Where to go from here on my build…

[B0udreaux]

1986 GT Hatch

TLDR: What kind of stuff can I work on to improve either comfort and/or performance that’s inexpensive (say $250ish or less) and needs only tools a normal person might have or buy?

So I got the car in January, it was bone stock except for it had a Centerforce clutch installed. Just under 50k miles.

So far I’ve done:
First was four new tires as I bought it with fourteen year old tires. They looked like they were in great shape but still….nuh-uh.
Subframe connectors (these were the only things I paid someone else to do as I have neither the equipment nor the know-how to mount tires, nor to weld), I did the r134 a/c conversion, and I put in a new SVE aluminum radiator while I was in there.

I just finished putting on basic new shocks (kyb), struts (api), and quad shocks (gabriel). Had issues finding the correct fronts because of my older spindles, this was a can of worms. I couldn’t just order the stuff on LMR as that’s all for people with ‘87 and older cars, unless my Luddite nature just prevented me from finding them there. I found random Chinese ones by googling and just finished putting them on; hope they are okay!

I’ve done a bunch of work on weatherstrip and trim, I replaced the clutch cable and quadrant with an adjustable one from Steeda (that job sucked). I replaced the front seatbelts (damn, I could have just removed that retraction thing that was in the door that was failing!? Oh well, it’s nice that they are clean and pretty looking now haha, though I could have just replaced the plastic sleeves and cut that retraction wire if I had known what I was doing beforehand. That kit was ‘spensive!).

I replaced the headlights and their trim rings. I replaced some other cosmetic stuff: badging, hatch struts (this was the very first thing I ever did to the car…ahh memories), shift knob, map light, wipers, cowl vent grille, lots of little cheap stuff. I want to do more stuff like that, both in the interior as well as in the engine bay and undercarriage.

The water pump gave out and peed all over my driveway about two months after getting the car so I replaced that and later, the thermostat with a 180 degree one because I had intermittent overheating after doing just the water pump—just took the car off the jack stands from this job that I did concurrently with the shocks, hopefully this solved my issue.

My longer-term bigger-ticket items I already want are first of all, new exhaust starting at the back and moving forward till I get to new shorty headers. Secondly, I wanna wake the car up with 3.73 rear gears (stock for me is 2.73). Finally, I’d like a fresh paint job. The car is in amazing shape, but the paint is aesthetically by far the worst thing on it…and tbh it’s not even that bad, so this is long-long term. Maybe even some paint recovery and love would do the trick. Honorable wishlist mention: 5-lug 17 inch wheels plus disc brakes in rear plus lowering springs and performance dampers all around that go with that setup, plus aftermarket control arms+K member. However, I just put new dampers on all around though they are budget versions to hopefully just restore factory ride quality. This above paragraph is like my need-to-save-up for wishlist. All the expensive stuff that if money was not an issue it’d be priority.

I’m using the car as a weekend driver. I have a commuter car for work but wanna use this one as much as possible other than my commute. I want it a nice balance between comfortable and fast. I mean, I want SOME level of fast…that’s why I got a 5.0 after all…but I’m really just looking to really pound the on-ramps, and maybe make my tires smoky once in a while, but I am not looking to really focus on horsepower and performance. I am rather more focused on building towards daily driveability, but as my “fun car”. I have no plans to hit the track or drag strip.


So, sorry I’m long-winded, but the question is this: what kind of stuff that isn’t broken can I be looking to work on/fix up/replace. Maybe stuff that maybe isn’t all the way gone yet, but is commonly worn and would benefit from early replacement. Or maybe stuff where the tech didn’t exist in ‘86–like polyurethane bushings. For example in doing front shocks I noticed my sway bar end links were corroded as hell and the bushings looked terrible. Relatively inexpensive thing I can knock out in a day. It got me looking at steering kits, and since I have a little play in my steering wheel, I figure 40+ year old ball joints and bearings and stuff could benefit from replacement and boom another small cheap ish job that I can incrementally improve my car, maybe tool supply (I love needing/buying new tools haha), and gain some experience/skills through practice.

