When do you give up on maintainence? Isuzu Impulse. - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

Bossnass · 11-08-2005, 09:41 PM

I'm currently borrowing my brother's second car, a 1990 Isuzu Impluse.

It is a great little car, 'handling by lotus', corners like a dream, pretty zippy, stops on a dime. Only has 175k km. Engine runs smooth and sounds nice and sporty. 1.6 litre, DOHC, turbo. Idles high, but I'm told that also means less turbo lag. New struts about 20k ago. No oil leaks, nor does it burn any.

Lots of rust. Window rattles (due to a slim jim armed thief). When the turbo kicks in, it sounds like a baffler is flapping in the muffler. Clicking from (I assume) the CV joints when the wheel is cranked. It needs tires. And a headlight (although the lamp goes in nifty pop-up light assemblies). I'm told parts are expensive. I don't know if the clutch is jumpy or just more sporty then I'm used to driving.

My brother has given up on it. Mostly because of health problems with his wife meaning he doesn't need or want this car, and obviously it is isn't a priority. I don't know what to do with it. I had to 'get it running' so I could borrow it, it hadn't been turned over in over 8 months. A boost, some air in the tires, cleaned out some gunk from an in-line fuel filter on spec.

I don't know... it just seems like this car deserves a little better then rusting out and being parted off in some local yard.

shakran · 11-08-2005, 10:24 PM

what exactly is the clutch doing? That's the expensive part.

The CV joints should be around 80-100 each. You'll also get new front axles at the same time (less work to replace the whole axle, so it works out to about the same cost as replacing only the joint)

New muffler is around 80 bucks or so.

Window rattling doesn't make sense based on the slimjim unless he bent the window track outward. Take off the door panel and wiggle the window. See where it's loose.

Headlight shouldn't be too much at all.

The rust, well, there's not a lot you can do about that for cheap.

However, if you manage to find a rolling chassis Impuls or Geo Storm (same car) you could swap all the good stuff into it.

merkerguitars · 11-09-2005, 12:27 AM

Well, I'll put this into perspective for you, about 4 months ago I bought a 1990 nissan stanza for $300, it has 223000 miles on it. Its rusty as hell, exhaust is broken off after the catalytic converter, but runs great and has a slight oil leak. My cv joints also click, (I have the original ones on the car) Right now I just manually grease the cv joints to get me buy and I really haven't dumped a dime into it (besides oil changes, filters, etc). Eventually I am gonna put the cv joints in from my other nissan. I plan on driving it till the body rots out and pull the good parts out and junk it when it dies.

11-08-2005, 09:41 PM	#1 (permalink)
Bossnass Détente Location: AWOL in Edmonton	When do you give up on maintainence? Isuzu Impulse. I'm currently borrowing my brother's second car, a 1990 Isuzu Impluse. It is a great little car, 'handling by lotus', corners like a dream, pretty zippy, stops on a dime. Only has 175k km. Engine runs smooth and sounds nice and sporty. 1.6 litre, DOHC, turbo. Idles high, but I'm told that also means less turbo lag. New struts about 20k ago. No oil leaks, nor does it burn any. Lots of rust. Window rattles (due to a slim jim armed thief). When the turbo kicks in, it sounds like a baffler is flapping in the muffler. Clicking from (I assume) the CV joints when the wheel is cranked. It needs tires. And a headlight (although the lamp goes in nifty pop-up light assemblies). I'm told parts are expensive. I don't know if the clutch is jumpy or just more sporty then I'm used to driving. My brother has given up on it. Mostly because of health problems with his wife meaning he doesn't need or want this car, and obviously it is isn't a priority. I don't know what to do with it. I had to 'get it running' so I could borrow it, it hadn't been turned over in over 8 months. A boost, some air in the tires, cleaned out some gunk from an in-line fuel filter on spec. I don't know... it just seems like this car deserves a little better then rusting out and being parted off in some local yard.

11-09-2005, 12:27 AM	#3 (permalink)
merkerguitars Buffering......... Location: Wisconsin...	Well, I'll put this into perspective for you, about 4 months ago I bought a 1990 nissan stanza for $300, it has 223000 miles on it. Its rusty as hell, exhaust is broken off after the catalytic converter, but runs great and has a slight oil leak. My cv joints also click, (I have the original ones on the car) Right now I just manually grease the cv joints to get me buy and I really haven't dumped a dime into it (besides oil changes, filters, etc). Eventually I am gonna put the cv joints in from my other nissan. I plan on driving it till the body rots out and pull the good parts out and junk it when it dies. __________________ Donate now! Ask me How! Please use the search function it is your friend. Look at my mustang please feel free to comment! http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthread.php?t=26985

11-08-2005, 10:24 PM	#2 (permalink)
shakran Tone.	what exactly is the clutch doing? That's the expensive part. The CV joints should be around 80-100 each. You'll also get new front axles at the same time (less work to replace the whole axle, so it works out to about the same cost as replacing only the joint) New muffler is around 80 bucks or so. Window rattling doesn't make sense based on the slimjim unless he bent the window track outward. Take off the door panel and wiggle the window. See where it's loose. Headlight shouldn't be too much at all. The rust, well, there's not a lot you can do about that for cheap. However, if you manage to find a rolling chassis Impuls or Geo Storm (same car) you could swap all the good stuff into it.