My first real car was a 1987 Dodge Colt E (don't laugh!!), not a sports car but it got me from point A to point B. I wanted the turbocharged model, but as you all know, a teenager who wants a turbocharged car wants a really high insurance premium, so I got the non-blown model. I bought the car NEW in December of 1986 and it cost me $6700. You won't find a new car for that price nowadays.

Pontiac Fiero GT -- Wait a second before you call it a "firebomb" or 4-banger. I owned a 1986.5 model. I bought it used.  The standard engine was the 2.8L V6 rated at 140hp, over 160 ft/lb torque and had a 5-speed Getrag transmission. It never exploded and I've never heard of one exploding. I've never seen a magazine article regarding "fire-prone" Fieros. Personally, I think if they were "fire-prone" then they would have taken them off the market....I never received any type of recall notice either. Hehehe....am I hostile about this? Sorta. I always get flamed when I mention the Fiero GT and, to tell you the truth, I don't know why. Usually, the guys that do the flaming aren't well-learned and have never driven or owned one. Showing their lack of wits?? Maybe, but I do know this: I rate a Fiero GT a better sports car than a DSM....it sounds, feels, and oozes sportiness! Power is nothing if a car does not handle superbly in every aspect. A car that handles well will more than likely beat a more powerful car with no good handling characteristics. Just ask any autocrosser.  It was the best $6000 (bought the car used, of course) I've ever spent!

For those who don't know, the engine straddles the rear axle (mid-engine setup) and the engine bay got hotter than my DSM's ....I've melted many things back there!  Also, the engine is mounted with the spark plugs facing the length of the car, making spark plug changes painful (the plugs facing the firewall will take almost an hour to change, even when using a jointed socket).

The car was fast for the decent amount of power it put out, because of its weight. I forget the weight and I lost my reference--I think (and this is a very rough estimate) a stock Fiero weighs around 2500 lbs.

No matter how I threw it around (and I threw it around A LOT), it NEVER broke traction. This is not only because the car was so low to the ground....the car had and INCREDIBLE suspension, a Pontiac trademark! A person would have to be doing something incredibly stupid if he (or she) got into trouble in a turn in this car. This car needs no suspension upgrades at all!

I ended up trading it, along with the ZX6E because the car was too expensive for me to maintain at the time and lacked luggage and passenger space.

My 1986.5 Pontiac Fiero GT



1986.5 Pontiac Fiero GT's Engine Compartment

I traded the car and bike for a 1991 Mustang 5.0L Convertible. This was the stupidest decision I've ever made in my life. I had wanted a 5-speed manual transmissioned version but as I looked around town, I could find only automatics. Also, there were very little Mustangs being sold in Fayetteville at the time. Sadly, I ended up picking a lemon as my car.

Problems were soon "knocking on my door."

The mufflers (dual exhaust) had rusted all the way through and when I tried to remove them for replacement, none of the nuts would budge at all. It had some serious rust that acted like Crazy Glue. I went to Midas and priced their mufflers. I found a nice deal but found that I had to purchase two of everything....DOH!

The engine started overheating and I found out that the radiator had a serious buildup of crud inside of it. Draining and cleaning the radiator didn't help....only a new radiator would fix the problem.

The transmission or rear end (I couldn't tell which at the time) seemed to be overheating also, after doing an aftermarket upgrade (rear gear swap: see below).

The fuel pump wiring developed this problem where it wouldn't turn off the pump. One night I noticed that it didn't shut off and I didn't know how to cut it off so I left it. It drained my battery the next day. I bought a new battery and ended up having to disconnect the connector at the fuel pump to get it to turn off.

The stock stereo was really nasty. I wanted to replace it but since the car was already falling apart, I thought my money would be better-spent on actual maintenance.

The oil pan started leaking...old gaskets, I guess. The valve cover gaskets also started leaking. I bought gaskets from the local Ford dealer and replaced these myself. I couldn't replace the oil pan gaskets on my own since I couldn't remove the H-pipes (exhaust) because of the rust problem (Midas had replaced the exhaust behind the catalytic converters).

