My First 86: Gray Panda GT-S Hatch

[BeanBone]

After over a decade of lusting after one, I finally pulled the trigger on an 86. I'd been looking for a GTS hatch for a while, and this one showed up on CL here in Houston and after selling a Miata as fast as I could, I picked it up.

It's a bit of a weird one. 300k on the clock, I was told the engine is a JDM bluetop with 50k on it. There's damage on the driver's front, so the hood is all bent, the fender is a replacement, the core support and inner fender are bent, and the front bumper is all sorts of sketchy. It did have an interesting list of mods listed in the ad:

• Original Enkei 92s Black with 2" Polished Lip (with the rustiest lugnuts I've ever seen)
  New Nitto 450s Tires
  Corbeau Low Profile Seat Rails
  Corbeau Black Racing Seats (will be for sale soon)
  TRD JDM Short Throw Shifter
  New KYB Struts
  Refurbished Brakes, Akibono Ceramic Pad, Brembo Rotors
  Megan 8g/6g Lowering Springs
  Odyssey 925c Lightweight Racing Battery (thrown in the back with a relocation wire that's a foot too long)
  T3 Adjustable Camber Plates
  NGK Iridium 2way Spark Plugs
  NGK Iridium Performance Wires
  Full Aluminum 3' racing radiator (with an electric fan drilled into it)
  Full Interior except cargo cover, carpet, and rear speakers JDM spoiler (complete but beat to shit)
  JDM HKS Full Race 3' Cat Back Exhaust
  NRG Carbon Fiber Quick Release Steering Wheel Column
  NRG Drift Steering Wheel with Yellow Indicator (sold)
  Cusco JDM Rear Sway Bar

It also came with a lot of spare parts.

Here's the damage:


It's pretty rough, especially on startup, and the rear end makes a lot of noise (welded diff? shit bearings? both?), but it made it from far south Houston to the Woodlands without issue.

First order of business was to order a Nardi. The NRG wasn't my style, and I've always wanted a Nardi, so I pulled the trigger. I'm happy with the result:


Here's the ratsnest on the driver's side:


The intake was... interesting. POS AutoZone hose and pipe, with the MAF just shoved into the tube. That had to go. I know there's some controversy about whether the Injen helps or hurts, but it seemed the most complete solution for me, so I went for it.

Before:


After:


Here's a comparison vid: http://statigr.am/p/509540751532249822_238207707

Now, I'm waiting for my new seat to come in, worrying about the oil leak and rear-end noise, and planning suspension. It's expensive and anxiety-inducing, but I'm in love.

[joel26]

looks good....

[dr.occa]

Even with the damage, that factory grey panda hatch looks good. Great snag BeanBone.

[BeanBone]

Couple of updates here. First, I ordered a wide Corbeau FX1, but what actually showed up was a wide model Forza. I decided to keep it and got a decent partial refund.



In progress (I need to order carpet or chip off the deadening and paint it!):


Got it all installed, and though it appears the seats that were in there were Forzas, the new one seems to sit much higher up. I'm guessing it will sink a bit as it's used, but for now I fit but a helmet probably wouldn't. Good motivation to loose some weight, I suppose... Also, after looking at mine and talking to some people, looks like I'll need to reinforce the back-door sides of the Corbeau rails.

So, that's the fun part of the update. The bad news is the head gasket is blown. As it ran rough from the start, it's tough to tell if it was blown when I bought it or if it just happened. I noticed the overflow making a lot of noise on shutoff on 8-6 day and sure enough found sweet white smoke at the tailpipe. I bought one of those combustion gas detector kits to make sure, and it was pretty convincing:


I was going to run a compression test, but it turned yellow right off the bat.

Here's a video of it in action, cool stuff: http://statigr.am/p/518321444219408565_238207707" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (how about that loud always-on electric fan?)

Here's how it's running today: http://statigr.am/p/518333151444619765_238207707" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So, yeah. Bummer. It was a risk going in, charge it to the game I suppose. I got very lucky with my last two cars, so it's time to pay the piper, I suppose.

I was going to address the motor at some point anyway, but my hand has been played for me. I briefly considered a 20v swap or just throwing on a new head gasket, but I think what I'm going to do is do it right and rebuild the 16v now and go for ITBs next year perhaps. I'm talking to a few people about rebuilding the motor, hopefully I can get something together soon as I'm antsy to get back on the road. The whole motor is FUBAR, the damn distributor isn't even bolted down all the way!

Also, that gasket blew for a reason, so I have to look at the cooling system. The cheapy aluminum rad and fan probably need to be swapped for something better. Koyo, maybe? The coolant looked like milky tea as well, ugh.

Oh well, in general I'm trying to stay positive and keep grinding.

Here she was on 8-6 day before everything turned to shit:

[joel26]

good update and sorry to hear about the head gasket man... Hopefully u get it fixed at a good price...

[cdixon311]

I've always like the grey & black panda paint. All in all looks like you got a great project to start with. Don't feel too bad about the body damage, I have problems on the same fender too when I got mine. I was looking at koyo radiators too, but a friend of mine swears by moshimoto. Runs about the same price as koyo I think.

[BeanBone]

I've always like the grey & black panda paint. All in all looks like you got a great project to start with. Don't feel too bad about the body damage, I have problems on the same fender too when I got mine. I was looking at koyo radiators too, but a friend of mine swears by moshimoto. Runs about the same price as koyo I think.

I was looking at the Mishimoto earlier today. I like the fan/shroud set you can get packaged with them.

[cdixon311]

Yea me too. It's a little pricey, but if you're having trouble with that cheap ebay set I think thats the route I'm going to go. I know it looks great on my friends s14, should look even better on an 86

[BeanBone]

So, still waiting to rebuild the motor. Also need to work out a gameplan for the cooling system. If I was wasn't so tapped out, I'd love to do a Mishimoto rad...

Part of the reason I'm tapped out is this birthday present to myself that showed up from Thailand yesterday:


Now, hopefully they work...

Also, when the car finally, you know, moves and stuff I'll be able to capture the event with this here:

[cdixon311]

in the meantime you could do a stop motion film and just move the car by hand lol

[BeanBone]

in the meantime you could do a stop motion film and just move the car by hand lol

Haha, I threw it on the Cressida for a test. Impressive little camera.

[joel26]

nice gifts u got there man....

[cdixon311]

are those led turn signals?

[BeanBone]

OEM motorized fog lights.

[dr.occa]

Oh you definitely have the bug Chris.