I have a really nice bird, white with gray interior.

46k miles. Nice origional paint. Have alittle jing to put to it. I dont know whether to do some changes like stereo ,speakers, suspension, brakes, All are currently good, Or leave it and keep it as she was born. Thoughts?

 

Sounds like a really nice car. As for modifications, it’s really what YOU want for your car. Do you plan to keep it and enjoy it, or are you thinking of resale? From an originality and value point of view, 46K miles is low miles, but it’s not collector car low, so you have some leeway. Some tasteful upgrades like suspension/brakes, exhaust, subframe connectors, etc. won’t hurt the resale value.

 

Thank you. Those are the opinions I'm looking for. Origionality doesn't matter with a car like this. Ill be honest, I'm struggling with it.

 

The changes you have mentioned will not hurt at all, and are all easily reversible. Just keep the originals in a box, just in case. Nice car!

 

Keep original imo

 

I like original but as said, some mild mods that are easily swapped back won't cause a problem. Just remember those same mods probably won't add any value either.
Great looking car, whatever you do, take care of it and enjoy it !

As far as suspension parts, the swaybar endlinks struts/shocks will need replaced. I'd look at the factory idler arm for sure. I'm betting bushings and ball joints will be fine. Sure the bushings will have a few small surface cracks but nothing to warrant replacement. Don't do poly if you want to keep it a nice smooth ride.

 

 

Hey bud, bolt ons are fun and make improvements to an already great car, like others have said they are easily reversible but I highly doubt you'll want to lol. I don't keep anything stock however I don't go overboard either, this is not a car I'd do a motor swap to, You do those kind of things to clapped out but solid V6 cars in my opinion. Have fun it's yours to do with what you want. I'll have to say my stereo upgrade was well worth it.

 

You can do upgrades and work within keeping it stock appearing, 98+ Fbody brakes fit under 16" wheels. Far as suspension, better shocks like Konis, slight lowering, better components on the end links and sway bar bushing, wonder bar. All make big improvements with out massive deviations.

 

Yeah, full understanding no value increase. But maybe some underbody upgrades would make me feel more confident. As opposed to when are those over 30 year old parts going to fail?

 

Hey Dave! I know how much you like that little system upgrade. I know I would to. Looking into a couple options for alittle more power but keep the stock head unit. Still need to pick your tapes...

 

Thanks. I've been looking at shock upgrades cuz well, these are quite tired. Everything still seems pretty tight, but if Im opening it up, might as well look at the other upgrades to the other bushings and links.. Make me feel more confident hitting those corners.

 

I like your ideas and I definitely suggest headers and 3in exhaust along with those suspension mods. Very nice car you have there

 

I say leave OE!

Except to send the PCM out for a performance burn!

 

The nicer the car is ,the harder your decision will be. It is true that bolt ons can be reversed , I would say this is not a car to mod. Freshen any thing that needs it and a great set of tires. I modded the hell out of mine but I bought the car for that purpose. It was high miles, poor paint but a very good body. It is fun to mod a car but do it to one that has already lived its life as an original car. That way it is a rebirth .

 

Wow, thanks all for the awesome responses. I was fairly surprised by the number of keep it OEM. So, the changes im going to do will be ones never seen, and the origionals kept. I'd love to do koni's, but couldn't stand seeing the ***** when the hoods open. Right rear speakers is shot. So going to put infinity primus PR9610cs. Liked the low ohm's and I don't have to do the tweeters if they aren't good Sucks that there's only really good struts and shocks for these and then crap, unless I'm missing something. Will keep looking. Itll never be 100%, right? Spoilers ruin everything! Thats getting finished when the weather turns. Thanks again all!

 

Great looking car! I've been working on an 85 TA this year, redid the whole front suspension in March. I never got to drive it much before tackling this job because there were areas that needed to be addressed right when I purchased it. However, with all new bushings, springs and shocks up front, it drives REALLY nice. Better than my first TA that was only 8 years old when I bought it.

Below is the link to my write-up of the operation. Hopefully it can give some pointers. Big job to tackle, especially the lower control arm bushings, but once done you'll be plenty happy. I focused on a smoother ride, so kept all the components rubber, not poly. I also used KYB shocks - great value and I didn't feel i would ever push them to the point of needing high end Konis with just my street driving.

I am looking forward to seeing more about your ride!

Suspension Write-up