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Woodsy
Woodsy
8/29/16 6:28 a.m.

I know this thread hasnt had a reply for a while but i have to reply because of the level of commitment you have had building this car and getting it running.

Here in Australia, this car is called a Holden RB Gemini. It replaced the Rear wheel drive Gemini's or the GM T car. Which because it was Holdens First FWD car was very unpopular and still to this day the most hated model in the Gemini Series.

I had one as my first car, a 1985 Auto, 4xc1 NA Motor, no turbos offered and only in sedan form, no hatchbacks in Australia. I Learnt to drive in it, and i absolutely loved it and have great memories with it. Unfortunately rust got into it and it wasnt worth repairing at that stage so i sold it.

I am currently Khanacrossing a little Peugeot 206 gti, its fun and quick but my mind always comes back to a RB Gemini.. At this stage i believe i will khanacross one next year.

Sorry to hijack your thread, but it took me ages to read through all of it and its great to see someone with great enthusiasm of the Mighty Gemini!

bonylad
bonylad GRM+ Member
10/25/16 6:54 a.m.

Now we need a Impulse build.............Beautiful car sir. My first post and dedicate it to you!

Left Ventricle
Left Ventricle New Reader
10/28/16 11:30 p.m.

Those Konis you posted earlier that are for a Saab appear to be nearly identical to the ones used on GM A-body cars and U-body vans. What was the original ID of the lower mount eye? What is the compressed/extended length? I'm terribly interested in having adjustable shocks on my Century wagon... even if they cost $130 each.

f6sk
f6sk Reader
11/3/16 4:17 p.m.

In reply to Left Ventricle:

So, first I went here to find the specs for my shocks, and compared them to other vehicles. Monroe PDF And then went to the koni site to see what else was available.

f6sk
f6sk Reader
11/26/16 8:04 a.m.

The reason I haven't been working on my car as much: My In-Laws just bought a lake house near us to be closer to the grand kids. It is the old Eutawville train station that someone moved to the lake in the 70s

The house needed lots of work. And the deeper we dug the worse it got. It went from modifying one room to completely gutting everything, and tearing off the old back porch. updates to follow

mbruneaux
mbruneaux Reader
11/26/16 8:58 a.m.

People think their cars are a never ending project until they buy a house...

84FSP
84FSP Dork
11/26/16 11:18 a.m.

Cabin looks like it has potential!

f6sk
f6sk Reader
12/25/16 10:05 p.m.

This stupid rack has been a pain in my ass. It is a pain to get out, a pain to work on, and a pain to finish.

I went in the garage one morning to find this under the car

I thought it would be no big deal. Just take loose one motor mount and make a little clearance - BOOM! done...... not so fast I had to take out everything near it. Front motor mount, cross member, bracing even the fuel line bracket, all while it dripped power steering fluid on my head.

Finally this:

I'd never rebuilt a rack before. Looks pretty straight forward.

-Side note. Having the steering apart did give me a good opportunity to swap in the leather wheel I had from the other I-Mark.

Just take off all the things.

The real tricky part was this:

Those little blue stripes are the seals for the hydraulics. They are a hard nylon-type plastic. In order to get them in place you have to "deform" them. That means stretch them out so much they don't pop back into place. The only way you will ever get them back into the sleeve is to "re-form" them. Turns out it takes a special tool that I don't have any you can't get. So I made my own.

I used a t-clamp close to the final size and wrapped the part in flashing to provide even pressure. The first time I tried using a regular hose clamp, but the flat part at the screw made a flat part on my nylon and ruined it.

Pressed in the new seal

And after much hassle to get the funky interior seals to fit, setting shim height, adjusting and confirming bump stop, I finally had it back together.

Don't ever do this. Just buy one.

84FSP
84FSP Dork
12/26/16 8:49 a.m.

In reply to f6sk:

Nice rack! That rebuild job looked rough. Love the use of the t clamp.

ssswitch
ssswitch Dork
1/9/17 5:23 p.m.

