What my L Series needs, what I've added

[2nd Hand Yank]

Have you got around to checking the ignition timing yet? Changing from 98 to 91 doesn't do justice to either fuels as you've not adjusted the timing appropriately, 91 will require less advance where as 98 thrives on more advance.

What you might have is an EA82 that's been tuned of 98 - without checking the timing you'll never know for sure, so 98 will always do better than 91.

Cheers

Bennie

No have not checked the timing, or installed my tach.

Be weird if it was tuned for 98, as the last owner (of 8-10 months?) who was a backpacker, claims he used 91 octane.

I can't make more power on 91 octane with timing adjustments, can I?

What is the best combination for maximum distance-to-empty?

If I can get even 5km more per tank on 95 or 98, with more power too,
I don't think I want it tuned for 91...
unless I've been missing out on the potential of 91 with poor timing.

That might explain why it detonates like a SOB from a stop, if I don't take off easily.

[NachaLuva]

No have not checked the timing, or installed my tach.

Be weird if it was tuned for 98, as the last owner (of 8-10 months?) who was a backpacker, claims he used 91 octane.

I can't make more power on 91 octane with timing adjustments, can I?

hell yeah!!! Timing makes a HUGE difference. Not enough advance you lose power, economy; too much you get pinging & damaged engine if bad enough

I'm so glad i have an ECU, it automatically adjusts the timing for any given fuel/circumstances, ie, throttle position, load, temperature, etc. If you think about it the ECU even adjusts for air pressure by using max advance until detonation lol

I love the outdoors too.
Interesting that you were involved in animal rescue.
Was it after a particular event, or are you involved with that on a regular basis.

I started after the Black Saturday bushfires but just kept doing it. Some animals were still in care 8mths later!

[apg39]

Not sure if it's worth anything to you but I got a timing light off eBay, $40 + free express postage. Usual auto shops wanted $80+ for it.

Should arrive early next week.

[2nd Hand Yank]

* Timing checked and it's fine.
* Compression checked; 120psi on all cylinders, but #4 is 125psi

Spark plugs changed and my trip odometer is sitting at...468km?!?
I wanted to change my plugs earlier just in case, and now I wish I had.
Oh well, they're changed now and I have 468 on the odo yet my fuel level is still above "red"
If that is not a fluke, then I have gained another 50-70km/tank just by swapping plugs.

[TOONGA]

It wasn't a fluke, Im pretty sure the plugs that you had in that motor, which now reside in my rubbish bin were well used (to be nice)

Remember as well I gave the carby a quick internal clean with a fair bit of carby clean. (while it was running)

It is good to see the economy has improved I will be interested to see if the next tank is as good or better when you go to 98

TOONGA

[NachaLuva]

What did the plugs look like? They are an exc indicator of whats going on inside the cylinders....

[2nd Hand Yank]

It wasn't a fluke, Im pretty sure the plugs that you had in that motor, which now reside in my rubbish bin were well used (to be nice)

Remember as well I gave the carby a quick internal clean with a fair bit of carby clean. (while it was running)

It is good to see the economy has improved I will be interested to see if the next tank is as good or better when you go to 98

TOONGA

Thanks TOONGA.

I forgot the carby clean. That probably did as much, if not more to increase my fuel economy.

Yeah, my trip odo reads something like 519-530km and it is in the read, but barely not flatlined.
The last time I had the fuel gauge that low, I had about 465 km on the odo.

What's even more impressive is TOONGA helped me with the plugs
and carby cleaner when my trip odo was already at 285 km.

At work, we have a 2wd Triton manual trans work truck, maybe 5 years old.
It used to impress me with torque and acceleration compared to Donk.
Lately it doesn't seem much better than Donk.
I suspect without detonation I might be able to match the Triton.

In the condition I bought my L Series,
this Triton work truck probably accelerated twice as fast.
Short "distance-to-empty" was one of the reasons I was considering an EJ swap.

[2nd Hand Yank]

What did the plugs look like? They are an exc indicator of whats going on inside the cylinders....

Just had grey "dust" on them. Somewhat heavyish build up.
I know that black deposits means "rich" and "white" means lean.
The gaps had probably closed a little due to deposits, (0.8mm with deposits?)
plus they might not have been gapped at 1.0-1.1mm as recommended for models with a catalytic converter.

[2nd Hand Yank]

Oddly,
I don't notice an obvious increase in power,
however my motor sounds a lot smoother.

It took 47.44 L to fill up, and I had 529km on my trip odo.

You know what that means; well under 10L/100km!
I calculated that at 8.96L/100km.
Some of this was wasted economy; idling, revving while testing etc.
So I should expect similar, if not better economy now on most fillups.

