Street Build: 1996 GST Auto Street/Drag 2gb conversion

[jongraack]

First off, thanks for showing interest in my build. I've been puting this off since I joined the site so I figure I'll let you guys and gals know what's up on one of my builds.

I bought a beautiful green 96 GST Automatic about a year ago for a low price of $2500 with only 102000 miles and it was a virgin. Drove it 200 miles in the first 2 days and parked it. I have not started it since due to being under construction. Of course while I was driving it I was also checking to see if anything felt wrong or if a CEL was going to eventually come on. The only thing I noticed that needed assistance right away was the front driver side suspension components. No CEL and no driving problems. Shifted great and the beast pulled nice for having a stock turbo.

After parking it I had to decide what I was going to do with this wonderful machine. I decide to go with a Drag/Street build and more-so towards the drag. So I went ahead and did a compression check to see if the motor was still performing as it should. Compression was the same accross the board and showed no signs of change. That made me happy. So I decided to wait on the motor and make that the last thing I do since I can start the car at any time.

The body of course was the 2ga style and even though it looks nice, I still prefer the 2gb style. So I went ahead and bought all the 2gb parts I needed. I had to buy a new hatch because mine was rusted a little on the lip and lucky me, it ended up being a hatch that took a 2gb high rise spoiler. (Eventually I want a fiberglass hatch/hood) Less holes to fill. I am having the door handles and any other holes in the body shaved and filled. No wipers or squirters either. (NON RAIN CAR PERIOD) I spent 3 days sanding the whole car by hand in one direction through the clear cloat and well in to the paint. I am still in the process of filling imperfections. (I am doing everything myself that I can to save money and learn along the way/plus I'm OCD) Now the car looks fade green lol. I am undecided if I am going to change the color to satin black or if I will be going with the factory color. One way or another, it will be painted.

The interior was all grey with cloth seats. I knew I wanted the leather but I wasn't sure what color scheme I wanted to go with. I was going to do the tan and black or the grey and black. I decided grey and black because the tan and black just doesn't look as nice with a green(if I go factory color) car as the grey and black IMO. I got the grey leather seats and a great clean set at that. (Still need driver's seat) I also got the grey leather door panels. I gutted the whole car and painted almost everything black beside the main dash piece. The doors are partially black. I spent a lot of time painting all these parts so it would turn out right the first time. 3 layers of paint and 3 layers of clear. (Don't yell at me for painting the interior please, it's not ricy)

Goal is to build thetranny, motor, and head to withstand 700+hp. Not sure if I am going to go with a stroker or just build the crap out of the 2.0!?!?!?

Here is what I have done so far.....

Deleted:
A/C system
Cruise control
EGR- Block-off Plate Installed
HVAC
Charcoal Can.

To be deleted after ECU upgrade:
Everything not needed

New Parts Bought:
CXRacing Bar-n-Plate FMIC Kit 2.5" pipes, core-24"x12"x3" (bolt-on & it was,,,,,almost)
Megan 3" downpipe (courtesy of Extremepsi.com)
Megan 3" catback
FP Race Manifold (courtesy of Forced Performance)
Front R&L Knuckle OEM (Extremepsi)
Front R&L upper control arms OEM (Extremepsi)
Front R&L lower control arms (Extremepsi)
Front R&L wheel bearing
Front axles & seals
Drilled and slotted rotors all around
Inner & Outer tie rods
Sway bar links
Timing belt kit (Extremepsi)
2gb front bumper

Used Parts bought:
TD05H MHI Big 16g
1g BOV
1g throttle body (rebuilt by me)
2gb high-rise spoiler
2gb rear bumper
2gb side skirts & door caps
FP 4" intake

Rebuilds: Done by me
MHI Big 16g w/upgrade: New TD05h Turbine shaft///New .70 a/r turbine housing internally gated///new 20g Billet 11-blade compressor wheel///new 20g 3" compressor housing///full rebuild kit
1g Throttle Body: Full rebuild kit w/FIAV bypass plate

Parts to come:
Holset HX40 Billet 7-Blade
BEP T3 .70 Housing
60-1 TD06H4
O2 housing with 38mm vband wastegate
Manley 2.1 94mm Stroker Crank
Manley 85.5 stroker 156mm long rod pistons (CR 10.1 or 8.5)
Manley 156mm long rod 4g63
DSMLink V3 Full or AEM standalone
Coilovers (real deal not junk)
***Avid Racing motor mounts (roll stops 90A/engine & tranny 75A)
Speed density
Innovate LC-1 wideband
MBC
Fluidamper harmonic balancer
High-flow fuel filter
***Aeromotive 340lph high-output fuel pump, or a 440 pump***
FIC 1650cc (low) injectors
E85 conversion
Shift box
Tranny cooler
Red top battery
Mitsubishi Galant alternator-direct bolt-on
and much more..............

