CAUTION..VERY LONG UPDATE.
I haven’t updated this thread in a while but have been working pretty hard on the car, especially lately. I really wanted to leave the car alone through the winter since it was running. I wanted to keep the RWD GS out of the snow this year. And I maintain that the trac is a blast to drive in the snow so I really don’t regret it. Salt is a concern but oh well, unfortunately this car is worth the least of the fleet so it is what it is.
So I gathered all my stuff and worked on different things here and there with the bulk of the work being over the last 4 weeks. Some were things I just wanted to do and some things that I just thought were necessary to do in order to have full faith in reliability to hit the Bristol, RI meet this past weekend. The car has never left me, but mainly the radiator and fuel pump were major concerns. Anyway….
Suspension.
The Eibach 162 springs I had were just too low for me, looked great tho. Rubbing didn’t really bother me so much but dragging the exhaust in 2 spots almost daily was. They are for sale if you know anyone. B&G springs were installed and AGX all the way around. Boots, sway bar bushings, top mounts all done as well. Also did both Tie rods, poly control arm bushes, passenger wheel bearing and I think 3 alignments thanks to my brother.
Shots of the converted rear strut housings and parts laid out to complete the rear install.
Bushings….no installed shots sorry.
Stereo-I had redone my stereo with the last round of changes but was really unhappy with the sound quality of the speakers. I actually blew the ones I bought and the recycled oes from the supra I put in the rear just deteriorated. So I changed my setup, kept my two 2 tweeters in the front and added a set of alpine 4 inch speakers also in the front running off my amp. Then I added new speakers in the rear just running off the head unit. I maintained the 8 inch sub in the back hooked up to the same amp and this gives it plenty of sound, happy with that for now. The alpines are really nice. I came across a JDM or ADM wing piece with no antenna hole on 162.net so bought that. My circa 1988 cell phone antenna sticking out of the wing was pretty garb looking (prior owner) so tossed that and installed a powered remote motorcycle antenna off ebay. It works ok, not great, not terrible. Probably need to tweak it some more, its mounted high in the rear pillar. No pics of that but here is my paint process for the wing. Just rattle canned….matching is a joke, wasn’t trying to match my faded paint..just seeing what I could do. I saw no reason to pay good money on getting it painted when I hope to eventually paint the entire car.
Radiator-The radiator looked like it was gonna explode LegoDan style. I always looked at it and thought of him so aluminum radiator went in. Same fan mounting hole issues everyone else had but I was really happy with it. The car runs so much cooler its incredible. Thought I took a pic uninstalled, guess not. So this is all I got..crappy cell shot.
Exhaust-So I loved the exhaust that was on the car…twin tip 2.5 inch…someone said it was HKS..it was great…until it developed big a$$ holes this winter in the muffler. So that new Motoria collecting dust in the basement found its way on after all. Fit was super tight, it hits here and there but it had to be done, no choice. Definitely louder than I wanted and doesn’t keep the same reserved look the car had, but oh well. I cut off the HKS due to nasty rusty bolts and found out it was clogged! I’m guessing that’s what was holding me back because the car now runs it’s a$$ off, boosts way better and hits fuel cut easily. So that’s next on the list to take care of.
Got a Delaware Black tag for her too, they look awesome.
Battery/Intake-Going back a year ago I did my custom intake/battery/catch can. Then found out that the AFM can impact your MPG mounted wrong and should be run in the normal position. Gas prices being what they are it was on my to do but beings that it was going to take some engineering I had to wait to do it. Well here’s the result I came up with. Straight intake with the battery under the hood. I absolutely had to have the battery under the hood, I wasn’t entertaining a trunk mounted battery with my son sitting in the back seat. Anyway, bought some metal and started a design to mount it on the shield that goes over the drivers side trans/motor mount. Not a lot of room there but perfect for the bosch I am running. I found a local welder who is the man and charges good prices. Beer drinking, nascar watching, crabbing guy, an awesome dude. He does it at home with a really serious setup so its really convenient. I took him the pieces I created and had him throw it all together. Brought her home and perfect fit.
182 wiper mod-I heard this could be done somewhere…can’t remember where tho…but wanted the wiper upright like the supra so bought a 182 wiper setup on a whim and went to town. This was a really easy swap and really involved only swapping the 165 bracket over with the 182 bracket, complete bolt on with matching relays and wiring. For the record if you can’t do this mod in 30 minutes you suck. Ha ha…little jab at my brother…
Gas tank/fuel pump-During the past few months I started to get some loss of power on acceleration. Nothing like I had ever felt before and after researching I felt that it was potentially the fuel pump. We did a pressure test and it didn’t appear too bad but at the same time my brother was dealing with his own fuel tank/pump woes so I knew the potential was there. Add to that my sender works but only registers to ¾ full when filled. So I decided to drop the tank, Got an OE parts list together for all the bolts on top holding everything down, sender gasket, pump bracket gasket, new hoses, clips and new oe pump. I had the tank on the ground in a hour. But to be fair I had helped my brother with his so knew the routine. The tank had no interior rust and was in surprisingly great shape. This is a shot of it after I did a real quick clean of the outside. The neck had some surface rust and so did that same corner so they were all treated with POR15. I threw in all the new parts and sadly had to put the old sender back in. Willie hooked me up with a few options to try but none worked. Hey man I have your GTS sender just waiting to give it back to you when I see you. I’ll keep looking for another, damn OE is discontinued.
So MPG testing…So I had this great plan to do my mods in phases that would allow for great mpg testing. I wanted to add some documented fuel to the AFM “turned” mpg conversation. So I first turned the AFM then ran the car for a week. Anything else that would impact MPG would wait until the next week. The car is really a great candidate for MPG testing because its literally only driven to work and back and that’s the same route pretty much daily. I rarely ever use the car for anything else. My historical MPG over the past year has been 17. Probably 60/40 highway, I drive fast but not reckless..probably 70-75 average on the highway. I got crunched for time and didn’t get in as much testing between phases, but I did get in one tank per phase.
Phase 1-AFM turn only, resulting mpg-17.8
Phase 2 –plugs and wires, resulting mpg-17.5
Phase 3-new o2, exhaust and fuel pump-23 mpg* awaiting a normal commute figure as this is the average I saw on the Bristol trip (low-22, high-25). Can the exhaust and fuel pump impact the mpg? idk but wanted to slot them in where they were completed to be fair.
I did some other things I’m probably forgetting that I don’t have pics of.
-Summer wheels re-installed, stocks are so dam fugly but they work in the winter
-Swapped throttle bodys due to sticking throttle….no fckin bueno right there seriously not cool. Prius mod removed.
-installed different water pump for intercooler (actually flows now, first time in 3 years)
-new pass side motor mount working on retrofitting the 185 head brace.
-replaced my horn…94 ES300 donor
-new autopal H4 conversion
-new oe hood prop and bumpers.
With all the work its running better than ever. I still have some more small items on my list but the major mechanical items are done. I really can’t wait to drop in a boost controller and turn up the boost. Greddy BCC is already purchased and waiting. I do eventually want to get it painted, throw on some nice wheels and install the sparco torinos I have waiting for it. But not sure when I will get there. Long term I think the tracs duties will be reducing with my second child on the way. One was fine in the back passenger side, but 2 aint gonna happen. Its fine though, because now that the car is in the garage every night maybe I can justify that paint job sooner. We'll see, id expect not much will be done over the next year.
Approximately 12k miles on the car since I bought it which I see as an accomplishment! It got me thru the winter and now I will probably give her a needed rest for a little while.
139K and counting
We may have to change that today :wink:
