1988 Isuzu I-Mark Turbo

I got another coat of paint on the bumper, sanded and polished. It still isn't right, but it will have to do until I paint the whole car. I couldn't get all of the peel out without sanding too much off. Since I was out of paint, I let it ride. Still way better than before

I think it looks pretty mean with no bumper

The bumper shock mount was bent from an accident (previous owner) I couldn't get the bumper to line up. It was always low on the passenger side. So I took the mount out and elongated the holes for adjustment.

My daughter gave me a hand with this part.

Right about then the dogs in the back yard started going nuts. When I went back there to see what was up I found this:

That was a copper head. See the gold on his puffy cheeks. (Puffy cheeks mean venomous. That is where the venom sacks are) He was a juvenile. The picture makes him look bigger than what he was.

All finished.

I freakin love my clear corner and bumper lights. I'd even keep these rims if they were 15" and actually round.

I still need to install a metal deflector next to the radiator so the air will go through rather than around it. Then I'll work on the gauge pod.

Looking good!

I LOVE that you have your daughter out to help! How old is she? Mine is 3, and is showing some interest in what I've got going out in the shop, but doesn't like loud noises at this point. I'm always trying to think of things she can "help" with, but most of the time when she comes out I am busy keeping her away from dangerous/greasy/tippy piles of crap in the shop.

What did you do with the snake?

Aside from all that family stuff, I love the project and your progress is very motivating. Keep up the good work!

Its funny, my son (age 4) is totally uninterested, but my daughter (9) is begging to help me. I have to come up with jobs for her to do.

We scooped the snake into a trash can and let him go outside of town. I don't like to kill if I don't have to.

f6sk wrote: Its funny, my son (age 4) is totally uninterested, but my daughter (9) is begging to help me. I have to come up with jobs for her to do. We put scooped the snake into a trash can and let him go outside of town. I don't like to kill if I don't have to.

Good man on the snake. People will likely give you all kinds of flak for not killing it, but I also try to live and let live. I hear you on the chore of coming up with jobs for the kids to do. When my daughter comes into the shop, she wants to know how she can help me. Fortunately at this age, helping daddy can be as simple as banging these two wrenches together. I know that won't last for much longer...

Looks great from here!

My buddy was over tonight and his 2 y/o daughter was rolling all over the garage on my stools. Didn't get my welding done until they left BUT was so worth it to have her walking around the shop pointing at stuff and saying "this?" I explained all 200 things she pointed to. My 12 y/o son has less interest but did help me hang my license plate project up this evening. I'll take it. Kudos to you for keeping the family involved!

At the beginning of this build I mentioned making a gauge pod, and I'm finally working on it. I don't have room in the radio console to mount my gauges, and I don't want to mess up my dash by attaching them there. So, the 'A' pillar made the most sense.

I bought a junkyard piece of pillar trim so I didn't ruin my original if it didn't turn out.

The gauge fit perfectly in a 2" pvc pipe.

So I cut some more on the miter saw

Test fitting for the proper angle.

I hot glued them in place so that they could be adjusted. I think the angle is perfect, but I had to work on the spacing.

I researched on line how to do this. People use lots of different methods. The best examples of how to do fiberglass were the guys making tweeter pods. I also saw that lots of people had problems with their fiberglass popping off over time from the heat. I hope to alleviate that buy using the left over flexible bumper filler I used earlier.

I added a bit of wood under the front to give a bit more of an angle towards the driving position.

I couldn't clamp the shirt in place so I used super glue to hold it while I formed it around the pods.

A bit of glue to the ring to hold it while I get the wrinkles out.

And the rings are done

If I ever do this again (or scrap this and start over), I'll wrap each pod individually in t-shirt. It is too difficult to smooth all the wrinkles out with 3 lumps in the middle.

Next I'll attempt to smooth the wrinkles out of the back side and then apply the resin. I think I may cut and tuck some of the excess off the back side. We'll see.

Looks cool!

I am thinking about new wheels and tires. This is something I know nothing about and have never done before.

I like these 15" wheels:

Konig Dial-In

But I think my offset won't work I need: 6.5" Wide Rims = 24~27 7" Wide Rims = +18~21 8" Wide Rims = +5~8

I should be able to make a simple shim assuming my studs are long enough. Right? Also, I have no clue what width to get. I'm thinking 7" and a set of Toyo Proxe T1Rs. Would that be a 205 45 15?

Any and all ideas, and recommendations welcome.

www.willtheyfit.com

Enter the info on the wheels and tires you have then the sizes you are thinking about.

Not knowing the clearance between the strut and the arches it is hard to tell you what you want. Just keep changing the offset on the website to move the wheel around. The difference in offsets would be your spacer width.

It looks as if those offsets you list are trying to keep the inside of the wheel in the same spot. Is it a tight clearance with the strut?

It is a tighter clearance with the strut. These recommended offsets I found seem to be very different from the standard wheel offsets

I was doing some test runs, and had a serious bogging issue. Parked in the drive way the car rev-ed fine. No bogging, stumbling, or any hick-ups. But once I was on the street and accelerated it hit a wall at 3k RPMs. The AFR gauge said it was leaned out as much as the gauge would read. Then it would sputter and pop and then come back to life violently for about 1k RPMs before it would bog again.

So, I bought a fuel pressure gauge to try and figure out what was going on. $20 from Harbor Freight.

I used the T fitting in line before the fuel rail. I was not so lucky to have a simple fitting I could screw into.

I had to make a quick trip to the parts store for a piece of fuel line hose. I snaked it under the hood next to the wipers, and placed on the wind shield facing in. That way I could read it while driving to understand what was going on. Off I went on another test drive. I pressed down hard on the accelerator and while it was bogging there was no change in the fuel pressure. So, I eliminated the fuel pump and FPR as possible problems.

The only component left that could regulate fuel was the throttle positioning sensor. I whipped out my multi meter and was looking for 5volts. I had 5 volts. I had 5volts at every pin. BAD. $23 later after a second trip to the autoparts store I had my new TPS.

After plugging it up my idle instantly became better, I took it for a drive and what a difference! It still wasn't boosting like it should, but I was actually driving. After 4 years of working on it, It felt great. Yes, the interior was squeaky, and the alignment was so bad the wheels would sometimes squeal going forward, but I was going forward!

I let the car cool and went back outside to remove the gauge. When I got there I smelled gas. The line the parts store sold me was NOT a gas line, it was swollen and floppy and had burst open, spewing fuel over the engine bay, I'm lucky it didn't burst earlier when the car was hot or there would have been a fire.

What really annoys me is that the I initially asked for fuel line and even asked a second time when I checked out to confirm it was fuel line and there were like "ummm uh huh fuel line."

I took it for a few shake down drives. Once I found and repaired the boost leak, I discovered that the car was over boosting. It was Oh My God! from 3k to 4k RPMs then fuel cut hit and the party was over. I adjusted my boost controller but it seemed to have no effect. Until I discovered I turned it all the way in the wrong direction. So I was turning it all the way up rather than all the way down.

Still, OMG fun

Second issue is a high idle. Unfortunately the Storm SOHC TPS sensor has a different voltage than the I-Mark. So, I'll have to do some research to see if I can just twist the sensor to turn it down, or if I have to come up with some sort of electronic circuitry to lessen the voltage.

Third issue is overheating. I currently have a push fan. Perhaps I need to swap it around to the other side to become a pull fan. Although I remember talk of the excellent cooling from these half radiators, and how they never really got hot.... hmmm....

Still, OMG fun

You should be able to use a resistor to get the voltage drop you need at the TPS. The web should help you on how much drop you get from what resistor value. We use 1k resistors at work for all kinds of stuff. The old guys throw them around like candy.

I think I'd like to look into this for the MAP sensor, to trick it and achieve higher boost levels on the stock ECU.

I thought for sure my new TPS would solve my high idle issue. The thing will almost rev up to 2K RPMs just sitting in neutral in the driveway. I've been worried about the difference between the voltage on the I-Mark VS the storm TPS. Using my trusty multimeter I pulled back the wire cover and tested to see where I was at. As I expected my voltage was higher than the .4 volts the Manual said I should have at idle.

So, I enlarged the holes on the TPS to create a slot rather than a hole to adjust it.

The slot worked perfectly, and I was able to get the voltage down to .4 volts, while still achieving the 4.3 at WOT.

Unfortunately it made no difference whatsoever in my idle.

Next up is testing my IAC

Nice mechanical solution to the TPS . Sucks about idle, same boat with me and the Metro right now.

Somehow I missed this thread. It has too much awesome in it. I totally want in on the machine shop trip for the engine in tunatruck.

High idle has got to be air getting into the engine from somewhere. Fuel levels won't change your idle more than a few RPM, never mind a few hundred.

Make certain you don't have a vacuum leak anywhere, but I think you're on the right track chasing down the IAC. Keep up the good work man!

@Tuna

Bring it. You're not that far away.

f6sk wrote: @Tuna Bring it. You're not that far away.

PM me me with your pricing for this type of work on a small block and I'll figure out which pieces and parts I want. I'd love to learn how this stuff all works.

Schedule to come down one weekend and I'll show you how to do everything.

EDIT: I'll let you do everything....

I just had a buddy run a smoke test on my car today. Every bit of smoke billowed out the top of the gas tank. Evap canister and fuel tank pressure valve are on top of the tank. Hope it also corrects idle issues or at least some.

f6sk wrote: Schedule to come down one weekend and I'll show you how to do everything. EDIT: I'll let you do everything....

How much money do I need to bring along? It will be a while before I can, but this sounds like the best option when I am ready.

Just bring your parts, and your engine paint.

f6sk wrote: Just bring your parts, and your engine paint.

Wow. You're like a friend with a boat or a swimming pool.