1990 Eclipse GSX AWD Revival

[t0ny]

This is the Build Thread for 1990 Eclipse GSX AWD Revival. Reply below.

 

[t0ny]

A little history where all this starts... I had a 1991 Eagle Talon Tsi about 30 years ago, was my first "real" car I bought after college. I sold it to my brother and he drove it to the west coast. Not sure whatever happened to it but it lived out its life around Los Angeles.

In any case, I recently bought this as a project car with my son, price was right and had a good history. I found out the owner was my wife's cousin. Small world. In any case, he was the original owner and stopped driving it almost 15-20 years ago. So its been sitting as his "retirement" car but he decided to move on to other projects instead. There's ample rust so everything will need to be gone through prior to getting it road-worthy (that's our goal).

We had it towed home and started on some of the basics. PO had removed the cooling system (radiator was shot) and the intake and some of the intercooler. I have a replacement radiator (not yet installed) and some tune up parts. The fuel system is unknown, the brakes don't work and we haven't started it. We did verify the engine turns and added some fresh oil, plugs and wires.

Before we invest in many of the systems on this car (did I mention the rust?), we'd like to verify that the engine at least starts. The initial thought is to get the tuneup parts installed, hook up a new battery and crank it on starting fluid just to see what happens (fuel pump disabled). If that works, we'll drop the tank and check out the fuel system (lines are rusty, tank probably is as well), re-install the cooling system and intake hoses, all the fluids, brakes, etc. etc.

Any tips appreciated as we are really at square 1. I've been reviewing manuals (Haynes on order) and reading threads as we embark on new subsystems in the car.

Thanks for reading.
Tony

 

[Mech Addict]

I like where your heading on this. Fuel system repair is problematic because the hanger/level sender is NLA/ very hard to find even a junky used one. The pump itself is easy to replace. I had to do a lot of work to get mine in good order. I have also heard some say that starting fluid can degrade the mass-airflow sensor. Can't confirm. You should download the free factory manuals available in the Tech articles on this site. I think without this forums site I would have given up on my project by now. Great info and encouragement. A 90 AWD seems to have the most hard to find parts out of all the dsm's. There are a lot of aftermarket/ upgrade parts, which also means that plenty of folks have their original, still usable parts sitting in the attic somewhere. I honestly browse the classified ads on here every day, just in case. I've been the first to bite on plenty of hard-to-find items, and it helps a lot.
With that age and miles, you should plan on (if you get it to run) changing every fluid and the timing belt & tires. Rust can be a major game changer, too. 1G (90-94) usually don't suffer compared to the 2G (second generation) as badly. Hopefully you find it's all cosmetic in the critical areas.
Welcome and post often.

 

[t0ny]

Before getting started today...

 

[Mech Addict]

Well you got the heat shields off, at least. Those suckers can be rusted on even under optimal conditions. If you’ve never tried it, I highly recommend Evaporust brand rust remover. It’s relatively benign toward skin, no fumes. For parts too big to dip, you can soak paper towels or old t-shirt rags, drape them in the necessary places, and cover with Saran wrap fir a day or two, then rinse and scrub with stiff brush. Be ready to prime right away or coat with something like WD-40 to prevent more surface rust. I learned about this from others on the forum, and now I swear by it. It needs fair temperatures, much like painting.

 

[Extrabones]

Honestly it's not worth it no matter how you look at it. Your brother most definitely lost the car to California smog (or else it was never upgraded and not worth having). Illinois I think is doing smog test too. So, you're potentially putting in an easy $3k possibly to get a junky car to hopefully pass smog. It cannot be upgraded; I don;t see any visible mods, but if it even has the basic 255 walbro fuel pump no smog. On my 1st gen years ago I ran a modified 2nd gen MAF. Almost anything makes it fail smog now, which is why this is a poor choice for your son. I have a son too and I would love to gift him the same car I had back in the day 93 Eagle Talon Tsi. But smog changes everything. Also the elephant in the room is the radiator and spark plugs were most likely removed for a reason. Somebody before you gave up on it (although looking close to stock), and you would be picking up on their project. If it doesn't run, either the engine or transmission, or both most likely have a serious issue. Smog changes everything don't touch it. Even if you have the $ to pay double what you should your son this is probably not the car to loudly cruise around town in a lucky-to-pass-smog car with only 195 hp on a good day. And fuel is only 92 octane now and not the 93 they probably rated it on. That car definitely needs to be fixed, but Illinois and Cali and other smog states this is not the place for the car. Your son would rather a pu$$y civic if he could drive it legally around town.

