ChrisP
Probationary Member
- 10
- 0
- Apr 12, 2013
-
Johannesburg,
Africa
Good Day
I recently purchased one of the very few Eclipses in South Africa. I am yet to come across another. It was dark metalic green when I bought it but I stripped, prep'd and resprayed it black myself. Very easy car to spray compared to other. I got it with the new mags and tyres. I think 17's are a little small considering the big arches. I would presume it had an accident to the right front as the panels aren't lining up as they should and during preparation for the spray job we came across a lot of body filler and fiber glass
Owning an Eclipse in South Africa has it's perks but there are far more cons to pro's. Pro's being that everybody stares amazed at the car not knowing where it's from and most of the time unable to tell the manufacturer (Like the badges doesn't give it away
) So it's nice having something that others don't or compared to the very popular ST's and GTI's. The cons are that there are NO parts available... and I mean nothing! Everything is cross reference parts and pray it works 
When phoning for parts and the mere mention of an "Eclipse" and they simply reply:"sorry, nothing available." There are a few people who knows of the car but it's closer to something green and was driven by a blonde oak in some movie with Vin Diesel that had Furious in the Title.
Thanks to Ebay, I was able to import most parts but had to wait 2 - 3 weeks for it. The car tested positive for blown headgasket as I was losing water on it with spiking temperatures so getting the replacement parts here was quite a mission. Luckily 4g63 was fitted to numerous other cars and was able to use parts here and there.
After severe alternator issues, I replaced it with a Hyundai Sonata's 2.0 which is a very common car this side and the conversion was simular to that of a 1g alternator swap.
I drove it today for the first time for longer than 60 km's and it still going good, that is apart from the boost leaks causing jerking and some electronic faults/earths...
I love the car and even after the extensive stripping, repairing and reassembling i'm still very fond of it and thanks to this forum I have answers to every question I had so far. Thank you guys for all the previous posts and for the guys running the site, making this possible. Looking forward to more posts.
Near future I would like to:
Replace the 96 bumpers, side skirts and wing to the 98 model's.
Get some new HD headlights.
Repair interior leather and other trims.
Wheel upgrade to 19"s if possible.
Some performance tuning, like bolt on kits (Turbo, IC and other accesories)
Also switch to an aftermarket fuel management system.
I recently purchased one of the very few Eclipses in South Africa. I am yet to come across another. It was dark metalic green when I bought it but I stripped, prep'd and resprayed it black myself. Very easy car to spray compared to other. I got it with the new mags and tyres. I think 17's are a little small considering the big arches. I would presume it had an accident to the right front as the panels aren't lining up as they should and during preparation for the spray job we came across a lot of body filler and fiber glass
Owning an Eclipse in South Africa has it's perks but there are far more cons to pro's. Pro's being that everybody stares amazed at the car not knowing where it's from and most of the time unable to tell the manufacturer (Like the badges doesn't give it away
) So it's nice having something that others don't or compared to the very popular ST's and GTI's. The cons are that there are NO parts available... and I mean nothing! Everything is cross reference parts and pray it works When phoning for parts and the mere mention of an "Eclipse" and they simply reply:"sorry, nothing available." There are a few people who knows of the car but it's closer to something green and was driven by a blonde oak in some movie with Vin Diesel that had Furious in the Title.Thanks to Ebay, I was able to import most parts but had to wait 2 - 3 weeks for it. The car tested positive for blown headgasket as I was losing water on it with spiking temperatures so getting the replacement parts here was quite a mission. Luckily 4g63 was fitted to numerous other cars and was able to use parts here and there.
After severe alternator issues, I replaced it with a Hyundai Sonata's 2.0 which is a very common car this side and the conversion was simular to that of a 1g alternator swap.
I drove it today for the first time for longer than 60 km's and it still going good, that is apart from the boost leaks causing jerking and some electronic faults/earths...
I love the car and even after the extensive stripping, repairing and reassembling i'm still very fond of it and thanks to this forum I have answers to every question I had so far. Thank you guys for all the previous posts and for the guys running the site, making this possible. Looking forward to more posts.
Near future I would like to:
Replace the 96 bumpers, side skirts and wing to the 98 model's.
Get some new HD headlights.
Repair interior leather and other trims.
Wheel upgrade to 19"s if possible.
Some performance tuning, like bolt on kits (Turbo, IC and other accesories)
Also switch to an aftermarket fuel management system.
