Just got a GVR4

[labl3d]

Greetings, I am new to the DSM community and to modern cars in general, so pardon any ignorance that might be in this thread ahead of time; Im still learning. for a long time I ridiculed and laughed at "ricers" and "japo-cars", adopting the longtime philosophy that "there is no replacement for displacement". Well these cars(pre-73), as Ive learned over time, cannot be truely enjoyed without an adequate budget; one this college student cannot afford any longer. At about 8mpg and 91octane, constantly breaking, and hard to find parts(reasonably priced), the 69 firebird became impossible to afford. So I went out looking for something more economical to get me through college. I did not look into getting a dsm till my buddy "snooze" a member on here, introduced me to his modded GVR4 and let me take her for a spin. After that I had to have a turbo dsm. A couple days later, after a considerably amount price debating with the seller, I found and bought a 91' GVR4 in LA, CA. It has a rebuilt, low mile engine (papers), new radiator, new clutch, new axles, ect ect. The Interior was almost perfect, with the exception of a small spot of carpet that was eaten away behind the drivers seat. The problem is the paint, mainly the clearcoat, is FUBARED pretty bad on one side, hood and roof (cant tell from pics), as well as some damage from being hit in the rear. The seller had it advertised for $4k I talked him down to $3k and it was mine. Some people think I got ripped off, but its worth it to me and Im happy with the buy.

Now Im in the process of building it up to be a fun daily driver/weekend warrior(I have more income now so fuel economy isnt that big of a prob anymore*). I have read many build orders(all basically the same through the stages) and am going to stick with these proven builds. So far Im running an open element K&N filter and a homemade MBC I purchased off ebay for 12bucks; so the car is still basically stock. I did buy an aftermarket boost gauge and snooze donated a duel gauge pod which were both installed before installing the MBC. Im having alot of problems with inconsistent boost levels, which Ive had since day one with this MBC. First it would boost all the way to 20psi even after being all the way screwed out. We figured it was just a high tension spring, we clipped a couple coils off till it boosted at 11psi. This seemed to remedy the problem for a couple weeks until last week where it was boosting 16-20psi again. Again another 2 coils were cut off and it went back down to 10psi. Since its been having pms again, boosting between 9-11psi whenever it pleases . I dont believe its the turbo, although I can be wrong, because I did run the car, with just the guage before installing the MBC, and it boosted to 7psi everytime. I will make sure and post the seller's name and see if anyone else has had problems.

The next mods on the list are upgraded FP, either the Walbro 190 or the 255, not sure which I should go with. I was advised that a rewired 190 will do me just fine for future upgrades; just not sure how long. Next is DP and a cat-back exhaust which will be home made, I have 7' of 2.5" strait pipe and two 90degree mandrels, the stock hangers will be reused. Snooze has this same setup with a dynomax turbo muffler which sounds great, unfortunatly they are not on sale right now and I really want to uncork this exhaust. So I will be probably be getting just a generic muffler from Autozone for the time being, I beleive its called "Turbo Muffler II" for $17.99(center/offset 2.5"). Anyone know what this might sound like? This coming weekend my buddy and I are going to do leak downs' on both cars, that might turn up some answers maybe? Thats pretty much it so far, the rest will be decided when I figure out exactly how far I want/can go with this project.

Heres a link to an online album I have of the pictures the seller had sent me before I bought the car.

Pic 1
Pic 2
Pic 3

Since then I have swapped out the trunk (wouldnt open do to how it was hit) with a 89 LS trunk lid, as well as the 89 tail lights, which Im not crazy about. Unfortunatly the car still has those ugly wheels which are one of the next things to go. Ill probably end up running stock wheels painted black till I can find some decent wheels or stock GVR4 ones.

I am really open to opinions and advice, all that I can get would be welcome and greatly appreciated.
-T

 

[92awddsm]

I had problems with my ebay cheapy mbc also. I had to cut 3 coils to get 16 psi with it. I have since replaced it with a hallman es mbc and no more creep or spiking. I know they are a little more $ but it is worth it. Just follow the tuning guide here on tuners and you will be very happy with the results. Good luck and welcome to the community.

 

[Quasimondo]

If you haven't done so already, go and register with www.galantvr4.org . The people on that board are very knowedgable about Galant VR-4's and will be more than willing to help you bring your ride (what number is it btw?) back to pristine condition. Congrats on your purchase and good luck with it.