So a few weeks ago, almost a month now, I picked up Syclone 2231 to further complete my collection of trucks. Got a 92 and 93 Typhoon as well, just need a Sonoma GT to complete the set. Anyway, its a beautiful truck and just like any 27 year old vehicle with 180,000 miles on it, its got some issues. Thankfully not too many and most are just simple stuff. I haven't looked up the full history of the truck yet but I got it from Maryland and before that it was in Florida, I think. Explains the lack of major rust. It has the normal rusty spots where the loose cladding has been rubbing the paint thin.
Other than the paint issues, the other major problems with it involve the engine and suspension.
Starting with the suspension cause that's actually easy... It has 3" lowering blocks and lowering springs. And the front torsion keys are almost turned down to nothing. I fixed the front by raising it back up an inch and you honestly can't tell its not as low now. Looks level where it had a rake. I think it looks better this way. However, it's still too low to me. I think I'm going to swap the 3" blocks for 1" blocks since it has lowering springs and turn the front up to match the new rear height. Yes, it looks good how it sits, but it rides like crap. I'm constantly hitting the rear axle on the frame. And I've already broken both front fender cladding pieces hitting a bump on the highway. It's got super wide tires on it. 10.5 in the front and 13 in the back. I had to add 1" spacers to the front to stop it from rubbing on the frame at full lock. As a result, the tires stick out past the cladding by a little bit. As good as the corvette wheels are, I might ditch them and go back to stock wheels. Or maybe C5 wheels that aren't as wide. Eitherway, truck is actually going to be lifted back up a bit.
It has the shocks that are meant to be coil overs but are just shocks at the moment. Thinking of getting the rest of the pieces to make it a full coil over setup front and rear. Another bridge to cross later.
As for the engine. It runs down the road nicely. Doesn't buck. Throws you in the seat whenever you stomp on it. So what's the issue? Well, the knock sensor is going nuts. Either that or there is something bad in the engine. It see's knocking almost constantly when its running. And at idle it has a horrible miss and will sometimes die. I found a few loose plug wires and an almost broken coil pack wire. Replaced both and it helped a lot and no longer died at idle. But still misses and the knock sensor keeps on counting. The problem with that is it's pulling timing. By a lot. I've seen it pull almost 27 degree's of timing. That's horrible. And explains why my rust bucket typhoon pulls harder. Also would explain the shitty boost launching and almost 15 second passes at the track when I went.
I'm going to do a full tune up on it and replace the TB with the one from my typhoon. I recently rebuilt the typhoon's TB and it was a night and day thing. All new sensors, cleaned it, and re-adjusted the butterfly valves. It went from a shaky idle that made the tach dance and constantly stalling to a rock solid idle and loads of power. So, going to put that on the syclone and the one off the syclone will get the same treatment in due time and go on the typhoon. Reason I'm doing it this way is the typhoon has a blown transfercase and wont be moving anytime soon.
Figure the new TB and tune up will help a lot of things. Next thing is I've got a set of new stock injectors. Can't imagine 180,000 miles of fuel have been kind to the ones in there.
Also going to replace the knock sensor. Might relocate it as well. It has a but connector on the sensor wire meaning its been worked on before.
If that doesn't stop the knocking I'll have to dive deeper. I'm open to any suggestions what could be causing the constant knocking. I don't hear any rattling or knocking sound from the engine. And like I said, at highway speeds it runs fine with no skipping or surging. But still see's knock like crazy.
Once i get the truck running right and seems there's no mechanical issues. Then comes the fun part. I've already got a turbotweak chip, 60# injectors, a 60-1 turbo with a 3" downpipe (has a 3" cat back now), L35 heads, a 52mm TB, and a few other goodies. If it can get into the deep 11's on just pump gas I'll be happy with it. With that setup, shouldn't be a problem. As for the small stuff, it's getting a forged wastegate, aux trans cooler, and a 255 fuel pump.
Oh and in the next few weeks I'll be taking all the cladding off and the truck will be off to a body shop to have all the paint issues corrected. Also going to get the cladding re-done in a dark argent grey color. Boarder line black, but more grey. I think it'll look better than the black on black it is now. Will also be repairing all of the broken bits I find on the cladding while its off.
