mezje's 98 GPX (Shota 2.0)

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mezje
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mezje's 98 GPX (Shota 2.0)

Post by mezje »

Round two...

After around a year and a half a manual FTO came up for sale in VIC that wasn't completely destroyed and a reasonable price! Bought it from a rental/dealership place, the dude buys weird cars from a wholesaler and either rents/sells them. Had a bunch of weird cars, some old M3s, an NSX, old Holden's, a real variety. Said he bought the FTO a few months ago, sight unseen, didn't even know anything about them. He tried to rent it out and sell it but nobody seemed keen. First it was listed for $7950 but then dropped to $4950 after a month, this is when I snapped it up. He mentioned someone from interstate was keen on buying it so he wouldn't budge on the price, I know this is a crock of sh*t but someone else in VIC I know personally was real keen and happy to pay 5 so I bought it before having regrets!

5 speed manual, 176,XXX, GPX, 1998

Anyway, here is a pic of the car at the lot:

Image

Has some goodies; aluminium dial rings (dash and center piece), owners manual, original toolkit, a crazy Viper alarm system with interior and bonnet sensors and that's all I had time to spot at the dealership.

The car had been detailed so everything was real clean, engine bay looked brand new. The only issue I could find was the bumper being a bit snagged under the fender, I had a feel and it looks as though it is just caught and not actually damaged. The "Bit" has a tiny crack on the outer part so I won't be touching that, luckily it already has an aftermarket head unit and sub wiring etc :lol: :lol: The car is in for a RWC currently at his cost, keen to see what it needed doing.

First point of call is to remove the awful wheels and replace with something a bit nice, thinking either EVO 8, RX-8 or 370Z wheels.

Keen to be part of the FTO community again and hopefully pull some of the VIC members out of retirement!

Build So Far...

Mods
  • Cusco Front Brace
  • Cusco Rear Brace
  • EBC Red Stuff pads
  • RDA Slotted & Dimpled Rotors
  • 16x8 + 28 Advan SA3R w/RE003s
  • 2.5" Stainless cat back w/1 reso and Invidia rear muffler
  • DGR Coilovers
Maintenance
  • Timing Belt done @184xxx
  • Water pump done @184xxx
  • Cam seals and crank seal done @184xxx
  • New fuel filter
  • New swaybar links
  • Gearbox fluid done @180xxx (Castrol Syntrans)
  • New Alt belt and tensioner
  • New PS belt and tensioner
Last edited by mezje on Thu Apr 05, 2018 12:47 pm, edited 6 times in total.
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bjk
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Re: mezje's 98 GPX (Shota 2.0)

Post by bjk »

Looks nice man, you can go hassle Stu to pick up his game. :lol:
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Re: mezje's 98 GPX (Shota 2.0)

Post by mezje »

bjk wrote:Looks nice man, you can go hassle Stu to pick up his game. :lol:
That is the plan! More than happy to help him out!

It was very clean, I wish I had photos of the interior, immaculate.

Has a weird controller thing sitting on the dash, very well fitted, keen to see what it does but it will likely be coming out :P
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Re: mezje's 98 GPX (Shota 2.0)

Post by spetz »

Looks really nice.
The Evo IX BBS wheels would suit it really well.

Keep us posted with updates
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Re: mezje's 98 GPX (Shota 2.0)

Post by bjk »

spetz wrote:Looks really nice.
The Evo IX BBS wheels would suit it really well.
I tried to find a set of those, but had to settle on the VII Enkeis.
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Re: mezje's 98 GPX (Shota 2.0)

Post by mezje »

spetz wrote:Looks really nice.
The Evo IX BBS wheels would suit it really well.

Keep us posted with updates
They are what Vectose is running right? A bit too bling and aggressive for me, I prefer it simple. R33 wheels may also go alright.

Will keep this thread updated :)
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Re: mezje's 98 GPX (Shota 2.0)

Post by bjk »

Nah, Rob's are Evo X
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Re: mezje's 98 GPX (Shota 2.0)

Post by mezje »

bjk wrote:Nah, Rob's are Evo X
Thought so, didnt realise BBS made the 9 wheels, TIL.
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Re: mezje's 98 GPX (Shota 2.0)

Post by bjk »

Pretty sure the standard stockies are all Enkei, but the 8/9 MR models had these:

17x8 +38 as per normal, but forged lightweight goodness!
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Re: mezje's 98 GPX (Shota 2.0)

Post by spetz »

Those are the ones yes.
Would look fantastic on a white FTO
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Re: mezje's 98 GPX (Shota 2.0)

Post by mezje »

spetz wrote:Those are the ones yes.
Would look fantastic on a white FTO
I do agree, a few too many spokes for my liking though. It will pretty much be whatever comes up first with the best tyres that wins though.

