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PostPosted: Wed Apr 22, 2015 11:43 pm 
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CSM Junkie
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Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2006 8:51 pm
Posts: 899
Location: Grand Rapids, MI
You know what they say, third time's a charm!

I picked up another '89 original GT car about a month or so ago. It happened to be one of those "right place, right time" scenarios and worked out perfectly for me. Car was posted in the 'for sale' section of the board in Canton, GA which is about 30 minutes from where my girl lives. I was flying to visit her from Michigan about two weeks after the ad went up so I immediately got in contact with the seller. We exchanged emails and phone calls and set up a time for me to look at the car. I was informed the car was pretty much stock with a few bolt-ons and that it had a slipping clutch.

Once I flew down I informed the old lady that I might be driving a new car back and schmoozed her over with a nice dinner date. She reluctantly gave me permission to get another CSM (I already had 3 at home :lol: ) so I set up a time to look at the car and take it for a drive. The owner, Adam, was very straightforward about the car and all its issues. I didn't get into boost in the test drive, but figured it would make the 700+ mile trip home. Worked out a deal with him and picked it back up two days before I left back home. Despite not having a radio or cruise, and the world's worst exhaust (rattled and droned something awful) I made it back in a little under 14 hours with no real incident and no attention from cops. I didn't even get into boost until the last mile from my house for fear of frying the clutch and getting stranded. I quickly realized the state of the clutch and was thankful I made it back in under it's own power.

I had already been doing some mental planning for what the car needed if I bought it and what mod path I would pursue. The car was given a good wash and parked until I have all the parts to fix the clutch and tend to maintenance needs since it had been sitting for nearly 4 years. I realized when I took it in to get registered and titled that I had driven more miles on my trip home than the previous owner drove it in his entire ownership :o .

Pics from when I bought it, and the drive up home.

Leaving Georgia
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Entering Tennessee!
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"With a load that large he must be tired" I kept thinking to myself (I sent that to my gf and she told me I was dumb)
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Forget Jurassic Park, it's Dinosaur World bruh!
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Catching up with rush hour
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I started to get tired, and it started to get dark from there. Now I'll just leave you with a couple pics of the car.

Here she is in all her glory. Factory steelies with beauty rings and that horrible '90 DSM front bumper. Yuck!
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Packed up with crap and in need of a good polish.
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'89 Colt GT - All the rare goodies
'98 TSi AWD - Clean street car


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PostPosted: Thu Apr 23, 2015 12:48 am 
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Spends Too Much Time Under The Hood
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Joined: Sun Jun 03, 2007 5:44 pm
Posts: 306
Location: Cleveland / D.C.
Looks like a very nice GT, congrats. Your story reminded me of when I went to pick up my Summit long long ago. Almost the same exact story, but my drive was only about half the distance. 10 years later, 3 completly different builds, and I can't get rid of it haha. But seriously, 14 hours with no radio and a droning exhaust would have driven me nuts. Please tell me this was Aderol-assisted...

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'89 Summit Sedan AWD - 9.1 at 157
'92 Evo 1
'10 CTS-V


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PostPosted: Thu Apr 23, 2015 6:05 am 
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CSM Junkie
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Joined: Tue Jun 08, 2004 6:36 am
Posts: 451
Location: michigan
Don't crush this one. The car looks to be in great shape. I actually like that 90 bumper, if it had the lip it would look even better :)

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Warren
91 Eagle Summit AWD 10.14@138.31 (6.56 @110.30 1/8th, 1.48 60') 1.40 best 60 ft - best mph 154
03 EVO 10.86 @ 134.73 best mph 139.00
90 GST 10.36 @ 142.49 best mph 147.10


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PostPosted: Thu Apr 23, 2015 9:28 am 
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2nd Banana
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Joined: Wed Dec 28, 2005 1:16 pm
Posts: 9369
Location: San Diego, CA.
Shall we take bets on how long it takes before this car is slammed on wheels that don't fit with a roof rack? ;)

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91 GSX - 511fwhp and 352 lb/ft 25psi 110 octane, 7.68 @ 95.9mph 1/8th 21psi 91 octane, 11.93 @ 112.9mph, 117.7mph best trap speed, 20psi 91 octane
98 Volvo S70 T5 - DD

http://www.facebook.com/captaintonus


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PostPosted: Thu Apr 23, 2015 9:45 am 
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CSM Junkie
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Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2006 8:51 pm
Posts: 899
Location: Grand Rapids, MI
Quote:
Don't crush this one. The car looks to be in great shape. I actually like that 90 bumper, if it had the lip it would look even better :)
No crushing this one. It got a thorough inspection to make sure it wasn't in any accidents I didn't know about like my last two.
Quote:
Shall we take bets on how long it takes before this car is slammed on wheels that don't fit with a roof rack? ;)
No roof rack, but I really want some window Louvers :) .