 

[Tina94]

Fuel system repair is problematic because the hanger/level sender is NLA/ very hard to find even a junky used one.

Seriously! Impossible! Although I feel like I’ve seen some for the awd cars somewhere while looking for a fwd one.

The factory service manuals are a godsend. Another forum member was nice enough to find a set of them for my car and it’s taken so much of the stress away being able to see everything broken down to individual components. Sounds like a great father/son project. Good luck!

 

[pauleyman]

Honestly it's not worth it no matter how you look at it. Your brother most definitely lost the car to California smog (or else it was never upgraded and not worth having). Illinois I think is doing smog test too. So, you're potentially putting in an easy $3k possibly to get a junky car to hopefully pass smog. It cannot be upgraded; I don;t see any visible mods, but if it even has the basic 255 walbro fuel pump no smog. On my 1st gen years ago I ran a modified 2nd gen MAF. Almost anything makes it fail smog now, which is why this is a poor choice for your son. I have a son too and I would love to gift him the same car I had back in the day 93 Eagle Talon Tsi. But smog changes everything. Also the elephant in the room is the radiator and spark plugs were most likely removed for a reason. Somebody before you gave up on it (although looking close to stock), and you would be picking up on their project. If it doesn't run, either the engine or transmission, or both most likely have a serious issue. Smog changes everything don't touch it. Even if you have the $ to pay double what you should your son this is probably not the car to loudly cruise around town in a lucky-to-pass-smog car with only 195 hp on a good day. And fuel is only 92 octane now and not the 93 they probably rated it on. That car definitely needs to be fixed, but Illinois and Cali and other smog states this is not the place for the car. Your son would rather a pu$$y civic if he could drive it legally around town.

Unless you know this guy personally how could you know what he does or does not want? Nor do you know the members skill set or reason for building. We are a dsm site and he's building a dsm. That's why we are here.

 

[Mech Addict]

I get that this site started out with the emphasis on mods and tuning, but the existing fleet keeps shrinking and aging, and the ones that are left need maintenance and repair. Plenty of members now simply want to enjoy what it was that made these cars so popular in the first place. Still a winning recipe of style, comfort, and performance, with an honesty of operation that seems to no longer exist in new cars. For a young enthusiast to learn about how they work and enjoy their charms; nothing wrong with that.

 

[resilva]

Don't forget to check those ECU caps first as well. The worst is when the car won't start and you think "but I've changed everything" and its the ECU caps.

 

[97EagleAwd]

Loving all the revivals.

 

[t0ny]

A somewhat daunting amount of work but small gains... was able to bump the engine on the starter and everything turned with it, so that's a plus. We may try a bit of starter fluid tomorrow to see if it catches. If this goes well, we'll dig into the fuel system next. We have some angry, rusty fuel tank bolts to remove. Verified the timing belt looks decent enough to work with but will be replaced before it gets back down on 4 (newer) tires.

I appreciate the feedback and tips. No, its not the 'ideal' car to restore, needs a ton of work but its worth saving IMO. We really just want to see if we can get it on the road again. There may be an unforseen wall down the road, but we'll see when we get there. For now everything is kind of as expected.

FYI Bones, no emissions testing on pre-OBDII cars in Illinois.

 

[t0ny]

So, we noticed that the engine was really dragging (slow crank) when we tried to start it. We tried two different batteries (1 standalone, 1 jumpstart) and the results were the same. It was really dragging some amps. I checked connections best I could but we backed off for a while. We came back later and tried to remove the accessory belt (alternator, maybe something else). No go with the tension bolts so I just cut off the belt (it was all dry-rotted). Bingo... the alternator pulley was frozen and wouldn't budge.

We continued on with the original plan and doused the intake with a bit of starter fluid, kicked her over and she started! It ran for 2-3 seconds, enough to make a nice plume of smoke in my garage (exhaust is off at the manifold) and a good bunch of noise. That's a relief and proves there's some life in the old girl. So we'll need an alternator and belts added to the list but it was a pretty good bet we'd have to do all those anyways.

On to the fuel system. In prep for the fuel system (accessing the tank connections) we pulled up the rug and spare tire setup in the hatch. We found an old mouse nest and the mouse piss managed to rust part of the bracket. Bastards. Cleaned that up as best we could, boy did it stink.

 

[t0ny]

A quick start...

