Mods / Work Completed Since Purchase

 

I purchased the '92 Stealth on October 12th, 1998 from Prestige MotorSports.  Previous owner, Alan Lin, financed most of the mods before I purchased the vehicle including major investments on suspension, brakes, powertrain, and interior upgrades.  He even financed a new paint job (car was originally red).  What seemed like a decent deal at first quickly went sour.

 

After one week of owning the car, a rear bank turbo seal failed allowing a stream of oil into the exhaust.  You wouldn't believe how much blue/white smoke one car can produce.  The same day, I found out that I had a leaky intake valve in #3 cylinder while performing a compression and leak-down test.  So I removed the turbos & heads to get them rebuilt.  I've also had the pleasure of performing a clutch swap.  Other items requiring attention included a non-functioning horn, misaligned body panels, dent removal, missing bolts / stripped threads, non-functioning gauges, and removal of old non-functioning mods.

 

Not to fault Alan Lin for the problems, Prestige MotorSports did not know how to take care of it while they had it for several months.  A friend witnessed them run it hard and promptly shut it down.  It was also taken home overnight and over weekends for joy riding and I watched them play with the VPC during a test drive as if it were a radio equalizer explaining that it didn't work.  I also believe that many of the mechanics that worked on the car cut corners.

 

Beyond fixing and maintaining, I've added a Willians 6pt harness to both seats and BOZZ Speed hood bonnets.  I've also detailed the engine bay by sand blasting the plenum, repainting the intercooler pipes, and other small details.


I failed the front bank turbo October 31st, 1999 and have been without boost since.  In March of 2000 I decided to put together a new engine when I submitted the winning bid on E-bay for a brand new 4 bolt block (steel crank and all).  One thing led to another and I spent way more than I ever imagined.  When finished, it should scoot pretty good.  There will be a couple items I have yet to see tried, we'll see how it works out.  I will race the car both 1/4 mile and open road.  Here are some of the highlights of the new powertrain.


Performance:

Durability:

In - Process                Completed


 

After breaking in the engine with the above mods, I'm considering a FMIC with new piping, an ignition upgrade, shorter runner upper plenum with more volume, and perhaps a new cam grind with adjustable cam gears.

 

Out with the old 2 bolt.  Anyone need a perfectly good two bolt short block with 50,000 miles? - lets talk . . .

 

 

And eventually in with the new . . . many, many pictures to follow . . . I've got some work to do.  BTW, pulling the engine with transaxle still attached through the top with a cherry-picker worked quite well.

 

 

 

since August 7th, 2002

 

Last Updated: 08/08/02 07:50 PM