1993 Eclipse GSX

[silentsnow31802]

This is the Build Thread for 1993 Eclipse GSX. Reply below.

 

[silentsnow31802]

Build thread! Will post some pictures once it shows up. I pick this car up Monday and plan on updating this thread as I go.
Bought this from a family member. It reminds me of an old car I once had that I miss very much. However unlike my old car this one is naturally turbo and awd so its already better. Wish it had the pop up head lights though.

Even before getting it home I know it needs a lot of work.
One of the driver seat mounting studs is pulled out.
Driver seat belt (Near door) does not extend. It is locked.
Car has no headliner.
Car has no AC.
Front right wheel is very loose. Suspect wheel bearing but need to look into it.
I am told the car wiggles under boost. Suspect suspension bushings.
Battery is not mounted properly.
Told is has a boost leak.
Clutch is funky.
Starter sounds like death (but still works).
Needs a deep cleaning inside and out.
Needs a proper temp sensor setup for cooling fans.

 

[silentsnow31802]

Picked the car up today! Man this thing is dirty....

I removed the radiator fans so I can figure out how to rewire them to the stock harness. I found a temperature sensor at the bottom of the radiator but it is not plugged in and I have no idea where it should go. Need to research. I also dont know what plugs were for the stock cooling fans. I see a plug on each side of the radiator which I would assume are for the stock fans. Sadly the left side one looks like it was rubbing on the power steering pulley and has warn through quite a bit.

There are multiple plugs not plugged into anything. I need to figure out where these all go and determine if I need to do something about them.

The turbo inlet was in very bad shape. The filter was not sealing against the air flow meter. I would like to convert it to speed density but thats a project for a later date.

Removed the stereo and ECU to clean up wiring and check if the ECU was socketed, it is not sadly. So thats something ill need to do in the future.

I need to find an OEM coolant reservoir.

why are the pictures so large . Is that normal?

 

[silentsnow31802]

Fixed a couple things today...

There were two sensors on the thermostat housing that had damaged wiring. I do not plan on leaving the butt connectors there. For the time being if it works im going to leave it while other higher priority things are done first.


Put some RTV on the fittings that were capped off on the intake tube as they were most likely leaking. Again not pretty but just trying to get it working well before I start replacing parts.


Removed the stereo and found it to be wired in with T-taps so I ordered a harness from Amazon and soldered it together. This is the first time ive seen a factory stereo harness not have a ground. Weird.


I no longer have a check engine light and the car starts right up so im pretty sure I got most of the leaks fixed, at least the bigger ones.

 

[silentsnow31802]

Replaced the front right wheel bearing today and replaced a broken off stud while I was there. Wheel is no longer wobbly and I need to find a replacement gorilla lugnut.

Found an issue with what looks to be the upper transmission mount. There is supposed to be two bolts holding it to the transmission but there is only 1 and the other was helicoiled at some point and failed again. The bracket also looks to be at an angle like the transmission is sagging. So thats just another thing to add to the list.

 

[silentsnow31802]

Pulled it out of the garage today. Couldn't find reverse and eventually noticed 2 and 4 would spring the shifter back to neutral. Found the shift cable damaged. There is a solid rod in the middle of the cable that I assume adds the stiffness to push she shift arm forward. This rod was broken so the cable was folding on itself.

Was able to manually put it into reverse at the transmission and get it into the driveway for a quick power washing. This way I'm not working on something that's absolutely disgusting. Plus, I wanted to get rid of some of the spiders. Found a few black widows hiding about.

Got one thing checked off the list. I got the power bleeder out and properly bled the clutch. Half the bottle ended up on my garage floor because the adapter popped off the reservoir once while I was in the house.

List of things needing done:
One of the driver seat mounting studs is pulled out.
Missing headliner.
Missing right A pillar trim.
Car has no AC.
I am told the car wiggles under boost. Suspect suspension bushings.
Needs battery mount.
Check for boost leaks.
Starter sounds like death (but still works).
Need to wire cooling fans to stock wiring harness.
Hatch struts.
Shifter cables.
Lower radiator gromets.
Hood prop missing.
Washer bottle missing.
Collant overflow missing.
Wheel stud missing front front left.
Missing two lug nuts.
Need to lift car/Adjust suspension. Replacement eventually.

