My 1988 Base Beretta
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 2:23 am
Not sure if i have many pictures of my car on here so im going to make a topic for me to add some pictures now and for later on.
About me: i am from Canada Ontario, i bought my first beretta (1988 Base 2.0 L 3 speed auto) 2 years ago from a relative that was out west in Canada (Alberta) and lived out there for a few years and drove this car back to Ontario and with the emissions testing here he didnt think it was going to pass ( suspected it needed head work). So he traded it to my dad for a different car and i bought it for $400.
It had a bit of a tick in the top end so i pulled the rocker cover to find a valve guide seized to the valve stem and was just wearing the crap out of the head. I picked up a used head from the JY off a motor with 140,000 KM it looked spotless inside. New head gaskets and put it all back together and the transmission started slipping just moving it around in the driveway. At this point i was no where near ready to put it on the road since i couldnt afford insurance. So it sat for a few months and 1 day my dad stopped by after picking up a car for scrap, and i look out and see this scrapalier (caviler) on his float, so i ran out and started looking over it, it was a 3.1 5 speed. and i made him unload it in my driveway. there was my new engine. was supposed to have had 100,000 KM on it but who really knows.
I took my time putting the engine in working on it at night after work hour here and hour there, put a new clutch in, had to put clutch pedal in the car swap wire harness and ecm. got it all in and running and by that time it was almost winter and i didnt want to drive it in the snow so it still just sat there. Next summer i had a work truck to drive so i didnt have to pay insurance, so it sat all summer and all last winter. and i just put it on the road finally in August 2010, i had to put front rotors and pads on it for safety, the mechanic was so picky he checked the door pins for any play in them and the only thing he made me replace was the front brakes, and i had a new set from the cavy i had kept so i put them on and the way i went, finally the first time i got to drive it on the road in 2 years lol.
Since then i have put at least 14,000 KM on it and unfortunately i had to drive it this winter but i washed it as much as possible and kept her pretty clean.
the body is pretty much stock right now, other then a cold air intake, ported throttle body, an ugly aluminum spoiler, and i had swapped the seats out with the same colour from a 89 gt with the rear folding seat installed a front strut tower brace.
My dash was cracked, so i decided to fiber glass it. not a fun job and its alot of work, was my first BIG project working with fiber glass and bondo but it turned out not bad, it is just primer right now and needs to come out and be touched up and painted still, i had to get it in the car so i could drive it and didnt want to wait another week.
Future upgrades i would like to do:
1. Pick up my 3.1 factory turbo engine and rebuild it
2. put on z26 front and rear bumpers which i have already in near mint shape.
3. put in z26 seats driver seat needs some repair but the rest of them are mint, going to send the driver seat out and have it fixed properly i dont want to attempt this one.
4. Re paint the car, ( z26 bumpers/side skits) are different colour so needs to be painted, and the clear coat is coming off on the trunk. Paint on the car is original far as i know and i have never waxed it ( as i planned on painting it before now) since i have owned it and shines like new
5. find a solid rear sway bar
6 maybe put in some drop springs ( still deciding if i want a stiffer ride or not and lower )
7. Put on a different drivers door when im ready to paint the whole car. ( Girlfriend borrowed her sisters truck and was backing out of the driveway and just to say she caught my mirror (mirror has a little tiny mark on the very tip of it) and bent it towards the front of the car half way to touching the fender, i dont know how the window didnt brake because it bent the support right out of the door. I was not happy at all in fact when i think about it still, it still makes me mad LOL. the doors do not have any rust or did they have even a scratch on them until that day.
8. tint the windows, especially the rear one i hate bright lights at night shinning in
9. rear disk brake swap ( have backing plates and some parts already put away )
Over all this has been a good car to me, and i like how it drives and handles and the power its got. pretty quick little car keeps up and flys by alot of newer cars out there today. Its 95% rust free, its not 100% because the odd place under the car has a chip of paint off and a little surface rust, the hood has a couple stone chips and a couple specks of rust. around the wheel wells and the inner fenders and the trunk and everywhere else is spotless of rust.
I had a firewall leak on the driver side that i didnt notice until the floor was really soaked, and it only happened when i rained really heavy, by the time i noticed the floor was soaked to crap and i was kinda upset to find that, the paint was bubbling in a couple spots under the carpet from that but i got it dryed up soon as possible and fixed the leak.
Anyways i guess thats it for now haha.. sometimes i get carried away once i start on something i keep blabbbbing away as some of you may have noticed on other topics i posted on LOL.
All the work thats been put into this car i have done myself the odd time i have a friend giving me a hand but other then thats its all hands on for me, so i try to take good care of it because i know if something brakes i have to fix it haha. i dont mind though, its easy to work on and gives me an excuse to go out for the day to our shop and get away from the GF LOL.
here is some photos..........
This is 1 of the first photos when i got the car, factory 14 inch steelies on it EWWW ( but they all had the rings and center caps and were clean)
This is the original seats and the famous cracking dash
Fiber glass dash
Original engine 2.0 L auto.
Current engine ( little dirty from crappy roads its winter time)
UMMMM SPARE Parts
I have the full set of these..
And these ( bought these for my gf's 99 lumina car) but they fit the beretta too and look pretty sweet.
Notice the nice little crease from the mirror being almost ripped off..
In my friends garage with a pit putting in new fuel pump ( some reason it didnt pass pollution test with the stock 12 psi 2.0 L pump, so i put a new 45 psi 3.1 L pump in still seemed to run as good either way. not sure how it ran at all with the 2.0 L pump but it did, drove it for 2 weeks till i changed it.
17" Rims i had bought for it, but the tires were junk and traded them for the rims on the car now since i had a new set of tires to fit them.
My z26 junk yard score stuff..
