1990 GSX Daily Driver Build and Restore to 400 WHP

[familyMAN]

Looking really good. Mine's next

 

[ErikTande]

DECEMBER 14th 2013

Thanks everyone! I appreciate the comments!

After the paint was done, I installed my front mount intercooler while the front end was still apart. I had bought this 10 months ago but never got around to installing it. I got it for $225 off craigslist. It's a Godspeed that someone had ordered new off ebay but sold their car before they could install it.

First I got the pipes fitted and front mocked up where I wanted it.

I bought some aluminum and some nuts and bolts from Home Depot to secure it in place.

The factory fog lamps BARELY fit with this FMIC, I had to bend the brackets and ended up only using 2 bolts instead of 3.

The front bumper has to be cut up, here's the before weight of the bumper: 35.6 LBS

And here's the after weight: 26.2 LBS

I cut almost 10 pounds out of the bumper. Weight reduction!

All mounted back up.

Once that was done I did a boost leak test. I used hair spray on the couplers to help get them on the pipes, and it also creates a nice seal when it dries. After getting everything all snugged up I tested all the way to 20psi without any problems. I'm currently only running 12 to 13 psi until I get my new fuel pump and injectors in.

 

[ErikTande]

DECEMBER 15th, 2013

J Pipe nipple add! The j-pipe that came with my intercooler didn't have a nipple for my Manual Boost Controller, so I added one. The FMIC kit came with a crappy knock off BOV, so I robbed the nipple off of that, drilled a hole in my j-pipe, screwed it in, shaved it down and secured it in with a healthy dose of epoxy.

Eventually I will get someone to aluminum weld a real one on, but this will do for now.

 

[ErikTande]

DECEMBER 17th, 2013

Time to put it back together! Most of the 10mm bolts I removed from the bumpers, fenders, etc were rusted, stripped or worse. So I ordered up some new ones from here:

GM, Hex Head SEMS Body Bolts, Phosphate. M6-1.0 x 20mm, Washer Head Outer Diamet Auto Body Clips

I also ordered some of these but they were the wrong size (whoops)
GM, Hex Head SEMS Body Bolts, Phosphate. M6-1.0 x 25mm, Washer Outer Diameter 24 Auto Body Clips

Here's all my new bolts. They made putting stuff back together WAY easier.

Fenders first!

I had to cut up the bumper quite a bit to get it to fit over the FMIC. I ended up removing the 2 vertical support thingies completely.

Bumper on!

One of my corner lights was damaged with the dented fenders, so I ordered a set of new clear corners from eBay.

Next up I used a razor blade to clean off all the old gunk and tape from the moldings (probably should have done that BEFORE painting. whoops). Once they were clean, I applied new 3M body tape. That roll of tape was expensive ($80).

I used almost all of it though, and I did the side skirts at the same time.

Moldings put on:

Side skirts put on. It's starting to look like a car again!!!! This is when those you get really excited, it's nice to see your hard work coming together after a few months of late nights and long weekends.

 

[ErikTande]

DECEMBER 18th, 2013

I just have a few items left to paint! The rear tail lights and the mirrors. I was just going to repaint the mirrors black, but then I saw some pictures of cars with painted mirrors, and I think it looks WAY better, so I decided to go the same color as the car. I'm glad I did.

The monster can is getting painted too. It's going to be my new coolant overflow.

First thing I did was clean and scuff the parts to get them ready for paint. I filled in a deep gouge on one of the mirrors with some body filler. I didn't bother making it perfect, the car is a daily driver and these mirrors will see a lot more abuse in the future.

Getting stuff taped off:

I started with the same way I start everything I paint - Self etching primer.

Then regular primer:

I'll be painting the coolant overflow can with some leftover wheel paint. The rest of the parts (mirrors, tail lights) are getting the same blue as the car.

First coat of blue!

 

[ErikTande]

Because I had decided to paint the mirrors blue instead of black, I had totally spaced out the other piece I wanted to re-paint black, the cowl! I quickly took it off the car and scuffed it up and sanded off the rusty bits.

