The Top DSM Community on the Web

For 1990-1999 Mitsubishi Eclipse, Eagle Talon, Plymouth Laser, and Galant VR-4 Owners. Log in to remove most ads.

Please Support STM Tuned
Please Support Rix Racing

This site may earn a commission from merchant
affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

So this project has been idle for years. Quick explanation:

3+ years ago
  • spun a bearing. Killed the 2.3L.

~2.5 years ago - LOTS of issues
  • Odd TPS values, unable to respond to throttle for several seconds
  • Melted driver side fan - twice
  • Fried 3 alternations
  • Destroyed 2 drive pulleys

In April of 2018, I had surgery, which had me on bed rest for several months. Just recently, I started working on stuff.
  • Fixed driver strut tower rust.
  • Fixed front passenger sub-frame bolt (sheared - had to be replaced)
  • Reconstructed Mid-passenger sub frame mount - rusted to into nothing.

Over the past year, I've been collecting various parts for the rebuild/rehash of my project. I had originally named this "Kyuubi", but its no longer appropriate. Hope every one enjoys the build, I'll be posting pictures and updates as often as I can remember to.
 
Captains log, 10292019.

This week, I've been unmotivated. My oldest kid got suspended from school until Friday, so I'm having to be a warden while also working, while also doing everything else. Over the weekend, I managed to clear up some of the rust in the driver corner, where the clutch and brake masters are. I had previously put down primer there, but it was obviously not sticking and rust actually came through. I sanded it all back down, and re-primered it ..... day 2 shows improvement. If this holds out, I will need to brush the rust off of the welds I had to do and lay down primer there as well. If all goes well - perhaps I can get some color sprayed this weekend.

In between errands, I did manage to knock out the rubber from the trans mount so that I can install the poly bushing. Once it was out, I gave it a nice coat of paint, as well as my cam gears. With so many fresh parts and paint, it only seems fair that I can get everything looking good while it is all out of the engine bay. I also degreased the coolant side of the head, since it was filthy with grease, dirt, carbon, etc. It looks almost like a new part now. The cosmetic parts of this build are coming along nicely, I'm hoping it at least runs as well as it looks.

Also over the weekend, I found that my CM3 and the IO board I had for it was in fact fried from trying to power the system via GPIO headers. I confirmed it by ordering a new CM3 module, which booted up in the board, but none of the USB ports worked. That means that basic DSMPi development has to take place on the standard raspberry pi 3. That did give me enough to work on the setup script, which installs everything needed for ECMLink to run, and copies the things to the places - it now runs error free and with out asking questions. Not the worst, as I've been using it to look at and export logs from ECMLink for a closer look on my desktop. The next major improvement that needs to happen is automatic log upload from the pi to some storage - cloud or something in the house. It doesn't matter, as long as it makes it some where else. I'll have to wait until Friday to order a new IO board. Sigh.
 

Attachments

  • photo_2019-10-29_14-26-18.jpg
    photo_2019-10-29_14-26-18.jpg
    115.7 KB · Views: 145
  • photo_2019-10-29_14-26-26.jpg
    photo_2019-10-29_14-26-26.jpg
    70.7 KB · Views: 114
  • photo_2019-10-29_14-26-34.jpg
    photo_2019-10-29_14-26-34.jpg
    80.2 KB · Views: 148
  • photo_2019-10-29_14-26-38.jpg
    photo_2019-10-29_14-26-38.jpg
    97.7 KB · Views: 125
  • photo_2019-10-29_14-26-42.jpg
    photo_2019-10-29_14-26-42.jpg
    86.7 KB · Views: 122
  • photo_2019-10-29_14-26-46.jpg
    photo_2019-10-29_14-26-46.jpg
    121.7 KB · Views: 120
  • photo_2019-10-29_14-26-50.jpg
    photo_2019-10-29_14-26-50.jpg
    134.5 KB · Views: 139
Captains log, 11042019.

The week of punishment for my daughter is over ... for now. As a family, we spent all weekend starting renovations on the living room, which included some drain repair on the upstairs shower - allowing us to keep our rooms secure from prying teenage eyes. This means we spent no time at all on the DSM nor the RX7. Due to the Halloween day and suspension, work days didn't allow for work on them either.