I'm sure there is some stuff I'm forgetting but I will update on the rgular.

Thanks for looking!!!

Any and all critisism is welcome.

Here are some random pictures: I will post more pictures with the posts that explain them.

[95whiteGSX]

Very clean car, 2gb is the way to go. My first dam was a 2ga and I sold it and waited to find a decent 2gb now I'm building mine dream car. Your build seems like its gonna be a good build can't wait to see how she turns out ............. On yea keep the green it's an awesome color ( just my .02 tho lol)

[jongraack]

Originally Posted by 95whiteGSX

Very clean car, 2gb is the way to go. My first dam was a 2ga and I sold it and waited to find a decent 2gb now I'm building mine dream car. Your build seems like its gonna be a good build can't wait to see how she turns out ............. On yea keep the green it's an awesome color ( just my .02 tho lol)

Thanks a lot for the reply. I was looking to buy a 2gb but I came accross this deal and figured I'd just swap it myself. Thanks for the input on keeping the green too. I mainly wanted to because there just aren't many out there.

[95whiteGSX]

No problem man, it's deffently a good deal on your car and the swap is easy so it's not a big deal and I'm the same way I do as much work on the car myself that I can. I used to work at and auto body shop myself and I'll be preping my car for paint soon, I'm gonna keep it red and maybe do a CF hood and lip to throw in some contrast, and then some EvoX MR BBS's and brembo's as well. The green is pretty rare I never really see any in that color so I think it's Kool your gonna stay with it and I think you should do an awd swap if your gonna make it a 700hp drag car again just my .02

[jongraack]

Originally Posted by 95whiteGSX

No problem man, it's deffently a good deal on your car and the swap is easy so it's not a big deal and I'm the same way I do as much work on the car myself that I can. I used to work at and auto body shop myself and I'll be preping my car for paint soon, I'm gonna keep it red and maybe do a CF hood and lip to throw in some contrast, and then some EvoX MR BBS's and brembo's as well. The green is pretty rare I never really see any in that color so I think it's Kool your gonna stay with it and I think you should do an awd swap if your gonna make it a 700hp drag car again just my .02

Yea I really enjoy the AWD but I like the challenge with the FWD. There are a lot of awd out there pushing monster power but not many fwd. Thanks for the input though

The red with the carbon fiber hoods look very nce. Red is a very nice color for these cars and you don't see it a lot, most of them look shi**y.

So my first project was to remove the a/c system and all components. I have been through this process befor and never look forward to it. Everything is very easy to remove, as long as you know the easy way to go about it. Most people have trouble with removing the compressor from behind the motor.

I found the easiest way to do this is by loosening the brake res. bracket and pushing it off to the side; unplug the cam sensor (95-96); unplug the a/c unit; unhook the vac hoses from either sides (remember how they were hooked up/lable them); and this is for an automatic so I'm not sure if the manual has anything else in the way.

Next I decide to jack the car up in the front so it was easier to get to the lower bolts of the a/c compressor. Once I felt comfortable enough to start unbolting, it was now time to start unhooking the lines from the compressor. (Remeber to have your a/c system discharged in some sort of way or you could end with major injury or problems) It was very easy to remove the lines fro the compressor and once they were disconnected I went ahead and pulled out all of the a/c lines. I then freed the compressor and had to decide which way this was going to come out. Top or bottom? The bottom looks good but the axle and some other stuff is deffinately in the way. So I went from the top and grabbed it by the puley and lucky me, it came right out. That is the first time I had one come out this easy.

Then I went on to removing all the lines that ran along the firewall. Then to the condensor (radiator looking thing in front of the radiator). I went ahead and removed the lines that attached to the condensor to make sure it will come out with ease. I loostened the top radiator support bolts so it was able to move towards the engine freely. (DO NOT have to remove radiator to remove condensor) I went ahead and loostened all the condensor bolts so it was free. I then pushed the radiator towards the engine and that made enough room to squeeze the condensor between the radiator and rad. support. It came right out with ease. Not one problem. Since that was removed, I went ahead and removed anything else that was left hanging around. That also included the cannister that is between the compressor and condensor.

I would have backed all this up with pictures but this is a very self-explanatory method and pictures don't do justice for this process. However, here are a couple pictures: one is the cannister and some of the piping; one is the big heavy compressor; the other is a picture of the front after removal of the condensor.

