I think for next year I need to think about some maintenance on this car. I don't really have any symptoms that would cause me to do any of this, other than that cold weather P0505 which I haven't seen since last year. The supercharger reseal might take care of that. Otherwise everything is totally preventative.
- Change supercharger oil. Probably run the latest M1 jet oil stuff. Simple in theory but can be annoying to remove all old oil because it needs a specific amount and you don't want to overfill. It seems that my supercharger may not be original judging by P/N but it's still probably been on there a long time. I have heard of some improvements from fresh oil, including drivability.
Parts: Under $50
Labor: If combined with supercharger removal, pretty low. Still relatively low even if I do in place, but just more tedious.
- Consider removing supercharger and resealing the various gaskets, seals and the bypass valve coupler thing. Of course if I remove then I could drain the supercharger the easy way. I don't remember if I need to remove valve covers for this but I think no. It's just REALLY heavy.
Parts: Probably under $50
Labor: Not sure. Probably 4 hours.
- Fuel pumps/senders. I am having NO issues but the filters are integrated with the pumps. The other issue I'm not having is the tank gasket(s) can leak and cause fuel smell. Many of these cars actually got new gas tanks because the tank itself was somehow compromised. I believe my car is on its original tank. I am afraid to touch it since I have no issues at all but this car is probably overdue for some pumps. It is supposed to be every 60k and I am not sure mine have ever been done. It is recommended to upgrade to the 2 relay harness which is a bit involved. Apparently the single relay design can kind of melt down, and the forum lore says this is exacerbated by clogged filters. This is also an expensive job even as DIY, with parts into the $1000 range. It would give me confidence as far as driving the car hard because if fuel pressure drops, these cars can easily crack #8 piston. It's much less likely with a stock pulley and tune of course. But I still worry.
Parts: Over $1000.
https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/merced ... 2714700000
Labor: The pumps themselves, probably only a couple hours being careful. Upgrading the harness and stuff like that will add several more hours.
- Rear main seal job
Parts: Probably under $50
Labor: Pull transmission
- Valve stem seals? (if oil consumption doesn't significantly decrease after the rear main work)
Parts: On the order of $20 for the seals. Have to reseal valve covers so a few bucks for those. Need something to hold valves up while disassembling valve keepers and springs so maybe an air tool in the spark plug hole or some other method.
Labor: Fairly slow process and can be tight in the engine bay. Could be like a 6 hour job....on one bank and maybe half that on the other.
- I feel like the front struts could use a replacement. They mostly feel fine but I don't think the damping is quite what it should be. I did new shocks last year or whenever and the rear feels SIGNIFICANTLY stiffer than the front. I think one strut is original and the other is an Arnott reman. This annoys me anyway. So a brand new pair of OEM Bilsteins would probably help even if I can't point to hard evidence that something is sub-par currently. I should also inspect the front suspension in more detail and more sure I don't see any cracked bushings.
Parts: Ouch, these seem to have gone up a lot. $1500 for a pair of Bilsteins on Rockauto.
Labor: A few hours. Already had them out before for the upper control arms so I know how to do this.
- Bolt-ons. Consider some kind of headers (likely keeping the cats intact which means I am probably limited to a shorty header and they are on the order of $1500 for the cheaper ones and go up from there). Headers are good because these cars have a pretty substantial exhaust manifold restriction. Aside from the performance increase, it also helps with the cooling issues and decreases supercharger boost which also leads to lower intake air temps and thus, higher performance. Another good bolt-on item would be an upgraded intercooler. If I do everything above I could also add an 83 mm pulley and a tune and probably have something that runs 11.5s @ nearly 120. And it would be reliable, not tuned to within an inch of its life. But to get to this point I need to invest in some maintenance and not just go straight for performance mods.
- It might be worth upgrading to the blue top transmission solenoids. These are faster responding and pair well with the TCU tune I have. Not real excited to pull the valve body for a third time but it's not too hard. Realistically I would wait until I at least get some miles on this fluid and work this upgrade into the next fluid service. If so then this is many years off...
EDIT: I may already have these per factory transmission breakpoint and also a photo I found of my own valvebody on the bench. Interesting.
Add it all up and this is multiple thousands. I am OK with the idea of investing into the car to keep it reliable and good-performing but I need to work up to wanting to do all of this. Hence the "next year" thing. An alternate plan is just continue to nurse it along (driving it somewhat occasionally) until something forces me to make a repair (or worse). It's the "or worse" part that bugs me. I think it might come down to ownership horizon. If I plan to keep for the long term, it is probably worthwhile. If I thought I might sell in a year or two I could just sort of keep operating as is since there are no apparent symptoms at all. I am leaning toward keeping it in the longer term.
A more realistic time phased plan would probably be:
Next year replace the supercharger oil, think about an R&R reseal job, and the fuel pumps. Maybe struts also.
The following year I could look into some other of the mods (transmission solenoids, headers, intercooler, pulley, tune, etc.)