Last weekend after TOONGA had worked on my car I took it for a spin.
It knocked bad at low RPM, but also starting knocking again at 90km/h in 3rd gear.
This time I was able to hold it in 3rd gear up to 100-105km/h with no obvious signs of knocking.

I have no idea what RPM I was spinning at.
I REALLY want a tachometer installed.
I think I read somewhere that you can hold gears up to speeds that seemed ridiculous,
so I was just going by the way the motor sounded.
If I had to guess, in 3rd @ 100 km/h is somewhere around 5500rpm.

[El_Freddo]

If I had to guess, in 3rd @ 100 km/h is somewhere around 5500rpm.

I think you're smack on the mark with that. Ruby Scoo's got the big boots on at the moment so I can't test this for you...

Cheers

Bennie

[2nd Hand Yank]

Not a problem.
At least the motor sounds like it sustained no damage from the high revs.
I want to look at the owners manual now. Maybe make up a "rev/speed card."

[2nd Hand Yank]

I would like to find some better 8mm hole expandable (broader at the end) fasteners for the front grille insert.
The factory plastic ones have mashed ends where the screw driver goes...

Or just replace them with new ones.

I tried to get some "cover nuts" to fit over the metal tabs from SuperCheap Auto today,
but they were a bit too long and sitting crooked.
Worse, I ended up scratching some of the paint trying to remove them
when I found out I didn't like them.
Added some Lanolin spray to all affected surfaces, so hopefully no extra rust.

I would like this so I can have access to the fly-screen that protects my radiator.
I'd like to give it a regular clean out, so my radiator breathes better.

[2nd Hand Yank]

I'm also wondering if it'd make sense to buy a bigger radiator,
though I don't have any extra room between the motor and the radiator.

Ideally it would mount the same way but stick out towards the bumper no more than 8mm,
so I can keep the original plumbing (air-con is 8mm wrapped aluminium tube?) intact.

My current radiator is about 64 cm wide too, so that may be an issue if bigger radiators are also wider.

My EA82 gets to operating temperature quite easily when its above 20 C
so I'm curious what will happen when I make it work hard with air above 30 C.

Both of my electrical fans work, and they appear to have thickish gauge wire.

Subarino recommended 4-mil wire to me, for my fans and headlights.
How do I measure the wire that's there for comparison?
I don't want to add 4-mil wire if it's already there, or nearly as big.

[El_Freddo]

I would like to find some better 8mm hole expandable (broader at the end) fasteners for the front grille insert.
The factory plastic ones have mashed ends where the screw driver goes...

My grill is held in by two of those plastic screw things, but they're buggered so the grill isn't 100& secure. I've also run around without any fastening screws without an issue of it moving or falling out.

I'm also wondering if it'd make sense to buy a bigger radiator,
though I don't have any extra room between the motor and the radiator.

I've got a three core - a custom radiator will always cost you more. The problem with a bigger radiator is that it will hold more energy and takes longer to dissipate, it will take longer for the engine to trigger the thermo fans and it will take the thermo fans longer to remove the heat and click off. Not a bad thing but when you want a hot heater it can be.

The three core is too big, if I had the money I would try out a 2 core or even a single all copper/brass radiator to see how it would go. I've got bugger all space between the radiator and the EJ - I've already moved the engine back 10mm, not ideal but it does the job and I've had to use 3 thermo fans to place them around the spinning components of the EJ engine front. It was fun and games but I've got it sorted now.

Next to look into for me is a bonnet vent to get the heat out from under there. I've found low speed high load driving traps the air under the bonnet - it's rather hard to move hot air unless you're moving at pace. A bonnet vent should allow the hot air to go where it naturally wants to - up. I'll get there one day with that one, hopefully sooner rather than later.

Cheers

Bennie

[2nd Hand Yank]

My grill is held in by two of those plastic screw things, but they're buggered so the grill isn't 100& secure. I've also run around without any fastening screws without an issue of it moving or falling out.

Nice to know
but I'd still like to replace the originals, so I can clean the fly screen regularly.

I've got a three core - a custom radiator will always cost you more. The problem with a bigger radiator is that it will hold more energy and takes longer to dissipate, it will take longer for the engine to trigger the thermo fans and it will take the thermo fans longer to remove the heat and click off. Not a bad thing but when you want a hot heater it can be.

The three core is too big, if I had the money I would try out a 2 core or even a single all copper/brass radiator to see how it would go. I've got bugger all space between the radiator and the EJ - I've already moved the engine back 10mm, not ideal but it does the job and I've had to use 3 thermo fans to place them around the spinning components of the EJ engine front. It was fun and games but I've got it sorted now.

Next to look into for me is a bonnet vent to get the heat out from under there. I've found low speed high load driving traps the air under the bonnet - it's rather hard to move hot air unless you're moving at pace. A bonnet vent should allow the hot air to go where it naturally wants to - up. I'll get there one day with that one, hopefully sooner rather than later.

