Project 88 Z51 'gtu'

[Mr. Beefy]

Alright guys I picked up my car today. It's at my mother-in-law's till Monday when I can register it and drive it home legally(too many cops on the road today for me to just throw plates on it and drive it home). Here's the specs:

1988 GT Z51 5 speed, original owner, 79,148 original miles. I picked it up for $600!!

My plans, get it to my house obviously.... ROFL, then I'm getting a GTU kit from Jetfoi. I need a new drivers seat cause the center of it is broken. The engine runs very well, the trans shifts smooth and the clutch feels really nice. "Less talkie talkie, more PICTURES". :rolleyes:

[Mr. Beefy]

The ONLY body damage



Crack in the windshield



OH YEA it's a Z51!

[Mr. Beefy]

Undernieth the mess of mats is a FULL set of factory floor mats in good condition!




Mike Morris.... you are going to like this one!!!



And the original title from 4/7/87, sold with 10 miles on it







It needs a GOOD cleaning inside and out. The paint wasnt as bad as he made it would to be(other than the drivers door being spray painted in some spots). I can buff most of it right out! This is going to be AWESOME!! Big thing right now is to get it home and cleaned. I just removed the 4 floor mats on top of the factory ones(kept a set on top of them), cleaned a couple things quick and took that steering wheel cover off, then took all the garbage out of the car that was in it.

I have my hands full with this one but it's a MUCH better platform, and hell....... 79K original miles....... why not?

Next week I have a guy coming to pick up the truck, and I have the suspension work to do to the van but after that, it's a GO! It will be on the road in the meantime as well so I can also see what needs to be done to it along the way. One thing that is DEFINATELY getting done soon.......... TINT! Black with blacked out windows, and gunmetal Z51 rims = the uber hotness.

:sparta

[Cliff8928]

Wow, that's pretty cool to get one from the original owner!

Also, those first design door panels are quite rare. They do hold up better though.

[ROLNGTZ]

HOT!!!!!!!!!!!!

What a find. You lucky son of a gun. It ended up in good hands. Eagerly awaiting updates.

[Money pit Beretta]

I can see why you are so happy, that's going to be a fun car. My 90GT's dash did that and I put a 5 pound weight on it when hot out and it went back down. It went back up when I quit doing that. If you put the weight on the last few days of summer it should stay all winter. That helps to defrost the windshield faster if you have to drive it in the winter months. Nice car sousa!

[Mr. Beefy]

SHE'S HOME!!

Drove her 1.5 hours and about 90 miles at 60-75mph without a hiccup.It rides really nice. It's SOOOOOO different than the GTZ, and the clutch is so smooth. It held ~45psi oil pressure at 2500 rpm the whole trip, and never got hot.

The only things worth noting are that it has a slight vibration above 70mph, but that's expected cause the tires are dry rotted so they will be replaced. When I first started it, the PS pump was not working tll I revved it up some, but there was an oil(or armorall) sprayed under the hood so it's probibly the belt slipping. If the pump is indeed bad I still have that 3.1 that I can rip parts from. Also it feels like the passanger motor mount is fubared. I hear some clunking when shifting from 1-2 and very slightly shifting 2-3, definately a mount. I'm going to check that out. My wife followed me home and said that it smoked a little when I first really got into it getting on the highway. It probibly just needs to clean it's throat out. It's a "city" car. I ragged on it when I got it off the highway and it didnt smoke any.

So....... now is when I start the list of to do. I need to get the gtu kit from Jetfoi, it needs a SERIOUS bath and polishing, then gather a list of parts that need to be replaced. I know that one of the first things is a tuneup. Then I'm going to check/do teh brakes.

So far I'm VERY pleased. Hell I wouldnt drive the van to my mother-in-law's house the way it is now and this made it with no problems. I'm debating on keeping the eggcrate grille or using the solid one that I have. Decisions decisions.

Here's a pic that I snapped of the cluster on the way home. Let the build commence!!

[IsaacHayes]

Nice score!

[Cliff8928]

Wow, I definitely don't miss having an 87-90 analog cluster...

[Mr. Beefy]

I love my pre91 interior. Having speakers at my feet is FTL!

More pics.



Underside of the rockers...... :unsure:






Look at the rear panels..... damn near mint!

[Mr. Beefy]

Engine bay...... It's got what looks like oil all over the place but I think I have an explination after a few pics...



Look at how clean it is in there....



So I think the "oil" that I see all over the engine bay is antifreeze. The car has a new radiator in it



So maybe what happened is the coolant sprayed all over the place and was just never cleaned up. It does have a slight coolant smell when the engine is hot but it does NOT leak any(just checked and it is FULL).

Also, it's not solid black, it's got a metal flake in it. I love the color, and may have it painted (down the road) the same color. I'm going to use it for a couple days next week, while I have the van laid up for front end work. Gotta get those struts/balljoints in so I'm not staring at them. Then the GT will be laid up for some GTU skirts, and a good once over to get any parts that the car needs, and tint.

[Money pit Beretta]

I hate to see that rust on an almost mint car. Did you check the upper spring seat area in the rear for rust? What's the plan on getting rid of the rocker panel rust?

[3X00-Modified]

Hack saw... lol

Bummer on the rust, That looks like the bottom portion of the rocker is rusted out pretty good... BUT I think those are the parts you can easily find online to repair, so look into that, and obviously if you have that part out you can inspect inside and see if the hinge pillar support is starting to rust out any, and also protect it all from the inside.

[Mr. Beefy]

Yea that will be one thing I will be looking into fixing soon. It looks to be a fairly simple fix. I just hope that the rust isnt out of crontrol when I open it up.

What is a good rust converter to use because after I open it I want to treat it all so it will stop/prevent any more rust.

[Money pit Beretta]

I used Eastwood's two part rust converter. I did a real rush job on it because I wanted it to be ready for winter. Do to that rush I'll have to redo some but not all of it(the paint came off). In some spots small rust spots have come back. They say you need to knock the shale rust off and then you can convert it. I did the work on the rear upper spring mounts and the whole area between(used a hammer and a flathead screwdriver, yea it was that bad). They say to brush it on, but I used a spray. It was the kind that you get at the hardware store with the glass bottle on the bottom. Eastwood does sell it in an aerosal now(got the two part system before they started selling it).