Last year in July I picked up a 1988 Soarer to enjoy and occasionally monkey with. Coming from 86-93 Mustangs this was as far from opposite end of the spectrum as I could get, but it does look kind of like an 80s Mustang haha. Before the Mustangs and other Fords the first car I ever modified was a 1996 Honda Accord LX with a single cam engine, which NOBODY made parts for unlike Civics and Integras. I kind of grew fond of the SOHC engine and kept it in the car to be different but it made finding parts very difficult. After all said and done it had pistons and rods with an SC61 hanging off the front making about 300fwhp which was fun. I still to this day regret selling that car just for its fun factor.
RIght before I bought it and changed to my custom plate:
Fast forward to today and this Soarer gives me the same vibes as the Accord did with the strange engine. In Australia in Japan parts might be very easy to find but here the 1G-GTE has absolutely ZERO aftermarket backing since it was never offered. The car came with the basics on it but it was very slow and kind of laggy ( which is weird since the turbos are so small) but drove well and was mechanically sound, however it started to develop a smoking habit on warm start and loaded decel. Previous owner had changed the valve stems seals so I figured it was either the turbos going or the valve stems themselves where bad. SO now comes to the point in getting the stocks twins off which looked like and awful plan.
I got the intake off last weekend and that was almost as painful as the turbos, mostly because the vac canister for the secondary butterflies is right in the way of the last intake bolt. The scondary butterflies dont seem to have been functioing for quite some time so that could also cause the lag issue but I believe the main reason is due to the rear turbo being completely shot. The wheel has so much slop in and out that I lucky it didnt come apart. Tere was some oil in the downpipe when I removed it as well, which was not shocking.
The plan now is to get the head off and to the machine shop for a look over, send the head gasket out to Cometic for them to make a good MLS version and then put it back together with ARP headstuds ( which are main studs for a 2JZ). HEre is a list of other parts/plans for the winter:
BPA Custom manifold with V band outlet
ON3 GT30 V band .63/AR turbo
ON3 38MM waste gate
Cobra brakes and stainless lines all around
Alu radiator
J pipe and fuel damper bypass with AFPR
HKS F-CON and GCC
AEM boost controller
PLX Devices wideband
New clutch slave and master cylinder with stainless braided line
I will add pictures and such as I go, next up is getting the crank pulley bolt loose haha.
RIght before I bought it and changed to my custom plate:
Fast forward to today and this Soarer gives me the same vibes as the Accord did with the strange engine. In Australia in Japan parts might be very easy to find but here the 1G-GTE has absolutely ZERO aftermarket backing since it was never offered. The car came with the basics on it but it was very slow and kind of laggy ( which is weird since the turbos are so small) but drove well and was mechanically sound, however it started to develop a smoking habit on warm start and loaded decel. Previous owner had changed the valve stems seals so I figured it was either the turbos going or the valve stems themselves where bad. SO now comes to the point in getting the stocks twins off which looked like and awful plan.
I got the intake off last weekend and that was almost as painful as the turbos, mostly because the vac canister for the secondary butterflies is right in the way of the last intake bolt. The scondary butterflies dont seem to have been functioing for quite some time so that could also cause the lag issue but I believe the main reason is due to the rear turbo being completely shot. The wheel has so much slop in and out that I lucky it didnt come apart. Tere was some oil in the downpipe when I removed it as well, which was not shocking.
The plan now is to get the head off and to the machine shop for a look over, send the head gasket out to Cometic for them to make a good MLS version and then put it back together with ARP headstuds ( which are main studs for a 2JZ). HEre is a list of other parts/plans for the winter:
BPA Custom manifold with V band outlet
ON3 GT30 V band .63/AR turbo
ON3 38MM waste gate
Cobra brakes and stainless lines all around
Alu radiator
J pipe and fuel damper bypass with AFPR
HKS F-CON and GCC
AEM boost controller
PLX Devices wideband
New clutch slave and master cylinder with stainless braided line
I will add pictures and such as I go, next up is getting the crank pulley bolt loose haha.
kudos to you man.
