History
Having owned one of these cars back in the 90s, I still love the combination of Italian design flair and iconic lines from Giugiaro at Italdesign with the 80’s quirks like digital dash and pop-up eyelids.
I purchased this car from an owner in Sydney’s south who owned it for over 6 years. Before him, the original owner had it mostly sitting in a carport for many years collecting dirt and dust.
The 2nd owner took it off the road for 2 years with the intent of building it as a track car. Out went the air-con and cruise control system. In went a fully optioned MoTec M4, bigger turbo and bigger front brakes, along with some engine mods, 2-pack closed door factory colour respray, wheels, and lowering. Unfortunately the owner needed to sell due to new family responsibilities.
The car was far from perfect by the time I bought it. The list of little things and issues was long, but there were key issues like the knocking LSD diff, and the engine had not been dynotuned with the MoTec ECU.
The long list of work is now completed. Although this is an Australian-delivered Piazza, I did change the car’s appearance a bit using post ‘88 facelift bodywork and interior trims sourced from USA and Japan. The facelift model never made it to Australian shores other than the odd private import.
Modifications
- Motec M4 Pro ECU, with 3D mapping, sequential and ignition upgrade, traction control, etc
- ‘Disco potato’ GT2860RS ball bearing turbo with full custom 3" SS exhaust, and hi-flow 3" cat
- Toyota Supra twin turbo 440cc injectors
- Larger 2.6 Rodeo inlet, throttle body, and runners
- Bosch 910 fuel pump
- Original motor with reconditioned head and heavy-duty valves
- Exedy heavy duty clutch
- Car is lowered 2" custom KMAC springs up front, and 3" King Springs at the rear.
- Koni adjustable shocks all round
- Front brakes upgraded to Commodore VT 300mm slotted discs and brakes
- All original rubber suspension bushes upgraded to custom nolathane bushes
- Wheels are Lenso Eagle 16x7.5 with the correct +20mm offset for a Piazza
- Body resprayed in 2-pac in the original colour
- Rear spoiler is factory Handling by Lotus (HBL) Piazza spec
- Updated front end (bonnet, nose & lights) and rear lights are from a 88-89 HBL facelift
-10 speaker/tweeter system with Focal ES100K speakers/tweeters and Pioneer 12” enclosed subwoofer, Kenwood head unit, and Boss Audio amp. Old amp will be going soon.
