magregor

Sounds nice!

I finished putting my gas tank back together...had to wire brush grind the entire tank, solder on a new vent pipe, resealed the sending unit...chipped all the rust off the ass end of the frame, found a few holes.......ahh well...so, dropped the exhaust, stripped rear frame, ground and sprayed some weld-through primer...off to the metal scrap yard to pick up some steel to fix the @#%$ frame... THAT was my day

20 bucks for a wire harness adapter at Canadian Tire

It's easy to "undercoat" a frame, but the design of a "boxed frame" is a poor design right from the get-go...It is more difficult to maintain the inner part of the frame and keep it from rusting from the inside out. Most certainly climate and road maintenance is a large contributor to how vehicles rust... As for this lawsuit? Well, I can't believe this woman would go after a car manufacturer with a 14 year old vehicle! I agree with Jeenyus on this one...

I think that even though the thread is long, that may mean that there is a lot of interest in how to troubleshoot issues as they come...I think you are doing a fantastic job and I think I can speak for all who have viewed/replied to this thread...I enjoy monitoring your progress/regress all through this project! Keep it up Doc! Is all I have to say!

I saw something in one of your pics doc...maybe this is where the coolant is coming from? If you look at the pic that has the bottom edge of the water pump in it (second pic), it seeems wet along there...see if you can squeeze down there and look at the bottom edge of the waterpump...

If you look at all the pics posted...it isn't the leafs flexing, it is the links that support the leafs. If you do it up right with leaf springs (adding long, well-pivoting links) your suspension will flex well. Coils just compress and decompress...the lighter the wire gauge, the more coils in the design and if you throw in variable rate, you will have a better, softer flex than leafs...just my 2 cents worth..

the soundfx has a dual out tailpipe dude...yours is single

yours is the quiet flow...

Oh, Doc, I just recently changed the oil pan in my '95 and it isn't an overwhelming job...the only tricky part about the whole project is getting the front diff in and out of the truck. It is a feat that would require an extra set of hands getting the front diff in place. I did it by myself, but wished I had an extra set of hands. If you decide to do it, let me know...I can help (in the forum of course!)

I find that just getting a universal cold air kit from ebay or similar for whatever...I did one for my Optra that was designed for a Honda Civic and it just needed to be modified a bit. I made a small setup for my old '95 I used to have by taking apart the stock intake box, "modifying" (I love that word!) the air flow sensor mount to accommodate the 3" aluminum tube that I had kicking around, used a couple silicone couplers and clamps...fabricated a mount to hold the pipe/filter in place and presto. You can also get a "condom" for the cone-style filters that resist water. They just slide tightly over the cone filter and keep water from damaging the filter.

I think there are oil filter relocation kits you can get so you can have the filter in a much easier location to change, etc.

My 2 cents worth is...if you go cheap, it could cost you close to 3k for rebuilt heads/valves, etc... for the difference in price for oem and aftermarket...I would go oem...just my thoughts

Another way of installing the seal is getting a piece of plastic from a margarine container, cutting it in a rectangle, rolling it into a cylinder shape and wetting it with oil...you put it inside the seal and then shove the seal over the cylinder you fabricated with the margarine container. presto! I used that method a couple times to get the seal to go over a machined lip and it seams to work out ok...

dido on that one for sure...It may have thrown out the alignment making it run a bit pigeon-toed...

you won't get dumped on by any oil The oil is well below the crank (recently changed my oil pan)...The WD21's have a nice deep oil pan so no worries!

Compressor should be set to cut out at 120-150 psi for an impact to work efficiently and have a constant flow of 13-17 cfm.

I think that is all I need to complete my backyard garage is a decent sandblaster...Maybe for X-Mas!

I would leave the holes for sure! Best thing to do is once you start cutting the frame and repairing it...try and get as much of the flakes and build-up out of the inside of the frame, just to help drainage. It is also a help to find some way to wash out the inside of the frame with a water hose or compressed air or something....you could cover over the side holes (I did) and leave the ones on the bottom for drainage.

Hey Chaos, I bought my first one almost a year ago and spent an entire winter rebuilding the whole frame. It was in worse shape than yours appears to be...Adamzan can vouch for the hours I spent underneath it...What I did first thing (if you have a hammer, wire brush and disc grinder, 1/8" plate steel, and a 60+ amp flux core mig welder or equivalent) is took out the rear diff and drive shaft, gas tank and exhaust. This made it easier to get at the spots you ARE going to find on the inside of the frame! I took a chipping hammer (or a good ball pean hammer) and started banging the frame. once I swept up the 5 gallons or so of rust flakes, I used a wire brush cup and put it on my grinder and start cleaning the frame up really good. I also lifted the body about 3' off the frame so I could get all around...(do it right the first time or it will come back and bite you in the ass). If you don't want to lift the body off, it is going to be difficult to get the metal welded in properly... I used Bristol board and a marker to trace out any sections of the frame that needed to be repaired and then transferred to plate steel. I don't have the luxury of a plasma cutter, so I went through A LOT of cutting discs on my grinder! I had no issues using a flux core welder to penetrate the 1/8" plate, as long as you have the wire speed down low and the welder set at the highest power setting. Make sure you make the repair metal at least 1/3rd larger than the hole so you know you are getting good metal to weld to. Once I finished repairing the frame, I bought a gallon of Tremclad Flat black and brushed the entire frame. Then Undercoated the whole frame and underside of the body with rubberized asphalt undercoating. This is all good advice for a mechanically inclined, welder savvy, backyard hobby mechanic...if you are none of the above...see if there is a local shop in your area that could tackle it. I feel your pain though...it took me 3-4 months of just puttering in my garage to fix the frame...I had 2 quotes of $2500+ to have it fixed at a shop...so it may be a good time to learn from us guys on the forum who have been there!

Well...White with Forest Green hood and tailgate! (off another Pathy)...Hood soon to be flat black and tailgate going to be painted white to match the rest (With Spray Bombs of course!)

Is it recommended to resurface the flywheel when replacing the clutch? I have replaced clutches in FWD cars in the past and not resurfaced the flywheel, but...it would probably extend the life of the clutch???

I like Bristol board or cereal boxes/file folders for making templates...it may be a bit more flimsy, but it is alot easier to shape due to the lack of corrugated material between. I use it to make mock-ups for sheet metal work, frame repair, etc. it's great!

That's what I figured...Putting some oil in it this week and going to run test before muscling in the front diff...just in case! Not like it isn't any easier getting the pan out, but...ya know...

It was actually gray RTV...I ended up using Black RTV tonight and it went in nice...true test will be once I get it fired up and warmed up some...plan to do that BEFORE I wedge that diff in for sure! Painted oil pan Tremclad red and all the surrounding parts grey, so if it does leak, it should be easy to identify...I have confidence that I put on a nice even bead surrounding the pan and also did a little extra on the 4 corners of the crank humps to make sure it was tight. It squeezed out well...will post pics tomorrow