I thought I would start a thread about my other car. It was a 1993 Geo Storm GSi with a 1.8L motor that produced 140hp/120lb. I purchased it in 2004.
It was quite zippy but as I read more about it on the internet I came across it's sister car: the Isuzu Impulse. Specifically I was interested in the 1991 Impulse RS model because it is a 1.6L turbocharged motor producing 160hp/150lb. It is almost a direct swap but as I had a 1.8 there would be more customizing than if I were swapping it from the lesser 1.6L n/a motor available in the base model.
After reading about this project for a while I decided to start off with some coil-overs. They provide a 3" drop in the front and a 4" drop in the rear. I dropped them all the way. The spring rates are 450lbs. for the front, and 350lbs. the rear.
This picture should give you an idea of the drop when you compare to the Camry.
Well the handling was amazing with the coil-overs so I really hot dogged it. I ended up doing this shifting into fourth at about 100-110mph. I was trying to keep up with a Trans-Am. That was the #1 rod bearing. The rod was burned black along with the crankshaft counterweights. The rod bearing cap is crap now. Oh I forgot to mention how the bearing sheared and worked it's way up the rod where it is now stuck.
To be fair the bearing had been knocking a few months prior to this incident.
(from here the pictures get fairly large so I will just direct link to them)
Luckily I had just purchased an '85 Supra to get me around so I found an Impulse engine in a junkyard in New Castle, PA and had it shipped here to Alabama. I decided it would be best to tear it apart and rebuild it. I was glad I did because
the valves were rusted and the crank journals were seriously scored. Here is the
head torn down and
the empty block.
Years go by as I sit lazy and slowly collect turbo parts. Last year I finally got around to getting my headwork done. (
A,
B,
C) I installed the 1.8 cams and lifters because the 1.8 uses hydraulic lifters and the 1.8 cam profiles are a little more aggressive than the turbo cams. I had to swap oil control valves and cam gears in order to do this.
Shortly afterward I had the block cleaned (sort of) so I could put the guts back inside. The main journal bearings for some reason don't really come with oil squirter holes pre-drilled so I had to
drill my Toga bearings. Here you can
see the oil squirters built into the block for the rods. It is in the center of the bearing. Now I was able to install my good and new
crankshaft and
pistons. After four years I finally have my motor
looking like a real motor. I swapped the intake over from the 1.8 because it has four big runners instead of many small ones and I removed the butterfly valves. You can also see my underdrive pulley I installed in place of my crankshaft pulley. The weight difference is crazy.
I had to go to a local race shop and get them to make my
custom turbo oil feed. Here are a few pics of it installed. (
A,
B,
C)
That brings us to today and what I accomplished. I had to make some custom radiator hose since it is a 1.6 engine and I'm still using a 1.8 radiator. Here ya go! (
A,B,C,D,E)
My other headache
Linear Mode
