Red 944

never seen one in real life, something I'd probably own though

sweanders

Didn't Slinky use to have one of those?

I believe she sold it since it was so hard to find parts...

skunkwrkz

I had an NA 88 Impulse and an 89 Turbo in the early to mid 90's and now own a 91 RS Turbo AWD. There is tuning to be had out of the stock ECU, IF you can find someone who still will socket it and burn you a chip. Bone stock, back in the day, I saw 0-60 in 6.5 seconds as this was a factory/dealer upgrade available. NOW, were it me......I would enjoy the car the way it is, since the head gasket is a known failure item. However, the swap I would start gathering parts for would be to swap the 2.6 I4 out of the Amigo, Trooper etc and slap this bad boy on there and go to something like Megasquirt (you could also upgrade the manifold log currently on the 4CZ1 with this but it'd be like putting lipstick on a pig):



P.S. Post some pics as I dig the Piazza JR's and before I forget there are some KYB Gas-a-just's shocks on Ebay right now (I have also found adjustable Gab's in the past in Europe on the web). I saw them while looking for suspension for my car. The Aussie's seem to like these cars and have developed some bolt-ons I noticed from when I have toyed with buying another in the past. That platform for the Impulse was shared by the following cars:
Isuzu I-Mark
Chevrolet Chevette
Chevrolet Spectrum
Opel Kadett
Pontiac Acadian

I would look for parts by cross-referencing those cars first. I think the Opel Kadett sees auto-x popularity overseas actually. Good Luck and nice find!

Here's a link for a Gemini Tuner:

http://www.turbogemini.com/index.htm

blown 944

lol, dead thread revival.

Since you did though, my first turbo experience was an 86 impulse. Wish I knew then what I do now. I'm pretty sure it would have been a blast. I wouldn't mind finding another one.

V2Rocket

that turbo manifold is bitchin lookin

skunkwrkz

@Blown 944..........yeah I know but those cars went away to quickly thanks to GM running Isuzu into the ground IMHO. So anytime I get to pass on what little info for tuning there is left, I try to help out I guess.....

bonus12

These ads are actually pretty funny.

http://www.productioncars.com/vintag.../Isuzu/Impulse

OnlineAlias

This. Any more boost without serious consideration of the headgasket is just looking for trouble. Plus, just because they say "handling by lotus" doesn't mean they handle like a Lotus. I owned one, and they handled like crap. The shifters are recalcitrant, the steering is overboosted, and the axle (yes, its a beam axle) windup is preposterous by today's standards. I'd leave it in exactly as it is from the factory, trying to mod it will be an exercise in futility.

skunkwrkz

@ OnlineAlias.....lol.......Now I don't feel so romantically attached to the Piazza JR's as I once thought I was. That being said, I totally agree about the shifter (and steering), as there were several 2nd to 5th instead of 2nd to 3rd shifts with that 5spd back in the day for me. The revised Lotus suspension was also not the best tune for the car (but did give it a good shot in the arm for sales I am sure) as the BEST suspension setup came in the 86 Impulse RS (Irmscher Edition), but the brakes were marginally improved I think as well as revised suspension geometry. All in all though, Isuzu made an AFFORDABLE RWD turbo coupe like nothing that had come out of Japan to the US market yet (The R32 Skyline wasn't even out and cars like the Merkur XR4Ti, Mustang SVO and Porsche 951 were WAY out of that price range) and it was also way ahead of anything coming out domestically from Chevrolet who had a controlling interest at the time.
Anyway, were it mine......I'd source a short shifter that used to be made for it. Then I'd swap the 2.6 I4 into it, as it's the closest thing to a drop in swap for real and reliable power you are going to get. Finally, I'd get some GAB shocks from Europe with some sport springs sourced from perhaps a Gemini (although swapping springs in the car is a MAJOR PITA and had a special Isuzu tool IIRC), along with some good tuning IF I were to mess with it at all.
Sadly, as a side note, Isuzu actually had some later innovative and interesting concepts in the can a few years later, that would have made great cars if they had come to market as the Impulse concept did. Alas, Chevrolet held their heads underwater for so long that it just didn't matter in the end.

Racerstev

I owned and raced a few of the 2nd gen Impulse's, what a great car for
it's era!

Had 2 daily driven 91 Impulse RS's. Fun to drive and high 13 sec cars with the boost up a bit. Had a 91 Geo Storm I road raced in SCCA's ITB, did pretty well with it top 5 runner in the Mid Atlantic Road Racing series (MARRS).

Got tired of that and went sport compact drag racing with it. At 1st with a
stock Impulse RS turbo engine, ran high 12's with it. Then with a larger turbo it went a best 10.04 @140mph.. Oh, that was on a stock bottom end! LOL


Yeah I missed 5th gear....

Yeah, I used to really love those cars...

Steve

Shawn Stanford

You guys who are advising the OP on how to take care of the car realize that this thread is ten years old..?

odurandina

omfgijlmfao.

skunkwrkz

@Shawn........Pfft.......yeah......saw that. I think it's more about reminiscing at this point.

hacker-pschorr

As a huge fan of the Scirocco (have a mint 86 16V stored away for the winter) I cannot believe I never knew about the first generation Impulse. Now I want one

Found a turbo for $750.....

http://detroit.craigslist.org/wyn/cto/4298646658.html

pkt1213

I love these.