1991 Plymouth Laser Base

[Redrocketlaser]

Update: Let's play the game "Where in God's name is all my coolant going?!". Is it all coming out of the top of the rad? Nope, replaced it. Is it the Oring on the cooland crossover pipe? Nah, just replaced it as well.. all hoses in good shape including the heater hoses+the 2 going to the intake...

I tried to idle my car with the coolant cap off today until the bubbles(trapped air) stopped.. it did not.. I ran it for like 40 minutes and they never stopped.

MAYBE the intake gasket could be leaking internally, but considering I've been pinging the shit out of this thing for the past 4 months I'd say the headgasket is probably the culprit. Gasket kit comes with the intake as well so it will get replaced too anyways.

Anywho... Yeah I'll be grabbing the cheapest Hg kit rockauto has to offer, so wish me luck

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

I want to thank you for your post of the Laser. I have a 1990 exactly like yours!
I used the Rustoleum Apple Red paint to touch up my 1990 TSI (Built the same day, same plant, same color but AWD not FWD like my Laser). That paint is a super close match. I needed to touch up some moulding on the Talon and the Apple Red paint looks GREAT!
Photos for comparison......
Thanks and Happy DSMing!!!
Marty

 

[dwb]

Oh man, a non-"power bulge" hood? I thought those were only in 89 but apparently it must be a 1.8 thing. I've never actually seen one in the wild.

 

[Redrocketlaser]

I want to thank you for your post of the Laser. I have a 1990 exactly like yours!
I used the Rustoleum Apple Red paint to touch up my 1990 TSI (Built the same day, same plant, same color but AWD not FWD like my Laser). That paint is a super close match. I needed to touch up some moulding on the Talon and the Apple Red paint looks GREAT!
Photos for comparison......
Thanks and Happy DSMing!!!
Marty

View attachment 745872

View attachment 745873

That looks great! And yeah I can't believe how close it is, my door jams match so well and I love it. I've painted 4 vehicles prior (rattle can, no doorjams) and to have it all look factory at a glance is just awesome to me.

Oh man, a non-"power bulge" hood? I thought those were only in 89 but apparently it must be a 1.8 thing. I've never actually seen one in the wild.

I'm thinking they were on all 1ga 1.8 cars, then when they shifted to 1gb they all just had the same hood with the power bulge. Dont quote me though, these are mere assumptions based off dsms I've seen for sale over the years .

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

Your paint color, out in the sun, baking. I can't tell the difference unless I am at a certain angle. I went ahead and did the door moulding today. The front fender moulding is still faded so I will probably do it later tonite. I really do appreciate the car and posts about it. Lasers are cool and "unsuspecting". Mine is an RS.

 

[Redrocketlaser]

Also update:
The car is still pushing coolant and I have not changed the HG yet. There are some things I need to change before I do the HG that I've forgotten to mention. The coolant cap is in rough shape, seal is cracked and idk how strong the spring still is, maybe I'm just pushing coolant because of a leaky cap? The other thing is that I've just been using water, since it's been leaking so much and I'm not made of money.. Since it's almost 100percent water now itll have a lower boiling point, but would it cause me to push more coolant out than my reservoir would hold?

I'll get another cap and some actual antifreeze and get back with another update

Pics of the cap

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

Is it only pushing it out of the cap/overflow?
That cap seal looks like "toast"...

 

[dwb]

I agree, radiator cap is toast. Easy/cheap to replace and see what happens. Looks like it could use a good coolant flush, too.
Keep in mind, antifreeze has protection from rust/corrosion and also a lubricant for the water pump. So try to minimize how long you run strictly water (not to mention freezing conditions).

 

[Redrocketlaser]

Is it only pushing it out of the cap/overflow?
That cap seal looks like "toast"...

I'm pretty sure it's only coming out of the overflow. It's hard to to tell, being just water it evaporates pretty quick when it's that hot so I can barely find moisture. I did finally catch it In the act the other day after i noticed a trail from myself pulling into a parking lot

Also I didnt mean to ignore your other post, I took forever writing a response the last time and posted it right after you and didnt notice. But yeah, I'm glad you guys like seeing it. I enjoy posting about it, and I noticed forums are really starting to die out so I wanted to participate in one of the last few functioning ones left.

I agree, radiator cap is toast. Easy/cheap to replace and see what happens. Looks like it could use a good coolant flush, too.
Keep in mind, antifreeze has protection from rust/corrosion and also a lubricant for the water pump. So try to minimize how long you run strictly water (not to mention freezing conditions).

