D_Eclipse9916
20+ Year Contributor
- 1,430
- 16
- Mar 4, 2004
-
Vienna,
Virginia
Since this was a tribute to Virginia Tech and also my friend's only third autocross, I decided to post up our experience, and if that sponsor thing is still going on get some money back 
.
April 22nd, 2007- BlueRidge SCCA Salem, VA about 20 minutes from Virginia Tech, so the autocross was renamed in tribute.
My friends and I are at JMU, a little whiles away from the autocross, which is 1.5 hours away. So bright and early at 6:00AM we wake up and meet at 6:40. Consisting of a newer M3 engined E36 M3, 3SGTE swapped MK2 MR2, Dodge Stratus coupe, and 1980s VW Fox head down. I call my friend at Radford and wake him up to bring in his white Eclipse GS-T to autocross. We had decided earlier that we both would run his car, me acting as an instructor of sorts as I have a couple dozen autocrosses under my belt.
We all meet to a very beautiful Sunday morning and register and tech real quickly only to find out most of us are in the 4th heat and its a large running crowd. Some cool cars there like a Datsun Fairlady and a LS1 Fiero. Then of course the usual mix of miatas, neons, wrxs, corvettes.
So using up some of our time I decide to give his car a quick run-over as at the last autocross we had severe fuel starvation issues, which obviously could not have been just the amount of gas and shitty gs-t gas tank, as it was above 3/4 full and still having problems. We replaced the fuel pump with a 255lph the week before but hadnt given her a run through. The car is almost stock as he doesnt have any money, and only doing upgrades when things need replaced...the car has...
b16g turbo to replace his failing t25
walbro 255lph
Dejon Tool Upper intercooler pipe
1g BOV
J-pipe for smic
Hard intake pipe and MAF adapter
I pop the hood and immediaetly see a few problems (I hadnt been able to work on the car since almost a year earlier). Oil is leaking from his oil cap, his motor mounts are shot, and the exhaust is really leaking badly, as the o2 housing is .5 inches away from the turbo. So we fix the o2 housing real quickly and check tire pressures. A little low in the front but I thought with it being a gs-t it would need a little less in the front, at 34, with the rears being 40, which I brought down to 36 (he was running them extremely high on the street for some reason). We go by hardees and pick up a lot of ice and water and get ready for our first runs. He decides that he wants to go first and its his car so of course he did.
First run, launch real slow out of the hole to a 3-cone slalom into a left-handed decreasing radius turn with a quick 90 right. He came in a little quick but quickly resumed until he hit the next 120 degree sharp right braking wayy too late locking up the fronts only to be compounded by too much steering angle and trying to accelerate onto a straight. Small straight into long left 90, small bus stop into left 120, small straight into left 120 again. Long straight to left 150 over cooking again into small straight with easy right 90 to half moon curve to hard right 120 onto hard left 60 and quick right 90 to small straight with hard left 90 and tight, long S curve into lights. Unfortunately he missed a gate and DNFed.
His first run he had taken it easy so the SMIC was fine and we decided to quickly hotlap without anything. I get ready for my first run, I am impatient and never go easy on the first runs, but ive only DNFED two runs in the whole time ive been autocrossing so I am full of myself....anyways this made me pay.
I launch and automatically notice torque steer (damn FWD), and come into the slalom with alright but a little shaky back and forths, in which I come into the first hard turn and go for the brakes...and...where are they? Not until the end of the pedal did they hit and it wasnt much of a hit, and barely kept it within the cones towards the decreasing radius left, again overcooked it into the right onto straight, and came onto the straightaway noticing immediately that the acceleration was stuttering above 4500 rpms. After the straightway came into a left and was taken by surprise by the shitty brakes again along with the body roll which almost sent me sideways, this would be the story of the day....
I came in with an 83.---. I knew I could mess with her a little bit and easily get her into the 70s, so I came into a stop, got out to switch numbers and seats and smoke starts pouring out of the engine bay, stop the car and look under, not much but smelled like oil so we popped the hood. Nice little oil leak had now gotten all over the turbo and exhaust making a nice cloud of smoke.
