First DSM, 1991 Eclipse GS N/T

[jcpahman77]

Hello,

A little about me before I talk about my new car. My name is Jesse, but I'm often called Pacman (my last name is Pahman but no one can say it). I am married and a father of 3 children. I'm currently serving in the Army and stationed at Ft. Bliss, TX in El Paso. I've done one tour of 15 months to Iraq and there are plans for me to go back again. I'm easy to get along with and am always looking for people who are interested in cars that might know something about the car I'm driving at the moment.

It's been a long time since I've joined a new board. Most of my experience with smaller FWD/AWD vehicles has been with VW or Audi. This past Monday night, however, I bought a 1991 Eclipse N/T 1.8 SOHC. I bought it for reliability and fuel economy and so far it's doing that second part great; not to say that I don't think it's going to be reliable, it's just that it's only been two days.

I don't have any real plans to build the motor, I'm all about making it faster and sounding better, but that isn't what I bought this car for. If there are inexpensive or just stupid easy things I can do to improve its performance I'll do them, but I pretty much bought it to put a stereo in and just drive the heck out of it. I found it on craigslist and purchased it for $600. It runs and drives great, but does have a few cosmetic issues, as you would expect out of a $600 car. I took a few good pics of the car once I got it home and I'll share them here. If anyone has constructive input as to how I can improve my DSM I appreciate it. I look forward to becoming an active member of this board.

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[slow gs]

thats a good buy for 600, i just bought my first dsm about 3 months ago, 1991 eclipse gs, 2.0 dohc 4g63, im not sure about the sohc, but they need a lot of work all the time but they are fairly cheap and for the most part great cars i paid 12oo for mine, if you want an exhaust just go toy your local autozone buy a $60 rice pipe get it installed and you have a decent exhaust, you can get the vaccume system redone for few extra horsies, and get a 2g dsm maf and replace the 1g maf that's very restrictive, im not sure about much on a sohc so thats all i can spare on the situation, hope it helps

 

[jcpahman77]

From I've researched I can't use the 2g MAF because those are for the 2.0 motor and they'll be calibrated wrong for the 1.8 motor. I do plan on freeing the intake somehow though, I removed the restrictors that are in the MAF and was amazed at how much of a difference it made. That tells me there is a lot of potential in just working on the intake. I also plan on doing a full exhaust, I don't plan on going ricer though, but I don't know brands for the DSM cars yet. I had a 4-2-1 manifold, cat delete and 2" pipe back to a dual outlet Bosal muffler on my Scirocco and it sounded great. I can't do a cat delete on this car because it's not old enough (emissions testing) but I plan on doing a header, a high flow cat, and a good catback system when I can find one.

 

[slow gs]

well if your gonna do a budget full exhaust, pacesatter headers are cheep and decent, get a highflow cat, magnaflow is the common one, and get a thermal r&d exhaust, with an intake if you get dsm link, i think it works with the sohc you can calibrate the maf to work with your car, then you will want a bigger fuel pump and injectors.

 

[DSM1G90]

I also had an EclipseGS, but a 1990 version with the 4G37 (1.8L) ... you can head to www.dsm1eights.com for all of your motor needs and join that forum.

And don't worry on making that little motor powerful since it wasn't designed to be (even some have added a turbo to it, but that approaches the five digit figure price tag on that heavy of conversion-only to muster another 50HP over the stock 92HP that the motor puts out at 5000rpms), for it's the most underpowered, choked little motor that could be used. You can make it breathe a little easier with a new air filter and take the CAT out. But leave the timing alone with the mandantory *5 BTDC setting for advancing the timing doesn't get you anywhere since the ECU will try to re-correct the advanced timing.

Only thing going for it that it's built like a tank - can't kill it, but if you take care of it, you'll be adding another 100k miles on that motor without dying..

Do the two belts - the balance and main belt - first thing though.

DSM