Yeah, I'll be getting a cap. And the water is just to keep me mobile while I figure out where all the coolant is going, I fully intend on re-flushing it and refilling with 50/50. Where I live in Kentucky it gets into the teens and single digits sometimes so believe me when I tell you I know what happens when you run only water in below freezing(this is how my wife's caravan died).

 

[TuskeeTuner]

Oh man, a non-"power bulge" hood? I thought those were only in 89 but apparently it must be a 1.8 thing. I've never actually seen one in the wild.

My base model 94 Talon DL had the bulge on the hood...came in handy once I figured out how to turbo swap it...

 

[Redrocketlaser]

My base model 94 Talon DL had the bulge on the hood...came in handy once I figured out how to turbo swap it...

Yeah I'd say if I wanted to 4g swap mine I would need a new hood as well. Oh well, if I swap it I'll end up getting a parts car anyways, just gotta make sure it has a decent hood.

 

[CrackedDSM]

The bulge is 100% necessary on a 4G63 equipped 1G. On a 2G it's just for looks. You CAN cut the supports off the hood in that spot for the 1.8 flat hood to work, but it's flimsy AF and tends to be wavy near there.

 

[Redrocketlaser]

Update: Havent been doing alot due to restricted funds at the moment so nothing has changed but the temperature in my region. I've noticed when it's dropping down into the 50s all day I use a fraction of the coolant I've been using while the temps have been in the 80s-90s. This leads me even further away from the HG and toward the bad cap/all water being the culprit.

That being said I wont have any updates for quite some time. On November 11th I'll be having a spinal fusion on my lower back and that is going to keep me pretty sedentary for the next 6-8 months. Needless to say the laser will be a driveway queen during that time as I probably wont even be able to get into the driver seat for a while surgery has to be done to keep function of legs due to slippage over time and a birth defect on my bi-lateral pars. It is what it is though.

In lighter news I found some free seats from a turbo car on marketplace!! They're 3 hrs away from me and I'm going to grab them tomorrow, which I will also come back and post pics of them in the car later in the day.

 

[CrackedDSM]

Super sucks to hear about the surgery, man. But, just follow the surgeons orders and you'll be back up and doing backflips in no time.



Those seats are clean! Gotta love the cloth.

 

[Redrocketlaser]

Got the front 2 in

Super sucks to hear about the surgery, man. But, just follow the surgeons orders and you'll be back up and doing backflips in no time.



Those seats are clean! Gotta love the cloth.

Yeah, I plan on being very careful through my recovery. I'm gonna take my time and follow my aftercare instructions to a tee, and I'm sure I'll be good.

I just got the front 2 seats in but it's too dark now to take a picture so I'll have to tomorrow after I get the tears in. I love them though, the bolsters are so nice and these have adjustable lumbar as well so that's nice

 

[Redrocketlaser]

Update:

Got them cleaned up and installed, they're not perfect but their in better shape than my old ones plus they're a hell of an upgrade over my factory base seats. Of course I forgot to take a before picture, but here they are outside the car.

I'm quite pleased with them, as are my kids .

 

[Redrocketlaser]

No updates but a nice picture of me pulling into the local Cars & Coffee this morning.

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

Boy your car turned out really good. I want to say thanks again, I can't tell what I painted on my 1990 TSI, can anyone else? I ordered more paint just for matching when I do the body work on that back fenderwell.and replace the hatch on my 1990 Laser RS that got hurt. The duct tape on my TSI kinda lures in the unsuspecting souls.....and keeps the birds nests out
I like your Laser !!!
Marty

 

[Redrocketlaser]

Recovery from spinal surgery has been an endeavor but I’m finally getting back to my normal routines mostly. Today I decided I was going to drive my car for the first time since my surgery back in November, finally! Not that I haven’t been driving at all, I’ve been driving my wife’s 2010 pathfinder since I was 3 weeks post op. The surgery corrected the angle of my lower spine via L5-S1 spinal fusion. Before the surgery I had severe compression on the nerve for my left leg, making it difficult to press in the clutch or hold it down from time to time… Today I got in my car and had no issues at all pressing the clutch, or holding it in. In all honesty the car overall is alot more pleasant to drive than the pathfinder even with my healing state. The pathfinder tosses me around everywhere where the laser actually has bolsters that hold me in place.

