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 Rix Racing
Please Support ExtremePSI

My fuse box relocation (project log)

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.

It's too bad the Evo steering wheel conversion isn't easier.

It's really not that bad to do. I've had one along with the appropriate 1g column adapter sitting in a box for the better part of a decade. The main issue is that no one that I'm aware of has tested the airbag compatibility as most of them have the airbag removed (illegal to ship from what I remember). Not something I'd prefer to have as it may disable the entire system.

For what it's worth, the Evo wheel is about 1.25" smaller diameter wise. Not small numbers by any measure but I'd probably prefer even smaller than that if I could.

You could be depending on the class you enter. We got a few classes and can be in stock trim but US TA rules vs UK is way different. We got one called pocket rockets a d those are damn fast for 800kg 350hp cars like a pug 205 gti or astra etc but i think you can still have good fun and its a new thing to be nervous about

From everything I've seen, we'd have to revert some mods back to be competitive. Removing the HVAC system under the dash puts both of us in a very, very high class on its own.
 
The main issue is that no one that I'm aware of has tested the airbag compatibility as most of them have the airbag removed (illegal to ship from what I remember). Not something I'd prefer to have as it may disable the entire system.
So what you're saying is you're going to have to buy two - one to test to make sure the airbag works and one to use afterwards once you know it's working? :)
 
So what you're saying is you're going to have to buy two - one to test to make sure the airbag works and one to use afterwards once you know it's working? :)
Crash dummies! Make sure to wear the approved suit and labels LOL
 
I wasn't even thinking of that sort of testing, but picturing that makes me laugh.
Haha i had a mixed feeling its not the sort of testing many want to do but i ended up going that route.

Apart from smacking the front of the car to test it goes off how else would one properly test the deployment? Serious question by the way !!
 
Haha i had a mixed feeling its not the sort of testing many want to do but i ended up going that route.

Apart from smacking the front of the car to test it goes off how else would one properly test the deployment? Serious question by the way !!
I'd have to research that, but I imagine you can run some diagnostic tests for the sensors. I have a buddy who knows quite a bit about vehicle electrical systems, I'll have to ask him. I'm so dumb when it comes to electrical.
 
I'd have to research that, but I imagine you can run some diagnostic tests for the sensors. I have a buddy who knows quite a bit about vehicle electrical systems, I'll have to ask him. I'm so dumb when it comes to electrical.
But would that read the resistance in the connector area as it has a block with coils? So i can imagine it sending a signal down and reading its resistance or signal time to the coils? At least thats how i guess anyway, airbags are not something i know much about and i just copied what someone said they did on here myself
 
I worked on cleaning up the mess from the transfer case and extending the breather today. I swear the last time I filled up the transfer case I was very particular about measuring how much fluid I put in then how much came out the fill plug to verify the right amount was in. However, I ended up collecting just over 0.5 quarts in a container, plus what leaked out at the track and on the car, plus a little bit in a catch pan. So there was definitely more than the recommended amount in it.

Here's what the bottom of the transfer case looked like (the top was worse). I also spent a while cleaning up the rest of the underside of the car for a few feet where it slung back. I did my best to make sure I got every last drop of fluid out this time, then filled it up with fresh heavyweight shockproof.

20200808_084918.jpg


Regardless, I decided to go ahead with extending the breather since I figure it can't hurt. Plus, it's totally reversible so if I don't like it, I can just go back to stock. I threaded in a 1/8" NPT fitting with a 3/8" nipple into the transfer case. I specifically chose a fuel fitting rather than a hose barb so the hose should hopefully come off easier when I need to remove the transfer case from the car. Only a few threads engaged so I used some Permatex Seal & Lock on it. I just found out about this product, it's like a mixture of blue threadlocker and PTFE thread sealant - should work nicely for this application. I used a 3/8" NPT to 1/4" NPT reducer to mate the 3/8" transmission oil cooler hose to the stock breather. I didn't feel like trying to identify another suitable breather for the application so I just used the stock one. The breather is zip-tied to the fuel return line halfway up the firewall. I didn't measure but it's probably about a foot of hose.

