Taza's $300 L-Series

I need to continue and finish the journal for my Forester but I will start one for this anyway.

While the Foz is being repared (new gearbox, engine work, subaxtreme bullbar fitment and finish off the supercharger) I bought a cheap L-Series from gumtree.
Cost $300 and its a 91 L-series Sportswagon, 230,000km on the clock, smooth gearbox, engine runs really well but dies on idle and doesn't blow any smoke at all! The body is in great condition for a car thats 21years old. A few dents but can all be popped out.
No rust at all, and barely any on the exhaust.

Needs a new front CV, has a small oil leak (not going to fix it), 3 bald tyres, engine dies on idle, temp guage doesn't work and no stereo or immobilser..

Just gotta do a few things to get it over the pits and she should be running and road licenced for about $500!!!

The ad on gumtree

My house

 

[El_Freddo]

Believe me that wont happen. Us poor uni students cant afford an engine conversion on a project car.

Well believe me when I say that you're not trying hard enough! I build ruby while I was at uni! You use your spare time to either work for cash in hand or you go hunting for those "specials" as you put all the parts together. Then you do all the work yourself and you keep the costs to a minimum.

It's doable! Even more so on a project car - plenty of down time to be had!

Cheers

Bennie

 

[taza]

Well believe me when I say that you're not trying hard enough! I build ruby while I was at uni! You use your spare time to either work for cash in hand or you go hunting for those "specials" as you put all the parts together. Then you do all the work yourself and you keep the costs to a minimum.

It's doable! Even more so on a project car - plenty of down time to be had!

Cheers

Bennie

We'll see :iconwink:

At first it just has to be a semi reliable run about (stock form) while the foz is being fixed, upgraded and sorted out. Then after that who knows what will happen

Hopefully it can go over the pits next week, the rest of the work that has to be done is just time consuming. The only other hard bit to sort out is the heater core.

 

[taza]

Scored 4 new tyres real cheap today thanks to a mate. The cars coming along well, will have to find some time to do some work on her though.

EDIT: Actually I have to say that after watching Alex's Wanky Wagon vid again (just then) I want to mod the s**t out of it. lol
Turbo if any engine replacment

To be honest the past 2 nights have been sleepless thinking about what to do to it. :rotfl:

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KSVIcyXq8M&feature=plcp&context=C48443fbVDvjVQa1PpcFMkJe6uIfsFAmwGf4_t3AaUMj2h6hdn2cQ="]Wagon tribute - YouTube[/ame]

 

[taza]

Hell where to begin! What a fiddly little car I must say.

Got the tyres on this afternoon. I had to wait 2 and a half hours for them to fit and balance 5 god damn tyres, didn't both with a wheel aligment. The new tyres are good, seem to grip well

I flushed the engine due to the chemiweld. Couldn't bolt the thermostat back on as the threads in the head were stuffed. Put bolts and nuts through, one of which rounded adn I couldn't get undone, the gasket was stuffed too causing a hug leak of coolant everywhere when trying to fill it up. Coolant leaked inot one of the spark plug wells causing it to run on 3 cylinders and there was nothign I could do to stop it
I finally got the theremostat housing off as it neared dark so im glad about that but it was a close call getting to and from the tyre dealer as I watched the engine temp rise slowly. Only got to the 1/3 mark so thats not too bad.

She is hopefully going over the pits on friday but theres alot of work to do on her before then.

Oh and the heater core works, works well too but poors out coolant everywhere into the footwells and burnt my foot while trying to use the clutch to get her home. lol

 

[d_generate]

Be aware that a car must have working heaters to pass the pits, I had one fail because it wouldn't get hot enough so they might turn it on, better divert the water somehow, also make sure you clean under the engine and wipe any oil drips off just before you take it over.

 

[stilson]

What was fitting worth Taza?

Good luck on Friday!

 

[taza]

What was fitting worth Taza?

Good luck on Friday!

I got ripped off for the fitting. $20 a tyre!

Cheers I hope she passes. How did you go your 2nd time?

 

[El_Freddo]

Hell where to begin! What a fiddly little car I must say.

Honeymoon period over already??

The new tyres are good, seem to grip well.

Until it's wet and you give it some...

Coolant leaked inot one of the spark plug wells causing it to run on 3 cylinders and there was nothign I could do to stop it

There are drain holes in each plug area to avoid this from happening. They might be blocked. Also you need to remove the spark plug leads and dry them out as the moisture in there will allow the spark to skip the plug and earth to the base of the plug on the outside of it. WD-40 does wonders in the plug leads!

I watched the engine temp rise slowly. Only got to the 1/3 mark so thats not too bad.

I wouldn't trust the temp gauge as far as I can throw it - the sender unit has probably never been replaced so it can be so far out of whack it's not funny. Plus you need coolant in the system to make it work, so if it's "running cool" and you know it's hot there's an issue you need to check out!

Oh and the heater core works, works well too but poors out coolant everywhere into the footwells and burnt my foot while trying to use the clutch to get her home. lol

You know the link to check out for the heater core!

You'll get there mate, just get over the frustration and keep on it. You'll have a steep learning curve to tame the L series beast as it can be at times!

Cheers

Bennie

 

[stilson]

Haven't been over yet. Planning on Monday morning.