As always, I spray acid etch / self etch primer first:

I was going to go flat black, but then I though, meh, let's make it shiny, captain.

 

[ErikTande]

Back to the mirrors, taillights and coolant overflow monster can! All finished up!

Then I brought the parts inside to help them cure faster.

 

[ErikTande]

DECEMBER 23rd, 2013

Next I installed a new rear wiper motor, the old one that was in there couldn't decide if it was alive or dead. It rarely worked. This one is working great though. I ordered on the pep boys website and picked it up at my local store.

Next up, window trim. All the trim on the car was in horrible shape, cracking and weathered really bad.

I did manage to find the Driver Side Window Door trim new, so I ordered it. I wasn't looking forward to trying to strip and re-coat the old ones.

Comparison pics:

OK, so I have one new one. Now I just have to strip and re-coat the other 4 pieces. It actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I tried a little paint stripper on a small section, but it didn't do anything. So I grabbed a utility knife and started hacking away, just like whittling. On the door pieces, you can carefully go along the upper edge to keep the part that touches the window so you don't lose it.

Cleaned off.

And then sprayed with a few coats of plast-dip. I'm quite pleased with how they turned out.

 

[ErikTande]

While the trim was drying, I got everything else back together on the car. I was so excited to drive it I drove to the store (2 blocks away) to grab some Red Bull and Bing to keep working. It was covered in dust, missing window trim, missing interior door panels and didn't even have the coolant overflow bottle in it yet, but I didn't care. It had been almost 3 months since I had driven it and I was aching to cruise around.

1:00 AM store run for energy drinks so I can keep working on it.

The next morning I had all the interior door panels in and was still just waiting for the rest of the trim to dry. I snapped a couple pics because I was so excited. Or maybe it was just the lack of sleep.

Still a lot of work left though!

 

[ErikTande]

DECEMBER 27th, 2014

Next thing I need to do is get the coolant overflow working. Big thanks to Jafro for this idea!

http://youtu.be/hVTs-CUZbfc

I used some aluminum to fabricate up a bracket.

 

[KGB Pilot125]

Great couple of days to work on cars here in colorado!

 

[ErikTande]

Great couple of days to work on cars here in colorado!

Yeah, it's been really nice. These last updates were the first week in January though. I'm just getting caught up on my journal now. Working on the car took priority over posting about the car

I'll go back and add dates to the posts later today.

 

[ErikTande]

JANUARY 8th, 2014

Next up, performance mods! Finally! First up, 2G MAF install and 2G intake install. or so I thought.


Anyway, first step was to splice in my 2G connector. A-one and a-two and a-BRIS! (/obscure South Park reference)

All connected and heat-shrinked.

Add some new loom and you're done!

I bought a 2G intake pipe and tried to make it work....

But it was WAY too long. I only had a couple inches left to fit a filter in, there was just no way it was going to work.

So I grabbed the ol' heat gun and started heating up my 1g intake snorkel. It took some stretching and prying, but I got it over the 2g MAF. You can see in this picture the 1G Snorkel with the 2GMAF is barely taller than just the 2g hard intake pipe alone.

This fit MUCH better inside my 1GA engine bay.

 

[ErikTande]

JANUARY 11th, 2014

Finally! The car is all back together and running! Last thing to do to the exterior for a while is the Eclpise GSX Badge on the back. I ordered it from JNZ Tuning.

It was a little difficult to separate the films from the decals, I ended up tearing the letters in a couple places, but it was so tiny that you can't even see it. So I can't complain about that too much. They're very sticky, they seem very durable and they appear to be made out of high quality vinyl. The colors seem great.

HOWEVER, after I got the sticker on, I noticed the "GSX" is the wrong size. It should be as tall as both lines to the left of it, but it's only as tall as the "Eclipse" lettering. I don't think many people will notice, but it bugs me that it's wrong.

The quality of these JNZ replicas are great, but if I ordered again I would look elsewhere for stickers with proper proportions.

Anyway, they still look good, here's the final result, and the exhaust video I made with the car being daily driven again.

