I've been on here for a little over 4 years. I got my 1999 Eclipse GSX in August of 2012. It was my first car at 16, and had been a dream car of mine since I was much younger. I bought it bone stock (except for the wheels) with 124,XXX miles on it and drove it about 3 hours home. At the time, I had maybe 15 minutes worth of experience total driving a manual. I managed to get it home with a huge smile on my face the whole way.

I don't have many pictures from when it was still stock, but here's one with a stupid instagram filter.



August, 2012 - June, 2013

About a week after I bought it, the waterpipe oring on the waterpump side failed. And so began the standard DSM experience!

I apologize in advance for the lack of pictures from the earlier stages, but I never really had the desire to start a build thread or anything.

The very first thing I did was slap an SRS exhaust on it. I still have that exhaust installed on the car.

Next was a set of Koni Yellows and the Ground Control Coilover kit and lowered it a good bit.

I installed all of the standard high school parts, including HIDs and car audio stuff, all of which is still installed.

I drove it through high school like that with no major problems. I was very fortunate to be driving my dream car as my very first.

Here are a couple more pictures from this time period, complete with poor editing and filters!






At some point in 2013, I threw in a used 14B, evo 9 fuel pump, and boost controller. I set it around 17 psi and started playing with the tune using the Black Box ecu. I drove it like that for a while until the stock clutch couldn't take any more abuse.

I contacted Tim Zimmer and ordered a Southbend kit and lightweight flywheel. I had never pulled any major component out of a vehicle before, so getting the trans out was quite an accomplishment for me. The clutch install went smoothly, although the new OEM throwout bearing is rattling now.

October, 2014

In October of 2014, I plasti-dipped the car white. I was satisfied with the result, but I definitely advise to take as much time as possible to prep and mask the car. The overspray in all the cracks and crevices gets really old after a while. Here are some pictures of the car when it was white.

Early 2015 - Present

At some point in early 2015, the 14B failed on my way to work in the morning. I had rebuilt it before installing, but it was my first turbo rebuild. I'm sure that had nothing to do with it.

However, I didn't learn my lesson and purchased a used 20G. I was told it was genuine MHI, but after many hours of attempted installation, I began to seriously doubt that. I sent pictures to Justin and his reply was "That turbo is Chinese as the day is long". So that about summed it up. I managed to buy some aftermarket parts to make it work, including a compressor housing and new wastegate. I finally got it all bolted up, along with a brand new VRSF intercooler kit. Set it around 20 PSI and it seemed to be happy. This is basically how the car was until I parked it for the winter a few days ago.

Up until about a month ago, the GSX was my daily driver. This prevented me from tearing it apart like I wanted to, since I needed transportation. I now have another daily driver, so the GSX is officially a race car now. I'll be pulling the motor (for the first time), cleaning and repainting the bay, deleting a few things (cruise control, battery relocate, potentially fuse box relocate) but I'll be keeping the AC and PS.

I started the tear down today. I didn't do a lot, and the pictures aren't great. Basically just removed a few things from the engine bay and started forming a game plan. I have no deadline for this build, so I can take my time. I want a simple, streetable, fast car. No real horsepower or timeslip goals, but 400whp sounds fun. I'll be keeping the stock block setup until it lets go. I'm thinking about a legit MHI 20g or maybe a 68hta depending on pricing and configuration availability. I've also always wanted an HX35, but I don't think a BEP setup is worth the added hassle compared to a stock frame turbo. I'd like to do a twin scroll HX35, but lack of funds and manifolds worries me. Another thing that might keep me from a big power setup is my transmission. I know a lot of transmission shops are dropping the DSM platform, and I just don't have the funds right now for both a transmission and a new turbo setup. We'll see what happens over the winter though.

For now, I'm just going to focus on cleaning the engine bay and freshening everything up. Anyway, here are some quick pictures of today's progress. I'll do my best to take more/better pictures next time.

Wow very nice. I also had a 2GB GST in high school, very fun and kids loved to hate on the imports 400WHP should be do-able though on the stock drivetrain for a while aside from the clutch. Just take it easy and slip the clutch as much as possible if you launch.

A 20g is an excellent turbo for streetable fun however if you want some more top end, go with the holset. They are a little more of a hassle to install but worth it. I would recommend getting the BEP bolt on housing though as this will yield much better spool than a twin scroll. Also external wastegate off a manifold or a recirculated O2 housing setup would work.

I'll probably max this 20G out until it blows. Then I'll probably go HX35 or something similar.

I'm about to go to Harbor Freight and buy a shop crane and engine stand.