First Eclipse 17yr Old

[Hstn Wytt]

My name is Houston, fairly new to this forum. Im 17 as of June.
Ive been here maybe a month, but ive only looked around.
My dad owns a customs garage, custom painting cars and such.

I have found a completely stock 95 Eclipse RS Auto for $1500 with 130k Miles.
All I plan on doing is building it for show competitions, maybe add a few more hp and make it sound good, but mainly for show. I have a 07 Cobalt, so having another car to drive is not a problem. Anyways, my question is would it be fine if I bought this eclipse, built it for shows, and then somewhere down the line swap it to a manual? Can someone give me a figure on how much it would be in parts? No labor, we can do it ourselves. And how long would it take to do this, say if I had nothing else to do. ex work, school, ect.
Ive searched around but found no price figures.

One last thing, with me being a senior in high school, im picking colleges right now. Does anyone recommend Wyotech, UTI, or Northwestern Ohio? and why?

-hstn wytt

 

[GofaST4life]

Picking a NT for a show car is a very common choice, most of us turbo guys are performance based anyway.

Depending on how the car is mechanically, i say $1500 is a good price, as for your questions about a auto to manual swap, its really not that hard to do, youll save a ton of money doing it yourself. Youll find lots of threads here on tuners about the swap, so there plenty of information is at your disposal. Just get all the parts you need and start reading. ive seen people to the entire swap for $600, doing the work themselves of course.

As for schools, i dont know much about those automotive schools, but ive heard from people that they can be a waste of money and are a bit overrated, but like i said i dont have real experience.

 

[Hstn Wytt]

Thanks man. That helps alot.
Appreciate it.
This forum looks great so far.

Thats what alot of people say but ive still got a good year so im still choosing.

 

[GofaST4life]

no problem, just take your time and learn as much as possible...youll be happy in the end.

 

[cwjb4life]

Wyotech is one of the Number one Automotive schools in the country. I would strongly recommend Wyotech just know that a lot of them intend to be kind of a wild bunch for some reason and the town Laramie, Wyoming sucks a lot. But if you want a great education in the automotive field thats where you want to be. They are also the number one school when it comes to hot rods and race type applications also. They have a separate campus located in Laramie and if you chose to take some of them classes you will get to learn in depth about turbos, nos, Super Chargers, all the other performance stuff like building up performance cars, custom computers/programmable ecus, injectors, performance suspension and the list goes on.


Mark

 

[Hstn Wytt]

Yeah Wyotech is my number one choice. If I went Wyotech, my choices are Long Beach, Daytona, or Laramie. And I cant seem to find any information about admission requirements or tutition costs other than a couple people say it ranges from like 25-30,000.

 

[dsmcolt969]

Yeah Wyotech is my number one choice. If I went Wyotech, my choices are Long Beach, Daytona, or Laramie. And I cant seem to find any information about admission requirements or tutition costs other than a couple people say it ranges from like 25-30,000.

depends on ware you go i went and visited the campus in cali and they quoted me like 45,000 for the whole thing

 

[cwjb4life]

High Performance Powertrain Program

 

[cwjb4life]

If you do wyotech I strongly recommend the Laramie Campus. Wyotech started in Laramie, Wy and thats where some of there best teachers are. The other campuses are fairly new with in the last few years. Why they are great campuses also they just have not been around long enough to be on top of things and if your interested in Performance Laramie is still the number one school for performance/street rod/hot rod.

Mark

 

[Hstn Wytt]

depends on ware you go i went and visited the campus in cali and they quoted me like 45,000 for the whole thing

dang. I just dont want to start going just to find out it was a waste of money and that I could have gone else where.

 

[cwjb4life]

Hey I'm not going to say you cant learn else where there are other good schools but remember you normally get what you pay for. There are some exceptions to that but I grew up in Laramie, Wyoming most my life and know a lot about the campus. Also my father went to school there for Automotive and Diesel before he went into the military as a diesel mechanic and I know hundreds of other people that went to school there.