 

[silentsnow31802]

Bonus update! Found one of my wheels is different from the others... 3 of them are 17x8.5 E48 and one is 17x7.5 E48.

Going to do some research and decide what to do with that.

Could just get the single Rota and make them match or replace them all with something different. 17x8.5 seems quite large to me, but I dont know what fits these cars well. The 48 offset also makes the 8.5" wide wheels stick out a bit and im not sure I like that. I feel the 7.5 visually fits better but I only have 1 of those .

 

[silentsnow31802]

Replaced the hatch struts! Nice being able to open the hatch and not use some sort of bar to keep it open while I work.

While I was there I found a trim piece, metal clip for a trim piece, and the right parcel shelf mount all missing so I gotta add that to my list.

Always one thing checked off and more things added.

 

[silentsnow31802]

Painted the cowl cover and the wiper blade arms. Have new blades on order.

 

[silentsnow31802]

Replacement shift cables installed! I still need a proper bracket but for the time being I made up this thing. I can now shift between gears without damaging the replacement shift cables but first and reverse are hard to find. I assume there is a geometry issue because this is not the original bracket so the cables are not sitting exactly where they should be. I have the left cable under the shifter maxed out in terms of adjustment just to get this to work for now.

 

[silentsnow31802]

Oh and here is my most recent list of "stuff I gotta do"

One of the driver seat mounting studs is pulled out.
Missing headliner.
Missing right A pillar trim.
Car has no AC.
I am told the car wiggles under boost. Suspect suspension bushings.
Needs battery mount.
Check for boost leaks.
Starter sounds like death (but still works).
Need to wire cooling fans to stock wiring harness.
Shifter cable bracket janky.
Lower radiator gromets.
Washer bottle missing.
Collant overflow missing.
Wheel stud missing front left.
Missing two lug nuts.
Front left wheel different 7.5" compared to 8.5"
Front right marker light hardware
Rear right tail light interior cover trim
Rear right tail light trim metal clip to floor
Rear right parcel shelf mount
Timing cover gasket
Front motor mount bolt
Transmission bolts
Transfer case bolts
Injector harness bolts to intake
Hardware for cam sensor
Downpipe touching transmission
Flywheel inspection plate missing
M6 helicoil for valve cover
M8 helicoil for Jerry bolt
Repair threads on upper transmission mount to body
Need to lift car/Adjust suspension. Replacement eventually
Rear dust boots for shocks
Sensor on top of transmission broken
Wiring to sensor on top of transmission broken

 

[silentsnow31802]

Got some koni yellow and ground control coil overs off the marketplace here from @Dhan and installed them in replacement of the warn out JIC stuff. I will worry about height and dampening adjustments later down the road once the car is driving.



Also managed to find a post about a replacement upper radiator bushing. Worked out great! Still looks weird because there are no lower bushings at all. Need to order those.
Bushing post from @Paintballaa5 for proper credit:

https://www.dsmtuners.com/threads/1g-radiator-bracket-bushings.503187/

 

[silentsnow31802]

Found a shift cable bracket on eBay that was for some other Mitsubishi. I think a 3000gt but im not 100% positive. Either way I was able to use my original top piece and use the bottom piece from the eBay part. Shifter cable/bracket now fully repaired!

 

[silentsnow31802]

After a brief hiatus to work on a relative's car I was finally able to get some work done on the Eclipse. Most importantly I got the ever so important DMV paperwork and inspections all done to bring the car from Nevada into California.
Current work is removing the transmission to repair some stripped threads and find the source of my grinding starter issue.

When I removed this transfer case bolt a helicoil came out with it. I was also missing two bolts that I will put on the list of things that need to be ordered.


These are the upper transmission mount bolt holes. I knew this one was messed up as I could see the bolt was pulled out before I started work. Another stripped hole to repair.


While I was under the car, I found this handy piece of work... Also noticed the front motor mount is using some random hardware that is very wrong. Transmission mount was in the same sort of shape so ill need to find proper hardware for both of those mounts.


Apparently there is supposed to be a brace here going under the transmission? I had no idea it was missing until I watched some info about removing the transmission. Got the brace on order but still on the hunt for hardware. Also surprised about the amount of rust on that clutch cylinder. Its not very old at all and the car hasnt been on the road since it was installed.