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'89 Colt GT - All the rare goodies
'98 TSi AWD - Clean street car


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PostPosted: Thu Apr 23, 2015 1:18 pm 
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2nd Banana
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Joined: Wed Dec 28, 2005 1:16 pm
Posts: 9369
Location: San Diego, CA.
Quote:
No roof rack, but I really want some window Louvers :) .
I don't think window louvers would look that great on a hatchback, maybe on a sedan though. Did anyone ever make them for these cars?

_________________
91 GSX - 511fwhp and 352 lb/ft 25psi 110 octane, 7.68 @ 95.9mph 1/8th 21psi 91 octane, 11.93 @ 112.9mph, 117.7mph best trap speed, 20psi 91 octane
98 Volvo S70 T5 - DD

http://www.facebook.com/captaintonus


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PostPosted: Thu Apr 23, 2015 1:56 pm 
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CSM Junkie
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Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2006 8:51 pm
Posts: 899
Location: Grand Rapids, MI
I just found a company that did yesterday. I really wanted them for my sedan, but could never find them. Now I'm not putting money into that car anymore, and I agree they have a good chance of looking stupid on the back of the hatch.

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'89 Colt GT - All the rare goodies
'98 TSi AWD - Clean street car


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PostPosted: Thu Apr 23, 2015 8:06 pm 
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Some call me a god
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Joined: Sun Oct 16, 2005 8:02 am
Posts: 1267
Location: Eva, Alabama
Down my way again and didn't stop by... tisk tisk....

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49 International KB-2
72 Dodge Colt
73 Dodge Colt (Project)
84 GMC K3500
85 Dodge D50 Diesel Swap
90 Mighty Max V6
89 Mirage Turbo
94 Mighty Max
99 Montero


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PostPosted: Thu Apr 23, 2015 8:27 pm 
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CSM Junkie
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Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2006 8:51 pm
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Location: Grand Rapids, MI
I tried to meet up with Aaron for dinner on my way back, but he was busy. I'll see if I can talk the old lady into a road trip to come see you once I move down there. I need to check out your entire collection. Sell me something stupid and then I'll have to come visit!

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'89 Colt GT - All the rare goodies
'98 TSi AWD - Clean street car


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PostPosted: Sun Apr 26, 2015 12:52 pm 
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Some call me a god
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Joined: Mon Dec 26, 2005 2:20 am
Posts: 1154
Location: Anderson, IN
Wow good looking car, I agree with Warren the bumper looks pretty good. To bad we couldn't meet up, you'll have to give me a little more warning next time. lol

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92 Colt GL 4g63t + AWD swap
00 Mirage LS


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PostPosted: Tue Apr 28, 2015 1:53 pm 
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CSM Junkie
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Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2006 8:51 pm
Posts: 899
Location: Grand Rapids, MI
My first goal with the car is to clean it up and get it as close to factory as I can. This means removing a few of the previous owner's mods, and just giving it a good old fashioned deep scrubbing. One of the major selling points of the car for me, besides having no rust, was that the interior is pretty much 100% complete and in good shape. Something that I also found pretty neat about this car is it was optioned (or maybe I should say "de-optioned") with factory radio-delete panels. This means the following:

-Grommet in the fender for the antenna
-Radio delete panel in the dash
-Speaker delete panels in the hatch
-Blank door panels
-No speakers in dash, door panels, or hatch area

This, coupled with manual locks and windows, really focuses the drivers attention on the driving experience of the car. Unfortunately the car came with a boost and wideband gauge screwed into the radio surround. While I am glad he wanted to monitor the vitals I find his execution of the gauge install to be sub par. This brings me to order number 1. Remove those tacky gauges.

