97 gsx

[2tonegsx]

This is the Build Thread for 97 gsx. Reply below.

 

[2tonegsx]

So right after I got this car and joined the forum I took a nice vacation, and then once that was over, I was thrown into double shifts and 6 day work weeks. Now I have some time and can give her some love.

After vacay I sadly found her with a big puddle… luckily it was just power steering. The location of the puddle had me pretty confused and I had only drove the car once when I first bought it, 200ish mile drive to my storage garage. Took her to Fuji San auto to look over the car and fix whatever issues we could find. Power steering leak, valve cover gasket and ripped axle boot all fixed. Now with a “clean” start it’s time to have some fun.

 

[2tonegsx]

Time for my first mod for the car… tires! Went with a set of falken rt615k+, an endurance 200tw. I ran these on my turbo civic and loved them. They are a road course tire not meant for straight line grip but they are a good balance of grip, life, value, and not terrifying in the rain. Car feels so much better now, previously on all seasons the car was very scary. I haven’t launched the car and don’t plan on it but I have full grip in second gear and couldn’t be happier. I do track nights at Sebring whenever my schedule allows for it so maybe I’ll take the eclipse but 100 miles there, track time and 100 miles back scare me. Power set up also isn’t track friendly, big turbo lag then big kick, but maybe one day. Actually have a track night scheduled this Friday that I’ll be taking the z to.

 

[2tonegsx]

So now the car has been looked over, all fluids changed, and some running shoes were put on to make her drivable. Time to get her looks in order. I shaved off the mustache, painted a mishimoto logo on the Intercooler and dropped the bumper off to be painted. I love the look of the bumper now but not sure how I feel about the “M”. I don’t dislike it but I’m thinking maybe I should’ve kept the clean look . I think I’ll like the logo more once the bumper is paint matched. More updates to come soon, hopefully not all bunched up into one random night like tonight.

 

[Mahreeoh17]

Looks great! Can I ask what model intercooler you went with? Big fan of the mishimoto!

 

[2tonegsx]

Looks great! Can I ask what model intercooler you went with? Big fan of the mishimoto!

no idea most likely an eBay unit since there’s no brand name anywhere on it. It measures almost the same as the r line Intercooler from mishimoto. R line is an inch thicker. My core measures 11.5in tall 26in wide and 3in thick

 

[2tonegsx]

Bumper came out great! Elite auto body in ft myers did the work, they also polished the front fenders to be able to paint match. I started working on the rest of the car with some chemical guys compound and meguiars polish. This pic is only with one round of the compound showing the rear bumper half done. Going to do another round of compound and then the polish later this week.

 

[2tonegsx]

So can anyone guess what went bad after having power steering leak??… Alternator! Easy install, went with the 90amp unit from a galant 2.4 after searching through some threads on here. Also got my new valve cover in from twisted frog powder coating in Cape Coral FL. He has an eBay store and I’m pretty sure it was free shipping… but maybe not.

 

[2tonegsx]

Been almost a full year since I posted an update so here goes a long one. Put some new Fic 1200s, aem pump and radium filters. Drained the fuel, took out all the foam and cleaned the cell. Then I sent the car to Redlane performance to get a new head gasket and speed density set up and tuned on clink. Not too long after a blown boost line to wastegate caused an over boost and blew my turbo. Boost gauge showed 40psi on a turbo rated for 22!! The Maxspeeding rod turbo still pulled strong after… but was puff puff passing under the hood, over 10psi. Someone local was selling the exact same turbo but with a billet wheel for cheap, so I picked it up and slapped it in. Also put some nice hefty boost lines between the turbo boost controller and wastegate. Ordered an hks exhaust and had time slip Motorsport make a custom downpipe to it. Car was driving great for a while, even took a 2 hour trip to Miami cars and coffee. But now I am reading through the forums and going through a no start diagnostic checklist. Wish me luck!

 

[2tonegsx]

Sound clips!

 

[2tonegsx]