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High HP Street/Strip 91 Eclipse GSX

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5150DSM

Supporting VIP
856
3
Jan 5, 2004
Sacramento, California
Post 1:

1991 Eclipse GSX. Right now it's a E316G car with basic supporting mods. (in profile) Started off as an E-Bay budget build but I'm sick of the BS associated with cheaping out. This car has been my DD and it's fun and all but all the problems that crop up with higher boost, bad gas, street tuning, constant band-aid repairs, etc... It's got me frustrated. So today I bought a $500 beater and I'm parking the beast to finish it up right.

Basic plan is to switch to a full E85 set-up with real engine management, run higher boost, make more power, keep it streetable and be competitive at 10.80-10.90. (and be moderately reliable) So... ditch all the e-bay crap, such as turbo, O2 housing, boost control, patched together I/C piping and such and replace it. Get as much weight out as I can without stripping the car. Rebuild the poor, beat up trans. Get brakes, suspension and chassis built up and tightened up. Get some new shoes. And put it back on the street.

I think the current Manley piston/rod combo, in my N/T block, with the Hyundai head will work for the base and after the trans rebuild and a spring/retainer upgrade my basic power plant is built.

I'll post some pictures of the build up to now and then progress into the next steps. I'm working on a 1-1.5 year budget/timeframe so progress may be slow at times but I'll drop detailed updates as things move on.
 
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First, the beater.

87' Mazda 626, 158K, barely tolerable interior, heavily oxidized exterior; new brakes, new tires and new timing belt... passes smog and gets 30+ mpg on the highway.
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As she sits now...

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To add to the list of things that have gone wrong... I just finished the 3rd head gasket about 100 miles ago; did a compression test and found 185-120(150 wet)150-150(180 wet). Seems like whe I lost this last head gasket, I cooked the rings in 2-3-4. So, I'm gonna tear it down again, hone and re-ring it and slap some new rod bearings in. The last gasket was a 5 layer Fel-Prom Permatorque that failed after 300 miles. (poor machine work)

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Note the visible tool marks in the head and the lack of sealing around the coolant passages. Also check out the pitting and heat cracking. The head was already near minimum so I just trashed it and had a Hyundai head I had laying arond put together.

Previous failures to follow. Then we can get into the specific plans and move into a better future. (###k I hope)
 
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Screw the previous damage... I'm moving on.

Some of the basics have arrived and a plan is in place. I made some decisions and moved some money around so I could speed up the process. I can't work a whole lot during winter so I figure I'll gather parts and get ready for the sunlight to come back. Plus after taxes I can build the trans inside and get the motor set back up.

Plans:

Previously built motor.
8.8:1 (est.) Manley pistons, standard bore.
Manley rods
ARP rod and head.
BSE
N/T block, no squirters.

Previously built head.
Hyundai decked .007 mild port and bowl work.
stainless valves, 3 angle job
stock springs/retainers
new bronze guides
new viton seals
BC 272 I/E
2G intake mani
FP race manifold

Fuel.
1200cc injectors
billet rail with -6 fittings
re-wired pt342
Fuel Lab AFPR
Stainless lines

Turbo.
Holset, bolt-on, internal gate, probably HX35 but we will see what pops up in the classifieds.
FP 4" intake

Exhaust.
3" TB
EVOIII O2
FP mani
3" HF Cat

Engine management.
Link V3 full, speed density.

DriveTrain.
Built auto, welded center, shift kit, big cooler.
Stock axles. (for now)
Solid carrier bushings
Stock 3bolt :coy:
Road surge or some equivalent, haven't decided.

Chassis/Suspension

Tube front crossmember
Bigger brakes... gotta decide, budget.
Springs, struts, shocks, coil-overs... I'm having a rough time here. There is so little decent 1g stuff that doesn't cost your first born. I'm really open to suggestions, ideas or hell even theories on this part.

That's the basics. Comments, sugestions, ideas and constructive criticism are always welcome.

Pic's of the new stuff coming next.
 
First wave of parts, more to come. Also, I plan to dcument the trans rebuild in this thread, hopefully this will help out other people looking to do the same.
 

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Hows that trans rebuild coming ?
 
I have a good update coming this week. Just waiting for one more package.
 
Time for an update.

Ever since I lived in Hawaii for 15 years I've been really intolerant of the cold. So with the mornings being in the 20's and 30's and the day highs in the 40's... I'm not working outside. I decided until it warmed up a bit, I was just going to gather all the parts I could, then start building in Spring time. My squirrel with a nut tendencies are paying off and now I'm almost there.

