The Top DSM Community on the Web

For 1990-1999 Mitsubishi Eclipse, Eagle Talon, Plymouth Laser, and Galant VR-4 Owners. Log in to remove most ads.

Please Support ExtremePSI
Please Support Rix Racing

AYY, GSX!

This site may earn a commission from merchant
affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Yokai

Probationary Member
14
11
May 9, 2020
Denver, Colorado
Wassup DSM fam. Introducing my white '98 GSX
NmEKT8K.jpg


Ayyo! I have a background in Honda's, I've done a lot of work to my EG hatch but in order to do bigger projects I needed a support vehicle. I thought about getting another Civic but I knew I would just be doing all the same stuff to it, and wanted something with a better reputation.

Turbo.. AWD.. white.. manual.. mmmmm. Took me a long time to find one.

8bO8eRx.jpg

CeEkrhe.jpg


It had some issues, previous owner put some work into it but it'd just been sitting. He was considering parting it out, so I'm glad he didn't. It struggled to stay running but it was enough to load it on the trailer. I was happy enough to simply find the features I wanted, so I took the chance on mechanical condition with the intention to rebuild either way.
_____________________
PHASE ONE
‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾


70UHj2B.jpg

MIo5NnA.jpg


Bathtime
DMd7AVN.jpg
EANU7vh.jpg

PVNB98E.jpg

TtiqMdw.jpg


Now the fun begins. Spark test was good, compression test read low on middle two (110 | 60 | 70 | 130) I also followed with a 'cap of oil' test and leakdown test, and the rings seemed good to me.

However the wheels had this old dirty plastidip and were bent in multiple spots. One tire was ripped(I think from loading it with a flat). As much as new wheels and tires would be nice I wanted to keep the budget in getting the car running. I still needed something to roll around on and drive the car when it was repaired so I grabbed some used tires.

y3WXiDe.jpg


Lyi5hCh.jpg

dcTf9sL.jpg


I found a pretty cool shop that repaired my wheels pretty cheap. I think it cost me about $120, dude just used a lead hammer and heat and got them really close! The plastidip was a $*#$Q(*!$ to remove, using goo-gone automotive, letting it soak, and then it would basically turn into chewing gum that had to be brushed off..

I was tempted to leave them silver, but they did have quite a bit of corrosion and weren't in the best shape. I made the decision to paint them black to chase my panda theme. However, now I also needed to use chemical stripper to clean the clear coat off and discovered the silver is actually paint as well..

8JF2nhs.jpg

g1jZY48.jpg

X2epU8M.jpg


I didn't want to spend the money on powdercoat since I wasn't sure if I'd be upgrading to 18's or not, and I went satin black to help the tire blend in to the wheel. (Later on I used Adam's tire cleaner and they blend much better) But you didn't come here to read about stock wheels and used tires..

A cold winter + unheated garage = building a little lab to do the engine work /w propane heater

saGcpvL.jpg


Cozy boi. Time to get to it.

n8gBe4n.jpg


Magic!

L95OsSj.jpg


I had read about porting the oil inlet on the head, this is usually done in case the head is milled too much apparently, but I thought it couldn't hurt while I had it off. This is done under the cylinder head where it meets the oil feed on the bottom-left of the block in the pic above.

taSHVah.jpg


As for the block surface, I've done a lot of research. There's a shit load of bad advice out there. I think the best method by far without pulling the block to be machined, is using a thick sheet of glass with 400-600-800 sandpaper. I've done this on my Civic with good success. The Eclipse iron block is MUCH harder to cut through. I wasn't concerned at all about taking off too much material. I couldn't even get the old headgasket stains out. It does clean the surface very well and gives the new MLS a good, consistent RA smoothness to seal.

ay8Mxyc.jpg
B3pW5Cn.jpg
m3Ckv9G.jpg
dJycvYN.jpg
zg4cAFV.jpg
mbNc9hp.jpg


Parts! Parts! Parts!

