1990 GSX Daily Driver Build and Restore to 400 WHP

[ErikTande]

1990 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX - 12 Second Daily Driver Build

This top post will be updated a lot as I expand my build and talk about my goals. Daily updates will be posted below.

My overall goal is a 12 second daily driven car. I want the car to look like it rolled off the factory line. Original wheels, paint, exhaust that is stock looking and sounding, etc. I want to keep AC and power steering if possible, but may remove them. I want to to remove 150 to 250 pounds (lbs) from the car as well.

This build journal will be a bit different from other journals. I work my day job (VFX and Animation) 40 hours a week, and I put in another 30 to 40 hours into my business I started. I find mechanical projects daunting, but I'm learning and getting better. Paint and body work comes naturally to me however, and I painted cars professionally for a few years.

Goal list: (In the order I'm planning on doing them)

1. Replace heavy, chrome generic wheels with 1990 OEM alloy wheels and replace missing OEM fog lamp - DONE, SEE POST BELOW

2. Replace knockoff, unrecirculated BOV - DONE, SEE POST BELOW

3. Outlander big brake upgrade - DONE, SEE POST BELOW

4. Paint Bumper DONE (ended up painting whole car. whoops.) PAINTED CAR

5. Install Wideband and Boost Guage - DONE

6. Install ECMLink - DONE

7. Remove rear seats and re-carpet area - DONE

8. Full 3" exhaust - DONE

9. Fix Shifter bushings - DONE

10. Install fuel upgrades (Walbro 450, AFPR, Filter, 1000cc injectors) DONE

11. Tune car for 91 Octane.

12. Switch to E85 and tune for that.

13. Replace manifold with ported 2g manifold

14. Port manifold and turbo

15. Rebuild leaky power steering pump

16. Install FMIC - DONE

17. Replace knock sensor

18. Better cooling with dual core radiator- DONE

Here's a few pics of the car a couple days after I bought it. Those wheels gotta go!

Awesome hood paint:

 

[ErikTande]

First up: The awful chrome wheels that had been spray painted black:

I wanted the OEM wheels (I don't know why so many people hated them), but it was almost impossible to find some that hadn't been totally abused or spray painted black (ugh). Luckily, a poster here on DSMTuners (Awdspyderman) saw one my posts looking for some. He had a set that had been sitting in storage for years, and even though they were spray painted black, I decided to get them because he gave me such an awesome deal. And as a bonus, he even had the OEM fog lamp and bracket that I was missing. Score!

I spent 10 to 15 hours sanding, scrubbing and refinishing the wheels, but it was worth it. I'm currently making a video of the entire process, but here's a couple screenshots in the mean time:

RESTORED:

I moved into a new place in July 2013, and even though I'm renting I still decided to make a couple improvements in the garage. I added some shelves and finished painting the wall to help keep things brighter and easier to see.

BEFORE paint:

AFTER paint:

I highly recommend painting any large surface in your garage white. It makes a HUGE difference in visibility when working after hours (and even during the day).




After I got the garage painted, I ordered a Turbo Performance manifold blanket and installed that. I even made a how to video. Major props to Jafro, Tom, JJrock and the other DSM youtubers, it takes a lot of time and hard work to make a video, and they make it look easy.

[ame]

This video also gives a good look at how bad the paint was on my car, you can see the hood at the beginning and end.

Here's the blanket I ordered:
http://turbo-performance-products.m...ns/frontpage/products/dsm-fp-manifold-blanket
I was sold after reading this thread:
http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/new...ance-exhaust-manifold-blanket-off-ebay-3.html

I've had it on for over 6 months now, and I love it. It's noticeably cooler, and I can even tough the blanket after the car is fully warm and been ran hard.



Here it is installed on my car in September 2013:

 

[ErikTande]

SEPTEMBER 2013 - 120 amp alternator, JMF Small Battery install and EGR block off

No pics of the alternator, sorry. It's an OEM Mitsubishi 120 amp alternator off ebay. My local brakes plus installed it for me for $75. Well worth it IMO, it would have taken me hours to do. It solved my dimming lights problem with my sub / music playing. Of course, then I decided to put in a tiny battery. I love it though!

