Old Updates
(aka Blast From The Past)
(Click on Pictures To Enlarge)
Year 2004
04-25-04
I finally put new pictures up on the wagon page!
Pictures also include shots of the new carbon fiber hood I got from
Aquarius Motorsports in Japan.
I also purchased CF rear windows, but I need to find another wagon's
rear window hinges before I can install :-/
Other than that, I purchased an 88 Nissan 300zx Turbo Shiro Special
down in Miami recently, I plan on fixing her up once I get the funds
from selling my 200sx and saving. Quite the rare cars, only 1000
here in the U.S... I'll make a 300zx page soon.
Enjoy the
pictures!
04-11-04
I am sure you have thought I was dead... no, rest assured I am
not. Tax season combined with life and working on the car zapped
all desire to update this page, I promise to never let it happen again (lol
YEA right!).
So what's new you ask?
Well the wagon with turbo upgrade and marginally tuned engine is back
up and running again. It turned out the cooling problems I was
having turned out to be a head gasket failing, but even with it leaking
water into my combustion chambers, it still hauled ass. :)
Now I have a copper headgasket, O-ringed head, and ARP studs...
hopefully that'll solve any headgasket issue. I also figured since
the car was gonna be down for work anyways, I might as well do some
upgrading... So I replaced my valve springs with stronger ones, and now
have titanium retainers (8000 redline here I come :-P).
Carbon fiber parts are on order from Japan, hopefully arriving this
week. I'll let you know what exactly I am getting when it arrives
and I can take pictures of it. Speaking of pictures, I really need
to get pics of the storm with all the upgrades. I'm planning on
doing it this Fri., weather permitting, so expect pictures soon!
And oh yea, HAPPY EASTER!
01-19-04
With it being tax season now till mid April, I find my free time
is quite slim... But not slim enough to continue to put off
updating my webpage.
Big news!!! The Wagon upgrades are all complete! (pictures
coming soon)
Tuning the Haltech myself has turned out to be quite the pain, but in
general it's running pretty good now.
It's pretty fast too, as a few people can verify. :)
I'm still have an overheating issue that I have yet to pinpoint.. looks
like a water pump, so the car is back down while I get a new one in
there. Also going to modify the thermostat to flow more, at least
temporarily to help narrow down overheating causes.
I know a lot of people out there cant wait to see the car back on
the road again... I know I'm one of them! lol
Nissan has a new face, as I got the grill converted. I also put
in a 85 300zx Manual ECU and advanced the timing, but it runs way too
rich with the new ECU so I will probably just swap it back till I can
get my hands on a 300zx MAF sensor. I also got a 240sx 60mm
throttle body to put on, but haven't found the time to do so yet.
The Black RS now has a full 2.5" exhaust system consisting of a
modified Milan's 2.5" downpipe mated to my wagon's old 2.5" pipes and
muffler. Much more power and quicker spool, but now I have to put
the Fuel Cut Defender I had on the wagon on there, since it flows too
well. :)
I also put a Blitz blow off valve on like my wagon used to have, now
just waiting on my HKS manual boost controller and Greddy 60mm gauge
mount to arrive to finish stage one upgrades.
Other than that I been very busy at work... I did have fun
during the holidays though, and I hope you did as well!
Pics will be up soon, I promise.
Year 2003
11-11-03
Well, my birthday was on the 3rd, so now I'm 23.. getting old I
guess, but still young enough to get into the movie theatres with my old
college ID card. :-P
Not much in the way of news. There was quite a fiasco with a
shop up in St. Pete that was going to do my intercooler piping; They
quoted me $600 or so over the phone then bumped the price up to $1400
once I got the car there, so I have our local machinist/welder doing it
instead. It should be done this week... hopefully. Then its only a
matter of getting the Walbro fuel pump, 3" Exhaust, and Haltech computer
management hooked up.
