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Introduction
Hey everyone, another new member here! Bought my '88 GXL almost a year ago now, and despite its flaws, I'm in love. The car was single owner from the midwest and was clearly loved but hadn't gotten the maintenance it deserved for a number of years before it came my way. The tires were literally older than me, bushings and mounts rotted out, needed a full fluids change, the works. Yet, the interior is immaculate, paint is all original and in restorable shape, and, amazingly, everything works. It even lasted the trip from Indy where I bought it to Boston without issue. When I got it home, I found the original owners manual, first aid kit, 10-minute maintenance course, and even the brochure hidden away in its various cubbies and storage spaces. The emergency sunroof release hex key was even in its original plastic wrap, and the tool set was complete and where it should be in the spare compartment. From then on, I knew I'd made the right choice and I'm excited to cherish this car forever.
Goals
I'm both a hobbyist mechanic and a driving enthusiast, so this car ain't staying stock. It won't ever see a drag strip, but I'd like to hit the track from time to time. The real focus of the build is to be a proper street car canyon carver. Balance is the name of the game, so chassis first and power second. I want this car to be tunable but compliant enough for rough Boston and LA roads without sacrificing feel. I haven't driven this car much, but it's already clear that it has the underpinnings to be absolutely amazing. The car is definitely getting a full set of T2 parts: Engine, trans, and rear end. Power-wise, I'll probably target 350-400 WHP with an emphasis on response. It doesn't need to win races, but IMO a car with too little power for the chassis is almost as bad as a car with too much power.
Current State of Things
Anyways, mechanical stuff was a bit of a mess. This is fine though, I'm more of an OEM+ to OEM++ type of guy, so I'm perfectly happy to restore, rebuild, replace, and tune for the rest of time. Pressingly, when I bought the car, it had a leak in the brake master cylinder, and the rear suspension was all kinds of out of whack (translation: it tried to kill me once or twice). Unfortunately, though, it took a while to get into a space where I could do any kind of real work and I'm away at college most of the year, so I couldn't really address those issues right away. Now that I'm settled here for the summer, I've got everything in pieces. Brake system is out and rear subframe is off and disassembled (as pictured below). Annoyingly, the master cylinder leak send brake fluid running down through the engine bay, so that paint is ruined. As you can see, the subframe and trailing arms are showing some rust, but that's really the only corrosion on non-superficial parts (like the exhaust and fuel cell shields). The exhaust system itself was also rusted to hell, so that's gone in a parts bin somewhere.
To-Dos
My goal for the summer is to leave the car in a state where its a) no longer deteriorating and b) has no faults that would keep me off the road. I also have a number of upgrades planned.
Finish the rear end: The rear end is the first thing that needs to be finished to get the car off jack stands. My target here is to address the corrosion on the subframe and trailing arms before doing full urethane bushings on the sway bars, end links, and outer trailing arm pickups. I'm also replacing the very rotted camber linkages and may chose to replace the subframe mounts as well. Lateral linkages and primary camber arm are wish list. If I can scrounge up the cash, I'll also put upgraded coilovers on before reassembling. Either gonna go with mid-range BC Racing or, preferably, Ohlins if I can source them.
Address the engine bay damage: This one sucks, and I'm mad I have to deal with it, but c'est la vie. Once the car is back on the ground, I'm going to pull the engine and trans and strip the engine bay myself. Going to be a lot of learning and swearing on that one, but beats paying someone else to do it. Once the engine bay is clear, I'm going to send it out to a local body shop and let the professionals handle all the paint work. Then, I get to put it all back together and pray some part of the 34 yo electrical system hasn't gone bad in the process.
T2 diff upgrade: This one's a big one, but most of the hard work is done. When I bought this GXL, I knew it wasn't a Turbo and I knew I wanted a Turbo. Unfortunately, budget at the time didn't allow for that, and in a lot of ways this car is a gem worth the effort—the interior is really a time capsule, the main chassis is virtually rust free, and it even has the original IMSA sticker in the window. Regardless, it's always been the plan to go full turbo build. The engine and trans will only go in the car once the rest of it is handled, meaning chassis, suspension, brakes, and diff/axles will all be settled and ready for the power. Diff was a challenge deserving of its own writeup. The internet is awash with people who have done/recommend swapping T2 diffs into NA cars, but these are all from 10-20 years ago when these cars were a dime a dozen and you could find a turbo rear end at a junk yard for $100. No longer is this the case; I ended up paying $700 for a mechanically sound but rusted to hell complete T2 diff on eBay. Fortunately, I had access to a shop at school with the tools and space to refurb the entire thing. After a good sandblasting and a thick coat of gloss black VHT, it's looking far nicer than any other part of the car. I elected not to rebuild with all new bearings, so I was able to restrict the new parts to just pinion and side seals, a new crush tube, and side bearings. I'm putting a KAAZ 1.5 way (with super Q) inside and replacing the half shafts with Duralast 929 driver's side shafts from autozone. They're not fancy, but from what I've read they should be a perfectly suitable replacement for OE T2 shafts.
Exhaust: The original exhaust system was leaky and rusted to hell, so it'll get new from the header back. I'm trying and failing to source Magnaflow's federal OEM replacement main cat, but their product line is a mess and their support is abysmal. From there, just keeping it simple with a PowerPulse cat-back from Racing Beat.
Questions
Now, I've got a couple burning questions that I'd love your input on.
I'm struggling with figuring out how to spend my money intelligently when it comes to buying new mounts and bushings, and I'd appreciate some feedback on this plan.
Solid subframe mounts from Parts Shop Max. These should properly level out the subframe and keep caster uniform across the rear axle and not introduce too much harshness, as I'm keeping compliant mounts everywhere else.
Competition spec front and rear diff mounts from Racing Beat. I hate how pricey these are, but for a road car, I can't justify going for a solid mount.
Competition spec diff mount stop washer. Do I need these at all? The current ones are obviously old and squishy, but they're easy to replace down the line and pretty expensive.
Adjustable central camber arm. This may have to wait until later, but I'm comfortable using this for tuning if the subframe is hard-mounted.
Fixed or adjustable camber linkages. I haven't made up my mind here, as I'd be paying double for the adjustable ones, but the original ones need to go badly. Any thoughts here?
Toe-adjustable lateral linkages. If these control my toe adjustment, what do I do with the eccentric adjustment on the trailing arm?
New urethane bushings/mounts for the sway arms, end links, and outer trailing arm mounts.
What's the best way to go about getting the trailing arms and subframe refinished? After the diff job, I'm a little painted out myself, so I figured this would be a job a body shop could handle pretty inexpensively. Anyone have any idea what this should cost?
I'm sure I'll have more questions as I get sucked in more, but thanks in advance!
Welcome to the forum! Thats quite an incredible car you've found and nice to know it has been loved for most of its life. It can be very difficult to find them in original and unmodified condition. You seem to be off to a great start! Would love to see pictures of the interior as well!
As for the master cylinder leakage, I had the same issue in my 10th Anniversary RX-7. It had sat for many years and the brake fluid leaked put and ruined the paint on the firewall and frame rail.
06-15-22, 02:51 AM