Our automotive classed in High School were partly at the high school and partly at wyotech its a great school. Because wyotech works with the high school we got to learn and do a lot more hands on then your average auto class in most schools.

Any ways just research talk to people check out some of the other car forums dsm related or not you will find people that have been to the different schools and talk to them about it and then decide what direction to go in.

The internet is a very powerful tool if used right, so put it to some good use and keep researching you will find the answers your looking for.

Mark

 

[red97tib]

I am attending UTI in Chicago as we speak. I got class in about an hour. The basic course to be certified and work pretty much anywhere is around $25,000 here. If you go with a specified dealer after you graduate, you have to do a couple more weeks of school, but the dealer pays for it in return for like 2-3 years of service. From being here so far, most the kids all drive the riced out civics and such, but are overall great guys. I'm pretty sure every auto school will be like that though, so don't just think it's here. The teachers seem to know what they are talking about. Most of them have atleast 15 years field experience but only 5 is required to teach. My suggestion is to take a year off after HS and just work and see what you like. I started college right after HS and I ended up dropping out because I needed a break after 12 years. Now I'm back doing what I like and loving every moment. I don't know anything about Wyotech so I can't say anything about them. Just take your time and think things out. Going into debt for something you don't like isn't fun, trust me.

 

[Hstn Wytt]

I am attending UTI in Chicago as we speak. I got class in about an hour. The basic course to be certified and work pretty much anywhere is around $25,000 here. If you go with a specified dealer after you graduate, you have to do a couple more weeks of school, but the dealer pays for it in return for like 2-3 years of service. From being here so far, most the kids all drive the riced out civics and such, but are overall great guys. I'm pretty sure every auto school will be like that though, so don't just think it's here. The teachers seem to know what they are talking about. Most of them have atleast 15 years field experience but only 5 is required to teach. My suggestion is to take a year off after HS and just work and see what you like. I started college right after HS and I ended up dropping out because I needed a break after 12 years. Now I'm back doing what I like and loving every moment. I don't know anything about Wyotech so I can't say anything about them. Just take your time and think things out. Going into debt for something you don't like isn't fun, trust me.

yeah thats something else im thinking about doing. right now i live with my parents and i think ive got a great job for my age(17) at $12 an hour as manager at putt-putt ha. so ive thought about taking a year off just to think and even save some money for college seeing as i dont want to have 30,000(give or take) debt at 18 years old.

 

[wishgst]

idk about an rs. it's an interesting choice for a show car

 

[BoostedPhoenix]

Wyotech is an excellent school and the Laramie campus has some excellent teachers. The town however leaves alot to be desired and the night life is deffinately not very exciting. The number one reason i believe that school gets knocked as much as it does is because the 18 year olds right out of highschool want to learn about cars but still want to "party" as well. Its not a place to go if you were one that just messed around in shop in highschool. I graduated from the Laramie campus 2 years ago and do not regret it, at the time I felt it was a good education but outside of class was extremely boring. I am now an ASE Master Tech and on my way to being a GM Master certified tech working at a Saab dealership at only 21 years old. As far as those schools go it is what you make it, and its all in your attitude about it. BTW FT Collins, CO is the place to be on the weekends if Laramie sucks too much.

 

[Hstn Wytt]

idk about an rs. it's an interesting choice for a show car

well my choice of an rs is affected by a couple things
1) i have to keep the cost low as i have another car note already and i want to be able to have money to put into the eclipse.
2) insurance for a 18 year old on a turbo model eclipse would be outrageous and im paying it.
3) performance isnt really a motive for me. im not looking to build the next 10 sec eclipse. i just want something that can look and sound nice.\

Wyotech is an excellent school and the Laramie campus has some excellent teachers. The town however leaves alot to be desired and the night life is deffinately not very exciting. The number one reason i believe that school gets knocked as much as it does is because the 18 year olds right out of highschool want to learn about cars but still want to "party" as well. Its not a place to go if you were one that just messed around in shop in highschool. I graduated from the Laramie campus 2 years ago and do not regret it, at the time I felt it was a good education but outside of class was extremely boring. I am now an ASE Master Tech and on my way to being a GM Master certified tech working at a Saab dealership at only 21 years old. As far as those schools go it is what you make it, and its all in your attitude about it. BTW FT Collins, CO is the place to be on the weekends if Laramie sucks too much.

was it relatively hard to find a job? did Wyotech help you? on a guess how much would you say you make annually?