Nissan is still automatic, but the manual transmission is being looked
at now, and I got lots of parts when it gets done. New clutch and Fidanza
lightweight flywheel will be going in, and a Phantom Grip limited slip is
on its way. I also am going to swap out the slotted grill for the earlier
honeycomb style. I'll be sure to update the pics once I get it in.
10-01-03
WEBSITE OVERHAUL!
Removed the pages about cars I have sold and put the ones I have
now up.
Not much news other than I auto-x'd Dad's Impulse up in St. Pete. It
was LOTS of fun... now to get the wagon done and out there. :)
Speaking of the wagon, the turbo is installed, injectors installed,
throttle body installed, and the so is the intercooler. Waiting on
intercooler pipes to be drivable... plus I still need to put in the
Haltech and fuel pump. Soon, should be very soon...
09-04-03
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Where to start?
The 1991 Isuzu Impulse XS was sold, the 1984 Nissan 200sx was sold.
This means that the cars I personally own are now:
1992 Geo Storm Wagon
1991 Isuzu Impulse RS
1988 Nissan 200sx SE
1988 Nissan 200sx parts car
Wagon News:
Stage two parts have all been ordered and have arrived. This
includes the Apex Silvia Intercooler core, 550 RC Engineering fuel
injectors, 190HP Walbro fuel pump, and Haltech ECM. Over the course of a
few weeks, I have ported out the intake manifold for the Trooper
throttle body, installed the Garrett Hybrid turbo, and installed the
injectors. Next up is intercooler and Haltech install. We did some
measuring and are getting the end tanks made for the intercooler. This
custom intercooler piping is probably going to be the most time
consuming task, but the time to being drivable again is rapidly
approaching.
Nissan News:
Installed a ghetto rigged amp and sub in the Nissan, and took out
the nonfunctional cruise control.
The car started shifting pretty badly, so I decided to check the auto
tranny's fluid. I found it to be full of metallic flakes and other
garbage.... not good. :(
So I removed what was left of the engine and it's 5-speed tranny out of
the parts car and will get it rebuilt soon. That's going to add a whole
lot of fun!!
Other News:
I'm back at Kerkering, Barberio and Co. CPA's!
They had an I.T. position open up for an Assistant Network Administrator
and it was pretty much an offer I couldn't refuse, so I gave my two
weeks notice to CBH and back at KB group I am! I really like it so
far, and there's less chance of having committed crazy women hitting on
you (...don't ask). lol
Regarding women, I guess I need to say that I'm single again. Jennifer
and I have terminally broken up for reasons that I will not go into
here. Lets just say I've decided to not try to marry again until I
find a mature, faithful woman who knows what she wants and where she is
going in life (yea I'll probably be a while). :-/
And with that, back to the single life... and the search for a
reasonable priced housing continues.
Hopefully With my next update, whenever that may be, the Wagon will
be on the road once again too...
06-20-03
WELL IT FINALLY HAPPENED!!! I'm finally in Sport Compact
Car!
August Issue, page 188 I believe.
What??? You're still reading?? Get up and go pick up the
magazine! :)
Ok, now that your back... I'll fill you in on the other things going
on in the 3 months since I updated this site.
Start with the most important stuff first...
I'm engaged to marry Jennifer Milburn, with a date set for Sept.
27th here in Sarasota. It's going to be a small wedding, so please don't
feel to bad if you don't get an invitation, it doesn't mean I don't want
you, we honestly just cant fit anyone else in without also inviting a
rock band and having a mosh pit for a ceremony. :-/
Today was my final day at Kerkering, Barberio, & Co. CPA's.
Monday I start my new job, a PC Tech position at Coastal Behavioral
Healthcare (no, I am not committed yet lol). Hopefully
the people at the new job are as nice as the ones at Kerkering.
Wish me luck with it all!
There is a crapload of car news to fill you in on:
New Cars!!!!
I have purchased three more cars... lol Perhaps I
really should be
committed. :-P
- Found a nice (drivable) 1988 Nissan 200sx SE which I got for $500. It has the
300zx's VG30E V-6 engine in it and I think it will make a pretty cool little
drift car. Right now it's automatic, but that will be remedied soon.