[ame=http://youtu.be/DzEzevgIKA0]DSM Exhaust -Full 3 Inch, Magnaflow Muffler and tips, Megan Downpipe, Hanksville Hot Rods - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Ghost_92TSi]

Damn that thing is pretty clean, good job!!

 

[cait sith]

Looks great! Your painting pictures are inspiring me to give painting my front end/side skirts/door a shot!

 

[ErikTande]

JANUARY 25th, 2014

It was a nice weekend, so I decided to paint the valve cover I picked up at Jack's Transmissions garage sale. First up, wash and scuff.

Next: PAINT STRIPPER. Both sides. This stuff is NASTY.

I had to do it twice to get all the paint and crud off. But the results are amazing. Naked valve cover:

And here's a coat of high temp primer and silver flake base coat.

Then a couple coats of anodized blue.

Wait an hour, then slice off the uncured paint with a razor blade.

Oh, and I also painted my spare fuel rail at the same time.

Then I ordered this off ebay:
OBX Mitsubishi Eclipse 89 95 Spark Plug Wire Cover | eBay

And here's the final result. Someday I will put this on my car! Probably when I install new cams or lifters. Until then, it's going to sit on my desk and look pretty.

 

[ErikTande]

About 6 months ago I found some PTE 1000cc injectors listed in the classifieds, I got them for $185. The seller said they were fine, but I sent them to Precision Turbo for cleaning and flow testing anyway. Turns out they were perfectly fine, just like the seller said. PTE was awesome, they cleaned them and sent them back super fast, and they included new o-rings and seals as well. It cost $75 for the cleaning and flow testing, totally worth the peace of mind.

 

[lasershark]

I love that color of blue great work on the valve cover, and of course on the rest of the car

 

[ErikTande]

I love that color of blue great work on the valve cover, and of course on the rest of the car

Thanks! I'm impressed with the depth and color of the Duplicolor paint. I used these:

Amazon.com: Dupli-Color MC100 Ground Coat Metal Cast Anodized Color - 11 oz.: Automotive - MC100 - Ground Coat
http://amzn.to/1mDhjVq - MC201 - Blue Anodized


Next purchase: I found a used Mishimoto Dual Core for $70 from a local partout.

This will probably be my next install, I want to see if it will drop my temps down 5 or 10 degrees.

 

[Piranhaman33]

Great work!!! The paint job is simply amazing. Subscribed!

 

[ErikTande]

I've been enjoying driving the car the past month, but my boost gauge/wideband setup needed some attending to. I installed it in a hurry without any real though of the cleanest way to wire everything up. The PLX modules were sitting under the hood and the guage itself was haphazardly places above the stereo.

BEFORE

BEFORE

I had a free night last night (a rarity) so I deceided to tackle this mess and clean it up. I saw this thread and made the decision to go that route, putting my gauge in the far right "fresh air / recirculated air" spot.

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/app...48-boost-gauge-heater-temp-knob-location.html


AFTER pics and video coming soon!

 

[ErikTande]

Here's a quick video of the new PLX gauge location, full video coming later.

 

[PRT0208]

Nice job! inspire me to keep working on my car. Look great and by the way I love the color.

 

[ErikTande]

Thanks! Good to see people checking out the thread!

I've been having some temp issues (nothing serious, but hotter than I'd like (210-215 even in cool weather). A few weeks ago I did a full coolant flush and put about a 50/50 mix of coolant and distilled water back in. I also replaced the thermostat.

My temps didn't change, so I picked up a used Mishimoto dual core (also seen in previous post).

I had a free night again last night so I put in my new (used) Mishimoto Dual Core radiator. I pulled the car in out of the snow and got to work. This was a super easy job.

OLD RADIATOR

OLD RADIATOR OUT OF THE CAR

NEW SLIM FAN FOR DRIVERS SIDE - The OEM fan wouldn't fit with the FMIC piping, so I ordered this one off of Amazon:
PROCOMP 12" INCH ELECTRIC COOLING AUTOMOTIVE RADIATOR FAN CURVED 12 VOLT : Amazon.com : Automotive

Fans installed and ready to put back in the car:

All installed! I'll post some updates on temperatures in about a week or so.