1984 GSL story
11-13-06, 07:07 PM
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Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: tampa, fl
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1984 GSL story
I had been looking for a fun project car for probably a year or so when I stumbled across this gem. My daily driver is an Audi A4 with a chip upgrade, exhaust work, adjustable swaybars and a sport suspension. It is fun on the street, but I ran into majorly frustrating problems when trying to upgrade injectors for more boost. I really began to resent the car, and realized that the tiny intercooler and tiny oil pan (3.7qt) would never stand up to a Track Event. So I began to look at used sports cars to try and find a good starting point. I looked at all sorts of cars, RX being one of them, but most of the older 7s in my area are Rust Buckets...and I didn't want to go there.
One afternoon my father was talking with his neighbor who wanted to sell her old 84. I went over and had a look. She purchase the car in '86 and it was her daily driver until the early 2000's. It has been kept in a carport since then, and started periodically. It is a GSL with the 5spd and the 'Leather' / Vinyl interior. Silver with Red Interior. I checked it over...underneath first and was surprised to find that there was virtually No Rust anywhere. Infact, even now having gone through the entire suspension and removed the carpets etc, there were really no rust spots to be found. Also the engine looked like it had all the original parts. I couldn't get it to start, but the price was right. $1000 later I pushed home my new project. The next morning I got a new battery, unflooded the engine and drove it home.
I drove it around a couple of times and started looking for the 'hot parts':
The car has some American Racing 13x6s on it, I didn't want to pay $1000 for wheels and tires on a car that I got for $1000. I found a website (www.tireseasy.com) which had 205/60 13 Toyo Proxes RA-1s.
Tokico Blues and Racing Beat Springs.
Polyurethane Bushings EVERYWHERE...(except the upper rear control arms...)
Hawk HPS pads with 4 new rotors and Stainless Steel Lines from Earls.
For Fluids I used DOT 5 full synthetic from Valvoleen and Lucas Diff for LSDs.
The engine is stock right now. I have a header for it and a Flowmaster HushPower Resonator, and I'm going to have my exhaust guy build the rest. The engine has 155k on it, so I'm not going to plan extensive mods to the engine. Just removing Rats nest, e-fan, Remove A/C (doesn't work anyway), and rebuld the carb.
I have always felt that having fun driving was more about light weight and balanced handling as opposed to big HP. My car in highschool was a 65 Pontiac with a 421 and big power. My first sportscar was a 240sx, and I've been a fan of handling and braking ever since.
I plan on running Autocrosses with the car for a while to really learn the nature of the beast, then I would love to do Track Weekends around the state once I have more experience and time.
So that is my story thus far. I'll get some pics and post them soon. I know it was longwinded, but I just wanted a chance to thank the forum for all the info I have gained from pouring over page after page.
Thanks
One afternoon my father was talking with his neighbor who wanted to sell her old 84. I went over and had a look. She purchase the car in '86 and it was her daily driver until the early 2000's. It has been kept in a carport since then, and started periodically. It is a GSL with the 5spd and the 'Leather' / Vinyl interior. Silver with Red Interior. I checked it over...underneath first and was surprised to find that there was virtually No Rust anywhere. Infact, even now having gone through the entire suspension and removed the carpets etc, there were really no rust spots to be found. Also the engine looked like it had all the original parts. I couldn't get it to start, but the price was right. $1000 later I pushed home my new project. The next morning I got a new battery, unflooded the engine and drove it home.
I drove it around a couple of times and started looking for the 'hot parts':
The car has some American Racing 13x6s on it, I didn't want to pay $1000 for wheels and tires on a car that I got for $1000. I found a website (www.tireseasy.com) which had 205/60 13 Toyo Proxes RA-1s.
Tokico Blues and Racing Beat Springs.
Polyurethane Bushings EVERYWHERE...(except the upper rear control arms...)
Hawk HPS pads with 4 new rotors and Stainless Steel Lines from Earls.
For Fluids I used DOT 5 full synthetic from Valvoleen and Lucas Diff for LSDs.
The engine is stock right now. I have a header for it and a Flowmaster HushPower Resonator, and I'm going to have my exhaust guy build the rest. The engine has 155k on it, so I'm not going to plan extensive mods to the engine. Just removing Rats nest, e-fan, Remove A/C (doesn't work anyway), and rebuld the carb.
I have always felt that having fun driving was more about light weight and balanced handling as opposed to big HP. My car in highschool was a 65 Pontiac with a 421 and big power. My first sportscar was a 240sx, and I've been a fan of handling and braking ever since.
I plan on running Autocrosses with the car for a while to really learn the nature of the beast, then I would love to do Track Weekends around the state once I have more experience and time.
So that is my story thus far. I'll get some pics and post them soon. I know it was longwinded, but I just wanted a chance to thank the forum for all the info I have gained from pouring over page after page.
Thanks
11-13-06, 08:18 PM
#2
Sweet, welcome to the forum. Sounds like a great start. The number 1 spot for rust is under the storage bins and the wheel wells too. Sounds like your good though. These rotary engines are very reliable, they can last up to 300k miles if taken care properly. Sounds like you've been checking out the faq page, archives and used the search button, thats good. It's very usefull for everybody. Post those pics and god bless
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