1989 Isuzu Gemini Styling by Irmscher

Gem wrc · **Posted:** Thu Jun 02, 2011 9:10 am

This is my 1988-89 Isuzu Gemini Styling by Irmscher

Quite a rare car in Australia , maybe under 10 in the entire country . Only known one in Perth at the moment .

I got it real cheap about 4 months ago , as it had been crashed in the front and back but it was nothing that stopped it running good everyday of the week .. It had been Imported from Japan about 10 years or more ago... In Australia we only ever got an extremely low spec basic version of this chassis called "Holden Gemini RB" , fitted with a 1.5L a Carby 4XC1 motor and no electric windows , power steering , EFI or Turbo/Power/handling options like the I-Marks or Japanese Geminis.. So it was quite a score .. Since i have had it i hasn't missed a beat and is very comfortable to drive with the Recaros and power everything (nothing like my early RWD Geminis) ..

This is how it looked when i picked it up , handed over $600 and drove home.. (like a madman)

Front bumper is practically snapped in half and lower Irmscher lip is gone :cry:

The left hand headlight is smashed and the indicator cracked

Recaro seats are still ok , very dusty and a small worn part on the drivers seat

Alpine speakers still fitted , 2 seat rear.

Factory high/low selector 6psi /10psi .. Power feels to top out at around 5500 rpm - 6000rpm...

Standard engine bay in good working order .. 4XC1 1.5L Turbo

The rear bumper has been replaced once before , so no Irmscher Lower Lip again .. :cry:

This is the part i need to jack/pull out

I bought a pair of Holden Gemini RB bumpers and a bootlid for $100 , the front panel under the grille for $60 and a headlight for $150 .. Total $910 so far.
Few weeks later i fixed the front end up quickly .

Damaged parts

Replacement headlight in

New trim panel fitted and grille and headlights lined up ok i guess

Standard Holden Gemini Bumper fit pretty well. Except side mounts were slightly differant

Sides were modified to use the Holden brackets .

From this angle it does need to be lowered :lol:

Made a small video ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=We_1b8Xj8eM

So now i need to pull the boot area out , fit the bumper and respray the car in the standard dark blue as it faded all over the top..
Then see how things go bit id like to lower it , try some other rims and fit a nice exhaust..

3/6/11 Jacked out the back tonight ..

Before

The setup

After

PARTS NEEDED
Factory Momo steering wheel
RH power window regulator
Irmscher Front and rear lower lip spoilers
Dash light dimmer dial (Lower RH side of dash under steering wheel on US models)
Standard stereo and Graphic Equaliser

Camshaft · **Posted:** Thu Jun 02, 2011 10:26 am

The engine bay looks remarkably clean, all things considered. A very nice project indeed! It makes me happy to see a lot of activity in the Isuzu forum lately.

Gem wrc · **Posted:** Mon Jun 06, 2011 2:24 am

Rattle canned my good Rear bumper today , Was removing my shit one and one of the hidden nuts that is tab welded on came unstuck . so ill have to grind that bitch out ..

Gem wrc · **Posted:** Thu Jun 09, 2011 1:48 am

Today i messed around trying to fit my rear bumper , as it came off a 1985 Holden RB Gemini the bumper mounts were different from the jap model.. This meant i had to mess around trying various combos of the rear mounts to try and get it sitting as best as i could , i ended up removing a heap of plastic from inside the bumper ,

Moving the mounts inwards like this pulled the bumper up a lot closer to the body ,hiding the damage.

This closed up the gap left from me not pulling the back out underneath the boot.. Seemed to work but the whole bumper needs to be lifted about 5cm and the sides still need some work .. But its on for now , ill attack it again soon .

Gem wrc · **Posted:** Fri Jun 10, 2011 2:54 am

Re-fitted the Rear bumper and mudflaps today. Much happier with the gaps/alignment now .. Then gave the carpet and seats a good Vacuum .. Too good it seems as i sucked the trim off the LH rear headrest and now its all torn up .. Dam shit was faded and brittle .. Besides some fading and me wrecking the head rest the carpet and seats come up like new ..

Camshaft · **Posted:** Fri Jun 10, 2011 9:10 am

Gem wrc wrote:

Re-fitted the Rear bumper and mudflaps today. Much happier with the gaps/alignment now .. Then gave the carpet and seats a good Vacuum .. Too good it seems as i sucked the trim off the LH rear headrest and now its all torn up .. Dam shit was faded and brittle .. Besides some fading and me wrecking the head rest the carpet and seats come up like new ..

Holy cow, you must have an awesome shop vac. :lol:

Gem wrc · **Posted:** Fri Jun 10, 2011 9:52 am

Its powerful yes . But the real cause was the sun damage the rear headrests had suffered , this made them very brittle .. I knew they were faded but didnt realise they were so brittle until it was too late

.. I need 2 minor repairs to the drivers side Recaro Bucket seat so i will get the rear headrests repaired at the same time..

mrflibbles · **Posted:** Thu Jun 16, 2011 6:16 am

nice work, good to see a realitivly unloved car here in australia being giving the love it deserves! would be an awesome drive compared to the rubbish rb gemini we got!

