Daily Driver Typhoon

Chedarbob90

Chedarbob90

White Trash Racing
Hi, I'm 18 years old and i just saved up enough money to start looking for a Ty. I saw my first one up close today and the second one in my life. I've done research on these up the butt, and I've wanted one since i was like 7 yrs. old. I was wondering if these things are any good as daily drivers? I had a 1990 s10 blazer and 3 other s10s with 4.3 L in them and they held up like champs, just wondering if these are totally different? The gentleman i talked to said that he would rather drive his blown 454 El Camino daily than his Typhoon just because of maintenance, and he says that they're always having problems. I really don't have time to be working on the thing 24/7 but i got some time. Thanks for reading and replies are greatly appreciated.
 
S

Seti

Member
Re: Daily Driver Typhoon

I drive mine daily and have for the last three years. It was in storage for a while but not because of any mechanical issues. The only problems I've ever had with it were the blinker arm broke, the windshield wipers would randomly come on (that's a common issue with GM trucks) and the turbo was leaking oil. That last one was pretty major but it was the original turbo and it still drove fine I just couldn't go WOT or race until I figured out what the problem was.

Outside of that as long as you don't go trying to mod the hell out of it and keep up the regular maint there isn't any reason you couldn't use it as a daily driver.

S.
 
Chedarbob90

Chedarbob90

White Trash Racing
Re: Daily Driver Typhoon

Thanks for the reply, I'm kinda new and don't know anything about posting on this site. Is there a ton of miles on ur Ty? Oh I live in WA about 30 min. out of Seattle, the conditions out here don't affect it?
 
S

Seti

Member
Re: Daily Driver Typhoon

No problem. I'm sure you'll get other responses soon. It's late on the other coast so people are still sleep and what not. The people on this site are pretty cool for the most part and always happy to provide info and tips about these trucks.

Mine has a ton of miles on it. It had about 150k when I got it now it has over 180k. Would be more of course but it was in storage for a while like I said.

The weather doesn't seem to affect it much but it always lived inside until my latest move. It's been living outside since Oct but I'm moving back into my house in Renton soon and it will be back in it's garage then.

S.
 
asmo

asmo

Sy #2918
Re: Daily Driver Typhoon

I drive mine semi-daily, I rescued it from rotting away. keep it up on maintainance and should be good to go. I hear they go to shit fast if you beat'em. so I love mine and baby it everywhere, I want to keep it forever!
 
bezerk

bezerk

New member
Re: Daily Driver Typhoon

if you don't have a lead foot. or an agressive driver they hold up pretty good. i know that if i was 18.it wouldn't have been the car for me..now i'm older and my pockets are a bit more filled. i can beat on them everyday :)
 
JSM

JSM

Active member
Re: Daily Driver Typhoon

The problem with the syty is when you own one you get a disease called wanting to go fast, and the even worse disease most of us have is the one to go faster.

Drive it like a grandpa, make sure everything is up on maintenance and it will be OK. Not great, if you drive 20k year your going to be wanting to keep an eye on thnigs and be prepared for a trans to go, or something. It will happen just matter of when.

Drive it like you stole it, show off to your friends and hope you impress them because you will be needing to bum rides from them shortly.
 
BoostedSUV

BoostedSUV

Active member
Re: Daily Driver Typhoon

I daily drive mine and I have for the last 3 years or so. As long as you baby it they're ok but if you drive it like youre supposed to you better get a AAA membership or have a friend with a tow truck. Its not an ideal truck to daily drive and if you don't have money or time to work on one I wouldn't suggest one as a daily driver. Just my opinion.
 
HiPerformanceHill

HiPerformanceHill

New member
Re: Daily Driver Typhoon

I'll sell you mine, runs great! Its been for sale on Craigscrack off and on. Mostly the Portland site. I'll let it go for $7500 with stock wheels. I drive it about 200 miles a month with no issues. I keep up the maintence way more than most people. Hit me up if your interested.
 
Flyin Ryan

Flyin Ryan

hated cuz he drives fords
Re: Daily Driver Typhoon

These trucks are torque monsters so if you use it for what it was ment for (racing light to light) then you will be breaking/replacing parts just like you would with any other car with 400 plus ftlbs of torque the difference is that these things are 18 and 19 years old so shits warn out and has already been through some asshole who beat on it and maybe not kept up on the proper maintenance as much as he should have. The two main weak points in these trucks are due to the amount of torque the make, the front propshaft which ok is a $400 dollar job and you don't have to worry anymore but the transmission is boarder line at best when it comes to stock power levels so couple that with some abuse, bigger turbo or higher boost and some break boosting in hot weather and that shits gonna go on you. Now you can pay the 2 plus k for a built 700r4 replacement etc but like anything. If it's your daily driver and you need it to get you to point A to point B then don't f with it. leave it un modified and don't beat on it constantly but being your 18 im sure you'll be showing off and getting all kinds of races with shit that's not even worth racing but that's being 18 I understand i did the same shit. Just know if you want to play, you'll be paying.

