Tina94
Proven Member
- 225
- 229
- Dec 19, 2022
-
Wisconsin
I’ve been reading the forums obsessively, searching through 20 year old threads, and looking at all the products for sale on the sponsor sites. And I think I have a pretty clear plan for my ‘90 after all maintenance is done.
It’s so original and low mileage that I don’t want to go too far. But there are certain design elements that I dislike or consider outdated. So what I’m shooting for is a “better than stock” type thing. Quality of life upgrades, reliability upgrades, decluttering upgrades, etc that keep the original spirit of the car alive while improving it.
Here’s what I have planned, hope people will chime in on this list and mention anything I’ve forgotten or any oversights on my part. I’m just kind of thinking out loud here. Typing it out helps me get my thoughts in order. And happy New Years guys!!!!
- Wally 255. I’ve used this pump in other builds and love it. Can’t leave a weak 30 year old pump in the tank and the 255 isn’t much more than a stock replacement. I’d rather flow more fuel through the rail and keep it cooler. Do I need a rewire kit? I see conflicting info on this.
-Adjustable fpr. I think any/every car should have at least some means of monitoring fuel pressure. Especially on a turbo application. And being able to fine tune fuel pressure is just a no-brainer.
- Improved air intake. Accordion style intakes drive me nuts because I can’t imagine getting good laminar flow through those peaks and valleys. And that intake snorkel seems incredibly small and restrictive. Rather than butcher the stock unit, I’ll buy one or build one.
-fmic and metal turbo piping. If I can find a no-cut solution for the fmic. I hate hacking into stock sheetmetal/supports/body cladding/etc on something original and nice. If not, I’ll just redo the turbo piping in metal with silicone boots. I don’t believe plastic or rubber has any place being used as turbo piping after seeing all the plastic pipes cracking on bone stock Powerstrokes and seeing my dad get stranded in his 03 tdi because the hokey intercooler piping blew apart and got mangled in a belt in a bone stock car under stock boost. Rant over haha.
- 3” exhaust. Way bigger than needed on my stock engine and turbo. But egts seem awfully high on these cars and I’d like to do anything I can to minimize that. Plus there’s all the room in the world to build a 3” on my FWD. Plus I already have 20’ of 3” 316 sanitary tubing and some 316 sanitary 90s and 45s just begging to be used.
- Mechanical boost gauge. Not having an accurate means of seeing boost pressure/vac seems crazy. Or at least downright inconvenient for troubleshooting. I can’t believe even modern cars don’t have this figured out.
- Wideband. I know I’m on a stock turbo with stock injectors. But it just seems like cheap insurance to know if I ever start leaning out for some reason. My turbo camaro randomly went full lean while just cruising at 55 mph due to some unknown issue. Good thing I had a wideband to catch it.
-Catch can setup, check valve in the pcv line, anything I can do to promote crank ventilation and keep gunk out of my intake side.
-Some kind of exhaust manifold/o2 housing solution that is less prone to leaking and better for egts. Maybe a 2g manifold with an aftermarket o2 housing in which I could weld another bung for my wideband.
-Coilovers. The oem struts are (understandably) shot. I have a pair of Godspeeds on my Supra and love them. Not fancy or hardcore racing quality perhaps, but they keep the car a lot flatter while still providing a factory style comfortable ride on the softer settings. Will probably get the exact same model for the Laser. Plus they don’t cost a whole lot more than factory replacement struts from a reputable name.
-Tires. These are dry rotted badly. Luckily my wheels are 8” wide so the only width restriction will be what I can fit with the body. I’ll need to look more into what widths/profiles work. I like the look of wide tires so will probably just do the widest I can fit without rubbing or modification in a 35 or 45 or so profile.
- Stainless brake lines and braided hoses. Instead of flushing the 30 year old lines, I’d rather just order some 316 tube from work and redo the whole system in materials that will never fail. Single pot calipers seem anemic even on a stock power build too so the 3000gt/stealth upgrade sounds interesting.
- Maybe, maybe a different turbo. Not going for huge boost or cfm but I’m sure they’ve made big strides in efficiency and spool speed in the last 30 years. If I can make it work well on stock injectors. And most importantly on a stock or close to stock clutch/pressure plate setup. I love how easy and light this clutch is and how easy it is to feather. I have other super heavy on/off type clutch cars and my little legs need a break from that.
Maybe the diehard “all original” types will view this as blasphemy and the high hp monsters will see it as lame and boring but I think this would be a good jumping off point for a basically stock but very reliable and fun summer cruiser.
