11 Sec Street/Strip or bust 97 Eclipse GSX Auto

[Tsmith]

My first ever car journal. I have owned this car for about 1.5 years now but was deployed for almost 10 months during that time. This first part will be catching everyone up from purchase to today!!! Thanks for looking.

This is the car as it sat the day after I bought it. A little rough looking but it actually ran well (or so I thought).

So knowing that I was deploying soon I didn't really plan to do much to it before I left. I drove it around for a while and then parked it at my Fathers house while I was in Afghanistan.

After the deployment I had plenty of time to plan my build. I had $15,000 worth of ideas on about a $3,000 budget. So I started with some of the things that bugged me about the car when I first got it.

The headlights were very faded and yellowing and my Dad told me he had a fix for it. I think they turned out great.


Before

After

I couldn't believe how well the wet sanding kit made these look. Next on the list was the bumper.

Before

After

Unfortunately I hit a Lady that started to pull across an intersection and decided at the last minute she was going to wait for another car to pass. Since two vehicles cannot occupy the same space I needed a front bumper again.

Instead of making the bumper a priority I decided I didn't need to go Off Roading in my AWD Eclipse and wanted to lower it. I found a great deal on some Koni Yellows and some Tein springs on Craigslist. Sorry for the night pics but it was late when we finished it all.

Next on the list was the Bumper again but I decided that since I was missing a side skirt and wanted a full kit, I would buy the whole setup. Again Craigslist hooked me up.

At this point I wasn't able to get the front bumper on without cutting it for the Intercooler and I really wanted the VRSF kit. Since I was wanting the Intercooler kit I waited to put the front on until the new IC kit was installed.

 

[dsmgst1996]

looks like its coming along!

 

[Tsmith]

After I got my tax returns this year I bought some goodies for the car. DSMLink v3 Full, VRSF Short Route IC Kit, Speed Density setup with GM MAF Cable, and LC-1 Wideband O2.

I installed DSMLink and put off the Speed Density, LC-1, and Intercooler kit for a week or so. I was sure glad I did. The Friday after I installed link I ended up spinning a rod bearing.

Me and my Father tried to replace the bearing and that didn't even get me home from the shop. Having spent all of my spare money on upgrade parts I ended up having to sell stuff so I could buy a motor to get my Daily Driver running again. Ended up selling all my new parts except the Intercooler kit to make the cash I needed for a running motor I found near me. It was out of a 95 TSI. I had a couple issues with the swap which I will explain after a couple pics.

"New Motor"

Pulling the Old one out

I didn't really take photos of the install process because it took much longer than I expected to pull the motor and I was working on a time crunch for the bay I was "renting" for the weekend. Ran into issues with the Cam Sensor from the 95 being on the timing side of the motor and the wiring harness having the connector on the Transmission side.

After a lot of phone calls and texts to some people from DSMTuners and some deliberation between swapping the old head to the new block, finding a 1g cam sensor and installing it to the new Valve Cover, and just extending the existing harness over and swapping the plugs around, I decided to do the last one and extend the harness. It probably wasn't the right choice but it was what was gonna get me on the road that day. I am sooooo glad for that whole experience to be over, but looking back it wasn't too bad for my first ever project like this. I think if I did it today I would be much better knowing how everything works.

On to more stuff!!!!!!

After the motor install and working out some small bugs I decided to finally install the FMIC and Front Bumper from my kit!

I also decided that the paint was horrible and couldn't be any worse if it was spray painted on with a rattle can so I did that also. I also Plastidipped the rims with a little help from my Daughter (haha she did the hard part)

All in all I think it turned out great for a couple cans of spray paint!!

 

[Tsmith]

That is basically where my car sits today for the most part!!! I did tear off the lower part of the front bumper while doing a photoshoot. There was a tree trunk that I didnt remember about and it decided that it didn't like my bumper anyways.

So I have decided to hold off on replacing it again. I am planning on doing a full build this winter since I have a spare long block sitting my my Father In Laws garage right now. My car is about two months away from being a Garage Queen while I do a full build. I have gotten the wife to agree that it is no longer my daily driver and I need to buy something else so I can have months of downtime on this car while working toward its ultimate goal.

My plans from here are:
2.3 Stroker build
I haven't finalized the parts list for the build yet but it will be a cookie cutter 2.3 with:
272/272 cams
FP mani
FP Black/HTA 71/HX40 (one of these)
Full fuel system with 400lph pump, APFR, 1600 Injectors
DSMLink v3 full
Speed Density
LC-1 Wideband
Snow Meth Kit
Translab kit
High Stall Torque Converter


I am sure I am missing 90 other things that I have written down but its getting late so I will add more later. Thanks for looking and here are a few recent pics from some car meets.

Short Video of the Exhaust sound

 

[black97spyder]

Right on man, looks like your build is coming along real nice!!

 

[Albanator]

I remember that trunk... Looks like good so far though and a good plan as well. If you need anything I do have a 99 gst parts car in my gerage that knocked a rod. Have some goodies on it too that I am selling off of it for cheep. Or just come by and help me pull the motor on this thing !!

 

[Tsmith]

Well its a sad day today. Yesterday after trying to fix an exhaust leak I went for a drive. At about 30 MPH there was a loud knock and the rear tires locked up. After skidding to a stop I went through the things that could have went wrong and decided its the rear diff. I PCS to Fort Polk next week and don't have time or the energy right now to fix the car. After putting it on Craigslist and Tuners last night I had a guy from Leadville come buy the car and tow it away today.

I am sad to see this car go even with all the things I had to do to it. I will buy another DSM in Louisiana and hopefully have a build on that one started real soon.