Rebuilding Motor for $3000 or Less

[Ben_Davis]

hello. im new to the forums so im sorry if i ask stupid questions. i recently bought a 96 eclipse gs for 500 bucks. the motor has something wrong with it. i wanna rebuild it what do you guys think i can get done for 3000 bucks. i later wanna add a turbo to it. no nos

[dsmpat95]

its possible. the 420a engine is easy to work on.

[Ben_Davis]

what would you guys recomend on doing?

[dsmpat95]

do some research on piston and rods, and replace all the crank bearings,check it is still good, and reseach on a turbo package and your goals with it, i had a 420a and they are pretty easy to work on.

[Ben_Davis]

do u guys recomend boring out the bottum end?

[dsmpat95]

its up to your goals, i would , it would help.

[Street 2G]

it all relys on what your goals are. but for starters, with 3 g's in hand i would peice together a turbo kit and add exhaust. if you plan on going turbo, its gona be cheaper to peice it together yourself then to buy a kit. what exactly are your goals? do you plan on biulding a street car? what about dyno numbers or track times? the best advice i could give you is to realize your goals before you go throughing money at the car. that way you will meet your goals alot faster and alot cheaper

[totaleclipse_05]

Don't think you will be able to get a good kit going for $3000 if you need an engine rebuild at the same time. Engine rebuild will cost you about 1500-2000 and then you have 1000 leftover. You wont be able to utilize the engine rebuild's advantages with only that much. Rebuild the engine and then just drive it. Save up more money and then turbo it.

[Ben_Davis]

i want a daily driver but at the same time i wanna b able to race it once in a while. yea i wasnt planning on putting a turbo on it right away. i was planning on rebuilding the engine first then later on add turbo. so is that price for the rebuild with boring? or would that cost more? also i read somewhere that an evo's engine would fit my eclipse because the trannys facing the same was as the gs. is this true.

[Afroclipse]

find a cheap 1g gsx is also a good idea.

[loser_635]

an evo motor would fit into your car but, youd have to get teh tranny to match the ervo motor too. The trannys on the passengers side not teh driver side for that one.

what you could do is get a cheap rebuild kit do it yourself for less than 1.5k.

then when you save up about another 1.5k you can go ahead an turbo,the reason youd wana keep the rebuild cheap is so you can have money later for parts that will work with a turbo set up.

[Ben_Davis]

isnt the tranny on the gs on the driver side? also the evo isnt it? if this is possible i think i will go this way. do u guys know if i nned to weld new motor mounts? if so is this hard?

[TalonESIT]

Originally Posted by loser_635

an evo motor would fit into your car but, youd have to get teh tranny to match the ervo motor too. The trannys on the passengers side not teh driver side for that one.

what you could do is get a cheap rebuild kit do it yourself for less than 1.5k.

then when you save up about another 1.5k you can go ahead an turbo,the reason youd wana keep the rebuild cheap is so you can have money later for parts that will work with a turbo set up.

Are you kidding?!? The Evo may look the same but it NOT the same and won't just drop it in, and grabbing a transmission to match is not as simple as you state it! The Evo is AWD... our cars are FWD do you really think that we'd all be working on our 420a's if we could just drop in an Evo motor!?? And for under $3000 dollars?!! Please do your homework before you just make statements as ridiculous as that so that people don't just follow blindly.

Ben you would also need the axles and the transfer case... Yes it is possible, but not under a $3000 budget...

If you did run this route you would need a new bell housing for your transmission or you would have to do the full AWD conversion... You would also need a stand alone ecu.

[loser_635]

to Talon

by evo I didnt think hed actually mean a EVO motor I thought hed mean a 4g63 like out of a GTS or GSX.
even tho theyre both the same I guess the tranny setup is different on them than the GSTs or GSXs

I didnt mean to confuse anybody or give any wrong info but since whenever I think evo motor I instantly think the 4g63s in GSTs or GSXs not the 4g63 in Evolutions.

[Ben_Davis]

my bad didnt mean to get u mad. thats y im asking u more experienced members. and u confused me with the whole tranny thing cause the evo does have it on the driver side just like my gs. didnt mean to lead people in the wrong direction or anything

[TalonESIT]

Originally Posted by Ben_Davis

my bad didnt mean to get u mad. thats y im asking u more experienced members. and u confused me with the whole tranny thing cause the evo does have it on the driver side just like my gs. didnt mean to lead people in the wrong direction or anything

Not mad... didn't mean to come off that way. I apologize if I did, but it seemed like the direction of this thread was going to lead to flaming from left and right...

In the post I replied to he was referring to the dsm 4g63 motor... completely mirrored of our engine bay. The motor you are referring to is the 4g63 found in the Evo's (essentially the same motor found in our factory turbo dsms just with the 420a engine bay layout and more powerful). Although the engine presentation looks very similar, the Evo motor won't just drop into our cars. It is definately possible to put the motor in and I can provide you with links and pictures to guide you in that direction if you are interested, but your thread explains that you only want to spend a max of $3000. The engine/tranny of the evo goes for at least $4000 and then there is minor machining needed to the axles, need to reweld a new transmission mount, plus you need the wiring harness or a stand alone ecu to control everything, plus a relocation of the battery to the trunk to start all of this off. All this is just to get the motor to bolt up, this does not include the conversion to AWD... It is not a simple process but definitely a possible one if you have the downtime of your car and your ready to invest more than $3000.

