaking any new ground here, just modding my rx for a little more power and hopefully maintain some reliability.

 

The plan for the rx is to have a fun winter driver, I have been looking for an awd winter car for awhile now. the stars have aligned and I now have an rx.

 

I am going to try to sort out most if not all of the maintence issues and get the upgrades done within the next month so the car is settled befor we get too deep into nasty weather territory.

 

Now for the interesting stuff.

MSnSextra/edis. I have this stuff around the shop already.

 

Larger injectors. Supra, ford 2.3t and datsun turbo injectors on hand.

 

Tmic. I have a thunder chicken IC in the shop.I may use a

larger ebay stye but I think this may be overkill??

 

Fab intake, uppipe and exhaust.

This will be my first my only performance $$ going out the door(besides some nice winter tires) The idea is to fab an uppipe in ss, similir to what other board members have done, I plan to flange this for t2 and t3 garret turbos.

 

Exhaust is planned to be 2.5ss turbo to the back of the car. What kind of muffler sounds good on an ea82t??

Build the intake accordingly. Also plumb in a pcv vacum tank.

 

As for the maintince and repair issues, the car isnt horrible but it has been awhile since this car has seen any love.:-\

 

While the car does run(relatively) well w/o overheating/smoking or pissing too much coolant or oil to the ground this is one sick motor. power seems ok but I wasnt expecting much from 111hp through an awd drivetrain

 

I knew it was leaking oil onto the manifold when I bought it, from the left cyl. bank near the front(cam seal maybe? I picked up a new one) It also has some coolant loss issues and pleny of gurguling noises.

 

Compression as checked yesterday shows front right cyl at 60psi, all others at 130ish... sooo, ************. this car runs awfully good on 3.5 cylinders.

 

I am just suprised there isnt a dead miss, but the engine revs and cruises reasonably smooth and I got 25mpg on the way home, usually around 75mph.

 

I am going to look around for a good long block or at least a set of heads befor I rip the motor apart, I dont want to end up with an inop car and a junk head.

 

On to the other issues.

Windshield. Fixed, found a ton o rust in the cowl =/

Hood. FIXED

Doors. Door bottoms are rusty, 1 3dr spotted in the jy so far and the doors were worse than mine.

Hatch. Same as the doors.

Front fenders. Minor rust and dents, I have found some new ones, this car will be multi color in no time flat.

Left rear fender flare rust. I have spotted a good patch panel, easy fix.

Drivers side corner window trim is rusty. Need to find a replacement.

Apillars have some rust. quick fix for now, Ill have to have the WS removed next summer to properly tackle this problem.

Misc surface rust all over the body. I will be taking care of these as I go, can of white por15 is on order for all of the underside repairs

Trunk well rust spot. This should be an easy fix, left rear of the trunk area, fist sized rust area.

Reassemble the interior. Just need to pull hardware from the jy, years of being taken apart and halfassed reassembled.Started on it, about 1/3 done.

properly mount the gauge pod. One leg missing, Ill fab another at work.

Rewire the hellas. Im not crazy about how theyre wired at all.

Replace broken hella mount.

Replace all fluids in the car. Trans, diff, oil change. PO put heavy weight oil in the car and some john deere crap in the power steering. blah.

Distributer has 1 broken bold and 1 apparently crossthreaded bolt in it, not secured at all.

No timing belt covers. Find some mo.

blower switch only works on one speed. fix it

Brakes are just about shot. fix em

Tires are dookie. replaced! bring on the snow!

passenger side mirror cracked.

Install a radio. I have a long commute to work.. haha.

Clean and Paint H Alloy wheels Done

Mount CF dash gauge pod Done

 

Wow.. seems like alot now that I have typed it all out. I am still very optimistic about the car over all though, most of this list should clear quickly though.

 

Questions...

At 60 psi, is it probably just a hg or could I have a bad bad head? I have heard about cracking between the valves.

 

What muffler sounds good on an ea82t with 2.5"ss exhaust? I dont mind loud, the Z has 3"ss and a dynomax turbo muffler on it. I think there would be some merit to having the car at least a little quite so I can hear the traction level.

 

Has anyone dyno'd garrett t'3s or sr20det t25's on these motors?

 

more Q's to come later.

 

 

Parts needed.

Possibly heads or a long block

hella light mount

2hella light covers

timing belt covers, all the pieces and bolts.

set of wheels for snow tires

doors

hatch

bottom trim for the drivers side back glass.

 

 

Long post. All comments, advice or questions are welcome.

Updates to come. Stay tuned. pics also if I can host em somwhere, doesnt seem to be much storage on the site?

 

Thanks, Sam

[daeron]

Sam,

 

these headgaskets are the weak point of the motor. the blocks, from what i have gathered, are pretty durn near bulletproof, but the heads may as well be made of glass. get a spare set of heads, prep them to go on the car. you can have your heads for "spares."

 

What kind of Z do you have? mines a 75 280 2 seater :grin:

 

The heads do develop cracks, the rule of thumb is, if you cant fit a fingernail in it, its OK. seriously.

 

The front fenders from any loyale/GL will work (right guys?)

 

you *might* wanna go with a slightly smaller exhaust, or at least a slightly smaller colleting point before expanding out to 2.5".. but youre talking turbo. i have a non turbo, so i may have glossed over absorbing that info.

