Pics of my 83 GS! And Now, What should i do?
 

In september, i bought a very nice 83 GS. Since november 1st, the car is in storage and it's now the time to make some good winter projects.. I'll attach some pics and list my mods etc..

-169 000KM on the chassis
-Unknown mileage on the 12A engine, it runs very good.
- Colour : Hunt Green Metallic (GM Grand Am Paint)
- 5 speed of course

Mods :
- Tokico shocks with tokico springs (like new)
- RB streetport exhaust system (header to tailpipe)
- Dellorto carb setup
- NGK wires and plugs
- RB intake
- Weight reduction (sound-proofing removed)
- JVC stereo with 12cd changer
- Rear speakers : 3 way pioneers

Since the beginning of the winter, I decided to change a little bit of my interior, such as painting my center panel in silver metallic with a new shift knob, and shift boot. So i bought a Globe-X Sparco shifter(chromed silver), I ordered my "Grip" sparco pedal kit, and going to order the rotorhead.ca's leather shift boot. I'll install my radio soon. I bought some tires, BFgoodrich Radial T/A with white lettering 205 60R13.

other plans are :
- Buy some Infinity 4 inch speakers.
- Get the windows tinted
- some little touch ups on the paint
- front black carpets

I would like to know your thoughts, I like the stock look of the car, i'll keep it as stock as i can.

Pics :
http://membres.lycos.fr/clubrx7qc/Maxlaithier2.htm

electric fan

Where can i find some information on electric fans ?

Max

how much wieght is saved by removing the sound deading material? I have my interior out right now, cleaning, looking for rust (only a little 50c piece size in the spare tire well and another on the passenger side access panel for the rear bumber "shock"). I've done this before on an old "Z" and know it's a pain in the butt, so just want to know if any one knows the weight of the material.

the Black magic M150 is the one to get for our cars
http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?part=216

rotor vs. piston : A lot of 1st gens have this common problem of rust in the spare tire well. Mine has this problem BTW... You can easily repair this. As for the weight reduction, i'm not sure, when i bought my car, all the mods were on it.

Max

82transam : Ok, i read on your link that "Up to 17 free horsepower from a fan change" !? WTF it can deliver approx. 17 hp ? I didn't thought this could give some power

Max

well, it all depends on the car your putting it in. In our cars you would probably get around 5 hp. That 17 is probably quoted from a mustang or somthing with hp much higher than ours. I really wish I could dyno my car before i install mine and then afterwards.

Yeah, this is a good idea to get the car on the dyno to see the gain.. could be interesting!!!

Max

good looking car that color is what we call british racing green put a mazda radiator cap on it screw the electric fan its not worth the trouble

I have an electric fan that I would part with for ~125 bucks shipped, I believe its the same as T.J.'s Pm me if interested.

I've never removed the sound deadening material in a FB before, but I would guess anywhere from 15-30lbs. depending on how much was originally put into the car. Slight PITA to remove, from what I gather. Good luck.

Kyle

I would loose the POS factory oil cooler on the car and switch to a GSL-SE or earlier style air to oil cooler.

Second I would find a 84 or later Alternator with internal fan, worth about 1 hp and looks cool too.

Do the YAW/MSD set up, make a big difference on high revs. You can hide it under the dash.

Electric fan, worth the time and effort. I would bank my engine on a Black Magic unit.

Find some factory '83 Limited Edition 14" wheels or some after market 15". Hard to find a decent tire in a 13" wheel.

If you are concerned about stay close to stock, You are far from that already.

John

I'm in the process of removing the sound deadining. Shoul I gather it all up and weigh it? Or does somone know how much it really weighs. Nice car by the way.

Nice ride. I hope to get a Dellorto one day. Might turn into next winter's project :D

Very nice car...
As for the fan stuff, wel, I really don't believe all this HP figures.If someone proves this to me, on a dyno, then I'll believe. If you assume the stock clutch type fan works like it should you won't win much HP by swapping. Don't forget that any electrical device that's turned on is drawing current from the alternator and stealing HP that way too. And that's more then we like to think of! The only reasons I see to switch to an electrical fan is when the stock one isn't working properly anymore (the clutch is f***king expensive) or if your car has some serious performance mods, making a bigger fan neccesary.
I have an electrical fan too, but it's more because that way the installation of the 13B becomes easier.

Has anybody every ran their car on a real road couse race track and compare lap times running the stock clutch fan, no fan and an electric fan. We I have, and let me tell you there is a about a 3 second difference between running a stock fan vs. electric/ no fan. The track I was using was Thunderhill in Willows, CA (3 mile road course) and the outside temperature was 77-91 degrees F.

Saturday I ran the first 2 session with the stock fan and the last session. Best time was 2:15:06 The third session I took off the clutch fan and turned a 2:11:42

Sunday I ran the first session with no fan, the second session with a stock fan and the third and forth session with electric fan.
Results:
no fan at all was 2:10:51
electric fan was 2:11:02
stock fan was 2:13.43


So I say screw the Dyno, and drive your the way I did, I found the throttle response out of turn, well lets just say there was a noticable difference.

I agree that electrical draw is load on a engine, but when the fan is not needed (higher speeds) it won't be on, but the stock fan although not engage is still putting some drag on the engine because it is still turning. Unless you are always running above 45mph, you will notice the drag on the engine under load with the stock clutch fan.

John

Re: Pics of my 83 GS! And Now, What should i do?
 

Nice looking car!
There have already been some good sugestions, but heres a few more....some of which may have already been mentioned.

DLIDFIS
Rear Disc conversion / LSD
Rear end Gears (4.44)
82' oil cooler / 3 row radiator
Camber / Caster Plates

C'est une belle voiture, tabernac! D'où as tu obtenu la peinture verte ? (Je m'excuse, ma français quebecois est merde)

mouhahahaha ;) Calisse! I've bought RXcetera's car ! :)

The rear disc conversion is on my plans for the next years.. Now i don't have a lot of money. I also have a GSL-SE engine.. the problem is that i want to get it ported and swapped it, but i don't have enough cash to do it next summer.. I'll wait and run on the 12A.. When i said "keeping the car close as stock", it was for the exterior look. I know there is some big mods under the hood.. I'll not add some body kits or big wheels or whatever else. It's a classic car, and it will stay a classic forever!

For this year, i decide to make a nice interior, but it's pretty sure that next year i'll spend my cash on the LSD, the electric fan etc..

Max

BTW, sorry for the crappy english... I'm a Quebecois :D

When I first heard some hispanic kids singing "felise navidad" (sp?) in LA, my Canadian ears were hearing "Calisse tabernac"...

LOL.. Wherever quebecers are going, people just remember their weird language.. Tabarnac de Caliss d'osti de Crisse... This is not a good way to stay in people memory lol