1999 Eclipse GSseX Road Race Build

[Atuca]

Overview

This is a build journal for my Road Racecar build. My goal is to inspire someone who may have so little experience they've never changed their oil, to be someone that can build a competitive race car. Because just a few years ago, that was me! With careful planning, research, and perseverance, you can build anything you set your mind to!

Index

The Journey to GSseX - Parts 1 and 2
The Journey to GSseX - Parts 3 through 5
Waking up from a Dream
First Modifications
Clutch Swap
Pictures of the Early Days
A Quiet Retreat
Keeping Cool in the Summer
New Year, New Goals
Stoked to be Stroked! - Part 1
Stoked to be Stroked! - Part 2
Stoked to be Stroked! - Part 3
Stoked to be Stroked! - Part 4
Stoked to be Stroked! - Part 5
Stoked to be Stroked! - Part 6
Stoked to be Stroked! - Part 7
Stoked to be Stroked! - Part 8
Shifting to Georgia
Big Boy Boost - Part 1
Big Boy Boost - Part 2
Looking the Part
No More "Turbo" bump
Got a new Dress.. err... Side Skirt!
Eight Months Busy Doing Nothing Race Car Related
Interior Clean Up (Round 2) FIGHT
Life is Crazy
Happy New Year - 2014
Playing with Metal
Late Mid Year 2014 Update
Early 2015 Update - Seat Mounting, Suspension Work, Wheels, AND RACING!
8/30/15 Update - Time to Move again!
Back on the Ground
Computer Future Megabyte USB Floppy Disk 1101101
Shooting Hoops
The End of GSSeX, Start of C1 Eclipse

Accomplishments

NASA HPDE 1 - 3/14/2016
NASA HPDE 2 - 3/15/2016

Current Modifications

Weight [unweighed]
Max Power Output [undynoed]

Engine
2.4l G4CS Block
ARP Head Studs
ARP Main Studs
ACL Rod Bearings
ACL Main Bearings
Kiggly Main Girdle
Eagle Rods
Wiseco Pistons (.020 Over)

Cylinder Head
1G Head
HKS 272/272 Cams
Fidanza Cam Gears
Mitsubishi Evolution VIII Behive Valve Springs
Topline 3G Lifters
Supertech Valve Seals intake and exhaust seals

Drivetrian
ACT Streetlite Flywheel
ACT 2900 Pressure Plate
ACT Street Disc
Stock 2G Transmission
LSD rear differential
B&M Short Shifter
Symborski Shifter Kit

Suspension
KW V3 coil overs w/ 2.5" Hypercoil springs
RM Racing Sway Bars
Custom Rear Toe Arms
Full Spherical bearing, Aluminum, and/or poly suspension bushings throughout (no rubber!)
WedsSports TC105N 10.5x18
Nitto NT01 315/30/18s

Induction
K&N 12" performance air filter
Forced Performance 4" Intake
Forced Performance 3052 (GT3076R)
Extreme Turbo Systems 4" Front Mount Intercooler
Tial Blow Off Valve
1G 60mm Turbo Throttle Body

Exhaust
Forced Performance Exhaust Manifold
Forced Performance O2 3" V-Band Housing
Custom 3" side exit exhaust
Tial Wastegate

Engine Management
DSMlink v3
Innovate LC-1 Wideband
GM AIT
Omni 4 Bar MAP
Greddy Boost
Greddy Oil Pressure

Fuel Supply
PTE 1000cc Fuel Inejectors
255lph Walbro Fuel Pump

Ignition
NGK BPR7ES Spark Plugs
NGK Spark Plug Wires

Brakes
Evolution IX Brembo 4 pot front and Brembo 2 pot rear calipers
Evolution IX Rotors front and back
Raybestos Brakes Pads front and rear

Miscellaneous
AMB Aero Design :: 95-99 Eclipse GT300 Aero Kit
APR GT1000 Dual Element air foil
Complete vehicle rewire
Battery relocation
Fusebox relocated to interior

About me

I've been on the forums since about 2006, since then I've had build threads, then we migrated to build blog, and now a build journal. I have collected all of the information from all of those places, and lost photos, and in some places add even more photos, trying to make this the end all place from start to finish for this build. If for no other reason then my own personal reference, from first getting into DSMs, to the learning process for each modification, to racing on the open road course, I will document everything I can as I build this car. As I make track days, I will also update this thread with the information from the track events. There are many other amazing build journals that have inspired me to do new things, but I hope taking lots of those ideas and putting them into one car and documenting it will make this one of the best start to finish build journals on DSMtuners!

 

[Atuca]

The Journey to GSseX - Part 1

I'd like to start this build Journal with a brief overview of the journey I took from when I first got my first DSM, and how the bug bit me and never stopped from there. I went through several DSMs to get to the point where I am now, and I'd like to document that story.

1997 Eclipse RS

It was back in early 2006 when I bought my first car when I first started college. I wanted my first car to be something nice and something I would be proud of. At the time I had never touched a car, hardly even driven to be honest. I was originally considering both body styles of the Toyota Celica, and ended up leaning more likely the 90s style.

I went to go buy a 96 Celica, however when the seller was a no show, I ended up back on craigslist to search again for my first car. Then I stumbled across this:

I thought it was sporty and the price was right. I ended up paying $2200 for this automatic DSM and thought that my daily driver was everything I wanted and more.

I was surrounded by ricer boy Hondas at my school, like quiet literally the stereo type: JDM, body kit and park bench wings. I was broke though and could only afford so much. I upgraded the 15 inch wheels for the 16 inch of the 2ga GSX, the "swirlies" as they have been come to be known.

I'll fast forward a bit here because you ALL already know this part of the story: Soon after realizing that to go faster, I needed to modify my engine. I wasn't sure how to modify a car though at all and had no tools. After doing some research, and finding a little site called DSMtuners, I came to realize there was a factory turbo Eclipse out there. That was the perfect way for me to go faster without any mechanical knowledge. I knew I didn't want to have a race car so to me the AWD was just a waste of gas, so I started my hunt for a GST.


The Journey to GSseX - Part 2

Knowing I wanted to be faster was something you can all attest to. I didn’t know why I wanted to go faster; I just knew I wanted to. I was also bothered by dorm mates that my automatic was not cool, so this started my search for a manual GST Eclipse.

1997 Eclipse GST
It took me a while to find what I was looking for. I was making pennies at my job and could not afford a super low mile Eclipse. From the research I had done I was looking for a stock GST that I knew had not been abused by someone thinking it was their race car. After all, this was going to be my “show car” quality daily driver.

It was late 2006 when I came across a doctor selling his GST as he was leaving the state. He had it posted up on craigslist for $4000, the top of my budget. It was a brilliant red color and completely stock, service papers dated back several years. Knowing he was in a hurry to leave the state, bartering the best I could just to save a buck, I bought that GST on the spot for $3500 with 118k on the dial.

Now a friend had given me a “how to drive a manual” lesson just the previous day. I spent a good hour grinding gears and eventually learning how to drive a manual, at least fundamentally. My friend test drove the car with me in the rear seat just to make sure everything was in order, but he had to go back to class before the deal was made. So alone I was left with this new car, too scared I’d ruin it to drive it back.

As we had met in a mall parking lot, I walked around the mall for nearly an hour, contemplating if driving the car back the 2 miles from home was possible for me. I had never been so nervous about something before, in both terms of safety and the money I had just spent. I was worried that a semi was going to run into me because I couldn’t get into gear, or I’d ruin the gear box because I just didn’t have enough practice.

Well after I realized my friend was not coming back to save me, I hopped in the car and for the first time, drove a turbo charged vehicle! I probably stalled the thing 10 times before I got out of the parking lot, but I just hoped that I wouldn’t hit too many red lights on the way home. It was a terrifying and exhilarating drive as I over revved and launched several times on accident.

February 2007 I went to my first DSM meet, where I saw how fast cars sound and look for the first time in person. I was almost made fun of and a car to be admired just in how stock I was, people had rarely seen DSMs so unmolested. I even had one guy wanting to buy my wheel well plastic, as he had cut his to allow his SMIC to breathe better and had since moved to a FMIC. Being around those DSMers did nothing but enhance my desire to go faster. It was that next day in February of 2007 that I got involved in asking about my first mods on DSMtuners.