Friday, I did manage to order several much needed parts. Starting with something I ordered a few weeks ago, my new brake and clutch reservoir brackets have arrived from GSX-Dude. These things are a work of art and just holding them resonates excitement through my body. I cannot wait to get these loaded up. I can't just install these new brackets on fresh paint with yellowed, f***ed up cups though, so I went ahead and purchased a new reservoir for each, via extreme PSI. I also went ahead and grabbed a kit for new engine connectors, since I'm completely redoing the wire harness. The GXL wiring that was recommended for this was available online, with fulfillment via Amazon. I choose those words carefully - the supplier just happened to already do business elsewhere but the use prime shipping made it pretty irresistible. I think I have everything I need now for a full, new, custom engine harness - except for the kit that sheridan has. ExtremePSI always gets my stuff here quick, so I'm not fretting about it. When it comes to wiring, its important to take your time, and just do it right.

I also managed to get my replacement IO board for my DSMPi project. It was a quick install, as its designed to be, and my setup script had ECMLink looking for ttyUSB98 in under 10 minutes - a record in my case. I spent a bit of time last week looking for config files where ECMLink may store things such as what device to look for. I found them, as XML files in the user directory, but hidden. I'm now including them as part of my standard deployment script. With that included, and a new udev rule that finds the serial number of the ECMLink cable and always assigns it to ttyUSB98, setup and predictability is pretty solid. Now I can move on working more on the development of other features.

I've also been thinking about this blitz bodykit that I've been holding onto for some time now. I was pretty sure that I had preferred how it looked on these cars, but I think I'm starting to feel better about stock. There is something about the lines in the front bumper cover that make me lose sleep ... and the rear bumper is going to take quiet a bit of work to just look decent. The sides aren't much to talk about either way, but the front and back aren't giving me the warm and fuzzies. Not to mention that I'm not sure how ground clearance will be once coil overs are installed. So, I may just sell the kit now. I'm undecided, and need more time to think about it.
 

Attachments

  • photo_2019-11-04_08-58-04.jpg
    photo_2019-11-04_08-58-04.jpg
    104 KB · Views: 105
  • photo_2019-11-04_08-58-01.jpg
    photo_2019-11-04_08-58-01.jpg
    128.2 KB · Views: 125
  • photo_2019-11-04_08-57-58.jpg
    photo_2019-11-04_08-57-58.jpg
    152.4 KB · Views: 135
Dear diary.

Another slow week. With the abrupt drop in temps, painting has been ... difficult. With laundry being done in the garage, and the servers running as loaded as possible, I'm able to get the garage temp to about 70 when it still being in the 30's and 40's. How ever, that is hard to pull off for an extended amount of time. I finally have the rust removed from the driver corner of the fire wall, the whole area where the giant booger weld is. I'm giving it extra time to dry/cure, due to how cold it is.

If things pan out this week, I hope to shoot some color at it. It is difficult to make promises on that, since there are still a few things outside of my control. Once we have the color done in the bay, i expect things will really start moving along.

Since I'm not keeping the blitz kit that I have, I pulled out my OE bumper to assess what damage it had. A small rip in the very front, a tear in the corner where the hood latches and meets the headlight - but otherwise, just looks 'used'. I bought a $20 plastic welder from harbor freight to see if I can repair these things. I'll very likely have video of that one.
 

Attachments

  • photo_2019-11-12_12-53-16.jpg
    photo_2019-11-12_12-53-16.jpg
    122.6 KB · Views: 115
Captains log, 11182019.

Another week has passed, filled with extreme ups and downs - very few of anything between. This morning, I get to make this update with a (mostly) clear respiratory tract since I'm on the mend from cold #2. I questioned the value of even posting today, as it doesn't seem like I managed to get much done, but we do this every day at work for the team, and I do it ever week with my peer engineers - there is some kind of 'value' to these, because 'it helps you hold yourself accountable'. What ever.

Over the weekend, I managed to push through my laziness and finally spray a first coat of paint on/in the engine bay. I'm using a single stage urethane paint, on an epoxy primer. The primer says if it dries naturally, there is no sanding. We'll have to see how that really turns out, though the areas I had to wire brush some times ago..... we rather resilient. It was below optimal temperatures outside when I sprayed, but the garage was a nice 70 degrees due to all of the stuff I have going on in there - mostly the servers. I did a quick smoke test with a credit card bill that should have been sent electronically to ensure that my vapors weren't going to move to a place with flames. It was both liberating and reassuring. So the first coat is done, since the temp changes a bit, I'm giving it a few days before I sand and re-coat.

Also this weekend, I attempted to fix my stock bumper with a $20 harbor freight plastic welder. The results were mixed, the rip in the front from impact damage .... seems to be fine. The rip in the mounting/headlight corner.... was a complete failure. Looks like my only option now will to see if I can get a body shop to JUST fix that one spot for a small fee or .... replace the whole damn thing. Disappointing. I have, how ever, spent more money on worse decisions. Bottom line, for our application: Would not recommend. There is some video, but I've not yet done anything with it because I wanted it to be a start to finish video of the work ... and its not finished.