There was a total of 42.14 lbs (pounds) removed from the car from the battery, tray, charcoal canister, hoses, egr valve, etc.

Here's all the stuff permanently removed:

I added back in a 15 lb battery and 1.5 lb tray, so 16.5 lbs back in the car. So I lost 25.5 lbs with this new battery setup. Pretty awesome.


I also removed my EGR and got rid of a ton of extra vacuum lines, I bought the STM block off plate and installed it with a small bead of high temp rtv.

 

[ErikTande]

SEPTEMBER 2013 - EXHAUST UPGRADE

Around September of 2013 I ordered a PLX wideband and boost gauge combo. I crawled under the car to get a look at the downpipe, and I noticed that there wasn't a catalytic converter on the car. Just a poorly welded in leaky straight pipe. Well shit. I hadn't planned on upgrading my exhaust for at least a year or two, but since I needed a new CAT anyway, I thought, what the hell. Might as well go for a full 3" on an otherwise stock car. Why not, right? Here's a video of the exhaust after it was removed. Notice the incomplete welds:

[ame]

Here's the new parts:

Went with a Megan downpipe, Thunderbolt CAT, MagnaFlow Performance Muffler 14239. No tip yet, looking for one that looks like a stock tip. I'll post pictures and video when it's all installed.
Megan Racing 3" Downpipe Amazon.com Megan Downpipe 1G DSM


Thunderbolt CAT 3" http://performance-curve.com/410300.aspx

MagnaFlow Performance Mufflers 14239 3" Amazon.com MagnaFlow Performance Mufflers 14239

I ordered these tips, the shop is converting it to a 3" inlet for me.

Amazon.com Magnaflow 35167 Stainless Steel 2.25" Exhaust Tip

VIDEO COMING SOON

VIDEO IS HERE


Sorry for the delay. Finally got around to making a video.





Parts links:
http://amzn.to/14NP12o - Megan 3" downpipe
http://amzn.to/1g55uQc - Magnaflow Muffler 12229
http://amzn.to/MkhhBt - Magnaflow resonator 12619
http://amzn.to/19kJD51 - Magnaflow Dual Exhaust tips (modified to 3" by exhaust shop)
http://performance-curve.com/410300.aspx - High flow 3" CAT

 

[ErikTande]

AUGUST 2013

My stock rotors were pretty much shot, as were the front brake pads. I knew that from day one when I bought the car. I held off replacing them for a few months though since I knew I wanted an upgrade, but I didn't know what I wanted or even what options I had. After a bunch of reading and research and posting questions here on DSMtuners, I decided to go with the Outlander big brake upgrade.

I found my first link that led me here:
RRE's Eclipse Brake Upgrades

So I called up Road Race Engineering and I ordered my stainless steel brake lines. I talked to Robert C Ramirez at RRE and he was SUPER helpful. I asked all sorts of questions, he talked about his own DSM and gave me lots of good advice. That's top notch customer service, I highly recommend them.

I ordered my Outlander cross drilled and slotted rotors from Brakeperformance.com the same day, and Centric Parts calipers and hardware from ebay. http://www.ebay.com/itm/330933821573?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649&afsrc=1

Total cost for new brake parts: TOTAL FOR PARTS: $506.00


Here's a picture of all the parts together after they arrived:

HOLY CRAP what a difference. I made sure to break them in nice and easy for the first 1000 miles or so. I never really had to use them until one day I had to hit the brakes hard. I was BLOWN away at the difference in stopping power over my 23 year old stock setup. I love these brakes!



NOVEMBER 2013
I'm skipping around in time a bit here, but I don't care. I'm a doctor. Anyway, the Centric outlander calipers started to get surface rust only a couple weeks after installing them.

Unacceptable. I should have painted them before installing. Oh well, live and learn. I bought some rust remover gel from the auto store and gave both calipers a generous coating (twice each).