 

[taza]

Be aware that a car must have working heaters to pass the pits, I had one fail because it wouldn't get hot enough so they might turn it on, better divert the water somehow, also make sure you clean under the engine and wipe any oil drips off just before you take it over.

Alright, thanks.

Honeymoon period over already??

Not really, I love driving it. More so than my foz but it needs to be sorted out first and I think I will completely fall in love with it. lol

Until it's wet and you give it some...

They are brand new tyres I put on, 4 all round in stock size. They aren't even that crap so should be fine even in the wet I wouldn't dare drive with with the old bald tyres on as that was already a death trap on the road. I have a spare with good tread too :biggrin:

There are drain holes in each plug area to avoid this from happening. They might be blocked. Also you need to remove the spark plug leads and dry them out as the moisture in there will allow the spark to skip the plug and earth to the base of the plug on the outside of it. WD-40 does wonders in the plug leads!

Didn't know that. The one closest to the thermostat isn't draining then so I will have to look at this tomorrow.

I wouldn't trust the temp gauge as far as I can throw it - the sender unit has probably never been replaced so it can be so far out of whack it's not funny. Plus you need coolant in the system to make it work, so if it's "running cool" and you know it's hot there's an issue you need to check out!

That doesn't suprise me, something to look at on a later date. Atleast it works somewhat

You know the link to check out for the heater core!

Yeah will take a proper look tonight at it and sort it out, or atleast stop the leaking so she gets over the pits :iconwink:

You'll get there mate, just get over the frustration and keep on it. You'll have a steep learning curve to tame the L series beast as it can be at times!

I know I will. Im keen to get it done ASAP so then I can get the foz sorted qicker. Although im getting abit annoyed every now and again its fun and im learning :ebiggrin:

Haven't been over yet. Planning on Monday morning.

Sounds good mate. If the L passes the pits on Friday I will be taking her for a trip to Two Rocks or the pines just to see how she goes offroad on the weekend. Anyone else is free to come along if I end up going. Will only be for half a day or so.

 

[d_generate]

Another tip is they don't like fraying on the seat belts, easiest way to fix this is run a cigarette lighter up any area's that look bad and melt them back into the belt, cut off any lumps, when you ate over the pit and they ask you to rock the steering from side to side only rock it to one side, sort of keeping the pressure to the left or right, makes everything seem tighter.

No matter how much of an flower pot you cop DO NOT argue with him, just stay friendly because there are a lot of grey area's which depending on their mood they can pass or fail you on like small oil leaks.

If the belts are slow to retract it's usually bit's of body dirt stuck in the loop that sits up on the B pillar which the webbing flows through, give it a really good scrub.

 

[El_Freddo]

Yep, good advice there d_generate!

If the L passes the pits on Friday I will be taking her for a trip to Two Rocks or the pines just to see how she goes offroad on the weekend.

Well if today is any indication it's an L series passing rego week The new one now has it's plates

If the L passes the pits on Friday I will be taking her for a trip to Two Rocks or the pines just to see how she goes offroad on the weekend.

Just make sure you don't push it too far otherwise you'll end up with an inverted floor pan in the rear foot well. Trust me I've been there and done that - several times The good thing is that you can push it back out, bad thing is that all your sound deadener peels off too

All the best for tomorrow!

Cheers

Bennie

 

[taza]

Well if today is any indication it's an L series passing rego week The new one now has it's plates

You mean your new one? Cool :ebiggrin:

Just make sure you don't push it too far otherwise you'll end up with an inverted floor pan in the rear foot well. Trust me I've been there and done that - several times The good thing is that you can push it back out, bad thing is that all your sound deadener peels off too

Yeah I know, just want to see if she goes any better than the foz, plus she has a real low range

All the best for tomorrow!

Thanks

Got up early this morning and have been getting things ready. All the hard stuff is done :biggrin: Ther engine has had its service adn is running really well!

 

[mr turbo]

Best of luck for Friday mate

Regards
Mr Turbo

 

[stilson]

If your going to Welshpool be there before 7 to be first in line for 7:30.

Don't forget to pay for your inspection online first because the office opens at 8:15.

 

[d_generate]

Yeah or over the phone with a credit card, I always got there 7ish too, good move as I've seen the queue 100m long by 8.30.

 

[taza]

The car is almost done. Going to have to do some work early tomorrow morning so I won't be going there till 11 or midday. It'll be a long ish wait im sure.

 

[stilson]

I'd advise you book an inspection elsewhere if your not going to get in early, espesh on a Friday. If not make it Monday to give yourself time to get it sorted properly.

By the way you can't turn right into the street that the Welshpool pits are on if your coming from north. Just thought I'd mention it as it cost me a position on the starting grid and a less than legal u turn.

 

[d_generate]

Yeah turn right at Kewdale rd, left at Welshpool Rd the next lights and left into I think it's Morrison rd, I'm in Thailand again so my head is a bit fuzzy lol. Personally I'd swing past Midland and see what the queue is like first, then down Roe & right into Orrong rd then left into Morrison if it's packed. You'll have to do a U turn to see into the pits in Midland, do it where the main drag comes back together, it's just near there.

 

[taza]

The L didn't pass the pits(Vehicle Examination) because the two front ball joints were stuffed and the tie rod ends need tightneing as they were loose.
Other than that everything else went well, the guy was hell nice and was telling me about his old L-Series. He couldn't believe the condition of it and how well it ran. It scrubbed u pretty well over all
Taking it back early monday morning