1991 Impulse RS (AWD Turbo) project car

I bought this Impulse RS a couple months ago, other buyers had backed out and I got it for 750 canadian, approx 500 US. People were telling me there's less than 100 of these left, and the seller was saying it was going to a scrapyard if it wasnt sold within the week, so I made it my mission to save this piece of automotive history. Neat little thing with a transversely mounted 1.6L 4XE1-W DOHC, water cooled & intercooled turbo, manual transaxle in the front with double-wishbone, isuzu 8-bolt diff in the rear with macpherson struts, viscous clutch transfer case RWD biased 57/43, and suspension tuned by Lotus.









What's wrong with it:

-The turbo and manifold blew, and a previous owner took the core parts so I have nothing to remanufacture.

-The lotus struts are blown, and it will handle very poorly in its current state. One previous owner sold it due to trouble finding new struts.

-Other things like the intercooler, EGR setup, radiator and fan, and AC are also missing. The interior is partly dismantled and the front seats are stained. Shift knob is missing

-A fuel leak when the pump is running. Previous owner had a fire start back there but evidently put it out before damage.

How I plan to fix it:
-I've heard from two or three people who say they have either remanufacuted or core turbos and manifolds for this vehicle, but after two months I haven't heard back. Instead I may need to make a custom turbo/manifold/exhaust setup, I'd likely do something similar to huy tran’s car on the isuzone page, he runs a dsm/Evo 3 16g. I'd like to keep the hood scoop functional, but it will be more practical and less restrictive / less piping to have the new intercooler in front of the radiator, so probably will go that route.

-My dad's neighbour, a retired locomotive turbo diesel mechanic and pretty good welder, (who is also kindly allowing me to store the implse in his barn), is very interested in the project and will be a great help in making sure I get any custom forced induction setup done correctly. DIY custom turbo manifold incoming most likely. Probably will get a machine shop to make the engine side flange and go from there.

-Once again relying on the ingenuity of others, it turns out that running springs and struts for a corolla works well for the front struts with a few small mods: strut retrofit = @adventures_of_aamir and possibly might even work for the rears although AFAIK nobody has tried it yet

-The rear struts are available from Japan (KYB) but I am going to try running the corolla struts in the rear too because it appears that it might work

-An interior carpet for a Geo Storm is available, with the main difference being the Impulse RS just has a hump for the rear driveshaft. That saves me from needing to do custom replacement carpeting

-I'll probably drop the fuel tank to find the leak, but I'm worried if the leak point isn't obvious I may have trouble with tracking it down. Repairing the fuel leak has to be priority #1



The good news!
-Very little rust for a canadian vehicle
-a classic japanese AWD turbo sports car that isn't a subaru or extremely overpriced?! sign me up
-The engine makes good compression
-Catalytic converters (I will sell these to fund the project because no emissions regs in this part of canada) and owners manual were included with the vehicle
-I managed to find an amazing deal on a new-old-stock Koyo rad, which appears to be the only aftermarket radiator that has dual cores like the OEM RS rad. Paid $105 USD, MSRP for the koyorad 1117 in 2001 was more than I paid for the whole car
-All the CV axles and boots are in great shape




More Pics:

I would have liked to have towed it home with my trooper w/ heavy duty springs but when I was rear ended the tow bar got bent and that's the one thing I haven't fixed yet.






















I was worried these RS specific HVAC controls were lost too, but I managed to find them



More updates to come. . . . .