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

Soak those small nuts on the fuel sending unit with some WD-40 or lubricant and let it soak in before you try to remove them. I believe that they are 8mm, so they are small and I wouldn't want you to twist one of the studs off when you are servicing the fuel pump. While it is out, if you don't replace the pump, consider putting a new sock on it at least. The sender has a rubber gasket on it that goes around all of the studs and it may be "stuck" so you may have to LIGHTLY pry on the edges to get it to lift off of that gasket. If you need a new gasket, some of our supporting vendors carry them. I replaced mine last year when I was in and out of my fuel tank a half dozen times or so.
I am partial, since I own several 1990's. Nice to see a family project. My sons help me and I help them so keep doing what you are doing. Ask any questions you need and welcome to the site!
Marty

 

[t0ny]

Sadly, it felt like one of the studs was turning when trying to remove the fuel pump today so we stopped. We've soaked the bolts 3-4 times over the last few days in preparation but the rust is worse that it first appeared. I assume the studs are part of the tank? That should make things interesting. We soaked them again and will try tomorrow.

It looked like the best idea was to pull the pump and lines before trying to get the tank down, not sure if there's enough slack to drop the tank without doing so. I guess we continue as best we can...

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

Another tip. DO NOT TRY TO REMOVE THE FUEL LINE AT ITS CONNECTION AT THE TOP. Go under the car and break the line loose where the rubber line meets the hard line. It will probably require VICE GRIPS but once you get it loose and get the sender out, put the line connection in a vice and go about loosening it, then it will be serviceable in the future. You will kink that line if you attempt to remove it as is, and you don't need any more problems, since that sender is hard to find.

 

[Mech Addict]

One of the supporting vendors does offer a tank stud repair kit that replaces all of them. I think it’s RTM. I had one break on my tank and was able to replace it with a bolt, but it was trick. I’ll look for my photos of it.

 

[t0ny]

Good to know and thanks again for tips! We only managed to get one sender bolt removed, the rest of the studs either broke or stripped out. I did take the tip on removing the tank connections at the line instead of the sender. I had to cut the steel fuel lines. They were in pretty poor shape anyways. I'll have to replace at least the back half of the fuel lines. I'll inspect more once we get the tank down. Also thanks for the tip on the stud repair kit. RTM will be my friend. I see they also make some 1G AWD fuel senders (pricey but good to know).

We managed to get most of the tank disconnected but there's a few stubborn bolts we still have to remove. We only sheared off one tank stud (the only one we tried removing with a breaker bar) so that was good. We oiled the remaining bolts and we'll hopefully try again tonight.

 

[wparks]

Hey T0ny- Welcome to the forum. I love the 1G, and watching you resurrect one will be an enjoyable journey.

I strongly recommend picking up the actual Mitsubishi Factory Service Manual. Chilton, Haynes, etc are "cliff notes" versions but do not have the detailed assembly diagrams, procedures, or diagnostic information you will depend upon. If money is an issue, this is a great starter set:

OEM Factory 1990 Mitsubishi Eclipse Service Repair Shop Manual Set | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for OEM Factory 1990 Mitsubishi Eclipse Service Repair Shop Manual Set at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

Otherwise, there are much nicer sets for much more money. Volume 1 is Engine, Chassis, and Body, and Volume 2 is Electrical- be sure to snag both. Nothing beats paper- you can have it right on the engine with you.

 

[t0ny]

Hey T0ny- Welcome to the forum. I love the 1G, and watching you resurrect one will be an enjoyable journey.

I strongly recommend picking up the actual Mitsubishi Factory Service Manual. Chilton, Haynes, etc are "cliff notes" versions but do not have the detailed assembly diagrams, procedures, or diagnostic information you will depend upon. If money is an issue, this is a great starter set:

OEM Factory 1990 Mitsubishi Eclipse Service Repair Shop Manual Set | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for OEM Factory 1990 Mitsubishi Eclipse Service Repair Shop Manual Set at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

Otherwise, there are much nicer sets for much more money. Volume 1 is Engine, Chassis, and Body, and Volume 2 is Electrical- be sure to snag both. Nothing beats paper- you can have it right on the engine with you.

Thanks! And I do have the Haynes manual, which seems decent but planned on picking up the factory manuals soon! I've seen pdf copies floating around but haven't gotten around to having a computer in my garage

 

[wparks]

I have to admit I did wince a bit at the idea of starting the car even on starter fluid after it has sat for so long. The main timing belt, and the tiny little balance shaft belt behind it could have broken and bent all of your valves- or a timing belt idler could be seized as the alternator was. I'm glad no major catastrophe occurred.

