Found this for $300 on craigslist. 1988 Isuzu I-Mark turbo. Handling by lotus and Recaro seats.
It didn't run because of a fuel tank issue. The wife and I made a weekend out of it, and stayed in a bed and breakfast and then headed back to South Carolina.
I never remembered how tall that hood is in comparison to the rest of the waistline. Looks like fun though.
The 4XC1-T engine is a 1.5 liter turbo. 115hp 0-60 8.9sec stock. It weighs only 2,000 lbs.
I had one as a teenager:
I always wanted to fix it up and make it go faster. But I could neither afford to fix it up, nor have it out of commission while I worked on it. I ended up selling it after college because I needed something more reliable. I've regretted it ever since. I would have dreams about the car. So when I found one I jumped.
Sweet! I'll be following this for sure!
ive always been curious about these little cars, looking forward to this build!
This will be fun to watch.
Awesome. I learned to drive stick in a red one just like that. Only drove it a handful of times but it was cooollll....at least to a 15 year old...
This may confirm my oddness, but I think that is a great looking car. I like straight lines apparently.
I pulled the tank and found the problem
Holy crap....havent seen one of those in years. Colour me interested, am fully tuned in on this project. Good luck and godspeed man!
1.5 Liter 8 valve. has ghetto MR2 hood vent and DIY intercooler
I like this.
THATS Where that vent is from! someone had "installed" one of those on my hood when I bought my rx7 about 9 years ago. I always thought it was a dryer vent or something.
View from Inside the tank
yes we know thats the rust tank but where is this gas tank you speak of?
Picked up one of these puppies
A $2 gallon of muriatic acid from Home Depot will make that tank look like new inside.
Remove the tank from the car, block off the holes, Fill most of the way with hot water. Pour in the acid and seal it up. Rotate the tank every 10 minutes or so to submerge all surfaces then pour it out into a bucket and neutralize the acid with a box of baking soda.
After that you need to keep the tank full or line it with the red goo or POR15
My tank before
after
I POR15'ed it
Still spotless 5 years later
In reply to Ditchdigger: awesome.
Yeah I used that stuff to clean the surface rust off of the suburban, works like a charm, wear a mask.
I stuffed big balls of duct tape in the holes and swished around the POR 15 kit. It has a "metal ready" solution and then a coat of the good stuff
Got a manual of e-bay. Every noob needs one of these.
I'm actually further along than the current photos, and have been working on this for a long while.
I considered running it in the challenge but have since gone over budget.
I was shocked by how clean the OUTSIDE of that tank was.
Lookin good!
After I got it running, there was a major knock, so there was no choice but to pull the motor.
Such a cool little car. I hope you get that engine sorted out. Are you going to do a rebuild or ??
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