Street Build: 300+WHP build on a 1998 GS Turbo'd 420a

GSTurbo1 · 07-17-2012, 02:34 PM

My 1998 Eclipse GS Turbo BUDGET BUILD

Goal= 300+ whp on a 420a

Car was purchased for $1700 on 05/26/12

Pictures upon retrieval and decent wash:

Engine Bay:

Front:

Side:

Rear:

Dyno On 5psi:

and link to CLEMSON SCC's review for haters http://www.clemsonscc.org/post-138663.html

420a Engine
Eagle Rods
JE 8.8:1 Pistons
Cometic Head Gasket
ARP Head Studs

DSM 450cc Injectors
Walbro 255 LPH Fuel Pump
Aeromotive Regulator

Hahn Racecraft Turbo Kit
Hahn 16g Turbo @ 5psi

I picked it up in spartanburg... These people had no clue how to work on it. They had no clue it was running on megasquirt standalone. I found it underneath the passenger floor mat, I was like is this... a rangom box with a SH!T Ton of wires running through the firewall. Sounds safe to have bouncer around where people kick. I mounted it in the passengers to where it looks pretty sweet with the three leds strobing and is out of the way of feet!

The car ran ok.... but this was my first turbo car so I didnt know what to expect. I end up figuring out to use megatune and get the car tuned as is. So I start driving it thinking that was all it had. I was in for a suprise... (at the time only spooling to 7-8psi on a good run), I did enough research and checked my wastegate arm, it was unhooked from the wastegate acuator rod. Therefore, the flapper was staying open and building no boost.

So I attached it and now the wastegate shutter is incredibly tight. Needless to say I fixed it at work and was like holy balls this thing is about to be quick. I pulled out in front of boss leaving for home and had no traction first, second, or third gear. It sounded like I was riding behind a jet engine.

Now I have a VOODOO MBC pushing about 15 pounds on the car, and getting mad power. I tune almost everydrive on tunerstudio and it only gets faster and smoother. I feel that I have a close to 300 WHP right now.

My friend has a bad rx7 that wear tear up in the mountains in, my friend has 2012 5.0 mustang that thought he was tough SH1t till we hit the mountains.

I love the car but as far as drag racing... this is not the car. 300hp in a 2700 pound car + FWD = No pink slip for me.

If I could harness this power in awd we would be good to go.

Interior:

Early July 2012 I put my fans on a switch, installed pioneer double din CD player and painted the rims black.

The next thing I did was hood spacers by SickSpeed to vent the hot air from my engine bay and pull cool air through the intercooler

sypherzero · 07-17-2012, 05:14 PM

Damn man, looks nice. Did you spray the wheels? Or did they come that color?

GSTurbo1 · 07-17-2012, 06:07 PM

They were sprayed i'm sure... and thanks man

GST2012GSX · 07-17-2012, 06:17 PM

Damn,That looks nice! Congrats on having such a beatiful 420a.

spadepro22 · 07-17-2012, 06:24 PM

Got it for a steal. Get it from around here?

Josh97eclipse · 07-17-2012, 07:07 PM

How is that 1:1 FPR working out for you? My buddy did that on his set up but I dont think it raises enough fuel in boost for my liking. Clean car man! What is your static fuel PSI?

GSTurbo1 · 07-17-2012, 08:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spadepro22

Got it for a steal. Get it from around here?

I picked it up in spartanburg... These people had no clue how to work on it. They had no clue it was running on megasquirt standalone. I found it underneath the passenger floor mat, I was like

is this... a rangom box with a SH!T Ton of wires running through the firewall. Sounds safe to have bouncer around where people kick. I mounted it in the passengers to where it looks pretty sweet with the three leds strobing and is out of the way of feet!

The car ran ok.... but this was my first turbo car so I didnt know what to expect. I end up figuring out to use megatune and get the car tuned as is. So I start driving it thinking that was all it had. I was in for a suprise... (at the time only spooling to 7-8psi on a good run), I did enough research and checked my wastegate arm, it was unhooked from the wastegate acuator rod. Therefore, the flapper was staying open and building no boost.

So I attached it and now the wastegate shutter is incredibly tight. Needless to say I fixed it at work and was like holy balls this thing is about to be quick. I pulled out in front of boss leaving for home and had no traction first, second, or third gear. It sounded like I was riding behind a jet engine.

Now I have a VOODOO MBC pushing about 15 pounds on the car, and getting mad power. I tune almost everydrive on tunerstudio and it only gets faster and smoother. I feel that I have a close to 300 WHP right now.

My friend has a bad rx7 that wear tear up in the mountains in, my friend has 2012 5.0 mustang that thought he was tough SH1t till we hit the mountains.

I love the car but as far as drag racing... this is not the car. 300hp in a 2700 pound car + FWD = No pink slip for me.

If I could harness this power in awd we would be good to go.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Josh97eclipse

How is that 1:1 FPR working out for you? My buddy did that on his set up but I dont think it raises enough fuel in boost for my liking. Clean car man! What is your static fuel PSI?

Static fuel psi is 45.

GSTurbo1 · 07-24-2012, 04:42 PM

As of July 24th i'm tearing down for a head rebuild will be posting pics soon.

simons3z · 07-25-2012, 01:49 PM

wheel combo on your car looks sick!

Josh97eclipse · 07-25-2012, 01:57 PM

what injectors are you running?

GSTurbo1 · 07-25-2012, 02:08 PM

thanks man.

I'm pushing 450 cc injectors, have not got anywhere close to maxing duty cycle

glowryder · 08-01-2012, 01:20 PM

Get tuner studio.. Megatune is old and, well obsolete. Build that bish!

