4g61t.org

Hey everyone,

I've only recently acquired my factory red 1989 Plymouth Colt GT Turbo car and I'm trying to decide on how to rebuild it and I want your opinion!!! Please keep reading about the car then what I want of it and make your suggestions, I'm all ears!!!

CAR:
-1989 Red Plymouth Colt GT Turbo
-Approx 168K miles
Condition:
- Unmolested or modded, factory condition
-Fender bender: Nose is squished a little, needs front bumper skin, hood and pass fender and grill, but I'm driving it "as-is" no problem.
- Engine is running, (4G61t) but smokes a little when you first start it or run it hard at high RPMs.
- No engine or tranny leaks I can see.
- Tranny is solid and shifts good
- A/C and Heat work awesome! ... Believe it or not!
- Driver's seat is mashed flat and metal frame bent. Hatch deck lid is missing.
- Kinda smells like someone microwaved a rat in the car.
- It has crank windows and I wanted power windows.. I know, small item.

ME:
- I bought a BRAND NEW 1989 Colt GT NON-TURBO as my first car! It was white with red striping. I ALWAYS wanted the turbo one, but they were real hard to find even new!
- I DEFINITELY want more than 135HP! Ideally, would be at least 190hp and anything over 200hp would be GREAT!
- I very much value the originality/restoration quality of this car, I want the exterior to look pretty much factory!
- I will definitely have the seats recovered as the original material makes me gag.
- I'm not a kid, I'm in my 30's, so rice-ing, drifting and coffee can exhaust tips are NOT my thing!
- This car does NOT have to be the fastest car around, I have a Tor-red Magnum SRT8 with over 450HP for that!
- I want to be able to daily drive it and use the A/C if I want too.

SO, what do I do to this car? I will be repainting it factory red and the interior will be re-done in leather or suede with factory seats and putting 16+ inch aftermarket wheels on it when it's rebuilt.

I am tempted to just take the original 4G61t and have it rebuilt and tuned and a new turbo..etc.., but basically still factory... I just don't know how much horsepower I can expect to get and still have a daily driver?

OR, I could just say "screw it" and make a monster out of it with AWD and a 6-bolt 4G63t conversion with performance tuning. I'm just a bit apprehensive about as I would need a Talon donor car and then it isn't "really" a rare factory GT Turbo car anymore.. as you can do that same conversion to a base Colt "E" car...

Well, thanks for reading this long post... and I'M ALL EARS?!!!

Congrats on the car, and welcome to the forum. Post up some pictures of the car!

It sounds like you're on the right track with wanting to restore the car. It's so easy to make these cars fast, even with the 4g61t, you could be smoking your SRT-8 with very little effort because these cars are so lightweight.

Thanks for the welcome! I'll take some pics this weekend and post them... I'm just a bit shy about showing off my baby while he still has front end damage... OH vanity!!!

Yeah, I've seen the video of the baby blue AWD Colt smoking a new vette... so I AM a bit worried that the Colt will be faster than the SRT8! I'm thinking of personal plates for my cars "MAX-MAG" and "MIN-MAG"... High cheese factor, but it gives me a chuckle!

It's funny, everyone at work thinks I'm crazy to be so excited about a 20 year old compact when I drive a new SRT8... They just don't understand!!!

when you own a csm you are part of this family and the respect level is high, to own one of these turbo colts sets you into the chosen few 1500 all together but less now, if you want to be apart of the family give your vin to flying eagle and be apart of 4g61t.org that would be cool fellow csm'er

You know... I've been in love with these cars since I was in high school and bought a non-turbo GT as my first car and then had a GL years later... It's just amazing to me that there are so many others out there with a passion for Colts and Mirages?! Everyone I know is clueless about what this car is or it's potential!

I have nothing but respect for these rare little cars and be reassured that my Turbo GT is in good hands...

Thanks again for the warm welcome!!!

My VIN is: ######

I'll PM it to Flying Eagle as well.

If anyone needs a car or parts tracked down in the Midwest don't hesitate to ask!


Not really a good idea to post your vin on a public message board. -Mech

Contact Lancerman or Nate on here...They will send you the right direction

Not sure why this is in the for sale/wanted section, sounds like op is looking for opinions on how to upgrade? Moved to member chat...

Good call on the VIN showing, but it still can be up to the member as to whether they post for public view or not. Good call either way, as long as we have another one to add.
I guess I'll need that VIN PM'ed to me then, as it isn't showing right now.

Here is a video of a car from the forum here. It has the 4g61t engine with a different turbo and goes like snot. The car has been stripped down for weight savings and slicks. Alot of tuning too I guess. Anyways, this video shows what the mighty 1.6 turbo can do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZXvcvzuWGQ

Welcome Keep the '61t in the car and enjoy it for what it is, a fun D/D that can surprise a lot of cars, and fly under the radar. I never had more fun in my car than when it had the tiny original turbo(11b) with a boost controller and slightly lowered. I have kept my '61 with the thot of one day reinstalling it with a rebuild, T25 turbo(from 2g), and have a fun car that is low profile and low maintenance. Something that my son can drive without getting in over his head, when he is sixteen.

Thanks quikgt, that's sounding like good advice... I think I would like to have the engine built some like you describe, but nothing radical.

*Hey folks help a newbie out here... I've got pics of my GT ready to upload for everyone to see, but I'm not real sure how to do it? I don't see an 'upload pictures' button and cut/paste or drag isn't working? As well, is there a size limit I should be aware of?

THANKS!

You need to find a place, other than this site, to upload those pics.

Then you can link picture address into a message here like so:

[img]The%20image%20address%20here[/img]


Oh yeah.....and put them in a new thread under the Pics/Video section.

Okay, I think I've gotten everything set up. I used Photobucket.com and there is about 20 pics.

Anyone that's Interested please check out my new post in pics/Video section under "Max Mag and Min Mag Pics". There should be a good URL to the first pic in the album, then you can just "right arrow" on the right though all the other pics and enlarge them as you like!

Flying Eagle, I PM'ed you my VIN just email back if there are any problems with it!

Hey what's up man, I'm new here too and pretty new to the whole dsm thing. I know exactly where you're coming from when you say you want it factory and reliable. What I would do if I were you... is swap in a 4g63, if you have the funds, build the darn thing. I would leave it fwd since I hear that converting to awd requires a lot of cutting of the rear floor board. If you did awd, like you said, it wouldn't be an original anymore. I just bought myself an '89 mirage, factory turbo as well. The route I'm going is: restoring the body to the original state, lightly tinted windows, 17" rims, upgraded brakes, hid's, 4g63 swap with a 20g turbo and a nice chunky intercooler. The interior is going to be restored as well and it will be all factory except for two gauges and a boost controller. I wish I could have the A/C and P/S systems like you do, I would definitely try to leave those on there. I have a civic with a fully built engine, roll cage, and etc. The whole nine yards. Therefore, I want to build a street monster. A complete sleeper in and out. Whatever you decide to do, have fun doing it and take your time.