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/newbie-forum/252567-advice-first-mods-97-gst.html

It was a terrible first post! It makes me cringe reading how ricer I ended up sounding and how little I knew. In fact, I eventually just gave in knowing that I was a bit of a ricer; I wanted to be perceived as fast and sound fast without actually investing the money to be that much faster.

But that first post is what the first BIG step was in becoming addicting to modifications. And the first reply to that post was nothing but the truth:

Good luck with your project and be prepared to get addicted to power. It's like crack man, once you start you can't stop.

It wasn’t long before I got my first modification ever: the K&N Filtercharger Injection Performance Kit! All of a sudden I could hear my BoV! It was one thing after another. I wanted it louder, so I built my first boost leak tester, got intercooler pipes, intake pipes, and the ever popular 1g BoV so that all the civics knew I was turbo; I wanted them to hear the sound.

Eventually did one of my first big (physically) upgrades: a 3” cat back exhaust. For someone who has never been on their back working on a car, this was a huge endeavor for me. I did get that exhaust installed although it took me all day. From that point forward I thought I was going to be set for life with the coolest car ever.

The modifications I had left I wanted to be done to my car was soldering blue LEDs, getting a stereo installed and speaker, and getting an A pillar with gauges and a MBC to turn up the boost.

Something just wasn’t right though. I was living in California and knew that modifying cars and staying legal was going to be really hard to do. I always thought that if I changed the turbo that at that point there would be no going back to stock. But I wasn’t satisfied with what I had.

It was a dark rainy day and I was coming off the freeway onto the off ramp. I stopped and waited to make my right hand turn until it was clear and made my move to join traffic. As I slipped the clutch into gear I noticed my car had moved slightly forward but was not moving and I was actually sliding. A car was coming at me and in a hurry to get onto the road I accelerated more. This did nothing and my car was revving at 5 thousand RPMs and my tires were just spinning. The oncoming car narrowly missed me by changing lanes and I eventually slowed the RPMs, caught traction and pulled over and freaked out a little.

While I didn’t know at that time, and can only guess looking back, the traction issues I had was burned into my brain. I had figured I had too much horsepower for a FWD car; I was able to peel out even in dry weather pretty easily. Maybe I was just looking for an excuse for myself to justifying buying ANOTHER eclipse with leather interior? Even now I can’t figure why the desire was so strong when I was as broke as I was, but regardless, I began my search for a GSX.

 

[Atuca]

The Journey to GSseX - Part 3

Well I was still broke, and GSXs were not cheap. I had looked at 3 or 4 different ones in person, one 100s of miles from where I lived, all in attempt to find that "diamond in the rough", and I am talking REAL rough.. reguardless, I spent my time looking for a cheap GSX that was running, that would sate my need to go faster.

1996 Eclipse GSX

It was September of 2007 and this GSX was posted for 5000 dollars on craigslist. It was beat up, modded, poorly riced out, and happened to be local to where I worked.

Body kit done poorly, stickers on the dash, peeling window tint, and come to find out, blown engine. I test drove the car around, I asked could I launch it, he agreed and when I dumped the clutch, poof a loud back fire, smoke out the tail pipe and the car dies. He said he's launched it a million times and has no idea whats wrong. I told him if he figured out what was wrong to call me back.

About a week later he calls and says that he'd sale the car for 2k, to come and pick it up. He said it stopped smoking and he needed to get out of the car for whatever reason. I went to go pick it up from him, but when he starts it up, it started billowing smoke out the tail pipe. He said he cant figure out whats wrong and he's done with it. I counter him at 1k and he accepted.

The car ride home about 40 miles took 6 hours to make. Soon as the car was moving it stopped smoking and I figured something was leaking and I would just look at it when I got home. About 5 mins after when I got on the freeway, I noticed the car had pegged the overheat mark and I immediately pulled over. I waited 20 mins or so until it was at the mid level again, and started driving again. I did this the entire way back.

I did hear a slight bit of knocking at idle and didn't think much of it, but when I couldn't idle the car for longer then a few mins I knew something bad had happened. With the engine blown (later found to be a bad rod) I had to decide what I wanted to do with the car.

I deducted with as clean of condition my GST was in, I would attempt an AWD swap. I had a co-worker who had offered to lend a hand and a garage to do the swap. When push came to shove though, he backed out and I was left without a way to do it myself. With no way to complete the swap myself, I parted the car for all I could get and sold the shell.

Now granted I was able to get an in dash DVD player, amp, sub and speakers, ebay exhaust manifold, ebay 16g, ebay FMIC, ebay this and that. Oh I even got leather interior out of it! Honestly looking back I wish I had taken more off that car before I sold the shell, there was alot of crap on there. But live and learn. I sold the shell for what I paid for it, but came out with all the parts to make my gst a bit faster. All in all it was a decent deal for me, maybe buying and selling DSM would make me money?

Just for giggles, this is what happened to the car after the new owner finished parting out the rest of the car:

He bought it to AWD swap his car, however gave up on it and gave into his Evo friends, buying himself an evo. QUITTER

The Journey to GSseX - Part 4

Months passed and nothing else came up on craigslist. I realized that if I wanted to be satisfied, to get the DSM I really wanted, the one that wouldn't need any drivetrain or engine swaps, I had to pony up the money and just get it from the start. I was tired of shopping for Eclipses, to be honest. Tired of driving hours to meet an owner and something not be right. I wanted to buy my last Eclipse and have it be the best car ever. I had decided I wanted the black leather interior, and that was only possible if I held out for a 1999 Eclipse.

1999 Eclipse GSX - GSseX

It wasn't until late December of 2007 after Christmas, I saw it: a 1999 Eclipse GSX. It has black leather interior, had a nearly brand new engine from FFtech, and only had a MHI evo 3 16g as a mod. This made me feel safe the car had been taken care of by a reputable shop and the owner didn't have enough HP to really ruin the car.

January 4, 2008, with a price tag of $6800, DSM number 4 was none other then GSseX.

From here, I'll share the story of how a nearly stock DSM turned a programming geek into a mechanic who dreamed of being a race car driver. Thats the whole reason you are reading this journal, right?

The Journey to GSseX - Part 5

I'd like to just add a little interjection about a few other DSMs I owned for various different reasons.

1996 Eclipse RS

1997 Eclipse GST

This GST was fun for an ex, and a surprise for me. Turns out this car had a 6 bolt motor in it, and I didn't even know when I first got it. I'd spot it a million miles away now, but at the time i was still very newbie. Live and learn...

And thus far, that is the last DSM I bought. Today I own just the 1999 GSX, but we'll see if another DSM falls into my hands as a DD, something I havn't done in a DSM since 2009.

 

[leepen]

Great story !!

 

[chuy14r]

Dsmer for sure
Ww

 

[Atuca]

Waking up from a Dream

I spent the next few days after getting my car just sitting in it, taking pictures, and falling in more and more love with it. It seemed like a dream to finally be in the GSX I had always dreamed of owning. The engine had just been rebuilt 20k miles previously by Full Function Tech, a respected DSM shop in the Fremont, CA area. While it was a rebuilt 7 bolt, I felt assured the engine itself would be a great platform to begin modifying.

Reviewing the receipt folder - January 5th, 2008

I took time looking through the collection of receipts the owner had. Dated back to 2000, he had receipts for everything. It was apparent the original owner did not work on cars. He had a receipt for every oil change it! It was time for me to learn about the history of my new car.

September 15, 2005 at 117k miles, the "100k" service was finally performed. The invoice covered timing belt, water pump, head gasket and a head resurface and valve job, new spark plugs/wires and a new themostat costing $2071.52. Boy I am glad I do my own work now!

Then 3 months later, December 12 the clutch had burned out. THe car was towed to the shop and a new "High Performance Clutch Kit" was installed with a resurfaced flywheel for $1222.49.

Late 2005 the car owner had put out some good money...

Early 2006, February 11, the first modifications were put onto the car. A greddy boost and oil pressure gauge was installed into a Instrument Cluster Bezel. Installed by the shop, it came to $515.07!

August 22, 2006 concerned me quiet a bit. The note on the invoice states:

Customer overheated engine & drove it until engine shut itself off.

The only work performed on the engine this time was a Head gasket replacement, and totaled $1464.83

The odometer reading on that second head gasket replacement was at 126875. There were only two more oil change receipts and neither showed a very large change in the odometer reading. I am guessing after the second time the engine over heated, the owner was not very happy or enjoying his car anymore.