JEwYy1G.jpg

2DqPHez.jpg


Cylinder head is back from the shop, the middle exhaust seals were burnt out. I asked if we should replace all of them, and they said they probably burned out from too much boost or fuel issues. I'm guessing it had to do with exhaust holes affecting the downstream o2 sensor and another thing below. PS: I also had the EGR port plugged.

zfsOTjH.jpg

QkDhjvp.jpg


hCLlbCg.jpg
b8GvGJP.jpg


Previous owners had a FuelLabs fuel pressure regulator, but I was concerned about what pressure it was set at. So I went to my local shop and grabbed a Radium gauge and a fitting. They did already install a braided line from the tank. However these couple pictures don't do the job justice, it was a royal pain in the ass to get fitment around my cam angle sensor, and to top things off, the AN fitting on the braided hose seized!!! so while tightening it, it snapped at the elbow. So I got a vibrant elbow and it worked out luckily

1Wk7Mmh.jpg

UyJ2Oz5.jpg


Because I didn't know what other issues this car might have, I picked up an OBD logger that I could use on my laptop. I am a little disappointed with the lack of data it gives me, but it's better than nothing. At least I can check/clear codes, see the o2 sensor output and a few other things

Dla108F.jpg


7i7CmBS.jpg


Almost nothing was holding the drivers side mount together.. and a broken brake cleaner cap.. the struggle.

E6eldSW.jpg


I bought the wrong oil filter for my Civic about 6 months before I got this car, forgot to return it, and it just happened to be the exact size for the Eclipse :D also made a quick gatorade overflow and coolant funnel.

dELL4wn.jpg


Finally a break! :thumb:

yeah right.
I started it up a few times, it was still running very rough and smoking a lot.
I thought maybe it was just startup smoke, and maybe these 2.0's just run rougher than my Honda?!
Eventually I realized the smoke was only getting worse. So back under the knife it went..

dF9WoUM.jpg


The culprits? A paper towel drain plug I left in and got sucked down to the oil pan :ohdamn: and a broken injector clip wire that took me 6+ hours to diagnose, I even opened my ECU.. switched injectors twice, thinking I put them in the same order the first time.. busted out the multimeter in the end.

o22ZNOc.jpg


New turbo drain gasket made, and a fresh metal one on the pan side.

JlJtnOG.jpg


Also had an injector puking fuel after re-assembly, old o-rings were dry and cracking.
New seal kit from Injector Clinic!

1Je6HsL.jpg


AYY WE MADE IT!
you're a real champ if you've made it this far. MVPs

e6gxbr7.jpg

h6vlDsc.jpg

Wn6D2Wp.jpg


Gotta keep pushing though. Time to focus a little more on the goodies.
 

Attachments

  • FqQHR38.jpg
    FqQHR38.jpg
    108.8 KB · Views: 192
Last edited:
_____________________
PHASE TWO
‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾


First things first, time to take care of my number one peeve. The foggy, faded headlights. DSM headlights are inherently nice looking, the black housing fits perfect into my panda theme. The condition of your headlights shows a lot about you as an owner in my opinion and the lights often draw my attention to a car before paint condition does.

2PYFFJk.jpg

LrQskNy.jpg


So what's next?

cTfNEoW.jpg


How about exhaust?

4lhAfF5.jpg


Thanks to yerfdog and youtube, I knew the mod I wanted most was the Thermal R&D exhaust.
This was gonna make or break my build for me. What I didn't expect.. was how hard it would be to find.

Yerfdog's thread was only a couple years old at this point, so I thought no problem. Pretty legendary
exhaust for these cars. It was even the Thermal R&D logo for a while I think, at least on the order form.

ExtremePSI out of stock. STMtuned discontinued. Amazon unavailable. Ebay unavailable.
Called Redline360, discontinued. Nolimitmotorsport, discontinued. DSMparts, unavailable.

Thermal R&D not answering calls, twice daily. Facebook says to email them. Email sent.
Exhausted every google result, every phone number. Then Thermal R&D responded..