[jongraack]

So for the little bit of time I drove my car befor parking it, I realized it would need front suspension work. I had no idea it would be this extensive. My initial goal was to replace a wheel bearing and a weak tie rod end on the driver's side. What a joke this became real fast

My first problem was getting the tire off. It was frozen to the hub and bearing. I had to beat on the tire from every angle for about 20min befor the tire finally fell. Once the tire fell I realized I had bigger issues ahead of me. Just by looking at the axle nut, I could tell someone cranked on it and gave up. That's right, it was nice and round and had more rust on it than my whole car has. So I went to the tools box and grabbed a few different size sockets and beat them on until they were stuck on. I was literally jumping on my breaker bar and the nut was not budging. "I figured it wasn't going to."

So now I have to decide what to do from here. I figured since this side was this bad, maybe the other side is just as bad or worse. So I went to the other side and what do you know, it was much worse From there I decided that everything was coming out and nothing but new was going back in. Being that the axle was siezed to the hub assembly, everything from the axle seal out had to be replaced. Knowing that I was replacing everything I didn't hold back when removing the parts. Everything came out fairly easy but the passenger axle was a little tricky and the sway bar links had to be cut. After squeezing a pry bar between the housing and axle and giving a nice solid hit, the axle popped right out.

The only thing left was to install all the new parts. I bought all new oem components from extrempsi and the dealer. Installation was much easier than removing all the old rusty crap. I went ahead and upgraded the rotors at this time as well. The shocks I left alone because I want to do all of them at once.

[Abe'sGST]

so far so good man. Good luck with the rest. Also I would go with black outside, I think it's far more appealing to the eyes than green, just my .02

[jongraack]

Originally Posted by Abe'sGST

so far so good man. Good luck with the rest. Also I would go with black outside, I think it's far more appealing to the eyes than green, just my .02

Thanks I am more than likely going to stay green with this one unless I decide to pull the motor befor I paint. I'd like to ba bale to the paint job the right way the first time because painting gets expensive real fast which alot of people already know.

[sypherzero]

Originally Posted by Abe'sGST

so far so good man. Good luck with the rest. Also I would go with black outside, I think it's far more appealing to the eyes than green, just my .02

Nobody wants your pennies sir, hahaha!

Build is looking good though, I say keep the green though. Green with black accents looks pretty sexy, IMO.

[jongraack]

Originally Posted by sypherzero

Nobody wants your pennies sir, hahaha!

Build is looking good though, I say keep the green though. Green with black accents looks pretty sexy, IMO.

Thanks a lot, appreciate it The more I look for the green 2g's on the road, the more I notice there aren't many. I also really like the look with the dark accents.

[jongraack]

So I went ahead and did the emissions delete the other day. Everything was very easy and it will deffenitely help clean things up in the end. Progress doesn't look so good right now because the engine bay is so dirty but you get the idea.

I removed the charcoal canister first since it looked to be the most difficult part of the whole process. Removing the bracket above the canister was the only tricky part but once it was out it was cake from there. I went ahead and ran a longer hose on the end of the big grey check valve and out of the engine bay in case there was any smell or fumes. I then followed all the hoses to where they went and started pulling, gently. Instead of unpluging the EGR and HVAC that is attched to the firewall, I simply unbolted them and zip-tied them to the firewall down lower where they are out of the way. I am now left with the EGR valve and the choice of whether or not I am going to just plug the 2 ends or actually do a delete all together. I decided to go ahead and buy a simple delete plate for $8 from ebay and it turns out it came from Tourque Solutions. I was affraid for that cheap that is was going to be a piece of pop-can alluminum. I went ahead and made my own gasket and put some rtv valve cover gasket maker on there and threw it on.

I also moved my battery tray down to the frame. I bolted it so the wheel-well and it sits in there nicely. I am using an Optima red-top and I have a bracket that I made to wrap around it and attach to the wheel-well too.

[jongraack]

So I decided to go ahead and do my first rebuild and it is going to be on a MHI Big 16g. Not only am I doing a rebuild, I am also uprading the compressor wheel to a 20g Billet 11-blade and a new 3" 20g compressor housing. The rebuild will consist of all new parts and a brand new TD05H turbine shaft. Also included is a new .70 a/r turbine housing that is partially ported to allow much better flow through wastegate port.

Thank you to "Turbo Lab" for all the great parts and great service!!!!!

I went ahead and did my first rebuild on a 1g throttle body. It went really smooth, hardest part was removing the screws that hold the plate in place. I also went ahead and did the FIAV bypass so that I could still utilize the ISC.

Thanks goes to "snowborder714" for the great service and 1g throttle body rebuild kit.