Interesting enough, I see there was a smog receipt on Febuary 2007, which I am guessing signified the change in owner ship to the owner previous to me. There were no more oil change receipts and the next dated document was from Full Function with a new motor. The document was 3 pages long and listed just about every nut and bolt they turned to get the motor in. I'll spare the details on price but it was more then my future 2.4l build by far.

Reguardless, I am not sure why the motor was rebuilt, a 3rd head gasket change was in order maybe and the owner decide it was time for a new motor? I might not ever know the answer to that, but all that matter to me was the most recent document (following a clean car fax report):

The bill of sale to ME!

When I bought the car the only modifications to it were the two gauges, the freshly built 7 bolt, a custom 3 inch cat back exhaust and Megan Racing muffler, and a MHI 16g turbo new with the motor. It had a cheap air filter on there but besides that was as stock as could be. The car was debadged, had a broken tail light, no radio and a cracked windshield (which was unrepairable), but it was AWD, had a greddy turbo timer, black leather interior, moon roof, fog lights, and to my surprise, BFH Viscous LSD. The owner threw in a Sharp HID kit though; that was a bonus!

I looked forward to my first day off work, where I could install my headlights and start moving parts off my GST onto the GSX, starting the build of what I had dubbed "GSseX".

 

[Atuca]

First Modifications

Soon as I had some time off work, and getting over the fact I finally had the car in my possession, I knew that I wanted to take my mods off the GST and put them on my GSX. I spent the next few days doing just that.

HID Head Lights - January 8th, 2008

The first thing I wanted to do was put in some Sharp HIDs. It was a pretty straight forward install and there is not alot to say. I used a drill to cut holes in the back of the headlight housing, pug the gasket and wires through, and put the bulb in. Easy mod that made seeing at night alot easier. I aimed the head lights down a bit so that there would be less chance of glare, and aimed at a dumpster across from the car the line was pretty straight. I was good with it, and can't think of anytime I ever was flashed by high beams by on coming drivers.

Youtube GST Video: 1997 Mitsubishi Eclipse GST, a history, a legacy

I liked taking photos and documenting things as I did them. I decided that I would make a video out of them, and ended up with my first video, as a type of farewell to the FWD and goign to AWD. It wasn't for a few months but I had already had talks with a co worker about taking payment on the GST and using that mone twards mods for the GSX. So, as it was a legacy in itself starting me on this turbo journey, the named video was produced:

1997 Mitsubishi Eclipse GST, a history, a legacy - YouTube

Not perfect, and in the videos to follow I added video and I believe improved on the quality. Gotta start somewhere though I supose.

Stereo Installation January 15th, 2008

Installed the DVD player I got from the green 96 GSX. I also swapped in my speakers and sub but realized a 12x12x12 box was not going to fit in the trunk. So then I spent some time making my first sub box. I went over to a friends house the next day and we got to work. Turned out pretty good if I do say so myself! The only mistake I made was during conception, I didn't account for the thickness of the wood. We made that change while cutting everything to size and still ended up with exactly one square foot of space in the box.

Misc things to fix - January 22th, 2008

The last of the things I had to fix that really bothered me was the tail light. I really was kind of a bad man, I just swapped the tail light of the GST and GSX and made it my co workers problem to fix. He knew about it, it wasn't like that.. but finding 2gs in the junkyard at the time was pretty hard to do and I wanted instant satifaction.

I also had to fix my power antenea. My GST broke too! WTH is with those things..

The Arm Rest Lever was busted too. Things like that you just don't think about when buying a new car, but found it while fiddling with things inside the car. Not sure where I sourced that part from.. I dare say the GST was picked from again..

And the last was getting the dejon intake pipes off the GST and into the GSX.

And thats how she sat for a few weeks until I could gather up some money to go on to my next mods. I had just spent every last penny I had buying this thing.. time to just enjoy it for a bit!

 

[Fracture]

Interesting to read good job so far best of luck on the rest of the build.

 

[Atuca]

Clutch Swap

It was awsome having the GSX. I'd go just about anywhere just to have an excuse to drive. I was of course reading DSMtuners forums trying to learn everything I could about the modifications I wanted to do next, and the order I should do them.

It wasn't but a few weeks after driving around I realized that it took higher and higher RPM to get the car to accelerate. I wasn't ready then, for what was about to happen next.

ACT 2900 and ACT Streetlite Flywheel - March 29th, 2008

I thought "No way, couldn't be needing a new clutch." Maybe I just didn't want to believe it was possible, because at that time I hadn't done anything that extreme. I tried adujusting the clutch pedal, but nothing fixed the engage point. It had become obvious I was going to have to do this clutch swap.

I kept putting it off though. I didn't have the tools nor the place to do a clutch swap. I wasn't even for sure exactly what the problem was. I found a friend who was willing to let me park my car there and work on my DSM for what I thought would be the weekend a few hours. I went to his house, told him I bring steak and drinks and we could throw a BBQ while I worked on the car that night, and in the morning I leave.

He thought it be a fun idea and set the date for two weekends from then. On the way home though from his house, at about midnight, I am trying to make the 2 mile drive back to my place. The clutch engagement was so bad I was reving to about 3.5k just to get the car to move. I was basicly having to "race" everywhere. Not 10 minuntes into my drive, I am turning left at an intersection when a cop flashes his lights at me, signalling for me to pull over.

I have never been pulled over before, I am freaking out because its California, and my car is modified. I of course was thinking worst case senario and thought, "This is it, he's going to take my car from me and throw me in jail." I turn my car off so that the sound of my exhaust would not alert him.

"Son, you know why I pulled you over?" says the officer. "No sir, I am just trying to get home." He says, "I heard you 3 blocks down the road, I'd a thought you were street racing, but I saw at the light there your car just looks to be broken. What is wrong with it, and why are you reving your engine so late at night?"

I explained to the officer that I in fact was at a friend's house setting up a time to fix my clutch and that the reving was completely unintentional. He said that he could give me a citation for obstruction of traffic driving so slow and that my vehicle was a danger to other cars on the road. He instructed me to wait until my defrosters had finished making my windows clear and to get home, and that if he saw me around town again reving my engine like that again he would give me the ticket.

I nearly received a ticket for my GSX for either being either A) broken or B) too slow. The officer had the nerve to tell me he could see that my car "just looks to be broken". Jesus if I had received either of those tickets I would never have lived it down..

Within that two week window I tried to gather all that I thought I would to fix my issue. I went ahead and bought a new clutch and flywheel so that I didn't need to worry about resurfacing my old stuff. Besides the fact I didn't know which of the two were broken, I figure just do both and be done with it knowing they were new. My ACT 2900 clutch and ACT Streetlite flywheel came and the weekend to do the swap drew closer. I went with a ACT 2900 because I heard the 2600 was more prone to causing crankwalk on a 7 bolt and because I figured what harm would come from getting the higher rated Presure Plate? Wether or not that was true, it's the path I took.

I showed up at my friends house at about noon and get the car up on some jack stands. I had once been under a Eclipse doing an exhaust; I had once (well twice now) changed intake pipes. But This was the first time I had ever attempted something that required taking so much stuff apart. I estimated 5-6 hours to do this swap, so after getting the intake pipes, electrical connectors, and battery out, I got what ever I could find laying around to get ready to lower the transmission. I then spent a good portion of the evening hanging out with the other friends we invited and helped BBQ and eat food. Gotta get a good meal in before I would have the energy to lift a tranmission right?

At about 8pm, I started taking the last bolts that I thought would release the tranny. I had no engine hoist obviously, so that meant I had to drop the tranny under the car. Using one jack to hold the engine and another jack to hold the tranny, I removed the transmission motor mount expected it to just slide off.

Well no, as most of you know, the axel must come out before the transmission will come out. I had expected there to be enough play to slide the transmission down and the axel out, but no, life is not that easy.

Needless to say it took "basic tools man" several hours to get the transmission off, about 6 to be exact. I was exhausted, filthy dirty, and very annoyed. Luckily my friend was interested in continuing to help me because he is the type of person that once he sees a challenge, he wants to conqure it. That transmission had us both stumped.

It was probably near midnight and I started taking the pressure plate bolts off. And without too much trouble I was looking at the flywheel bolts. I put on the socket and started loosening... crank turns.