Anywho the car did great. I threw a battery in it this morning to take my kids to school in it and after like 2 straight minutes of cranking it finally stumbles to life I should probably mention that it was only 9degrees Fahrenheit this morning so tbh I’m happy it started at all. I drove it for what seems like most of the day running errands and had no hiccups what so ever… until my alternator stopped charging about 7 miles from home.. thankfully the battery just barely got me in the driveway.
I’ll be looking into that later in the week when the temp decides to move out of the single digits, but I assume the alternator is bad. No telling when it was last replaced.
Here’s a few pics of the car from today and one from all the snow last week. Also threw in my X-rays I just got a few weeks ago that show the brackets, it’s gnarly.

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

I have the same medical issue as you Alex, L5/S1. It is a bad spot to have hurt everyday and glad you are recovering well.
The car is looking very good and I'm happy you can drive her. My 90 Laser looks exactly like yours (minus a hatch glass that a tree limb took out a few months ago so I have her sealed up with 8 mil plastic sheeting).
I have a spare hatch when it gets warmer
How did you reattach your door side moulding? I need to fix a couple myself.

 

[CrackedDSM]

As someone in the medical field, my response to those x-rays are: JESUS, dude. Thank God that wasn't higher up in your thoracic spine or you'd at best not be walking, at worst not be breathing.


Car coming along great though! I love how beastly even the FWD versions of my beloved 1Gs are in the snow.

 

[Redrocketlaser]

I have the same medical issue as you Alex, L5/S1. It is a bad spot to have hurt everyday and glad you are recovering well.
The car is looking very good and I'm happy you can drive her. My 90 Laser looks exactly like yours (minus a hatch glass that a tree limb took out a few months ago so I have her sealed up with 8 mil plastic sheeting).
I have a spare hatch when it gets warmer
How did you reattach your door side moulding? I need to fix a couple myself.

If your pain ever gets bad enough to consider surgery my advice to you is have your dr. Refer you to a neurosurgeon rather than an orthopedic surgeon. I was referred to an orthopedic surgeon originally and he told me I don’t need surgery in my current state, but when I went back to my family doctor the following week he looked at my mri personally and disagreed so he sent me to a neurosurgeon and they let me know on my first visit that I was well within the threshold for having a spinal fusion so I went with it. I say this because I read online most people that get sent to an orthopedic surgeon ortho for this get denied and I think it’s due to being such a high risk surgery tbh.

I appreciate the complement, I haven’t had a car that I actually like the look of in so long and I’m just really happy with the turnout on this one.

As for the side molding that I reattached..
I had been telling my wife that I needed some double sided tape for that and she took it upon herself to pick me up some from the “as seen on tv” section in our local dollar store(we live in the middle of nowhere). I don’t have the package anymore but I think it’s called Alien tape or something silly some really chunky and kinda stretchy double sided tape that I assumed at first would hold for like a week. But here we are, half a year later and it shows no sign of movement

My advise would be a 3m double sided tape from an automotive paint store, I believe that’s what we used at the collision shop I used to work at.

 

[Redrocketlaser]

As someone in the medical field, my response to those x-rays are: JESUS, dude. Thank God that wasn't higher up in your thoracic spine or you'd at best not be walking, at worst not be breathing.


Car coming along great though! I love how beastly even the FWD versions of my beloved 1Gs are in the snow.

Yeah, having that in the thoracic region seems a bit more scary only bad thing about mine being the very bottom of the lumbar is that for the first 5 days it felt near impossible to let my body naturally support my upper half without the help of my arms. All my walking had to be done with a walker because my body couldn’t hold the top half up if you ever saw me in person you’d see why me and my family found it kind of funny, I have a pretty large torso compared to my little legs and me and my wife constantly joke about it

As far as snow, I never actually took it out when any was still on the roads, it had all dried up mostly. And thankfully, my tires are suuuper bald, like bad enough to be sketchy in the rain, I don’t think they would make it far on all the ice we had.

Thankfully the family vehicle is a 2010 pathfinder and the 4wd in that will go literally anywhere somehow(we know, we take it on trails a lot) even on the Michelin all season street tire this thing is a beast.

 

[Redrocketlaser]

Well I threw the battery back in the laser yesterday and put a multimeter to the stud on the alternator and for a moment it was producing voltage( couldn’t tell, super cheap old needle style multimeter) but then it stopped. Turned the car off and back on and now it doesn’t produce any power, so I took it off. Now the car sits waiting for a new alternator. I’ll get one soon enough.

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

Think about putting a 1992 Galant alternator on. It puts out more amps (90) and is a direct swap.
I run them on 2 of my DSMs.

https://www.autozone.com/searchresult?searchText=Alternator