We'll see what happens. If this fixes the issue, I still can't say it's necessarily a "fix" since it very well could have just been from having too much fluid in the transfer case.

20200807_213320.jpg
20200807_214501.jpg
20200807_214636.jpg
20200808_120808.jpg
20200808_120813.jpg
 
CarFest was last weekend at Pitt Race and we had a big group there! We had six cars in our group: myself, Brian, two of our friends that are brothers with their Evo and Camaro, their dad with his Vette, and their cousin with his GT4. Talk about variety! In addition, we had seven other family members of the group that came to spectate/ride and two other friends that did the same. They were nice enough to bring two campers along for everyone to stay in. We had a pretty nice setup there.

20200904_172900.jpg
20200906_123603.jpg
DSC_4276.jpg
20200903_213542.jpg
20200903_220016.jpg

Now let's talk about the track time. All of us except the Vette were in the Intermediate group and we had a total of 39 cars which is a lot for this track. So...I don't think I had a single clean lap all weekend due to traffic. I had one goal for the weekend which was to get a sub-2 minute lap time but it wasn't meant to be. My first session out I improved my best time from a 2:01.5 to a 2:01.4 without even trying so I felt pretty good about being able to accomplish my goal. Either the second or third session I gridded right at the front so I could get a clean track. I took my warmup lap pretty hot to get the brakes and tires up to temp, then went for a flying lap on the second lap. Halfway through it I caught up to the back of the grid that was still on their warmup lap. It was like that all weekend. The best I ended up getting was a 2:01.1 on the open session Saturday. Oh well, I'll get it next time!

Due to the number of cars we had in the group, we ended up doing lots of passing and side-by-side drills to make it more fun. This was the whole group that was instructed to do this, not just us. You would pair up with another car and go around the whole track side-by-side, then switch which side you're on for the next lap, and then finish with an open track session. The passing drills were similar, pair up with a car and just give as many point-by's as possible while going around the track, anywhere was OK to pass even in corners. A lot of people didn't particularly like this drill but I had fun with it. It gave more of a wheel to wheel racing kind of feel and was helping gain some experience doing things I haven't done much on a track. The biggest plus to this was that after doing these drills, we were allowed to pass anywhere on track with a point-by! This is typically how the Advanced groups are run. I thought for sure it was going to be a shitshow but it actually turned out to be great. There were only a few cars that were consistently late giving point-bys and making trains, but most people were very courteous even if they did give some sketchy point-bys. I had the most fun taking those sketchy ones :cool: So even though I didn't get to beat my lap time goal, I still had a lot of fun playing around with tons of point-bys, learning to trust other drivers, and seeing basically every inch of the track surface (much of which I've never been on before).

My car did have a couple issues pop up. At this point, would it really be a track weekend if they didn't? On the second to last session on Saturday, I started to notice a misting of some sort on my windshield. I though it was something from a car ahead of me that was smoking a good bit and dismissed it for the time being. It got worse on the last session and then I figured it out. One of the water fittings on the wastegate came a little loose and was leaking water out just a tiny bit. Not a big deal, I replaced the crush washer once everything cooled down, topped off the water, and was ready for Sunday. On Sunday it ran well right up until the end of the last session when I suddenly lost all boost. No weird noises, the car was still running fine, just absolutely NO boost. I made it back to the pits fine and couldn't identify any obvious issues that would have caused this. It was the end of the day and I didn't lose any track time, so not a big deal there. I'm hoping it's something simple but I haven't had a chance to dig into this yet. I'm thinking it's probably wastegate related. And when I washing the car Monday, I noticed my new timing covers are melting again! I don't know what's up with this to be honest. I don't have any major exhaust leaks like what happened last time. I'll have to test to see if I can find any exhaust leaks just to make sure. The other thought is that the ceramic coating on the new exhaust manifold isn't as effective as the Swaintech coating and just the heat of the manifold in that are is doing it since the blanket doesn't completely cover that side. It didn't cause any issues yet, but I'm sick of dealing with this. At least the transfer case didn't leak anything, that was nice.

