What would you guy's do??

[91bird]

I am looking to get some other SC enthusiasts opinions which I can use to help with my decision.
I currently have 2 SC's one 91 that I have owned since I was 19 ( now 33 )and it was my first car. It is heavily modified and has been a work in progress for many years.
I also just recently bought an incredibly clan 90 that has 68,000 original km's and I am the second owner. He car has never had a wrench on any bolt under the hood and is probably the cleanest SC that my eyes have ever seen.
My 91 I have just recently realized is completely rotten underneath. The outer body is great and you would never know but I can basically reach up beside the gas tank and touch the speaker in the rear quarter panel. The rockers are also gone and separating from the bottom of the car. My last day at the track last season I cooked the tranny and had to tow the car home on a trailer. The car has all the good stuff, MPX, FMIC, heads, cam, snow kit, and the last few years I have put a lot of money and time into making it the SC I always wanted. The best time I have with the car was 13:20 @ 103 before the MPX and FMIC, and was with a stock 94 blower and Double intercooler.
Dave tuned it and made 300 rwhp with the 94 blower/ DI set up. I was not able to get the car tuned and run properly with the MPX and front mount because of the tranny letting go. My original plan was to rebuild the tranny with some upgrades over the old one and give it another shot but since buying the 90 I think I have come to the point where I just don't want to put anymore money into my 91 due to it being a rust bucket underneath. I guess I am asking for some persuasion to which way I should go.
I have always planned to own my 91 for as long as we still drive cars and when I saw the underside and how bad it was I felt sick in my stomach. My own fault though!
So when I came across the 90 I had to buy it. Now I think that car is too clean to even think about wrenching on it so I am left with either fixing my 91 or parting it out.
In some way's I am kind of fed up with trying to make it faster and just want to enjoy driving the car for what it is, ( i can do that with the 90 ) but, on the other hand I have put so many years of effort and money into it to just give up. In the end the decision is my own to make but it would be interesting to see what some of you would do?
Thanks for taking the time to read.

Drew

[old_coot]

There is nothing particularly unique about the SC body so if I were in your shoes I would keep the low mileage car intact and find a good solid lx body to swap all your go-fast goodies into---that way you would have the best of both worlds---and it would be the same as having your old car with some new body parts on it...............Dan

[XxSlowpokexX]

Depends what you want

If you want a drag only car keep the your old one as track only and the other as a driver to enjoy.

Me i'd take the low mile one and throw all my good stuff on there and make it a cruiser/track car. I'd then put the other back to stock and just drive it the way it is. That way you can keep the miles low on the new one you bought and still enjoy your old car which has sentimental value.

[David Neibert]

I'd transfer all the go-fast parts over to the 90 and then strip down what's left of the 91 for replacement parts. Unless the car was a super low mileage 35th Anny or a 95 5 speed, I wouldn't care about keeping it stock.

David

[cary Jackson]

But all the stock guys (me included) will always try to make it faster. Might as well gut the 91, and add the parts to the 90. Look at it this way, you already have all the go fast parts.

[slowpoke]

strip it down to nothing but the rotten carcass. bring the 90 in for undercoating before you start on it that way it wont rot out on ya. about 4 weeks time you should have it all done and then can finally enjoy just driving it. unless if you break something. no matter how you look at it, if you dont you will always regret not doing it. with the 90 though, as you move everything over keep the outside looking 100% stock so you'll have a sleeper. this wasnt so much you needing advice, you need someone to tell you to do it, so here it is. DO IT, SWITCH IT ALL OVER AND GET BACK TO THE TRACK:)

[91bird]

Thanks for the comments guy's, I will take em all into consideration.
My goal all along was to have a stock looking car that ran 12's, that goes all the way back to 98 when I had the motor built for my 91.

Drew

[XR7 Dave]

I completely understand the feeling of frustration with the fast car, or the attempts at making it fast. Frankly, the obsession to go fast is a bit of controlled stupidity, if there is such a thing. This is particularly true for someone who lacks the time, space, money, knowledge, or drive to make it really happen. I think you might fall somewhere right in the middle of that.

I had a very fast car for a while and enjoyed it, no doubt. But, life situations made it where I had to sell off a lot of the fast parts and rather than give up on the car I put it back to stock for awhile and I have been very careful on what I do this time around. Granted, it is also my wife's car which has put the binders on me several times, but regardless of that I think I'm much happier with the car this time around.

This is what I would do.

Rather than be religious about keeping it stock (the car will never be worth anything big stock) I would find a path right down the middle. This means that the things I do would be well thought out and purposeful, and I would never let the project get ahead of itself. This means that if you don't have the time, money, or ambition to do something - then don't do it! It also means that I would never have the car undrivable for more than a week. Anything that takes longer than a week - don't do it. With those parameters in place, I would modify the 90.