Thanks to Tyler and Joe, who helped me replace the rear bumper and
hatch.
- To remedy the aforementioned transmission problem of the new v-6 200sx, I
bought another 88 Nissan 200sx SE 5-speed for parts. It's a complete
car, but since we bought it with the engine dismantled (and in the back seat) it
doesn't really run anymore.
- A mint black Isuzu Impulse RS came up for sale in my hometown, how could I
refuse???? So now my daily driver Impulse XS is up for sale and the RS
is my daily driver. It only has 60,000 miles and I'm pretty sure it
was driven by on old person who took really good care of it. I have
already replaced all the fluids (they didn't look that bad), removed the
pre-cat, put in new spark plugs, put my trusty old K&N drop in filter
in the air box, and rigged up the blow off valve to vent to the
atmosphere. PSSSHHH!!! lol
Next I'm going to replace the fuel filter and leave it stock for
a while, since I need the money right now for other matters.
Storm Wagon RS news:
Got the brake upgrades done... and it works REALLY well. I even
locked them up at 100mph for a split second and bald spotted my tires
:-/
Funny Factory Coilovers arrived and are installed on the wagon.
Handling now exceeds both my tires grip and my bravery on public roads.
Hopefully someday I can take her to an actual race track and explore those
limits.
Sent off my stock turbo to be converted to Garrett T3/T04 specs,
still need to get the fuel upgrades and Haltech... all in due time I
guess. I just wish I could actually drive the car while my car is on the
newsstands. :-(
Also Received my Rodeo Throttle body flange from Eddie/Luc and
will probably install that around the same time as the upgraded turbo.
Finally, I purchased a 2.5" downpipe from Milan, since I know the bottom
of the pre-cat is going to be a major restriction at my higher power
levels.
Other news:
Please buy my baby blue Isuzu Impulse XS.. please! My latest
buyer fell through.
I'm sure I need to add more, but its a Friday night...
later!
03-24-03
It's been a month and not much has really changed except for the
fact of that I have a new woman in my life, Miss. Jennifer Milburn.
I met her through a "friend of a friend" :-P three months or
so ago. She is wonderful and treats me better than I ever thought was
possible.
In what little car news there is, I did a thermostat/temp
sensor/coolant change in the wagon to stop it from overheating... it
worked. I also changed the Cam Angle Sensors out in dad's and my car
(source of various hesitations in acceleration).
Still waiting on the brake lines, supposedly they WILL be shipped by
Wednesday.
The Nissan got "foam in a can" filled center driveshaft mounts due to
20 year old rubber deterioration. Surprisingly, my el cheapo car fix
worked and the Nissan is back in great shape minus the leaking fuel
injector and front tires missing massive amounts of tread from the drift
session we had.
Also tried to get the Nissan to the track for laughs, but we had tire
problems and then it rained us out. :(
Don't have much more to say tonight, but thought I should update
anyways.
P.S. The storm scared an upgraded late model turbo Supra on Saturday...
fun times :)
02-15-03
Time can really fly, can't it? I've been quite busy between
work, the cars, friends, family, life and the car club/team, I have had
neither the time nor the energy to update this site, but fear not fellow
visitors, I have updated it today!
What have I been up to you ask?
Well in car news I have ordered parts to do a complete upgrade of
my Wagon's braking system: Slotted rotors front and rear, HP Plus
pads for the front, Generic up-rated rear pads, and Wilwood hi-temp
brake fluid have arrived. Still waiting on the stainless steel braided
brake lines, which should be arriving any day now.
Also in the works is Funny Factory Isuzu Gemini Irmcher
(basically a Japanese version of the Isuzu Impulse RS) coil-overs (click
here to see)... Pricy, but their effect on handling should be
remarkable.
The 200sx Nissan has gotten a lot of work done on it since I decided
to make it road worthy.