They had a few left!!! Matt W @ Thermal added them to their website and I ordered immediately

FeWYwPV.jpg

banana for scale.
7ZZG6PW.jpg

I also scooped a free 3" downpipe from a local member. Took some driving to fetch it but it fits great.
AvsxaEx.jpg

1EsLhEY.jpg


The original Thermal bolts up to the stock 2.5" downpipe, so I had a 3" flange welded on.
My dude Logan at CarZ performance near Denver did an awesome job, even without having the car.

Then it turns out the cat converter on the free downpipe was rattling, so I lucked out and found a 3" GESI high flow cat converter for only $100! They're like $450 new, so that was awesome. New flexpipe and flange, also space for v-bands in the future if I want to run a test pipe. This cat converter muffled the shit out of the exhaust, so don't expect any nasty audio clips, it's fairly tame. but I love it. It's perfect for talking to passengers or listening to music while still being rumbly, and pulls are very aggressive.

I990fp5.jpg


WpZHO4f.jpg


Dat fitment doe!!!! Would ya' just look at it?? WOULD YA JUST LOOK AT IT?!!

Ocq8i7S.jpg


Temp tags, my first drive out. Hit the gas station to fill up on fresh 91, car wash, and a little cruise.

oSgJxnE.jpg



Next!! When I picked up the midpipe from welding, I also got an Adam's 2-step polish kit..

dZxnnM4.jpg

JVno9t1.jpg


First step was to spray Iron Remover to dissolve all the metal fallout in the paint, a heavy amount...
zA0IChv.jpg


Next up was claybar, because of the iron remover there weren't that many particles in my clay
But the soapy water I was using with the clay would turn grey, it was taking a good layer of residue off.
It also got the mysterious drip stains on my trunk, and the rust stains from the headlights and sideskirts

AsltOTU.jpg

avsSm30.jpg


and top that all off with a little Adam's UV/sprayable ceramic coating.
This stuff doesn't last as long as a regular ceramic coating, but it's easier and better than waxing.
(just don't do a sniff test like I did.. :toobad:)

1kOMPxJ.jpg


at this point, most of my family was unaware of my car. The time had finally come to bring it out,
and I couldn't be happier with it. putting some respec' on muh name. haha

mmT9irC.jpg

Jmo2qBM.jpg
 
Last edited:
_____________________
TO BE CONTINUED... ?
‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
 
Last edited:
Looks really nice. You cleaned it up real good. I always wanted an eg hatch but can't justify it on top of my GSX and daily. What are your plans performance wise? Keep it stock? Minor mods?
 
Looks really nice. You cleaned it up real good. I always wanted an eg hatch but can't justify it on top of my GSX and daily. What are your plans performance wise? Keep it stock? Minor mods?
Thanks man. Not sure which one you're asking but I'd like the EG at 200whp and the Eclipse with a 16g at 300whp. I'm not really a drag racer or anything, just want to bring them up to spec a little bit haha

Beautiful car! I wish I had your level of skill and knowledge. I would love to have a fresh engine rebuild for my GSX
Thanks, one mod at a time.. lots of videos and reading. With the age of these cars the time will come. But having a shop do the work is not a bad idea either. Spending all your free time in a cold or hot ass garage like I did isn't always the best feeling haha and if things go wrong it's even worse.

Looking good! Nice to see another DSM around the Denver scene
Appreciate it, yeah we have some good ones around here. Nocrust and Brady were big influences for me. You can probably catch me at cars & coffee or slush if I don't take my Civic.
 
Love the exhaust! Looking good. Keep the mods tasteful, this car is too nice to ruin! Best of luck
Thanks!! I don't plan to do a whole lot externally. I think the car is pretty close to perfect. I did get a junkyard center panel to paint match, between the tail lights. That way I can keep my original one. Maybe a koni street kit (prokit springs), but the front bumper scrapes easier than I expected, and I like the soft ride so I might even keep the suspension stock.