Unfortunately, Brian had a transmission issue pop up on Saturday. He's thinking it could be the intermediate shaft so we'll have to dig into that and assess the situation.

The GT4 ran great. This was his first event with this car (upgraded from a boosted BRZ). It's such a pretty car, I really love it.

The Camaro also ran great. As usual, the Camaro was blazing fast and trying to hunt me down all weekend. We had one session in particular that was a nice battle between us. I ended up beating his best lap time by 0.8 seconds but I have a ton more experience at this track than he does, so not exactly a fair fight.

The Evo ran well but did have a little love tap with a metal barrier. Fortunately, the driver and passenger were both fine and the damage was only cosmetic, but it's a really clean car so it was sad to see. He was able to keep driving the whole weekend so that was good. I'm sure he'll have it fixed in no time.

The Vette had an interesting issue pop up. It wasn't recognizing three of the four TPMS sensors on his car, and the electronics decided that under hard braking or turning that it should do something about that with the traction control and/or ABS for some reason. It was doing some kind of a hard pulsing/lockup thing on braking and acting really weird on hard corner entry. Unfortunately, we couldn't locate the proper tool to retrain the TPMS sensors at the track so he sat out Saturday afternoon and all Sunday to be safe.

We didn't get any pictures while on the track this time, but here are some other pictures. I didn't have a chance to compile any videos yet but I'll post them when I get time.
20200905_130807.jpg
20200905_130825.jpg

20200905_065705.jpg
IMG_2931.CR2.jpg
IMG_2938.CR2.jpg

20200904_153438.jpg
20200904_153441.jpg
 
Last edited:
Unfortunately, Brian had a transmission issue pop up on Saturday. He's thinking it could be the intermediate shaft so we'll have to dig into that and assess the situation.
Oh hell, hope it's an easy fix Brian.

And glad to see you get some good runs in Eric. I'm surprised the timing cover is melting with the hood vents. Maybe some added shielding is in order. I remember considering fabbing up some ducting to channel from the radiator up past the manifold to the hood to help with radiator efficiency and also force the hot air out from the exhaust, but never followed through on that idea. Would be a pain to do but could be a massive benefit for these cars.
 
Oh hell, hope it's an easy fix Brian.

And glad to see you get some good runs in Eric. I'm surprised the timing cover is melting with the hood vents. Maybe some added shielding is in order. I remember considering fabbing up some ducting to channel from the radiator up past the manifold to the hood to help with radiator efficiency and also force the hot air out from the exhaust, but never followed through on that idea. Would be a pain to do but could be a massive benefit for these cars.

After the last track day where I partially melted my new clear cover, I thought about adding a plate in that area to protect it. It wasn't going to be a nice design so I decided to skip it for then, but I think I'll have to do something now between the manifold and the timing area. The only thing that has changed really is the coating, but I didn't think that would make a big difference. But that's how track life goes I guess, keep breaking stuff and fixing it and finding the next thing!

I always thought it would be nice to add radiator ducting like Beau did but it's really bad with a stock radiator. Here's the thread but it looks like some pictures were lost. He really did a great job on that.
https://www.dsmtuners.com/threads/my-ducted-radiator-setup-road-racing.386716/

It's still in the back of my mind but probably not going to happen anytime soon. Although, I would like to find a way to get even better cooling. It's definitely much better with the hood but the temps still could be lower.