I changed the 91 Isuzu Impulse RS Page to reflect my dad's car instead of the
Impulse we used to swap into the wagon. Expect an engine photo up there
soon.
I'll try my best to keep more up to date on this website, since you
know you check it everyday!! lol
BTW, I still don't know when the wagon will be in SCC, all I can
tell you is that it's still in the works.
Year 2002
11-28-02
Well it's Thanksgiving, and I can find some things to be thankful
for, I hope you can too (of course I could give you one, your thankful I
finally updated this webpage)!! :)
What's been going on you ask? Well, I got a job at KB Group
(or K&B financial, as they are sometimes called). K&B is primarily an
accounting firm, but it also has an I.T. department that I hope to
somehow work myself into. Right now, my position is technically titled
"Office coordinator/runner" but I have my hands in everything from
maintaining their extensive offsite file system to keeping the supply
cabinets stocked and also changing light bulbs, moving furniture, and
general handyman. Just consider me a jack of all trades office guy.
lol
No new business on the cars, my dad and I have been working on the
Chevy 454 boat engine... plus I need to save money before I can go into
my next stage of progress on the wagon... $2000 or so to be exact.
:(
Last Saturday I was invited to a car club meeting here in Sarasota by
my new friend Manda. It was pretty fun, some of them share the same
views I do (General anti-rice stuff)... I'll probably be back this Sat.,
It's much more fun than the usually boredom . :)
Updated pages: NONE! I was in a rush to make an update
here to appease a fellow Storm owner. (YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!)
10-10-02
Wow a lot has happened, some good, some bad, some happy, and some
sad.
Lets start with the bad/sad and get it out of the way first:
- Still do not have a job, but haven't given up looking... May just
take anything soon, finding a computer job is not working for me.
- Julie and I have parted ways, and of course she doesn't know how
things got this way... I wish I did..... So yes ladies, I'm single
again. :-/ I wish you luck Julie, hope you find a guy that
will love you in the ways you are looking to be loved, I tried the
best I could and it was fun and beautiful while it lasted... indeed
the best year of my life.
Good/Happy news!!!!
- Sport Compact Car magazine will be taking pictures of the wagon on
Oct. 20th!!! It will be nice (if it ever goes to print) to finally get
some positive coverage of Storms in a magazine. And yes Jason, I will
mention the GSOC (and you)
numerous times. :)
- Bought another Isuzu Impulse RS (nearly identical to the donor car
for the wagon that we finally had hauled off to the junkyard), but now
have to sell the ole blue GSi Storm to pay for it. We'll miss her!
- I have a couple leads on jobs cooking, and in this economy any job
lead is a good one.
- Finally I was voted Storm Of The Month at the
GSOC (by default, but I
still appreciate the gesture and votes the previous month).
Yes I'll try to get more pictures of the new RS up at some point....
lol yea, your right, it will probably be a while.
08-09-02
About one week left till I see Julie again!!!! I miss you sooooo
much!!!
In other news..... I have a couple good job leads now! I
might get a job? Is this possible?!? :)
Some work has been done on the 200sx, I hope to have some newer
pictures of it up soon.
Also, I've been doing some upgrades to the website, added a new Nissan
section in the garage... Etc.
Check It out!
07-18-02
THE JOB SEARCH CONTINUES!!!
How does one get a job when all jobs require experience and they
won't give you a chance??
I don't know, but I'm now trying to find an internship instead. I
figure that it will be less experience oriented, and I can live without
a large check since I'm living at home anyhow.
Julie's 20th birthday is on the 25th, so everyone send an
Email
and wish her a happy B-day!!! :)
I have a new car in my "lot" now, a 1983 Nissan 200sx. I
purchased it for $100 with the intention to make it into a fun little
RWD rocket. My dad has a spare Chevy 350 I can use and we plan to
(eventually) transplant it into the 200sx. Should prove to be an
interesting ride. :)
For $100 I bet you think it's a total piece of crap, well you're
mostly wrong!!! It actually runs (though the clutch is gone, and will be
replaced by me by Sunday) and most of the exterior is rust free. Front
seats are NOT ripped, though door panels need work.