Restoring a train station somehow seems like way more work than restoring a conventional house.

SkinnyG
SkinnyG Dork
1/10/17 9:49 a.m.

I've used a slice of 2L pop bottle to help shrink those seals. Less likely to cut them than sheet metal would be. Good choice of hose clamp!

golfduke
golfduke HalfDork
1/10/17 12:35 p.m.

FYI the installation cups for those blue seals are readily available for like $10 from a machine tool dealer. Same seals used in drawbar actuators. I've got about 60 of them in various sizes on my bench. Also, as much as you wouldn't believe it, the seals are very formable. OEM protocol says to soak them in a 220 degree oil bath for 10min prior to install. So a junk coffee cup, some clean motor oil and an oven are very very helpful tools for the job.

I know you already finished installing them, but I did figure I'd chime in for anyone's future needs.

f6sk
f6sk Reader
1/10/17 8:01 p.m.

In reply to golfduke: Thank you so much. Somebody from the internet is going to come here looking for info, could you tell me the exact name for these things so others can find them? I never knew what to search for.

VWguyBruce
VWguyBruce Dork
1/10/17 8:11 p.m.

Man, nice work on that rack! Only here would someone know exactly what tools to use and actually HAVE them.

Would like to see more pics of the train station work. Sounds like a cool project.

golfduke
golfduke HalfDork
1/11/17 7:20 a.m.
f6sk wrote: In reply to golfduke: Thank you so much. Somebody from the internet is going to come here looking for info, could you tell me the exact name for these things so others can find them? I never knew what to search for.

They're called guide band install sleeves. They look like this-

The OD is used to install, and the ID is used to reform.

f6sk
f6sk Reader
3/13/17 8:12 p.m.

The are zero adjustable suspension options for a 1988 Isuzu. So, I thought I'd make my own. The Koni Race 8611 seemed like a perfect fit. It is a little shorter than my original for lowering, single adjustable, and beefy. A few internet clicks and a credit card later I had my own bit of yellow awesome.

I went with a thick walled steel tube with a large enough OD that the standard coilover height adjustment nuts would work once I cut the threads. (We'll just not mention to my wife how much I spent on a tap to cut the threads for the Koni gland nut on top.) I was having no luck taping the tube. Every time the tap would start to "bite" the tube would slip. I didn't want to crush it.

This frustrated the heck out of me. I didn't want to make the tube too thin, but it just wasn't working. I was considering scraping the whole thing and see if I could find strut to fit another car and just cut the ears off/ weld mine on. That's when it came to me to use aluminum. I was scared that it would be too weak, but after doing some reading I learned that aluminum was more than double the strength at double the thickness. You can see from the original strut that there really isn't much steel there.

So... thick is what I ordered.
After cutting to length I turned down some plugs for the bottom and tig welded them in place.

I cut a bit of a concave into the plug on the inside so it would be self centering and distribute the load to the outside edges of the strut rather than to the pointy middle.

Next up was the giant tap. I had to bore it out a bit to receive it.

I hoped to experiment with acme threads for the first time and turn threads on the outside for the height adjuster nut. But, the tube I ordered was just a hair too thin. Instead I turned down the outside to receive a coil over sleeve and pressed it on. It was TIGHT I had to break out the torch half way down to keep from splitting it.

Next, I cut my ears to size from some scrap I had.

My knuckle had a radius in it from when it was machined, and I wanted to follow that contour to give it every bit of additional strength. Cutting a radius.

Problem. I never actually compared the old and the new side by side. I went off the dimensions from the Monroe Shock site. It was surprising to find that my new strut was much much shorter than the original. Where I wanted to lower it an inch or more this was several. I decided to use a "drop ear". where the ears would hang down below the tube to achieve the desired height. Mocking it up here: Not shown.. I also milled some notches straight up and down on the strut to receive the ear and keep them aligned...

