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Sooooooo quick is just 1st and second gear it turns out took it to the track tonight and best 1/4 I could manage was 15.9 - I refuse to run it to redline and probably a lot of my runs could have shaved some time if I held gears a little longer but when I hit 6500 rpm it really doesn't sit well with me, maybe I just cant drive the car hard enough because its my car and I have a mental block that tells me something will probably break. I dont think I have ever hit rev limiter come to think of it and some other guys at the drags tonight were telling me that they forget to shift sometimes and bounce off the rev limiter.. one of those guys was running much better times idk.

It seems like 1st and 2nd gear I see 15lbs of boost but once im into 3rd it didnt put out more than 12lbs of boost.. 3rd fell on its face maybe its because I didnt hold 2nd long enough, but I dont want to be too hard on the engine.
 
I found lots of issues over the last couple months.. The shop I had it in didnt tighten the intake manifold properly nor did they torque the exhaust manifold bolts properly one backed off enough I could tell it wasnt tight and prompted me to throw a wrench on and check them all, low and behold found lots of loose bolts SMDH. Im not super happy with the work I got from hollands. I could make a rather detailed rant of how the bolts werent tightened, one was only holding by 1 thread which it promptly ripped out upon tightening - someone placed a bolt that was the right thread but way way too short on the far right of the intake so I had to go buy a random bolt from napa.

Lets start from the beginning...

Took car in had head gasket replaced I was quoted 1200$ and a cometic HG would be used, new water pump and new timing belt.. ok sweet.
Price then goes unexpectedly to 1800 im like uhh not what we agreed on man, he tells me he will consider taking 1600, fine I just want my car back.

Upon getting my car back, was notified a felpro HG was used because block surface was feared out of perfectness.. fine..
Drive around the block and notice that my speedometer is not working, pop hood locate plug to transmission but not sure where it plugs into the sensor (because im not the one that unplugged it) drive back to shop let them know and they plug the sensor in, cool now my speedo is working.

When they had my car I asked one of the mechanics to make sure the oil got changed before they start it, I get some flack for wanting my oil changed and told thats extra.. man thats a basic part of doing a head job because water can and will get into the oil....... WTF why do I know that (oh maybe because I have personally changed a few heads myself..)

Next issue my throttle cable sticks open and idle wont drop over the next day, great look at the cable and its not routed at an angle its happy with (too sharp on curves) so I unhook it and pour gun oil in the cable and move it around so it operates a little nicer, it still sticks once on me so I go to napa and buy springs / connect them to the TB and it now pulls its self closed easier.

Then I took it to the track where I cant beat a 15.9 and know something is wrong..

While at the track my temps are a little high and I notice an exhaust bolt is loose.. so I go home and tighten all the exhaust bolts and find they turn easily all but two .. now im a little upset.

I get the car home and park it for a week, I finally go out and inspect the pulleys to find the alternator belt is too loose and the power steering belt is too tight.. I adjust the PS belt (I was told by aaron never to tighten this belt too much because its too hard on the water pump bearings) :/ I then also notice my tensioner pulley for the AC belt is loose and bouncing on the side of the block and the tightening hardware is completely missing off of it.. jesus. When I dropped the car off the AC was working and now its not.. they put it back together with the wrong belt a NON AC belt and jacked my ac belt.. thanks guys. Then didnt tighten that hardware or maybe didnt put it back at all IDK.

- Side note, the giant bouncing tension-er pulley / chunk of iron its on bouncing against my engine block while at the track im sure was really nice to my knock sensors..

It was at this point I ran into the stripped (because the bolt was too short) intake bolt.. get replacement bolt from napa not the right head on it but right length and threads.

Side note, when I dropped my car off I had previously broke the driver door handle, but you could grab the unbroken side and still open the door, when I got my car back it had broke all the way- not a big deal as I already ordered a new handle, but just add it to the list.

Now I have replaced the door handle and fixed the electronic lock by this point. Now im just worried about the head bolts and torque specs.. the valve cover is leaking on one of the bolts thats new, add it to the list.
 
Just going over stuff I have worked on recently..

Master and slave clutch cylinders replaced, Window regulator, door handle, lock actuator, have all been replaced. New battery.
Re-routed throttle cable, Re-routed vacuum lines and added plugs, torqued all intake and exhaust bolts, Modified primary fan (drivers side) to operate with the ignition.
No clutch to start is done. Tightened alternator belt, loosened power steering belt.

Start car, fan on. I may add a toggle switch to allow shut down of the fan, but I would rather error on the side of letting it cool too much than risk an overheat.

To Do List:

Fuel pump re-wire, capacitor?
Replace passenger mirror
Add remote wire
All aluminum radiator
fog lights?
stitch bumper
fix shifter boot
battery cap add
install fluidamper pulley
powder coat wiper arms
 
I just looked through your pictures, what's up with the pictures of the headlight/blinker switch?
The turn signal wouldn't return, so it would constantly stay on left turn and wouldn't shut off.. It was broken so I opened it up and found the peg that broke and replaced it with a nail. I did this because the quality of the factory one is really decent minus that peg obviously.. So that and a good greasing and it works flawlessly now and retains the old sturdy part.
 
http://www.dsmtuners.com/threads/fluidamper-pulley-install.510463/
About my Fluidamper pulley install

Is this thing for real? I mean was the one on my car messed up or is this one just this much better idk.
No more lugging my engine all the time.