Here are some photos I took of the new "ride".
(page gone...)
05-16-02
Well, I GRADUATED FROM COLLEGE!!!!
Even better than that, I'm engaged to my love Julie (of course
it'll be at least two years till we get married, she needs to finish
college first...... so you'll have plenty
of time to buy us gifts). :)
What is going on with the car you ask?
Well not a whole lot.... Julie got me a set of pedal covers for
graduation, So I put them on there. I also entered in a really crappy car
show the week before I graduated. My car was faster than all of them
except for maybe the RX-7. But this was a "all flash, no power" type car
show, so no one was intelligent and as such had no clue as to what was
under my hood. It didn't help they threw me in the wild class to boot.
Oh well. Someday I'll get the respect I deserve! Nah,
probably not.
Still looking for a job, hopefully something will turn up
soon......
Updated pages:
92
Storm Wagon
All
about me
04-10-02
About time for an update don't you think? Well I'll try to
recall all that has happened in the last four months and put it up
here....
Where to start??
Well we got the transfer case fixed. Turns out the bearings were
pretty much disintegrated which caused the gears inside to start
breaking apart. After many days of searching Isuzu finally found the
parts in their database and we got it fixed.
I made and installed an intercooler misting system, seems to work
pretty well and should reduce the need for a front mount intercooler
till I can afford it.
Went to the Friday night drag races at Orlando Speedway a few times,
here are my times:
First time ever at the drag races I got like a 15.9 or something
horrible, we'll skip that day. :)
Next track day: 02/08/02.
14.68 @ 95.33
14.45 @ 95.16
Latest track day: 04/05/02.
1st run 13.876 @ 97.02 mph!!!
Needless to say that made my day.... Until we got back and I
received a $7.00 ticket for having a headlight out. :(
In other news, I'm graduating in may and I'm still with my
wonderful girlfriend Julie. If only I had a job lined up for after
graduation... Employers! I'm a hard working dependable employee!! If you
want a worker you can count on hire me. You will not be disappointed!
Updated pages:
92
Storm Wagon
Links (deleted
invalid ones)
Year 2001
12-11-01
One College semester done, one to go!!! Things have been going
pretty well for me and the car. Earlier this semester there was a Car
Show and I placed third. Granted there were not many cars in attendance
and I know I could have placed better if I was there to rev my engine a
few times, but I was happy. I also now have an amazing girlfriend, her
name is Julie... I need to add her picture to one of my webpages.
Earlier in the semester the car was giving me some problems, but
most are solved now. I was experiencing a fuel cut randomly at
full/near-full throttle. As I had no boost controller installed I was
worried my waste gate was going bad. It turns out that my car is just
flowing so much air with the free intake, exhaust, port and engine work
that the map sensor was confused. I got a Greddy Spec B boost controller
for my birthday and installed it in a misguided attempt at solving the
over boost problem. It didn't help, but I did feel a seat-of-the-pants
increase in horse power with it at stock boost levels. Thanks to Kip
Anderson's web site (http://www.kipanderson.net/),
I was able to put my years of electronic experience to work building a
fuel cut defender. Amazingly, the car did NOT blow up and actually runs
well. I bumped the high boost level up to a (in my mind) safe 14 PSI,
and left low boost stock at 11 PSI. The only major problem left is that
the transfer case makes a horrible whine at cruise o during
acceleration. Too bad fixing this will probably be my Christmas present.
:(
Check Out the 92
Storm Wagon page, I updated it to be more accurate (besides
the picture with no interior).
08-28-01
BACK IN COLLEGE!! Driving the wagon I might add!
What's been going on in the meantime? Well the roll cage was put
in, painted, and we installed the five point racing harnesses. The
car itself was sent to the body/paint shop. It looks GREAT (minus
an over spray problem that took a lot of work to bring back).
I'll try to add some pics to the
92
Storm Wagon page.