 

non-interference engine. go ahead and do the timing belts now, and keep the old ones as spares in the trunk. never hurts.

 

theres debate over it, but ALOT of us leave the front timing belt covers off. this changes a timing belt job from 2-6 hours (probly less, if youre good with a wrench) to about 30 minutes (or less)

 

i *think* the hood should be the same as any loyale/GL series.... right guys?? not an rx/3 door owner here.... but as i said, the fenders should be the same......

 

there is a very very recent thread about the blower motor speeds that you should read. within the first two or three pages. it has ALL you could possibly need to know.

 

the radio... they wired the front and read channels with common groundwires... there is only a right ground, and a left ground, coming out of the stereo..... no front/rear.. so the best way is to re wire the speakers with new wire. if you have a trip computer, youre gonna need to order a kit from crutchfield to install an aftermarket stereo and keep the trip computer controls where they go.... unless youre car has them down underneath the ashtray, which is where they got moved to on later years. in which case, the easy way is to get an install kit.. the stock stereo is just a bit smaller in all three simensions than DIN size (aftermarket stereo size)

 

that, and i want an RX. hell, id be happy as a kid in a candy store with a 2wd 5speed in my GL-10.....

 

but i figgered id share what i knew regarding your issues. the body panels, im about 95% sure on.... good luck with your winter ride, im trying to convince a buddy of mine to do exactly what youre doing because he wants to learn how to wrench and properly customize his own vehicle...... but he wont just bite the bullet and buy an old car to do so on.

 

so as i said, good luck and happy soobing!

[jeffast]

the rule with a turbo on exhaust the bigger the better more air flow =less spooltime unlilike n/a motors where you want some back pressure

[soobscript]

I had a Dynomax SuperTurbo muffler on my RX.

I liked the sound a lot. Not loud, nice rumble.

I had all stock exhaust back to the muffler's 2.25" in and out.

[bluto5]

Ok,

My fun fun 60hr work week is over so its time to get back to the soob.

 

Windshield is still on order. blah

Hopefully caboobaroo will be getting back to me about sending me some heads.

Headset on order to do the gaskets when the heads arrive. timing belt bits and pieces also.

POR15 on order.

I need to call soob heaven in WI to see if they have a hatch and doors, Im glad I saw that thread!!

I should have the interior together and maybe that trunk hole fixed, not sure if I am going to cut holes in the car this weekend.

I am going to refinsh the wheels(H-alloys,acid and spraypaint) and get new tires.

 

Thanks for the opinion on the dynomax soobscript. I like it on my Z but it wails at full throtle when the R's get up there. Deffintly more of a growl than a tinny whine but loud anyway.

 

Daeron,

My hood is from a loyale, thats where the fenders are comin from also.

 

As for the exhaust.. bigger is definitly better. I think I even saw a post for 3" for an ea82. That seems abit extreme to me but who knows. I will be happy with 2.5" and the price break that comes with it. I think I will order that stuff this weekend also.

 

I didnt realize that the stero stuff was bizarre on these, thanks for the heads up, I guess one of the squareish radios is in order, Ill have to check into that more.

 

As for my Z, its a 77 junkyard beast. turbo motor from an 82 with msns at the controls. all sorts of interesting jy parts making that thing go, I think I have every auto maufacturer represented under my hood. Ill post some pics of it also when I get hosting somewhere.

 

 

 

Does anyone have any of the bits and pieces I need for the car? Ea82's are sort of hard to come by in the JY's around here. I have been to 8or 9 yards in the area and have come up with 6 wagons 1 4door 1 hatch and 1 xt. all NA cars.

 

Anyway, another update to come at the end of the weekend... hopefully much progress to report. all coments welcome/appreciated.

 

Thanks, Sam

[daeron]

huzzah...

 

my 75 280 is a junkyard beast, white with a red hood, one primer/bondo colored door (i sanded it down) and one maroon door, been sitting in my driveway for two years this week ( ) because i parked it due to a burnt fusible link block (read: small fire) and many other "needs" it had that couldnt be attended to in her five year stint as a daily driver (exhaust, reseal injectors, 60mm TB, four corners suspension, rear disc conversion, need my 5speed back in it, etc etc etc)

 

As for the radio in the soob, you can buy an installation kit that will allow you to fit a standard sized receiver in there, and re wire the speakers, and its perfectly fine.. NOT that difficult to do either, or expensive ( less than forty bucks for the kit and the wire, i should say..) my local best buy had a standard soob install kit in stock, but since ive got am 87 GL10, my trip computer controls are mounted right next to the stereo, and i needed a special one from crutchfield to keep them there. even that was only like 35 shipped. no waiting or anything, either. shouldnt be that big a deal.

 

good luck this weekend

[bluto5]

Updated the to do list,

 

Tires are on, I want snow!!

 

Windshield replaced.. Found alot more rust than expected in th cowl area, abit irked about that.

 

Trans and diff fluids to be changed today, gaskets and timing belts are ready to be done once I get my new heads. planing to pull the motor and redo all the gaskets next weekend

 

New fenders , headlight/grill lower trim and whatever else I can find will be pulled from the u-pull-it next weekend.

 

Pics to come one of these days

 

Sam