Cheers

Bennie

I can see how 3-core is overkill. I think TOONGA runs a dual core on his EJ22. I never thought about it taking longer to cool down, once hot. My radiator is perfect for cold winter mornings. Operating temperature in about 5 minutes, heat is warm in 1-2 minutes. Makes me wonder if anyone's thought of a "selectable core" radiator, so you can modify the flow depending on what conditions you're running by swapping some external plumbing.

My thermo fans already run for quite a while, especially my aftermarket fan.

I noticed the same! Far-forward placement of the motor makes the front of the bonnet very hot. A vent would be ideal, especially if you could select when it opens.

[2nd Hand Yank]

I finally got a wheel alignment done, and added a new steering part. (tie-rod end? there was 2-3mm play from a worn bushing) My car's steering definitely feels firmer and my passenger-side rear wheel is definitely straighter, only it still has a faint toe out. (bottom of tyre slightly outboard; less drastically now) The driverside rear appears to have a slight toe-inwards (bottom inboard). My car still tracks to the passenger side when I let go of the steering wheel. I'm used to what a new car is like (08' Civic) after a wheel alignment; adjust the wheel maybe every 200-300 metres to go straight! (:mrgreen:) But my L Series needs some adjustment every 20-30 metres to go straight. Or slight pressure turning right. The place that did the alignment also specializes in re-bending of suspensions on 4x4's. The reciept did not indicate the measured correction of their alignment.

Is this tendancy wanting to go to the passenger side inherent in my L Series, or at least maybe since it's been "beaten" over its life, this is just what it will do without major overhaul?

I would rate the combined improvement of the tie-rod end and wheel alignment at 60-75% improvement over what it was, though I'd hoped for a bigger difference.

[2nd Hand Yank]

I was thinking a car cover might be the best way to keep the interior cool when there's no shade. Something not too expensive and easy to put on and remove, perhaps attached by bungee cords on 4 corners? This would be especially desireable for things like camping, or even just a long day in the car park on a very hot summer day.

Any ideas?

[Wagonman]

The tendancy to go to the left is generally due to the camber of the road. Try driving in the centre of the road (preferrably with no on coming traffic ) let go of the wheel and see if it still wants to go that way.. the wheel 'ideally' should stay central and the car drives straight and try it a few times. If you let go off the wheel and it immediately starts wandering left every time it may not be right.

I do wheel alignments fairly often and sometimes even near new cars with all the right specs, tyre pressures and weight distribution etc.. just dont wanna drive straight.

Also when you were saying about you tyres being bottom inboard and outboard, just for clarification, are you saying the bottom of the tyre is closer to the car than the top? if so, that is called camber. Toe is when front of the tyre is closer to the car or vice versa..

My explianation is pretty nasty and broad.. a picture says a a thousand words

[tony]

take it back to the wheel alignment people it should not be such a pronounced pull, my L series never showed any strong tendency and the tyres had long wear life.
my wife's new suzuki swift had a pronounced left pull and you could see the nibs on the new tyres wearing unevenly, premier motors swore it was perfect and 'fixed' it by pumping the tyre pressures up. (done less than 1000k)
took it to a good alignment shop and they printed out a sheet showing the alignment was all over the place, they had to adjust by up to 5 degrees.
cost $60 but worth it. premiers didn't want to know about it.
there is a natural tendency to pull left because of the camber but not by that much.

Also i don't see why a bigger radiator would be a problem, the generation of heat in an engine will take a radiator up no matter how big. the thermostat is there to prevent water circulating and works no matter how big the radiator is. if you had a 1000 litre capacity it would still heat up eventually.
engines put out a lot of heat.
in wa i would run the biggest radiator i could, especially considering the hot weather here.my l series ran on 1/2 to 3/4 all the time and overheated easily at speed with the air con on.
the last motor i put in ran at just on 1/4, was a lot better.

The tendancy to go to the left is generally due to the camber of the road. Try driving in the centre of the road (preferrably with no on coming traffic ) let go of the wheel and see if it still wants to go that way.. the wheel 'ideally' should stay central and the car drives straight and try it a few times. If you let go off the wheel and it immediately starts wandering left every time it may not be right.

I do wheel alignments fairly often and sometimes even near new cars with all the right specs, tyre pressures and weight distribution etc.. just dont wanna drive straight.

Also when you were saying about you tyres being bottom inboard and outboard, just for clarification, are you saying the bottom of the tyre is closer to the car than the top? if so, that is called camber. Toe is when front of the tyre is closer to the car or vice versa..

My explianation is pretty nasty and broad.. a picture says a a thousand words

[2nd Hand Yank]

Yes my problem is camber for the rear tyres,
but I don't know how that affects my vehicle's tracking.

My driverside tyre bottom is inboard slightly. Is this wrong too?