propav8r
F*ck Edgar
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2010
- Location
- Franklin, NC
Ohhhkaaayyyy-been awhile since I've popped in here, had a lot of...well...life going on. Finally slowed down a bit, so I figured I'd say hi and introduce the newest member of the fleet:
Backstory: Had an '89 760 I bought cheap, fixed up, manual swapped, didn't like. Just too plasticy for me.
Sold it, basically broke even on the sale. The day I was going to meet the guy to sell it, I was searching for my Craigslist ad and ran across an ad for an '83 245 Wagon listed for $2,500. Intrigued, I called the guy and set up a time to meet for after I sold the 760.
Rolled over to the dude's house and just absolutely fell in love with this car. It's an '83, factory turbo, factory manual car. 328k on the clock, but it still runs like an absolute champ. Only thing wrong with it is hard starting (couple of tiny vac leaks probably) and some rust in the rear floors (already ordered replacement pans).
I talked him down from $2,500 to $1,500, nitpicked a little more, and rolled off for $1,200. I've already put like 1,000 miles on it without a hiccup. Love this thing.
Anyway, on to the photos. Here's the morning after I bought it:
It's currently non-intercooled and terrible, but everything is exactly where it should be. Nothing is out of place. That's the major reason I bought it.
Drove it for about a week, got tired of the boat, so I took the IPD springs and poly bushings off the '79 2(5?)4 and transferred them over. The DeCarbons in them were blown, so I threw in another set I had. Cut 1.5 coils off the front and .75 coils off the rear while I was at it.
Turns out that DeCarbons really, really, really don't like being lowered, and both struts immediately blew out. Like didn't blow and get soft, basically seized up. One turned into a pogo stick, the other is stuck solid. Sucked.
Went and ordered a pair of Gabriels for a Saab 900, and did the short strut thang. These are apparently just a hair too big for the strut tubes, so I took them over to a friend's shop and chucked them up in a lathe. Took the paint off and hit them with 80 grit for awhile.
Still wouldn't fit easily, so instead of trying to turn off a couple thou from the OD (didn't do this-they had like 1/4" of runout...it wouldn't have ended well), I greased up the insert and pressed it into the tube on the press.
Serviceability? What's that?
Retained the stock spring perches, because cheapass. Overall I'm very, very pleased with the setup. Soft enough for driving every day, but limits body roll well enough to outrun a Z3 on the Dragon with ease.
Really, the only modifications I have planned are adding an intercooler and turning the boost up enough so you can actually tell this is a turbo car.
Backstory: Had an '89 760 I bought cheap, fixed up, manual swapped, didn't like. Just too plasticy for me.
Sold it, basically broke even on the sale. The day I was going to meet the guy to sell it, I was searching for my Craigslist ad and ran across an ad for an '83 245 Wagon listed for $2,500. Intrigued, I called the guy and set up a time to meet for after I sold the 760.
Rolled over to the dude's house and just absolutely fell in love with this car. It's an '83, factory turbo, factory manual car. 328k on the clock, but it still runs like an absolute champ. Only thing wrong with it is hard starting (couple of tiny vac leaks probably) and some rust in the rear floors (already ordered replacement pans).
I talked him down from $2,500 to $1,500, nitpicked a little more, and rolled off for $1,200. I've already put like 1,000 miles on it without a hiccup. Love this thing.
Anyway, on to the photos. Here's the morning after I bought it:
It's currently non-intercooled and terrible, but everything is exactly where it should be. Nothing is out of place. That's the major reason I bought it.
Drove it for about a week, got tired of the boat, so I took the IPD springs and poly bushings off the '79 2(5?)4 and transferred them over. The DeCarbons in them were blown, so I threw in another set I had. Cut 1.5 coils off the front and .75 coils off the rear while I was at it.
Turns out that DeCarbons really, really, really don't like being lowered, and both struts immediately blew out. Like didn't blow and get soft, basically seized up. One turned into a pogo stick, the other is stuck solid. Sucked.
Went and ordered a pair of Gabriels for a Saab 900, and did the short strut thang. These are apparently just a hair too big for the strut tubes, so I took them over to a friend's shop and chucked them up in a lathe. Took the paint off and hit them with 80 grit for awhile.
Still wouldn't fit easily, so instead of trying to turn off a couple thou from the OD (didn't do this-they had like 1/4" of runout...it wouldn't have ended well), I greased up the insert and pressed it into the tube on the press.
Serviceability? What's that?
Retained the stock spring perches, because cheapass. Overall I'm very, very pleased with the setup. Soft enough for driving every day, but limits body roll well enough to outrun a Z3 on the Dragon with ease.
Really, the only modifications I have planned are adding an intercooler and turning the boost up enough so you can actually tell this is a turbo car.
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