There are a lot of things that really need to be verified before you start trying to run the engine on fuel. The timing belts would be the most essential- They WILL have to all be replaced, but first you need to make sure they are good enough for even a test run. Pull the accessory belts and pulleys and the timing covers and inspect for rust or major deterioration of the belts. If they look nasty I would not even crank the engine. If a timing belt idler seized there would be obvious rubber powder and debris from your test start, and you can further confirm they are all rolling correctly by rotating the crankshaft by the center bolt.

Next would be the valve cover- check for rust on the cam lobes and rocker rollers, or other damage and maybe squirt some oil on everything. If that all looks ok, and with the plugs out you can crank the engine safely and do a compression test with the throttle all the way open. Once on all four with the cylinders dry, then again with a few squirts of oil in each plug and let us know what you see there- that will let you know if the valves are sealing properly, and if the rings are shot.

Plan on disconnecting the fuel line from the fuel rail and put it in a bucket- there is a connector on the firewall that you can connect 12V to and run the fuel pump with the car off to clear the lines when you are done with the tank- once with the old filter to catch the rust and crud, then again with the new fuel filter in place. Plan to pull the fuel rail and injectors- the tiny input screens love to plug with varnish. I (we, this forum as well) can show you how to clean and test the injectors yourself.

Take the ECU advice to heart- Pull that now, pop the cover, and plan to have the electrolytic capacitors replaced before it is powered up much. They really should be if you want the computer to be reliable and avoid much headache in the future. Fortunately there is MUCH information on this forum for all of these topics.

 

[Mech Addict]

Second on the ECU repair. I did that right away with mine. ECM was great, and replaced the caps as precaution, though they said mine didn't appear to have leaked. I have seen photos posted of the "damage" that leaking capacitors exhibit, but not sure if I would have recognized it even if it had been there. You also could pull your injectors and have them professionally cleaned and tested. You could do both of these yourself, given the time and inclination, but it seems like you will still have plenty of things to do on your car. Making new fuel hardlines, by the sound of it. Fortunately they're mostly just straight, but they are long. There was a freelance vendor who was making replacement hard-line mounting clips, in case yours have disintegrating plastic inserts.

 

[t0ny]

I have to admit I did wince a bit at the idea of starting the car even on starter fluid after it has sat for so long. The main timing belt, and the tiny little balance shaft belt behind it could have broken and bent all of your valves- or a timing belt idler could be seized as the alternator was. I'm glad no major catastrophe occurred.

There are a lot of things that really need to be verified before you start trying to run the engine on fuel. The timing belts would be the most essential- They WILL have to all be replaced, but first you need to make sure they are good enough for even a test run. Pull the accessory belts and pulleys and the timing covers and inspect for rust or major deterioration of the belts. If they look nasty I would not even crank the engine. If a timing belt idler seized there would be obvious rubber powder and debris from your test start, and you can further confirm they are all rolling correctly by rotating the crankshaft by the center bolt.

Next would be the valve cover- check for rust on the cam lobes and rocker rollers, or other damage and maybe squirt some oil on everything. If that all looks ok, and with the plugs out you can crank the engine safely and do a compression test with the throttle all the way open. Once on all four with the cylinders dry, then again with a few squirts of oil in each plug and let us know what you see there- that will let you know if the valves are sealing properly, and if the rings are shot.

Plan on disconnecting the fuel line from the fuel rail and put it in a bucket- there is a connector on the firewall that you can connect 12V to and run the fuel pump with the car off to clear the lines when you are done with the tank- once with the old filter to catch the rust and crud, then again with the new fuel filter in place. Plan to pull the fuel rail and injectors- the tiny input screens love to plug with varnish. I (we, this forum as well) can show you how to clean and test the injectors yourself.

Take the ECU advice to heart- Pull that now, pop the cover, and plan to have the electrolytic capacitors replaced before it is powered up much. They really should be if you want the computer to be reliable and avoid much headache in the future. Fortunately there is MUCH information on this forum for all of these topics.

Oh I winced too and crossed my fingers. We had the timing belt cover off to take a look at the timing belt condition (it actually looks solid). In any case, I'll be replacing those as well. We did an inspection, changed oil/plugs/wires, fogged cylinders with oil and turned the engine manually several times to look at the timing belt and check overall rotation so we felt fairly confident (but still missed the frozen alternator). I still need to go back and do a compression test. I will have the ECU looked at as well. Great advice, keep it coming!

 

[shdwmsk]

FYI.
Download Links to all of the 1990 Service manuals are in the resources tab of this web sight

Good maintenance walk thru plus the links to the service manuals:

https://www.dsmtuners.com/threads/dsm-maintenance-guide.476550/