07-12-01
LOOK EVERYBODY!!! Jim finally updated his website!
Many things have been going on, but I guess that is a given
considering it has been over four months.
The MAIN news? Well My Engine swap into the Storm wagon is
complete, and is now a road worthy car (in general).
So check it out on the 92
Storm Wagon page!!!
Also see the
Garage
as how all this occurred, though pictures are curtailed due
to space constraints.
02-22-01
OK, I know its been a while since I updated this site, but I have
been busy!! :)
Down to two megs of web space left, which isn't much with a site
like this, any takers for hosting it?
Anyway, check out the Garage.
01-24-01
It almost feels like Christmas again... I finally received my
Blitz Blow-Off valve that has been on backordered for over two months
from Summit Racing. All the instructions are in Asian, so I have no clue
how many warnings I'm missing or how to properly operate the
device. OOPS, looks like someone needs some help in their
marketing dept. :)
My Dad's friend Eddie helped us weld in the driveshaft tunnel, so
the project is progressing swiftly now.
Also, the Garage
is semi-updated to for your perusal
Mostly, besides the welding, we were just busy
getting things looking good...Even the valve cover is looking pretty!!
Blitz BOV
Valve Cover
01-14-01
I'm back at College, so now I can update the website
properly. I've added a lot of new information to the Garage,
so go check it out!
I've also put up some pics of the Parts For Sale.
Need a Picture?
OK... Here is a picture of the gauges I received for the Turbo
Storm.
Year 2000
12-22-00
Merry Christmas / Happy Holidays Everybody!
We Picked up the engine Thursday and it looks great, unfortunately
I seem to have left the Digital Camera's cord that attaches to the
computer at college (it's always something) so I guess it will be a
while longer till I get pictures up :(
But anyway, have a safe and happy holiday!!
12-14-00
Ok I'll try to sum up what has been going on with the Storm
project the past few weeks.
The Storm Wagon's interior and rear suspension is out. The wagon
is also receiving a few undercarriage body modifications to receive the
RS's AWD system. We removed the spare tire wheel well so the rear
differential would fit, and we need to exchange center console tunnels
so the drive shaft will have more clearance. The engine is all
done and is waiting on us to pick it up.
Hmmm.... What else? I updated the
All
about me page and also added some Links
I hope to update Garage
soon as I am going home this Friday and will once again have access to
the digital camera.
11-19-00
Well, it's been awhile since I've updated this page, mainly due
to projects I am doing for school. Rest assured though, the work on the
car continues!!! Engine block is nearly done, waiting on head work
(porting/polishing, valve job).
I have ordered some more parts for the car...... a Blitz Super
Sound Blow-off valve is coming, along with some gauges for the A-pilliar
(Oil Temp, Boost, Air/Fuel Ratio).
I also added some content to the
All
about me page
10-24-00
The turbo motor is still in the shop, but it has been over bored,
etc... the crankshaft is about all that's left to be done on the bottom
end. I can't wait to see!
The IsuzuPerformance Clutch came in! here are some pics:
oh and I also Updated the College
Section
10-15-00
Finally all the parts came in for the Turbo engine rebuild... now
it is in the hands of the automotive shop to do their magic :)
To keep you entertained, here are some pics of the parts I acquired
for the turbo engine:
Turbo Timer
Underdrive Pulley A-pillar
gauge mount
10-1-00
The turbo block was sent out to Oddy's automotive shop today.... So
in a few weeks or so the engine should be nearly done.
I have also gotten a few parts for the Wagon and its soon to be turbo
engine: An A-pillar 3 gauge mount, an Underdrive pulley and a
Clutch Specialties performance clutch from Isuzuperformance. I also got
a Greddy Turbo timer in Metallic blue off E-Bay
9-25-00
I updated the Garage,
most recent pics of the block stripped are now up. So go check them
out!!!!!!!!
Also, I put up some pics of the cup holders we are currently selling
in the Parts For Sale
section.
Have fun looking around,
Jim Gregg
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