TheWanderer
15+ Year Contributor
- 149
- 0
- Oct 26, 2007
-
Reading,
Pennsylvania
Well, figure this is as good a place as any to start a thread detailing my plans for the new (to me) 2G . This will serve a dual purpose by helping me keep track of what I have done to the car maintenance wise and what I plan to do to the car.
A bit of history on said car:
I am the third owner of the car, with the last owner having bought it with 39,612 miles on it in 2002. The original owner was from New Jersey. The previous owner was a middle aged woman who daily drove it until last year when she purchased a brand new Mitsubishi Endeavor. She kept very meticulous records on the car, and it was serviced by a local, well respected independent garage that used to be a Chrysler/Jeep/Eagle dealership. And when I say she was meticulous, I mean she was very meticulous (I have records of all fill ups with mileage, cost, etc dating back to the day of purchase).
The car in question is a bone stock silver 1999 Eclipse RS automatic with ~154k miles on the odometer and black cloth/leather interior. The only modifications done to the vehicle were a Pursuit "The Protector" alarm and a Pioneer head unit by the original owner. The Pioneer HU has already been removed, and plans are in the works to remove the aftermarket alarm as well, in favor of a newer remote start enabled alarm system. More to come on this as I cross that bridge.
This is by far one of the cleanest stock 2G cars I have ever had the pleasure of seeing and/or driving. The interior is a 9/10, the body and paint are an 8.5/10 (there is a minor ding near the fuel door and some surface rust underneath the trunk lid as well as in the trunk), and the mechanicals are about an 9/10 (considering mileage).
Now, as I am a complete noob when it comes to 2G DSMs, this is very much a learning experience as it is a fun "project". I come from a background with 1G N/T 4G63 cars, so reason stands that this shouldn't be much different (outside of the 420a). And I am no stranger to working on cars, having owned and worked on everything from Fiero's to SVX's to my white whale, the 93 3kGT VR4 (that I never got to drive
).
The goal? To make the car MY car, plain and simple. To elaborate more, I plan to improve fit and form while keeping or improving reliability and gas mileage for a daily driver. Never mind that RS may as well stand for "Real Slow", I don't care about speed. However eventually I do intend on improving handling and suspension for road racing/autocross purposes. But this will not be for quite some time. Much of what I plan to do is going to be considered "peace of mind, general maintenance" tasks, however I do want to change a few things like adding options, etc. Consider my to do list items to be that of convenience or safety items.
Photos and more info to be added later on, and I will update as I move forward with the project. I plan to keep this thread as organized as possible, with each new post building on the last with a new project per each post.
First project on the list: Replacing the radiator. While under the hood last week I was checking hoses to see what needed replaced. When I squeezed the top hose, the inlet snapped off of the radiator end tank, inside of the hose. Not what I wanted to deal with 4 days after buying the car. Steps involved will be posted and photos to come. Still waiting for the radiator to show up in the mail from Rockauto. For now I am planning to use the Spectra Premium P/N 973611 (cross references to CU2477, MB906412, MB924993, MR127910, MR127911, MR312969). Price is $76.79 plus shipping and has a 2 year warranty. Eventually I intend to upgrade to a 2 row aluminum radiator from radiatorbarn.com
A bit of history on said car:
I am the third owner of the car, with the last owner having bought it with 39,612 miles on it in 2002. The original owner was from New Jersey. The previous owner was a middle aged woman who daily drove it until last year when she purchased a brand new Mitsubishi Endeavor. She kept very meticulous records on the car, and it was serviced by a local, well respected independent garage that used to be a Chrysler/Jeep/Eagle dealership. And when I say she was meticulous, I mean she was very meticulous (I have records of all fill ups with mileage, cost, etc dating back to the day of purchase).
The car in question is a bone stock silver 1999 Eclipse RS automatic with ~154k miles on the odometer and black cloth/leather interior. The only modifications done to the vehicle were a Pursuit "The Protector" alarm and a Pioneer head unit by the original owner. The Pioneer HU has already been removed, and plans are in the works to remove the aftermarket alarm as well, in favor of a newer remote start enabled alarm system. More to come on this as I cross that bridge.
This is by far one of the cleanest stock 2G cars I have ever had the pleasure of seeing and/or driving. The interior is a 9/10, the body and paint are an 8.5/10 (there is a minor ding near the fuel door and some surface rust underneath the trunk lid as well as in the trunk), and the mechanicals are about an 9/10 (considering mileage).
Now, as I am a complete noob when it comes to 2G DSMs, this is very much a learning experience as it is a fun "project". I come from a background with 1G N/T 4G63 cars, so reason stands that this shouldn't be much different (outside of the 420a). And I am no stranger to working on cars, having owned and worked on everything from Fiero's to SVX's to my white whale, the 93 3kGT VR4 (that I never got to drive
).The goal? To make the car MY car, plain and simple. To elaborate more, I plan to improve fit and form while keeping or improving reliability and gas mileage for a daily driver. Never mind that RS may as well stand for "Real Slow", I don't care about speed. However eventually I do intend on improving handling and suspension for road racing/autocross purposes. But this will not be for quite some time. Much of what I plan to do is going to be considered "peace of mind, general maintenance" tasks, however I do want to change a few things like adding options, etc. Consider my to do list items to be that of convenience or safety items.
Photos and more info to be added later on, and I will update as I move forward with the project. I plan to keep this thread as organized as possible, with each new post building on the last with a new project per each post.
First project on the list: Replacing the radiator. While under the hood last week I was checking hoses to see what needed replaced. When I squeezed the top hose, the inlet snapped off of the radiator end tank, inside of the hose. Not what I wanted to deal with 4 days after buying the car. Steps involved will be posted and photos to come. Still waiting for the radiator to show up in the mail from Rockauto. For now I am planning to use the Spectra Premium P/N 973611 (cross references to CU2477, MB906412, MB924993, MR127910, MR127911, MR312969). Price is $76.79 plus shipping and has a 2 year warranty. Eventually I intend to upgrade to a 2 row aluminum radiator from radiatorbarn.com
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