I have plenty more but i think thats all i can handle for now LOL.
About me: i am from Canada Ontario, i bought my first beretta (1988 Base 2.0 L 3 speed auto) 2 years ago from a relative that was out west in Canada (Alberta) and lived out there for a few years and drove this car back to Ontario and with the emissions testing here he didnt think it was going to pass ( suspected it needed head work). So he traded it to my dad for a different car and i bought it for $400.
It had a bit of a tick in the top end so i pulled the rocker cover to find a valve guide seized to the valve stem and was just wearing the crap out of the head. I picked up a used head from the JY off a motor with 140,000 KM it looked spotless inside. New head gaskets and put it all back together and the transmission started slipping just moving it around in the driveway. At this point i was no where near ready to put it on the road since i couldnt afford insurance. So it sat for a few months and 1 day my dad stopped by after picking up a car for scrap, and i look out and see this scrapalier (caviler) on his float, so i ran out and started looking over it, it was a 3.1 5 speed. and i made him unload it in my driveway. there was my new engine. was supposed to have had 100,000 KM on it but who really knows.
I took my time putting the engine in working on it at night after work hour here and hour there, put a new clutch in, had to put clutch pedal in the car swap wire harness and ecm. got it all in and running and by that time it was almost winter and i didnt want to drive it in the snow so it still just sat there. Next summer i had a work truck to drive so i didnt have to pay insurance, so it sat all summer and all last winter. and i just put it on the road finally in August 2010, i had to put front rotors and pads on it for safety, the mechanic was so picky he checked the door pins for any play in them and the only thing he made me replace was the front brakes, and i had a new set from the cavy i had kept so i put them on and the way i went, finally the first time i got to drive it on the road in 2 years lol.
Since then i have put at least 14,000 KM on it and unfortunately i had to drive it this winter but i washed it as much as possible and kept her pretty clean.
the body is pretty much stock right now, other then a cold air intake, ported throttle body, an ugly aluminum spoiler, and i had swapped the seats out with the same colour from a 89 gt with the rear folding seat installed a front strut tower brace.
My dash was cracked, so i decided to fiber glass it. not a fun job and its alot of work, was my first BIG project working with fiber glass and bondo but it turned out not bad, it is just primer right now and needs to come out and be touched up and painted still, i had to get it in the car so i could drive it and didnt want to wait another week.
Future upgrades i would like to do:
1. Pick up my 3.1 factory turbo engine and rebuild it
2. put on z26 front and rear bumpers which i have already in near mint shape.
3. put in z26 seats driver seat needs some repair but the rest of them are mint, going to send the driver seat out and have it fixed properly i dont want to attempt this one.
4. Re paint the car, ( z26 bumpers/side skits) are different colour so needs to be painted, and the clear coat is coming off on the trunk. Paint on the car is original far as i know and i have never waxed it ( as i planned on painting it before now) since i have owned it and shines like new
5. find a solid rear sway bar
6 maybe put in some drop springs ( still deciding if i want a stiffer ride or not and lower )
7. Put on a different drivers door when im ready to paint the whole car. ( Girlfriend borrowed her sisters truck and was backing out of the driveway and just to say she caught my mirror (mirror has a little tiny mark on the very tip of it) and bent it towards the front of the car half way to touching the fender, i dont know how the window didnt brake because it bent the support right out of the door. I was not happy at all in fact when i think about it still, it still makes me mad LOL. the doors do not have any rust or did they have even a scratch on them until that day.
8. tint the windows, especially the rear one i hate bright lights at night shinning in
9. rear disk brake swap ( have backing plates and some parts already put away )
Over all this has been a good car to me, and i like how it drives and handles and the power its got. pretty quick little car keeps up and flys by alot of newer cars out there today. Its 95% rust free, its not 100% because the odd place under the car has a chip of paint off and a little surface rust, the hood has a couple stone chips and a couple specks of rust. around the wheel wells and the inner fenders and the trunk and everywhere else is spotless of rust.
I had a firewall leak on the driver side that i didnt notice until the floor was really soaked, and it only happened when i rained really heavy, by the time i noticed the floor was soaked to crap and i was kinda upset to find that, the paint was bubbling in a couple spots under the carpet from that but i got it dryed up soon as possible and fixed the leak.
Anyways i guess thats it for now haha.. sometimes i get carried away once i start on something i keep blabbbbing away as some of you may have noticed on other topics i posted on LOL.
All the work thats been put into this car i have done myself the odd time i have a friend giving me a hand but other then thats its all hands on for me, so i try to take good care of it because i know if something brakes i have to fix it haha. i dont mind though, its easy to work on and gives me an excuse to go out for the day to our shop and get away from the GF LOL.
here is some photos..........
This is 1 of the first photos when i got the car, factory 14 inch steelies on it EWWW ( but they all had the rings and center caps and were clean)
This is the original seats and the famous cracking dash
Fiber glass dash
Original engine 2.0 L auto.
Current engine ( little dirty from crappy roads its winter time)
UMMMM SPARE Parts
I have the full set of these..
And these ( bought these for my gf's 99 lumina car) but they fit the beretta too and look pretty sweet.
Notice the nice little crease from the mirror being almost ripped off..
In my friends garage with a pit putting in new fuel pump ( some reason it didnt pass pollution test with the stock 12 psi 2.0 L pump, so i put a new 45 psi 3.1 L pump in still seemed to run as good either way. not sure how it ran at all with the 2.0 L pump but it did, drove it for 2 weeks till i changed it.
17" Rims i had bought for it, but the tires were junk and traded them for the rims on the car now since i had a new set of tires to fit them.
My z26 junk yard score stuff..
I have plenty more but i think thats all i can handle for now LOL.
