Time to take a break from work, and work on cars, especially the really nice one! Tonight, I just jacked the car up and spent some time looking around. Tomorrow will be the actual work (fluid changes and such).
Subframe connectors!
Looks like mufflers are in my future. This one is actually the better one; I wasn't able to get a good picture of the other, but it crunches when I push on it.
Here's a pic of the rear lower control arm:
Oh, and the speedometer mysteriously stopped working just a short while ago...
Don't know how easy that is to see, but the speedo cable is zip tied to the bracket, with the speedo gear just hanging out above the tranny. There's some kind of wad of cloth wedged into the speedo cable hole, which is leaking a good bit. That probably explains the whining. I hope it goes away with some new fluid, and there isn't real damage in there.
The speedo gear is also likely wrong. It's red, which looks like 21 teeth by LMR's catalog pics. I don't know what's in the tranny yet, but I either need a 17-tooth or 20-tooth gear with my current tires. Given how close it is, I suspect I've got a 7-tooth gear in the tranny. If so, I can run with that level of inaccuracy for now.
There's a good bit of oil coating things underneath closer to the front. I traced it to this:
Not sure what it is. If you're looking at the engine from the front of the car with the hood open, it's to the right, not too far from the power steering pump.
Overall, I'm pretty happy with what I'm seeing so far. The previous owner said he went over everything with a can of black Rustoleum, which seems to be doing the job keeping rust at bay. The exhaust looks to be in OK shape, except for the mufflers; one of them is welded in, so I might have to buy some more exhaust parts when the time comes to deal with that.
Tomorrow: oil and transmission fluid change, brake adjustment, and some attention to that speedo cable.
Last pic is your oil pressure sending unit.
Seems like a nice little setup you got there. Cam looks decent for little hci street car but not too radical at all
Thanks man I really appreciate that . Slowly the good days seem to be outweighing the badThanks a bunch. That sounds pretty close to perfection for me.
BTW, getting caught up and saw your thread, and wanted to send best wishes for a quick recovery.
A nice 85! As was mentioned with the alternator, the factory wiring is just an accident waiting for a chance to happen. Hopefully you took a good look at the big plug to make sure it was showing signs of heat. In stock form, the carb'd 85 doesn't have a lot of power draw, but as you have already seen the wiring is less than optimal when turn signals cause the voltmeter to tick in time with them. One way to easily upgrade your headlights is to buy a premade relay harness. You'll have to run a lead to the battery or starter solenoid and then plug into one low and one high beam. The relay harness is also really easy to make yourself if you're handy at all soldering. I wouldn't use crimp connectors...those are on a time limit to failure.
My wife thinks I'm crazy that I love this car with its cold starting and bumpy suspension and rattles and other weird things.
lol
My wife said something bout AC before she's rinding in it again
Beautiful interior. I've always liked the '79-'86 interior and dash layout much better than the '87-'93.The biggest plan: drive the snot out of it! It's really fairly good as it sits, and there's something to be said about just being able to drive a car you really like without constantly thinking of what you need to do to it.
That said, there are a few small projects that will need to happen soon:
- The "used car purchase fluid change" hasn't happened yet. I'll probably need to throw in a transmission fluid change on top of that to see if it helps the transmission whine any.
- The speedometer is completely dead. The previous owner said it had just stopped working recently, so I'm hoping this is something simple. It's got a fairly new speedo cable, so maybe it just didn't get tightened down or something.
- The aforementioned problems when the engine is still cold. I'm trying to learn as much as I can about pre-computer cars so I can try and fix those problems on my own, but we'll see how well that works out.
- The parking brake is almost nonexistent. This feels like a misadjusted cable; I can pull the lever up until it hits the center console, and it's only slightly engaged at that point.
- The headlights are a bit dim. They were a lot worse, but I bought new, stock bulbs. I've read that getting the high-output bulbs puts too much stress on the wiring, and that it's best to add a relay.
- Do something about the few rust spots that are there so they don't get worse. The most concerning bits are on the hatch and a spot of surface rust on the passenger frame rail.
- Speaking of the hatch, it's really difficult to shut. The bushing on the striker is completely gone, so I suspect that's the culprit.
Sweet car, love the overall look. I'm guessing the Bosch plug came out of the 7 hole. Just did my plugs last week, that one takes a little finesse.
lol
My wife said something bout AC before she's rinding in it again
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