dsmpat95 said:

You are dealin with a older car, with that said some stuff will need to be replaced.

Click to expand...

You are so right! I've replaced a ton of things electrical and mechanical in the 2 years I've owned my DSM,and I currently drive 100 miles a day to work and back. As much as I don't like to I have no worries because I know what's been done and when. It is completely possible to have a reliable DSM. Unfortunetly we get our cars in sometimes less than stellar performance thanks to a previous owners neglect.

^^^^^^ like he said, I kept falling every time I wore my old cleats on the football field(soccer) but for some reason I bought new ones and what do you know I haven't fallen. Then my old shin guards started falling apart so I couldn't run right, guess how I fixed that? My shorts wouldn't stay up because the strap broken, probably cause they were old, guess how I fixed that too?

The moral of the story is...................................................................

Well Im new to the DSM game, in fact i still havn't bought a dsm. I've been doing alot of research about both 1g and 2g models. I've learned the ups and downs of these cars, and i know that keeping up with the maintenance is the key for DSM. And I know that even if I stay on the maintenance I will eventually get some problems with the car. But my question is, since most of you have been driving DSM for a while, is it worth it?

Well do you think my tranny will be ok if i just leave it go there are no shavings in the tranny fluid?

What I want to do is build a somewhat reliable 12.5 sec car I have everything but 750 injectors my 50 trim will be here Thursday and I'm running 550s..With that turbo do you think I will be breaking things or do you think the car will stay together?

white90gsx said:

What I want to do is build a somewhat reliable 12.5 sec car I have everything but 750 injectors my 50 trim will be here Thursday and I'm running 550s..With that turbo do you think I will be breaking things or do you think the car will stay together?

Click to expand...

Notice how you said "Reliable 12.5 sec car?" Reliability is directly related to how much effort you put into proper repairs and maintenance. That sort of stuff ALWAYS comes before turbo and fuel upgrades. You've got crooked wheels and all kinds of noises coming from your driveline? Why in hell did you buy a turbo instead of fixing the driveline?

Doesn't make sense. Not to be a dick or anything, but slow down, hot rod. I don't know about you, but I'd rather have a low 14 second, bet-your-life-on-it-getting-you-there 1G than a 50 trim-powered yard ornament.

stock dsm as a reliable dd, you bet your ass you can

modded dsm as a reliable dd, whats that?

i felt the same way as you when i got mine, beat to shit and fixing it more than i drove it, but now that alkmost EVERYTHING except the engine has been replaced i dont seem to be having any reliability probems

dr1665 said:

I don't know about you, but I'd rather have a low 14 second, bet-your-life-on-it-getting-you-there 1G than a 50 trim-powered yard ornament.

Click to expand...

somehow i missed that the first time but that is so true. you could have the biggest turbo made but if you dont have a good drivetrain to move the car.....

Well i just traded cams for the turbo. Thats why..And some asshole burned me out of a 16g on here.

My car is perfectly reliable as a daily driver. It started as a project I had to tow home and took about two years to get it to that point though. I never settle for just replacing parts and try to upgrade whenever possible.

Maintenance, maintenance, maintenance! If something beaks...fix it. Don't let it go until it breaks something else.

And I agree...it does absolutely no good to put "go-fast" parts on a car that doesn't get you down the road and back.

A reliable 12.5 second car...buy another car and save the 12.5 for a toy, then you don't have to "jump out your ass" to fix it so you can make it to work the next day.

Stock cars break, modded cars break faster.

Why would you think a 15+ year old car would drive an be as reliable as a newer car!? Seriously you need to wake up an smell the coffee . After some years of abuse an neglect (original owner)the thing will eventually give up. I'm only saying you bought the car knowing that one day something would brake, but you did not care cause this would be your project car; am I right!?

Fast-Reliable-Cheap....Pick any two, 'nuff said.

Alright Im sick of everyone bashing because its a 15 year old car and that I have a 50 trim on it so what dsms break more than any other car i've had hands down modified or not!!!....HOW MANY TIMES AM I GOING TO SAY THE ONLY REASON I HAVE A 50 TRIM ON IT IS BECAUSE I TRADED MY CAM TRADED MY CAMS TRADED MY CAMS..AND BECAUSE SOME ASSHOLE PRICK SOLD ME A BAD 16G!!!!!!!!!!!!