I was not at all satisfied with the new arrangement. The dropped ear was clearly not structurally sound. My solution was to fab up a brace. Had I done a better job of planning I would have milled these from one piece. Fortunately this mistake drastically improved my design. Now, instead of the support "hanging" off the side, the ears actually hook underneath to capture the load.

Side by side comparison:

These things are heavy. (But still lighter than the steel I originally bought) Unfortunately the camber plates I had were a different size so I had to turn down a sleeve to take up the slack.

My stack height was still too tall. I had to trim some off the top hat, and then turn down a nut to act as both a sleeve and the retaining nut. A lug nut was the perfect size This:

became this:

The only thing left was to assemble and bolt it up.

Complete:

Installed:

In the future I'll need a bit longer spring, but I thought I'd wait until I've driven it some to see if I needed to make changes to the spring rate.

Still haven't driven it yet, I have rust in my gas tank again.

f6sk
f6sk Reader
3/15/17 9:12 p.m.

So, a while back I bought a strut brace to fit a Honda civic rear. These things are insanely cheap. I'm talking $25 cheap. It didn't fit of course, but I couldn't make one for that.

Fist step was to make some square metal round.

Test fit on the strut tower

I had to chop a bit off to get the length right. This thing even has left handed threads on one side so it can be tightened.

test fit again

Welded

Painted and Installed

Easy and cheap.

Working on the rusty gas tank now.

lotus026
lotus026
6/10/17 1:31 p.m.

Wow, just stumbled into this thread a few days ago - amazing commitment to a project! Not that it started out as much of one as it turned into - I'm lucky mine was simple. Visiting a local junkyard about 15 years ago in search of a starter for my Lotus Elan (found one, $10 out of a Austin America) and they had an '89 I-Mark RS which had been smacked in the front, and had decided that it was too nice to scrap out - they talked me into buying it for $400 ("Great complement for your Lotus!"), and even delivered it 35 miles for another $20. Didn't have time to do anything with it for a couple of weeks, then on a Friday morning burned a valve in the Lotus at a club track day while on the way to a weekend hillclimb, limped home and found a glass shop that would install the new windshield I had that day while I got the car registered, titled and insured, got the car back late afternoon and vacuumed the broken glass out; checked fluids, installed fire extinguisher; transferred my camping gear & headed for the hillclimb - made it most of the way there on the gas that came with the car:) Did fairly well for a car I'd never driven before and didn't know what it was when I bought it! Found the rest of the parts I needed to repair the crash damage on the way home from the hillclimb, mostly just the front bumper support and a headlight. That one now has 476,000 miles on it, mostly replaced a few years ago by another '89 RS which was a one owner car with only 72,000 miles on it.

I envy your stiffer suspension, been wanting to do something more with mine but knew it'd be a big project - so I've been making do for now using the earlier '85-'86 I-Mark springs, about 15-20% stiffer than the softer Lotus ones. And possibly you haven't discovered yet, but the I-Mark sway bars are stackable - I've got double RS bars on the front, and 2 on the back of one car; 3 on the other to get neutral handling. Don't think you're going to be able to fit coil-overs on the back, at least not in the stock location - think the shocks are way too close to the tires! Speaking of which, I'm amazed that your new wheels would clear - I'm running 15" x 6" wheels with 205/50-15 tires for racing / track days, and they brush the inner fender wells a bit, my street wheels with 195/50-15 don't quite.

Also, transmission fill is through the speedo drive gear, one 6mm bolt to remove it, and if I remember right the drive gear itself is the fill level indicator. Needs a funnel with a long tube to reach the hole, and clean the area around the gear housing first before removing so you don't have dirt falling in!

I've also got an Impulse RS turbo engine to eventually put into one my RS's, and still kind of regret having left the rest of the car in the wrecking yard - would have been cool to do the AWD turbo conversion that Irmscher in Japan did with the I-Mark, but realize that would have been a lot more major project even with all the drivetrain parts in hand! I've got too many projects as it is....

f6sk
f6sk Reader
6/22/17 7:38 p.m.