GSTurbo1 · 08-01-2012, 01:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by glowryder

Get tuner studio.. Megatune is old and, well obsolete. Build that bish!

Running tuner studio now, I bought a vga cord that goes to rca plug for my pioneer in dash. I custom designed a cool gauge cluster that should show up on my in dash while I drive.

glowryder · 08-01-2012, 01:39 PM

Me 2. It looks cool, but i went back to laptop, esier to read and actually do stuff, plus when your logging, some comps dont like the lid to be shut.

GSTurbo1 · 08-01-2012, 01:54 PM

I imagine it would be hard to read, i'm trying to make the gauges as large as possible. I'm going to post a cool gauge cluster on here I spent a lot of time designing.

I'm more so using it to display my tach since I have no circuit built to go from the MSNS Extra to my tach, but I can use the megasquirt tach on my in-dash, I made the tach huge and did different shift light stages to help my keep track of the tach. It a real cool gauge cluster though, I put a ton of thought and effort into it.

GSTurbo1 · 08-06-2012, 02:20 PM

As of August 6th 2012,

I have everything unbolted from the block, about to pull the head off.

Parts purchased for the rebuild:

Cometic head gasket to match the bore (+ 1/2 pint of ARP ultra torque moly lube)
Gates racing belt, mechanical timing tensioner, new tensioner idler, new waterpump

glowryder · 08-06-2012, 02:25 PM

Gl! Sounds like you got good parts. Minus that head gasket. Butbit should work. Dont forget to lube both sides of the arp washers to get the correct tq reading.

cdkelly91 · 08-06-2012, 02:28 PM

Not that it matters a whole lot but what makes you think that's a GS? Looks a hell of a lot like an RS to me. Still looks like you got a steal and a good looking car. Glad to see someone else boosting the 420a.

GSTurbo1 · 08-16-2012, 03:55 PM

Found pieces of the piston chipped away just at the top of the piston towards the back of the dome. I'm going to try to take the piston's out this evening then replace them with some new JE Asymmetrical FSR piston with seal pro rings so I will be able to push high boost without so much friction. Hoping to be good @ 20+ psi on 8.5 compression ratio.

Painting cam sprockets

The valve cover was worn out

So I got it sandblasted, High heat primered then sprayed with a bright red,

once i Had it taped up I sprayed with high temp flat black paint (4 coats)

I have peeled the tape off and it looks amazing, will be posting pic soon. I have now put another 3 coats of gloss on to really make it pop out at you.

I am replacing the cams with some nice crowers

MSNS

A little video of me riding wheelies on my yz450f
http://s1197.photobucket.com/albums/...t=DSCF0663.mp4

roguber · 08-17-2012, 12:04 PM

I like it, follow this project closely.

I'm doing a 420a very similar to yours.

GSTurbo1 · 08-17-2012, 12:21 PM

I love it man... it is very very fast once it gets up to speed. It does not get traction when getting up to speed.

glowryder · 08-17-2012, 12:23 PM

I hope your doing a bearing job too, and adding a crank scraper/Wingasge tray? How do the valves and guides look after all that Piston to valve contact?

GSTurbo1 · 08-18-2012, 08:54 AM

Actually there is no sign of contact, i have a nice crank scraper I'm going to throw in once I do the pistons. I don't know if i'm going to have the funds to do bearings too, I just spent about a thousand dollars on this rebuild.

How much do bearings usually cost.

GSTurbo1 · 08-19-2012, 05:17 PM

Just found out the cams that came with my car for install are crane 246 intake/exhaust Crane Neon DOHC Camshaft Kit #0012

GSTurbo1 · 08-23-2012, 03:16 PM

Ok so I'm replacing my piston's with je's new Asymmetrical pistons, I took the pistons out today and found the culprit to my blow-by. And most likely my low compression numbers, 150 psi give or take 10 across the board.

The walls are not scared, slight slight ridges barely feelable with the fingernail. A good flex hone to the wall and we should be rockin

Josh97eclipse · 08-23-2012, 03:48 PM

What were your af ratios in boost?

GSTurbo1 · 08-23-2012, 07:23 PM

10-11 now but the guys that had after the builder didn't know how to tune.

glowryder · 08-23-2012, 07:30 PM

yea it looks like it got hot.. and possibly some Det.. No good. IMO, why dont you have a machine shop look at it.. I know you already ordered the stuff (newb move), but id hate to see you get it all back together and stil not be right because the tol's are not correct.. Any idea on ring gaps? How do the rod bearings look?

GSTurbo1 · 08-24-2012, 01:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by glowryder

yea it looks like it got hot.. and possibly some Det.. No good. IMO, why dont you have a machine shop look at it.. I know you already ordered the stuff (newb move), but id hate to see you get it all back together and stil not be right because the tol's are not correct.. Any idea on ring gaps? How do the rod bearings look?

By god this mother is going to run like a champ, i'm ordering new clevite rod bearings.

glowryder · 08-24-2012, 01:17 PM

Ok, do you know what size you need.. What series did you order? Are you sure your crank doesnt need turned or replaced depeing on the journal size and condtion..

Det can killl rod bearings, and Since it looks like you had a fair amount, thus im wondering about crank condtion, as the bearing can only take so much.. Im willing to bet you need to either turn the crank or get a new one ( if the crank has been turned a few times before). Esp on boosting, the more "meat", the better. HX are a good clevite, but require extra Tolerancing..

Running, and Lasting are 2 differnt things.