Street Build The Praetor

[BloodBrother]

Before owning this car, I've never done any kind of mechanic/maintenance work, other than an oil change here and there. This website has been my saving grace in keeping my daily driver running and I am thankful to all for the help they've given. That being said, some background on the car; it sat in my friend's garage for more than a year, needing a timing belt. He bought it from an auction, and shortly after, tore it apart before he got too busy to put it back together. I needed a car asap and he was willI g to part with it. He knew what he was giving up to me, as he is a diesel mechanic, and I did not realize at the time what a jewel this car is.

 

[BloodBrother]

So I got the car, stock, with a new timing belt in it, newer Toyo Proxes tires, an K&N air filter, and it's been lowered slighlty (too low for me). So far I've replaced various old hoses that have given out to time, mostly radiator, but even the gas filler hose started leaking while I was at work. (That explained my outrageously shitty gas milage. Lol.) Other random things include the rear hatch hydraulics, and recirculating the bov.

 

[BloodBrother]

More recently I've replaced the master and slave cylinders, they went out two days after i noticed an issue. I've also done the alternator and power steering belts. The alternator belt snapped on the freeway, and ruptured a coolant hose: http://www.dsmtuners.com/threads/so...e-i-was-on-the-freeway.506569/#post-153612009
I've also swapped the alternator with the Galant vr-4 model: http://www.dsmtuners.com/threads/galant-alternator-in-a-1g-talon.269989/

 

[BloodBrother]

This last weekend, my friend, Nick and myself, swapped out my exhaust manifold. It was not the stock 1g, from what I can tell, it is a pacesetter manifold. It looked like it had been repaired before, but it wasn't long after I got ahold of the car that it cracked. We had a replacement ported 2g manifold that i picked up from the classifieds, courtesy of DynastyLCD. It is also tapped for an EGT guage, but I do not need that yet, and am having trouble, locally, in finding a cap/plug for it. When we took off the old manifold, we discovered that whomever owned the car prior to the auction my friend picked it up at, stripped two of the manifold studs into the head. We did what we could with antisieze, when we replaced all the studs, it is still holding up fine. Those damn turbo-manifold bolts were a pita to get in, but I'm glad I replaced those bolts also. All in all, I'm glad for the experience, but 8+ hrs was too damn long to change all this! That being said, the car is one step closer to better health, runs like the beast should

 

[BloodBrother]

Next on my to do list: F driver CV axle swap. fix the turbo oil pan line leak. rear brake, rotor, and maybe caliper replacement in an effort to fix a break leak, could also be the E-brake booster.

 

[BloodBrother]

BloodBrother updated Praetor


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[BloodBrother]

Finally got the CV axle changed, thank God it held on and lasted this long, would not have been fun @ 60+mph..

 

[Sjd6795]

Keep it up man you are going in the right direction with things and didn't jump straight into "I want power". But the car is looking good just a few trim pieces which you should have no problem being able to find those with a little searching and a bit of cleaning and you're good to go. How's the interior? I have a pristine set of 1990 GST front and rear seats not to mention the whole complete shell still sits in my driveway.

 

[BloodBrother]

Thanks Sjd, I appreciate that. You know, I didn't even consider interior pics . I will take some in the daytime tomorrow. I'd say the interior is an 9/10, just little things here and there that could be replaced.

 

[BloodBrother]

Having fixed the CV axle, the list of problems gets smaller; 1) I need to take care of my rear driver caliper. I hope this solves my brake leak. 2) I have two oil leaks from what I can tell. One of them is the turbo oil return line flange. I have the gaskets and copper crush rings to get it done, just don't own a jack The other leak is coming from what i believe is the oil sending unit, and I haven't even looked into that at all, not until I can solve the prior issues. And last but not least, 3) For maybe two months I've been smelling coolant randomly and briefly, with no clue as to why. Recently tho, I was getting on it a bit,(late to work), and I noticed a small coolant leak on my driver's side. This has me believing it is my water pump seal. I've not looked into this yet either, however a friend mentioned we might have to drop the engine to do that... please tell me it won't be that difficult and time consuming?!