A quick update on the no-boost issue: I inspected the wastegate diaphragm and it's in good shape. However, the three bolts below it that hold the wastegate together were starting to come loose. I tightened those up but it didn't fix the issue. I also found my injector seals are starting to leak from a BLT. So I'm still hunting the issue and the next suspect is the wastegate valve seat, but that's much harder to get to on my car.
 
Oh hell, hope it's an easy fix Brian.

In talking with @twicks69 it may or may not be. He sounded fairly confident in the diagnosis as apparently they're the weak links in the transmission, but it's also going to be interesting to find out what else was taken out in the process. I was flat towed back to the pits so I'm sure that was not the best for the issues. I think I may need to find a few FWD transmissions to put together one working one as Tim said a lot of DSM parts are discontinued and his spares are some parts are down to less than a handful. I've been feeling pretty crappy since the weekend so once I feel better, I'll get the transmission pulled and taken apart and work with Tim to diagnose the issues. Thankfully, I do have the transmission that I bought the car with (bought this one with a Quaife from a friend who AWD swapped) so I may be able to harvest some parts from that.

Either that or hang up the DSM and jump platforms which will be the much more expensive option but much more reliable.
 
Good news: the wastegate valve seat is fine. Bad news: the turbine wheel, not so much. The turbo is on its way to Justin now to get it repaired. I'm also working on ordering new blankets for the hot parts from Levi since they're even more ragged now after another season of use. I included a picture of the ceramic coated manifold after one season of use just for reference. The goal is to get it all reassembled before winter and maybe even fit in another late track day.

20200919_110155.jpg
20200919_104805.jpg
20200919_104800.jpg
20200919_112911.jpg
20200924_104441.jpg
 
Good news: the wastegate valve seat is fine. Bad news: the turbine wheel, not so much. The turbo is on its way to Justin now to get it repaired. I'm also working on ordering new blankets for the hot parts from Levi since they're even more ragged now after another season of use. I included a picture of the ceramic coated manifold after one season of use just for reference. The goal is to get it all reassembled before winter and maybe even fit in another late track day.

View attachment 611837 View attachment 611836 View attachment 611835 View attachment 611838 View attachment 611839
Wow that turbo is trashed! Is it just old or did something make contact with it?

Are you going through 1 blanket every year for racing
 
I believe that damage occurred on it's own without anything making contact, but I'm no expert. If Justin learns anything more when he inspects it I'll share here. Those blankets are the original ones I've had and have four years on them.
 
I got the turbo back from Justin a while ago (thanks @JusMX141 !) and it went back on no problem along with the new blankets. The second or third day I was test driving it my fuel pump decided to quit while sitting at a red light :idontknow: Luckily I wasn't far from home so I got a ride home to grab the truck and trailer and towed it back. I replaced it with another DW200 to keep it easy.

I only have a few projects planned for the winter, the first of which I'm really excited about. I've been wanting to retrofit my headlights for years and decided to pull the trigger. I'm taking my time and slowly chipping away at it. Morimoto bi-LED MLED 2.0 and Mini HB LED in brand new TYC housings. This is just one headlight on in the pictures and it's still 10x brighter than stock :cool:

1 (Large).jpg
2 (Large).jpg
5 (Large).jpg
 
:shhh::shhh: They may not be technically street legal.
Once the oem covers go back on it days they are so will anyone question it! Nope.

I looked st the bi versions of these for my new daily and for the DSM when i get my carbon light covers/deletes they seem nice quality according to many reviews. Did you get them from the retro fit source (TRS)?
 
Once the oem covers go back on it days they are so will anyone question it! Nope.

I looked st the bi versions of these for my new daily and for the DSM when i get my carbon light covers/deletes they seem nice quality according to many reviews. Did you get them from the retro fit source (TRS)?

Yeah, it shouldn't stick out as abnormal unless you know what you're looking for. I got the parts from Lightwerkz but they're the same parts you would get from TRS. If you're interested in something like this, join the Headlight Junkies group on FB. Great source of information and some wild headlights on there.
 
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