my 91 spirit r/t progress log

[glht_omni]

*currently apart due to a spun bearing and in the teardown, clean and rebuild stage*

i bought this 91 spirit r/t out of knoxville, tn. in feb 07'. its been a tn car all its life, i took it up to michigan and now i live in nashville, tn. so it will stay rust free.

i bought it with 131k miles, a warped head and a cracked radiator end tank. i had the head cleaned, pressure, checked, coolant passage welded and then milled. i added a cometic mls head gasket along with arp head studs and all ne upper end gaskets. i then made some other changes including tire upgrade to bf goodrich 225/65/15 g force sport, a rfl blow off valve, cold air intake, electronic boost gauge, t1 rad converted, abs, ac and emmisions delete, turbo xs boost controller and some other odds and ends.

i had it at sdac 19 all week, drag raced it, street raced it and ran a best of 13.9 @107mph on the street tires.

in the fall of 07' it spun a rod bearing and i parked it, i just now started tearing into it and have the head off along with alot of accessories. everything i have taken off has been cleaned 100% and everything will be repainted by the time i have the engine rebuilt and ready to reassemble.

my main goal is too rebuild the engine without cutting corners by fall, build it to last a long time, have it cleaner than ever before and make some upgrades along the way.

alot of you probably remember how it looked and my setup before, but for those who dont here is what it had and how it looked then.

ENGINE: 2.2 16v, all stock bottom end, internals and manifolds, stock turbo and ic.

HEAD: original casting, aluminum core plugs, no cracks, milled, arp head studs, mls .074 cometic head gasket, 180 deg. t stat 1/16" hole.

TRANS: a-568, phantom grip lsd, luk stg 2 clutch

AFTERMARKET PARTS AND MODS:
-mls head gasket
-arp head studs
-180 degree t stat
-ND 2bar 17 psi ecu
-8.5mm magnecores
-cold air k&n
-turbo xs dual knob boost controller
-pvc filter
-ss vacuum lines with vacuum block
-turbo xs rfl bov
-trunk mounted battery (pass side)
-abs, ac, purge, airbox, cover delete
-phantom grip lsd
-luk stg 2 clutch
-t1 rad with manual fan switch
-3" ss mandrel bent exhaust turbo - bumper, no cat or muffler
-Rick D afpr
-wallbro 255 lph fuel pump
-+20 injectors
-electronic cobalt boost gauge
-kyb gr2 shocks and struts
-eibach lowering springs
-biggest fwd front sway bar (shimmed on driver side)
-fwd rear sway bar
-bf goodrich g-force sport 225/65/15


(mine is the red one to the left of flecksters silver r/t)

[glht_omni]

my dads horse decided to eat some ice off the top of the hood and trunk 2 winters ago, so it has some scraatches through the paint, clear coat wore off and the hole top side is dull, so it doesnt look this nice right now. ill probably have it repainted next year.

so far, i have cleaned up the interior, redid my saggy headliner, have the head off and all the brackets, hoses, bolts and radiator all cleaned up. basically just the lower end, trans, ps pump and a few other things still in the engine bay.

i plan to get it honed with a torque plate, sealed power rings, all new clevite bearings, bs delete, and balanced with a new oil pump, cryotreated i shaft, water pump and arp mains and wave lok rod bolts. 57 trim stg 3 turbo with a tial external wg with dump and a hks ssgv bov. of course im going to get the head a valve job and possibly port the manifolds while im at it. then ill throw in a fmic and a new cal. i would like to run around 24psi this year and then make some more changes, tuning and obx next year.

any thoughts or suggestions while i have the engine apart?

[rich tideswell]

whoa, josh is back =)

[glht_omni]

Yeah buddy, but I live in Nashville, Tn now, so your gonna have to keep an eye out at Parts galore for me for a change. I guess because I only had 1 tm and it had a major engine failure, the bug died in me, but its back and ill be boosting again.

[jl93sundance]

glad to see you're back online

[glht_omni]

well, its been slow motion, all i ahve been doing is taking apart, cleaning, bagging, and painting.

i started porting my intake and am about to start porting the exhaust manifold.

i changed the color scheme, a little, well kinda reversed it some.

heres some pics, i still have to sand the letters back down to aluminum, but they are done and clearcoated.
stripped clean with aircraft stripper, vht wrinkle black, duplicolor wheel graphite, duplicolor prb (radiant red), duplicolor wheel clear coat.







before



after

[glht_omni]

i plan on porting even further when i get the dremel back over here with the flexible shaft tool. this was just using the dewalt drill with a summit port and polish kit.