Gem wrc · **Posted:** Sat Jun 18, 2011 6:32 am

So Today i got bored and decided i better give the Irmscher a service .. First was the plugs . Swapped the NGK BPR6ES plugs out for 7's hoping they would be better suited ..

Next was the Air filter . The one in it looked like it had been there a while and being an Japanese import there was no listed filter anywhere . So Odin Autos matched up one from a Mitsubishi Nomad which was near identical to the one needed for my Air box . I also squeezed in some pipe for a lil cold air feed to the front of the standard airbox.

Next was the oil , the windscreen had a oil change/service reminder sticker that had passed about 1000kms back (when i bought it) , good to know it had some love in its life , maybe even regular services !! I ran some oil flush though the motor at idle for 15mins then dropped the oil and removed the filter , to my surprise its the same oil filter as my RWD gemini's use , so i fitted a new one of those up .. Also i could see the starter motor was brand new while i was under there , and the cv boots looked new also.

Before i replaced the oil i wanted to paint the horridd valve cover , so some piping and my accelerator cable was removed . So far all the rubber hoses and pipes seem good and are not perished .

Being a lazy ass and not having a scotch brite pad to remove the old paint , i just cleaned it with some wax and grease remover and hit it with about 5 thick coats.

This is it a few hours later. I may have over done it.. Fitment tomorrow

Gem wrc · **Posted:** Mon Jun 20, 2011 5:44 am

All done .. Fresh after its first service.

Supra cooler may be too big

Camshaft · **Posted:** Mon Jun 20, 2011 9:13 am

That is the cutest, tiniest intercooler. It's so precious!

Valve cover came out great. Krylon wrinkle finish, right?

Gem wrc · **Posted:** Mon Jun 20, 2011 11:55 am

Yeah its a puny baby sized Intercooler ... I used VHT Wrinkle finish, going for the factory look..

How sweet is it that my turbo just sticks out for everyone to see like that ...

Camshaft · **Posted:** Mon Jun 20, 2011 11:59 am

Gem wrc wrote:

:P Yeah its a puny baby sized Intercooler ... I used VHT Wrinkle finish, going for the factory look..

It looks really good, mate. Just talked to a college friend who mentioned "having three Spectrum turbos around the house" as a kid. Turns out these were sold in the US as the Chevrolet Spectrum! Small world. I doubt we got all the cool Irmscher bits, though!

Gem wrc · **Posted:** Thu Jun 23, 2011 6:24 am

Yes the "Spectrum" was GMs version sold along side Isuzu's version the "I-Mark" in the US market . The early JT150s brought about the demise of Isuzu's relationship with "Giorgetto Giugiaro" when GM altered his designs without his consultation , he then denied any involvement with the design for the next 10years .. Hate you GM !! its there fault Isuzu stopped making sportscars ..

Tonight i played around and test fit the 17"s i got off Damien ...

While i had the wheels of i noticed my front struts had KYB stamped into them , woohoo another cool Factory feature , The good thing about this is can get them reset to the height i want and they will still be nice and stiff .

I have one black spring tho , I might try scratch the paint off and see if its red under there as there is overspray on the shocks and other springs.

Sadly the 17's hit the inside face of the front calipers and spacers dont fix the problem , so its either trim 3-5mm off the outside of the rims hub , grind the caliper back or clean and paint stockies :oops:

The 17's didnt fill the gap in the guards much either , this thing needs to be sacked 2" at least..

Has anyone compressed springs at home with an oxy , i cant work out in my head a way to actually compress them while they are hot .. Any ideas or takers on this subject ?

mrflibbles · **Posted:** Fri Jun 24, 2011 4:16 pm

if your trying to do it on the cheap, im fairly sure i have seen one of these with vw springs in the back? it was very low though, not sure what it had in the front. Maybe try a local pick a part wrecker and compare some rear coils, maybe you will get lucky with that?
The wheels look good on it!

Impulsive · **Posted:** Tue Jun 28, 2011 4:38 pm

Cool to see you working on this car. If I ever run across a sweet deal on an 80's I-Mark hatchback over here, I would jump on it for sure. Right now, I am still knee deep in the rebuild of my Impulse 4XC1-T.

:tu:

Bart

the71hiace · **Posted:** Thu Sep 01, 2011 7:55 pm

hey im in australia and i got two springs tempered and reset at a local joint for 60 bucks a spring, so its heaps cheaper and a lot more legal than a home job, plus you can choose a spring rate or get them set the same as stock so it'll handle nicely. :mrgreen:

1989 Isuzu Gemini Styling by Irmscher

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