Laiden
Probationary Member
- 25
- 11
- Mar 2, 2019
-
Berea,
Kentucky
Long time reader, finally joining.
My story started with me wanting to do something nice for my wife. She still has her first car, a 1997 Sebring LX, and I thought fixing it up for her would give me a good reason to turn a wrench on something that didn't need to be fixed by yesterday. It wasn't long before I found the connections between her Sebring and the world of DSM. I've never stepped foot into the tuner world before so this is all new to me.
After making the connections though, my first thought was to turn my goals of a restoration project into something really fun. My wife enjoys her fast cars and her father is a lifelong mechanic so she's been around it all. This gives me the golden ticket to doing something fun and have the wife's approval at the same time!
I started looking for a donor car. I really would like to turn the Sebring into an AWD. I am not too worried about the front end, wiring, etc but the rear is something else I would imagine. I did manage to find a 1997 GSX that seemed to be in fairly decent shape. It had been sitting for a year and the guy that owned it got it from some sort of house/land foreclosure where the owner had left it behind.
The GSX seemed to have been in mid-repair as the valve cover was off and a nearly new head sitting in the trunk. Other than that the biggest thing was the turbo was missing. It also came with an extra front diff, extra valve cover and a few other bits and bobs. Considering the price, what I was wanting and likely the rarity of finding a non "showroom" quality GSX around the Kentucky area any time soon, I pulled the trigger. I pretty much just bought the extra parts and got the car for free.
To pull the band-aid off things I knew I had to start somewhere. The first place, the turbo. Reading for many hours, it seemed the wanted HP rating dictated everything and the turbo was the king in terms of one part that requires to be right to get your wanted HP. In my case, I want the 400-450 range as that seemed the high end of OEM parts like the crankshaft. So, to get the ball rolling, I purchased an FP Red turbo and I'm going to allow that to dictate other things, fuel injectors, pump, etc.
I know the rear swap will be daunting but I figure, worst case scenario, if things don't work out I'll still have a decent GSX to restore... but I'm hoping to score major brownie points and turn the Sebring into something nice.
My story started with me wanting to do something nice for my wife. She still has her first car, a 1997 Sebring LX, and I thought fixing it up for her would give me a good reason to turn a wrench on something that didn't need to be fixed by yesterday. It wasn't long before I found the connections between her Sebring and the world of DSM. I've never stepped foot into the tuner world before so this is all new to me.
After making the connections though, my first thought was to turn my goals of a restoration project into something really fun. My wife enjoys her fast cars and her father is a lifelong mechanic so she's been around it all. This gives me the golden ticket to doing something fun and have the wife's approval at the same time!
I started looking for a donor car. I really would like to turn the Sebring into an AWD. I am not too worried about the front end, wiring, etc but the rear is something else I would imagine. I did manage to find a 1997 GSX that seemed to be in fairly decent shape. It had been sitting for a year and the guy that owned it got it from some sort of house/land foreclosure where the owner had left it behind.
The GSX seemed to have been in mid-repair as the valve cover was off and a nearly new head sitting in the trunk. Other than that the biggest thing was the turbo was missing. It also came with an extra front diff, extra valve cover and a few other bits and bobs. Considering the price, what I was wanting and likely the rarity of finding a non "showroom" quality GSX around the Kentucky area any time soon, I pulled the trigger. I pretty much just bought the extra parts and got the car for free.
To pull the band-aid off things I knew I had to start somewhere. The first place, the turbo. Reading for many hours, it seemed the wanted HP rating dictated everything and the turbo was the king in terms of one part that requires to be right to get your wanted HP. In my case, I want the 400-450 range as that seemed the high end of OEM parts like the crankshaft. So, to get the ball rolling, I purchased an FP Red turbo and I'm going to allow that to dictate other things, fuel injectors, pump, etc.
I know the rear swap will be daunting but I figure, worst case scenario, if things don't work out I'll still have a decent GSX to restore... but I'm hoping to score major brownie points and turn the Sebring into something nice.
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