The new L series

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Sun Mar 11, 2012 1:07 pm

Here's the new addition to the family, hopefully will pass a RWC this week and be rego'd before too long.

Arriving home:

And in the shed for some work where it first met Ruby Scoo:

It's an '89 touring wagon without AC

, it's an MPFI

and it's auto

But it should do my sister well while she's at uni, and after that if Ruby Scoo's not looking too good this one will probably be the replacement I think

I just hope she doesn't stack it like she did with Baz...

The issue with it was that it had been run without oil for a short period. I've swapped the oil pump for a known good one with new seals - had some issues with it and have had it removed about three times to resolve an oil leak that turned out to be the crank shaft seal! We've had some fun with the cam belt tensioner bolts and the threads that hold the bolts in, these are now studs and we hope it will do the job.

Now she runs pretty smoothly but still has the dreaded lifter tick and it seems it's trying to scrub out the driver's side cam belt, I removed half a belt on the initial strip down! Dunno why it's doing this.

I got this as a mate's brother's girlfriend was getting rid of it and no one wanted to buy it so it was going to the scrapper/crusher which she didn't want to do. So $100 later and here she is. Originally from Tassie and driven by grand parents it was passed onto the grand daughter when they upgraded. So that makes us the third owner.

Very tidy unit with no rust! Garaged with the grandparents in tassie which I reckon has helped out heaps.

More to come on it slowly. I'll grab some better pics too

Cheers

Bennie

thunder039 · Post by **thunder039** » Sun Mar 11, 2012 1:25 pm

looks good pretty clean. would of been a shame to see it go to the scrap yard

RSR 555 · Post by **RSR 555** » Sun Mar 11, 2012 3:53 pm

Well saved Bennie

I'd be looking at the rear covers on the timing belts, as when these get out of shape they rub against the belt and wear it down.

As for the ticking.. you already know what will fix that

being EFI already, it's the perfect base

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Sun Mar 11, 2012 11:04 pm

oh, BUGGER.....

I was just off looking for my pics of my $100 '89 Touring Wagon mpfi 5 speed DR colour code 944 to upload and say

SNAP

but I just deleted them from my camera thinking I already had them in the PC , but apparently not ....

278,000km on it and it blew a gasket, blew some steam, still managed a possibly air cooled drive for 30 odd kms to get it home.

Would have been squashed last Wednesday morning

Looks like $100 is the going rate

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Sun Mar 11, 2012 11:06 pm

Yeah, now where are all those victims of your EJ it suggestions???

C'mon everyone - payback time !!

MTB92 · Post by **MTB92** » Sun Mar 11, 2012 11:15 pm

steptoe wrote:Yeah, now where are all those victims of your EJ it suggestions???

C'mon everyone - payback time !!

It will only make him do it, he wont be able to help himself!

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Mon Mar 12, 2012 12:23 am

RSR 555 wrote:I'd be looking at the rear covers on the timing belts, as when these get out of shape they rub against the belt and wear it down.

It's actually trying to run itself off the timing sprockets and has worn itself out rubbing on the back of the crank pulley. I've swapped both cam and crank sprockets but there's no change in the situation which I think is strange.

steptoe wrote:Looks like $100 is the going rate

I wouldn't mind a few more at this price

steptoe wrote:Yeah, now where are all those victims of your EJ it suggestions???

C'mon everyone - payback time !!

No payback needed. Re-read the section about the Ruby Scoo replacement... where do you think the parts in Ruby will end up???

MTB92 wrote:It will only make him do it, he wont be able to help himself!

One day... one day

But Ruby Scoo will have quite a bit left in her once I've got her back together! And Paul's on to it - Being EFI already makes it so much easier!

Cheers

Bennie

RSR 555 · Post by **RSR 555** » Mon Mar 12, 2012 3:18 am

El_Freddo wrote:It's actually trying to run itself off the timing sprockets and has worn itself out rubbing on the back of the crank pulley. I've swapped both cam and crank sprockets but there's no change in the situation which I think is strange.

It does sound strange, so maybe something like the tensioner is bent and not holding the belt straight, normally the tensioner has the outside (forward) anti-run off lip and the crank shaft timing gear has the inner (aft) one. Just check that they are all there and straight???

Cliff R · Post by **Cliff R** » Mon Mar 12, 2012 5:18 pm

Im still happy with the Nulon lifter free and tune up from Repco.
Been in my L series for about 1 thousand k's and all still OK

Post by **Alex** » Mon Mar 12, 2012 5:37 pm

Cliff R wrote:Im still happy with the Nulon lifter free and tune up from Repco.
Been in my L series for about 1 thousand k's and all still OK

yep that stuff works well.

good pick up Bennie! Look forward to seeing how you go with this gem.

alex

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Mon Mar 12, 2012 9:14 pm

Well here's a few more pics of the new girl in town:

^ No AC. Bummer.

^ 3 speed auto. Bummer.

^ Good colour I think.

^ Straight relatively rust free body. Awesome!

^ Clean interior.

(continued next post)

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Mon Mar 12, 2012 9:30 pm

Paul, here's a couple of pics of how the cam belt is tracking on the sprockets, tensioner up first:

And on the crank sprocket where the scrubbing occurs, you can also see on the cam cover plate that it's been wearing against that too (not photo'd):

I've finally got the oil leak sorted - I think it was the crank seal and not the oil pump

I took that bloody pump off three times to sort out the issue and had to end up getting a new seal for it as I stuffed the last one. Turned out a less than $7 seal was the culprit!

