I sold my 86 and bought an lt4 this past spring. Have been using it as a daily driver since then. It runs great, only things I had to do were to put in a new radiator and heater core. I also put in new carpet and sound proofing. Over this winter I will do all the suspension bushings and tie rods, ball joints, bearings as needed. I did all that to the 86 and the difference was huge and I think it will do the same for my 96 as it really drives loose. I am looking for advice on the engine. It has 93k on it and a lot of oil and crud around the valve cover, intake, water pump. I would like to take off these parts and clean everything up, put new gaskets in. Is there anything specific I should consider while I have this stuff off? I may also do the water pump, I think it's original and I don't want it to go and kill the opti. I hate fixing things that are not broken but with the mileage, I would rather get ahead of any future problems. I am taking some long trips in the spring and summer and really want to have the car ready. I have fixed and replaced just about everything on these cars between the 86 and the 96 but I have not done any real engine work so I don't have any experience if I get into trouble. I love seeing everyones clean and polished engine bays and want to try getting mine there. Should I let sleeping dogs lie or be proactive and tear into it? Thanks

 

If you take it apart to clean up and redo gaskets, you may as well send the intake and heads to Lloyd Elliot and port them, stick in a good street able cam (nothing too radical), and go 32# injectors. Personally though, I would just do the suspension and drive it until I needed to do some work to the engine.

 

If you are going to do the water pump go ahead and replace the opti(unless it has been done),plugs,and wires.I would recomend the msd opti,ngk plugs,and msd wires.Consider an elec waterpump and a 180 thermostat.
If the car runs fine don't tear into the engine unless you want to go faster.