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Street Build She's A Keeper

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TheBrownMike

5+ Year Contributor
54
61
Apr 9, 2018
SAN DIEGO, California
1991 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX
5 Speed, 6/3 Bolt Combo
69k when purchased, 72k Currently

ECMlink
FIC 950cc
Walbro 255
Speed Density
Mishimoto Radiator
VRSF FMIC
MAF Delete
Apexi 3" Turbo-back
Aeromotive FPR
BC 272 Cams
Evo 3 16G
FEAL 441


Background:
I've been into DSM's since the early 2000's when my brother had a converted GS-T. I bought my first one in the 03-04 timeframe, a 90 Talon TSi FWD. Sold that a little while later for a 91 GSX that I had for a year or so, blew it up and rebuilt it, eventually sold it. I came back a few years later to buy a built rolling shell, and built a motor for that to compete with a buddies 67 Mustang, had it for a few years before parting it out. Fast forward a decade and wishing I had a GSX again, I started my search...

The Car: 1991 GSX, 5 Speed, 6/3 Bolt Combo.
I bought this GSX in March 2018, after months searching for clean 1Ga somewhere on the west coast. I drove over 1,000 miles to Denver, Colorado to pick it up from the original owner "Dave" with 69k miles on it. The car had been sitting in his garage for 8+ years, and finally decided to part ways with it due to him moving across the country. The car was unmolested, and 100% stock (with the exception of the rims), and seemingly very well cared for. It also came with the original fan wheels. Aside from minor chips on the hood and windshield, assumingely from the Colorado roads, the car was one of the cleanest 1G's I've seen. The bra and wool seat covers had been on the vehicle since the early years according to Dave. After a beer and some paperwork, we loaded the GSX onto the trailer for its ride home.

Craigslist Ad pic
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Smells like a DSM...
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Ready to go
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Welcome home
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Part 1: Clean, Investigate, and Begin Maintenance
First task was to clean her up and take a more in depth look into things. After a good wash and vacuuming, I was surprised that when I removed both the seat covers, and bra, underneath was just as nice. The hood and bumper cleaned up easily, and the seats were immaculate. I was astounded to see that everything worked, lights, radio, wipers, HVAC, etc. Even the fact that it had al the interior plastics, carpet, spare and jack, cargo cover. The only thing it didn't have was the sunroof glass storage bag and wind deflector. Under the hood revealed good things as well, aside from some rat poop, leaves, and road grime. Lots of scrubbing and simple green later, she was looking freshened up.

CLEAN!
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Dat Booty
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Always gotta take her bra off...
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Almost completely dent free
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Headliner and visors all taught
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Back seats are super clean
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Interior looks brand new
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Full interior plastics, cargo cover and more!
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Paint chips from Colorado roads and some gunk from the bra
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Not too bad for a 27 year old car
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The biggest task was the first one, the gas tank. It had been sitting with about 3/4 of gas in it for close to a decade and cleaning it was my first testament of love to this car. After siphoning and draining the tank, I went about vacuuming, rinsing, and scraping everything I could out of the tank. The fuel pump and hanger was useless, so I sourced a better one from a guy on a FB group. I used electrolysis to removing the rust and corrosion on both the hanger and tank itself, which worked very well. I replaced the pump with a stock equivalent for the time being.

Mmmm Yummy...
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The gunk left behind
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About 1/3 of what I pulled out of the tank
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Freshened up hanger and Walbro 255
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Next up was, you guessed it, TIMING BELT. It's been a minute since I did one of these jobs, so I took my time and did it right. New belts, water pump, and tensioner and everything went back together after a triple check. I also pulled the plugs and injectors, cleaning those up as well making sure they weren't clogged, as well as a new fuel filter. I flushed the coolant, brake, and clutch lines, did an oil/filter change. Replaced the transmission, and transfer case fluids as well. (Still need to do the diff fluid..) After all that, she got a new battery and it was time to see if she runs...

Most DSM owner have probably never seen the wire keepers
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Looked good for 70k (old belt)
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After a few cranks and a sputter or too she fired up and maintained a decent idle. Finally breathing again after almost a decade of storage. At this point the next big hurdle was passing smog. Remarkably after failing the first time (255 + stock FPR = rich), I swapped in a stock size fuel pump and it passed with flying colors. At this point I was making my plan of what I wanted to do with the car. I decided based on the condition of it, I would stick to a mostly stock appearing setup with some go fast goodies, doing my best to be as minimally invasive as possible and keeping all the stock parts that came off the car as well.

