80q help

[Nate Stuart]

First off:
1) Good god, don't ever reply to an entire digest message, BIG NO NO!!!
2) Turn off HTML formating in your e-mail client. Wastes bandwidth and makes
it a PITA to reply to.

> i have 2 questions, i just bought a 1988 80q and i have found
> that the previous owner severly abused the car, luckly for me
> there have been no problem i could not fix without too much
> trouble.  Now i am in the process of changing the timing belt, i
> am tying to take off the pully that runs the altenator, the
> problem is the bolt is torqued to 260 ft lbs. i have bought 2
> $80 tools to try to loosen the thing but it know seems that i have
> to tke off the bumper as well. Has any one had this much trouble
> before, and if so can anyone suggest a solution?

Well, taking the front bumper off really isn't that big of a deal.
Especially if you car is not equipped with the headlight squirters. There
are simply two 6mm allens bolts underneath each cap in front of the
headlights. Once those are out you can pop the sides of the bumper out away
from the fender lips and slid the thing off and drop it on your feet. This
will give you all sorts of room to work in there on that thar belt. You will
also want to move the aux. radiator (if still equipped), if it looks really
ratty and about to dispense fluids on its own just pitch the thing and plug
the lines. Unless you are in a really warm climate it's not worth replacing
IMO.

> my other question is about mods. despite the abuse my car has
> been through as well as the 205,000 miles on it; it seems to run
> very well. is it worth putting any preformance up graids on this
> car; if so, how aggressive can i get without hurting my engine,
> or spending too much money?


Chances are you aren't going to find too much for your engine. You mods,
engine wise, are rather limited to perhaps a better exhaust system, intake
porting, and maybe a cam. None will gain you any really noticable amounts
(unless your current exhust system is plugged up of course). If you want to
get any more usefull power under the hood you have to start looking at motor
swap territory, not a simple (or cheap) endeavor. If you really want to get
more out of the car as a whole I'd start with the suspension/wheels/tires,
these are solid cars and respond well to upgraded underpinings.

HTH
-Nate
'89 90tq
www.newtsplace.com/90tq