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1997 GST

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Back in 2001 when I graduated school, my parents bought me a 1995 Nissan 240sx SE as a graduation present. Fast and Furious came out exactly a month after I graduated, oh man oh man what a time, 18 years old and just went and watched Fast and Furious. I riced the hell out of that 240 and had a blast, kept it a year and a half and when I got my first job I went and purchased myself a 2003 Eclipse GS in Oct 2002. I put a B&M Short Throw Shifter in it, AEM Cold Air Intake, Blitz Body kit, Purple Underglow Kit. I took the backseats out and had plywood cut and placed down and had carpet put over it, then put 2 MTX 15s in there with a 1200 watt amp. I took the glovebox out and had a PS2 mounted in there and then had a small in dash DVD player installed under the radio and a screen on the dash.

I'm from a small town here in Alabama so every weekend we would "cruise the strip" and just park in various parking lots talking to our friends, well that turned into a lot of "I bet my car can outrun yours" so every weekend we was lining up somewhere in town to race. Had a BLAST, nowadays people have tried to bring the "cruising" back but it never happened, a lot of businesses got tired of people trashing up their parking lots, so we aren't really allowed to do it anymore, quite a few of the local "cool kids" hang out at the end of the Wal-Mart parking lot, but that's about it. But, there is still a lot of those riced out Hondas riding around here, and over the years a 1997 (Just something about that year I LOVE) GST or GSX Eclipse had always been my dream car, IF I would of known better back in 2002 when I bought that 2003 eclipse I would of gotten a 2g GST or GSX.

Now, fast forward, a guy at work he trades vehicles like no tomorrow, I bet he's had like 37 this year alone. He ended up with a 1996 V6 Mustang, and myself, I'm an avid gun guy. So he offered me the mustang for a Glock 19 pistol I just had bought from a pawn shop, I figured what the hell, $550 pistol for a vehicle I'll take it. It was a hack job from hell, someone had put a new V6 motor in it, AC didn't work, heat didn't work, fan was on a toggle switch, had to unplug a wire from the fuse box under the hood or the battery died, electric seat wouldn't go forward any, and he is like 6'4" and i'm 5'7", so I had to stretch like crazy to reach the clutch, well I made it home and found out a few fuses under the dash was blown. Replaced those and the seat started working, and the wire under the hood no longer had to be plugged up to the fuse box to crank the car. So I was relieved of that issue fixed. I kept the mustang for about 6 months now, put a CAI on it and that was about it, tires was so bald I could do a 360 on dry road. Well, I put it up on Facebook Marketplace a few weeks ago and sold it that night for $500, I asked my boss to borrow $2500 to get me a car and he let me have it, so now I had $3000 to try and get my dream car, I know $3000 for a dream car when most people need $80k for a 69 mustang or a chevelle SS or something crazy like that.

My search started, I'm also a huge PC gamer, have been for the last 27 years since 1992, I currently own a $2000 gaming PC, well I actually quit gaming and just sat here every night after work and searched GST / GSX on Facebook Marketplace. Well there was only like 3 "DECENT" ones in state for sale.

A 1995 GST - turned out timing belt and quite a few other things was taken off, they just didn't say that in their FB description, they waited until you talked to them for about an hour before they said anything.
A 1997 GST - turned out to be full of cheap ebay parts that the guy had no idea anything about, but I was willing to buy this one!
a 1996 GST - was a well built decent car, but had passenger side axle leaking and he said he was an avid DSMer and we wouldn't recommend it being a daily driver without more money put into it.

Well, I had made my mind up to go buy the 1997 GST, it was 3 hours away, I was literally getting up from my computer chair headed to bed as it was 10pm, as I stood up, I hit Facebook Marketplace and just typed in GST one last time, well this 1997 GST popped up as first result, just was posted 5 minutes ago, I was like "wait a minute" so I sit back down and looked at all the pictures and sent him a message. Now this guy was 5 1/2 hours away. After talking to him and asking all the usual questions, I offered him $3000 for the car and he accepted. So I told him I def. wanted the car and not to sell it while I went to sleep and I would hit him back up first thing the next morning. Friday morn I woke up for work and instantly sent him a message, he went on with some story about a guy messaged him and offered him $3800 for the car with a $1000 deposit to hold it for him until he could come get it, but he told the guy no as he already told me he would sell it to me for $3000. Well I went just about all day Friday messaging this guy reassuring him I was driving the 5 1/2 hours to get the car and I would def be there Saturday morning. Finally at 8pm Friday night I told him I was going to bed and I was waking up at 2am Saturday morning and headed to his house to get it, sure enough 2:30 rolls around and my alarm goes off and I jump up and get the wife and our son up and we cut out 5 1/2 hours to Tennessee.