I've also shoved a 3mm bit of tube behind the pressure relief valve spring for extra pressure to make sure the oil is going where it needs to. When we did the initial start up it had two or three "death clacking" lifters. Once it warmed up and was revved a couple of times they must have bleed out the air as they're quite as now. I really wish I knew about the spacer trick earlier!

The problem now is this knocking sound we can hear now that the lifter noise has gone - the issue is that while it doesn't sound like a big end knock it definitely seems to be coming from the engine more so than the gearbox. It's really hard to tell. So I knocked up a video which really has made the noise pronounced more than we can hear it. This makes me think it is a big end. This subi had been driving for a short distance with the oil light flickering on from what I was told.

I've waited all day for this video to upload, it's short, not of a lot of interest to most but it would help me out if someone could confirm what it is exactly. We're hoping it's the gearbox and not the engine! I'm expecting some youtube hate for this video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKQ4QSRwBVk

We're hoping even if it's a big end knock that we'll be able to get it rego'd and deal with it then - my sister's "stolen" mum's car for uni even though she lives a 15 minute bike ride away...

Cheers

Bennie

PS: WTF's up with the hyperlink text below the video, I thought this was sorted??? Also while you're on youtube check out "don't hug me I'm scared" - welcome to the messed up side of youtube kids!

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Mon Mar 12, 2012 10:11 pm

Silverbullet Sam ready to scream out "end float" ?

Bennie, on the RHS strut tower front face, is a ceramic resistor in an alloy shield JECS - anyone know what it is ??

Original lead set, is that also a twin pulley alternator I see. Got one of those in my wagon - be a good un for my turbo that tends to squeal a belt with driving lights on at low revs

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Mon Mar 12, 2012 10:12 pm

this video is unavailable 11:12pm aedst 12.3.12

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Mon Mar 12, 2012 10:14 pm

steptoe wrote:this video is unavailable 11:12pm aedst 12.3.12

Yeah it took me about 11 hours to get onto youtube, it'll probably take another 11 hours for them to process it...

Patience my friend!

Cheers

Bennie

RSR 555 · Post by **RSR 555** » Wed Mar 14, 2012 9:36 am

I'm thinking the belts are wrong.. this is not in relation to the wearing but to the knocking sound. So I think you might kill 2 birds here.

When the engine is running, put a long solid piece of something on the dizzy cap and put your ear to the other end... if the noise is really loud then change the belts. I know this sounds weird but trust me, when the belts are fitted wrong these dizzy caps get really loud. The noise is backlash on the belts and I went through 5 dizzys trying to solve this noise for a customer many years ago. It wasn't till then that I asked when did the noise start.. they replied after the belts were fitted. They didn't want to buy a set of belts but I old them they could take the others back to the guy that fitted them and.. well.. best not say

The other thing that I think could be the flex plate on the converter.

revmax · Post by **revmax** » Wed Mar 14, 2012 3:12 pm

If it was a big end bearing, it would get quiter with increased oil pressure or be A LOT louder on start up.
Don't think it is a big end bearing.
The beats are too slow for big end bearing.

revmax · Post by **revmax** » Wed Mar 14, 2012 3:18 pm

Bennie.
I see a 493 filter on an EA82.
My bad sorry

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Wed Mar 14, 2012 3:25 pm

RSR 555 wrote:if the noise is really loud then change the belts. I know this sounds weird but trust me, when the belts are fitted wrong these dizzy caps get really loud. The noise is backlash on the belts and I went through 5 dizzys trying to solve this noise for a customer many years ago.

I like what you're saying, even if I don't like the work involved!

revmax wrote:If it was a big end bearing, it would get quiter with increased oil pressure or be A LOT louder on start up.
Don't think it is a big end bearing.
The beats are too slow for big end bearing.

That's what we were thinking too. I'm liking both of these answers, and I'm sure dad will too. We're not going to bother with the changing of the belts unless we really have to - she's in for a roadworthy today and I'm waiting to hear some news about what's going on as we'll have to go pick it up soonish I'd imagine.

The interesting thing I noted yesterday was that on start up the engine is dead quiet apart form a split second rattle as it fires up, it's not there when cranking and it's not there once the engine is rotating under it's own steam. And that' knock is not there either! But it comes as the oil and the engine warms up, there's no correlating vibration either. Our knowledge tells us that we would expect lots of noise on start up with the big end bearings being dry of oil then go quieter as the oil pressure picks up.

Finger's crossed she comes back with a big tick of approval on the RWC, I'll keep you posted (could be tomorrow as we've got a storm headed our way).

Cheers

Bennie

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Wed Mar 14, 2012 3:30 pm

revmax wrote:Bennie.
I see a 493 filter on an EA82.
The 493 has a 3/4 thread. The corect filter for the EA82 has a 20mm thread

Well I didn't know that! I'm not sure if this is the filter the previous owner's mechanic put on it or if dad changed it but it doesn't leak so we'll leave it for now and get the right one at the next oil change. I can't even remember the code for the oil filter, I should as it's practically used across the range of subi engines!

Cheers

Bennie