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Penglii's 1989 TGP


Penglii

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Here is the scoop on the 89 TGP I just bought from my friend in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin.

 

1G5WP14V1KF320176... Birthday of 5/23/1989!

 

Red with Tan Leather. No sunroof and no CD.

 

All in all she's in great shape.

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Engine was rebuilt less than 500 miles ago. Everything else is pretty much stock.

Seats are in great shape... just some damage on that bolster that always wears out... otherwise the leather is clean and solid.

 

The gauges are inaccurate in all the typical ways. The Tach seems slightly off; the Speedo reads high but not by a consistent amount. Boost gauge seems fine.

The low fuel light seems to go on and off at random. The fuel needle itself seems to be ok though.

 

The oil pressure gauge is at 0 when the car is off, pegged during throttle and some idle, jumps randomly during some braking and some idle. I'm thinking the sensor needs replacing.

 

ABS light is blinking, PMIII whirrs everytime brakes are applied and intermittently during sustained pedal pressure (bad accumulator?). Other than that the brakes are great.

 

The HUD is functional, but shows no data... it will just light up all the LEDs and stay that way. I wonder what's up with that... maybe something's just unplugged? DIC seems to work. I have not calibrated the compass yet.

 

There have been a few minor voltage drop conditions, but I think I just need to diligently find and clean all the ground points. I'm sure that will be great fun. Not dire though.

 

Transmission has a sort of nasty clunk going on into Reverse... Otherwise it functions appropriately (knock on wood). Clearly it's going to need help though.

 

Tires are too big... 60 instead of 50... so there is annoying and noisy rubbing in the front wheelwells that looks like it exacerbated some damage to the bumper where it meets the wheelwell. I think the damage has stabilized... but I need to get correctly sized tires on ASAP nevertheless.

 

I have not had a chance to really dig into her yet. The drive home from Fort Atkinson was a lot of fun, and so has driving around town to work and back. :)

Edited by Penglii
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Where can I get one of those?

 

Someone had a spare one floating around for sale...I can't recall who it was though.

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Congrats on the new TGP. Looks like it's in pretty nice shape. Did the previous owner swap those 1990 headlights on there? The original 89's have the black liner around them like your corners do.

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Looks like a nice car that needs some TLC. How much you pick it up for? If you dont mind?

Yes, all in all it's a beauty that will clean up real nice. I got it for $3000 cash.

 

Congrats on the new TGP. Looks like it's in pretty nice shape. Did the previous owner swap those 1990 headlights on there? The original 89's have the black liner around them like your corners do.

Yeah I assume the previous owner did that. There are traces of old black liner on the headlights... but it does not seem nearly as thick as the 89 liner would have been. I'll have to re-apply her mascara at some point.

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Awesome!! Valance!!!! FTMFW!!!!! :thumbsup: I see the passenger side door molding has been replaced since it has a different shade of red.. I have a extra red emblem i can spare to sell if you want to replace your missing one.. Also IMO ditch the spolier.. Get another red spoilerless trunk lid and put it on.. TGP's just have there own look being spoilerless, no miniquads, and valance's...

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Awesome!! Valance!!!! FTMFW!!!!!

Even better, the damage to that part of the bumper cover that connects it into the wheelwell (caused by the tires being too big) does not affect the Valance. :)

 

I have a extra red emblem i can spare to sell if you want to replace your missing one..

I have the emblem, actually... it was not attached very well (the other 2 are fine) so I pulled it off until I can clean it up and re-attach it.

However, if your emblem is in nice shape I might still want it...

 

Also IMO ditch the spolier.. Get another red spoilerless trunk lid and put it on.. TGP's just have there own look being spoilerless, no miniquads, and valance's...

I agree about the TGP's having their own look, and I usually don't like spoilers... but for some reason I like the one on this car. I cannot put my finger on why.

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Loosk good! Paint looks to be in pretty damn good shape for a red TGP, alot better then mine when i bought it. Seats arent to beat up either. Clean that engine bay and get a K&N on there pronto! My car also makes a clunk when put into reverse, its not as bad if i put it into gear slowly, its been doing that for the three years ive had it. My oil pressure gauge is a little funky to. Basically it sound like you have some of the typical TGP problems. How many miles on it?

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Loosk good! Paint looks to be in pretty damn good shape for a red TGP, alot better then mine when i bought it. Seats arent to beat up either. Clean that engine bay and get a K&N on there pronto!

 

Yeah, aside from several places where the clear coat is gone and maybe half a dozen small dings and scratches. A couple very minor rust spots starting, that I need to sand down and touch up very soon before they get any ideas. lol. For a car whose 21st birthday is in 11 days she really is looking good.

 

I really do need to clean up the engine bay and get a K&N in there. The engine is not actually very grimy, just needs some elbow grease to make everything shine again. Overall the bay is still clean from her recent engine rebuild... like five hundred miles ago kinda recent (to answer your question the body has 135,0xx miles on it). There's still some things to be fixed before I get too distracted though...

 

Also I noticed that the spazzing out of the oil pressure gauge is accompanied by a rough idle (it only spazzes on idle) and a rich smell to the exhaust (but no color). Also the gas mileage is bad. I figure since the crossover is stock and even has the assload of stock shielding and insulation still on it that there's a 100% chance of it being broken. I wonder what I should do about that...

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can you hear exhaust in the engine bay?

Not sure, it has been too rainy these past few days. Maybe I'll get a chance to check tonight.

What would the noise sound like? I assume it would be a sort of puttering sound coming from the driver's side of the engine bay and behind the turbo? Or would it be more of a constant wooshing sound?

 

I think I also read somewhere that another way to test the leakyness of the crossover is to "blip" the throttle and if the RPMs drop slightly before rising that indicates a bad xover. I paid attention to this and sure enough my revs drop slightly before rising... so I can probably expect to hear the exhaust sound in the engine bay too.

 

GOT2B GM repairs them, drop him a line.

I will definitely contact him as soon as I've scrounged up enough money for the repair... hopefully that will be soon somehow.

Is there anything I can do in the meantime? Or is it basically a "deal with it until it's totally fixed" sort of thing?

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Good call... it is at the top of my 'things to buy that I don't have the money for yet' list.

 

In the meantime is there anything I can do, that won't get trashed by the bad Xover?

Obviously the O2 sensor needs replacing, but that will just get trashed right away so I should probably wait on that?

I have a spare IAC that I was thinking about swapping into the TGP... might that smooth out my uneven idle any? Or is the idle the way it is because of the rich fuel mix thanks to the bad xover/O2 sensor?

Fuel Filter is probably an obvious thing to do.

Spark Plugs/Wires might be new or might be super old... I gotta find out still. Coilpacks are for sure brand new.

K&N Filter can probably wait until after a new crossover unless I get too bored...

Oil Pressure Gauge Sensor can probably be replaced whenever I get to it...

Battety terminals could stand to be cleaned...

Vac lines could be checked...

 

Hmmm... I feel like I am forgetting something obvious that I could potentially do/replace this weekend... any ideas?

 

Sorry about all the questions... I hope they are at least reasonably intelligent ones :laugh: LOL

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It wouldn't hurt to grab a $2-3 PCV valve and replace it while you're at it. It's on the rear valve cover and kinda out of sight, so it's often neglected.

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