I would recommend if you do balance shaft delete get one of these. I would recommend if you drive your DSM often you get one of these. They wont separate, they will smooth your engine out.
 
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Been having some issues with temps still..
-Figured out I was running a 1g temp sensor, that was causing high idle and unreliable ECU temp issues.
-Figured out my thermostat was not opening also, and my fans weren't auto turning on, which they magically started turning on once I removed the thermostat (opened it to the fail safe locks and its open permanently)

Ordered an EVO9 thermostat from extreme PSI. Should open at 176*f and full open at 199*f

Read more about it here:
http://www.dsmtuners.com/threads/psa-do-not-use-a-non-oem-or-racing-application-thermostat-in-a-4g63.510763/

and here

http://www.dsmtuners.com/threads/resolved-2g-coolant-temp-sensor-question.328009/
 
So the EVO9 thermostat does not fit factory the same / same diameter without modification. It would work if you held it in the right place and the oversized o ring would seal but outside of the factory grooves it is supposed to drop down into. I can optionally cut to size for the application which is what I would like to do.

The inner flow function (when the thermostat opens) is much larger than the one designed for the DSM 2g engine. Giving more flow, I can't argue with and would much prefer it.

Update:
I cut about 2 mm off of the thermostat in circumference and made it the right size to be used and drop in properly.

Hear me out on this one.. I forced open my run of the mill autozone thermostat to the fail safe locks. See where the temps climb to driving for a while/ do some highway driving.. Mine would run so cold highway driving without a thermostat it showed me that obviously that was the bottle neck.

What I did was bought an Evo9 thermostat and cut off 2mm around the outside and run that now.. the inner diameter of actual flow area is much better than the anemic normal dsm one.

Mitsubishi Part No. MD363571
80c For Lancer EVO

20170414_213745_halfsize-jpg.338346.jpg


Why the EVO9 and not the much more affordable evo 8? Well.. you see that rubber/silicone covered mid section.. you see how that would help it not only seal when closed but also prevent the thing from seizing under extreme temp changes? and is larger inner flow diameter than the standard DSM one.. I didn't find this on a how to from someone else. I ordered the thermostat because it was the temp range I wanted and looked to have a larger opening mid section. My thoughts were correct on those two matters. I looked and found some places that said the thermostat used the same rubber gasket as the DSM part number to only be disappointed when it arrived. Not wanting to give up because of the obvious advantages of this thermostat I still set out to use it.

Advantages they are indeed. My temps are perfect now warms up quick, cools quick when it needs to. I trust that this thermostat will function better than the non OEM stuff and will flow better than the standard OEM DSM one.
 
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DSM Related sites list:

https://www.tmzperformance.com/
South bend clutch setups with different pressure plates

https://www.maperformance.com/

http://www.streettunedmotorsports.com/dsm.htm

http://www.dsmparts.com/customer/home.php

https://www.extremepsi.com

https://www.rtmracing.com/xcart/home.php?cat=428

https://kigglyracing.com/
KLA pressure regulator

http://millerimportparts.com/

http://www.bptstore.com/
Quality turbos

https://www.rallysportdirect.com

https://www.forcedperformance.net/
Best aftermarket exhaust header for reliability
Some people like their turbos others hate them

http://farnorthracing.com/index.html
Racing team autocross - lots of good info for suspension setup and autocross setups

http://www.traxxion.com/Shock-Spring-Torrington-Bearing-Kit-by-Traxxion-Dynamics-0/
Torrington bearing for use in your shock absorber easy adjustments for spring height and reduces friction loads from spring compressing - NOT SURE IF CORRECT SIZE

http://www.jayracing.com/
Lots of parts search DSM.

http://www.ssstuds.com/
Stainless steel exhaust and intake studs

Shut down sites:
http://www.thedsmgraveyard.com/

Other non DSM related:

http://www.boostedshades.com/boosted-carbon-full-matte-black-polarized-black/
Carbon fiber driving sun glasses

Kek, spreading the good word of kek has been shut down on this site.
 
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So I recently purchased Koni shocks, eibach pro kit 1.5" drop springs, lower control arms and outer tie rod ends.
I spent most of the day cleaning up the wheel well with a wire brush and looking for rust in between banging on the tie rod end with a hammer / using wd40 and a blowtorch to loosen it. The drivers side outer tie rod end was badly shot. My friend came over and suggested I try a pipe wrench to break the retainer nut.. that would have saved me time earlier in the day, it worked well. The outer tie rod end was allowing about an inch of play for that wheel. The lower control arms I would like to report are in fairly decent shape and likely wont need replaced. However for the bad news the inner tie rod end on the drivers side had about 1mm of play. I may put it back together with just the new outer tie rod end until I can find the inner later. I still need to pull the front suspension and then begin cleaning up the top hats / painting them and transferring them over to the koni shocks. The other thing I noticed is the front spring isolators (black rubber the spring sits in on top) are in bad shape. I was able to reuse the rear and they were in great shape, but the fronts will need replaced. I don't think I will be able to find them locally but I will try tomorrow. This car has cost me some relationships.. I am actually still awake currently thinking about that. The car hasn't left me yet though.
 