First, I finished off the fuel set-up with this bad boy. Jay Racing PT341 pump.
 

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I needed to get rid of my crusty old 2G manifold, it worked good for what I had before but sometimes you just gotta think bigger.
FP Race Manifold, thermal coated for your pleasure.
 

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Had to get away from the ill fitting, poorly welded, shitty looking, overall piece of crap E-Bay O2 housing.

Straight from the factory E3 O2 housing. I need to get in and remove the step and do a little porting and blending but this should flow great and help me keep my semi-stock appearance so I can fend off the California Mod Nazi's.
 

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Gotta get the compression back up and make sure that bottom end is nice and tight. Got some ACL tri-Metals around here somewhere but didn't snap a shot. But these expensive motherfu(kers came drop shipped from Manley the other day.
 

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Gotta keep my cool at the line for those crazy launches.
 

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There's gotta be a way for me to control all this stuff and get the most out of set-up... Thanks ECMTuning for making us all better with your toys.
Full SD system ready to start maxing me out.
 

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And finally... The crown jewel.
DSM Green XL (76HTA) in a 8cm housing. Stayed with the internal gate to maintain "semi-stock" appearace. 59 lbs/min and reportedly a fast spool for the size should make this a super fun turbo for the street and a monster on the strip with the wick on FIRE.
 

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I'm going to be doing one of these in the upcoming months as well, good job.
 
So here I am, lots of pieces gathered and just a few more to go. Trans rebuild stuff should be here by mid February and then I just need to address the chassis.

I'm planning to do Prothane mounts/bushings throughout the car; tubular upper arms in the rear, tubular front cross-member and solid bushings on the rear end and drive-line carrier. I'm thinking about doing the Outlander brake swap with some EBC or Hawk pads and I'll probaly just go with an AGX/GC combo while I save for a better suspension set-up.

I hope to finished with the project and be cooking with fire by my birthday (April 1st... shut-up) And then we will see what the new generation of FP turbos can do. Huge thanks to Forced performance, Jay Racing, FFWD, JNZ Tuning, MAP, IPT and the many members of the GREAT DSMTuners community for helping me to realize my DSM dreams. Boost on brothers and sisters.

Build updates to follow when I don't have to freeze my ass off to work.
 
Update time. Plots and plans have been adjusted slightly.

I've decided not to do the full trans build at this time, I going to stick with the IPT end clutches that are already installed, Kiggly front clutch pack, Kiggly flexplate and a shift box; I'm also staying with the stock converter. I have a few reasons: as far as the converter goes, I only have some basic spec data on the turbo and not much real world info to go off of. I'm not entirely sure what the spool characteristics are going to be and concurrently what the power band is going to look like; hence, I don't want to buy a converter that is poorly matched to my set-up. Also, I'm not sure this set-up is going to require a fully built trans and being that it would stretch my budget severely, I'm going to roll the dice. Finally, because this is only a stage in the eventual build of the car and the ultimate goal has not been fully defined; I don't want to invest in an expensive transmission that may not mesh with my final goal. (Maybe I'll want to road-race someday. ;))

Oh, and I haven't decided about welding the center dif; since this is going to be a driver, I'm not sure I want the hassle. But, never having driven a welded car, I don't know how much of a pain in the ass it really is. I've read that the auto's are better but...

Now on to the good stuff. I'm about 90% complete with my parts gathering and the weather is warming up so all this shit I've been buying is finally going to get a home... Starting this weekend.

Thanks Kevin, your products kick ass! I'll grab the flex-plate next week but here's the clutches.
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Also got the intercooler situation worked out. VRSF 1G kit... 24 x 8(almost) x 4(almost), pipes, couplers, etc... One of my mounting tabs got bent in shipping but oh well, that's what pliers are for.
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Started tearing down the car on Saturday and got a good amount done. Just need to pull the axles real quick and yank out the motor/trans. I grabbed a couple of shots that I'll post for posterity but we all know what a torn apart DSM looks like.
On another note, Kiggly flexplate will be here Thursday, along with my "Big Brake" upgrade (94 2pots and rotors) and that will just about do it except for some random gaskets and my suspension. Still can't decide on the shock/strut set-up; I'm being indecisive because I don't want to compromise but the options are just so limited. Oh well, I'll figure something out.
Thanks for reading and commenting, hang in there, it's about to get good.
 
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