New to the wonderful world of huge exhausts and even bigger spoilers. Just took ownership of a 2l GX Sport and i'm liking it very much

As a bit of a background i'm 19. Ive always been into bikes but started getting more and more into cars. Ended up buying an MX5 1.8 import and spending too much money on it but its been the most fun car i've ever owned (8 in 2 years ).



Learned loads of things with that and loved it, but I wanted something more practical... so in a strange turn of events ended up with a 1988 Nissan Bluebird which I also loved. This hunk of s*** left me stranded so many times and spent more time on axle stands dead on the drive than I drove it but despite that fact it was bloody ace and got loads of attention. It had custom fitted coilovers and 40 year old wolfrace slot mags. 1.6 carb had 4 horsepower and I think my daily Honda C90 was quicker 0-60 and that tops out at 45.




But after spending too much money making it.. work.. I kind of got bored of spending every weekend fixing it to the point where it became a chore. In came the sensible headed me thinking 'aha, i've got a decent amount of money saved, lets get something relatively modern than I can trust'. Came up with this...





Which is in fact, rather nice. It is the nicest car ive owned actually and after coming from the world of 20+ year old rafts it has made a really good impression on me. I knew it wouldnt be the quickest or the cheapest but I like it.

Paid 3k, then £120 on top, which i'll explain... oh and it has 52k miles.

Before I got it the dealer did a bit of work:

Rebuilt the gearbox
New rear discs and pads
New exhaust from the cat back
Clutch friction plate (not needed but they had the gearbox off anyway so I paid to have it done)
Service, MOT and tracking

And when I got it (on Thursday) the front brakes were a bit squeaky and my OCD made me buy new discs and pads on the front which I replaced within hours of getting the car home. Nothing wrong with them... Just a bit glazed. I'd tried copper greasing the slides and rattle plates to no avail. Also swapped in a WRX grill. Not a fan of Plastic chrome.

Future plans are:

Tien s-tech/ apex springs, not sure yet. Id usually say coilovers but the previous two cars meant I had to plan my route around Aberdeen before I went out to avoid the worst of the bumps which i'm sick of! Also dont want to peel the floor off every time I leave my street.

18" wheels... Hoping for some fairly aggressive fitment to suit the ride height.

Clearly a big heffing exhaust will be getting stuck on at some point. The mazda was fairly straight through, as is my big bike. I like loud pipes.

Then just various other cosmetic mods etc etc.

The idea is that now I have something nice for once, I'll mod it and keep it for a year or so, so I should be here for a while

 

welcome, know exactly where you are comming from with getting an impreza for the reliability, also due to the lack of it from the previous car. also got mine when i was 19 but went for a turbo model

 

You've certainly bought yourself a good workhorse.

But I feel you've already spent too much on it. Over £3k for a car of this vintage is top dollar.

If you have to do any mods make sure you've got some good tyres on the car.

Don't waste any money on loud exhausts - sorry but they'll make you look like a **** and even more so when a cooking pot Astra rinses you from the lights. And whatever you do, don't go sticking massive rear wings, bonnet scoops and rally graphics on it. Save that money, keep it clean and when the time is right plough it into something with some real poke.

All the best.

 

The idea behind spending that kind of money was to completely eliminate the need for any serious work. At 52k it's hardly run in so I don't feel too miffed about the price

The big exhaust thing was a bit of a joke. I don't plan on much more than a back box. Possibly a decat if I have the will power to go crawling about underneath it!

And no I plan on keeping it clean. Even taking off the spoiler. Don't like the idea of a replica and never have when it will never have the performance to match. A nice drop on some decent offset dish/concave wheels. I want it to look smart without having the drawbacks of it being sill scrapingly low.

 

Nice, The only thing it needs is some wheels imo. Those ones look ridiculous!

 

Have to agree it looks like a bit of a rollerskate on 15s!

 

Nice looking model, good colour.

I wouldn't go silly jap exhaust bub, would go more subtle, but understand if you can't resist at your age i would lol

 

What style you going for? I like both your previous choices especially the wolfrace slot mags, Same wheels bond had on his lotus esprit submarine

 

very very clean example mate True it may be top dollar but that's going to last a long, long time.

Ah the bluebird - as with many of my dads projects he left behind - I have a Nissan bluebird turbo sitting in the lock up. No idea what to do with it but still a nice rare sleeper in my opinion.

Anyway, id go for a full decat sys but make sure you have at least a middle box as it will be too loud and annoy you.
If it were mine I would make it look like an STI and handle and stop like one - with a shell that nice who knows - maybe in the future you could go the whole hog.
Lots of work but patience pays off and at least the car would truly be your own creation
Good luck with it mate nice to see something a little different

 

Im really after some BBS LM looking things. I know you can get reps 18x8 et35 which would sit pretty nicely once its lowered. I'll keep an eye out on ebay for wheels though, usually theres something odd that takes my fancy! And I didnt even notice that haha. Wish I'd polished mine but they were over 40 years old with powdercoat about 3mm thick.

Cheers! Like you say yeah it's top dollar but after coming from my previous cars i'm really happy spending the extra knowing I can relax on the maintenance side of things.

Bluebird turbos are a rare breed! It really does need a turbo or the 1.8/2.0 to move though. The 1.6 is an okay engine but not for such a big heavy beast it was a bit lethargic. Nice note though it had a powerflow exhaust!

The plans at the moment are to tend towards USDM style mods. A lot of their scoobs are seriously clean and simple. Low, wide wheels and no spoiler. I think it would be pointless "stancing" a wrx or sti. Seems a waste of the power. A sport on the other hand I may as well

 

Looks a decent example, how you going to go for the clean look, de spoiler, fog covers?
I would even be tempted to remove the side skirts, spec c's don't have them and look cleaner for it (also stop crap getting behind them)
LM's would look cool.

Nice looking mx5 that mate, the missus has got an nb, fun little things to chuck around.

 

Yeah remove the spoiler and get fog covers. I'll either end up with a WRX front lip and no winglets, or just a rhino-lip sort of thing. Skirts will be staying because I like how chunky they look but will most likely be colour coded. All this will depends on how low it ends up being. The speed bump at the end of my street has claimed many a lip, including a few of mine! Thank god for polyurethane. But I love LMs and i've seen a few blobs with them on. They look the nads and will be fairly cheap!

Cheers It was a 1.8 import g-ltd so one of 1500. Loved it to bits and it did everything well apart from letting you have more than one friend. I'll have another one day they are ace!