I blame you enablers and especially Swank Force One for making me want, search out and buy my first turbo car.
Might have bitten off a bit more than I can chew, but Friday I went to the desert and found a pressure cooking machine.
My view as I drove this used and abused automobile home.
Originally red, poorly repainted metallic silver. A 5 foot paint job at best. Red showing through where he masked poorly.
Here you see the other 2 cars I've purchased because of you people. Non-running liftback Celica project, running but not smogged Saturn SL2. And a messy garage.
Interior, has broken seam on front of driver seat and rear of passenger seat. Smells of cigarettes and needs to have human slime cleaned off. Seats are comfy though.
Came with a factory service manual, I'm gonna need it and then some.
Was hit front driver side. Core support ain't too pretty, fuse box loose and flopping around, ditto battery.
This is what I'm facing. Engine was claimed to have been replaced with a rebuilt unit 95k ago.
The brown stuff you see is desert dirt. The dude lived on a dirt road and even though the car wasn't well cared for before he got it, it had a hard few months with him for sure.
So the seller claims;
Rebuilt engine 95k ago.
Upgraded turbo.
Aftermarket cam.
Clean title.
Stuff I've seen;
Boost, oil pressure and temperature gauges in pod. Appear to be working.
Turbo XS blow off valve.
Door handles do not work. Driver side handle is cracked. Passenger side missing the rod.
1 or 2 wires to throttle position sensor not hooked up.
Shifter was dead as well. Had it push started, got gas with the engine running and drove it 2+ hours home like that.
Shifter flops around. Hard to find 2nd.
Looks like active suspension removed and lowering springs installed.
Cut or wrong the springs as the passenger rear is making a racket even on smooth roads. I removed the spring spacers the seller installed to be able to navigate the terrible dirt road he lived on.
The temp gauge in the dash doesn't work. Looks like they soldered in a piece of lamp cord. Is there polarity?
Cruise control cable not hooked up.
Shocks and all bushings including control arms are completely shot.
Windows slow to roll up.
Key won't unlock trunk.
The motor mounts are shot. I could feel the engine moving on accel and decel.
A little hairy at times, the front would wander a bit now and then. The next day I looked, the control arm bushings are so bad I can move the whole assembly by hand pushing the wheel.
Stuff I've done so far;
Installed new starter with one from Oreilly. Wasn't too bad of a job.
Took the barely holding on broken/sloppy solder and electrical tape stuff off, soldered and shrink wrapped connections one at a time to ensure everything went where it was suppos... er, where the previous owners had it connected. Hooking up the wires of the TPS makes the car bog really bad and idle at 1500. Also the idle raises and dips once you put it in gear. I re-cut the black wire and the car drives better, idles around 5-800 iirc and no bogging or rpm surging in gear. Driver side wheel spins with the car on jackstands. Wish I had another car to look at locally, or a diagram of what color wire goes to what, the FSM didn't seem to have any for the area around the throttle body.
First order of business, I need this smogged and registered in my name. That means get it running right... gonna need stock parts like blow off valve and figure out if it does have an aftermarket cam and turbo and go from there.
Yeah, I'm thinking I bit off more than I can chew. All this for the low low price of $760. Swank already offered me his email address on instafacebook, thanks bro. I will def be calling on you.
