Crashx7

I hate my car.
I used to love her.

Anyway, it was sold to me as a "GTUs"
Insurance listed it as a "GTUs."

Was repainted, badging was never reapplied.

My wheels are the standard 15" GTU wheels. this pisses me off, oh well.

it's got some power! and by the seat of my pants it feels like it has the 4.3 gearing. but I guess that's relative until I pull off the rearend and physically measure the ring gear. ****.

To the point: How can I tell by the VIN# if this is a "GTUs" or if this car is a cheater? (GTUs wannabe/ conversion) Insurance companies use VIN#s to distinguish between models, so I should be able to too!

The hood is also steel (heavy as FOKK). the wheels and the hood are two discrepancies that definitely should not be there, I'm starting to get really ticked...

your help on this matter is appreciated!

I already feel really stupid for not researching my purchase 100% before I bought it. Goddammit I'm tired of amateur novice mistakes, but we all have to make them, right?

Felix Wankel

Does it have a sunroof?

Crashx7

no sunroof

BlindLogic

If you call up your local Mazda dealer and give them your VIN, they should be able to find out right away for you.

Crashx7

ok. thanks blindlogic, I'm going to try that right now!

I'll reply again when I know if my piece of **** mazda is really what i fell in love with or not........

i swear these cars are females....

i love them. i hate them. they're loud, they're quiet. they require constant maintenance. have to sink money into them all the time. they put out, if you show em TLC,

damn females.....

Crashx7

**** well now that it's getting dark later, it only felt like 7:30

now that I check the clock it's more like 9:00...... no wonder why they didn't answer. I'll try tomorrow....

tesla042

You can jack up the rear and spin the tires to check the final drive ratio.. just watch how many times the driveshaft turns.. should be 4.1 or 4.3 turns of the shaft for every turn of the wheel..

Only....may be a lil hard to differentiate between 4.1 and 4.3..

-Tesla

Samps

Didn't GTUs' come with the turbo tranny?

tesla042

I'm curious on this too.. I've heard a few people claim they do, but I just figured it's because they're always referred to as the "t2 without a turbo", and they got confused.

I've heard time and again that *NO* n/a came with the t2 tranny, from a lot of people..

If it got the tranny, then it would need a different driveshaft, right? I think the automatic shaft will fit between the t2 tranny and the n/a diff... *OR*, it has the t2 shaft, and the t2 diff...

-Tesla

Samps

Where the hell is Rarest when you need him?

Green

You have a steel hood ? did you ask the last owner about that? or are you the first owner?

RacerXtreme7

iTrader: (2)

NO! A GTUs does NOT have a turbo tranny. It uses the same n\a tranny as all n/a's do except 5th gear has a revised gear ratio (its lower). Judging from the stock gtu wheels and steel hood I'd say you don't have a GTUs. Unless the car has been wrecked and had the wheels / hood replaced with wrong parts. Check you vin. Also, the GTUs has Recaro seats which differs from the gtu, check GTUs pics of interior and compair with the seats you have. If it turns out that its not a GTUs tell your insurance company cause your paying higher rates for no reason.

rx7_ragtop

NO

rx7_ragtop

A steel hood probably indicates repair from a previous accident if you have a GTUs. This would be consistant with a repaint.

What size tires do you have? Tell me that, and I can tell you what your RPM should be in each gear at a given MPH for both the GTUs and "regular" NA.

Brad

go_speed_go

Here's an easy way to tell if it's a 4.30.

Jack both rear wheels off the ground.

With a piece of tape, or shoe polish, or whatever you got, put a mark on the flange that connects to the driveshaft. Next move the mark to the 12 o'clock position. Then spin one of the wheels one full time around. If the unit is a 4.10, then the flange would have spun 4.1 times around leaving your mark a little past the 1 o'clock position. If it's a 4.30, your mark should be closer to the 3-4 o'clock position.

wozzoom

Here is a VERY EASY was to know if your car is a GTUs:

1) Open the drivers side door.
2) Read the sticker for the 'recommened tire size'
3) If it says 205/55-R15, you have a GTU. If it says R16? Then you have a GTUs. Guaranteed!

FPrep2ndGenRX7

I might be wrong but the rear brake rotors are vented on the GTUs while the GTU will have a solid rotor on the rear. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong. I'm refering to the 89-up cars

RacerXtreme7

iTrader: (2)

FPrep2ndGenRX7, your correct, also the fronts will be vented, but the GTUs has the 4 piston calipers were the gtu has singles.

Cheers!

i never knew the GTUs had recaro seats

"NO! A GTUs does NOT have a turbo tranny. It uses the same n\a tranny as all n/a's do except 5th gear has
a revised gear ratio (its lower). Judging from the stock gtu wheels and steel hood I'd say you don't have a
GTUs. Unless the car has been wrecked and had the wheels / hood replaced with wrong parts. Check you
vin. Also, the GTUs has Recaro seats which differs from the gtu, check GTUs pics of interior and compair
with the seats you have. If it turns out that its not a GTUs tell your insurance company cause your paying
higher rates for no reason."

tIIforever

civics 4 life

tIIforever

j/k

vaughnc

The GTU-S had the same gearing as the Turbo II. The drivetrain is NOT as heavy duty though as the TII.

I believe it also had the same tire & wheel size.

RacerXtreme7

iTrader: (2)

"The GTU-S had the same gearing as the Turbo II. The drivetrain is NOT as heavy duty though as the TII.

I believe it also had the same tire & wheel size. "

My aswer again is "NO!".... The GTUs has a n/a tranny with a different 5th gear. Its casing, housing, and 1 through 4 gears, syncros, tail section, shifter, etc. etc. ARE n/a.

Gear ratios for n/a 89-91
1st: 3.475
2nd: 2.002
3rd: 1.366
4th: 1.00
5th: .0697
reverse: 3.493
final drive: 4.100

Gear ratios for GTUs 89-91
1st: 3.475
2nd: 2.002
3rd: 1.366
4th: 1.00
5th: .0756
reverse: 3.493
final drive: 4.30

Gear ratios for Turbo II 89-91 AND 93-on
1st: 3.843
2nd: 2.015
3rd: 1.391
4th: 1.000
5th: 0.719
reverse: 3.288
final drive: 4.100

As you can see no is absolutly no corrolation as to GTUs and a Turbo drive trane. They have different fly wheels, trannies, drive shafts, rear ends, and half shafts, the GTUs sharing ALL components with ALL n/a's except for the aft mentioned details (5th and rear dif ratio).

Mazda revised the 5th gear ratio 3 times...

86-88 5th gear was: 0.711
89-92 5th gear was: 0.697
89-90 GTUs 5th gear was: 0.756

turbos revised from 0.762 (87-88) to 0.719 for 89-91 and 93-on.

And yes, the 89-91 Turbo II wheels are the same as the 89-90 GTUs.

Icemark

Other things to look for to tell its not a GTUs:

Won't have power windows, a factory sunroof is very rare, no rear wiper.

Will have 4 piston front brakes, vented rear discs.

And as wozzoom almost got right, the stock GTUs tire size is 205/55/16, if the tire inflation tag says 205/60/15 that the GTU and GXL came with, that pretty much rules it out.