On a extreme positive note, I was tagged on FB by Adriana, as she used some of my photos from the shootout for some of her promotional work. I was so surprised, I almost fell over. I expect stuff like that from professional photographers, like Marybeth, since that is how they pay their bills, feed their kids, etc. Since I just do what I want ... and don't charge, I've never considered my work to be on that level. It is flattering and overwhelming. I will continue to shoot, when ever the opportunity permits.

Speaking of media, I've seen a lot of guys doing 'slide based' short videos of their cars. Nice slides out and around. Some look really good, some look really bad - a whole lot of in between. I tried my hand at some of these Saturday night, though it was really more of a video of parts and ... neglect since that is all I have to feature at the moment. I thought, maybe if I do one of these per season, it'll help tell the story of my build. I broke out the gopro hero 5 black, and did some slides, with just my hands. Its not as stable as I want, its visible. Also, I used 120FPS but it still feels choppy. Perhaps I did something in Premiere poorly. I definitely adjusted my colors/blacks/whites/contrast/shadows/highlights incorrectly. They looked fine in preview, but after encoding there was a lot that was blown out. Hopefully, we'll see that evolve over time with the build as well.

That is all I have for this week. I'm going to close this with a few links of the material mentioned above and only one image - of the engine bay. Until next time......

Shootout 2019 Photos:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/125745541@N07/albums/72157710428316382

Video Link:
 

Attachments

  • photo_2019-11-18_10-30-03.jpg
    photo_2019-11-18_10-30-03.jpg
    123.2 KB · Views: 69
Captains log, 11252019.

The week felt short, the weekend felt long. With the warmer temps out, I was able to do some more painting though most was rattle can. I got the master clutch and brake cylinders, the brake booster and the diverter cleaned up and painted. I also got 50 ft of new steel line and 14 new fittings, complete with a flare kit. I've never flared brake lines before so I'm a little intimidated by it ... but I'm sure it will be fine. Its easy to spot problems before things go awry on that system.

While working on all of these things, I noticed there were a few dull spots in the bay paint from where I didn't completely coat. Not a huge issue - I'll be attempting to knock that out today. Very, very excited to get these things back on the firewall and all shiny. Though a short update, I feel like I've made more progress since my last entry than any of the others. Hope every one enjoys.
 

Attachments

  • photo_2019-11-25_10-29-37.jpg
    photo_2019-11-25_10-29-37.jpg
    121.9 KB · Views: 108
  • photo_2019-11-25_10-29-31.jpg
    photo_2019-11-25_10-29-31.jpg
    103.6 KB · Views: 107
  • photo_2019-11-25_10-29-45.jpg
    photo_2019-11-25_10-29-45.jpg
    76.2 KB · Views: 93
  • photo_2019-11-25_10-29-42.jpg
    photo_2019-11-25_10-29-42.jpg
    91 KB · Views: 115
  • photo_2019-11-25_10-29-28.jpg
    photo_2019-11-25_10-29-28.jpg
    70.8 KB · Views: 102
  • photo_2019-11-25_10-29-23.jpg
    photo_2019-11-25_10-29-23.jpg
    151.4 KB · Views: 113
Captains log, 12112019.

Not much meat to this post, it almost feels obligatory. Thanksgiving week was packed full of last minute project meetings, customer requests, and other crap. No free time. The week after was a bit askew as well as I played catch up with work and also took my daughter from appointment to appointment. I managed to stage a few more parts for install, also got a dual gauge from a fellow DSM'er - from the classifieds section. Fantastic transaction. How ever, while that was en route - my pump for the air compressor completely failed. It wasn't a surprise since I was like the 4th owner and its as old as I am. How ever, the wife says that I cannot replace it before xmas. The last thing I need at this point is relationship trouble - so she wins this one. Hope her tire doesnt need air :-S Also, my dremel tool died a fiery death. Thank god for gloves, because it literally caught fire while I was trying to clean something. So... no air tools ... no air to paint with. No dremel. I'm stuck. I may try to work on some interior stuff (if its accessible) or perhaps some new wire harness stuff - though I really wanted to wait until I could place the motor in the bay as it would help reduce wasting wire and loom.

Sigh. This is truly discouraging. Hopefully, next update will be full of awesome but .... we'll have to see if I get a surprise.
 
Captains log, 12162019.

