I was wondering if anybody knows of anything i can do with my 87 GL for free to make it a bit more "customized" as far as the engine or body go. Any tricks/tips would be helpful.

You can take a 4" wide roll of DUCT TAPE and customize you some "rally race" stripes!?!? Or take your hood off, i see some import racer around here that do that! FAST:burnout: LOL! Any thing you do in your eyes will be custom. Have fun.

 

-Sean

You could take a hammer to it. Sorry.

yeah i wasnt really talking along the "looks" side of things, more performance. I know there are things that you can do to some cars without any money, legal or not, but im just wondering if there are any sooby specific tweaks that can be done.

You can make it sound extra throaty by cutting the bottom of the airbox out. Andrew did that to his Turbowagon and it made it sound nice. All you do is take a sawzall, or a dremel with a cut off wheel or something and cut the bottom of the airbox off, leaving the lip that the air filter sits on.

Free flowing exhaust is always pretty high on the list. If nothing else, the stock muffler is pretty restrictive. A nice low restriction turbo muffler will add a couple HP.

 

GD

your 87 is probably carbed right?

 

The most performance can be gained by custom exhaust and a weber 32/36 carb.

 

If you have 13" steel wheels, get some 13" alloys to save on unsprung weight.

 

Lighten the flywheel, shorten the shifter, theres tons of things you can do.

I removed my A/C, power steering and, cluth fan. These mods seem to help the car accelerate quicker.You must wire in an electric fan if you remove the clutch fan. An Accel super stock coil is cheep ( around $50 ) and a good way to get better throttle response.Plus it takes two seconds to install.

 

I would not recomend removing the power steering if you ever intend to use oversized wheels or find yourself only able to drive with one arm as I did after shoulder surgery. I'm not sure if you have A/C. I'm not an A/C fan so I didn't mind removing this.The A/C only creates drag if the compresor is engaged in A/C or defrost modes but, the compresor weighs a ton.I keep the clucth fan in the car incase the electric ever fails.It's a pretty quick install onto the water pump.

 

Lastly I have removed alot of heavy things that I don't use in my car. Like the back seat.I bet you could lose 200 lbs or more off your car when your done.This is the cheepest way to gain HP.Plus it makes your suspention react differently.

 

This is in addition to the other post ideas.Well maybe not the hammer.

I would not recomend removing the power steering if you ever intend to use oversized wheels

I have no power steering and 29" tires. It's nothing. Both of my cars have no power steering and its really not hard to turn at all. Especially if you are moving at all.

 

If you had a heavy engine and tranny it would be a bigger deal. Damn near impossible to turn at a stop with my '81 buick and a 472 under the hood. Was really hard too on my wife's 91 buick and a 3.3 v6 sitting on top of the front wheels.

I agree it's not hard to steer if your moving.I just had trouble in parking lots with one arm, but I managed. Over all I think it's a worth while mod. I just wanted to let him know of potential problems or results with these mods.

I agree it's not hard to steer if your moving.I just had trouble in parking lots with one arm, but I managed. Over all I think it's a worth while mod. I just wanted to let him know of potential problems or results with these mods.

Ya one arming it would be rough even in a Justy I'm glad I removed all that crap too. Sooooo much extra hosing and crap thats just GONE. Now I can actually read my block stamp