Here are some pics:

RX-8 wheels, I found a better pic on twitter a while ago,.
Image

Evo 5 wheels also look alright:
Image

What wing is this too??
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mezje
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Re: mezje's 98 GPX (Shota 2.0)

Post by mezje »

Picked up the car today.

Car runs amazingly, stock exhaust is so quiet after driving a loud car!

Has some serious sub wiring (0 gauge) but no amp to be seen :( Gonna have to chuck and amp in before moving my Kicker from the Pulsar to the FTO...

Looking at where the wiring runs I noticed both of these...

Passenger Footwell:
Image
Driver Footwell:
Image

I never noticed them in my previous FTO, what are they and are they just missing covers?

The brake rotors are also warped im guessing, car shudders on pretty much normal braking at decent speeds, definitely feels like when my pads were completely gone on my Magna. Anyone know where I can get EBC Red or Yellow stuff from?
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Re: mezje's 98 GPX (Shota 2.0)

Post by Vectose »

Those are aftermarket crossovers for the speakers
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Re: mezje's 98 GPX (Shota 2.0)

Post by mezje »

Vectose wrote:Those are aftermarket crossovers for the speakers
Cool, good to know!
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Re: mezje's 98 GPX (Shota 2.0)

Post by mezje »

Should be picking up Evo 6 TME wheels soon, 17x7.5 + 38, should fit fairly well...

Brakes are next on the list, seems like Amazon for Yellowstuff and Viamotor for Redstuff are cheapest, cost is roughly the same but postage is the killer. If anyone is keen to split please let me know.

Failing that I will just go with QFM A1RM pads as I have heard good things.

The car seems relatively stock, it has HIDs which I assume are stock, can anyone confirm? It looks a bit off though as the parkers are normal globes, will LED parkers look better, is this the common thing to do?

Speaker wiring seems good (thanks Rob for clarification), 0 gauge sub wire is well grounded in the boot however the battery end was just sitting under carpet in passenger footwell so ill need to poke it back through to firewall and reconnect it.

The wheels use a set of lock nuts which is pretty annoying, one of them looks pretty stripped and there are marks all over the wheels where it is, not looking forward to removing it...

Pics at home after a wash (ruined 6 hours later by rain...)

Image

Image
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Re: mezje's 98 GPX (Shota 2.0)

Post by Rob Furniss »

Looks very nice.

Reverse parking sensors?
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mezje
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Re: mezje's 98 GPX (Shota 2.0)

Post by mezje »

Rob Furniss wrote:Looks very nice.

Reverse parking sensors?
Yep, has a little display in front of cluster, pretty neat, clean install.

Our driveway is really hard to get in to and it beeps furiously as I turn in to it, kind of annoying. Looks similar to this:

Image
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Re: mezje's 98 GPX (Shota 2.0)

Post by mezje »

Well, less than a week and she is getting towed.

Image

Alternator and P/S belt are well and truly gone, they began to rattle so I pulled over and large parts have frayed everywhere, not good.

Image

Image

Doesn't look too bad in photos but the sound was pretty horrible...

Regards to pulleys, if the tension is fine on the belts am I ok to assume theyre all good?
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Re: mezje's 98 GPX (Shota 2.0)

Post by Sahin »

Lol that'll be the first of many, replace your harmonic balancer otherwise they'll keep flying off
Instead of getting towed just next time cut the belt and drive home with no power steering
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Re: mezje's 98 GPX (Shota 2.0)

Post by mezje »

Sahin wrote:Lol that'll be the first of many, replace your harmonic balancer otherwise they'll keep flying off
Instead of getting towed just next time cut the belt and drive home with no power steering
I was tempted but nothing to cut and the tow was free, 500km with RACV each year.

I bought the viamoto kit in the end with belts, ps and alt pulley. Is harmonic balancer really necessary as well? Pres seems to think just these 2 will be fine and the tension on them really doesnt feel that bad, nor do they look that misaligned etc.
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