There's only 1 wheel that really has my attention but it's a secret for now. Kind of planning to do 18's with meaty tires, I really like the Toretto GSX fitment but I'm not sure what size tires he has..

wjJT3WLpVm8hd.jpg


Did you at least check the block deck surface for flatness after using all the sandpaper? What did you do to keep all the metal dust out of the water jackets and oil galleries? Only asking since in your pics it only shows the head bolt holes plugged.

Good questions.. I don't have acceptable/good answers. but I'll do some subjective elaboration haha

It's very difficult to take any amount of material off these iron blocks, comparing to my Civic's aluminum block. All I wanted to do is clean the composite residue and get a smooth surface, not much pressure is needed. The only check for flatness I bothered with was red sharpie and making a pass, like an inferior engineers blue, just to see how consistent it was, and all it did was mimic where the composite was. It was very easy to check for the composite to clear out consistently. Glass sheets are incredibly flat, this method is far better than using rolocs in my opinion.

I plugged the big drains at the intake side. It's easy with the bigger holes, but I didn't want to risk getting paper towel stuck in the smaller drains on the exhaust side. I swabbed some vaseline in them and would reapply. A couple oil flushes and let the filter do it's job. To be honest I don't care about the water jackets haha, the amount of grit is really minimal, it's not like sanding down bondo or anything. If the three sandpaper sheets didn't rip from the adhesive, they'd still be good to use.
 
Last edited:
Went out with the Evo club yesterday, GSX's sometimes show up and they allow it :dsm: gang. There was a 60k Galant VR4 there as well. really friendly group.

qHh8gZa.jpg

r88Mf7C.jpg


Got some dope pics. for SEO purposes; 1998 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX Panda White Black Wheels
CJVsjId.jpg
79LN4DE.jpg
 
what a gorgeous car and story, is this car still around?

Thanks man, been meaning to post an update here but I haven't done much to the car. It's been stored at my dad's for about a year. I want to get back to it soon, but at least it's safe haha

Since the last post I did a walbro 450, black Evo wheel, glowshift triple pod, replaced leaking clutch master, other misc things, replaced my first door handle. I have a E3-16G, injectors and an openport already but probably won't get it set up for a while. I need to cut and weld a replacement lower core support bar and probably a Boosted Fab crossmember since currently it has no crossmember at all due to rust. I need to replace drivetrain fluids and do preventative maintenance there, like rear diff bushings and whatever.

Until then I've just been working on my Civic and buying things for it since that's my main car.



This first set of awesome photos my friend took is parked at Bandimere Speedway which is shutting down, I got PFI Brent to sign some shirts right here and we took a photo as well, and it was in the background of a few videos too. The B&W photo still has the single pod it had when I got it

i1I43Qb.jpg

aRuJAYe.jpg

QCSpwBx.jpg

S0CBapO.jpg

cvHMqGZ.jpg
 
Just would like to discourage anyone that reads this from using an MLS gasket after taking sandpaper to their block. Might seal at idle and low power but push it at all and you’ll soon find out why MLS gaskets call for a specific minimum RA.


Otherwise clean DSM. Good job sticking with it this far.
 
Just would like to discourage anyone that reads this from using an MLS gasket after taking sandpaper to their block. Might seal at idle and low power but push it at all and you’ll soon find out why MLS gaskets call for a specific minimum RA.


Otherwise clean DSM. Good job sticking with it this far.

RA is equivalent to grit levels. You can easily get the desired RA from sandpaper, the issue is leveling and debris. but I agree that a composite headgasket is a safer bet in general
 
Support Vendors who Support the DSM Community
Boosted Fabrication ECM Tuning ExtremePSI Fuel Injector Clinic Innovation Products Jacks Transmissions JNZ Tuning Kiggly Racing Morrison Fabrications MyMitsubishiStore.com RixRacing RockAuto RTM Racing STM Tuned

Latest posts

Build Thread Updates

Vendor Updates

Latest Classifieds

Back
Top