We finally make it to this Wal-Mart in Tennessee and I message him and tell him I was there, he messaged back finally, (the whole time I was thinking he stood me up, as it took him forever to message me back) he said he was cleaning the car up a bit and he would be right over. He FINALLY shows up almost 45 min later, said we could see his house from the Wal-Mart. I took about an hour looking over the car and it did have brand new tires so I wasn't worried about the 5 1/2 hour drive home, I handed him $3000 and we headed home. I got home at 4:08pm Saturday afternoon, was so tired from driving, but the car made the drive and I was happy.

So now I present to you, my "NEW TO ME" 1997 GST,

160k miles
Original paint,
Original rims (tho they are badly done, spray painted silver) wouldn't be hard to clean up
All factory lights work, fog lights, passenger side visor mirror lights, under dash lights
Power locks work, power windows work, sunroof works
Tint looks like it was done on a dirt road behind a dumpster, but I'm taking it off
Interior is in almost perfect condition, one tiny cigarette burn in the driver seat.

Also, here is a list of mods that was already done to the car

  • Garrett Big T28 Turbo
  • Mishimoto Intercooler
  • Greddy Type S BOV
  • Forced Performance DSM Race Manifold
  • Brian Crower Stage 2 Cams
  • Megan Racing Cat-Back System
  • HBC Manual Boost Controller
  • AEM Wideband Boost Gauge
  • AEM Wideband Air/Fuel Gauge
  • KYB AGX Struts
  • Eibach Springs
  • StopTech Slotted Brake Rotors
  • Goodridge Brake Lines

I asked the guy what shop put the cams on the car because on the FB post he said he just had cams installed and a tune done, so I called the shop and they confirmed he had them order and install Brian Crower stage 2 cams and they dyno tuned it for him and it was pushing 347hp, but he had them turn the boost down for him because his wife's car messed up so she was gonna be driving it. And in his FB messages to me he said his wife's RAV 4 messed up and he was letting her drive it, so that part checked out good for me.

Eclipse.jpg
Eclipse2.jpg


For now, this is all! I will continue to update this thread as I dig deeper into the car and add / remove some stuff! Hope you all enjoyed so far!
 
Last edited:
Quick Update

Got out there this weekend and attempted to bleed the clutch, woke up this morning to no clutch fluid in the reservoir, I also attempted to bleed it by pushing in the slave cylinder and holding it, I could hear what sounded like air escaping from the slave cylinder somewhere, so that leads me to believe Slave Cylinder is toast, local parts shop has them for $26, gonna buy one and get it put on this week and hopefully clutch part will be fixed.

Also put a set of Sony Xplod 12s with an Emmerson 800w amp that I've had for years now, sounds great inside the car and rattles stuff off the walls in the house, but vibrates the car really bad, so gonna have to get some dynamat or something else for it.

So for now, after I get clutch fixed,

I have a small oil leak somewhere, noticed the bolts that goes to the oil return pipe from the turbo was backed out some, but they wouldn't tighten, so either someone used wrong bolts or cross threaded them, so hoping that's where the oil is coming from and I can fix that easily.

Also flex pipe is damaged because the car sits so low, gonna fix that next and hopefully that takes care of the CEL and the black smoke coming from the exhaust.

I took the recirc hose loose and capped the port and man oh man, that Greddy Type S BOV is a beast, even just going like 5mph and shifting to 2nd it blows so loud, but I hooked the recirc hose back up.

That's all for now and hopefully soon I'll have it running great, back to work tomorrow and will mess with the car again as time and daylight allows.
 
