Norm's Words:

Since buying the Beretta GT brand new in 1988 I have accumulated numerous stories on maintenance, racing, etc. When I first purchased the car there were no modifications available on the market. At 30,000 miles I put in a drop-in K&N. I knew I had a potentially fast machine when I was able to pull on a friend who had a '90 Z24 after many comments about his 3.1 being faster than my 2.8. He got real quiet after that. :) I got almost 60,000 miles out of the original front brake pads as they were down to the rivets. This shows what an easy break-in period this car had for is first 1/3 of its life.

In 1995 I bought a SuperChips, Inc., computer chip to remove the top speed limiter. I had the oppurtunity to auto cross it a few times but got tired of being beat by cars with better suspensions and race tires. Next I went through a number of exhaust changes from a $10 super turbo muffler to straight pipe, Dynomax Super Turbo, and the current configuration of a tubular exhaust manifold, Dynomax catalytic converter and Dynomax cat-back. I also experimented with a gutted catalytic converter, no converter (got tired of the noise and odor), to a Dynomax catalytic converter.

Over the next few years is when the Beretta GT really became reinvented for me. I added Tokico struts/shocks with Eibach springs. Added a Mantapart 26mm rear sway bar and installed poly bushings on the front sway bar. Installed a K&N cone in front of the radiator, Jacobs Electronics 8mm wires, 2" shorter shifter, ACDelco Rapidfire spark plugs. With this setup I could run 16.0-15.9 1/4 times and surprised a few on the street with its stock appearance. I then bought a set of Fiero 15" black mesh wheels to mount BFG R1's and continued to hone my driving skills on autocross and road courses. And changed all the fluids to synthetic (power steering, motor oil, and transmission fluid. In 1996 I started leaking coolant. I added stop leak and the leak sealed itself for a temporary fix.

In 1997 I attended the first BerettaFest I in Avon, IL, with the likes of Dave Holst('89 GT) Bill Jenkins('95 Z26), Dave Balfour('90 GTZ), and myself('88 GT). Yes, four of us were at attendance for the inaugural B'Fest. I followed Dave Balfour in his cat-less/trunk empty GTZ up to his redline in 4th gear by about 10-car lengths back. Though Dave's GTZ was able to pull on me mid way through the impromptu drags amongst the fields of corn he was very impressed that the 2.8l V6 could run that well with a unopened engine. The '88 GT new suspension had no problem keeping up with his GTZ in the metroparks.

Later in 1997 after 3 bottles of stop leak the coolant could not being kept in place. I noticed a one-inch crack starting where the head meets the block. The 175,000 miles the 2.8l V6 had accumulated had finally taken it's toll. After considering parting out the performance suspension components I decided during Christmas '98 break to install just a 3.1. Then I found BASZ Performance in Cincinnati, Ohio, who would build a new motor for about the same price as a low mileage 3.1.

I picked the car in February '99. The motor was really tight. And after a few thousand break-in miles was finally starting to loosen up. As I started to run the motor up through the RPM band it really started to feel good. I found a guy who would make a tubular header to help expel newly found volumes of gases. He made them as close to the Indy Beretta as he could. I went to Putnum Park Raceway in Indiana for about 150 miles of high-speed laps. By this time I had about 5000 miles on the motor and should have been broken in. I was lapping at 1:26 seconds per lap, which was about 3-4 seconds behind Mustang Cobras.

I had it dynoed to 138hp/186trq at the wheels, which equates to about 160hp/225trq. Definitely bias towards torque. The guy that dynoed it said that the long intake runners where to blame. So it was either fabricate a new intake like the Indy Beretta or port the current one. I received an Extrude Honed upper and lower intake and 56mm-throttle body to help the breathing. I recently ran a 14.7 @ 94 MPH on a test and tune night. With a little tuning I should be able to dip into the mid 14's. The motor now pulls strongly through 4700 RPMS and will continue to 5300 RPMs for a solid 140 MPH.

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