Righto, im a newb and ive got some questions. I just recently managed to get ahold of an 89 t2 and im sure the thing is packed with problems that i dont even know about yet (hence evil t2). Anyway, here goes:



How firm is the brake pedal on your cars? Ive run a good liter of brake fluid through this thing and i still cant get the pedal to firm up. Any suggestions?



My temp gauge in the cluster seems to have failed, is the sender to the gauge the one mounted on top of the radiator or is it the one thats back behind the water pump? And/or should i just install an aftermarket temp gauge.



The car idles fairly high, around 1500 untill i turn on the ac, then it seems to return to a normal idle speed, could i fix this with a simple idle screw or is this a computer issue..



How much noise should the turbo on this thing make? It sounds like a helluva whine when i take off. I used to have an audi a4 that was a turbo and it made little to no noise at all. I checked the intake turbine in the thing and it seems to look ok, its got more wiggle in the shaft than i would like but it doesnt move enough to hit the housing.



Anyway, thats all for now, thanks for whatever help you can give me. https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...R#>/unsure.png

Congratulations on the car! and welcome to the board. I would get the temp guage fixed first of all. If the engine over heats it can destroy the housing and o-rings between them.

The brake pedal on my AE is super soft, it'll just go to the floor. Even if I pump the brakes, I guess that's why I'm buying a new master cylinder for it. https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...>/rolleyes.gif I got sick of using the e brake to stop the car, so I parked it. https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...IR#>/angry.png



Your high idle might be many things, the idle may be set too high, you could have a vac. leak, your TPS could be going out, ect. Try adjusting the idle first, if that doesn't work, check for vac. leaks (use carb cleaner).

The sensor on the top of the radiator is the coolant level sensor...not the temp sensor. The one on the water pump is a temp sensor, but I don't know if that works the gauge or just the E-fan.

Brake pedal on my car has never been too firm. I know of a leak at the ABS pump. I bled the brakes a lot right after I got it, but it didn't seem to help much. I just keep the reservoir over the master cylinder full, and it has stopped the car okay so far. https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...DIR#>/wink.png



Turbo doesn't seem to make much noise on my car. A little whine. Sounds pretty cool. If there's noticeable play in the shaft, I suspect that's a problem.

My brake pedal seems just right, the rotors and pads are new, but the rest is god only knows how old. Temperature sender is under the oil filter, not the big one right there, thats the oil sender, but the wire under that against the housing. I would go with aftermarket oil/water gauges right away, I took my temperature reading from the thermostat housing, and the oil you can get the adaptor from our sponsor- MazdaTrix.

Here is a pic of where I mounted my gauges, I chose this instead of a pillar pod, you might want to put yours here, then put a air/fuel and a boost gauge on your pod.

The brake pedal should be pretty firm. I'd say you need a new master cylinder.

Damn Rob! You just have all sorts of customized coolnes in your car! How did you get the center console like that??!

I saw it in person and it looks really good...so smooth. He needs to do the whole dashboard like that.

dude, that's so ******* beautiful !

nice work :bigok:

Thanks for the words of kindness guys! Us N/A guys, especially ones like me with stock convertibles, have to do all we can to get attention, lol. Thats the original textured plastic, I had a crack in the radio surround ( like they all get ), so I figured to go the custom way. Some epoxy to fix the crack ( West System), light body filler to fair it, then sanded all the pieces smooth to remove the texture. Applied a few coats of epoxy based 2 part primer ( AwlGrip- US Paint ), wet sanded it when it dried, then a few coats of DuPont Imron which is the same as the outside of the car. The panel with the radio and gauges is fiberglass and balsa core ( a much simpler way would be to just use some 1/4 plywood with some formica glued to it, but then it wouldnt match the outside of the car ) I think this winter Im going to make a new panel and mount the radio centered instead of offset like it was originally on the car in 1988, but Im waiting because I might change the radio anyhow. If someone is interested, I have another car with the interior pieces, and I can offer the painted ones on a exchage program. Oh, and thats a Team Voodoo knob that I had to drill and metric tap for the correct threads, the knob was for a 3rd generation.

Hey, thanks for all the help. I figured out the temp gauge thing, its just a bad sending unit- $20 bucks at napa. Should i get that and just replace the thing, or is the stock spot a reasonable place for a mechanical sender?



I swear the guy i bought this car from must have raped it or something. Everything seems to be halfway screwed up. The bov on it was a check valve from a plumbing supply store.

Theres also no air pump on the car, and i doubt that it was properly removed. Several of the components from that system are still in place with plugs in their various holes.



Whats a good aluminum radiator upgraded? Its 95 degrees here daily and the stock radiator is leaking like a bitch.



Right, well time to waste some more money on the financial black-hole.

Just get a new sender. If you want to add an aftermarket temperature gauge either the thermostat housing or the back of the water pump are good spots.

you can get a koyo or fluidyne radiator both are good

Rob, thanks for the info https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...IR#>/smile.png



the 2 biggest grips I have with the FCs is the broken plastic surround and the rusting sunroofs.