Ahem.. I say again.. I put the socket on the flywheel bolt and started loosening.... crank turns. !?!?! I don't know if an air ratchet would have helped with the torque the bolts are supposed to have on them (plus red locktite) but them things were themselves not budging, and I had no idea how I was going to keep the crank from turning.

I can't remeber now if it was the internet or our creativity, but we got the idea to bend some flat metal stock and bolt it to the flywheel where the pressure plate was, and have the bent portion wedged against the outside of the transmission/front cross member. This way the flywheel wouldn't turn and we could get the bolts holding it out.

Since it was midnight we decided to just go to bed and I would pick up the bar in the morning and finish if then. We did just that and the bar worked amazingly. It was super ghetto having a 3 foot bar bend half way around the engine bay holding the flywheel from spinning, but it worked. One bolt out, two bolts out, 3, 4, ah 5 was pretty snug, almost stripped that was scary. Six was giving us some problems, maybe it was just us getting tired trying to crack the bolts loose at 150 ft/lbs.

7 came out, but man what is with number 6? The more I tried to get it out the more it didn't want to budge. I got a long breaker bar and gave it a good pull. Spun easily enough woot! Flywheel off! Wait a minute.... the bolt had been completely rounded off! There was no more corners on it. With a bolt head as shallow as these I think it is stupid how tight they are, but how am I going to drill out this bolt without ruining the crankshaft. It didn't take long before I found these from Craftsmen:

That did the trick, and at about hour 12 of this project, I finally had the last flywheel bolt off.

Getting everything back on the car was pretty straight forward. I'll spare you the details on getting the transmission lined up with the engine and getting it all back on, but all in all I didn't leave my friends house til midnight, making the total hours invested on a clutch swap about 16 hours.

I know I could do it in half that time if not less now, but once I had dropped the tranny, I figured I could do just about any modification now. And in time, I came to realize that was pretty much true. I am sure glad I did both the flywheel and clutch, because there was nothing that was going to get me (or my friend..) to drop the transmission any time soon.

Instantly, after learning how to bleed my clutch for the first time, the drive around the block was amazing. Maybe it had been so many weeks driving it broken, but having the clutch in there made the pedal stiff and responsive and I was back on the road with the car at 100% tip top shape!

Sorry for not having any photos of the actual new clutch/flywheel, I can't seem to find them right now.

 

[mrg7243]

I want MOAR!!! Great read up, similar story with my galant on not knowing how to do anything and diving right in. BRAVO!!

 

[Atuca]

Pictures of the Early Days

Finally having my car back on the road I did what I like doing best, taking pictures. This post will just be a collection of some of pictures I took wthin the first few months of owning the car.

Photo Time

 

[danielsl1999gsx]

Why did you MOVE!!!! I have so much to learn... sigh, great read, well documented and love your passion.

 

[jcart953]

Damn this is like a novel im loving it, this is a great read! Love the build keep it up

 

[Atuca]

A Quiet Retreat

It sure was nice being back on the road again. I have found that is the way with a lot of other DSMers, where they enjoy fixing their DSM as much as they do driving it. A new sense of accomplishment and pride swept over me knowing that my once broken DSM was on the road again because of my passion to learn and succeed. I had just gotten a new job that paid great and offered me a work from home schedule which saved me hours of commuting every day, time that I could use to put towards the DSM.

Defining Goals, Round 1 - April 5, 2008

I know I needed to set a goal for the car to give direction to the future modifications I wanted to complete. I can remember vividly sitting at my parents' house out in the country, where as far as the eye could see not another house could be seen. Their lake side rental in the desolate country side of California was down a long dirt road and completely surrounded by absolute silence. Owned by an old farmer who used the land for his cattle, the small portion they had rented could easily be mistaken for the 100 that the owner had wrapped around the lake.

The absence of the daily noises of the city can bring clear thought to those who let it envelop them. I had started a new job, I had met a new girl friend, my car was running perfectly, it was no wonder I could remember this day so clearly. I could likely write a novel describing all of the thoughts that crossed my mind as I envisioned my future life, the overwhelming serenity of the evening and happiness in my life put my mind into a state of deep meditation.

I had only just recently even owned a car. It was shocking to me that when considering the rest of my life, the Eclipse could not escape my thoughts. Ask me if I would be considering a vehicle as part of my life a year ago and I'd have laughed at you. Sure I liked my GST, but I never thought it would consume my life. The time I spent on the GSX with my friends was something that brought us closer. As a computer "geek" programming or playing video games, social activities are getting on Vent or Skype (communication with a headset on the computer). It made it easy to keep in touch, but it's not the same as hanging out in person. In the same way I play video games competitively to prove I am better than the other gamer, I felt racing would be the same thing for this hobby. I had decided that day that my car would be used to race.

Drag racing was all the buzz on DSMtuners. Everyone wanted more horsepower, faster time slips, and all of the build threads inspired me to be the same. While my skills mechanically had grown, I still had a lot to learn about in theory. I wanted to keep my goals obtainable and reasonable, and as I met each goal, set a new height for the following season. With my current Evo III 16G, 350 wheel horse power seemed to be the max anyone could get out of it. It seemed there were a few people who had and yet plenty hadn't. I thought if I could make 350 AWHP that would be a great first goal.

With a goal defined, I started looking up the parts I would need to reach that goal.

DSMlink - April 24, 2008

A good friend I had met at the DSM car meet had said he had come across a unique EPROM. It was a 1996 ECU that had all the indications it was an EPROM ECU, like the 95s. He said I could buy it with the warranty if it did not work with DSMlink, I could sell it back to him. With no risks involved, I bought it from him and reached out to Tom at DSMlink.

Tom's curiosity in the device worked out in my favor. Tom did not want to risk having me try it socketed with DSMlink as he knew little about the device and had not heard or seen anything like it, so he offered me an exchange for a 1995 ECU he had in stock and a good deal on a DSMlink v2.0 package. I had sold my stock ECU for 100 bucks and felt I came out pretty good at the end of this deal.

Again, I am sure many of you can attest to the awesomeness of DSMlink. To me however this was the first time I had ever even seen tuning software. I had no idea what to do, how to do it, or why I was doing it. Their forums were great and got me dialed in as my car was still stock in a lot of ways, but I knew that at least I had a major component of my build completed. Now any changes I made would be tuned.

To me, it offered launch controls, and a way to data log so I could turn my boost up with my MBC. Launching at 5500 RPM with stutter box on my new clutch was awesome. I started taking some videos of the new acceleration and was amazed at how fast the car was. I found that DSMlink could estimate horse power. I don't know exactly how it all works, but after what I thought was a great pull, DSMlink showed I was only at 220 WHP. WOW, I thought I was over 250 easily. It gave me a bit of a reality check that my car really wasn't that fast, and that there was going to be a lot of modifications I needed to perform to reach my goal.

GSseX Season 1 - May 4, 2008

It didn't take long to capture some good video. I had owned the car a few months now and wanted to document what I had accomplished and what I was going to do that year. The video shoed both the stockish performance at WOT, with several videos of it and the stutter box.

It was a fun video for me because it was more than just pictures, and really showed the capability of the car. Like sharing a high score in a video game, showing people the video made what I had accomplished that much more satisfying. And with that, I shamelessly share it here for your viewing pleasure.

Youtube link to Season 1 Video

The funny thing is how minimal the modifications really were, and how slow the car really accelerated. When you havn't never been in a faster car, it is the fastest thing you've ever experienced.

Looking back, I suggest new tuners should go to the track with their stock car, be around other vehicles and people who have already gone down their path, pathed it for you, and let you experience it. I supose reading a build blog would be a good way as well, but nothing can move you like seeing it in person to give you a real sense or reality. Had I done that the first time around, I might not have "defined" my racing career as a drag racer to begin with.

Maybe you are just like me and don't care a whole lot though, and the journey and working on the car is just as fun

 

[Atuca]

Keeping Cool in the Summer

It was getting to be much hotter outside, now getting into the summer of 2008. My new job was going well and I had a hole burning in my pocket. Most people use extra money they make to spoil themselves or their loved ones, but not a car enthusiast. When they get money their spoil their cars! Summer was hot, and when it's hot outside, you got to find a way to stay cool. I used go fast parts!

