FD-less

Well, I'm now the proud owner of a non-running FB in another state that I can't drive for at least a month. It hasn't really been driven much in 4 years so other than belts (it threw the alternator/water pump belt on test-drive), hoses, coolant, oil and a diff seal (it leaks) what might she need? I'm deploying (Army) to California for a month of wargames and plan to pick it up afterward. I should have a 4-day weekend in which to fly home, fix her up, and drive from Atlanta to Kansas, so I need to plan ahead. What would you guys suggest I look at while I'm at it? I still haven't seen her but I'm told she's beautiful.

wwilliam54

rental truck and trailer might be a good thing to keep in mind
just in case

error402

Congrats on the new FB. It looks awesome! As wwilliam54 mentioned it may be a good idea to get a rental truck or trailer. Just an idea.

I have to drive by Ft. Riley when my wife and I drive back to Beliot to see her family. I tell you what I'm from the city and I still can't get used to the flatness of Kansas country side. Miles and miles of nothing...LOL.

-Error402

gamble302

nice car man
its like a twinky to one of mine
http://www.wheelspecs.com/rides/vehi...sVehiclesID=45
http://www.wheelspecs.com/rides/images/45_103.jpg

look into air and fuel filters too. no tellin how bad the gas tank is. also take a look at tires

FD-less

Wow, almost the same rims, too. Damn, I'm so happy. Looking now for some side-drafts and an exhaust.

Manntis

Congrats

FD-less

Oh yeah, and one of Manntis' dash faceplates. You know, the one with the cute little cubbyhole. I'll drop you a line after I get back.

82transam

iTrader: (18)

Nice car man. Anyway, just look it over real good and change all the fluids, etc all the usual stuff. Might be a good idea to drain the gas tank and get good stuff in there, oh yea, change the fuel filter while your back there, its right next to the tank. Pull the wheels and check the brakes/lines. Probably fine, but ya never know. last thing I can think of would be the tires, if they are dry rotted, or just plain rotting you might wanna get a new set. Good luck

cletus

Ok, don't let him fool you. I'm going to be doing all of the work here. After all, I just did the 4 hour drive each way to check it out (not including the hour traffic jam on the way down). I'll run down it for ya.

Interior is immaculate, just as the pictures show. Damn thing cold started pretty easy considering it hadn't run in a while and the battery was pretty much dead. Smoked a bit, but it is cold out too, but it went away. Never got to check for high RPM smoke. This goes back to the whole altenator belt thing. Didn't see any rust on the car period. Didn't get a chance to pull a storage bin, but the entire underside was completely clean. It's been in the south it's entire life. I'm not sure if it pulled as hard as mine did, but mine was not stock and I didn't really get to drive it because the belt went as soon as I pulled out and tried to run it to redline. We made it literally 100 ft. When I got it back, volt meter was showing 8 volts. So glad I did that since we would have been mildly fubar'd when it went in the mildly of Nowhere GA.

Tires weren't terrible. They will last for a bit. Overall the car looks about as good as it does in the pictures. A/C probably needs a recharge. I don't think it kicked on when I tried. Different A/C setup than I had. No big deal. The entire thing is completely original. It appears to have been kept really well. Oil was clean when I checked it. Filled up the right amount (I've recently been shopping for cars with another friend and just find it amusing/sad of people trying to sell a car with completely black oil or being 2 quarts under, go get a change for crying out loud).

Brakes felt real good and solid. I was impressed. Guy who sold it was a nice guy (was selling another one too, yellow (originally white), and I was gonna try to buy it cheap since he needed to sell it quick, but sold on ebay for 2100 while we were standing there, oh well), but he didn't know too much about the mechanics. He told me he had a pipe for the car that was supposed to add 20hp. Was like ok. So he pulls it out to show me, I'm thinking cat-back, something here,......anti-sway bar. Nope, no HP there, but oh well.

I hope it truly is as good as it seems. Hopefully that belt or maybe at worst a new altenator will set you on track. I wish I had gotten to drive it more. I miss mine, the FD just isn't as tossable

Now you have to buy my Kuhmos and spare set of rims I have

Ok, point of the post. We gotta go back down and pick this thing up. It needs some TLC from sitting. Fuel lines back by the filter look dry rotted, belts don't look too great, coolant hoses actually looked good though, but I gotta look at them better. And it's 4 hours through the middle of nowhere. Seriously. Nothing. It's almost like Kansas. We were going to try to tow it back up. The 1 truck we can get a hold of probably could not pull the full trailer (supposedly they weigh around 2000 lbs?) so we were going to try to rent one of the little dollys. Which wheels would we need to actually leave rolling on the ground? If it's the fronts, what do you do about making sure the wheels don't turn (like steering wheel doesn't turn)? Never towed a car like this before.

Welp, I can't wait to get it back up here. It'll be fun having one around again. I won't put too many miles on it...

That was a long post. Wow. Must be really tired.

FD-less

Damn, give me a break, man! You know it's all yours for 5 weeks and I'll get you a KS registration ASAP. I can do the A/C back at the house, no problemo. If we can get the fuel line, hoses, coolant and diff done, I'd like to swap the sway bar before I come back out to Kansas.

As far as the Kuhmos go, she came with original rims and crappy tires as well as the kicks she's wearin so I'll have to blow those up before the Kuhmos.

ScreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeBLAM! NEXT pair!

Hey man, you still have those Khumos????

With the truck thing, I'm not sure which trailer you'll want (I'll pay for either, of course) but the single-axle trailer is $40 and 650 lbs vs. $50 and 2100 mind-numbing pounds for the double-axle.

Okay, so for everyone else here, about GSLs - I know it's got rear discs and power stuff, but what about power steering (these tires are a bit beefy, from what I'm told) Also, is there a LSD in there or not, and how difficult is it to replace the diff cover and/or pinion seal? There's a suspected leak back there somewhere.

So, what other problems have people found that they overlooked when you picked up their FB?

wwilliam54

if ya gotta tow it
leave the back wheels on the ground and take off the driveshaft


nice find
wish my rex was in that good of shape

BTW FD-less have fun at ft.Irwin, and be glad your not going in the summer, its soooo friggin HOT!!!!

RotorMotorDriver

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, and then when you go to drive it again, check the tranny fluid as it can all come out the back...Or at least thats what I was told.

~T.J.

rotorbrain

i went to ft. irwin in june of last year. . . man, its nasty!!!! we were walking around with wet t-shirts wrapped around our heads until the post commander found out. haha.

paul

cletus

How bad is it to pull that driveshaft? If I end up having to go back down there again, I'll be doing it in a parking lot with just hand tools.

Crit, we ran into a snag though with this whole method. Daniel's truck doesn't have a hitch set up at all. Do you remember if all suburbans have hitches standard or were they an option? Avis rents them for not too bad a rate.......

And yes, I still have those Kuhmos. And you don't need to blow up the other ones first. Mine are already mounted and balanced on the same type of rim.

error402

GSL have rear disc brake, LSD, and no power steering. As for replacing the cover and/or pinion seal, it isn't difficult. I would recommend a Haynes manual if you can't get ahold of a factory service manual.

-Error402

cletus

I couldn't remember if the GSL had power steering or not. Good thing they don't because this car definitely did not . And oddly enough I still have a haynes manual and a FSM (for an '84 though)


Working on getting it back here still. Found a guy going down there with an Expedition in 2 weeks that sounds like he'd be willing to tow it back.