What my L Series needs, what I've added

[Battlewagon]

Couldn't hurt.

[mud_king91]

you,d still have the issue of the hot air its breathing

[2nd Hand Yank]

I wonder if it'd be easy to remove the exhaust manifold heat shields (temporarily) to add "exhaust wrap." Going at least as far back to the firewall, if not all the way back to the resonator or muffler. That should cut down the under-bonnet temps.

I could use that with insulation under the flat metal airbox to block some of the engine's radiant heat.

Supposedly hotter exhaust piping (through insulation) yields quicker exhaust flow.
If not, even having a 10-20 C drop under the bonnet would be nice.

My motor seems more prone to detonation when its at, or past operating temp.

[2nd Hand Yank]

are either possible?

I wouldn't mind my fuel economy if it had a big enough tank to allow 650-700km without refueling.

[LIFTED]

2nd hand I'm wondering does it really get that hot in the engine bay when your driving along ? there must be a lot of air blowing into the engine bay which I thought would take a lot of heat from the exhausts away with it. I can understand the heat building up from the exhaust when you are stationary.

[2nd Hand Yank]

2nd hand I'm wondering does it really get that hot in the engine bay when your driving along ? there must be a lot of air blowing into the engine bay which I thought would take a lot of heat from the exhausts away with it. I can understand the heat building up from the exhaust when you are stationary.

Driving back to the car-park at Preston Beach we were driving away from the wind.
Within 1-2 minutes of mostly WOT, (without it, my motor sounded like it would bog )
my car was so hot it you could smell it!
So I stopped, cranked down all my windows, then turned the heater and fan to max.
It was another 15-20 minutes back to the carpark.
I probably would have seized the motor had I not turned on the cabin heat.
Temperature needle was about 5-10mm higher than operating temp even with the heat and fan on max.

But this was on a day with a high of 18 C, in August! (winter )
Made me wonder what it'd be like when it hits 38 C.

I also noticed my engine's power was reduced by 10-25% once the motor became hot,
probably making me need WOT more than I should have.
THough I was missing the air-cleaner snorkel connection.

My car has fly-screen in front of the radiator.
Other members have checked it out and reckoned it's not too small a grid though.
I just fixed that this weekend.

[RSR 555]

EA82s are renowned for their ability to overheat very quickly and I'd say this is mainly down to the radiator. I'd definately look at having the radiator serviced (and by this I mean a propery tank off and rod work done) but before this, I'd flush the engine cooling system out.

The engine fan (viscous one) is pretty much hopeless after about 5 years, so looking into replacing that with another electric fan may also help with cooling whilst travaling with the wind on the beach (or road for that matter). I'd also recommend you rewire the fans (Speak to Subarino on this) as this can improve the cooling immensely.

[2nd Hand Yank]

EA82s are renowned for their ability to overheat very quickly and I'd say this is mainly down to the radiator. I'd definately look at having the radiator serviced (and by this I mean a propery tank off and rod work done) but before this, I'd flush the engine cooling system out.

The engine fan (viscous one) is pretty much hopeless after about 5 years, so looking into replacing that with another electric fan may also help with cooling whilst travaling with the wind on the beach (or road for that matter). I'd also recommend you rewire the fans (Speak to Subarino on this) as this can improve the cooling immensely.

TOONGA helped me do a radiator flush a few weeks after Preston Beach.
New t-start installed too; the previous one was bent and scraping against the spring.

I have an aftermarket fan that seems to work more often than the stock fan.
Often runs when I walk away from the car.
One bloke with another L Series asked if I had a turbo 1.8L because of the fan.

I suppose the next day I have with hot sun, time of work and bad surf conditions
that will be on my next "to do" list, checking out when the fans come on.

[RSR 555]

Radiator flushes are good, they clean 95% of crap out of the engine (which ends up trapped in the rad) but they are never as good as the Rad Shop and the way they remove the tank and clean the tubes out (rodding). I'd highly recommend you have it done by the pro's, it could save you a lot more in the long run.

Your themo fan might be working good but coming on late or another thing might be your temp sender is not reading correctly. I like to run an over-ride switch on my fan, that way when the wind is behind me I can make sure I have good airflow. I can show you this when you're up in Perth next.

[2nd Hand Yank]

^^ Which shops do good "rodding" in WA?

I added a new dizzy cap, rotor button, an air filter and changed my oil today.

I know it's a bit early for an oil change (5000km's?) but I wanted to try a lighter-weight oil.
I was using 25W-60 as recommended by someone in SuperCheap since it's a very old engine
but RSR 555 figures I don't need something that thick, so I went down to 20W-50.
I also wanted to try "Nulon" oil, made in Oz, that advertises 36% less resistance than the industry standard.

