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(formerly) The $700 1988 245

Overdrive is definitely gone. I got it to engage but it kept going in and out. Probably just needs new solenoid o rings or whatever, but I picked this up today:

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Early style with mech speedo. Guy said OD worked fine so it might work. We'll see.
 
I made a mistake. I measured all my old clutch disks and threw in the thickest one. It slips bad. It's my old cali clutch smoothlock, when it started slipping previously I thought it was the pressure plate. It's about .3mm thicker than the Sachs disk I had, which could barely hold the power. The good news is that my trans shifts great and the overdrive works perfect. Speedo works too now, although it reads slow. (Shows 35 when I'm doing 40.) I really don't feel like taking the trans out again.. Getting it out is easy enough but it took me about 3 hours just to get it to line up and slide in place.

I got my flywheel surfaced which I was hoping would fix my first gear shudder but it's just a little better now. Oh well.

Also drilled and tapped my manifold for m10 studs, no more leak.

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I also put in a little pusher fan to help the AC while parked. It's just wired to the high side of the main relay. I went with the 10" so I can put a second one in if I want to.

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I went back to the track today. Did a lot better than last time. Managed to get through every session without completely losing the brakes. Didn't run as hot as last time either, though it was a cooler day so that doesn't really say if my new rinky dink pusher fan helps or not. Biggest problem was the transmission. I ran the whole track in third except for fourth on the main straight. Towards the end the shifting from 4th to 3rd was starting to feel.. not good. Second is usable for normal driving but WOT makes the shifter bind up really hard in that gear. And then the turbo fell off, because of course it did.

I passed a new Mustang tho. And then I got passed by a Cobalt.

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I put in a new glovebox and redid the intake again. Someone, I suspect the same person who did the bondo job, stripped every glovebox screw so I tapped them all for M5 and used bolts instead. Interior is almost mint, just need to tuck the ECUs away somewhere, get a not ugly radio, and do something about the duct taped rip on the driver's door panel.

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I dynoed it again. Over 2 years ago, when the wagon was basically as it was when I got it, my engine laid 175whp/235ftlb. Today it laid 218whp.. No torque figure. Not what I was expecting since it's actually running really good now. Apparently someone else made an extra 35hp on a different Dynojet previously. 15psi, 10* base timing, about 12:1 AFR at WOT.

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I also did the head gasket since it started drinking coolant a tiny bit after the wastegate seized up and I accidentally did a few 20+psi rips.

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I made these locking tabs in an effort to keep my turbo on.

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I swapped out the trans again.. Put in the M46 gearbox from my first car, all cleaned and resealed, with the OD from the Craigslist trans with a fresh new Sachs clutch kit. It shifts super nice now. Ordered some OEM shifter parts to get rid of the slop. Problem is.. overdrive stopped working.. Pretty sure it's the solenoid.

When I was messing with the gearbox the front synchro dogs and ring fell out. Took me like an hour to figure out how it went back together.

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Here's the drain plug from that CL trans. I put like 300mi on it. I took the top cover off and the shift selector rod thingy was scored to hell. First gear had some wear and synchros were not looking terribly happy.

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In an effort to stop pissing oil everywhere I plastic welded the seam on my el cheapo breather box and made a catch can.

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I also put in a cold air intake, in the form of an old GM dash AC tube thingy.

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220 at the wheels is very good for 15psi and your modlist.

True, but it's not enough. It's never enough.

The thing is actually running super good now, I think better than it ever has. I can't wait to get back on the track and use all the gears.

Today I swapped out the OD solenoid using a couple new O rings out of my box of AC seals so the trans is now fully working. I insulated the shifter and put the boot back in.

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I also fixed my RR mudflap so it perfectly matches the other one, as well as install the front ones.

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220 wheel hp with stock tractor gearbox it was an accident waiting to happen.

Time for a real gearbox and 20 pounds of boost.

What are your suspension mods at this point? Looks like you still have a lot of body roll.

Cool pics.
 
What are your suspension mods at this point? Looks like you still have a lot of body roll.

Uhhh.. Firewall braces. That's it. Every bushing is 37 years old. There's nothing wrong with the suspension and I've got more important things to fix/improve right now. Although it is gonna need strut mounts soon.

I do have an IPD 25mm drop swaybar set but the front one interferes with the skid tray. Maybe someone with a V8 or a diesel wants to trade for a normal 25mm bar?

EDIT: I'm reluctant to ditch the M46 because I just got the speedo working and swapping to something better would cost money. I think I'm just gonna try and remember to go easy on third..
 
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I'm really starting to hate these things..

Cobbled my pile of transmission trash into one mostly functional M46 and installed it. Only problem is a fairly wasted first gear synchro. Just gotta remember not to bang third..

Also, last week my radiator fan fuse committed suicide. I thought these things were supposed to prevent fires.

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I'm having a problem with boost spikes when the turbo spools. With it set to 16psi it'll spike to nearly 20 before settling back down. Cleaned out my boost controller which did nothing. Guess I'll take the wastegate actuator apart again.
 
Transmission #4 is installed. Came from a diesel 240, no idea now many miles are on it, and it works perfectly. Overdrive engaged at 20mph no problem. I put in some brand new shifter parts and a knob so there's almost no slop at all now. Shifts like butter. I hope this one lasts..

I think I'm gonna rebuild one of my overdrives and stick it onto the aluminum M46 I also got, just as a backup. The overdrive on the back of transmission #3 failed about 550mi into a 600mi trip. Might be because I kept using a lead foot instead of turning it off to accelerate, since it was kinda sticky once it got hot.. Also the issue with it banging itself out of first gear under any acceleration.

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Transmission #4 is installed. Came from a diesel 240, no idea now many miles are on it, and it works perfectly. Overdrive engaged at 20mph no problem. I put in some brand new shifter parts and a knob so there's almost no slop at all now. Shifts like butter. I hope this one lasts..

Glad to hear it's working well!

Start gathering stuff for a t5 swap- its definetly worth the $$
 
Is it possible a missing bell housing dowel pin would cause my first gear shudder? It fell out like two years ago.

I got new clips for the windshield bezel and managed to crack my windshield trying to whack one into place.. I guess I'll get a newer style windshield if the crack grows. I would've just ignored it completely but the loose bezel was making a really annoying noise on the highway.

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Also finally put in a windshield washer. I didn't feel like trying to figure out how to mount a tiny tank in the engine bay so I used the original diesel tank in the trunk.

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I went to Thompson today. First session the power steering upchucked some fluid, second session the rad fan fuse blew and it got a lil hot, third session I was getting the hang of it and actually passing some people. Then the exhaust broke. Turbo stayed put tho. Brakes were smoky hot after 20 minutes but I never lost the pedal.

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This catch can was about half full this morning, which took about 1500mi or so on the street.

Suspension stuff is next for the car. I'm still working on stripping down my locker axle, gotta order parts..

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