At this point the car was relatively road worthy, I started with some minor test drives and function checks, it seemed to do well. I did notice an exhaust leak which turned out to be broken studs, so I replaced all of manifold studs and bolts. Broke one manifold-turbo bolt in the process, which took forever to drill out. Anti-seize went on to all replaced hardware. Anything that comes off the car, gets thoroughly cleaned and degreased before being replaced.

Broken stud finally drilled out
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New manifold hardware

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Read more about this vehicle here...

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Part 2: Performance Mods
RADIATOR
: The stock radiator had a broken neck, so I replaced it with a Mishimoto unit. I have a Mishimoto fan/shroud waiting to be installed as well.

So shiny
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New radiator in and clean engine bay

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FMIC: A VRSF kit was acquired, which required me to very reluctantly and carefully, cut the core support for the piping. I also opted to notch the crash bar in hopes of some protection, and had to slightly trim the backside of the bumper due to the FMIC sitting farther out since I am retaining AC. I also deleted the P/S "cooler" during this. I made some sheetmetal ducting to help improve the airflow. The top piece has sides as well, the bottom is a temporary one that will eventually have sides too. As is, you can feel a good pull in front of the FMIC with the one fan on.

Sheetmetal ducting (top and bottom)
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Underside ducting pic
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Engine bay with short route piping
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Speed Density/Maf Delete:
After getting ECMlink in the car, it was a no brainer to go speed density. Being in California, we have to deal with smog nazis, which prompted me to take the "stock appearance" thing to the next level, by keep the stock air can, but removing the MAF. I replaced the MAF plug hole with a piece of painted sheetmetal to help disguise it from the not-so-nosey officials.

"Stock" aircan
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To Be Continued...
 
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I mean it's your car, but you contradict yourself by saying how clean and stock the car is in the first post, and then proceed to butcher the core support to make it another dime a dozen modded car.

So if youre going to cut the core the then you might as well delete the power steering. If you delete the power steering you may as well delete the ac, if you delete the ac you may as well delete the emission system.

Its just a long windy road of broken parts and broken bank accounts.

And since this is a response to your first post I just wanted to see if you have a goal for the car. Nothing wrong with a racecar
 
he said he wanted a mostly stock appearing car with go fast parts. That's enough to justify what he did and those are his goals for the car. No point in saying he's contradicting himself. let him do his thing. Cars looking good. Keep it up.
 
I like it good clean mods. Trimming the core support does nothing to detract from your core. Good job on keeping your mods tasteful so far.
 
So if youre going to cut the core the then you might as well delete the power steering. If you delete the power steering you may as well delete the ac, if you delete the ac you may as well delete the emission system.

I get what you are saying, I actually sat there and tried to figure out if it would be possible to use silicone couplers to make a soft piping pass through, but it really wasn't feasible. As for the core support work, it wasn't butchered at all, I took my time with it and cleaned things up nicely. I have been down that route, drank that koolaid and learned from it.

Now that I look, I don't think it says it in the build thread, just the profile, but the goal is basically to be a "restomod" car. Mostly stock appearing, with some modern performance upgrades.

As for the other comments, thank you! Everything being done to this car will be reversible, minus cutting for the FMIC. All the stock parts are being kept as well. I feel like these cars will never have a market of stock/repro parts available like most classics, so some tasteful mods and good reliable power will be the best way to do the preserve the history.
 
I get what you are saying, I actually sat there and tried to figure out if it would be possible to use silicone couplers to make a soft piping pass through, but it really wasn't feasible. As for the core support work, it wasn't butchered at all, I took my time with it and cleaned things up nicely. I have been down that route, drank that koolaid and learned from it.

Now that I look, I don't think it says it in the build thread, just the profile, but the goal is basically to be a "restomod" car. Mostly stock appearing, with some modern performance upgrades.

As for the other comments, thank you! Everything being done to this car will be reversible, minus cutting for the FMIC. All the stock parts are being kept as well. I feel like these cars will never have a market of stock/repro parts available like most classics, so some tasteful mods and good reliable power will be the best way to do the preserve the history.