 

[turbo_punk]

If I were you i would shop around a little more before settling for that thats a decent price but it just depends on how much you are wanting to invest in the car. Look at interior if its not a gst, gsx or talon tsi you wont get leather which is sexy might I ad, also 420a motors are alright but the 4g63 turbo with a 5 speed is the only way to go wheather you are going to do any power mods or not, I think the 4g63 looks a lot better in the engine bay. Not dissin on anyone with the 420a just any of my friends that have them tell me they regret not getting the turbo version all the time.

 

[Hstn Wytt]

If I were you i would shop around a little more before settling for that thats a decent price but it just depends on how much you are wanting to invest in the car. Look at interior if its not a gst, gsx or talon tsi you wont get leather which is sexy might I ad, also 420a motors are alright but the 4g63 turbo with a 5 speed is the only way to go wheather you are going to do any power mods or not, I think the 4g63 looks a lot better in the engine bay. Not dissin on anyone with the 420a just any of my friends that have them tell me they regret not getting the turbo version all the time.

thats what my dad says. hes like "I think you should just wait around and get a higher end model."
do we have any 18-20 year olds that pay their own insurance? where do you live and how much are you paying?

 

[kris_stewart10]

well my choice of an rs is affected by a couple things
1) i have to keep the cost low as i have another car note already and i want to be able to have money to put into the eclipse.
2) insurance for a 18 year old on a turbo model eclipse would be outrageous and im paying it.
3) performance isnt really a motive for me. im not looking to build the next 10 sec eclipse. i just want something that can look and sound nice.\



was it relatively hard to find a job? did Wyotech help you? on a guess how much would you say you make annually?

Insurance HA!!!!

its not that much i have a 93 gst and my insurance isnt but $88
a month and you are older than me

 

[turbo_punk]

Well i'm not that young anymore but when i was my insurence was 120 a month for liability and like 160 for full coverage, i'm 22 now and I pay 55 a month for liability.

 

[Hstn Wytt]

Insurance HA!!!!

its not that much i have a 93 gst and my insurance isnt but $88
a month and you are older than me

so your 16?
ok but once im 18, i will not be on my parents insurance, it will be through me. just like im paying $65 a month for my cobalt insurance but once i turn 18 and get it through me, its going to go up. someone correct me if im wrong.

 

[knochgoon24]

I've heard that the Auto to manual swap can be done for free if a decent donor car is bought and parted out after you get your parts.

 

[fatherbubble]

I think you should wait an find a GSX incase you decide to go all out with it. And for schools I would think of a different carrier choice right now. Unless your going to learn fabercation weilding an all. Automechanics an on the down side now. Alot of dealerships are starting to layoff people. For a shcool I liked Wowtech. Get all the chassie an fab courses they offer. Make sure you know it all. That will pay off down the road. And dont make the same mistake I did. If your dad offers you ajob after jump on it. I told mine no an now he's dead an I wish I took him up on his offer.

 

[98GSXtreme07]

thats what my dad says. hes like "I think you should just wait around and get a higher end model."
do we have any 18-20 year olds that pay their own insurance? where do you live and how much are you paying?

I pay my own. Of course my car is paid off but it's $127.XX . I don't have full insurance but it's a price I don't mind. I couldn't imagine paying $300+ for full insurance like a few of my friends.

 

[Hstn Wytt]

ok so ive found a 95 gsx. so far its at 1000 with 2 days left on it on ebay. down side - auto. but if i can do a man swap later down the road for <1000 then the auto part doesnt matter. im not picking on transmissions right now. good or bad idea?