New Owner of 489/1000

[deusamo]

Just picked this up from JD. Car is amazing. One of the cleanest interiors I've ever seen. Trans shifts beautifully. Car pulls great. I've wanted a VR4 since I first saw one. I'm stoked that my dream has finally come true. I've been lurking around the forums for quite awhile now, but I've learned. First step: maintenance. Synthetic oil change (going with amsoil, unless you guys would suggest something else). I'm also going to fix the exhaust leak and get the power steering working again. Also, I need to fix the e-brake. There's actually a pretty long list of stuff to do before I ever get to the 'fun' stuff. I plan on having this car a long time, so I am going to do it right. Thanks to all of you for making this forum so great. You guys are awesome.

 

[LIV4PSI]

Thread is worthless without pics /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/banghead.gif

Glad to hear you ended up with a nice one.

 

[deusamo]

Sorry! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif I posted that update last night after a long drive home. I've spent all day today working on the car. Here are some pics.

Here is the car this morning before I left for the DMV.






And some from after my disassembly.


Surprisingly the radiator is shot. I drove it almost three hours home, and there were no temperature issues.


The fins are so brittle they flake off with the slightest touch.


And I found my exhaust leak. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif Glad it's a simple one.


So oil change today. I'm using conventional until I can confirm leaks/usage. I don't want to waste a bunch of money of fancy oil just to leak it out. I'm also re-routing or eliminating vacuum lines. I already took the charcoal canister out. The shift linkage is a little loose, but I'll be fixing that tomorrow, too.

 

[GSX_TC]

Welcome aboard, that interior is very nice still. Hopefully you hold onto this car and not just sell it or part it out, these cars are very special and should be taken seriously. Anyways, will you be taking yours to the DSM shootout in Ohio since your relatively close to it? I'll be making the trek out there with mine coming from TX.


P.s don't call these cars DSM's they hate that around here /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[deusamo]

Yeah I noticed. "Technically the VR4 was imported from Japan, therefore it is not a DSM." /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif Anywhoo, yeah I really wanted to try for the shootout. I have a buddy with a '98 gsx that is going. I'm just not sure if I can afford it. I'll try though. If I can make it I'll let you know. I'm sure VR4's are few and far between there.

And my plans for the car are to make it beautiful, and keep it running for as long as I can (read: as long as my wife lets me). I love these cars. I've the evo, the wrx, even a turbo forester. Nothing compares to a GVR4. I wouldn't dream of parting it out or selling it. I'm also not going to do some stupid hack job to make it into a race car. No disrespect to race cars. Some guys have done a decent job of it. But some have done a ridiculous job, too. I'm planning on keeping CC, A/C, PS, full interior. I personally don't see a reason to buy a four door, leather interior car, just to gut all the 'comfort stuff'. To each his own, though. I just want my car to run well. I'm not trying to break records here. The 14b doesn't have any shaft play, so I probably won't even change it until I have to. Anyway, thanks for the welcome.

 

[LIV4PSI]

The Shootout isn't as expensive as you might think. Bring a friend or two to help with gas. A campsite is only $65 a nite, again split between several people. $25 will get you into the track for the weekend. You will be amongst new friends, plenty of beer and other "supplies" to go around. Eat cheap, bring a cooler to the track. I believe there were only 5 of us there last year, we need a better showing. I promise you are underestimating how fun it is.

Anyways, its nice to hear the car went to someone who really appreciates it. The nice ones are truly becoming fair and few between now a days. I am curious how many people can go and start and drive their GVR4 right now? I bet less than 500 total in the entire country.

 

[KiNgMaRtY]

Congratulations!. That interior is in great shape!

 

[GSX_TC]

There was a total of 7 including myself. There was 2 others that were there just not for the pics I took at the end.

But yeah, it's not that hard to just go to spectate man.

 

[deusamo]

Yeah, I wanna go. I know it's not going to be crazy expensive, but even a few hundred dollars is tough to come by right now. I'm gonna try, but it's going to be tough to get that approved by the wife. I'll try, though. Maybe something will work out.

Thanks for the welcome, guys. I've been around a lot of forums, and this one is easily my favorite.

Anyway, today went well. I got everything back together with a new radiator and the car runs so great. I'm seriously impressed. I had a panic moment though. The rubber section of the coolant line going to the turbo split while I was driving. I was seriously worried. Then I found the leak. Fortunately I blocked my coolant lines to the throttle body, so I had some spare coolant lines to replace the broken one. Pretty quick fix, and now the car mechanically almost 100%. I just need to figure out the e-brake and get the power steering leak fixed. Once I finish cleaning everything I'll post some more pics. Should I continue posting them in this thread? Or should I just keep them to myself? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[GSX_TC]

Lol don't keep them to yourself. You can either keep adding them in this thread, or if you want you can make an official build thread in the general VR4 discussion section then keep adding to that same thread everytime you do something to it. People on this forum enjoy seeing Progress on these cars including myself.