Hello, I am a Neon guy at heart but would like to put my girl back into an eclipse like she had in college. It was a silver GS-t 97 auto and she loved it. But she is not great in the snow and i want to give her the advantage of AWD. so after reading the "how to" on swapping AWD into a GST I decided i just want to buy a GSX or a pre converted GST. I have been installing aftermarket automotive electronics for over 20years and am great with wiring. When it come to building motors im not well versed. I have owned a few turbo cars, lebaron 2.5 turbo, 04 srt4 stage 3 with toys, 02 neon rt srt4 swap stage 3 with toys. bonneville SSEi (supercharged). Had a jeep srt8 with no2. so ive been around the block and have worked on many dsms electrically over the years. So now looking for a 97 to 99 auto gsx (or awd gst). willing to drive. not going to buy an expensive one cause i dont mind putting some work in to et it right. Power goals. . just enough to still get beat by my 2.4NA 02 acr with no2. . so maybe 300-350whp. 400max. I do not know where the point of dimishing return is on this DSM yet. Thank s for all the help. I have been on here for 2 years lurking and reading.

sounds like me ive been on here since 09.

nice to see youre doing a build for your girl. hope you find what youre looking for

This forums seems to have a lot less traffic than I thought it would have. Is this the best forum for DSM info?

what neon said:

This forums seems to have a lot less traffic than I thought it would have. Is this the best forum for DSM info?

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I don't really see a question in your original post. Maybe get specific and then you can get answers.

Ok. Is this the best forum for DSM info?

Is that specfic enough?

I didnt ask why people were not responding to me or that this specfic thread did not have alot of traffic. I was specific and said "is this the best forum for DSM info"

as far as thread traffic i agree, i like to see more posts. but in my most recent searches for 6 bolt related tech articles i have found very well written posts

Your best bet is to keep checking out the classifieds on here, craigslist, or if you can physically go and check it out ebay.

Yes this is the best forum for DSM information. When you take about diminishing returns are you talking about upgrade wise?

airmail96 said:

Yes this is the best forum for DSM information. When you take about diminishing returns are you talking about upgrade wise?

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Well with older RX7s you cant get into the low 12s unless you do the internals, new rotor and a bunch of other parts that is very expensive work. So for that car anything that can be done before upgrading the internals is before the point of diminishing return. For the SRT4 it seems to be around 450-500 HP. Once you start to go beyond that it starts to be exponentially more expensive.


For the GSX I do not know the actual HP the driveline can take without having to be upgraded. In my Jeep SRT8 (damn I miss that machine) the NAG1 trans was rated to 750hp but the transfer case was the weak point typically failing around 550-600hp. Built transfer case is $2200 so planning the build around the stock transfer case could save you $2200.

See what I am getting at? I am not sure where the money vs power gained gets crazy on these DSMs. Ill list some of the basic things I expect to do so far and maybe we can go from there.

motor mounts, Catch can, downpipe, exhaust, intake, MAF, WGA, Fuel pump (w255 or B044) with return line, fuel rail if it needs it to have funtioning returnline, Injectors if needed, Tune obviously. any drive line components that need beefier parts like links and bars, some poly or aluminum bushings. Not sure where the limit is on the OEM turbo yet. But this list above is what i am expecting to have to do so far. alsong with any required maintenance. oh and of course a big intercooler.

what neon said:

Well with older RX7s you cant get into the low 12s unless you do the internals, new rotor and a bunch of other parts that is very expensive work. So for that car anything that can be done before upgrading the internals is before the point of diminishing return. For the SRT4 it seems to be around 450-500 HP. Once you start to go beyond that it starts to be exponentially more expensive.


For the GSX I do not know the actual HP the driveline can take without having to be upgraded. In my Jeep SRT8 (damn I miss that machine) the NAG1 trans was rated to 750hp but the transfer case was the weak point typically failing around 550-600hp. Built transfer case is $2200 so planning the build around the stock transfer case could save you $2200.

See what I am getting at? I am not sure where the money vs power gained gets crazy on these DSMs. Ill list some of the basic things I expect to do so far and maybe we can go from there.

motor mounts, Catch can, downpipe, exhaust, intake, MAF, WGA, Fuel pump (w255 or B044) with return line, fuel rail if it needs it to have funtioning returnline, Injectors if needed, Tune obviously. any drive line components that need beefier parts like links and bars, some poly or aluminum bushings. Not sure where the limit is on the OEM turbo yet. But this list above is what i am expecting to have to do so far. alsong with any required maintenance. oh and of course a big intercooler. Good list, you might not need a catch can until you start pushing a lot of boost, and if your pushing alot of boost id ditch the internal wastegate and go with an external unit.

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Honestly the stock transmissions have been holding some crazy power going through them, with people dipping into the 10's on a stock transmission. The motor becomes the weak point at around 450 - 500hp some have had better luck pushing it further, but most will say this is the safe limit anything else your just waiting. The stock turbo on the 2gs is a turd, if you want a fun little car I would look at the Evo 3 16g, fast spooling turbo, people have been making good numbers on it especially with some E85(if you have access to it). Fuel rail isn't needed, the drive-shaft you may want to go through and replace any worn bushings or parts, but that should be fine the T-Case will eventually become an issue once you make more power and leaving harder, but the automatic is a lot easier on the driveline then the manual. You'll most likely wind up doing a mode to the transmission allowing you to shift it yourself or to allow full line pressure shifts, and you will evetually have to replace the clutch pack with some that can withstand heat. There are a few other things you could do if your drag racing a lot but from the sound of things this will be a street cruiser.

Thank you. I dont see her dragging it much. She will have to a few times but it is a year round daily driver as tue first goal. The hp bump is just because I want her to not be stock or super slow. It will be an auto dor a few reasons. Crank walk and because she doesn't want to drive a manual as a daily. She can drive manual as has fun in my sunfire. Lol. Once shes a little better at it she can drive my ACR. Ive seen that evo 16g swap is pretty common. I dont want to pigeon I ole her I to e85. I know its awesome and turbo cars love it but we take long road trips to desolate areas. Some only have 85. Not e85.

Yeah, totally understand about the availability, you can still make decent power with the evo 3 without e85 and it will still be a fun street car .

airmail96 said:

Yeah, totally understand about the availability, you can still make decent power with the evo 3 without e85 and it will still be a fun street car .

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Thanks alot for the input. Now I have to decide if buying a 2g gsx and going through it piece by piece is the best plan. Or just buying and building the driveline then find a shell. I have researched the AWD swap/conversion if we buy a GST and it seems very doable but what about starting with a non turbo and swaping to turbo and awd. That I still have to research. But it seems like built motors are easy to find for sale, at least long blocks, and the AWD parts seem obtainable too.

You'll have to fabricate a lot of things to get a 4g63 to fit in a non turbo engine bay. Lots of work for no reason a Gs-t can be found fairly easy