New Owner of #860/1000 (Mac's old car)

[383mazda]

Hell everyone.

I'm the proud owner of a "new" Galant VR4. Just drove from Texas to Memphis this morning to pick it up.

My quick history: I've grown up around cars. My father had a '67 442 Olds with a BBC making around 720hp. I wasn't allowed near that thing when I turned 16, so together we went and bought an '87 Buick turbo regal - my first car and intro to wonderful world of boost. When I graduated high school (early 2000's) the Buick was running a low 12 second 1/4. Next car was an '86 RX7 with a small block chevy swap (hence the username). My first taste of the import world, only I wasn't ready to fully commit I guess, lol. I loved this car, it was a high 11 second car and surprised plenty of people. While I was still young and single I decided to swap the old gen I small block for a new LS motor along with a turbo; motor swap began 6 years ago and car still sits in a barn with no drivetrain /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

Which brings us to today, I'm married with one little daughter and now a son on the way. I bought my wife a Subaru (please no flaming /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif ) XT and instantly fell in love with this little 210 hp car. I started with small mods, but when I ripped out part of the dash to install a triple gauge cluster the wife banished me from her car! So there I was, stuck driving my 200,000 mile Miata beater /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif. With the family growing I knew I'd need to get rid of that and find a 4 door. I had my eye out for another Subaru, but then I found out about these turbo galants after watching Toms Turbo Garage, lol. I also had a buddy who was big into DSM's. All I knew about them was that in high school they were slower than my Buick, so I never paid much attention to them.

Well now that I'm older, more mature and have the money to properly own and tinker with one of these, I'm excited to jump head first into the GVR4 world. Concerning my "new" galant specifically. It needs some TLC to get it back to "stock" reliability and performance levels. That will be step one; getting to "stage 0" before the fun mods begin. I'll post some pics tomorrow of my new old car!

 

[iceman69510]

Welcome aboard.

You may not realize how apropos your opening line is to summarize Galant VR4 ownership. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[marvinmadman]

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rofl.gif

 

[transparentdsm]

welcome! cant wait to see some more pictures. i really like the car.

edit: also im a fan of the wifes car. those are neat little wagons and super functional.

 

[LIV4PSI]

Welcome. I would love it of my girlfriend had an XT. I'm stuck working on a Taurus

 

[383mazda]

Well one week into ownership and my wallet is screaming at me, lol. In fact I needed to do my first repair 5 min after I bought the car - welcome to the DSM world I guess... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I'll start a build thread / diary sooner or later, but for now I figured you guys would appreciate this:







This is my younger brother's car. He drove me 7 hours to pick up the Galant. It's an '83 Volvo 242, and it also happens to be a group A car, 1 of only 500 made! (Six times as rare as our cars?? lol). It's a turbo 2.1L with intercooler and mechanical fuel injection (k-jet). He's got it running pretty good, last time at the 8th mile track he was trapping 73mph with a broken motor mount and slipping clutch. We did a few 3rd gear pulls and he jumps out in front of me by a car length then slowly pulls away. Perry impressive for a 32 year old brick. Goal with the galant is to get it to reliable DD status, then catch up to his Volvo, lol.

 

[iceman69510]

Love the bricks. Used to have a 144S myself.

 

[transparentdsm]

i bet just doing the normal maintenance with fresh fluids it will be much closer.

 

[383mazda]

Oh I'm sure I have vacuum leaks out the wazoo, lol. Cruise control wouldn't stay on for longer that a second or two. I've got an assortment of silicone vacuum line on the way. I've still got a few things to tackle before I take on the sweed-mobile again; clutch bushings (shifter is super sloppy), clutch master and slave, then timing belt. Heck, I haven't even popped the air filter off, let alone verify if the throttle body is opening all the way, lol.

 

[ApexHunter]

Sweet volvo. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif Welcome to to the fold.

 

[GSTwithPSI]

Quoting 383mazda:
I'll start a build thread / diary sooner or later, but for now I figured you guys would appreciate this: It's an '83 Volvo 242, and it also happens to be a group A car, 1 of only 500 made!



Very nice! Much like the GVR-4 styling, I feel like Volvos are hard cars to make sexy, but this one no so much /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

I'm finding as I get older, I have a greater appreciation for seemingly turdy shitboxes done right; especially those builds that end up being aesthetically pleasing by way of tasteful performance modifications.

In that sense, this car is cool in the same way. Similarly, Saab 900 Turbo, anyone? click

In regard to your new VR-4, you can utilize vendors like Rockauto to get a lot of the maintenance stuff at a good price. When you order a bunch of stuff at one, you'll usually save a few bucks over what you'd pay at a local parts chain. Good luck with your build!

 

[KiNgMaRtY]

Welcome! You will be able to pass up the volvo in no time with some light mods once you have the maintenance sorted out.

 

[KiNgMaRtY]

Quoting GSTwithPSI:



I'm finding as I get older, I have a greater appreciation for seemingly turdy shitboxes done right; especially those builds that end up being aesthetically pleasing by way of tasteful performance modifications.




^^^I totally agree! Same here.

 

[matt92vr4]

Congrats, I picked mine up after my second daughter was born. They make great family DD's. I put about 300 miles a week on mine. Kids love it.