After spending a boat load of money, the GXP got an almost new suspension system. I picked up new shocks, struts, strut mounts, outer tie rods, end links, rear lateral links (the solid ones), replaced the non-functioning rear air pump, and put poly bushings on the sway bars. It took me and a friend almost 2 months worth of Saturdays, and it was finished the day before the 2019 Fall Color Tour. And it was all worth it. There were a few times I had to open it up and do some aggressive maneuvering, and I had zero issues handling the boat of a car with the new parts.
Old suspension bits that had to be forcibly removed:
Old and busted control arm:
Shiny and new:
The original FE5 shocks, which were completely dead:
During the 2019 Fall Color Tour, after stopping for the night, it was discovered that there were a few vacuum leaks in the engine, so after multiple trips to town (45 minutes there and back each time) for parts, and working late into the night, the vacuum leaks were fixed.
Then last summer (August 2020), I got the itch to upgrade the head unit, and that was all I wanted to upgrade. I got tired of having a bunch of CD's with me all the time, and I worried about them being stolen. So, I bought a replacement head unit, then speakers, then amps... Yeah, it went downhill fast, but worth it. Went with a touchscreen Pioneer unit, and upgraded all the speakers to NVX, which are all powered by 2 Cerwin-Vega amps. A 4-channel that powers the door speakers, and a 2-channel that powers the rear decks, which are set as subs. The audio is crisp and clear now, and the rear 6x9's put out enough bass that I don't need a separate subwoofer.
The Pioneer head unit:
The amps powering the speakers (and yes, the wiring is bad, but by this point, I was tired and I'm not great at wire management):
And since they weren't being used, I swapped over the custom headlights Carl made for my SSEi:
Finally, to add some performance to the GXP, I built a custom FWI (and managed to keep the emissions system for it), that gave the engine a nice added growl boost:
Had a pair of Magnaflow mufflers installed. They are nice and quiet at cruise and idle, but sound great when the pedal is mashed:
And for a bit of fun, I had an electric cutout installed, which is a joy to use:
Here soon, I will be installing rebuilt calipers with new rotors and pads (the rears are trashed and not working well) for improved stopping power. I will also be getting a package from Canada here soon, that will be waking the car up, and I can't wait to try it out.
But yeah, this was another reason the SSEi's progress was held back. But, I'm happy with where the GXP is at for the moment, so I shouldn't need to mess with it anytime soon.