We did what we could and my friend goes for another run. Hits a cone and is taking it easy, as I advise. Comes in with a 92.---. A little disappointing but its alright. Smoking still but not as much.
I go for my second run and find the same problem, coming in way too late with shitty brakes and excessing body roll only to be compounded on exit with FWD torque steer and wheel spin, coming in with a high 82, had improved barely.
My friend goes out for his third run after we ice down the intercooler to keep it cool and radiator temps are all fine, check the oil and still got plenty. Goes out easy again, but finishes the course without hitting a cone or getting lost and pulls a 90.---.
I get in the car and go for my run, launch off with some wheelspin and head into the slalom and notice the car hesitating more than usual, get onto the straight and notice it heavily...the car just will not build boost and is hesitating, limp her through the rest of the coourse and pull another 82.---.
Take a look under the hood, wiggle around some hoses and theres obviously nothing we can do now when we take a look undr the hood and find the manifold cracked, apparently it was before, but he hadnt taken the liberty to tell me.
But...the oil leak hadnt gotten much worse and was still only barely puking out stuff, so he decides he wants his good run. Goes out and does really well, although the car is all over the place and pulls a low 89. He feels a little disappointed but the car is simply not in good shape to be competing for trophies.
I jump out on my fourth run and she holds boost a little bit better but is still backfiring and popping all over the place. Get her round the track and pull a 80.---. Bring the car to a stop and I decide to have a good checkover of the car since we were done for the day....
Motor mounts completely shot
Oil leaking from valve cover and possible oil pan
Boost leak central
Manifold is leaking a little, but the exhaust needs new gaskets
The car needs a few things to get her better rolling
Looks at shocks and notice they have crap all around them..they are blown (look for picture below)
But overall great times, had a good time even though it was frustrating being back in a stock eclipse nevertheless a gs-t.
On to the pictures! Look at them, in one the tire is almost a foot from the tire well,
Also I am the one in the red shirt/black helmet
.April 22nd, 2007- BlueRidge SCCA Salem, VA about 20 minutes from Virginia Tech, so the autocross was renamed in tribute.
My friends and I are at JMU, a little whiles away from the autocross, which is 1.5 hours away. So bright and early at 6:00AM we wake up and meet at 6:40. Consisting of a newer M3 engined E36 M3, 3SGTE swapped MK2 MR2, Dodge Stratus coupe, and 1980s VW Fox head down. I call my friend at Radford and wake him up to bring in his white Eclipse GS-T to autocross. We had decided earlier that we both would run his car, me acting as an instructor of sorts as I have a couple dozen autocrosses under my belt.
We all meet to a very beautiful Sunday morning and register and tech real quickly only to find out most of us are in the 4th heat and its a large running crowd. Some cool cars there like a Datsun Fairlady and a LS1 Fiero. Then of course the usual mix of miatas, neons, wrxs, corvettes.
So using up some of our time I decide to give his car a quick run-over as at the last autocross we had severe fuel starvation issues, which obviously could not have been just the amount of gas and shitty gs-t gas tank, as it was above 3/4 full and still having problems. We replaced the fuel pump with a 255lph the week before but hadnt given her a run through. The car is almost stock as he doesnt have any money, and only doing upgrades when things need replaced...the car has...
b16g turbo to replace his failing t25
walbro 255lph
Dejon Tool Upper intercooler pipe
1g BOV
J-pipe for smic
Hard intake pipe and MAF adapter
I pop the hood and immediaetly see a few problems (I hadnt been able to work on the car since almost a year earlier). Oil is leaking from his oil cap, his motor mounts are shot, and the exhaust is really leaking badly, as the o2 housing is .5 inches away from the turbo. So we fix the o2 housing real quickly and check tire pressures. A little low in the front but I thought with it being a gs-t it would need a little less in the front, at 34, with the rears being 40, which I brought down to 36 (he was running them extremely high on the street for some reason). We go by hardees and pick up a lot of ice and water and get ready for our first runs. He decides that he wants to go first and its his car so of course he did.