[Ben_Davis]

no worries. naw i dont think ill end up doin that. ill just rebuild my 420a. i was just curios cause i read it in a forum somewhere. so how much money do you guys think i would need to invest to make 400 horses? i could get 4 grand 4 sure maybe 5.

[99RedGs]

Ok, I didn't ready every post but here is what I have to say:

If you plan on 400 hp you need a built motor. Doing all of the work yourself you should be able to accomplish this for around $2,500 on the high side:

Block:
• Wiseco Pistons + Rings (8.8.1 .020): 429.99
• Eagle Rods: 309.99
• Clevite 77 Main bearings: 57.99
• Melling High Volume Oil Pump: 129.99
• Clevite Rod Bearings: 39.99
• ARP Head studs: 109.99
• ARP Main studs: 152.99
• Gasket kit: 45.99
Total: $1277

Head:
• SBI PT Cruiser Style Lifter Set: 159.99
• SBI PT Cruiser Style Rocker Arm Set: 159.99
• SBI Valve Guide Set: 59.99
• Felpro Top End Gasket Kit: 119.99
• Crower Valve Spring & Retainer Kit: 269.99
• Cams
Total: $770
Misc:
• Bore cylinders
• Hot tank
• Decking
• Balance rotating assembly
Total: $200-500

*Just a quick list so don't think this is necessarily everything you need*

Also boring the cylinders out on these motors doesn't really net you that much of a gain compared to the weakening of the cylinder walls. If you feel to need to bore then go with .020.

If you are going to go through the trouble to build the motor then for the love of god don't cheap out on the turbo set-up and fuel management. After all a stock rebuild would only cost you about $700 so if you spend the extra money you want it to last. Depending on what kind of deal you can find and how much you do your self who knows what kind of a build you could make with the other $1,500 - $2,500 you would have left. I would feel safe saying you could hit 300+ horsepower with that budget, but if you want to get a pre-assembled kit expect to pay more then $2,500.

Most people should expect to spend at least $6,500, and more than likely much more to hit a 400hp goal. Realize that you will also need a new clutch ($500) to handle the power, gauges to monitor ($200-$300), tuning time, etc.. There are always small costs. I would say start your goal at around 250 - 300 so when you don't hit 400 right away you don't get disappointed.

[Jeff99GS]

Dude I know this is a bad thing to say, But I just sold my Turbo'd 420a and picked up a used Talon TSi AWD for 4,500 dollars.
If you're going to spend 6500 rebuilding the GS you can just buy A whole New car and still keep the GS as a back up car!

I LOVED MY GS SOOOOOO MUCH it wasn't even funny...I bought it BRAND NEW in 1999 with 3 miles on it...and I said I'd keep it for ever...BUT I just wanted MORE POWER...and let me say this AWD TURBO TALON is SO wickedly fast and AWD effin rocks!

I hope eveyone doesn't get pissed...Im NOT saying sell your car but maybe just buy another one with all that extra money

[Slo2gen]

Originally Posted by Jeff99GS

Dude I know this is a bad thing to say, But I just sold my Turbo'd 420a and picked up a used Talon TSi AWD for 4,500 dollars.
If you're going to spend 6500 rebuilding the GS you can just buy A whole New car and still keep the GS as a back up car!

I LOVED MY GS SOOOOOO MUCH it wasn't even funny...I bought it BRAND NEW in 1999 with 3 miles on it...and I said I'd keep it for ever...BUT I just wanted MORE POWER...and let me say this AWD TURBO TALON is SO wickedly fast and AWD effin rocks!

I hope eveyone doesn't get pissed...Im NOT saying sell your car but maybe just buy another one with all that extra money

To some people, its all about being different. I have wanted to turbo my 420a for the longest time and now its actually going to happen within the next couple weeks, but to make 400 whp in a 420a is not an easy task. As long as you do your research and don't make the mistake of buying because oh the one post said this, you get in and then find in another thread that it would have been better if you would have bought this. Take your time. If I could do it over again, I would build a stock comp ratio 2.4L and boost that, but thats just me. Just do you homework, you will be ok. There are alot of people on here and 2gnt that know the insides and out of the engine and trans and what needs to be replaced when you want XXX amount of power.

[Ben_Davis]

thank you so much. thats what i was lookin for. a general list of things i needed. i know awd is way better, but im not really gonna b racing it. i just want to have the extra power for fun. just to race my buddies, thats y i realy dont mind having fwd. later on if i get into the whole fast and the furious thing(which i probably will) ill buy an awd model. but for now i think this is a good start. also do you guys know what stock evo hp is?