Quick Update

Got out there this weekend and attempted to bleed the clutch, woke up this morning to no clutch fluid in the reservoir, I also attempted to bleed it by pushing in the slave cylinder and holding it, I could hear what sounded like air escaping from the slave cylinder somewhere, so that leads me to believe Slave Cylinder is toast, local parts shop has them for $26, gonna buy one and get it put on this week and hopefully clutch part will be fixed.

Also put a set of Sony Xplod 12s with an Emmerson 800w amp that I've had for years now, sounds great inside the car and rattles stuff off the walls in the house, but vibrates the car really bad, so gonna have to get some dynamat or something else for it.

So for now, after I get clutch fixed,

I have a small oil leak somewhere, noticed the bolts that goes to the oil return pipe from the turbo was backed out some, but they wouldn't tighten, so either someone used wrong bolts or cross threaded them, so hoping that's where the oil is coming from and I can fix that easily.

Also flex pipe is damaged because the car sits so low, gonna fix that next and hopefully that takes care of the CEL and the black smoke coming from the exhaust.

I took the recirc hose loose and capped the port and man oh man, that Greddy Type S BOV is a beast, even just going like 5mph and shifting to 2nd it blows so loud, but I hooked the recirc hose back up.

That's all for now and hopefully soon I'll have it running great, back to work tomorrow and will mess with the car again as time and daylight allows.
Once you've made some progress you should bring it to Cars and Coffee!
 
Once you've made some progress you should bring it to Cars and Coffee!

That sounds right up my alley, I love cars and I love coffee, I'd def. be interested. I also noticed a few importers was gathering at Hoover Tactical a while back when I was up there.
 
That sounds right up my alley, I love cars and I love coffee, I'd def. be interested. I also noticed a few importers was gathering at Hoover Tactical a while back when I was up there.
Awesome! It's no longer at Hoover Tactical, now they have it at the Colonnade. It should be about the same distance from you though.
 
Could be the master cylinder too.

I put a new master cylinder on it the next day after I got it, because it was leaking. So far overnight and all day today the fluid hasn't leaked out, maybe I'm just not use to whatever clutch is in it, I know the 96 mustang I sold before I bought the Eclipse had a stage 3 clutch in it and that thing was super super strong when you pushed it in, took all my leg force to get it in, this clutch is very very squishy and easy to push.

And I bled it until fluid kept coming out each time.
 
I put a new master cylinder on it the next day after I got it, because it was leaking. So far overnight and all day today the fluid hasn't leaked out, maybe I'm just not use to whatever clutch is in it, I know the 96 mustang I sold before I bought the Eclipse had a stage 3 clutch in it and that thing was super super strong when you pushed it in, took all my leg force to get it in, this clutch is very very squishy and easy to push.

And I bled it until fluid kept coming out each time.
There is a very small amount of pressure in my clutch pedal. But it works decent. I think these hydraulic clutches were designed to work with ease. So they actually have a ton of pressure, you just don't feel it. I thought it was weird too the first time I drove mine.
 
There is a very small amount of pressure in my clutch pedal. But it works decent. I think these hydraulic clutches were designed to work with ease. So they actually have a ton of pressure, you just don't feel it. I thought it was weird too the first time I drove mine.

Well that works, clutch lets out at very bottom of pedal so I'm just gonna go with it being fixed.

So now that's out of the way, I did check timing belt and it looks great, next will most likely be flex pipe getting fixed, even tho it sounds good, I'm gonna fix it and the oil leak and I'll be ready for more performance parts.
 
Well that works, clutch lets out at very bottom of pedal so I'm just gonna go with it being fixed.

You can adjust the rod on the pedal. Make small adjustments and it should grab higher.
 
Got the Grant steering wheel put on, loving it so far over the factory wheel.View attachment 587301
That actually looks pretty good. I'm still trying to decide what to do for mine. I don't want to spend a fortune but I also dont want something cheap and ugly.
 
That actually looks pretty good. I'm still trying to decide what to do for mine. I don't want to spend a fortune but I also dont want something cheap and ugly.

The more I drive it the more I'm liking it, seems so much smoother than the factory wheel.
 
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