Hey everybody! Just wanted to make a formal introduction page, my name is Pierce Ford, and I live in Richmond VA. I just picked up my 85 Turbo last Saturday (August 1, 2009) for $500. I feel like I overpaid though, but I couldn't jew him down any lower... It's in pretty rough shape. It's leaking coolant, the manifold is cracked or leaking somewhere, and the turbo won't spool but I think that's mainly because of the manifold. All four shocks are blown, the throw-out bearing in the Trans is FUCKED... and the car has an ADVERTISED 190,xxx miles on it, but the speedo doesn't work, and who knows how long it hasn't been working right? Actually none of the gauges work, save for the boost and the tach, and you'll see some of my home-rigged stuff in the photos. The interior is in pretty rough condition but it's all about to come out anyways. It's kind of a shame, the 80's 3D checkerboard pattern is pretty trippy! Lol, hate to see it go. My plans for this car are to pretty much just drift it as cheaply as possible to garner some skills and maybe someday turn it into a real drift car, or one of my other cars into a drift car (I have several as you'll see later...). I've never actually been sideways before, but I have the jones, and David_B makes it look pretty easy in his S12, Lol. I do know David, but we've only met once.
I don't have the "Oh I've always wanted an S12, they're my dream car" story, but I have always thought they were pretty neat cars. They look like a freakin spaceship. Lol. I've always thought they look ridiculous and unproportional, and I love that about them, it makes them unique, and if there's one thing I love, it's Unique 80's-90's cars. I found this sucker on craigslist, the guy was asking $1000. I thought to myself, boy that would be neat to have, but i can't afford that much. Next week it was relisted for 700$. I went to see it, test drove it, realized how much was wrong with it, and offered him $300. He's a pretty reasonable dude, and he knew there was a lot wrong with it, and that it would cost a bit of money to fix (and FIND parts for it...), but he just lost his job and he can't take any less than $500. I had to think about it, so I went home, but for a week I couldn't get the damn thing off my mind, so I scraped the cash together, and here I am today. Lol. Some Pics:
Went through just about all the wiring and fuses and jahnk to try to figure out why my Instrument Cluster wasn't working. I'm pretty certain that the Gauges themselves must be bad...
So I bought one of those 10$ coolant gauges down the street, lol.
Shaddy interior:
Lol, Got him in Japan on a half hour layover to the Philippines.
Home-rigged coolant temp sensor:
Got some JB weld in there...
So this is the part that I need help with:
I have a fairly intense coolant leak, as seen in the previous photos, all over the ground. I know that it is coming from the Turbo cooler lines, (unless it's actually dripping out of a hole in the head...) But I can't figure out exactly WHERE on the cooler line it's leaking, for me to patch it.
It drips down right onto the transmission, but it also runs down the line. Is there a banjo nut or something right back behind the head there that may be leaking? What the hell is back there? I can't see it to save my life, and I can't really tell anything from the TSM... Has anyone else had any experience with a leak like this? Thanks for the help in advance...
Oh, and My car history for those of you that are interested... In chronological order.
1987 Toyota Supra (Sold Feb. 08) LOVED this car, maybe it was first car syndrome, maybe it's just a freaking BA car... I want another one. I WILL HAVE another MK3 Supra.
1988 Honda Civic (Daily Driver) Don't judge. The Supra blew it's second headgasket on me the week after I got fired from my job. I needed a daily driver and I found this sucker for $500. It has a 97 engine in it, and gets 50MPG if I treat it right, no shit.
1986 Mazda RX-7 GXL (Parked, Use for parts) Traded the Supra for it... I had no idea what I had gotten myself into... Ran when I got it, but promptly blew the coolant seals two months later...
1990 Mazda RX-7 GTU (The current Cone Killer) Bought it with blown coolant seals, had the intention of rebuilding the engine, but found another car on craiglist that I jacked the motor out of. Suspension is pretty worked... engine is stock for now.
1987 Mazda RX-7 Base (Sold Jan. 09) A COMPLETE pile of shit. 4 different body panel colors, none that fit well... half of a very cheap fiberglass body kit, smoked like hell, and AUTOMATIC trans. Bought it for $180, wouldn't start, had a coolant leak. Dripped some trans fluid into the chambers to get it running and dropped the radiator in it from the 86 parts car. Sold it for $500 two weeks later. *Profit.*
1990 Mazda RX-7 GTU (Parked, Parts car) Bought it for the engine. The body is worthless. Parts car. Dropped the engine in the other 90 RX-7.
1984 VW Rabbit GL (Sold July 09) THIS car was a freaking BLAST! 4 door, usually had it loaded down with females, they LOVED this thing, it was an utter pile, but man did it have character... It was my attempt to break into the Euro scene, but I couldn't get into it. Bought the car for $150, needed front brakes, a hub bearing and an axle. Had maybe $500 total in that car. Sold it for $1K. *Profit.*
1983 Toyota Supra (Project car, Needs a headgasket) Bought this car with a friend of mine (NEVER DO THIS!!) as in, we SPLIT the cost of the car, and are suppose to be SPLITTING the cost to get it running. So far I've seen no cash from her side, except to buy it originally. Starting to piss me off, I'm thinking about buying her out of the damn thing, but I have no where to keep it... It's at her apartment now. One of these days it'll run though... and you will run FROM it! Mwahahah!!
Long read, I know, I tend to do that... Sorry... and props if you actually did read it all... I'll be posting pictures of all these cars in the "post your other cars" Thread...