Problem is that I’m a newb. This is my first foray really into the car world, or any kind of fixing-things-with-tools world… I feel like I’m doing okay so far, but I just don’t have any experience or depth of knowledge to know if the stuff I think is way off base or crazy and I don’t really have anyone I know who knows what’s what, so I’m kinda all feeling it all out alone.

So what all can I look to replace/update/fool with that’s relatively inexpensive and doable by a normal person with normal tools that is just learning off of forums, Reddit, and YouTube. What’s a waste of time and money, and where am I gonna get a lot of bang for my buck?

Thanks in advance,
Boudreaux

 

[AeroCoupe]

I would replace the bushings and ball joints in the front lower control arms. Bushings with Moog replacements (urethane ride rough) and install new Low friction ball joints.

Definitely replace the sway bar end links with urethane bushings and get new front sway bar to frame bushings on urethane.

Replace the rag joint in the steering linkage between the rack and the steering column. Very typical high wear item that causes slop in the steering.

New rear upper control arms (stock replacements) with new Moog bushings in the rear end. New lower control arms like Maximum Motorsports.

Replace the motor mounts with stock type units, replace transmission to crossmember mount with a urethane unit, and replace the transmission crossmember to frame mounts with urethane units.

This will get the car handling pretty decent. Lowering spring and some Bilstein dampers down the road will finish up the suspension.

When you switch to five lug just do an SN95 swap.

As for a little more power I would just to a TFS head, cam, and intakes package.

 

[Noobz347]

What is your opinion of the engine condition?

Have you had it checked out?

 

[B0udreaux]

What is your opinion of the engine condition?

Have you had it checked out?

Engine seems good to me…but I’m not a mechanic.

The mechanic I did take it to said it was solid. It did have a stalling issue when I got the car that the previous owner couldn’t track down which was finally fixed by cleaning out the idle air control valve and doing a base idle reset. Other than that it’s been great.

 

[gkomo]

Even with the low mileage, like others have said, i would start by replacing old rubber components/bushings as they start to get brittle and crack just from being old. Also start looking at vacuum lines as those can get brittle and crack as well.

I know you're paint isn't 100% but something cheap you could do to help 'freshen' up the looks is buy some SEM Trim Black spray paint and go to town on your trim pieces, headlight buckets, side moldings, mirrors, etc.

Gears and a catback exhaust would take you a long way to having a fun car. Won't be breaking any land speed records but it will still feel fast and sound good.

Under $250 first thing i would do is a MGW short shifter (do they make those for 86's?). Easy to install and makes a BIG difference in the driving experience.

 

[gkomo]

They do!

MGW Aftermarket Racing Shifters — Toploader Short Throw Shifter

www.mgwshifters.com

Assuming you have a T5

 

[keel]

If you want to improve your steering feel beyond just restoring it to stock form, I did a solid steering shaft to get rid of the rag joint and that really tightened things up. Wasn't too bad to install either. I think I got mine for about $150 on Summit.

Upgraded alternator is a nice improvement, the stock alternator is known to be weak and the 130 amp alternator upgrade is simple and well documented.

I'd stay away from cheap horsepower upgrades like cold air intakes, underdrive pulleys, ect. it's not really going to make much of a difference in performance and in many cases can actually make your car run worse. You aren't going to feel real gains on the street unless you start getting into pretty major stuff like heads cam or power adders.

 

[Willybill32]

1986 GT Hatch

TLDR: What kind of stuff can I work on to improve either comfort and/or performance that’s inexpensive (say $250ish or less) and needs only tools a normal person might have or buy?

So I got the car in January, it was bone stock except for it had a Centerforce clutch installed. Just under 50k miles.

So far I’ve done:
First was four new tires as I bought it with fourteen year old tires. They looked like they were in great shape but still….nuh-uh.
Subframe connectors (these were the only things I paid someone else to do as I have neither the equipment nor the know-how to mount tires, nor to weld), I did the r134 a/c conversion, and I put in a new SVE aluminum radiator while I was in there.

I just finished putting on basic new shocks (kyb), struts (api), and quad shocks (gabriel). Had issues finding the correct fronts because of my older spindles, this was a can of worms. I couldn’t just order the stuff on LMR as that’s all for people with ‘87 and older cars, unless my Luddite nature just prevented me from finding them there. I found random Chinese ones by googling and just finished putting them on; hope they are okay!

