Regrets anyone? (sorry kinda long)

slow8033 · Jul 23, 2010

A bit of background. I have been DD a 1998 Eclipse GS for about 4 years now. Its been very reliable. I attribute this to keeping it stock. I looked long and hard for several months until I found one that hadn't been beat up or molested. :hellyeah:

I have put on roughly 50,000 miles since I bought it. For quite a while now I have been planning on selling it and getting a 1998 or 1999 GSX. I really want the all wheel drive for weather conditions and the increase in power for satisfaction and fun.

I want to get to about 275-300hp. I dont need more. I don't race. If there's a honda at a stoplight reving its engine, I just laugh at it. :tease:

My question to you is, do you regret modifying your GST or GSX?

I would like to do some mods to make it quicker and nicer than stock, but Its not worth it to me if its breaking all the time. Do you wish you would have kept your car stock? With all the proper supporting mods such as fuel pump and SAFC or DSMlink, once the car is tuned correctly, does it stay tuned? Or are you constantly having to adjust fuel trims everytime you want to drive it. I would guess that It would stay programmed the way you set it and work all the time providing there are no changes to the car. But everyone is always talking about "Constant Maintenance". I'm just hoping you guys mean oil changes/filters and not constant tinkering with fuel settings.

I am going to get a GSX regardless, I just have been reading on these forums now for a few months paying attention to what you guys are always saying...And I havent really come to a conclusion on whether or not its worth it/safe/reliable to spend the $1500-2000 on "stage 1" mods. I am sure an air filter, and exhaust (which I wouldn't want loud anyway) wont affect the car reliability much, but DSMlink kinda makes me nervous about reliability.

esoteric · Jul 23, 2010

Every car breaks down when you don't take care of it. Sadly for DSM's being a "fast" car they spent most of their life being driven like they were stolen and neglected. With proper maintenance they can be just as reliable then any other tuner car sometimes even more so since the stock internals can take much more of a beating then most other engines.

All in all I don't regret ever modding any DSM i've owned mainly because I understands cars aren't an investement they are a money pit and you won't get your money out of them. DSM's are some of the most enjoyable cars you can own and with proper modding preparation and maintenance they will treat you well.

Do not think you can just jump in with a bigger turbo and a loud BOV and be blowing away everyone, there are supporting mods that are often neglected and research that isn't done that results in something blowing up or running badly.

slow8033 · Jul 23, 2010

I am not completely new to DSM's luckly. I have a full understanding on how to Turbo my 420a engine and what needs to be done to do that without it falling completely apart in a day. I just decided quite a while ago it wasn't worth the money/effort. My GS is what it is, and really is a great car if you dont expect neckbreaking performance. You CAN turn a 420a into an awesome platform, but lets face it, its not "really" a 420a anymore at that point. Its just shaped like one. HA

I have read the upgrade paths on this site and others and understand what needs to be done/replaced before I can even think about buying a bigger turbo for a GST/X. I dont really want a loud BOV. I dont want a LOUD exhaust. I like quiet/fast/classy.

So if everything is done "by the book" and properly there shouldn't be a rediculous amount of problems?

I get that things break, cars break, moving parts/machines break. It just goes with using them. My main concern I guess is with the DSMlink or SAFC. And perhaps that's because I havent ever seen one work. I completely understand their importance and their function/concept about how they each work, but is it a "set it up right and forget it"? or is it, oh crap I got up this morning to go to work and my engine is knocking so I have to mess with this thing again.

I WILL be daily driving this car.

emitsu97 · Jul 23, 2010

I've had Link for about 3 years now but haven't tuned with it myself. If by chance your tune gets lost, Link resets to it's default parameters that were specified at the time of purchase, specifically injector size. I've been unfortunately driving tuneless for about 2.5 years since my downpipe kept killing my alternator causing ECU resets and the only reasonably local shop with an AWD dyno closed. It still runs fine albeit a little rich.

slow8033 · Jul 23, 2010

What could cause you to lose your settings?

If you take the battery cable off you dont loose your programming do you? That would seriously suck. I'm sure they programmed it better than that. I know it can cause your ECU to reset some settings, but I couldn't see something like that affecting the programming flashed into the fuel trims.

What about an SAFC? When it looses power does it reset like a car radio. HAHA!

1997_GSX · Jul 24, 2010

I regret wasting money on my car, I wish I would have left it alone till I bought another car. Lol sure its fast but its really not worth it. I did all the the work and spent all the money on new parts. I don't like used things even tho car had 1 previous owner, it was all stock with 85k miles.

AK Maniak · Jul 24, 2010

1997_GSX said:
I regret wasting money on my car, I wish I would have left it alone till I bought another car. Lol sure its fast but its really not worth it. I did all the the work and spent all the money on new parts. I don't like used things even tho car had 1 previous owner, it was all stock with 85k miles.

I'll take that regret off your hands if you really don't like it

boostedgsx95 · Jul 24, 2010

AK Maniak said:
I'll take that regret off your hands if you really don't like it

^^^ What he said definately... A 1 owner gsx? OMG

Very rare my friend

slow8033 · Jul 24, 2010

Well, that's kinda the issue. I have found/know of an original owner 1998 GSX that looks practically brand new. If I buy it, I would be hesitant to mess it up. For a long while it was awesome to have a highly modded car that everyone would admire...but now in this day and age, its almost more attractive and rare to have an original all stock not molested car....way more rare.

