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1998 Gst restoration

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So I've cured the smoking, the major obstacle that ultimately would determine the cars fate. I put about 30 miles on it tonight and the check engine light came on just as I pulled in at home. I'm guessing a fuel trim code. I'm also still fighting an electrical gremlin, the battery and brake light come on after start up but go away after the engine hits 3500rpms. Not sure about that

I also re painted the engine bay. This car lived a long life with tools on its fenders. In the fender area and strut towers, the finish had been rubbed down to the primer in some spots. Southern car no rust at all

The fuel pump issue is getting pretty drastic, otherwise the car drives fine.

Any suggestions for what I should ask when the car is finished. 179k miles but has new everything and great compression

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Finally, the root of all evil. Some one clamped the original broken alternator connector into a new alternator connector. I thought it was just solder inside the connector but it had actually gotten so hot it had melted that original connector inside the new connector. Electrical inception. Anyways you can see the burned and melted alternator connectors

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Thank you I really appreciate the recognition!

Now that all of the mechanicals and electicals are complete I plan to spend next week working on pulling a whiskey dent out of the drivers rear quarter panel, fixing the two leaking tires, and fixing the air bag cover. Depending how this week goes driving It I may also paint the door handles white and get some tinted windows.

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and fixing the air bag cover.

Is this possible?? I've only ever found the passenger side covers peeling back along the edges and would love to know how to fix it. I found one in my local scrap yard in much better condition than the one that was in my car, but it's still not perfect and bothers the hell out of me.
 
Yeah there's been a few write ups, basically guerilla glue, lots of clamps, and patience for the glue to dry. I will most likely scuff the surface of the metal bag first to promote adhesion of the glue to the module and the cover

Or worst case I'll have to use a very small self tapping screw, or small zip tie throuh a corner hole.
 
I guess I could be doing that little stuff now.

I picked up an optima red top from work, from time to time we get them in as cores when dealerships take cars in on trade and don't know how to properly recharge them

Installed new oil dip stick and tube

Ran new primary ground from block behind starter to the battery ground. Re crimp and wire alternator and terminal to battery connections



The belt issue on the alternator has gotten worse as the temps get in the mid 70's during the day and in the 40's at night. Seems grade 8 bolts like to expand and contract more than the locktite can hold. So I've placed an order to extreme psi to get a tensioner bolt and rotating pivot nut to properly tighten the belt. Since mine were missing of course. To be specific now to be a completely intact 2g with no missing pieces or areas I need to get a drivers side lower splash shield. And id really like to re wire in a stock infinity amp under the passengers seat

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So to be installed/worked on
Delphi fuel pump to cure long cranking starts and severe fuel cut @15 psi

Further investigate battery drain.

Repair air bag cover

Find a quality oil cap that won't leak
 
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So my primary daily the 2ga in the background has developed a nasty transmission rattle that is more than the throw out bearing and is now a noticeable vibration in the clutch pedal

So got to get the project car back ready

The optima battery seems to have cured what I thought was a battery drain. It was most likely a case of the battery not being strong enough and resulting in slow cranking starts. The optima has cured that.

It had developed a hiss from the throttle position sensor, and I had a newly rebuilt throttle body I received with a free 2g manual trans a few years ago

Also had to bang out the steering pump bracket, it was wicked bent. I believe the alternator bracket is bent as well



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Finally had the aha! Moment with the car.

Ive been tracking the idle, its had a steady surge when warm all the way to 1600rpms when warm. It was also getting fuel cut issues from the pump

So today I pulled the pump, unfortunately all of the factory crap I needed had of course been lost by the previous installer

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So into the pump its not a pump for a dsm. Ive looked up the part number and its for a mustang

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So into the pump to be replaced

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Ive gotten it clamped back in, its missing the retainer and the o rings, I'll need to order them from extremepsi or something because the above photo is the best I could do. I made the hose that was fat enough to need to be lubricated to fit into the hose housing into the pump, and used my trusty double clamp style retainer. Then had to press down the side fitting to snugly keep the pump in the housing. I'l have to monitor the problem to see if it gets worse
 
I fixed the high idle by resetting my throttle stop screw and re balancing the throttle stop with the biss screw. It was driving me mad, I had done everything to test the iac, clean the iac, test the iac, test vacuum leaks,

Replaced front oxygen sensor with denso unit

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So got started on the cosmetics. You probably noticed the large dent in the quarter panel, I bought a kit that came with a super glue gun and pushed on the back of the dent at the same time as I used the puller. I also had to clean the surface rust off of the scraped area next to the dent

Dent
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During
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After

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Also set about correcting the air bag issue

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Heh


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Not too shabby rite

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Also found out that at some point they used some pretty thick bedliner/insulation spray coating the entire trunk. It actually looks like a decent quality

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I think the dude at discount tire was messing with me. The project car has 4 brand new falken brand tires but 2 of them dont hold air. I told him to grind the hell out of the rims if the chrome was bubbling, they called me a few hours later and said it was indeed the chrome inside the barrels, they did their best. So far so good no leaks at all

Its been getting down in the 30's here in Texas. With the fuel pump issue cured, and a stock fuel pressure regulator back on it the car has been starting very easily, so I wanted to tackle a remote start and better keyless entry.

I really liked the clifford unit I had on a Honda civic in the past, and a remote start with keyless 4501x unit was only $55

It took me a day or two to figure out what the hell everything the system needed, like what an anti grind connection is for, what a ( -) activation ment, it still doesnt say at all what this is used for, but It works awesome!

Definitely not for us with big hands. Probably the biggest pain ive had to deal with so far

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Yeah, fixed most of them but im still fighting a p0505 code for iac malfunction. Not sure what's going on but im probably going to need to download evoscan and ceddymods and go through the iac relearn procedure. Going to swap back to my old tb, going to rebuild it myself. Only other thing it could be is the fiav now or the diag procedure. Car still runs and idles fine, but to be honest if it has a hard start, or idles low the car just says screw it and tosses the cel.

Getting further with the body, the black door handles bug the crap out of me because I know they're not suppose to be black

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Swapped back to the original idle air control valve, and made sure this time I really torqued the bolts. My 96gst that I swapped the iac with was not happy with the other iac so both cars are back with their originals. The only hypothesis I have is that the gaskets behind them aren't sealing well. Next time the code pops up im sealing the surface of the tb with rtv

And screw it, ive documented everything else so why not the wipers too LOL


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Ive been trying to push up the boost, but it wont go higher than 10ish psi

Boost leaks were inconclusive. My method was pulling a Schrader valve out of a spare rim, cutting an empty brake cleaner can in half, and inserting the tire pressure valve into that bottom half can

I get gurgling oil back up the feed line when attached to the turbo compressor, bypass the compressor and the blow off valve leaks out of the bottom vacuum fitting. Going to switch to another back up eBay blow off valve

Throttle body tests was less conclusive, so $18 and twenty minutes later rebuilt the shaft seals.

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With those two big leaks fixed I went out and bought an air compressor

I get everything set up and the cheap $40 harbor freight compressor does its job and I find my leak. The intake manifold.

Im upset about this. I remember having 2 gaskets, and picking the thicker fel pro over the thin evergreen

I dont remember doing this, but I definitely put a 6 bolt gasket on the 7 bolt :(

Suprisingly I was able to pull everything in about an hour.

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So everything's been good. I got the car to idle at exactly 750rpms, but I couldn't get the IAC to work. It was also evident I messed up both brass throttle blades, the edges we're messed up preventing a good
Seal.

So I bought a used one for $90 off eBay. Zero problems since then

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