Hello from Baja
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3rd Gear
Joined: Nov 2018
Posts: 3
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Hello from Baja
Hi everyone,
I am an automotive tech with 19 years of experience and own a small repair shop here in Cabo San Lucas. I just purchased a 98 targa top automatic. Its fairly low mileage but its had a rough life, it seems its been heavily molested as far as the interior, the outside has new white paint and new tires so it looks decent (it has 19inch AC Schnitzer wheels painted in red which I hate). I am going to give it all the love it needs. The front leaf is broken and the shocks (active suspension) are done, the left side is lower than the right and hits on every speed bump here. After reading a lot in here I figured I will just do coilovers as the new leaf and pair of Bilsteins is far more than a pair of QA1. I bought a Gtech performance meter which I like very much and is nice to have since we dont have a track here in Cabo. Managed to do 12.9 quarter mile with it completely stock internals and will be doing some tuning with HPtuners.
Future plans are to get rid of the desert gears in favor of a complete used 3.42 diff. I also want to do a higher stall torque converter (have not decided between 2800 or 3200). As far as the engine I have my sight set on a Isky Cam and springs to begin with. Later plans include an L92 engine with LS3 intake/tbody. The previous owner installed Bride race seats which are extremely uncomfortable. I hope Recaro starts making seats for the C5 soon, all I have seen is preorder stuff. Another thing that has grabbed my attention is the heads up display some C5s have. I want to install that when I replace the worn dash cover. My shop does a lot of diagnostic, programming and tuning work for locals so I am no stranger to tuning, specially with stand alone ecus. With HPtuners and EFI live I dont see a point in putting in a stand alone ecu but maybe... If I go the the turbo route but that is a long time from now. I hope I can be of help to fellow members of the forum as well as learn from your experience. I have access to the GM portal and also have Identifix and Alldata in case someone needs info not found here.
Cheers,
Juan E Ortega
I am an automotive tech with 19 years of experience and own a small repair shop here in Cabo San Lucas. I just purchased a 98 targa top automatic. Its fairly low mileage but its had a rough life, it seems its been heavily molested as far as the interior, the outside has new white paint and new tires so it looks decent (it has 19inch AC Schnitzer wheels painted in red which I hate). I am going to give it all the love it needs. The front leaf is broken and the shocks (active suspension) are done, the left side is lower than the right and hits on every speed bump here. After reading a lot in here I figured I will just do coilovers as the new leaf and pair of Bilsteins is far more than a pair of QA1. I bought a Gtech performance meter which I like very much and is nice to have since we dont have a track here in Cabo. Managed to do 12.9 quarter mile with it completely stock internals and will be doing some tuning with HPtuners.
Future plans are to get rid of the desert gears in favor of a complete used 3.42 diff. I also want to do a higher stall torque converter (have not decided between 2800 or 3200). As far as the engine I have my sight set on a Isky Cam and springs to begin with. Later plans include an L92 engine with LS3 intake/tbody. The previous owner installed Bride race seats which are extremely uncomfortable. I hope Recaro starts making seats for the C5 soon, all I have seen is preorder stuff. Another thing that has grabbed my attention is the heads up display some C5s have. I want to install that when I replace the worn dash cover. My shop does a lot of diagnostic, programming and tuning work for locals so I am no stranger to tuning, specially with stand alone ecus. With HPtuners and EFI live I dont see a point in putting in a stand alone ecu but maybe... If I go the the turbo route but that is a long time from now. I hope I can be of help to fellow members of the forum as well as learn from your experience. I have access to the GM portal and also have Identifix and Alldata in case someone needs info not found here.
Cheers,
Juan E Ortega
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Juan - welcome to the forum and congrats on the purchase of your '98. Be sure to visit the C5 sections of the forum - lots of good members and info can be found there.
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Joined: Apr 2014
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From: Washington Township Michigan
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Welcome to the forum Juan!
Congrats. on your C5.
Best of luck with your planned repairs/modifications!
Congrats. on your C5.
Best of luck with your planned repairs/modifications!
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Joined: Apr 2017
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From: Hickory NC
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Welcome, Juan, and congratulations on your C5!
Best wishes with your efforts!
Best wishes with your efforts!
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