I've been pretty discouraged since my last post, knowing that it would be a few weeks before I could resume the work needed to get this thing started up. On Saturday, I met up with Ricky from RIX Racing to grab some parts while he was out on a multistate trip. He happened to have a great deal on an oil pick up tube, oil pan, gauge cluster pod, and a CF airbag delete thing for the passenger side. The air bags have thrown an error ever since I replaced the heater core in 2015, so .... not a huge loss. He mentioned that there was still more car to work on than just the engine bay, and he was right. So right.

The interior section of the car had become some what of a storage area for things that needed a temporary home .... and just never returned for what ever reason. Various spiders had taken up home in some of the areas where the garage lights would help their prey come out for dinner. The dust and pollen from multiple springs and summers collected over any other surface that was exposed. Needless to say, this was a great time to try to bring some of that back to a normal state. And so, I did, starting with the removal of the passenger seat and console. Once they were out, I started gathering all the nuts, bolts, tools, parts, and finding new homes for them. I managed to wipe away the dash and door cards free of their residents and gave them a nice scrub and shine. I also removed a rats nest of wiring that I had installed back in 2015. While the wiring was solid, it was a poor implementation and design. What I have going for me, is that the wire was mostly correctly sized and everything was fused and relayed. I have some new gear to re-do all of that - its super exciting. Once that was all out, I vacuumed and shampooed the passenger carpet and seat. Driver side is harder, because of the electric seat.

photo_2019-12-16_11-14-07.jpg
photo_2019-12-16_11-14-06.jpg
photo_2019-12-16_11-14-05.jpg
photo_2019-12-16_11-14-04.jpg

New oil pan on the left, old on the right.
photo_2019-12-16_11-14-03.jpg
You can see how badly the rust beat up the old pan. It has gone through 2 spun bearings and welded once.
photo_2019-12-16_11-14-01.jpg

Old pick up on the left, new on the right.
photo_2019-12-16_11-14-00.jpg
photo_2019-12-16_11-13-56.jpg
 
Can I just say that I like your pictures? LOL well I guess I am biased now that I noticed some that I hadn't seen before!:hellyeah:
 
Wow, that wiring is a major project. Soldering all the cut wires, right? With shrink tubing?

We need to edit your previous posts and set all your attachments to Full Size. I can do it for you if you need. ;)
Please do, I didnt realize how that worked before and will keep doing what I did in my last post.
For the wiring, I'm a bit picky. I'm not sure that I agree with soldering automotive wiring, though its a much better solution than what is usually done. The main concern with this is that solder joints do not hold up well to vibration over long term, you send up breaking the strands before the joint. This is mitigated if the wire is secured to a fixed part, like the chassis, though. My preference is actually to just reconstruct the harness, or sections. I'm a huge believer in quick connect things, and that is what I'll be doing with the long block. I want to be able to swap my 6bolt top/bottom/20g/GM-SD with my 6bolt bottom/7bolt top/hy35/aem-SD setups with only unplugging the harness in one/two locations and adjust link to match. It makes it SUPER simple when moving setups between the 1g and 2g this way. I've already had to do that once and I know I'll be doing it at least one more time. Just makes things easy, clean, and serviceable for a longer time.

Can I just say I like your writing?
Thank you! :D

Can I just say that I like your pictures? LOL well I guess I am biased now that I noticed some that I hadn't seen before!:hellyeah:
Thanks, I'm never sure that I'm getting good angles and coverage, so I video when I'm working too. I've got days worth of video to match, but I havent done anything with them yet.
 
For the wiring, I'm a bit picky. I'm not sure that I agree with soldering automotive wiring, though its a much better solution than what is usually done. The main concern with this is that solder joints do not hold up well to vibration over long term, you send up breaking the strands before the joint. This is mitigated if the wire is secured to a fixed part, like the chassis, though. My preference is actually to just reconstruct the harness, or sections. I'm a huge believer in quick connect things, and that is what I'll be doing with the long block. I want to be able to swap my 6bolt top/bottom/20g/GM-SD with my 6bolt bottom/7bolt top/hy35/aem-SD setups with only unplugging the harness in one/two locations and adjust link to match. It makes it SUPER simple when moving setups between the 1g and 2g this way. I've already had to do that once and I know I'll be doing it at least one more time. Just makes things easy, clean, and serviceable for a longer time.
If you can replace full lengths of the wire and removing the spliced pieces altogether is the best option, but if you're addressing splices and don't need a connection, hooking and twisting the wires together and then soldering them is likely going to get you the best connection. At least that's what all of my electrical guru friends have always drilled into me over the years. I'll admit, wiring isn't my favorite of projects. But yes, if you need the ability to quickly disconnect, then quick connections are good too.
 
