mws

Physics lesson: Torsion bars have a linear spring rate. Cranking them will not make them any stiffer or cause them to sag any sooner.

Of course, some of us would say a stiffer suspension may be a downgrade rather than an upgrade.... I know it has been common/popular to have a stiff, uncomfortable ride on 4x4 trucks. But I for one sure don't understand why. I much prefer a compliant, flexible suspension that follows the terrain and maintains as much traction as possible. The only time I would stiffen is if I am bottoming it out on a regular basis.

Whoa... this is the first I've ever heard of it. There is something uniquely errant in your rig. I also immediately thought of a too-short T-Bar. Measure those puppies first. And make sure all clips are there. And there sockets are clean and all splines are undamaged. Check the compression rod and it's bushing while you're there. And all the rest of the suspension parts. ANYTHING loose or damaged that will let the lower control arm move forward would be a problem. It should be constrained to move only up and down, never fore and aft. The TM kit is designed to maintain the same geometry, so the mere presence should not be a factor. BUT, if any of the brackets are bent or somehow mis-installed or deflecting, that would be a problem. Make sure all of the drop brackets are damage free, sticking straight down and tight. Take pictures for us as well. I suspect something is very wrong, and there is a possibility it could be pretty serious. I would be making resolution of this a pretty darned high priority if it were my rig!

That's the bypass hose. It is rarely replaced when people replace radiator hoses, so it is not uncommon for them to eventually fail due to neglect. Unfortunately, it is a bit of a, ahem, bear to do. Slick did a nice (and colorful, as I recall) write up on it in the past. I did mine as PM while I was doing the timing belt and water pump so it wasn't nearly so bad. Most of us just get a generic formed (tight right angle) hose at Napa. Bring in the old one, match the ID, and then cut the ends to the right lengths.

I've read that article as well, and I agree they have some valid theories. BUT, I have measured rotors that were warped. And I have seen rotors warp suddenly after "professional" tire wranglers installed wheels with 688 lb-ft impact wrenches.

Dude, do you ever think before speaking? That makes as much sense as telling a person with a fever they must have rabies because you know a guy that had rabies and they had a fever....

I would consider this time to consider a UJM swap... Be DONE with it.

There are a whole of possibilities. NOT unique to Pathy's, of course. All vehicles are subject to these. In addition to GhostPath's suggestions, I'll add: - Bent wheel - Worn steering box - Loose/bent control arm pivot - Worn/torn bushing in front suspension (upper control arm, lower control arm, compression/tension arm) - Worn/torn bushing in REAR suspension (yes, damage in rear can make the front feel funny) - Loose anything - Collision damage - bent something somewhere I usually start by doing a simple tire rotation. If symptoms change, suspect something in wheel or tire. If not, I have reduced the possible sources and then start checking and eliminating all other suspects one by one. If sounds like too many suspects to tackle, take to a GOOD alignment shop (ie, not a CHEAP) shop and have them help diagnose it. Collect and communicate as many symptoms as possible, just as you did here.

Changing the rod requires removing the rod bolts. Which means dropping the oil pan. Which raises the PITA factor. A lot. As much as I love my pathies, I really disliked pulling the engine - definitely not one of the easiest vehicles to pull engines from. Things are tight in there. Do you have any idea when the theoretical water ingestion occurred? If it has been run for thousands of miles like this, it could likely go thousands more. These things are tough! I would suggest NOT revving it to redline... If the rod is bent, it will add a little imbalance. So failure would be more likely at higher RPM.

Weird... how much lower than the others is it? If you know the engine has definitely never been repaired (new rod or new piston) and it was not making scary knocking noises, then the only thing I could think of is exactly what Aaron said - a bent rod. Which would make me nervous.

jpawela: About the only disadvantages to body lift are: - If more than 2", you MAY have troubles getting the transfer case lever to go into 4Lo without modifying lever or floor. - Raises center of gravity (but much less so than with suspension lift) - Bumpers do not move with body. Need to move them seperately. - Exposes the frame rails below body. Exposes gaps inside fenderwells. That may bother some folks. - (Obviously) does not provide any additional ground clearance.... From what you describe you want, I would definitely recommend body lift.

If you're going for every last 1/10 of hp, you want an experienced pro to do the porting along with valve work.. If you're just looking for a noticeable improvement while retaining stock valve sizes, you can do it yourself. I have done several "clean ups" and have always been delighted with the results! The key is moderation and common sense. Hogging out a lot of material usually results in flow stagnation and loss of power. But if just removing all sharp transitions, gently radiusing sharp corners, and port matching? You can do that and get 80% of the benefits of a full tilt flow benched professional job. Have a machinist do a nice 3 angle valve job and then follow JJ's lead and clean up the ports. Also, many experts do not recommend polishing intake ports anymore. Polish exhausts, but leave a matte finish (fine sanding drum finish) on intakes. This reduces fuel puddling and improves power.