1) The MPX is a nice upgrade no matter what. I'd put the MPX case on the new car's blower and I'd put the old one back together and sell it. You need a bigger TB for the MPX setup but no an 85mm so I'd either use that with a chrome intake or maybe even trade the 85 for a 75 and then run a 3" intake instead of the 3.5". I would definitely not run any kind of home made parts there. You are doing the intake more for looks than for performance so don't put something ugly on there.

2) I'd leave the stock intercooler. If you have a short AC condenser or feel like getting one at some point that would be good but I wouldn't sweat that. The MP chin spoiler is a good upgrade too if you feel like it.

3) I'd replace the exhaust with the Magnaflow downtubes, a dual in, single out resonator, and dynomax super turbo's out back. Put some nice chrome tips on it. This will not be loud at all and it will flow enough for the power levels you are looking for. All the parts for this exhaust system are available pre-made so you don't have to get something custom built and it won't cost you a fortune. Oh, and get it all in stainless.

4) I'd keep whatever injectors you have and the fuel pump to go with them.

5) I'd put a set of UD pullies on the motor and run the supercharger at 5% OD.

6) I'd have Fraser street tune the car and I would NOT take it to the racetrack anymore.

7) Down the road eventually I'd probably get a little higher stall converter and a Lentech style valve body but I would definitely save that for later.

If you do all this you'll have a car that starts, runs, and drives like stock but it will have about 50-75HP more than stock. It will look nice but it will also look stock for the most part. It will be quiet on the highway but will have just a little bit of a "note" at idle. The car will be capable of running as quick as your other car ever did (at the track) and you'll be amazed at how NICE the car is to drive.

Then after all that I'd take the motor out of the 91 and put it on an engine stand. When you feel like it I'd pull the pan off and check all the bearings. If it has any leaks I'd replace the offending seals or gaskets. I'd take that cam out and get one from me (or maybe even Fraser's old cam) and then I'd wire brush clean it up really nice and paint it. I'd leave it on the stand quietly waiting either for you to get bored with the stock motor or the head gaskets blow. Either way, you'll have an excellent engine just waiting to go in, and you'll have it all detailed out so that it looks smooth! Either way I would not sell the motor because you'll just lose a ton of money on it and you'll need it eventually anyway.

The rest of the car I would part out and get rid of it! Sell what you can within a pre-planned time line and at the end of that time line, have a little ceremony, and haul what remains to the scrap yard. Seriously.

Your old car served you well. You learned a lot from it and you had fun in it, but if you had the chance to do it over you would do things differently. Consider that you are getting a second chance. Take it. Don't hang on to the past if it drags you down.

The things I have suggested you do to the new car will not materially affect the character of the car nor the value of it. Save the stock parts if you want, but if you think about it, you aren't changing many things from stock, and they are all good. Look up Thomas Aden's XR7 (he just put up his "3yrs with an XR7" post) and see what he has done to his. His car has run 13.20's @ 102mph and he has never had the valve covers off. I think you would thoroughly enjoy this type of car and it wouldn't take very long at all to forget all about the 91.

{edit} Oh, and did I mention DRIVE THE DAMN CAR every chance you get. If you look after it, 200,000 or even 300,000 miles isn't going to hurt it. Connie's XR7 has over 300,000 on the ticker (KM) and it still runs and drives close to perfect. I haven't even changed any bushings in the suspension yet.

[MadMikeyL]

How bad is the rot on it? Rust repair really isn't that hard, just tedious and time consuming. I was in a similar position with my 91 cougar. It was my first car, and I have every plan of keeping it forever, but then I saw a huge section of the floor had rotted out of it. So I had to spend some time cutting out all the rust and welding in new sheet metal, then undercoated the hell out of it, and now I don't have to worry about that any more. If I were in your position, I would probably find a cheap rust-free LX as a donor, and repair all the rust on your car.

[91bird]

Great advice, thanks.
Your deffinately right Dave, I really don't have the time/space or even $$ right now trying to raise a family. And to keep 2 SC's in the garage is really a stretch. Where does it end? It will be sad to see the 91 go, but it's is a great chance to sart over. The 90 has exactly the same km's on it as when I bought my first one in 96. It is also the same color and even has the same dealer installed cellular phone ( still in it ). I would love to be able to fix the rust on my 91 but it would be for sentimental reasons only and would not be worth the time and $$. I learned a lot with that car and made a lot of mistakes with it too. I will take my time and decide exactly what I want to do with the new one, one thing is for sure I will keep it rust free.

Thanks
Drew