In reply to lotus026: Wow, its like meeting another person with a rare disese and discovering you're not the only one!

I just bought another I-Mark RS Turbo this weekend with a spare DOHC motor in the trunk, and a spare turbo. I like the idea of stacking the sway bars. I've also heard of "boxing the frame" on the twist beam, but I hesitate to do something so permanent.

I too bought a Impulse RS motor at the junkyard and regret not also grabbing the transmission.

You should checkout the Isuzone facebook page. Lots of odd people like us that like quirky little cars. I'll be posting up picks of the new car soon.

1988iMarkTurboSurvior
1988iMarkTurboSurvior None
6/28/17 1:18 p.m.

F6sk - this detailed build has been great! Thank you for all the time you put into this entire process. You really set the bar high. I have a question for you I recently purchased a white (1 of 186 made) 1988 Isuzu I Mark Turbo in pretty good condition, it has Recaro seats, leather steering wheel, and a professionally installed sunroof. (Sunroof didn't come stock). Good buy. My question is about the check engine light. My check engine light comes on occasionally, when it does it starts to lose power and then starts bucking or jerking - it feeling like a fuel filter or sensor issue. I have heard that there is a way to read the light code on the car, but I don't know where this is located and what tools are used to view the light. I haven't found any videos online that shows the step by step process with this particular car. Do you have any recommendations or any literature on how to discover the check engine light code? I've purchase the huge manual for this car but it is not helpful. Thank you again for your awesome build! Best, 1988iMarkTurboSurvior

f6sk
f6sk Reader
6/28/17 8:29 p.m.

In reply to 1988iMarkTurboSurvior:

First. Join the isuzone facebook page. Lots of traffic there to answer questions.

Second. Get a workshop manual, the Chiltons are garbage. Isuzu Factory Manual from E-Bay

Third. Do this: Look on the passenger side kick panel, or under the speaker. There should be a white-ish plug not connected to anything with wires that feed behind the kick panel. (Or you may have to take the kick panel off). This is you ALDL connector. In order to read the codes you have to "Jumper the connector" There are three slots on the front side. Take a paper clip and bend it to connect the outer two. Leave the middle alone. You are now ready to read codes. with the ignition on but not started, the check engine light should blink once, then twice. This is your code "12" it means the computer is communicating. Code 12 will repeat two more times. Next it will display your trouble code. First blink(s) is the first digit (pause) second blink is the second digit.

Remove Jumper and start car. Install jumper again and read codes that only show when the car is running.
Report back what you find. To clear the codes pull the ecm fuse under the hood on the right side behind the battery.

1988iMarkTurboSurvior
1988iMarkTurboSurvior New Reader
6/28/17 10:08 p.m.

In reply to f6sk: Thank you for the crystal clear advice, very appreciated! As you said, I received three 12's and than three 22's. Repeat. After starting the car and re-installing the jumper - the light steadily blinked (rather quickly) with no pause in between. I'll definitely join the Facebook page and purchase a new manual, thank you again!

f6sk
f6sk Reader
6/29/17 9:56 p.m.

In reply to 1988iMarkTurboSurvior:

If you leave the jumper in when you start the car it blinks fast. Leave it out until you start the car, then plug it in.

ssswitch
ssswitch Dork
6/29/17 10:33 p.m.

It's really cool that so many other I-Mark people are coming out of the woodwork to gawp at this thing now.

I'm really impressed by that rear strut body.

1988iMarkTurboSurvior
1988iMarkTurboSurvior New Reader
6/30/17 5:56 p.m.

In reply to f6sk: Unfortunately, after four times of letting the car idle for 30 secs or more, then plugging it in, it still blinks with no pause. Also removed wire before starting. Just got my 1988 I-Mark (JT) Workshop Manual - Thank you again for the recommendation! Code 22 is a Throttle Positioning Sensor (signal low voltage) issue, manual has a decent step-by-step diagnostic chart.

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