But then again I’m a noob so let me know if I overlooked anything or lack supporting mods for something or other!
Thanks!
It’s so original and low mileage that I don’t want to go too far. But there are certain design elements that I dislike or consider outdated. So what I’m shooting for is a “better than stock” type thing. Quality of life upgrades, reliability upgrades, decluttering upgrades, etc that keep the original spirit of the car alive while improving it.
Here’s what I have planned, hope people will chime in on this list and mention anything I’ve forgotten or any oversights on my part. I’m just kind of thinking out loud here. Typing it out helps me get my thoughts in order. And happy New Years guys!!!!
- Wally 255. I’ve used this pump in other builds and love it. Can’t leave a weak 30 year old pump in the tank and the 255 isn’t much more than a stock replacement. I’d rather flow more fuel through the rail and keep it cooler. Do I need a rewire kit? I see conflicting info on this.
-Adjustable fpr. I think any/every car should have at least some means of monitoring fuel pressure. Especially on a turbo application. And being able to fine tune fuel pressure is just a no-brainer.
- Improved air intake. Accordion style intakes drive me nuts because I can’t imagine getting good laminar flow through those peaks and valleys. And that intake snorkel seems incredibly small and restrictive. Rather than butcher the stock unit, I’ll buy one or build one.
-fmic and metal turbo piping. If I can find a no-cut solution for the fmic. I hate hacking into stock sheetmetal/supports/body cladding/etc on something original and nice. If not, I’ll just redo the turbo piping in metal with silicone boots. I don’t believe plastic or rubber has any place being used as turbo piping after seeing all the plastic pipes cracking on bone stock Powerstrokes and seeing my dad get stranded in his 03 tdi because the hokey intercooler piping blew apart and got mangled in a belt in a bone stock car under stock boost. Rant over haha.
- 3” exhaust. Way bigger than needed on my stock engine and turbo. But egts seem awfully high on these cars and I’d like to do anything I can to minimize that. Plus there’s all the room in the world to build a 3” on my FWD. Plus I already have 20’ of 3” 316 sanitary tubing and some 316 sanitary 90s and 45s just begging to be used.
- Mechanical boost gauge. Not having an accurate means of seeing boost pressure/vac seems crazy. Or at least downright inconvenient for troubleshooting. I can’t believe even modern cars don’t have this figured out.
- Wideband. I know I’m on a stock turbo with stock injectors. But it just seems like cheap insurance to know if I ever start leaning out for some reason. My turbo camaro randomly went full lean while just cruising at 55 mph due to some unknown issue. Good thing I had a wideband to catch it.
-Catch can setup, check valve in the pcv line, anything I can do to promote crank ventilation and keep gunk out of my intake side.
-Some kind of exhaust manifold/o2 housing solution that is less prone to leaking and better for egts. Maybe a 2g manifold with an aftermarket o2 housing in which I could weld another bung for my wideband.
-Coilovers. The oem struts are (understandably) shot. I have a pair of Godspeeds on my Supra and love them. Not fancy or hardcore racing quality perhaps, but they keep the car a lot flatter while still providing a factory style comfortable ride on the softer settings. Will probably get the exact same model for the Laser. Plus they don’t cost a whole lot more than factory replacement struts from a reputable name.
-Tires. These are dry rotted badly. Luckily my wheels are 8” wide so the only width restriction will be what I can fit with the body. I’ll need to look more into what widths/profiles work. I like the look of wide tires so will probably just do the widest I can fit without rubbing or modification in a 35 or 45 or so profile.
- Stainless brake lines and braided hoses. Instead of flushing the 30 year old lines, I’d rather just order some 316 tube from work and redo the whole system in materials that will never fail. Single pot calipers seem anemic even on a stock power build too so the 3000gt/stealth upgrade sounds interesting.
- Maybe, maybe a different turbo. Not going for huge boost or cfm but I’m sure they’ve made big strides in efficiency and spool speed in the last 30 years. If I can make it work well on stock injectors. And most importantly on a stock or close to stock clutch/pressure plate setup. I love how easy and light this clutch is and how easy it is to feather. I have other super heavy on/off type clutch cars and my little legs need a break from that.
Maybe the diehard “all original” types will view this as blasphemy and the high hp monsters will see it as lame and boring but I think this would be a good jumping off point for a basically stock but very reliable and fun summer cruiser.
But then again I’m a noob so let me know if I overlooked anything or lack supporting mods for something or other!
Thanks!