So that's all I got for this opening post. I'll add pictures and stories as I go. Hope you follow along. Now for a few pictures of the truck!
Other than the paint issues, the other major problems with it involve the engine and suspension.
Starting with the suspension cause that's actually easy... It has 3" lowering blocks and lowering springs. And the front torsion keys are almost turned down to nothing. I fixed the front by raising it back up an inch and you honestly can't tell its not as low now. Looks level where it had a rake. I think it looks better this way. However, it's still too low to me. I think I'm going to swap the 3" blocks for 1" blocks since it has lowering springs and turn the front up to match the new rear height. Yes, it looks good how it sits, but it rides like crap. I'm constantly hitting the rear axle on the frame. And I've already broken both front fender cladding pieces hitting a bump on the highway. It's got super wide tires on it. 10.5 in the front and 13 in the back. I had to add 1" spacers to the front to stop it from rubbing on the frame at full lock. As a result, the tires stick out past the cladding by a little bit. As good as the corvette wheels are, I might ditch them and go back to stock wheels. Or maybe C5 wheels that aren't as wide. Eitherway, truck is actually going to be lifted back up a bit.
It has the shocks that are meant to be coil overs but are just shocks at the moment. Thinking of getting the rest of the pieces to make it a full coil over setup front and rear. Another bridge to cross later.
As for the engine. It runs down the road nicely. Doesn't buck. Throws you in the seat whenever you stomp on it. So what's the issue? Well, the knock sensor is going nuts. Either that or there is something bad in the engine. It see's knocking almost constantly when its running. And at idle it has a horrible miss and will sometimes die. I found a few loose plug wires and an almost broken coil pack wire. Replaced both and it helped a lot and no longer died at idle. But still misses and the knock sensor keeps on counting. The problem with that is it's pulling timing. By a lot. I've seen it pull almost 27 degree's of timing. That's horrible. And explains why my rust bucket typhoon pulls harder. Also would explain the shitty boost launching and almost 15 second passes at the track when I went.
I'm going to do a full tune up on it and replace the TB with the one from my typhoon. I recently rebuilt the typhoon's TB and it was a night and day thing. All new sensors, cleaned it, and re-adjusted the butterfly valves. It went from a shaky idle that made the tach dance and constantly stalling to a rock solid idle and loads of power. So, going to put that on the syclone and the one off the syclone will get the same treatment in due time and go on the typhoon. Reason I'm doing it this way is the typhoon has a blown transfercase and wont be moving anytime soon.
Figure the new TB and tune up will help a lot of things. Next thing is I've got a set of new stock injectors. Can't imagine 180,000 miles of fuel have been kind to the ones in there.
Also going to replace the knock sensor. Might relocate it as well. It has a but connector on the sensor wire meaning its been worked on before.
If that doesn't stop the knocking I'll have to dive deeper. I'm open to any suggestions what could be causing the constant knocking. I don't hear any rattling or knocking sound from the engine. And like I said, at highway speeds it runs fine with no skipping or surging. But still see's knock like crazy.
Once i get the truck running right and seems there's no mechanical issues. Then comes the fun part. I've already got a turbotweak chip, 60# injectors, a 60-1 turbo with a 3" downpipe (has a 3" cat back now), L35 heads, a 52mm TB, and a few other goodies. If it can get into the deep 11's on just pump gas I'll be happy with it. With that setup, shouldn't be a problem. As for the small stuff, it's getting a forged wastegate, aux trans cooler, and a 255 fuel pump.
Oh and in the next few weeks I'll be taking all the cladding off and the truck will be off to a body shop to have all the paint issues corrected. Also going to get the cladding re-done in a dark argent grey color. Boarder line black, but more grey. I think it'll look better than the black on black it is now. Will also be repairing all of the broken bits I find on the cladding while its off.
So that's all I got for this opening post. I'll add pictures and stories as I go. Hope you follow along. Now for a few pictures of the truck!
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