newbie to 4th gens. Buying a 88 gts. want to give it a tune up. where to start?

I like standard NGK platinum, decent wires and get a new cap and rotor...
Obviously check all your vac lines and air intake hoses etc

 

Yup, cap, rotor, wires, plugs, oil and air, check fluids, tighten and adjust various belts and clean TB
(Throttle body) and the whole engine bay. These are notorious for power steering leaks too.
My TVIS diaphragm gave out at 136,000 and I perminantly disabled it at 200 when I did a valve job a few years ago.
Vic

 

My TVIS diaphragm is still going at 176,000, so it kind of depends. Out of curiosity, is this the two-tone 88 GT-S I just saw on the facebook site, with the rusted quarter? Just a curiosity point.

Definitely NGK wires, and the cap and rotor are part of the distributor, but are serviceable outside of it. I also use NGK platinum plugs.

The gear oil (if it's manual and not auto) should be swapped to 75W-90 GL4 (I like Valvoline), and the engine oil should be 10W-30 or 10W-40. I super highly recommend swapping all the soft bits, so brake lines, vacuum lines, coolant lines, etc.

 

10W40 will be fine for a higher miles engine in these.