What Have i been busy with lately?? PROJECT GEO STORM RS

[Brett Haviland]

Well people that know me have heard me talking about doing this swap for years... and im finally almost done!! yay  Its Yvonne's Car..  Shes owned it since she was 16 years old. *shes 28 now*.  About 5 years ago i swapped out the wimpy 1.6L 12v SOHC engine and swapped in the 1.8L DOHC ripper engine.  Now the time has come for some boost.  Over the last 4 years i have been collecting the parts needed to make it happen, along with a whole parts Isuzu Impluse RS....  Well HERE SHE IS!!

after years of telling yvonne i will get around to turbo'ing her geo storm, and never actually getting around to it, i did it!  All that whining and moaning that it will never get done finally paid off lol.  I have been going hard on her over the past couple months... picking away at things here and there.. but she is now running again, fully boost equiped...  Shes on all stock Isuzu Impluse RS engine management (ECU,Harness,sensors) also using the stock Impulse RS manifold/turbo/intake/Top mount interccoler/hood setup.

Still a few little things left over like swapping the Turbo instrument cluster to get the higher 8000 RPM redline and OEM boost gauge along with getting a working Tach  (swapped to DIS/coilpacks insteas of the old Distrubuter.  I also need to weld up the exhuast for aircare... (and then weld up a custom 2.5 or 3" catless exhuast after)... also replace the spark plugs to NGK coppers and ditch the heat range 5 platinums from the old NA setup.  Hoping to get her out to the racetrack ASAP and get a bunch of runs out of her.  Hopfully she holds together as she is a 10:1 compression motor..  I guess ill keep the boost low for now (8psi) and back the timing back to make sure i keep a hold on detonation.  I have no real way to control stuff besides boost and backing the CAS back to take out timing.  I do have a bit bigger injectors in there... but no compensation so im hoping that with the 1.8L and higher compression then the normal 1.6L low compression turbo it will work out.  Stock injectors on the RS managment is 322cc... i have 350cc in there now.  Seems to idle nice.. doesnt stick too bad... so hopfully ill get away with it.  I have a SAFC II laying around  i guess if i do end up  needing to take some fuel out or add.



PICS












In the future there are many more mods planned.

-14b or 16g turbo
-Custom Evolution made manifold
-FMIC with SS piping
-Methanol Injection
-Engine managment & bigger injectors.??  Haltech? MegaSquirt?   maybe some OEM chip burner software that will work with EPROM OBDI chevys  (impluse RS ECU is a EPROM OBDI chevy based ECU)...hrrmmmmm
-Stronger equal length halfshafts and hubs.  
-Slicks.


I do also have all the AWD parts sitting around doing nothing from the Impluse RS... hrrmmm...

[Remi Raymond]

First off all: I have never heard of a turbo car more in need of meth. 10:1 and 8 psi? Put a pre-turbo nozzle in and click it up to around 10. Timing will be so aggressive, it will be like running race gas on that little thing. It should without question be your FIRST mod.

Second: Very "factory" looking swap, although who actually knows what the engine bay of a turbo geo looks like...

Third: HAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHA awesome.

[Cole MacDonald]

Nice work! Nice to still see some of these things around. My Isuzu I-Mark is what got me started into turbo vehicles. 1.5L Turbo! Haha.

Too bad that Impulse is so far gone. They are so damn rare!

[GlenMartin]

Nice work! Nice to still see some of these things around. My Isuzu I-Mark is what got me started into turbo vehicles. 1.5L Turbo! Haha.

Too bad that Impulse is so far gone. They are so damn rare!

i was walking on my lunch hour the other day, and i saw a impulse rs so mint i thought i was in a time machine. i wanted to leave a note asking to buy it.

[Brett Haviland]

i was walking on my lunch hour the other day, and i saw a impulse rs so mint i thought i was in a time machine. i wanted to leave a note asking to buy it.

wow!!  yeah they only imported 800 Impulse RS's into north america.   To see a "mint" one is supper super rare.  Next time take pics you jerk!!  These cars love to rust to dust...  (like the RS parts RS i have.. the rockers and rear quarters are rusted to shit.