Hideki · Jul 24, 2010

As far as regrets? Sorta. I bought my GST as a DD that I wanted to lightly modify. It's only got 70,000 miles on it and in the few years I've owned it, the car has spent more time broken than running. I've had to get a new engine, and pretty much everything else (anything that broke or wore out is now something stronger aftermarket) but that's just what happens when you start playing with these machines, and any kind of car for that matter. If you plan to tune these awesome cars, better make sure you have another car to actually drive around in. But when this this is running (which thankfully for the time being it is) there's just nothing like this big old coupe to drive around in LOL

1995gsx20g · Jul 24, 2010

The more you know the easier they stay together. That is, except for your few and far between unpreventable failures. but its a great learning experience and a lot of fun none the less

VTEC KILLR · Jul 24, 2010

Fast, Cheap, Reliable........you can only have two

1997_GSX · Jul 24, 2010

AK Maniak said:
I'll take that regret off your hands if you really don't like it

Lol I love the car, its just I hate that I modded a stock car. I did everything right its just I should have kept this car stock for a dd and bought an evo to mod

boostedgsx95 said:
^^^ What he said definately... A 1 owner gsx? Very rare my friend

On top of that it was a school teachers

slow8033 said:
Well, that's kinda the issue. I have found/know of an original owner 1998 GSX that looks practically brand new. If I buy it, I would be hesitant to mess it up. For a long while it was awesome to have a highly modded car that everyone would admire...but now in this day and age, its almost more attractive and rare to have an original all stock not molested car....way more rare.

I have almost 30k wrapped up in my car because I bought mostly every thing new and didn't rig stuff up.

I would get it but do lite mods and do them right spare no expense. Don't ghetto rig stuff. Or don't mod it at all.

Do maintenance first. Rear Diff fluid, TCase Fluid, Tranny Fluid, flush the radiator, change the oil and filter. Get the timing belt and balance shaftbelt and the tensioner at the very least. The check over the brake system.

You have to really watch these cars, look in the spare tire well for rust, strut towers, rear wheel wheels, under the hatch are common places.

Dserge · Jul 24, 2010

1997_GSX said:
Lol I love the car, its just I hate that I modded a stock car. I did everything right its just I should have kept this car stock for a dd and bought an evo to mod

On top of that it was a school teachers

I have almost 30k wrapped up in my car because I bought mostly every thing new and didn't rig stuff up.

I would get it but do lite mods and do them right spare no expense. Don't ghetto rig stuff. Or don't mod it at all.

Do maintenance first. Rear Diff fluid, TCase Fluid, Tranny Fluid, flush the radiator, change the oil and filter. Get the timing belt and balance shaftbelt and the tensioner at the very least. The check over the brake system.

You have to really watch these cars, look in the spare tire well for rust, strut towers, rear wheel wheels, under the hatch are common places.

Yeah I know what you mean about having a non modded car.

I kind of regret ruining my 1g and this new 2g I have is completely unmolested but man would it look good with a cat back on it.

1997_GSX · Jul 24, 2010

I want to add the regret goes away

Especially after you get done taking somebody for a demo and they have a huge smile on their face and they ask who did all the work

then you reply you did. Lol when you get really good with these cars you have people calling you all the time on what parts to get or people ask you all the time to work on their cars. Thats the biggest prob right now, I cant get my car finished for working on the locals cars!

Another is blowing the doors off of 10 cars in one race H22 hondas, B16s, Light weight hatchs, Caliber SRTs, SRT-4s, Pontiac Solstice GXPs, Evos, subarus, v8 Mustangs. Haha especially when they think your car is stockish. I have made plenty of people mad here locally haha. I love going out of town where no one knows you or anything about your car and showing up at the hang out spot. It makes it worth it.

I really like taking my brother for rides, he love LS series motors, he loves talking my car up. Heck when somebody pulls in we don't know hes the one who brags my car up. I usually just sit there and laugh. I always practice no lift shifts and take him for rides after I get faster LOL

. I'm at the point of shifting almost as fast as an auto.

I'm a bit of a crab right now, I don't have a job and I am used to putting at least $1000 in my car in gas and parts a month. Lol I can't really do that now, but I am selling off old parts and getting some small new things.

I can't wait to get back working and dumping more money into this car. Especially the big turbo setup

and a Bosch 044 and -08 fuel lines.

One word of advice it gets really addicting modding the car

So have fun and do it right. Buy the good stuff, don't let retards on here influence you. Have fun with the car and my god be careful

ineedagsx · Jul 25, 2010

If your car doesnt break you're not going fast enough

and when it does break, you buy some beers, invite some friends over, and you fix it. I have been building my car for the last 9 months (bought it with no engine) and I have had so much fun just chillin in the garage drinking bullshitting and tinkering. good times

esoteric · Jul 25, 2010

Honestly if you want a reliable DD buy a camry or something, you don't buy a turbo AWD machine for reliability and comfort

The Top DSM Community on the Web

Regrets anyone? (sorry kinda long)

slow8033

esoteric

slow8033

emitsu97

slow8033

1997_GSX

AK Maniak

boostedgsx95

slow8033

Hideki

1995gsx20g

VTEC KILLR

1997_GSX

Dserge

1997_GSX

ineedagsx

esoteric

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