I've heard valid recommendations for both approaches... It really depends on whether the the warping was due to the rotor having residual stresses from manufacturing that have now been released (in which case turning will fix them) or if they warped because you induced uneven heat stresses (in which case turning will not fix). But I might have a couple suggestions for minimizing the risk of future incidents: 1) Use an accurate torque wrench and follow factory specs when installing lug nuts. Overtorquing or uneven torquing of lug nuts can warp disks. Some designs are more sensitive to this than others. 2) Don't hold brakes clamped at a stop after they've gotten hot. If you've been driving hard, or stopped from higher speeds, the rotors and pads are going to be hot - seriously hot. If you come to a complete stop and just sit there, the part of the rotor not under the pads starts cooling quickly due to the ambient air. The section under the pad? Well, it is being insulated by searing hot insulative brake pads. So it stays much hotter much longer. This leads to thermal stress within the rotor and warping. So after you come to a stop after heavy brake usage, let the vehicle creep forward a foot or two every 10 to 15 seconds to expose that hot spot and even out the temperatures in the rotor. Just a couple creeps will reduce chance of warping dramatically. If you have been prone to stop hard and then not creep, I would guess you induced heat stresses and I would recommend replacing. If you don't, then I would suspect residual manufacturing stresses releasing and turning may work well for them.

Given the two symptoms - Low reading on gauge AND minimal heat coming out of core, it indicates the engine is truly not getting up to operating temp. If it was one or the other, I would suspect something in gauge circuit or the heater core. But both? How's the fuel economy? I'm suspecting a bit low due to cold engine enrichening circuit is still partially engaged. I'd bet serious cash on the thermostat. Little blue was very slow to heat up. Previous owner had just had the thermostat replaced, so it was assumed good. But the data disagreed. So we replaced it. The old one was installed with what looked to be about 1/2 a tube of silicone.... Farking "professional" mechanics.... I suspect the root cause was the thermostat being held open by all that goo sqeezed into housing. I have also seen some thermostats with rather generously sized bypass holes.

Some say Pezzy has a nice looking "one" as well....

Yup, start there. If that doesn't do it, start inspecting grounds.

Received a VERY prompt response from the director of technical sales at Grant and we had a very good discussion about it. Bottom line, we agree the likely root cause is that the pin in the steering column that wipes on the copper ring is worn (over 220K miles) down enough to have a very sharp corner and it is scraping the grease off and then skiving the copper off - hence the abnormally fast wear. I'm going to take a file or sandpaper and "break" the corners to see if it works. These pins are usually a bullet nose shape when new, so I think returning it back to this shape will make a huge difference.

Anybody else have problems with the horn contact ring (the copper surface on the fiberglass plate) wearing through on the Grant adapter? Mine did in less than 10K miles. Kinda dissapointing. I will be contacting Grant to see about replacement.

OWT. Old wives tale... With one caveat. Years ago, some really cheap dino oils had minimal if any detergents in their additive package and were quite prone to leaving sludge deposits - especially if oil changes were neglected. Synthetic oils almost always contain the manufacturers' best additive packages - including the best detergents. So if you have an old abused engine with lots of gunk deposits, the good additive package will begin doing its job and remove all that gunk. If the gunk was plugging up worn/ruined seals and gaskets, well, a leak would get worse. So if the vehicle has been well taken care of and you've been using good quality name brand oils all along, you will NOT see any leaks developing.

The stock fan moves a pretty generous amount of air - more than (almost) all of the electric fans available. And more than a pathy should ever need. If you are overheating with stock fan, I would start looking at other causes. An electric fan is not going to help. Radiator in poor condition? Water pump worn? Head gasket leak? Blockages in block or hoses?

Yup, definitely sounds like a "lack of anti-seize" issue. Not a "Bosch" issue.

Yes, they will. And if you use the 300ZX turbo studs, I think the chances of breakage go to near zero (assuming you don't overtorque them).

Just a couple notes: - wrapped headers tend to rust worse as the wrap can trap moisture - You can coat headers yourself - not exactly the same as Jet-Hot, but arguably better. And a whole lot cheaper. I used Black Satin and have 0 flaking, fading, rust on the set I did for Frankenvan. And they look fantastic! Sandblast to get rough surface, spray, carefully heat cure by running engine. I did the sandblasting and painting in front yard, hanging from a tree (my neighbors love me....) I used a standard automotive touch up gun to spray. http://www.techlinecoatings.com/Exhaust.htm Not sure if any coating can be applied over chrome, so if you want to coat yourself or have Jet Hot do it, get the headers in raw steel. That's what I did with Frankenvan. They were a special build from Thorley and I then had to add a few more bungs and stuff, so I had them ship them in raw steel so I could weld on what I needed and then coated them.

Fixed! Thanks again for the schematic, Yozsi. It was incredibly helpful. Eliminated circuits one by one (cut out of existing fuse circuit and attached to a new, separate fuse) and found it was related to transmission interlock/sensor switches. Started crawling around under there, and found a section of wiring harness that was running very near exhaust pipe. Judging by debris and witness marks, it appears the harness running back to transmission got a little snagged during an off road excursion and pulled taught. When the engine would torque over, the pipe would touch the harness - it eventually melted off the insulation and would then cause an intermittent short when engine torqued over clockwise and touched exposed conductor. Re-insulated everything and tied it up thoroughly, seems to be just dandy now!

I have not had any problems with any of our power windows yet, so I do not know the exact answer. However, on most vehicles, repairs involve replacing either the regulator assembly (which is the arm, big partial gear, and bracket) or the motor assembly (which usually includes the motor, all other gears, and housing). It is not that often you can purchase just single gears. I have only encountered one exception, and that was on a Ford that stripped gears on such a frequent basis they are still mass producing them 15 years later...