http://www.alltracwagon.net/forum/ http://www.eblah.com en http://www.alltracwagon.net/forum/m-1336428892/ http://www.alltracwagon.net/forum/m-1336428892/#num1
Has any done any research about using a larger caliper/rotor/pads combination on our wagons?

I find my brakes quite weak, and having only front disc and crappy rear drums I'm wondering if anyone has done this?]]> Mon, 7 May 2012 17:14:52 dylangumby http://www.alltracwagon.net/forum/m-1334081873/ http://www.alltracwagon.net/forum/m-1334081873/#num1
And tips, advice, or recomendations? I don't have a lift so the engine would have to come out the top. Can I change everything I need with out removing the engine? Any other steps I should take first?]]> Tue, 10 Apr 2012 13:17:53 jasnall http://www.alltracwagon.net/forum/m-1333941818/ http://www.alltracwagon.net/forum/m-1333941818/#num1
My 91 JDM sprinter would not start. It turned over to beat the band, just never caught. My mechanic said it was the distributor, and that a new one would be $600, therefore not an option. The dealership wanted $1200.

However, there was no shortage of 90-93 Corollas at the pick 'n pull. So I got a distributor off one, for $30. Turned out however that it did not work: while similar on first glance, on mine the Igniter is in the upper right hand of the casing, on the one I pulled (and all the ones I saw in the yard) it was on the upper left hand side. The observable difflerence with the dust cover on is that there is ONE Large dust cover on the JDM one, and what looks like TWO dust covers on the one in the fwd NA Corollas of the same vintage. They also had different wiring harnesses.

Mine had a bad ignitor. Swapping ignitors was not an option, as the wiring was reversed. So I went back to the yard, looking for a distributor that would work. I discovered that the '95 CDM corolla with the 4-AFE had the same distributor as the '91 JDM sprinter. Different plugs still though, but an easy re-wire. We did not go that way however, we just swapped out the ignitor. $30 in parts, $86 in labour. It worked!

With the insanity in parts pricing, a new distributor for a '95 Corolla may be more reasonable than the $600 from a '91.

Kudos to Dylan for all his help in this, and willingness to send me his distro from his crashed -into JDM carib.

One other thing: the distributor from a 92-95 Tercel looks the same with a cover on, but it has no internal ignitor, so don't get one of those.

I tried posting pictures, but that is not working right now.

Happy Easter,
Monger of Caribs

]]> Sun, 8 Apr 2012 22:23:38 Caribmonger http://www.alltracwagon.net/forum/m-1332785373/ http://www.alltracwagon.net/forum/m-1332785373/#num1 I Purchased Monroe part# 73242 for the front and #5882 for the rears. I got these 4 from Auto Zone for about $160 and then there is a $50 MIR (good til april 30th) so the price was really good for what I think are quality products.
ON WITH IT!
TOOLS (I forgot some sizes so I'll have to come back on edit this)
19mm
14mm
12mm
8mm (brake bleeder)
Big a** wrench/channel locks
spring compressors

Jack up car, take off tire.

Since there's no gap in the brake line mount you have to remove it and pull in back through it's mount hole. I don't have a picture of taken the line off the caliper buts its pretty slef explanitory.


Remove clip


zip tie brake line up and out of the way


Remove the two bolts


Remove 3 nuts from the top, be careful becuase there is nothing holding the strut in now so hold onto it.


It's out!


Attach spring compressors and compress.


Remove the one center nut holding the tophat on and pull spring off.


NOW THIS WAS THE HARD PART! You have to unscrew the collar holding the old shock in. The instruction say to use a drift punch to break the iniial torque but we just couldn't figure out how. We couldn't get enough torque on the collar to twist it off so we re-installed in back onto the car without the spring. With it back on the car we could get a good grip on it and were able to break the initial rusted on torque.
Heres the collar we are trying to get off.


Get a good grip.


PULL!


Now take the strut back off and you can unscrew the collar.


The strut is full of shock oil as the stock unit is not self contained. Tip it over and start squeezin the oil out, save it because the directions say to put about 3oz back into the struck "to aid in heat dissapation"




Once the oil is drained I added about 3oz back into the housing and slide the new shock in.




Tighting down the new collar that came with the shock. It came with two spacer rings that would go inside the housing if needed, i didn't use them becuase the collar tightened down fine with the right clearence.


Time to put the spring and tophat back on.


Remove the spring compressors and reinstall! Don't forget to bleed you breaks after you get it back together.
The first side took forever while we figured everything out then the second took about 30 minutes.

I've driven about 60 miles so far with most being on the freeway. Initial impression are great! Great response and smooth ride, these are made to be OE replacements so that is all I was expecting. I've read that alot of owners complain about a soft ride with these cars. I think the fault lies with the springs, getting some stiffer springs woudl make this thing a little more sporty.


]]> Mon, 26 Mar 2012 13:09:33 jasnall http://www.alltracwagon.net/forum/m-1330533212/ http://www.alltracwagon.net/forum/m-1330533212/#num1
Just bought a 1989 All-Trac with automatic tran. Does this car have an oil cooling system?

I have a leak in a line that runs in front of the radiator. It looks like motor oil to me.
They are metal lines with a braided section of hose(?) that lead to what looks like a small radiator. It looks like the leak is coming from where the braided hose(?) is clamped to the metal line. The metal lines look pretty corroded. It only leaks when the engine is running.

If these lines need to be replaced, will I have to get exact-fit lines or can I get flexible or bendable lines?

Thanks!

]]> Wed, 29 Feb 2012 10:33:32 dimchandeliers