B&M Short Shifter - May 5, 2008

You know there is just not enough to be said about this little guy. I always thought short shifters were "rice" and I didn't really understand the significant improvement they added to the way driving the car feels. After getting one though I am a firm believer they should be something everyone gets as one of their first mods in a manual transmission DSM.

Aside from the fact it only takes a few minutes to install, I got nothing else to say. If you don't have one already, go get a B&M short shifter!

ETS FMIC - June 14, 2008

If I haven't already said this, the goal for this build was fast and reliable (remember the whole pick two: fast/cheap/reliable). I wasn't going to cut corners on any part of the build. Everything was the best brand regardless of price, even if it meant saving up longer. This may have been the first time I realized how expensive "fast and reliable" was going to be.

When it came to FMIC, there was undisputedly only one choice for the best bang. Notice I didn't say "best bang for buck", because this bad boy was not cheap. However their ultra short route intercooler had the best IC tank design, backed with at the time the only "ultra short route" intercooler piping that ran through the radiator support beam. I loved that the pipe route was so short as it really made little sense to me to have piping literally twice if not three times longer running through the stock location, or a core that's end tank had both the hot and cold inlet and outlet on the same side, or worse yet Greddy's hot side of their intercooler on the passenger side and the cold side on the driver side, having to loop all the way back to the passenger side in front of the core just to feed back up through the stock SMIC hole.

No thank you^. I placed my order for a 3 inch core, gloss black piping, and the ricer in me could take it no longer, I wanted a Tial BoV. Now of course I properly vented with a GM MAF and MAFT, but having to buy that all at once cost me roughly $1300. You don't always think about all the stuff you need to have a completed job, but it added up quick.

I received a call a few days later from ETS explaining that they had no more 3 inch cores, and that I could either cancel my order, or upgrade to a 4 inch. I had no need for a 4 inch intercooler and on my little 16g turbo, probably would have hurt its spool up with no gain. However with a little persuasion, a half off on the price difference had me looking forward to a finished product in a week's time.

Aside from the not having 3 inch core, they still had their bugs. Even after agreeing on the half price upgrade, they charged me full price at first (I had to call to correct it). They also forgot to send me the GM MAFT, I figured I was getting it from another location, but after a good 5 days after shipment of my FMIC, I called to ask where my MAFT was. They sent me one immediately but I was more than a little annoyed after spending 1400 dollars with them I had issues like that, enough so that I complained about it back then and am doing it again now.

The install was pretty straight forward. Even to the point I didn't take in-progress shots because it was done so fast. It took a while to get the bumper trimmed enough, that 4inch core ate up most of the mouth a stock 2gb bumper had.

I threw on the G2 Fram fuel filter "Catch Can" to keep oil out of the new intake, and while I thought at first it was ghetto and cheap, for 2 bucks it worked!

Install a catch can for your DSM (2G)

I drilled into the j-pipe for a new boost source and then jbwelded a NPT barbed fitting on there. I taped up my stock recirculation tube from the BoV as I was now running the Tial BoV. Hooked up through the GM MAFT, I had issues with the car at first that I thought were attributed to the wrong BoV spring, but realized afterwards that the MAFT was not setup properly. While I had what I thought was a 2g Eclipse MAFT, from the factory, the thing zeroed out is set for 430CC injectors. Once I adjusted it for 450 (used DSMlink to tune from there) everything was running smoothly.

Aside from the fact I needed a new none recirculated intake pipe, which of course was added to the list of things to buy next, FMIC install complete!

Walbro 190 - October 30, 2008

I never actually posted or made any update about this before (yea to my surprise too!) and even more so was I didn't take any photos. I documented in my filing cabinet that I got one, and that I rewired it with new power wire and in-line fuse. I was still on stock injectors. But not for long...

PTE 1000 - November 1, 2008

Well the date was SUPPOSED to be October 31st, but FFtech was CLOSED on Halloween. Seriously, who does that? Bah, whatever. The next day I went to go pick up the Fuel Injectors and my girl friend (oh looking at my notes, she is now "Fiance" ) says to go ahead and pick up the HKS 272 cams I been eye balling.

I don't know what I did to make her say suggest that but I never looked back. I grabbed both intake and exhaust HK$ 272s as I heard they were great cams that idled well. There wasn't a whole lot to choose from brand wise but HK$ cams, while expensive, were a sure thing.

Exhaust and Intake - November 5, 2008

I had fuel taken care of now, I managed a FMIC, and some cams, and I started to feel the onset of power coming finally. I was still dialing in everything, it seems to be never ending with the GM MAF and now complicated by new injectors and cams. While doing a tuning run, I happened across a plastic bag that just so happen to get stuck to my exhaust as I ran over it.

Just my luck... now any normal person would probably had just removed the bag and gone on with their life, but not me... The bag had melted all over my exhaust and it did not come off at all. It was purely cosmetic and unseen under the car, but I used this as an excuse to get rid of the custom cat back and instead do a full 3 inch turbo back.

This may be the only example that I didn't go with a "name brand". With all the reading and research I could do, a SS pipe was a SS pipe. So I went with a Megan Racing downpipe and catback making a complete 3 inch turbo back.

While I was already paying the shipping for the exhaust, what is another 100 bucks for a FP 4 inch intake pipe? The Dejon I had off my GST was nice, and would have been just fine had I bought another without the recirculation tube. However I had at this point been buying bigger intercooler, bigger injectors, bigger this and that and figured if I am over building a quality machine, why not go full 4 inch, something Dejon did not offer.

For a few months I kept using my stock 2g MAF as an adapter to the K/N FIPK, but I eventually replaced it all with a 12" K/N filter. Since I don't have any pictures of the intake with the old filter, I'll just show the pictures with the new filter!

Wrapping up 2008 and changing direction in 2009

Well having that new job had royal spoiled me. I bought a lot of stuff for the DSM in 2008. I had made huge plans for the car but never quite got her tuned perfectly. But it was fun none the less. 2008 I think most would consider the time the economy tanked in the USA, and it had affected me as well.

I lost my job and along with it the extra income I was using on the DSM. I ended up focusing the last few months of the year and up till May finishing college. I was due to graduate but already now used to working full time, I had to find something to do for money. I ended up at a computer hardware reseller building 5k+ dollar Gaming and Server Desktops. It didn't pay as much but it was a fun job to have!

02-14-2009, 08:09 PM, Andrew Brilliant Shocks the DSM world with his Time Attack Build Blog. I must have missed him talking about his "Exterior Sneak Peak" back in March of 2008, but his build blog he started running was nothing short of inspiring. Between Andrew and Eric's "My fuse box relocation" thread started back in June of 2008, I had truly been inspired to do more than just race at the 1/4 mile track.

Andrew's - Time Attack Build Blog

Eric's - My fuse box relocation (project log)

While the blogs differed very dramatically, what they shared was a passion for what they did. I think everyone who read Eric's thread afterwards felt pretty embarrassed about how dirty their car was, and anyone who read Andrew's felt like maybe they too could build a race car (if they gave up sleep and food and had dozens of friends to help you along the way).

Both threads where inspirational, and I wanted to try and follow in their footsteps. Primarily because of the little "fun" I was having tuning on the streets, I started to realize that all the work I was doing just to get a "10 second" car was not very motivating. I could work and work and work and break and break and break more stuff, just for 10 seconds of adrenaline? Blah, 10 seconds or a 3 min lap (or 30 min race) what sounds more fun to you?

I knew that a track car was going to have to be super reliable and I felt that my car was not quiet there. Misguided here obviously by my big dreams to follow in the footsteps of someone years ahead of me in the build, I wanted to have a built race car before going to the track. I didn't want to be a "poser" with a lightly modified car "racing" around the track. Again, looking back I realize that I would have been smart to go out and do a few laps in a car that had power I could control, but in my head I always looked at it as: 200 bucks to race a few laps, or 200 bucks towards another modification?

Do as I say, not as I do.. as the saying goes. Choosing to modify more only delayed me getting to the track, but 2009 was the year I had decided to prepare for the road course!

 

[1995gstdsm]

Lovin the journey brother, keep it up.

 

[DSM095]

that is one sick build

 

[greengoblin]

Really like your build. DO yourself a HUGE favor and get a good catch can . You do not want to fill that pretty intercooler full of oil do you? Calan makes the best and most functional catchcan I have EVER seen.