I’ve done a bunch of work on weatherstrip and trim, I replaced the clutch cable and quadrant with an adjustable one from Steeda (that job sucked). I replaced the front seatbelts (damn, I could have just removed that retraction thing that was in the door that was failing!? Oh well, it’s nice that they are clean and pretty looking now haha, though I could have just replaced the plastic sleeves and cut that retraction wire if I had known what I was doing beforehand. That kit was ‘spensive!).

I replaced the headlights and their trim rings. I replaced some other cosmetic stuff: badging, hatch struts (this was the very first thing I ever did to the car…ahh memories), shift knob, map light, wipers, cowl vent grille, lots of little cheap stuff. I want to do more stuff like that, both in the interior as well as in the engine bay and undercarriage.

The water pump gave out and peed all over my driveway about two months after getting the car so I replaced that and later, the thermostat with a 180 degree one because I had intermittent overheating after doing just the water pump—just took the car off the jack stands from this job that I did concurrently with the shocks, hopefully this solved my issue.

My longer-term bigger-ticket items I already want are first of all, new exhaust starting at the back and moving forward till I get to new shorty headers. Secondly, I wanna wake the car up with 3.73 rear gears (stock for me is 2.73). Finally, I’d like a fresh paint job. The car is in amazing shape, but the paint is aesthetically by far the worst thing on it…and tbh it’s not even that bad, so this is long-long term. Maybe even some paint recovery and love would do the trick. Honorable wishlist mention: 5-lug 17 inch wheels plus disc brakes in rear plus lowering springs and performance dampers all around that go with that setup, plus aftermarket control arms+K member. However, I just put new dampers on all around though they are budget versions to hopefully just restore factory ride quality. This above paragraph is like my need-to-save-up for wishlist. All the expensive stuff that if money was not an issue it’d be priority.

I’m using the car as a weekend driver. I have a commuter car for work but wanna use this one as much as possible other than my commute. I want it a nice balance between comfortable and fast. I mean, I want SOME level of fast…that’s why I got a 5.0 after all…but I’m really just looking to really pound the on-ramps, and maybe make my tires smoky once in a while, but I am not looking to really focus on horsepower and performance. I am rather more focused on building towards daily driveability, but as my “fun car”. I have no plans to hit the track or drag strip.


So, sorry I’m long-winded, but the question is this: what kind of stuff that isn’t broken can I be looking to work on/fix up/replace. Maybe stuff that maybe isn’t all the way gone yet, but is commonly worn and would benefit from early replacement. Or maybe stuff where the tech didn’t exist in ‘86–like polyurethane bushings. For example in doing front shocks I noticed my sway bar end links were corroded as hell and the bushings looked terrible. Relatively inexpensive thing I can knock out in a day. It got me looking at steering kits, and since I have a little play in my steering wheel, I figure 40+ year old ball joints and bearings and stuff could benefit from replacement and boom another small cheap ish job that I can incrementally improve my car, maybe tool supply (I love needing/buying new tools haha), and gain some experience/skills through practice.

Problem is that I’m a newb. This is my first foray really into the car world, or any kind of fixing-things-with-tools world… I feel like I’m doing okay so far, but I just don’t have any experience or depth of knowledge to know if the stuff I think is way off base or crazy and I don’t really have anyone I know who knows what’s what, so I’m kinda all feeling it all out alone.

So what all can I look to replace/update/fool with that’s relatively inexpensive and doable by a normal person with normal tools that is just learning off of forums, Reddit, and YouTube. What’s a waste of time and money, and where am I gonna get a lot of bang for my buck?

Thanks in advance,
Boudreaux

Several responders have suggested replacing the rubber parts of the suspension and drive train, and I second that. Regarding further modifications, I suggest you go really slowly on any changes. I own an ‘86 GT I bought new. I drove it stock for a long time, but decided to make some changes. I’ve added heads, cam, intake, MAF conversion, larger injectors, larger throttle body and MAF, along with a tune. Having done all that, it was a better driver before I made the mods.

 

[AeroCoupe]

ill say it if no one else will. The tune is no bueno.