I ended up making a bit of a mess
because I didn't open a breather in my drain,
so it couldn't suck in the oil fast enough.
Burnt my thumb a little trying to slow down the deluge, lol.
Had to buy kitty litter from Coles to clean up the driveway.
Good thing Coles is only 50 metres from my house.

[2nd Hand Yank]

With my fresh 20W/50 oil, a new oil and air filter, new dizzy cap and rotor button and a tank of 98 octane, I still ended up logging just over 10L/100km.

I suspect higher octane fuel does nothing to improve fuel economy with my engine over bitumen and fairly-flat terrain, though 95 and 98 are a bit more responsive. I think for driving through rolling hillside, 95 or higher octane is best, if I can't keep the revs above 2500rpm (approx. I don't have a tach installed yet).

I bought a tank of 91, just to see if I can adapt my driving style to avoid detonation.
I could always by octane boost if I really need to, like for sand driving.

[2nd Hand Yank]

Is it worth keeping my old dizzy cap and rotor button? Or should I bin them?
I did not notice much of a difference, when I swapped in the new ones.

[Wagonman]

You in the driver's seat might not notice the difference the changes you made makes but you're L series will love you for it

[2nd Hand Yank]

You in the driver's seat might not notice the difference the changes you made makes but you're L series will love you for it

Make no mistake, the new ones are staying in.

I just want to know if its worth keeping spares, or they are not that important.
I don't have a garage or even a shed of my own. Just a single room rented and my L Series.
I'd rather not keep stuff that doesn't have much use.

[2nd Hand Yank]

I just bought a 5m strip of 12V LED's off eBay.
They're supposed to be cuttable.

If I can hook them up right,
I'd like them to go around my fender flares.
This will give me lighting directly in front of my wheels;
better for night crawling but also helping me see around corners before turning.
I'd like them on switches if possible, toggled from the cab.

But I still have a tach, ammeter and engine temp gauge to install somewhere.
Tach is especially important to me. I want to see where it idles.

I wish I had a proper workshop, so I could work on my car at night,
rather that waste a nice day on my car if all I can use is natural lighting.
I'll probably just "suck it up" and buy a decent hangable work light, finish in the dark.

[NachaLuva]

I ended up making a bit of a mess
because I didn't open a breather in my drain,
so it couldn't suck in the oil fast enough.
Burnt my thumb a little trying to slow down the deluge, lol.
Had to buy kitty litter from Coles to clean up the driveway.
Good thing Coles is only 50 metres from my house.

What did you drain the oil into? How did you dispose of it?

Please tell me you didnt let it run into your drain!

Is it worth keeping my old dizzy cap and rotor button? Or should I bin them?
I did not notice much of a difference, when I swapped in the new ones.

I'd just chuck em. You have no use for them if they're correct esp if space is at a premium.

Glad to see you're doing some maintenance so that your subie runs more smoothly with more power.

[2nd Hand Yank]

What did you drain the oil into? How did you dispose of it?

Please tell me you didnt let it run into your drain!

I have a 9L oil container that's also an oil pan. I didn't open the breather; the little plastic piece and I'd only opened the drain side... big mistake. I thought maybe the plastic piece might blow away or get lost. Only I found bigger problems than that when it wouldn't suck in the oil very fast.

No, that's why I bought the 9L waste oil container.
I take it to the Stanley Road dump in Australind.

I'd just chuck em. You have no use for them if they're correct esp if space is at a premium.

Glad to see you're doing some maintenance so that your subie runs more smoothly with more power.

Thanks mate.

I tried switching back to 91 octane and now my motor is a turd at full throttle. Easily takes a full second longer to go from 50-60km/h in 3rd compared to 98 octane. 91 might have better response at low throttle opening and when the motor's cold thought.

[NachaLuva]

Sorry my mistake. I'm just very sensitive bout what people dump in drains...i'm 1 of the people who have to rescue animals after they've been affected by what goes down drains

I recently filled up with premium, what i thought was 98 octane only to find it noticeably down on power. I mentioned this to Venom who pointed out it was 95 premium.

I'm amazed just 3 octane made such a big difference!

Then again it was Bad Petrol...lol

[El_Freddo]

I tried switching back to 91 octane and now my motor is a turd at full throttle. Easily takes a full second longer to go from 50-60km/h in 3rd compared to 98 octane. 91 might have better response at low throttle opening and when the motor's cold thought.

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

[2nd Hand Yank]

Sorry my mistake. I'm just very sensitive bout what people dump in drains...i'm 1 of the people who have to rescue animals after they've been affected by what goes down drains

I recently filled up with premium, what i thought was 98 octane only to find it noticeably down on power. I mentioned this to Venom who pointed out it was 95 premium.

I'm amazed just 3 octane made such a big difference!

Then again it was Bad Petrol...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.

Funny, but I noticed a power change going from Shell 95 to BP 98.
And my switch to 91 was after using BP 98.