If you can replace full lengths of the wire and removing the spliced pieces altogether is the best option, but if you're addressing splices and don't need a connection, hooking and twisting the wires together and then soldering them is likely going to get you the best connection. At least that's what all of my electrical guru friends have always drilled into me over the years. I'll admit, wiring isn't my favorite of projects. But yes, if you need the ability to quickly disconnect, then quick connections are good too.

Soldering with the use of heat shrink will certainly provide the best connection for a splice, until it fails. For some situations, it might even be easy to redo the splice and it be worth it. I wonder how many times some one makes a splice and considers the gauge of the feed and how the draw of the new line effects that, in some cases, you may have too much amperage and put yourself at risk for a fire. I know lots of people hate wiring and I can certainly respect that - its something that once I get hyper-focused on, I find it very relaxing and satisfying.
 
Soldering with the use of heat shrink will certainly provide the best connection for a splice, until it fails.
I suppose everything can fail at some point, even if done right. Ideally, you'd replace the whole strand, but if that's not feasible... on a separate note, glad to see that old oil pick up being replaced. :)
 
Whats crazy is that my first Dsm was the exact 1g that you have, same year, same Talon, same 2.0 n/t, same color, same wheels, mine was an auto that I shifted with toggle switches before anyone even knew it was possible, I did it because my tcu went out and there wasn't any available anywhere.
 
Captain's Log, 02042020;

Its been almost two months since my last post. It seems like so long ago yet also ... not so distant. I finally got my air compressor fixed. There was a bit of shenanigan's over that because the first pump I walked out with was catastrophically damaged and had to be returned. Once replaced, I had to wait on pleasant weather to allow me to get everything remounted and setup. In addition to that, I also had to source a 3/4" check valve and a new pressure switch. How ever, now that we have the air sorted ..... it really appears that I'm at the peak of my setup for that and I'm happy.

Moving right along to DSM stuff, I've been busy. Really busy. I got some of the supporting parts of the suspension removed from the subframe and such. I dragged the subframe out of the garage and got it set up on the work table outside for cleaning, painting, etc. It had to get out of my way but it is a little heavy for me to move on my own. I got the engine bay painted, officially. Its done and over. I took a short video of that today while it was still wet but I'm calling it now - its done. The paint isn't even tacky any more yet still as glossy. There is a single run on the firewall, just behind where the intake manifold will be. I'll likely just send it, I doubt it'll ever be noticed back there. We're moving on.

The next major step here is to place the engine and possibly transmission back in the bay so that i can plan/route new fuel and oil lines. I want to make sure I clear everything before that subframe goes back in and will likely start on that process tomorrow.

Also, I spent some time yesterday with a spare ATX power supply from an old computer. I hot-wired it and pulled 12vdc to the car so that i could move the powered seat back enough to remove its bolts. With that seat out, I was able to remove the carpet so that I could clean it a bit better. I took the "Jafro" air siphon method and adapted it to some Simple Green diluted with water and soaked the whole unit outside. After I had suds everywhere, I proceed to hit with the water hose at the hardest stream I could get. The next 30 minutes were spent using the upholstery attachment of the shampooer to scrub and free any remaining debris and vacuum out the water. It got an over night air dry to compliment the process. It actually feels like it weights less, and the amount of shit-water that came out was horrific. After feeling satisfied with my work, a follower on my FB page suggested that we go back through it with a drill brush (nylon) and a steamer or hot water. I'll have to wait until Friday for that .... but it sounds tempting. The cut isn't perfect, and though its better, I would like to see if there is anything else that will come out other so that I don't have to worry about weird smells. I got that whole fiasco on video, too, but I'm sitting on that until the weekend comes and I decide on what I'm doing about the brush.

Like I said, very busy. I'm going to wrap this up and leave a link to the project update. Hope every one enjoys. As always, I enjoy constructive feedback and hope every one continues to look forward to my updates.

 
I thought you got the carpet cleaning on video! :)

Making progress, keep it going.
I did get it on video, about 90 minutes worth in total thus far. I'll probably add another 60 minutes to it this weekend, and then push it down to 10 minutes or so and post it up.
 
Support Vendors who Support the DSM Community
Boosted Fabrication ECM Tuning ExtremePSI Fuel Injector Clinic Innovation Products Jacks Transmissions JNZ Tuning Kiggly Racing Morrison Fabrications MyMitsubishiStore.com RixRacing RockAuto RTM Racing STM Tuned

Latest posts

Build Thread Updates

Vendor Updates

Latest Classifieds

Back
Top