Divin' and MsDIY, congrats on your successes! ioTus, great sounding exhaust...and great looking car too!

Yesterday I got the brake hose that connects the rear hard lines to the hard lines that go to the master cylinder. Of course, there was a small issue installing it. The outer diameter of the coupling is bigger than the OEM hose (although it fits the lines fine). The little tab on the body that it's supposed to push through and be secured by a shim is too small for it to push through. So I had to zip tie it to the tab with a heavy-duty zip tie. Ghetto perhaps, but it works...that line isn't moving anywhere. Bleeding brakes and tightening everything up happens tomorrow...would have happened tonight, but I got a stomach bug and am in no mood to go into the garage this evening.

Also, I cleaned out 30 years of muck from the inside of the rear hatch last night. Not showroom new, but it is much more presentable. I also put the carpet back in. I'll be putting the plastics and rear mat back in after the axle swap is finished.

While the seats are out, I'll try to get under the dash and get that $!*@ heater control out so I can replace the grain of wheat bulbs. Not necessary as I'll rarely drive the car at night. But it bugs me.

Off to rest and ride this bug out.

fm

 

Dropped my tranny and installed new clutch those slave bolts are a head ache. Car wouldt idle right after I was finish idle screw solved everything they phew and wahsed her

 

Picked these original louvers up for 100 bucks today, and got 4 hours seat time in the se! Trying to get that original 80's look.

 

Nice...you're gonna need to get your side moldings back on to complete that '80s look.

fm

 

+1

 

broke an intake bolt.

 

I feel your pain.

 

Thursday... great plans. My friend with the cool electrics meter that plugs into the cigarette lighter was coming this evening to chase the electrical Gremlins.

8am I called the parts store. The headder gasket is in! I called in and took the day off at work. I drove my hubby the back way (embarrassing smoke) around town to the road to the ski resort. Halfway up you turn down a back road to the muffler dude. He struggled some with the gasket install, then.....
SHE WON'T START We fussed a bit, his next job was in, and we had to go home.

A jaunt down his quarter mile driveway, another 1/4 into the cute little town. We hitchhiked a leg , took the little bus a bit, and walked the last mile and a half home. Now I am reliant on coworkers to get to and from... and a part time electrician at the garage will look at her whenever...

Poo! I did get a few days of thrill. I look forward reporting good news next.

 

Totally agree.
I have a new set, and a black original 3 piece wing, they are going on after the new paint.
Thanks

 

Last night, my friend and I bled the brakes, made some minor adjustments to the rear, and tightened down all the links. Took her for a quick jaunt around the block. Prognosis is very good! My parking brake was set too tight and was dragging the rear brakes, so adjusted that. One last issue I have to deal with is that the car now has a reverse rake. The reason is that the Pro 7 springs in the back are a good deal shorter than stock and the front coilovers are set to the highest setting. The reason for that is that the wheel width won't allow for me to adjust the collar down any further. I'm going to pick up some 10mm wheel spacers, which should allow for enough clearance to drop the car down to where I can get it level.

More pics of the rear axle swap later this eve.

fm

 

I made a set of hockey puck motor mounts for the red car. Then got the engine in and adjusted the clutch pedal rod. Went to install the RX-4/Cosmo oil cooler and discovered it won't allow the lines past the tall radiator. Hmm...

We either need a real GSL-SE oil cooler and lines, or a short style rad and a 79-82 oil cooler.




or a beehive






yeah, a beehive

 

Not the BEEHIVE! Nooooooo!

 

stopped by Mariah Motorsports and picked up some NGK plug wires and two more spark plugs

 

brought her home AGAIN... This time she's even better than before... the gasket really made the new exhaust QUIET... The wiring magician tested and tweaked the system for hours and swears it's good now. NOW I can do the timing and carb adjust.

 

Yes the beehive. It's in. The owner is happy. It looks really crappy. Just kidding. It looks ok in there. Almost like it was engineered to fit by Mazda or something.

 

Why do you need to get under the dash to change that bulb? Mine come out with the radio panel until you give it a twist to release it.

 

The climate control itself, not the two ***** that light up. The two ***** are replaced. I'm trying to take out the climate control in order to swap the bulb(s) in there (if possible). I think it is. But the thing is held into the dash cavity good and tight by the wiring harness in the back. There's no room to maneuver back there and I don't want to break anything.