The driver window motor also quit working one day. Luckily, it stopped working in the up position. My dad found a used motor unit at a junkyard in Virginia and I had a local mechanic put it in the door. I tried to myself but I have big hands and could not remove the broken unit.

Part of the front suspension also broke when I was cresting a slight incline as a fast pace. This was easily fixed when I went to Advanced Auto and found that they carried the part I needed.

Additionally, someone also vandalized my car during a theft. They slit the canvas top with a knife right above the driver position, reached in, unlocked the door and entered the car to commence searching for items of value. The found my radar detector under the driver seat and also a pellet pistol. All of this happened in the lighted parking lot of a night club.

The car hadn't been waxed in ages. I had thought the clear enamel coat was completely gone. I waxed it a few times using heavy coats of Turtle wax and a buffer pad drill bit and drill. The car looked like new (except for the front end's chipped paint from rocks which road salt agitated), and looked even better with a bra to cover the nose.

What I did like was the way the car gripped the road, especially since I always felt like I was driving a truck (the car felt too high off the ground in its stock configuration). The car had very nice power, especially since I had an automatic version. I assume it was the 300 ft/lb of torque that made the car feel so responsive.

The only modifications I did was a rear gear swap (2.73 for a 3.55) and removal of the air silencer. I dropped about a second off the 0-60 time with just this mod! I liked this mod a lot because I could now chirp the rear tires when at full throttle in second gear. I did a TON of driving back and forth from Fayetteville to Alexandria, VA, on I-95. What I didn't like was the fact that the rear gear seemed to stay in top gear at a higher RPM on the highway. This may have contributed to my transmission/rear gear overheating problem (see above). The car was also already a gas guzzler before this mod, but it turned into a thirsty, raw throated horse in a desert after the 3.55 gear swap. Lastly, the gear purchase and installation cost about $400. Not good.

Note the rims:  the inside of the holes are red....very original for a Mustang! I haven't seen one with wheels like that yet.

1989 Ford Mustang LX 5.0 Convertible

The Mustang was falling apart so quickly that I traded it before I paid it off. I actually got more for it than it was worth. The dealership was MAD but they had already promised me a set price before actually evaluating what problems it had. They wanted to compensate for their error by upping the price on the car I wanted to buy, a 1991 Eagle Talon TSI with 45K miles. It drove like a dream and only had 4 cylinders. It compensates for its "lack" of cylinders with a small turbo that helps the engine pump out 195 stock horsepower in the lower rev ranges.

I modified it slightly, to around 250hp (with race gas).

I usually had the boost set to 17 - 18 lbs on the street [Webmaster's note: only fool with boost using a high flow fuel pump and an aftermarket gauge. Want more info? Check my Mods Page.] when day-to-day driving. I ran up to 20 lbs at the local dragstrip. That put me close to 240-250hp when using 110 leaded octane, but I got knock because of the heat of all the air that that little (stock) turbo was trying to cram into the engine. 98 degree temperatures didn't help, either. Without all that heat and with a lower boost setting, I'm sure I wouldn't have had a problem running sub-14 second runs...shifting quicker might've helped as well! :)

The quickest I'd run was 14.22 @ 97mph with the 110 octane race gas. The boost was set at 19 psi and the run was made at Pomona Raceway in Pomona, CA. Since I have no fuel-controlling computer, I leaned the car out a small bit by removing the lower honeycomb from the MAS. When I had first modded the car with the higher flow fuel pump, I measured the air/fuel ratio from the O2 sensor using a multimeter and got .98V out of 1.0V!! WAY RICH. (by the way, running that rich actually slows you down at the track.) So, with race gas and the MAS mod, K&N air filter, a larger diameter catback exhaust system, and higher boost setting, I gained .55 sec and 7mph! 