 

[snowborder714]

Suggestion when using short route intercooler piping - use a 2g N/T coolant overflow bottle. It'll tuck nicely on top of the upper intercooler pipe in the same location the stock overflow bottle was. It's also not legal (I think...) to have the overflow in the wheel well in case of spilling and getting on the tires. On that note, my 2g bottle is currently there However I was mocking up a bracket for my N/T bottle this weekend, so it'll be moved once I figure out a way to keep it from bouncing around a bit.

 

[HighpsiaddicT]

thats clean!

 

[Cooper-97gst]

That's it? We want more

 

[Atuca]

New Year, New Goals

With a new direction, I started a list of the things I would need to build a competitive road race car. I needed to be able to stop, to have torque, and to be reliable. The last of those goals I felt I was on the right track; I was purchasing name brand proven parts. The first two points though I didn't put much attention into with my initial drag racing goals.

Stars must have been aligned, because with a bit of luck, somehow my search didn't take too long.

Ebay Strut bar- February 24, 2009

I never felt the need or desire to ever buy one of these, but for $free.99, I couldn't pass it up. I noticed absolutely no difference after installed, but figure as designed.. it was better than nothing.

Evolution III 16G porting - February 28, 2009

A co-worker at my new job just so happened to be the son of a shop owner. His father had no problem with us coming over to his shop and using his air tools to help me solve a problem I was having with boost creep.

When I installed the full turbo back exhaust, my 16g immediately started creeping over 20 psi, peaking sometimes at 24 psi. I couldn't get a solid tune on the 91 I was limited to. Not to mention I didn't like the fact I didn't have control over the turbo's boost. So we spent a good few hours with a die grinder opening up the wastegate passage on the internally gated 16g. It wasn't perfect, but it brought the creeping down to about 17-18 psi, a much more manageable number.

Evolution VIII Enkeis - March 7, 2009

I had researched for brake upgrades, and found myself really after a set of matching calipers. I didn't care much just upgrading the fronts, it sounded like a silly thing to put attention to those and not the rears. I understand now the fronts do 90% of the stopping, but to this day I am still glad I chose to take the path of the Evolution Brembo brake upgrade. I'll talk more on the brakes themselves later, but in order to install the calipers, I needed a rim that would fit the large calipers.

Can anyone think of a cheap wheel upgrade that is guaranteed to fit over a Evolution caliper? Why, the Evolution Enkei wheels! I have always been a fan of 5 spoke rims, and the Evolution VIII Enkeis were as close as I could get to that. I found a local seller on craigslist in a short amount of time with tires (235/45/17) and was able to directly swap these on in preparation of what was to later come.

Forced Performance Exhaust Manifold - March 21, 2009

Still having troubles with my tune, eventually I discovered I had a crack in my exhaust manifold. Again.. the sane person I am.. how would I fix a cracked exhaust manifold? Replace it! I don't remember if it was on sale or it was just the old price of 200 bucks, but at my door the thing was beautiful and recommend it to anyone. This was something that made the exhaust a bit throatier and improved turbo spool.

This may have something to do with the runners, maybe the 7cm opening over my stock opening , regardless, it was a welcome addition to the DSM.

To make it all work, I added some RRE Gaskets, and took some photos to compare it to the stock gasket.

Evolution Brembo Brake Upgrade - March 27, 2009

The process of collecting parts was much longer than this one day. There was collecting knuckles, collecting specific 10.9 grade bolts, research on brake lines, calipers, rotors and so on. One of the main reasons I chose this route, aside from the fact I wanted matching Brembo brake calipers, was once this setup was installed (the knuckles from JDM Galant specifically), I would then be able to do any of the brake upgrades the Evolution vehicle has available to them, which my assumption was much greater than the DSM market.

I have hundreds of photos of the install, parts, ect, but to save myself posting all of them, just like in the Evolution brake thread I started, I decided to make a video instead. I'll add that here for you to take a look at.

Evo Brake Swap on a DSM - YouTube

Evolution IX MR Recaros - June 29, 2009

While in reality I had stumbled across the start of another huge project in April (I'll outline in the next post), the next project I started and finished was a seat upgrade. I always like the Recaro seats of the Evolution IX ever since I test drove one.... They were a great balance of being body conforming, while not being uncomfortable. The seat bracket solution of mine was custom, and if I had to do it over, I would just weld in new seat mounting panels and remove the stock floor paneling. The seat sits pretty high, but fits alright otherwise.

Evolution brakes, seats, turbo.. dare I say I own a Mitsubishi Eclipse MR?

GSseX Season 2- May 31, 2009

Another "Season" passed for me, and I like to created these videos to highlight the time frame. Its basicly this post in video form, so here is another video for you to enjoy.

1999 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX - GSseX Season 2 - YouTube

Next post will be a long one.. We'll see how I am able to put in details on the G4CS build

 

[Atuca]

Stoked to be Stroked! - Part 1

This next step was a huge one for me. Up to this point every modification I did was a "bolt-on" modification. The clutch swap was pretty in depth, but nothing had to be created or researched, it was just a matter of learning how to do a clutch swap. The brake swap required some research, but the information was all available if I searched hard enough and everything was bolt on once again.

The project under taking of a G4CS required both research and customization. Perhaps not in the block itself, but the whole 6 bolt swap process. It was after this swap, and the associated modifications I did while swapping it, that I considered myself a DSM Wiseman.

The whole engine swap process from Day 1 of gathering parts started on April 15, 2009, and ended the day the engine cranked over on March 29, 2010, which was about 11 months. Minus a few months of down time.. but we'll get in that a little later.

Acquiring the Engine Block - April 15, 2009

This was a pretty strange story. As you know, I had been planning to drag race, then road race. I was a GST, then a GSX. My plans don't always go as originally planned. I USUALLY have a general goal and start down that path, hoping to hit a goal or two on the way, at least with this car project anyways.

I wanted to road race, I WANTED a stroked engine, but I did not have the funds to buy a pre-built block. I never built an engine; the idea to do it myself never crossed my mind.

I had sold a door handle to a local DSMer. Straight forward easy transaction. It's pretty rare; in fact I cannot recall once, where a private sale of any DSM part with a DSMer has taken less than an hour or two. I swear I was selling a 1g BoV to a guy, and after two hours I damn near knew his blood type. I have found people love to talk about their cars when they are around other car people. The door handle sale was no different. I told him about my goals and he just so happen to have a G4CS. I had no idea what that was, I had only heard of the 4G64. Had it been a 4G64 I may have cared more at the time, but fact of the matter was I just didn't.

Fast forward 4 or 5 months, and the guy (who had kept in touch with me from time to time) said he needed to get the engine out of his garage, needed to move onto other things. I still did not have but a couple hundred bucks in my pocket and no idea how to build an engine, but when he offered it to me for the price he did, I figured worse case scenario I just sell it to someone else.

On April 15, 2009 I had acquired a G4CS bottom end with Wiseco Piston and Eagle Rods. I stopped by harbor freight and got an engine stand, and in tradition with all of my other modifications, I just dug in!

Tearing down the G4CS - April 16, 2009

I really didn't know what I was doing. I spent most of the night previously looking up what I needed to keep and what I didn't. I didn't know if the block I got was in good shape or what was going on. I did know I needed to pull the crank and pistons out of it and that just what I did the following day.

Junkyard Round 1- April 18, 2009

I contacted a local DSMer that I knew also was building a 2.4l. He was doing the typical 4G64 build, but he had done all the research on what was needed for an engine build. He gave me an excel sheet he created that had EVERY SINGLE bolt, screw, part, AND Mitsubishi part number to complete his build. He helped outline the ones I needed for my build and the ones I would need to research for a 6 bolt swap. That list was a life saver and I still have it to this day.

We made a trip together to see what parts I could collect for my build at a couple of the local junk yards. We came up with a few parts, but not as many as I had hoped.. not many turbo 1gs laying around on the day we went, but got a few parts for my bottom end though.

It's funny looking back. I didn't even know what that stuff was called at the time, and now its second nature. I'm going to throw a shout out right here: Get your hands dirty if you are a new DSMer, it's the best way to learn

Having DSM friends ROCKS! - April 20, 2009

Excited about the start of my engine build, I called up the buddy I sold my GST to. I told him what I was doing and that I was going to head to another junk yard to look for 1g 6 bolt parts. He let me know that his old 90 GSX was going to go to the junk yard and I was free to pick off anything left on it.