I got some ghetto spacers on (universal, non-hub centric) just to get the car back on the ground again. Predictably, it shakes at speeds above 60 mph. Will have to get proper spacers for the car that are centered on the hub. The car is much noisier as the spherical bearings in the lower links and watts links do a good job of transmitting the noise from the diff and wheels to the cockpit. Doesn't help that the rear is gutted ATM, so it's probably 10x worse than it would be with sound deadner, storage boxes, carpeting, and panels in place.

I like the way the car sits now. The wheels are first gen Volk Rays TE37s (AKA TE16s). These have been refinished with custom decals. I have genuine decals to go on the wheels if I ever get tired of the custom decals. The size was a worry for me...16x7 with 205/16/50 rubber. The 10mm spacer allowed me to clear the front coil over perches by a literally a hair. I could slip a piece of paper between the tire and the adjustment collar. If I had my druthers, I'd have gone with the same wheels in 15x7, but they just weren't popping up anywhere.

The car feels great! Nice and tight handling. I can't wait to get it out to auto-x and see what I can do with it. I forsee a spinout or two until I get used to it. It's way different than before. It went from a base model with open diff, rear drums, stock suspension to GC front coilovers and camber plates, MR2 Tokicos Illuminas, adjustable rear lower arms and watts links with heim joints, AE86 rear Bilsteins, GSL-SE rear disks, LSD, and bigger front brakes. Oh, and a full Racing Beat street port exhaust.

There are still a few things to sort out...the spacers for one. The other issue is that I forgot to put crush washers in the soft brake line that goes between the MC and the rear axle. Yes, it leaks. I'll pick those up tomorrow.

As promised...pics:







fm

 

Update: the brake line leak was not caused by the lack of a crush washer. That part is actually dry. I guess I hadn't tightened down the hard lines on the axle to the 3-way joint when the axle was off the car. I tightened those up, cleaned up the area, then got in and stomped on the brakes several times. Dry so far, so fingers crossed.

fm

 

Tried to take the GSL-SE for a drive last Friday evening. I hadn't driven her in a week and my flooding problem is back. I am pretty sure now that it is fuel injectors not shutting off completely. I didn't have time to mess with it right then. Tried starting it again on Saturday with the same result. On Sunday I was going to roll down the hill and let out the clutch to start it but I didn't have to resort to that as it fired right up with a cloud of blue smoke. Took for a 45 minute drive and had a good time. Not sure how to approach this as I have never taken that part of the car apart. Should I just replace the injectors or is there a way to get them cleaned and tested?

On the GSL-EV I applied another piece of fiberglass to the left rear wheel well for my rust repair. I have no idea if this will last more than a couple of years but at this point it would be cheaper to fly out to CA or FL and find a car that is rust free and bring it back rather than hiring someone to cut out the crud and weld in fresh metal. In theory the glass repair is stronger than the steel but if I didn't get rid of all the rust I know it will come back. And it isn't possible to get rid of all the rust. This was originally a Minneapolis car that got taken to Las Vegas and then SD where I bought it. An Air Force couple were the PO. I think the early life in MN was the issue. There are remnants of undercoating in the wheel wells at least. It may have done more harm than good long term. Photos to follow.

 

Fungus_Mungus that stance and wheel set look AMAZING. And excellent choice on the dual long primary! Thats one SICK setup you've got going on, keep up the excellent work!

Ms DIY - what ended up being the problem that it stopped running this time???

Doug - just get new upper intake gasket and pull the upper intake (dynamic chamber) off. You can get access to the fuel injectors underneath the upper manifold. Mail them to Witch Hunter for a cleaning and balancing (should be $45 for two injectors) and they will come back as-new. Please put a new O2 sensor on there, too!
WitchHunter Performance - Injector Cleaning & Flow Testing Services
Rotary Performance | SA ECU ($40 O2 sensor, 3rd up from bottom)

 

starred the evil pile of crap since i can't stop the power steering leak.

 

Fungus, glad to see that sled on the ground, it does look sweet!
Today I gave the AC a charge and replaced the front speakers with Polks. I had changed the rears 6 mos ago. I also added tweeters on the dash to get the sound stage right, and it worked!
The Polks in the panels actually produce some bass, a noticeable improvement. Changing the rears was not so dramatic.

 

Trying to sell my 82 GSL...

 

Ah! Wasn't thinking about the '84-5 AC controls. Not had one of those apart yet.

Looking good - love the wheels and stance.

 

today I legitimized my battery relocation set up