I did have to change the OEM (14B) turbo.  The one that was on the car when I bought it died after 88K miles.  I bought a used one for $120 from Rick S. from the Bay Area District Club DSM.  I accidentally busted a bolt taking off the oil line from the oil pan. I had had to remove the oilpan, a few front suspension parts, the driveshaft and the transfer case to get the oilpan out so I could fix the threads. Took me about 2 months to get all the parts (bolts, gaskets, and o-rings for the turbo and oil pan gasket) ordered from the dealer.  Got the old bolt out of the oilpan, cleared the threads (I didn't have to use a helicoil set to install new threads, thank God) and got it back on, along with the newer turbo.  The car ran great...even felt a bit stronger.

My wife got assigned to Japan and I opted to store the car in the US while we were there. We stored it in Monterey, CA directly across from the Laguna Seca Race Track.  18 months into the tour, I went back to the U.S. and checked the status of my car. The battery was long dead. I forked out $50 for a new battery with an 80-month warranty so when I get back I can replace it at minimal cost. I put the battery in and it immediately started. I was a bit peeved though because the storage manager said she would check on the car's tires every once in awhile and make sure they had air. There was only 10lb in each tire when I checked. I had to drive it to a gas station and put air in the tires (which made me really mad because I keep minimal insurance on my car while it's in storage). Otherwise, the car was fine. No leaks, other than a minor gasket leak.

Now, I eventually got rid of the car, although the car helped by dying. The timing belt had let go and I didn't want to spend tons of money on a new engine. I was living at a place where I could NOT fix it (no garage or dedicated parking and the complex would tow vehicles they though was sitting too long). I ended having another DSMer come from Maryland and buy it off me. I just wanted it gone (I already had another car I was using). By then, I had well over 100K on the car. Thinking now (in hindsight), I probably could've gotten the car fixed if I'd have found a decent place to fix it, but the apartment complex really hindered any plans.

1991 Eagle Talon TSi AWD

Fast forward to November 2011. I bought a 2011 dark metallic gray Subaru Impreza WRX STi sedan on 18 November. It is a base STi that had 4800 miles at the time of purchase. I used my 2004 Dodge Ram Quad Cab 4x4 short bed truck as a trade-in. BTW, my Eagle Talon died back in the summer of 2003, and I'd been driving my wife's 1998 Honda Accord until I got the truck in 2005. So I've been without a sports car until now.

I'm positively loving the STi. It is a dream car and quite a big step from the Talon. The car is guaranteed to be good for mid 13s out of the box. Will I mod it? Not quite yet, no. Why? Well the STis apparently have a poor stock tune and have what is called ringland issues, mainly against piston #4. If I use an AP (AccessPort) to get a more reliable tune, I void my warranty. If I don't, I risk blowing a ringland, even on a stock car. This is a very bad situation that I hadn't accounted for before purchasing the car. I'm on the fence about modding. For now, I might stick to dealer parts (which won't break the warranty agreement). Subaru has some parts (although they are pricey) I can put on the car, but things such as CAI are out-of-the question and aren't even offered by Subaru for the 2011 STis. I think I'll wait until the warranty is expired before touching the engine. I can also modify the body with SPT parts. I'm probably going to get a front lip for the air dam, as well as a scoop grille to protect the top-mounted intercooler.

One thing I have to get used to is the steering sensitivity. Right now, I'm all over the road. If I sneeze, I'm moving to the edge of the lane...this isn't due to the car. It's me. It's my hands that I need to control better.

I've video footage of autocrossing the STI, as well as snow hoonage and some goofing off. I also do have some non-performance mods on the car: Nameless Performance axleback muffler deletes, Hella Supertone horns, LED light replacements in the interior and license plate lights. I'm also very close to a decision on if I'll go Stage 2 on the car (check my build journal). I'm also deciding who will be my tuner, and I've contemplated RRE (they offer e-tunes).

I'll start a page on this car soon, or maybe a blog...dunno yet. I'll be sure to throw up a URL to pictures of the car, also.

My 2011 Subaru Impreza WRX STi Sedan...more pics are here. Also, I've a Subaru STI Wordpress site that is here: http://sti.wigglit.com/wordpress/