It took care of all the rust, just use in a well ventilated area, that stuff is nasty. Make sure to get heavy duty chemical resistant gloves. Good for paint stripper too. Here's a pic of the caliper off and brake pads removed for stripping and repainting:

This gel is nasty! It smells so bad / toxic. Worked really well though, I gotta say. Stripped the rust off like it was nothing.

Here's a before pic:

And here's after cleaning and painting:

HIGH TEMP PRIMER COAT: Rust-Oleum high temp primer

And painted while balanced on a jack stand:

 

[ErikTande]

OCTOBER 2013

I need to buy Link, and I finally got around to pulling my ECU out of my car today on my lunch break to see if it is an EPROM or not.

Right away I noticed a bolt or two missing as I took the covers off, so I knew someone had been in there before. I was kind of hoping I would find Link already installed. As I pulled it out of the center console (giggity) I noticed a rebuilt sticker on it (rebuilt in 2007) which was good. I took it apart, and it's SUPER clean. Like almost new.

So I packed it up in a box, placed my order online and shipped it off to ECM Tuning. I had it back within a week and plugged it back into the car.

OCTOBER 2013

October was also the month of Jack's Garage Sale, which was awesome. I got up that Saturday morning and drove down to see if I could find anything cool. I wasn't looking for anything particular at the time, but my front bumper was slightly bent at the bottom and in rough shape. Luckily for me, Jack had one for a 1990 sitting around! I snagged it for $20!!! I also found a Mitsubish Valve Cover (from a Galant I think) and I also snagged that for $20. SCORE!

 

[ErikTande]

Reserved post

 

[ErikTande]

A lot was done to the car before this post, but I need to keep updated so I'm going to keep a current log starting here. I'll fill in the back log when I get time.


First up! FENDERS! Both fenders on the car were dented, so I went to the junk yard and found 2 fenders (one champagne, one green) that were rust free with no dents. They both had some pretty deep scratches and some chipping, so first thing was to sand them down smooth, get them primed and ready for paint. I used a heat gun to remove the moldings so I could paint those separately.

Picture of the dents:

One of the "new" fenders from the junkyard. No dents and rust free! Covered in tar and crap though, but nothing a bit of sanding won't take care of.

Smooth as silk and ready to paint!

Primed and wet sanded!

 

[ErikTande]

NOVEMBER 6th, 2013

Next up, the rear bumper! It was never painted by the previous owner when he put it on the car, so I took it off to get it prepped and painted. Talk about a pain in the ass. I used Pblaster on everything, and I still twisted the head off a couple bolts, they were all rusty as hell. So I ordered a bunch of new bolts from autobodyclips.com, I'll post pics of those later. For now, time to prep the bumper!

Rear bumper removed:

fixing a couple deep scratches before priming:

Rear bumper primed and ready for paint!

I'm going to paint the rear bumper and fenders at the same time, but first I needed to do some test fitting to make sure I wasn't going to have any issues. Better to find out that a primed fender doesn't fit than a finished painted fender doesn't fit. Luckily, I had no issues.

It was 40 degrees outside when I was ready to paint (that won't work at all, so I kicked on my torpedo heaters to keep things nice and toasty in the garage. I also did a thorough sweeping, cleaning and scrubbing, and using compressed air to blow out any loose dust out of the garage. I let that settle for a few hours, then wet the floor down as well. Wetting down the floor helps keep the dust out of the air and off your paint and clear. A final cleaning of the fenders and bumper with wax and grease remover and I'm ready to paint!

I also set up an exhaust fan to help pull out paint and clear fumes. DIY Style.

Paint gun locked and loaded!

Mixing clear coat:

Fenders painted and cleared!

Bumper painted and cleared!

 

[90tsiawdturbo]

Is that the factory 1g blue or your own color?

 

[ErikTande]

Is that the factory 1g blue or your own color?

Factory blue, AC10814, B14, Maui Blue Metallic. It's the same color on the car now, the color match is nearly identical, save for the original color that is faded a bit in spots (and faded almost completely gone on the hood ). I ordered the paint from
Touch Up Paint and Accessories | AutomotiveTouchup

I only planned on doing the fenders and rear bumper this month, but they turned out so well that I just decided to do the whole car. My front bumper needed replacing too, and I found one for $20 at Jack's Transmissions garage sale a couple weeks ago. That update is coming next.

