'86 FWD path to daily driver

[ARCHINSTL]

JackWagon - check out this thread - it's lengthy, but details my efforts on the cowl.
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=2312&hilit=drain
Tom M.

[JackWagon]

Thank you, very similar experience it seems. The junction of the roof line drip edge (as it comes down the left and right side of the windshield) and the cowl was plugged for me as well and it took upwards of an hour to clean it all.
I had some surface rust to sand back, mostly on the arm that connects to the wiper.
I've added another step to the cowl-cleaning after digging around; when I pull the wheels to inspect the brakes, I'm also going to remove the wheel well liners.

[JackWagon]

Done with the roof line trim! It clogs with dirt and pine needles and with the dark blue color - I don't miss it. With lighter color schemes it looks very nice painted black, but I'm sick of fighting to make it look better. Off seems a better solution for me. (I will be reinstalling the rear passenger black trim ornament, so the holes in the pic will be covered up.)
I'm not going to throw it out but I need to figure out the best way to ship it should someone else be interested. Ideas?

[rer233]

Ship it in a piece of pvc pipe??

[JackWagon]

A pipe might work, the box my window regulator came in was pretty big, maybe it can coil just a bit. I'll keep pondering

Finally able to paint the hatch. Been wanting to do this since day 1. I spent about an hour wet sanding over the past couple of days. 400, 600, then 2000. Tonight I used plastic prep, then sand free. It got at least 5 light coats because there wasn't that much left in the can so I used every last bit

[JackWagon]

Work on the cowl has left a few to-do items, but for now I need move on. The rust in a couple places will get Por-15 eventually
The screens are back on after soaking. They had algae and moss so a spritz of a mild bleach solution cured that ailment
The wiper arms were cleaned up and painted. I bought new sidesaddle wiper screws via eBay
The long rubber gasket took several days to clean. It was so stiff that I could just about hold it out straight like a stick. I used a tooth brush and Griots rubber cleaner with warm water; over and over. At the ends though, I had to use a little sand paper to remove the rust and dried pollen. Then a splash of rubber prep before shin etsu grease. (Its a white lithium grease from Honda)
The window washer spray line was missing the rubberized gasket on one side. Gasket may not be the right word but I found 2" window stripping at Home Depot that seems to cover the hole through the cowl as a decent substitute. It'll keep water from dripping down from the cowl into the engine from around the washer spigot. Now that everything is cleaned out - that washer pump is serious!

[JackWagon]

Found this note on my wagon over the weekend. Kinda funny

[dlb]

wow, all your detailing has caught someone's eye. i can't wait to see pics of the whole car once you're finished with it. it's going to be crazy clean.

[irowiki]

Call him, refer him to the forum, and maybe he'll find one to buy here.

[JackWagon]

I haven't had much to post because I've been driving it to work everyday; not tinkering as much. I've put about 250 miles on it since Feb. the fuel gauge is still working, the electric fan is kicking on and the temp gauge is working, brakes are good, e-brake holds, it takes me awhile to get to 60mph, but I don't drive on the freeway much. It's kinda impossible to be an aggressive driver which is kinda funny to me. The original wheels have been bugging me so this weekend I painted them with an Eastwood aerosol steel wheel paint just to cover up the scratches.

[dlb]

have you been keeping track of your fuel economy? i'm curious what a 2wd wagon gets. my last 4wd tercel averaged 14 km/L (33 mpg) so i'm imagining a 2wd should average 15+ km/L (35+ mpg).

[irowiki]

My auto 87 fwd gets high 20's but we're high altitude, hills, having to drive aggressively due to bad drivers and long distances so we've never been able to get a proper test, plus I think the carb runs too rich.

The auto is just geared so bad.

My 83sr5 gets low 30s been tempted to swap carbs

Do you have auto or manual, Jack?

[dlb]

My 83sr5 gets low 30s been tempted to swap carbs

low 30's on a 4wd sounds good to me. why swap carbs?

[irowiki]

Put the good carb in the fwd that I drive for the summer and see how the mpg does.

[dlb]

oh i see! as in the carb getting low 30s in the 4wd is good , so put it in the 2wd to see how it affects its fuel economy. got it.