This is what we were dealing with

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You can also see the in the top left corner a turbo timer that had power but didn't function like it should. I was able to peel off the double-sided tape holding that on and save the mint condition gauge surround. With the help of a trusty screwdriver I was able to get those right out of there. Time for my new best friends. On the left is a mild cleaner that doesn't leave an oily residue, and the right a protectant that finishes the surface off with a low gloss and some UV protection.

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A few months back I also happened to be scouring the junkyard for a double din radio surround in good shape since my backup was toast. This car didn't have a good one either cause of the screw holes from the gauge holder. Luckily after nearly giving up hopes at the yard I decided to plug the part number into ebay. Voila! Some guy was selling a NOS one for $10 BIN plus shipping. I couldn't believe it!

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Needless to say this bad boy was going the in GT. Dug the radio delete panel out the box of goodies that came with the car, and dusted off my old din pocket too. It is pictured here under my Evo radio that I planned to run originally, but I'm now selling.

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Anywho, a little elbow grease later and this was the result.

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Another angle. Floor mats and carpet dye are next on the list.

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And lastly a side-by-side.

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There is still quite a bit of work to do on the interior, but she is coming along. I'm hoping to finish the gauge install with something stealth to stick with my OEM+ theme for the car. I also have plans for some new seats, tint, and a good carpet cleaning as mentioned earlier. 'Til next time!

_________________
'89 Colt GT - All the rare goodies
'98 TSi AWD - Clean street car


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PostPosted: Tue Apr 28, 2015 2:42 pm 
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CSM Junkie
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Joined: Tue Jun 08, 2004 6:36 am
Posts: 451
Location: michigan
love it :) Looks awesome

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Warren
91 Eagle Summit AWD 10.14@138.31 (6.56 @110.30 1/8th, 1.48 60') 1.40 best 60 ft - best mph 154
03 EVO 10.86 @ 134.73 best mph 139.00
90 GST 10.36 @ 142.49 best mph 147.10


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PostPosted: Tue Apr 28, 2015 9:09 pm 
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Joined: Sat May 14, 2005 11:15 pm
Posts: 7515
Location: Stantonsburg, NC
Looks awesome! So you're ditching those seats? Dibs if so :lol:

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93 Mitsubishi Expo LRV 1.8/manual
95 Eagle Summit DL Coupe 1.5/manual
01 Mitsubishi Mirage ES Sedan 1.8/manual


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PostPosted: Tue Apr 28, 2015 10:22 pm 
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CSM Junkie
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Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2006 8:51 pm
Posts: 899
Location: Grand Rapids, MI
Quote:
Looks like a very nice GT, congrats. Your story reminded me of when I went to pick up my Summit long long ago. Almost the same exact story, but my drive was only about half the distance. 10 years later, 3 completly different builds, and I can't get rid of it haha. But seriously, 14 hours with no radio and a droning exhaust would have driven me nuts. Please tell me this was Aderol-assisted...
Thanks man! Copious amounts of Mt Dew kept me alive for the trip home. I hope that I have this thing 10 years down the road too. I have a soft spot for these things, but I never seemed to have one worth keeping around.
Quote:
Looks awesome! So you're ditching those seats? Dibs if so :lol:
I might be moving the seats over to my sedan, I haven't decided yet. I like the factory ones enough that I think I'll keep them around. Plus they are hard to find in this shape, but don't seem to hold a lot of value so selling them probably wouldn't be worth it. I sold my last set that were as nice as these for $125 with a nearly complete mint interior. The guy just sat on them for a while and ditched his project and when I tried to get them back they were no longer available :( .

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'89 Colt GT - All the rare goodies
'98 TSi AWD - Clean street car


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PostPosted: Wed Apr 29, 2015 5:24 pm 
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The happy administrator
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Joined: Tue Apr 20, 2004 3:20 pm
Posts: 5583
Location: Wisconsin
Can you post pics of all the deleted panels/parts? It always harkens back to the old muscle car days when you could delete every option and there would be panels/etc everywhere.

_________________
Had a:
1991 Eagle Summit ES Hatchback - 4g15 12v 5spd
1991 Dodge Colt -4g15 12v 4spd
Have a:
1978 Oldsmobile Cutlass - 468BBO TH350
Round 3:
1990 Dodge Colt-4G63T 5spd


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