First run, launch real slow out of the hole to a 3-cone slalom into a left-handed decreasing radius turn with a quick 90 right. He came in a little quick but quickly resumed until he hit the next 120 degree sharp right braking wayy too late locking up the fronts only to be compounded by too much steering angle and trying to accelerate onto a straight. Small straight into long left 90, small bus stop into left 120, small straight into left 120 again. Long straight to left 150 over cooking again into small straight with easy right 90 to half moon curve to hard right 120 onto hard left 60 and quick right 90 to small straight with hard left 90 and tight, long S curve into lights. Unfortunately he missed a gate and DNFed.
His first run he had taken it easy so the SMIC was fine and we decided to quickly hotlap without anything. I get ready for my first run, I am impatient and never go easy on the first runs, but ive only DNFED two runs in the whole time ive been autocrossing so I am full of myself....anyways this made me pay.
I launch and automatically notice torque steer (damn FWD), and come into the slalom with alright but a little shaky back and forths, in which I come into the first hard turn and go for the brakes...and...where are they? Not until the end of the pedal did they hit and it wasnt much of a hit, and barely kept it within the cones towards the decreasing radius left, again overcooked it into the right onto straight, and came onto the straightaway noticing immediately that the acceleration was stuttering above 4500 rpms. After the straightway came into a left and was taken by surprise by the shitty brakes again along with the body roll which almost sent me sideways, this would be the story of the day....
I came in with an 83.---. I knew I could mess with her a little bit and easily get her into the 70s, so I came into a stop, got out to switch numbers and seats and smoke starts pouring out of the engine bay, stop the car and look under, not much but smelled like oil so we popped the hood. Nice little oil leak had now gotten all over the turbo and exhaust making a nice cloud of smoke.
We did what we could and my friend goes for another run. Hits a cone and is taking it easy, as I advise. Comes in with a 92.---. A little disappointing but its alright. Smoking still but not as much.
I go for my second run and find the same problem, coming in way too late with shitty brakes and excessing body roll only to be compounded on exit with FWD torque steer and wheel spin, coming in with a high 82, had improved barely.
My friend goes out for his third run after we ice down the intercooler to keep it cool and radiator temps are all fine, check the oil and still got plenty. Goes out easy again, but finishes the course without hitting a cone or getting lost and pulls a 90.---.
I get in the car and go for my run, launch off with some wheelspin and head into the slalom and notice the car hesitating more than usual, get onto the straight and notice it heavily...the car just will not build boost and is hesitating, limp her through the rest of the coourse and pull another 82.---.
Take a look under the hood, wiggle around some hoses and theres obviously nothing we can do now when we take a look undr the hood and find the manifold cracked, apparently it was before, but he hadnt taken the liberty to tell me.
But...the oil leak hadnt gotten much worse and was still only barely puking out stuff, so he decides he wants his good run. Goes out and does really well, although the car is all over the place and pulls a low 89. He feels a little disappointed but the car is simply not in good shape to be competing for trophies.
I jump out on my fourth run and she holds boost a little bit better but is still backfiring and popping all over the place. Get her round the track and pull a 80.---. Bring the car to a stop and I decide to have a good checkover of the car since we were done for the day....
Motor mounts completely shot
Oil leaking from valve cover and possible oil pan
Boost leak central
Manifold is leaking a little, but the exhaust needs new gaskets
The car needs a few things to get her better rolling
Looks at shocks and notice they have crap all around them..they are blown (look for picture below)
But overall great times, had a good time even though it was frustrating being back in a stock eclipse nevertheless a gs-t.
On to the pictures! Look at them, in one the tire is almost a foot from the tire well,
Also I am the one in the red shirt/black helmet
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
