Going to import a Calibra AWD 2.0L Turbo

[benzino]

i've been researching calibras here in australia and people seem to hate them...
which really surprises me seeing as though there is a massive AWD turbo following here with WRXs and Evos

They talk about bad reliability of the red top and the LET and I think people generally stayed away from the SOHC.

I'm still really torn about buying a performance car or converting the lanos... it all comes down to the $$$ as always!!

[PrecisionBoost]

As far as the Calibra reliability.... I'm sure there are tons of lemons out there.

Just consider the fact that most of the time people don't post how good their car is.... they only post when something is wrong with it.

If someone looking to buy a Daewoo comes on here they are going to get the impression that the Lanos is a giant unreliable money pit due to all the postings of problems on this forum.

What we (and new users) rarely post is how reliable the car is.... how many miles of trouble free driving we've had or what the total cost of repairs were.

You might even find the Lanos is "better than average"..... especially when you start to include all the Polish Taxi's with a million kilometers on the odometer.

Personally... I don't mind cars that have problems... I've owned something like 30 cars.... lots of them with problems.... some easy fixes.... some very expensive.

With the Calibra I think it should be fairly easy to upkeep..... in fact the only thing that worries me is getting a crack in the windshield ( since that will be very hard to ship over to Canada )

The Calibra shares it's chassis with the Saab 9-3 and Saab 9-5 of which there are tons here... so I should be able to get quite a number of parts from them.

I also have to assume that many owners are simply lazy or uninformed and complain when something dies ( such as engine ) despite the fact that they did not do their regular required maintenance ( such are timing belt )

I bet half of all dead lanos are timing belt replacement issues

[PrecisionBoost]

Well.... I've got winter tires and rims on the Calibra and it is awesome in snow and ice.

Parts came in from UK..... just finished putting on the timing belt and new tensioner/idle pullies

Performed a boroscope inspection on each cylinder....

Cylinder #1 has these tiny holes in the upper part of the bore... some sort of strange pitting.... but the bore is nice and smooth otherwise

Cylinder #1 piston has slightly more carbon than the other cylinders.... so I have to think it's running richer than the rest.

All other cylinders are nice and clean, bore looks great


Did a compression test.... #1 was highest at 171 PSI which is funny since it's the one I was concerned with ( perhaps the carbon adds compression )

#2 was 170 PSI
#3 was 160 PSI
#4 was 162 PSI

It's a bit odd that the compression of 3/4 were lower by about 10PSI but it's probably nothing to worry about.... especially with nice numbers like these.

All cylinders hit 120 PSI bang on on the first rotation....which is better than most of the cars I've tested in the past.


We also had the car up on a hoist and inspected everything.... it's like new condition and all factory equipment.... zero rust.

[exist3nce]

Wow thats good to hear chris! Man I wish I lived closer so I could check out the car myself!

What is the boroscope? Like a tiny camera that you feed in through the sparkplug hole to look inside the cylinder?

[PrecisionBoost]

Yes... boroscope goes into the spark plug holes... so I was able to check out the pistons and valves....even able to look into the manifolds

The Calibra doesn't like -39 Deg Celcius.... I guess I'm going to have to sell it

[exist3nce]

Yes... boroscope goes into the spark plug holes... so I was able to check out the pistons and valves....even able to look into the manifolds

The Calibra doesn't like -39 Deg Celcius.... I guess I'm going to have to sell it

LOL what did it do in that weather? Would it even start? Does it just hit boost cut every time you get on it? Run too lean?

[PrecisionBoost]

I was of course joking about selling the car..... none of my vehicles like -39 deg Celcius.... it took me two days to get my chev suburban started.... even alcohol and ether couldn't get it going

Coming from Japan it did not have a block heater.... so the coolant turned to Gel but didn't hurt anything.
Alternator doesn't work very well
Power steering whines continuously
AWD doesn't work ( runs from power steering)
Door doesn't close
Can't get the gearbox into any gear.... especially reverse
Clutch pedal sticks to the floor.
When the clutch pedal is released it stalls the engine ( nice thick gear oil to blame )

Honestly..... I don't blame it for not liking that temperature..... it takes about 20 minutes to warm up a little and then you can drive it.

Seems that anything warmer than -20 dec Celsius and it's fine

I usually get a AWD light coming on in temps below -20 .... but after idling for a minute I shut the car off and turn it back on and AWD is back up and running.... I'm sure it's just a situation where the fluid is thick as molasses when the car first fires up.

I have some synthetic fluid for the power steering/AWD as well as new synthetic fluids for gearbox, transfer case, rear differential........ so that should help the low temp issues.

The factory oil is 15W40.... so it's pretty thick in the cold.... but the engine seems to be fine even on really cold days.

I also installed a heater pad on the underside of the oil pan.... works decently and helps the engine.

As for the alternator..... battery voltage stays at 12V until you rev the engine to 3000 RPM.... then the needle on the gauge snaps to 14.4V and the lights get brighter..... after that the alternator is fine.... just annoying having to rev the engine.

If I forget and let it idle to warm up with alternator not "kicked in" it kills the battery ( draws 40 amps continuous ) and then I have to boost it.

I'd imagine it's something to do with the regulator..... I will probably drop in a new one and keep this one as a spare.


Overall the car is great..... especially in warmer temperatures ( warmer than -15 deg C ).... once the new fluids are in I have to think it will be great no matter how bloody cold it gets here. ( think we were the 2nd coldest place on the planet the one day )

[benzino]

that's amazing!

I could never imagine being in temps that cold, -39C?!!!
the coldest i've been in is -10C... that must be like summer for you

[PrecisionBoost]

that's amazing!

I could never imagine being in temps that cold, -39C?!!!
the coldest i've been in is -10C... that must be like summer for you

It dropped to -46.1 deg Celcius on December 13,2009

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/technolo ... story.html

According to Wikipedia the lowest recorded temperature in Edmonton was -49.4 dec C

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmonton

Further north there are record lows that are even colder, but Edmonton is the only one with a big population, most are small towns with less than 100,000 people.


After -25 deg C it pretty much feels the same except that thing freeze quicker.

That is to say winter jackets get stiff and feel like the material is going to break.

Tires wobble for a few minutes as the "flat spot" created when the car is parked is frozen in place.

Even with warming up your car for 10-15 minutes it never really gets warm, oil is like a thick gel.

Power steering pump usually squeals like a stuck pig for the first 30 seconds after start up.

You actually have to be careful about your breathing, warm humid air from your mouth instantly freezes into ice on the inside of your car, especially on the windshield

One time my eyelashes froze together because my jacket was redirecting my breath towards my eye, it was actually kind of funny, I had to take off my glove and press my fingers over the eyelash to release

[PrecisionBoost]

Efrain was going to get a Canadian work visa and come up one winter, I sort of had to talk him out of it as he's probably never been in a temperature lower than about +20 deg C and I thought he'd probably go into shock stepping off the airplane into -25 deg C weather

People here actually joke about how they wish global warming would hurry up

All joking aside we actually have warm summers, usually we have a few weeks up in the low 30's but most of the time a decent day is a 25 deg C under the sun

In the summer the sun doesn't set until close to 11pm, so you get lots of sun and warm in the summer

On the other hand winter sucks, it's dark at 8am when you get to work and it's dark at 4:30pm when you go home and it's usually quite cold.

One good thing is that we have lots and lots of blue sky, very few cloudy days whether it be winter or summer

[exist3nce]

Whoa .... that sounds pretty brutal - 58C with windchill! I don't think I would even want to go outside lol

In regards to the car, I experience some of those symptoms on cold mornings as well.... the power steering whine and difficulty shifting especially haha