 

[Gerg]

Cant wait to see some more updates! I saw your exhaust on codsm it looks killer!

That paint is a sweet color though! There was a 1gb pretty close to the same color stolen down in Colorado a few years ago.

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/roc...alon-tsi-colorado-242-kjy-found-stripped.html

 

[GSXftw]

Lookin good man! Look forward to updates. Having Daily'd a 12 sec dsm for over a year, and now hopefully in the 11 sec world, I can say its totally possible and totally awesome. Theres nothing like walking all over your "average fast car" on the street. Any questions just ask, good luck with the build

 

[ErikTande]

New updates from 2013 added to the thread, see previous posts.

Thanks for the support everyone! I'm behind again on updating, but I'm filling in a ton of backlog info tonight, so subscribe and keep updated!

 

[Spyke169]

I have been looking to replace my N1 style muffler for some time now, could you post a few pictures of your exhaust? From what I can see it looks very clean, almost like it came from the factory. Thanks

 

[ErikTande]

Added pics of the installed exhaust in post above, (http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/dsm...iver-build-restore-400-whp.html#post153356599)

Also added a video of the sound of the exhaust taken today. The video also gives a sneak peak at the finished paint job.

 

[95DSMGSX]

Really cool thread. Wish I knew how to paint like that, maybe make a tutorial video Eager to see what awaits for this 1G!

 

[danielsl1999gsx]

Nice attention to detail! and great camera work

 

[ErikTande]

After I got the fenders and rear bumper done, I did the hood and rear spoiler.

First up, degrease and wash.

Next, block it down to remove all the rock chips. I also filled a couple small dents and blocked those smooth as well.

Primed. Then wet sanded with 600 grit and a long block.

Painted and cleared!

 

[ErikTande]

And here's what the car looked like at that stage:

I brought the hood and rear bumper into the house to help them cure.

 

[ErikTande]

NOVEMBER 15th 2013

Next up was the front bumper. It was pretty messed up, but I found one at Jack's Transmissions Garage sale for $20, so I just replaced it instead of trying to straighten that mess out.

NEW BUMPER FROM JACK'S

Sand down all the nicks and scratches. I used a little bit of body filler on the deeper scratches.

PRIMED

Then wet sanded, then painted.

I also did the spoiler parts at this time.

 

[ErikTande]

Now I just have the doors, rear quarter panels, trunk lid and skirts left to paint. The easily removable parts are all done and sitting in the basement.

Now on to the rest of the car:

First I started by removing the moldings. Heat gun helps a lot.

Then I started removing all the old double sided tape. What a pain in the butt.

I found heating it with a heat gun allowed me to roll it off in 1 inch chunks without leaving any residue. Took forever though.

Then, I marked all the door dings by scratching them with sandpaper. If you don't, you might forget about one, because once you start sanding it makes a mess.

There were A LOT of door dings.

Grab a block and some 60 grit sandpaper and go to town. Clean all the paint out of the ding as well, then slap in a little filler and sand again.

After Filler:

Then primer (i use self etch first, then regular high build primer).

Then wet sand until perfectly smooth.

 

[ErikTande]

Repeat on the other side of the car.

Close up of the filler. If you do it right, there will be hardly any bondo left on the car, just enough to level the surface. Sand it smooth, then prime.

I literally pulled pounds of dirt out of the car taking off the skirts. They were PACKED with dirt.

Got a cold snap in Colorado in November/December, and a couple times I came out to wet sand and found this: My sanding block and sandpaper frozen in a block of ice. Time to kick the heaters on high!

What a mess.

Cleanup! That's better.

And get trim and skirts prepped for painting as well.

 

[ErikTande]

DECEMBER 12th, 2013


Update video - Walkaround of car before final cleanup for paint.

[ame=http://youtu.be/_nAW2h6xpto]DSMTuners Build Update - Paint Prep - YouTube[/ame]


Got it all washed and cleaned up! Time for paint!

Masked off:

Then just add paint!

Then add clear!

 

[nitrouskris]

Nice