I was like a kid in a candy store. It was mostly a stock long block DSM the friend he got it from blew a few years ago. It had been sitting at a work warehouse for months since he owned it and he didn't have any intention of rebuilding it, since he had my GST as a toy now (and running). I pulled a bunch of stuff off that car, and in doing so saved me lots of money and probably weeks in random junk yards across the California coast.

Major highlight of this trip was a complete 1g Head, and a box full of miscellaneous stuff, that is impossible to think of when building a parts list.

First Ordered Part - April 24, 2009

I was trying to keep ordering parts from classifieds down to a minimum so I wouldn't get over run with shipping charges, but a 90 Oil Filter housing was too good to pass up. I cleaned up a few of my treasures but this day was pretty chillax.

Back to the Warehouse- April 25, 2009

We didn't have an engine hoist so there was timing stuff I wasn't able to get off of the DSM at my friend's warehouse. Well he let me know that he had the bright idea to use a fork lift to get the engine out of the bay. I'll spare you ghetto story, but my first engine EVER in my entire life was pulled on this day, by a fork lift

It got the job done and allowed me to gather a bunch of the non wear timing components.

Break from Build

I hit a road block in my life and had to move, another new job, blah blah blah boring IRL stuff I took about a 5 months break from the DSM engine build, and focused on some easier modifications. Dropping all the machineing money at once took some saving up!

 

[Atuca]

Stoked to be Stroked! – Part 2

I copied a lot of this part from my old blog format. Some of the tenses were changed, others weren’t; it all depended on how bad my English was at the time and if I felt it needed to be corrected ?

Getting Back on track - September 11, 2009

Having money to build an engine APPRENTLY was the same money my fiancé thought would be a good idea to buy a house with. I moved to Tracy and bought a 2006 civic daily driver, which means the GSseX is no longer the DD and is ready for its build again.

Time to get cracking on this again!


Removing the 7 Bolt - September 12, 2009

Didn't get a whole lot done this day, only was motivated to get outside at 6pm when it finally gave cooler weather and a nice breeze. I had gotten most of the passenger side of the car out, manage to drain the oil out and get the exhaust manifold loose.

This is the first time where I actually have to take care of the car I'm pulling the engine out of, usually I just cut all the connectors as I pull the motor out

Just fyi, I pulled the engine now before the g4cs was built because I had planned on using the funds from selling the long block 7 bolt to go towards machining and gaskets for the new engine. The in-between time, I planned on doing a rewire and putting the fuse box in or near or around the glove box, I hope to follow closely what Eric is doing with his thread:

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/hangout/298569-my-fuse-box-relocation-project-log.html

Gonna be a fun project.

Gutting the Interior - September 14, 2009

I had to borrow an engine hoist as I didn’t own one, but the guy who had one local to me wasn’t home, so I focused my attention on the interior of the car. I ripped everything out, and I learned something today too.

I already knew my dsm was a money sink, taking all my extra money just to keep happy, but I never thought it stoop to the levels I found after removing my carpet.. IT STOLED MY SPARE CHANGE MONIES!! Found almost 10 bucks in change. So woot for weight reduction and woot for making money on my dsm!

Aside from that, nothing special happened, except I noticed something strange with the 10 cd changer. It looks like either A) Mitsubishi is REALLY freaking lazy, just cutting the panel to install the stock 10 cd changer. or B) who ever bought my car originally, s/he added it and cut the side panel. I dunno which way it was but I didn't expect this when taking it out. Now I am gonna have to source this piece at a junk yard.

Pulled the windshield washer reservoir, and have no idea how to get the line that goes through the firewall out. I figure as of now I will just pull it out when I get the dash finished and pulled. I pulled my aftermarket alarm system out and the 30 crimps and ghetto connected wires. I was originally just going to rewire the engine bay, and now I am considering rewiring the interior as well.

I figure I am removing probably half the functionality the interior originally had (if you would call it that) and adding half a dozen aftermarket gauges. Rewiring would allow the usage of switches that had the purpose of fog lamps, for example, to be used as a switch for running my fuel pump so that I may make a second tune on race gas or something. I dunno yet, but the idea is intriguing.

Engine Pulled - September 20, 2009

Well all the prep work made the actual pulling engine day take just a few hours, one of which was carrying the engine stand from the neighbors house on 3 wheels. But who am I to complain, I got my engine out for free.

Besides that usual, I discovered a few problems.

A) my passenger axel's boot came undone, and the sealing clamp was nowhere to be found. I just replaced this with a lifetime warranty axel within the year, but I have no idea what is causing the axel to do this....

B) My clutch seems to have taken some damage, from some unknown cause. It looks like rock chips, but I don't see any loose metal or anything in the transmission. It is pretty dirty in the transmission housing, but nothing that seems like it would cause damage like the pressure plate took. It appears to be only cosmetic besides some slight spidering cracks at the very edge on one side of the pressure plate.

I will have to go pick up a new axel, but that isn't a huge concern as much as understanding what caused it to fall apart again. I will also need to change out my wheel bearing in the rear, and really I need a new suspension anyways for track use. I plan to try and budget a full coil over system while I got the down time for the car, and need to change control arms as well too (I've had ripped boots there since my brake swap).

Now, I just need to strip the 7bolt of everything I will need for the 6bolt transfer and then sell the motor to help fund the rest of the g4cs build.

Interior break down complete – October 1, 2009

The break down is COMPLETE!

The engine wiring harness is out after a lot of hassle. Following those lines all around and disconnecting dozens of connectors scratched my hands up pretty good, but they are all out now.

The Dash also came out with a good bit of work. All the HVAC cores, all the ducting is out, the firewall carpet/padding, I'll admit ripping all that stuff out was fun. I had a big box I was using to dump all the stuff into so I could weight it, but the box got too big and heavy to move around. All I can say now is DSM weight loss is great! I'll have to get a curb weight after I'm done with everything.

Without a picture it will be hard to describe, but my ETS Ultra Short Route FMIC developed a hole. The hard piping that goes through the firewall eventually developed a hole on the bottom side nearest to the radiator support beam that had to be trimmed. While the piping was not resting on it, it appears overtime bumps in the road ect caused it to cut it slowly over time, and by the time I got to it, it has a slash about an inch wide, netting a small hole. I assume the core and piping is aluminum, so welding that back together will have to be done, taking that into consideration. A major bummer to find.

I did make a trip to two junk yards, only to find very little dsms. I am still looking for a 1g TB, but my luck netted 0 turbo 1g dsms.. However, I did find a 2g without the 10cd changer in the back, so I grabbed that paneling to give my car a clean look in the back instead of the holes that were in my paneling.

 

[Atuca]

Stoked to be Stroked! – Part 3

Part 3 of the G4CS swap process.

Early Xmas - October 29, 2009

Well Santa came early wearing all brown!

I got my packages this last weekend and spent several hours sorting through all the parts, matching part numbers and ensuring everything turned out great. Props go out to Slowboy Racing, Kiggly, and VR Speed Factory for the great prices, and wonderful service.

These are the parts I have ordered thus far, and as I was checking off my "master" list I noticed I forgot a few items, i.e. timing tensioner and pulleys, external oil cooler, things that smart people shouldn't forget heh. But I'll make another order through these folks and will be all gooood ?


