I'm building a 1990 GSX into an endurance road race car. This should be fun!

I used to be deep into the E46 M3 community until my M's untimely demise Since then, I haven't been involved with any online car community, but I've been helping some racing friends in their pits and it's time I built my own car.

My background is in road racing and I've been doing a bit of desert racing (SNORE) out in Nevada the last few years. Great fun!

So a buddy found us a salvaged, but running and driving 1g for cheap and now I'm reading and researching this platform to see where I need to focus to make sure we can go the distance and make a half decent showing of it.

Welcome to the forums.... you have any pictures of the car?

Glad to have you as a member on here! We all have similar interests in these fun little monsters!
Do a timing belt and associated parts first, if it hasn't been done. You will snap that thing and eat 16 valves and be done.

Bo0sTeD 4G63 said:

Welcome to the forums.... you have any pictures of the car?

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Looks like a run of the mill black 1ga, but I'll try to post a few photos, just have to find a decent photo hosing site first.

1990TSIAWDTALON said:

Glad to have you as a member on here! We all have similar interests in these fun little monsters!
Do a timing belt and associated parts first, if it hasn't been done. You will snap that thing and eat 16 valves and be done.

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Thanks @1990TSIAWDTALON, I appreciate the input. Already have a new belt installed. So far, I've also done all the filters and fluids, ball joints, tie rod ends, end links, front wheel bearings, new lower control arms. I've also worked with Todd at TCE Performance to build a custom front and rear big brake kit. Currently in the process of going through the cooling system. Plan on rebuilding the original radiator and replacing the the radiator hoses.

In the process of replacing the thermostat, I found some nasty corrosion on the overflow outlet in the housing so in the process of removing the housing, I managed to damage the temp sensor, so now I guess I'm replacing that as well haha.

They are old, so you have to get them back up to they're former glory! I was messing under my hood last night and the dang tab on the Idle Stop Switch broke off.....so I filed some of the plastic off, soldered on a wire and a new male terminal and made it work again. THAT is one of those parts that I have a hard time finding and this is the 2nd one I have fixed. Always the little things that you DON'T think about that creep up. You are doing all of the things I would do and am about to do to my 90 GSX that I picked up a few weeks ago. Keep up the good work!

We are doing the same thing but running 24 hours of Lemons! Our car is the non turbo though. We are on our 5th race so far and planning to do a power adder for next year. It's a ton of work be prepared for it to not always be easy. I have a spare set of rear kyb GSX struts and will have a set of all 4 KYB GSX with megan racing coils for sale soon.

What are your motor mod plans if any? What turbo are you planning to run?

Jamesberry2382 said:

What are your motor mod plans if any? What turbo are you planning to run?

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Fortunate for us in ChampCar, ECU changes don't incur any penalties, so that'll be the first thing. Unfortunately, I have zero experience with ECU tuning so this will be a whole new learning experience. That reminds me... I need to check the ECU to see if it's socketed. I'm hoping I can connect with someone local to show me the ropes. Anyone between Tampa and Melbourne FL willing to help a fellow DSM guy out?

Other than that, I'll probably do a 2g air intake and MAF, along with the elbow to the intake manifold. Oh, and try to source a healthy wastegate! Way down the road, I'll probably have the 14b rebuilt and knife edged to get the most out of it.

Again, I'm still learning about the 1g (I've invested most of my time so far to learning about this chassis and suspension) so any suggestions I'm wide open to.