Pulled both front shocks, replaced both L and R outer tie rod ends, replaced lower control arm on Right side, cleaned/ wire brushed most all rusted areas (still wip) and painted with VHT Epoxy paint. Cleaned all bolts nuts and washers with wire brush, painted them all. Painting pretty much everything I possibly can. Entire front wheel wells getting painted. All suspension parts and the axles cleaned and painted. Most every bolt was put back using anti seize.

Oct 1
Koni shocks/struts installed with Eibach Pro kit 1.5" drop all four corners. I finished a while ago this is just an update. Painted entire front wheel wells and all suspension parts that seemed logical. Wire brushed and dremel cleaned all bolts then painted them and used anti seize while putting them together. Used a wire brush on a drill to remove all dirt and surface rust where I found it. The epoxy based paint I used from what I read is fine to paint over light surface rusted areas it will slow down rust. Pulled all the rubber plugs and wire brushed and painted those openings too, also cleaned all dirt out of all the areas I could get to with a hose and then with an air nozzle.

Replaced both outer tie rod ends and the passenger side lower control arm. Then dropped car and tightened the control arm bolts on both sides while on the ground with an impact gun.

It handles great! front set to 2 and rear set on 0. The car is a little lower in the front than I would prefer (bumper to ground) but the frame is good on clearances. Later I will likely be going to ground control coil overs.
 
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All about that OIL:
VR1 20w50 and VR1 Synthetic 20w50


I suppose if you cant find the syn version locally the non syn version is probably fine too. Zinc is the key. I did way too much research on zinc after reading this PDF.

http://store.forcedperformance.net/merchant2/graphics/subaru_oil/Forced Performance Recommendations for Motor Oil.pdf

Buy Online:
https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/VAN679082

https://www.speedwaymotors.com/Valv...Jt-bywW-lHz_et8XmqX0hltzNTRJ2YxhoCmKAQAvD_BwE

found this posted elsewhere by Valvoline:
We are not able to join the forums, but we can give you the answer you need, or maybe would like to add to the forum. Our VR1 Racing Oil is NOT just an "ordinary new car street oil" as listed. Our Valvoline VR1 Racing Oils can be used in street applications, but still contains the high amount of ZDDP (Zinc and Phosphorus). This information can be found on our Valvoline.com website, under the section where it lists the Racing Oils. We have also added the product information sheet for both the VR1 and the "Not Street Legal" Racing oils. As you will see, Valvoline still contains 1200 ppm Zinc content in our regular conventional VR1. It does carry the API Service "SM" rating, but this oil was not made to change for emission standards due to it not being a "ordinary street car oil." This information clearly states the amount of both the Zinc and Phosphorus levels in the oils. The main difference between the the "Not Street Legal" racing oil, or commonly known as Conventional and Synthetic Racing oils, and the VR1 is the Calcium content. Calcium levels are higher in the NSL oils, compared to the VR1, and the NSL oil is only recommended for 500 mile oil changes, while the VR1 is a 3 month/3,000 mile oil.
Valvoline stands behind the flat-tappet and more aggressive type cam applications 100% with our Valvoline VR1 and NSL Racing oils. The proof is in our product information sheets, which are online for the viewing as well.
Thank you,
Valvoline



Info sheet on VR1 SYN - just looked that over higher zinc/phosphorus in the 20w50 VS 10w30 interesting!!! synthetic only stay away from the lower zinc 10w30 SYN oil.
https://sharena21.springcm.com/Publ...2d889bd3/8213a6c1-0cbd-e711-9c12-ac162d889bd1

Info sheet on VR1 NON SYN
https://sharena21.springcm.com/Publ...2d889bd3/a61538b4-0cbd-e711-9c12-ac162d889bd1

The viscosity goes really high at 40*c What am I looking at that cant be right can it?

The big deal with all the oils lowering zinc was to make the catalytic converter happy and not clog up, but the side effect was harming high performance engines and turbos.
 
Ported 2g Exhaust mani runners and outlet, (evo 3 style 7cm hot side ported wg), 16g billet wheel, braided ss feed line on the oil filter housing. Copper exhaust gasket, metal gasket 7cm turbo, metal gasket to j pipe.

AFR AEM gauge installed. With rewire and 450cc injectors 17lbs of boost is starting to lean from 10 afr to 10.5

Deleted bad vacuum line setup, removed T to eliminate possible failure points.

Walmart 50$ battery, I will never buy another optima battery. I cant express how much of a piece of shit optima battery's are.
 
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