Another factor here is that no many people know about these trucks and how to work on them/tune them. So you pretty much have to do your own work and learn how thse things run and keep an eye on teh tune. Don't think you can just drop it off at the corner lube shop and get it back the next day all good...

but on a positive note, when these things are running clean and you get into the boost they pull like freight trains and not much on the street can handle them light to light with in reason so the pay off is worth it to most of us owners.
 
Chedarbob90

Chedarbob90

White Trash Racing
Re: Daily Driver Typhoon

Is urs the green one that goes up and comes down a lot? I've been looking at the one in Portland with 97 or 98k forever. But it went down a while back. I was gonna make a run down last weekend to see it but it was never reposted. It was at $7900 then $7500. Was that the one you had posted?
 
turbodig

turbodig

Active member
Re: Daily Driver Typhoon

One piece of advice - Make sure you have at least $2k more than the purchase price if you buy one- you'll likely need it for repairs and fixing what's broken. If you spend all your money buying it, you're likely gonna be stuck at some point with a non-running vehicle and no money to fix it.

These aren't the most practical vehicles. You'll spend a lot of money on insurance and/or gas, over and above what the normal maintenance costs are. Personally, this is the *last* vehicle I'd buy on a limited budget, but if you're really dead-set on one...

Do a bunch of research into the vehicle you're buying. There are *lots* of hamburgered-up specimens sitting around in small dealer lots. I wouldn't even consider a dealer lot one unless I knew where it came from.

If you're looking for a pointer to a good one, check out zmann's Red/Red in the classifieds. I'd rate that one as a good buy for the $, and it's been taken care of by a long-time SyTy owner. Even if you have to buy a one-way plane ticket, it's worth it to find a nice one.
 
HiPerformanceHill

HiPerformanceHill

New member
Re: Daily Driver Typhoon

Yup thats it. Its been reposted, let you know, I don't need to sell it and lately been thinking more and more that I shouldn't. The reason for the price going down $400, I decided to keep my corvette wheels and sell with the stock wheels. I did buy about four months ago, it was a good buy for me, the kid that had it before wasn't someone that worked on his own stuff (didn't know how). I buffed out the paint, did some mechanical work, mostly tune it up, replace a shot alternator, vacuum lines and it trully is in great shape. Interior is perfect, it does have some dings that where already there but it gets tons of compliments.
 
Chedarbob90

Chedarbob90

White Trash Racing
Re: Daily Driver Typhoon

How bad is the paint and what not? Really noticable? Cause i've been looking at that one for like a month, i've just been waiting to save up money to go down there and check that one out. I was kinda bummed when it went down and i couldnt find it. Cause it one of the best ones i've found in driving distance.
 
D

davkat

HHR Turbo
Re: Daily Driver Typhoon

My wife bought me a syclone for my birthday back in '07. The body & interior were in excellent condition but the motor blew up within 2 weeks after we bought it. Fortunately we had the money to replace the motor & tranny. Since then the only problems we've had with it were due to my own stupidity :eek: Yea like using 87 octane gas, NEVER AGAIN! :crazyeye:

Under "normal" everyday driving they will do just fine but, like anything else, beat the crap out it and no maintenance, it won't last long. Be patient and shop around, there's lots of tips as to how to buy a syty on this forum.

Happy Hunting :)
 
HiPerformanceHill

HiPerformanceHill

New member
Re: Daily Driver Typhoon

Im real picky, so the paint is honestly pretty good, there is about 5 really small dings that are hard to find unless you look real close, the cladding is faded on two of the top wheel wells, and the cladding has also rubbed through the paint in one of the top portion of the wheel wells also, Im making this out to be worse then it probably is, but Im an honest person. I havent had one person even notice this stuff I've pointed out. It doesnt show up in the pictures either.
 
K

kraus

New member
Re: Daily Driver Typhoon

My wife drives her ty daily 20 miles each way.It sees about 5,000 miles a summer,with no issues,so I would say yes.
 
J

Josh Young

kirk
Re: Daily Driver Typhoon

If I was you, I would consider buying a cheap beater car that is reliable and gets good gas mileage. Buying a beater might save you money and headaches in the long run. You might could get some collector car insurance for the Typhoon if it was not a daily driver and kept inside - if you go with conventional insurance I would imagine it would be a lot higher. Also like many other people have said, it would be a wise idea to have some money set aside for when something goes out. A lot of people wind up: 1.)buying a truck they can't afford, 2.) breaking it, 3.) have no money to fix it, 4.) wind up selling it broke and not running for far less than their initial investement. Hopefully this is not your situation. You are definetely in the right place to find the answers you may have about the truck. Also Powertuneplus is a great website if you have not been there already. Best of luck on whatever move you make.:tup:
 
Chedarbob90

Chedarbob90

White Trash Racing
Re: Daily Driver Typhoon

Man I wish I had the room to get a beater car, I drive an Acura and hate it, I'm a GM guy all the way. The only problem is... I only have a four car driveway and my dads 77 C10, 2000 silverado, and 79 stingray take up the other three spots, so I only have room for one vehicle until I move out, which probably wont be forever cause i'm spending almost all the money I've saved up in the last year on this Ty. I wanna get one now because I'm afraid in ten years when I go to get one they'll all be at 200k miles or wrecked, and they'll almost be extinct. Do they get around in the snow very well?
 
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