So far im seeing a lot of missing hardware, random/wrong hardware installed in places, and a lot of stripped out bolt holes on the transmission.

 

[silentsnow31802]

Got the transmission off. Found 3 bolt holes that need to be repaired and found a small crack in the top of the transmission housing where one of the M10 bolts go to the engine block.

Needed hardware and thread repair kits have been ordered.

 

[silentsnow31802]

Cleaned up as much as I can without spending all day on it. Nobody's going to see the inside anyways. Just like knowing its cleaner in there.

Before


After

 

[silentsnow31802]

Repaired the "jerry bolt" hole and one of the trans to body mount holes. I do not like the quality of the trans mount hole at all. Hopefully it holds.


Got two bolts for this transfer case cover thing. I did not realize the heads were so large when I ordered them but oh well. Theyre here and they work.


Did some more scrubbing of the transmission and got two new bolts for the mount. This poor thing is so beat up.


Installed the two new bottom radiator bushings.


Got some new hardware for the front motor mount. Its not OEM but will work for now.

 

[92Turbski]

Repaired the "jerry bolt" hole and one of the trans to body mount holes. I do not like the quality of the trans mount hole at all. Hopefully it holds.
View attachment 695430View attachment 695431

Got two bolts for this transfer case cover thing. I did not realize the heads were so large when I ordered them but oh well. Theyre here and they work.
View attachment 695432

Did some more scrubbing of the transmission and got two new bolts for the mount. This poor thing is so beat up.
View attachment 695433View attachment 695434View attachment 695435

Installed the two new bottom radiator bushings.
View attachment 695436

Got some new hardware for the front motor mount. Its not OEM but will work for now.
View attachment 695437View attachment 695438

Nice job going through it and keeping it on the road. It's a really good looking car.

 

[silentsnow31802]

Thanks. Trying my best!
Still a long road ahead though.

 

[92Turbski]

Thanks. Trying my best!
Still a long road ahead though.

Hell yeah.
Same, man, I hear ya, it's worth it. Nothing like learning, fixing, and enjoying all your hard work on a cruise.

 

[DreamChaser7]

Hell yeah.
Same, man, I hear ya, it's worth it. Nothing like learning, fixing, and enjoying all your hard work on a cruise.

I long for that day

 

[92Turbski]

I long for that day

Lmao, same here! This is a great place for motivation, thats for sure. I try doing at least 1 thing, and sometimes it'll snowball into more productivity. Haha

 

[silentsnow31802]

I long for that day

Dont we all. Thats what its all about right?

Lmao, same here! This is a great place for motivation, thats for sure. I try doing at least 1 thing, and sometimes it'll snowball into more productivity. Haha

Same here. Gotta keep that motivation going. There are a lot of people here that know quite a lot about these cars. Its nice to see a forum still going strong and not changed over to facebook groups.

 

[92Turbski]

Dont we all. Thats what its all about right?


Same here. Gotta keep that motivation going. There are a lot of people here that know quite a lot about these cars. Its nice to see a forum still going strong and not changed over to facebook groups.

No doubt.
Exactly!

 

[silentsnow31802]

Installed a new reverse switch. Old one had an exploded connector.



Put a new nut on this motor mount bolt. One with a washer built in. This is actually a Nissan part.
Also replaced the two bolts from the mount to the engine. I think these are supposed to be studs but the old owner put two different bolts here. Found some matching bolts leftover from my Camrys enigine replacement.


Cleaned up the injector/cam angle/tps sensor wiring. This was routed very wrong and not bolted to the intake manifold. Wire loom was cracked and flaking apart so I removed it. Wrapped the wiring in electrical tape. Will get more loom in the near future.
While I was here I noticed all the connectors were missing the little metal retaining clips. So ill need to source those.


Couple of these connectors were held on with butt connectors. I soldered, heat shrunk, and wrapped them in tape.


Found this plate. No idea what it is. Its on the back right side of the intake manifold.
EDIT: Research shows it may be a block off plate for the EGR valve?


Replaced these vacuum plugs. Old ones were cracked and most likely leaking.


New speedometer cable! Found old one with this little metal nub broken off in the transmission when I removed it.