Remi...  The timing should not be to bad...  Remember i am using the complete RS engine managment... Granted the timing maps will be for a low compression engine... and running the higher compression engine...  I plan on just keeping the boost and the cas backed off a bit for now... should be okay with 94 octane...Guys run this setup on the 1.8L engine all the time and they have no problems untill they go north of 10psi.


And i hope it looks "factory" hahah all the parts are factory lol.

And no, there was never turbo geo storm option... THe 1.8L DOHC is good as it got for them..... and then in came the sunfire and cavilier and wiped them off the map!

[Jordan Kruger]

does it come stock with a T2?    probably quite fun with just that stocker small turbo. 

[Brett Haviland]

Not sure what the specs of the turbo are, but it is pretty tiny.

Oh and its not. T2 flange.. It uses wierd ass isuzu flanges.

The turbo is a IHI turbo (Isuzu Heavy Industries)

[Brett Haviland]

Well, took it for a burn down the street,  Seemed to have more power BEFORE i did all the work lol.  It would loose a ton of power when u give it gas... and it would not generate more then .5 psi of boost at the most.

I took the o2 sensor out by the turbo as i suspect the cat in the downpipe (RS downpipe) is clogged up.  I dont really know the history of the parts car i got it from so i figured i would start there.

Just by taking out the o2 sensor i imeadiatly felt the difference.. it actually accelerates now...  and built 5psi of boost.... still seems well short of what it should be power wise tho..

I guess that would confirm that the cat is clogged.

Luckily its a two piece downpipe and you can separate the halfs and remove the catalyst....  i guess that will be the next thing i do.

[Remi Raymond]

Yeah those in cat downpipes are almost always clogged. Get out a hammer and your longest screwdriver, and don't inhale that shit...

[Marke Bailey]

Needs a hood scoop for that intercooler. 

You should get a WB unit too, that will help the most for tuning with the SAFC.

[Brett Haviland]

yup the stock geo storm hood is just on there tilli can swap over the RS hood with the OEM scoop.  You can see it in behind the storm in the one pic..  Its nice too.. has a rubber seal a ducting under the hood to seal up with the chrome suround of the intercooler so all the air gets to it.

[John Hartman]

sounds like fun.  A bit of advice.  Keep the boost low even tho you think it will be fine to crank it up.

you have an interwarmer, a wee turbo and 10:1 non turbo pistons, rods and head gasket, and probably non sodium filled valves either.

It will be much more fun driving it at 8 psi than looking at it and telling everyone how fast it was for 3 hours before it went boom!

When you yank the low compression pistons(if they fit) and put a methanol system and a fmic on it, you can start upping the boost. 

Plus, will the clutch and trans handle bigger torque?

[Brett Haviland]

Well I guttted the cat, and it was definalty clogged up.. Test drove it and WoW!!  What a difference, the engine can actually breath now!

Car ran strong,  boosted VERY quickly, hit a max of 8psi and had great throttle response.  I just gave it boost for a quick second as it has old gas in it, didn't have the ducted RS hood on it either..

  Glad it was something simple that was causing the no power.

Still have to fill it up with good gas, aircare it and put new tires and do a alignment.

[Brett Haviland]

Update!!



Well i got the RS hood vent, undehood ducting and everything all figured out and installed. Went perfect.. had to spend some time measuring it all out to make sure i located it in the exact spot and also make sure the hole i cut was the exact size.. It was tough esspecially drilling the holes for the mounting screws and bushings... I was sweating big time as i was grinding away with the dremel trying my best to not fuck the paint up. In the end it was worth being slow and carefull and it came out looking almost exactly like OEM. I had to remove the chrome intercooler shroud in order for the hood to close properly.... no biggie, i didnt really like that shroud anyways!! haha I had to do some minor trimming to the underhood supports, and a small bit of the ducting had to be cut out for the hood to close all the way.





















Oh and heres some pics i took yesterday of the clogged cat and gutting it.  No wonder the car was really quiet and had no power after putting the downpipe on!

[Remi Raymond]

Awesome