Oh no! A "what should I buy?" thread!!! PICS

Yeah have seen the LSD setups on ozgem [I'm a mod there], from all reports its looking like its working well however I'm not sure if this bloke is doing them regularly or if its just in "batch" runs. Have to wait and see I guess - problem with most Gemini owners is they are a fairly tight bunch, so people developing parts get frustrated.

Differences between RTS and non RTS:

TX/C non RTS came with a front swaybar, no rear bar.

TD RTS introduced front swaybar and rear swaybar as standard fitment, the changes vs the TX/C included spring rate, shock valving annnnnd....thats actually it LOL. The earliest TX Geminis ran a different lower control arm and stub axle but these are that rare i probably shouldnt have mentioned it.

As you can see the items above are stuff you'd actually change come time to improve handling, so definately base your search on how good the body is/preferred body type [ie early sedan, late sedan etc] then wether or not it came factory fitted with the good suspension.

They handle not bad even in pre-RTS form - I had an early TX with king springs superlows, 16" wheels with Falken Ziex's on it, pedders shocks and reversed top ball joints [increases neg camber] - no aftermarket swaybar [had the front factory "small" bar on it], no rear bar, no fancing bushings etc and it was seriously one of THE sharpest cars ive ever driven [and ive driven ALOT, including modd'd GTR's, C63 AMGs etc]. On tight corners nothing could carry the same entry/mid corner speed, and the only time the lack of a rear bar was noticed was powering out of corners.

Was very easy to do this though [god i miss that car]:





100hp at the rear wheels is easy - the DOHC engines do that standard, and the SOHC's are relatively easy to get upto that output if you know what your doing.

I'm looking at doing hillclimbs like you are, just struggling to find s.f.a info on places/clubs that do it in Vic without having to commite to a season/club etc.

Sounds like you've done some homework.

Because of the torque tube arrangement, to get the BW78 in there you would need to do this -

www.mcdonaldbrosracing.com.au/geminicontrol.html

That white rally TX coupe has a similar setup under the rear of it, so it does work relatively well, but there is also cost involved in this. Personally, try the locker because with the right driving style and suspension setup you can get around it.

I wouldnt go 13x7's to be honest [well, not for track rubber anyway]. The sedan I'm rebuilding atm is getting 15x7 Rota RB's, need the 15's to clear decent brakes. That said, there is a bloke that does a vented-front disc swap thatll fit under the 13" wheels but with the way i drive i need all the stopping power i can get lol

The 161-headed 2L with work should get 100rwhp, the question is though do you really want to go that way? As with all cars, the prices on webbers are dynamite [were talking roughly 800 for the manifold and carbs], plus tuning, plus stuffing around etc and i don't think it works out much better then getting a DOHC in there on EFI. All depends on your mechanical aptitude though.

DOHC is hit-and-miss, they pop up every now and then but arent exactly run of the mill. Rings, bottom end bearings are the same as the SOHC models, the dummy cam runs the same bearings as the early pushrod models so a basic rebuild can be done. Crank and rods are shared with the SOHC 180/200 as are other random bits and pieces. If you can find a runner id grab it, torque and top end in standard form vs a worked SOHC is night and day.

As for the hillclimb/club things, effed if i know where to even start - I just want to get out there. Been saying for farrrr too long that i want to start doing it properly, while track days are easy enough to come by [at winton etc] i want to do some hill climbs as well and finding info atm is just a pest.