Completely 100% possible to make your car a reliable 12 second car. Two words, Supporting Mods. If you don't have them, you will break. What I mean by supporting mods is transmission, transfer case, rear end, fuel, tuning, completely rip your car down and replace any weak points you may have in the engine and drivetrain.

If you don't wanna do that, sell it and buy a 99+ Mustang GT or a Camaro LS1 and spray some Nitrous. Our cars did not come from the factory with the idea that they can and will run mid 12 second time slips or be modified or really even driven as hard as they are. This is why I have a Mustang of my own, I've beat the piss out of that car for three years straight, run 12.0 time slips and drove it 6 hours home from a race weekend. If I'm planning to run my DSM, I WILL trailer it because I don't have the amount of money into it that it requires to be reliable (yet).

Here's a tip, replace what's broken and run wastegate pressures. Remove the boost controller, hook it straight up to that wastegate and stop launching the hell out of it until it's ready. It will still take you a while as it continues to break down. You just gotta put money into it faster than what it's requiring at this point in time and you will catch up to it.

DSMs are cheap to buy, only because they're not cheap to maintain.

white90gsx said:

HOW MANY TIMES AM I GOING TO SAY THE ONLY REASON I HAVE A 50 TRIM ON IT IS BECAUSE I TRADED MY CAM TRADED MY CAMS TRADED MY CAMS..AND BECAUSE SOME ASSHOLE PRICK SOLD ME A BAD 16G!!!!!!!!!!!!

Click to expand...

Once more, please?

Dude. Chillax. You got burned on a turbo. That was some shady business. Easy to let those negative vibes push you over the edge. Put yourself in our shoes. We see people posting up about how their 17 year old DSMs are such unreliable pieces of shit when they modified them without any maintenance considerations immediately after purchase. It happens all the time. You got burned on a deal and ended up with turbo. No biggie.

The question now would be, do you need this turbo? If you don't, it might be a good idea to see about reselling it to fund some repairs. Come up with a list of what needs fixed on the car right now. Are there multiple repairs necessary that could be addressed at the same time? If so, does your budget allow you to fix them at the same time?

If your budget doesn't allow you the luxury of fixing it all at once, consider what is most important. Is there something that will keep the car from being driven? Is there something that makes the car dangerous to drive? Is there anything non-critical that just annoys you?

Put together a list of what needs fixed and prioritize it. Then you can systematically resolve the issues one project at a time. Rather than see the car as a cesspool of DSM failure, see it as a list of items that you will address one at a time, crossing them off the list until the car is perfectly reliable. Always sucks to spend money on repairs when it seems like everyone else is spending it on mods.

Once the car is mechanically solid, then you can begin to push for more power. It will be less likely to break as often at that point.

Buy a honda!

dr1665.....That's the kinda of answer I was looking for...MY biggest concern right now would be the tranny and I have a spare and when I change it I wanna change the front axles and wheel bearings and struts to just so I know the front is solid..But the tranny I bought I got from some kid like 45 min from me and I got this vibe that its not a good tranny I may be wrong so I called him and said tell me of the tranny is bad so I don't swap it and find out the hard way but he dont answer his phone dont matter what number I call from..But the tranny in my car the center diff fused together I think because when I bought the car it had an auto rear in it and I drove it for 2k until it broke then I put the right rear in it and now when I go around turns I feels like a locker in the rear.And the crooked wheel I dont know what is causing it wheel bearing or just bent..

JDR7919 said:

Buy a honda!

Click to expand...

No shit theres a daily driven honda hatch with a 35r I seen him driving it everyday.

i have always had a reliable 1st gen dsm. its been pretty unreliable for the last 5 months (down for motor swap) but its back to a daily driver again! its about how much time and effort you put into the car. stuff is going to break but i do have hopes of making a low 11 second daily driven car. i went to the track the other day and made about 8-9 very low 8 second passes. its all about how bad you want to drive it really...

Well I want to spend a load of money of this car but I don't know were to start.

FAQ's

MASMORE said:

FAQ's

Click to expand...

I mean I dont know whats wrong with the wheel or the tranny.

InferiorWang said:

I've been looking forever. Tommorow I'm gonna go test drive this guys Laser RS Turbo. I can't wait. I want a DSM soooo bad.

Click to expand...

yea i've got a 92 laser RS turbo awd and i love it . i've had it for like 6 months and nothings wrong with it yet so yea

Dsm's are higher maintenance than most, but I haven't had any issues, knock on wood. I have 284k+ miles on the body, but the motor only has 12k, so I guess I cheated .