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| The Woes of owning a Sprint - especially a Turbo | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Mar 12 2016, 01:06 PM (1,401 Views) | |
| Cardinal Grammeter | Mar 12 2016, 01:06 PM Post #1 |
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Loneliness might just best cover the experience - even with the internet. Having a MKII 5/3, I was impressed by the support and information that was out there. I ran into a Turbo Sprint I just couldn't pass up and thought the experience would be similar. Boy, was I wrong. Trying to find parts, obviously. Without car-part.com, it would be impossible to get parts. You learn to "Quest" for Interior trim and ground effects parts - like collecting coins, baseball cards, comic books... But unexpectedly, help, was not something I expected to be hard to find. The MKI might as well be a completely different car with a completely different ownership experience. I suspect so few of these cars were made to begin with, is the crux of this problem. Further, people that have had them - even the turbo models - moved on. Then if someone was interested in the G10, I don't think they would seek out a MKI since the later gens are more refined - other than perhaps a little weight savings or perhaps that bit I heard that the MKI G10 is the best engine since the head flows better (but the HP is down compared to MKII so I don't get that one.) I had thought a lot of people would have been hanging on to the turbo model, but I guess the numbers aren't their either. It would have been an interesting Poll to see what fraction of people have actually ever seen a turbo "in the wild," that is, simply being driven and not at some cruise or car show. These cars are much rarer (both in numbers and support) than Paxton supercharged Studebakers and Datsun 620 pickups - both of which I have. Boy, I didn't see that one coming... _____________________ I would still have bot the car knowing this now - it's just that now I'm debating getting a Classic plate for it to keep me from driving it excessively. Obviously, it will NEVER be driven in the snow. Since I already have an Antique plated Studebaker, I could find some collector car insurance that would cut costs, however I don't like the restrictions associated with these special plates. I was toying with the idea of keeping my 5/3 for the snow and swapping plates between it and the turbo depending on the season to save the cost of an additional plate and insurance. |
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| geometromaniac | Mar 12 2016, 01:10 PM Post #2 |
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I would love to find a Sprint turbo and put the engine in my Metro convertible. |
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| t3ragtop | Mar 12 2016, 02:33 PM Post #3 |
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Turbo3 and Twincam Tweaker
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shoving a mk1 t3 into a mk2/3 car isn't any simple task. the wiring alone is pretty involved. the mk1 mounts, transmission, and axles are different and require a bag of tricks. you can do it but it's no where near a drop in swap. ![]() the turbo3 you want for a vert swap comes from the canadian market only mk2 turbo3, 89 thru 91, and those aren't even as easy to come by as a mk1 turbo3.
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| Cardinal Grammeter | Mar 12 2016, 03:20 PM Post #4 |
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The turbo would be neat in a MKII/III, but the 4-cyl is more practical - especially when it is 4-valve. And then you can start from there to add power. And don't people put even larger engines in them? (1.5, 1.6, ???) Then the real Holy Grail is the G13B - one I missed in NV 5 months ago by 3-weeks.... Probably last one I'll ever come across. But then, a t3 is just.... way cool, I guess.... |
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| Hanuman | Mar 12 2016, 05:55 PM Post #5 |
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"The Almighty Grounds Cleaner"
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There is one turbo sprint in the state of alaska. Member jittney's son own it and it's a daily driver. |
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| Johnny Mullet | Mar 12 2016, 06:20 PM Post #6 |
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Fear the Mullet
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I ran across one here locally for sale a few years back. It ran and drove, but it was totally rusted out and I passed on it. |
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| Cardinal Grammeter | Mar 12 2016, 07:44 PM Post #7 |
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One Turbo in the state of Alaska. Figures. I have a childhood friend that has an Avanti on Alaska - he works for the state and lives in Juno. How many MKI t3's were made? 10k... 20k? |
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| Murf 59 | Mar 12 2016, 08:57 PM Post #8 |
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I see more of the Sprint parts over at TS. |
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| Cardinal Grammeter | Mar 13 2016, 12:27 AM Post #9 |
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I have ads at TS too, but this site has more action. |
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| DTM GTi | Mar 13 2016, 08:23 AM Post #10 |
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Elite Member
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Your problem started the moment you decided you will buy 28 year old car, that was rare even 28 years ago , and use it as a daily driver . I know of maybe one person in the whole country that is using one of these cars as DD even now but he owns at least eight of them. He also has really nice stash of parts he can use to keep them all running if he had time . You obviously are not in that position. I've own these for about 20 years and retired them from DD duties long time ago. As the other guy I have some spare parts and cars but wouldn't even think of selling any of it, because they are unobtenium , till I decide I'm getting out of the game all together. Mk1 T3 is a collector fabricator sunny weekend toy. |
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| Metromightymouse | Mar 13 2016, 03:25 PM Post #11 |
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Powdercoat Wizard
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I see one or two around here occasionally. |
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| marxtoys | Mar 13 2016, 05:28 PM Post #12 |
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stuck in a dent
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There are a couple of Turbo Sprints that I see fairly often, a Paxton-blown Hawk occasionally, a few Datsun PL521 types, a herd of 620s, Pinto and Vega wagons that look like the owners still have the original box, as well as an interesting assortment of other relics. |
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| nwgeo | Mar 13 2016, 06:09 PM Post #13 |
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Yeah, I am in a kinda "Deliverence" area as well, a fair number of Datsuns, pintos etc. Low income area so you keep your cheap car longer. You guys ever seen a Datsun 410? Loved that car... got over 40 MPG. We had a Tsprint in PnP maybe 3 years ago and an old timer from N Idaho was all over it. I was in the parking lot and he had a blue one he was driving, I think it was his DD. He opened the hood for me to take a peak. We had a good time visiting on sprints and geos etc.. He told be he had several of Tsprints, and had even gone as far away as Arizona, to find one and buy it. If you need a particular part for your Tsprint, I could maybe find him up North, just PM me. |
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| mt999999 | Mar 13 2016, 08:47 PM Post #14 |
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Self-Declared "Genious"
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I've never seen a Sprint in my area. As a matter of fact, I can count on one hand how many early body style Metro's I've encountered in my area, aside from my own. Maybe a couple more late generation ones. |
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| Silver2K | Mar 13 2016, 10:28 PM Post #15 |
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The last Sprint I saw was in a junk yard about a year ago. Unusual to see a Sprint in the JY. I'll see a 3G Metro at least once a month. There are two that live near me. The 2G Metros are a little rarer but I still see them once in a while. |
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