1. Freeze Plugs Top Line
2. Rod Bearings ACL Trimetal Race 4B1146H-STD
3. Main Bearings ACL Trimetal Race 5M1144H-STD
4. Main Girdle Kiggly
5. Main Studs ARP 207-5401
6. Balance Shaft Removal Kit MD040597,MD103722,MD092785,MD098626,MD128107
8. Timing Belt 2.4l g4cs / 4g64 OEM belt md331076
11. Tensioner Arm OEM Timing Belt Tensioner Arm MD-130032
12. Harmonic Balancer Fluidampr FDR-630701
14. Crank Pully Bolt ARP 207-2501
15. Water Pump and Gasket MD972052
19. Oil Filter Bracket Gasket MD149370
20. Oil Pump Front Case MD175762
21. Oil Pump Front Case Gasket MD149393
23. Castle Nut Plug MD125376
24. Castle Nut Plug O-Ring MD041021
25. Crankshaft Rear Oil Seak Gasket MD183243
26. Crankshaft Rear Main Seal MD343564
33. Stud to Transfer Case MD065945
35. Oil Tube O-Ring MD075834
36. Oil Strainer Gasket MD183240
38. Cylinder Block Dowel Pin MF472403 x2
39. Cylinder Block to Head Bushing MS471111 x2
40. Cam Gears 90-99 Eclipse 2.0L turbo (blue) - Fidanza 961999
41. Cam Gear Bolt MF140285 x2
42. Cam Gear Seals MD372536 x2
43. Springs and Retainers Evo VIII
44. Lifters Topline TPL-LIFMI6-16
45. MLS Headgasket Cometic C4235-051 87mm
46. Head Studs ARP 207-4201
47. CAS O-Ring MD619648
48. Intake Manifold Gasket MD188995
50. Thermostat Housing Gasket MD145038
51. Thermostat Kit MD997607
57. Flywheel XACT Streetlite 600150
58. Throttle Body to Manifold Gasket MD146399
59. Throttle Body to Elbow Gasket MD340327


Next bit of business, is with all these parts, I believe I am ready for the machine shop.

As for the engine harness, it is still coming along. I am at the point now where I am routing the locations of the wires, relocating, and planning out how and where I am going to put new plugs like Eric did. Man that guy and his bro have been so much help, another props to him on finally finishing it last weekend!!

Thats all for updates, I have questions posted in my build THREAD, feel free to swing over there if you think you can answer ?

Wiring Mess - November 04, 2009

Well this week with my days off I dug into the interior rewire. Not a guide to follow which made it a real pain, not to mention I think the interior wiring is a thicker main loom with I'd guess 20 total connectors, instead of just the few the fuse box and engine harness had. This meant that removing a wire or connector meant removing pins from not one connector, but more like 3-4 pins per "wire" I wished to remove.

For a list of what I was removing, I am not quite sure if I am done yet.

I removed the stereo wiring, and stock infinity amplifier wiring. I plan on running thicker speaker wire from a removable amplifier to the 4 speakers, instead of running the amped wires to the stock connector and the thin factory wiring. The only wiring left on the radio plug is the 5 wires for power, remote, illumination, dimmer, and ground? Can't remember exactly The wiring was such a mess, and really poorly done Mitsubishi... I knew they ran the amplifier and stock speaker wire in parallel, but I didn't know that it meant crimping the wires from the amp into the standard speaker wires. Pretty lame if you ask me. Anyways, the rear speakers were the most PITA just because they ran from the plug, through all the dashboard wiring, to the plug on the drivers kick panel, than through the side to the speakers. The door speaker wiring I haven’t yet tackled yet. At the plug, the wires change to a black wiring, seemingly larger gauge. At this point in time I don't know how I would even rewire it, I don't see how the wire was physically routed through the little door gourmet. Hopefully next week I can figure it out so than I can route the new speaker wire. Had I just wanted to remove my speakers for weight I probably wouldn't care, but I figure a little music in the pits would add some character.

All the A/C HVAC connectors and the heater core and fan plugs. In total there were about 6 or 7 plugs and I thought I be removing a ton of wiring by doing this. In reality, more than half of those wires were just connected to the other plugs or to the cores not more than 12 inches away. Only the ground wire, power wire, and A/C fan (routed to the engine bay to turn that fan on).

Now I am not 100% sure if that means I am no longer able to run my A/C fan on my radiator. I know there are people that pull the fan because it only helps cool the engine while idling? Anyone got any more insight on that? If it still helps I am sure I could wire it to turn on with the main radiator fan, other wise I will go ahead and remove it like Eric did.

Lastly I removed all the SRS wiring. That was the most difficult as it just seem to run everywhere. Only thing left is the SRS ring on the steering wheel mount. Is there a way to remove it, the wiring, but leave the center alone so that the blinker still works? Or do I just need to cut the SRS wiring on both sides of the ring?


That was it for the past two days. My butt is so sore from sitting on the floorboard of the car for so many hours. I decided for the ake of ease of reinstallation, I rewire inside the vehicle, instead of removing the harness and not knowing how to route all the little odd ball connectors back. Made it a little harder for the rewire, but going to be a sinch putting it back together. With all the crimps Mitsubishi did to the wiring and the power and grounds all spidered throughout the car, I am really considering going back and soldering and heat shrink wrapping everything... The thought is there especially now I removed some of the reasons to have a crimp...

Lastly, on my way to get groceries tonight, a new skateboard shopped had opened up next to it. On an impulse I ran in (against my fiancé’s wish) and picked up some skateboard bearings. A restoration on my shifter is long overdue..

More Interior Wiring - November 19, 2009

I had been continuing work on the Interior.

I got rid of all the sound deadening material! I didn't have easy access to dry ice, so I went at all of it with a plastic scraper, a heat gun, and some goo gone. It took a lot of time, I want to say.. two weeks since last update right? I would NOT recommend this technique if you have access to the dry ice, but this did work, and cleaned up nicely. You can see on the firewall where I haven’t even started to clean. That is how it starts. I will have to go back and clean everything one more time it looks like, but this is the majority of the work.

I got rid of the spare tire holder in the trunk. I just went at it with a dremel, and a lot of metal fatiguing. Anywhere where the tac welds went through the sheet metal, I covered up with some jb weld. Below the trunk is nothing, so all the jbweld is doing is keeping dust from coming into the trunk area. If I had easy excess to a welder I would have, but I don't feel it is "necessary" to have to.

and Lastly, I still been removing wires here and there. Who knows when it will end? My only real concern lately has been do I remove the rear defroster or not. I think that the lexan glass does not have defrosters, so when the time comes for the carbon fiber hatch and lexan speed glass, I mise well remove the defroster now. Can anyone verify this hypothesis?

Tidying up interior - December 12, 2009

Well I know it isn't what you guys who deal with it all the time would consider amazing, but it snowed for the first time in 15 years in cities around California this past week. Its been COLD! :\

But I did still try and get some work done. Defying the cold with the light from my craftsman lamp, I finally got the firewall respectable. It isn't perfect, but after hours of scrubbing with goo gone, cleaning the brush and the residue, and repeating, I think I may have to call it good. At the point you can see goo, it is high enough up that the dash would be in its way quite a bit. I mean look at how much goo gone is left. I bought the bottom for the sole task of cleaning the residue form the sound deadening, and now half the bottle is gone. BUT, it worked!

I also did some work on the Throttle Body. I swapped over the TPS from the 2g TB onto the 1g. I noticed that the 2g TPS had 4 wires, instead of the 3 the 1g had. I guessed that is what the one wire "sensor" was on the throttle cable stop on the 1g was for. I am not sure if this is used in conjunction with the BISS screw for adjusting idle, but I will probably substitute it with a screw just for a cleaner look instead of an unplugged in connector. I also got to figure out if I want to bypass the FIAV or not. I will have to do more research on what I am going to do about eliminating the heater core to give the coolant a way to go when the thermostat is closed. I think the FIAV might be a way the coolant can go?

I couldn't find the speaker plugs for the dash on a junk yard car in the months I looked. So I got the idea to modify the speakers for the same use. I got some out of a junk car and went at it with a dremel. Simple and effective. I also got some inserts for the fog lights switch, cruise control, defroster switches from an unequipped junk yard car as well. I will paint them black before they go in.

I think I am basically done with the interior rewire. I rewired the fuel pump again, moving the actuator next to the seat belt, and running just the wires through the stock gourmet. As part of the rewire I removed all the wiring not needed anymore by the fuel pump. I also removed the wiring for the fuel tank pressure sensor. It really is nice getting rid of all that useless wire.

I also got an FP 255 fuel pump for 50 bucks during the black Friday sale. I am not sure if I am going to use this or not, but for the price I wanted to at least have it in my opinion and ponder.

Then I worked on cleaning up some valve covers, my 1g fuel rail, trying to fix my shifter (which if I can manage to come up with a solution I will post entirely on it...) and that is it. I am starting to run out of things to waste time on for "free" work. I am going to have to get working on my engine one of these days ?

Engine at the Machine Shop - January 14, 2010

The engine was dropped off at the machine shop Thursday 1/14/10, finally!

I started working on getting some sponsors for the car and might have found one locally here with a new machine shop startup. Up until this point I have gotten small discounts on parts here and there from different vendors, but I am hoping I might get some actual monetary support.