Yeah but you did also delete the condesor fan which means your getting rid of the ac system. You also deleted the charcoal canister to relocate the battery lower in the engine bay

If the car was to roll across the barrett Jackson floor tomorrow your modifications would have decreased its value.

It isn't a restomod since the car didnt need to be restored, youre just modifying it. EBay front mount and td05 framed turbo. Gotcha
 
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Yeah but you did also delete the condesor fan which means your getting rid of the ac system. You also deleted the charcoal canister to relocate the battery lower in the engine bay

If the car was to roll across the barrett Jackson floor tomorrow your modifications would have decreased its value.

It isn't a restomod since the car didnt need to be restored, youre just modifying it. EBay front mount and td05 framed turbo. Gotcha

Maybe if you asked more about the build you might get answers, such as...

-The condenser fan wasn't reinstalled at the time of the picture, currently there is a set of slim fans that will be going in place of the stock ones. That A/C is fully intact and still blows cold.

-The charcoal canister is out of the car temporarily, in fact, all the emissions lines are out. Half of them were leaking. Part of the "To-Do" list is replacing them, in the mean time, I'm taking advantage of the space.

I never once said this car was going to be a car worthy of an auction, let alone Barrett Jackson, however, there plenty of modified cars that run through there. This is a car thats meant to be driven, and enjoyed.

I'm sorry that it doesn't fit with your definition of being restorable, or a "restomod". However, in MY opinion, keeping with original styling with modern performance seems to fit it quite well.

EDIT: Upon checking your build's, your "GST Restoration" seemed to be quite similar in modifications as mine so far, so I fail to see why the negativity?
 
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Sweet car man. Keep up on the posts. I have a bone stock 92 Talon AWD that I am about to do the same kind of minimal build.
 
Nice find man!! Super jealous LOL. Highly recommend using the oem turbo to manifold bolts with oem washers. I used ARP bolts with oem washers and they backed out and had to constantly retorque them. Switched to oem and haven't to touch them since.
 
anymore updates/pictures?? I am in love with this car!
Sorry been super busy working on the sandrail, traveling and work.
Not a whole lot of updates:
-Finished inspecting/cleaning vac lines and components.
-Cleaned and replaced the battery tray and mount.
-Cleaned the Evo wheels I picked up and put those on.
-Blew ISC Drivers, sent the ECU out for repair (Thanks ECMTuning!).

To-Do's:
-Decided to go away from the slim fans, either a downfire 20g or modifying a stock fan shroud to fit it.
-Find OEM looking coolant overflow that will fit in somewhere nice
-New TB elbow with SD on bottom (hidden)

Fried drivers (107&105)
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Allllllllmost stock looking
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Sitting awkardly high on the Evo wheels, considering going smaller or possibly doing some shocks/sway bars.
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Slow progress still, just trying to find the time to get some work done on it.

-Put in used "1450" injectors, had nothing but issues dialing it in, even after cleaning.
-Bought some EDM corner lights and a black talon center grill insert
-Picked up a stock a/c fan that I modified to fit with the IC piping
-Installed APEX'I 3" exhaust, still need to find stealth muffler.
-Finally gave in and bought brand new FIC 950's
-Dropped by BC's shop and had my 272's polished, and finally installed them

Got the SD setup a little better, still need to add some more fuel in some of the cells, but the car is really starting to pull strong now, even at just 10-12 psi. Im still trying to decide which stealth muffler to go with to achieve the stock look, the giant can hanging off the back definitely doesnt say "its stock officer". The car still runs hot after a while, but tis also been super hot outside so could be a factor, but I want to re-do the ducting again to seal it up better.

To-Do list:
-Find solution for coolant overflow (currently sitting on top of tranny)
-Figure out better stealth IC piping
-Swap to stealth muffler
-Window tint
-Make better FMIC ducting
-Add pass side ducting for intake

Some pics for good measure :D

Big thanks to Dustin at the BC shop for getting my cams polished while I wait, and the sweet hat!
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Looking almost stock, minus the IC piping
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EDM corners for a tasteful change. Noticing some newer cars are bringing back amber in their tail lights
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The interior, still tempted to do stock looking VDO gauges in the dash, as I hate not knowing exact numbers. For now the Innovate PSB-1 does the job for boost and AFR.
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