1G 1994 Eclipse 2.0 DOHC rebuild kit recommendations.

[Burnettmotorsports]

Our team is planning an engine rebuild for the 4g63. I believe it is a 6 bolt 1g but I haven't started on it yet, however assuming it is that model, does anyone have any recommendations on a reliable rebuild kit for it?

I don't know if we will need everything listed but I'm trying to price it out for the team so we can start a build budget and I want to have all my bases covered. I'm looking for a kit with the main journal bearings, connecting rod bearings, possibly new pistons and connecting rods, balance shaft bearings and belt for the bs, timing belts, camshaft bearings, valves with springs and retainers, cam followers, and lifters.

I also wanted to see if anyone knew a good place to get a new crankshaft just in case I have to replace it. If I missed anything please let me know. I'm hoping someone can at least guide me in the direction of a rebuild kit. Thank you.

 

[pauleyman]

Please fill out a vehicle profile and let us know all that you have. It would be difficult to recommend anything as we don't know what you're doing with the car. Stock rebuild? Drag racing? autox? street car? etc etc. Is it a turbo car? Is the motor original?
Profiled updates are here.

 

[Burnettmotorsports]

My bad, the car is a 1994 Eclipse with the 2.0 DOHC, I believe it's the 1st gen 4g63 6-bolt. We are building it to race circle dirt track, however the engine, drivetrain, and suspension must remain stock or as close to stock as possible due to IMCA rules. So I need to find something that keeps it stock, just refreshing the engine more or less. Unfortunately that means I can't even do the balance shaft delete. I do believe we will be able to have the ECU tuned so if anyone knows a place in the western states that tunes these that would be helpful as well. Thank you

 

[19Eclipse90]

You need to verify that it is indeed a 6-bolt. Some (late) 1992 models and all 1993-1994 models with a DOHC engine were 7-bolts.

That will need to be one of your first steps, too, as rebuild kits are specific to 6- or 7-bolt.

 

[Burnettmotorsports]

You need to verify that it is indeed a 6-bolt. Some (late) 1992 models and all 1993-1994 models with a DOHC engine were 7-bolts.

That will need to be one of your first steps, too, as rebuild kits are specific to 6- or 7-bolt.

I'm planning on verifying that once the car is at the shop. Two of the guys are going to pick up the car in the morning. The previous owner says it is a 6-bolt but I want to be sure. For right now I am just trying to figure out a good kit to look into if it is indeed a 6-bolt. I've been looking into STM tuned kits, do you know if this is a good company to trust?

 

[19Eclipse90]

Good companies to buy parts from?

 

[pauleyman]

You still haven't said is this a fwd car? AWD? turbo? If it must remain close to stock, stock rev limit etc you may not need much except stock replacements.

 

[Burnettmotorsports]

You still haven't said is this a fwd car? AWD? turbo? If it must remain close to stock, stock rev limit etc you may not need much except stock replacements.

It's NA, fwd, automatic. And yes I'm looking for stock or close to stock rebuild kits. Any solid recommendations?

 

[92AWDHX40]

I dont know of any kits, just got some sites recommended, make a list and order you may not find a kit per say. These are 30 years old .

 

[Gonza97]

Greetings gents, OP use the recommended sites below (Extreme PSI, STM Tuned, and everyone else) once you know if it´s a 6 or 7 bolt engine.
You can search manually through the site everything they have to offer, or go to google and search your specific parts and then copying the site name, you can also get gasket and seal kits and then search internals of each manufacturers.
I did this all by myself recently as I´m rebuilding a 7 bolt at the time.

 

[Burnettmotorsports]

Greetings gents, OP use the recommended sites below (Extreme PSI, STM Tuned, and everyone else) once you know if it´s a 6 or 7 bolt engine.
You can search manually through the site everything they have to offer, or go to google and search your specific parts and then copying the site name, you can also get gasket and seal kits and then search internals of each manufacturers.
I did this all by myself recently as I´m rebuilding a 7 bolt at the time.

Could you help me understand something that has caused a fair bit of confusion for me? The car is a 1994 Eclipse gs and the vin for the car shows it is a 2.0L DOHC which should make it the 4g63 if I'm not mistaken. However all the parts sites show that the 4g63 is only in the gsx and gst. When I googled the year make and model I've only seen that the gs comes with a 2.4L (4g64). As previously mentioned the vin shows that is not true, So my question is do we just have an oddball car or is google just doing google things?

 

[19Eclipse90]

Google would be “doing Google things.”

The 4G64 was not introduced in DSMs until the 1996 model year when the Spyder model was released. And even then, it only appeared in the non-turbo Spyder models. This may not get into all the nitty gritty details, but it’s a good start when separating things.

DSM Make & Model Guide

A non-turbo 1994 either came with the 1.8L SOHC 4G37 or the non-turbo version of the 2.0L DOHC 4G63.

 

[pauleyman]

Could you help me understand something that has caused a fair bit of confusion for me? The car is a 1994 Eclipse gs and the vin for the car shows it is a 2.0L DOHC which should make it the 4g63 if I'm not mistaken. However all the parts sites show that the 4g63 is only in the gsx and gst. When I googled the year make and model I've only seen that the gs comes with a 2.4L (4g64). As previously mentioned the vin shows that is not true, So my question is do we just have an oddball car or is google just doing google things?

Brian already answered but the sites are specifying 4g63 turbo is only gst and gsx. As stated there is a non turbo 4g63. Many parts interchange.

 

[Burnettmotorsports]

Google would be “doing Google things.”

The 4G64 was not introduced in DSMs until the 1996 model year when the Spyder model was released. And even then, it only appeared in the non-turbo Spyder models. This may not get into all the nitty gritty details, but it’s a good start when separating things.

DSM Make & Model Guide

A non-turbo 1994 either came with the 1.8L SOHC 4G37 or the non-turbo version of the 2.0L DOHC 4G63.

Awesome thanks for the clarification and info.

 

[97egl]

My bad, the car is a 1994 Eclipse with the 2.0 DOHC, I believe it's the 1st gen 4g63 6-bolt. We are building it to race circle dirt track, however the engine, drivetrain, and suspension must remain stock or as close to stock as possible due to IMCA rules. So I need to find something that keeps it stock, just refreshing the engine more or less. Unfortunately that means I can't even do the balance shaft delete. I do believe we will be able to have the ECU tuned so if anyone knows a place in the western states that tunes these that would be helpful as well. Thank you

Unless IMCA tracks in your area work differently I have never been to any track in the midwest that has done a tear down far enough to check if you have balance shafts. The most I have ever seen them do is check camshaft lift or a compression check to make sure it's not higher than manufacture spec. Usually they don't even do that much. Most track tech guys don't have the first clue about checking sport compact class. They are all used to looking at v8's

 

[Burnettmotorsports]

Unless IMCA tracks in your area work differently I have never been to any track in the midwest that has done a tear down far enough to check if you have balance shafts. The most I have ever seen them do is check camshaft lift or a compression check to make sure it's not higher than manufacture spec. Usually they don't even do that much. Most track tech guys don't have the first clue about checking sport compact class. They are all used to looking at v8

I've never seen them do it personally but I have heard of them doing a tear down. I personally highly doubt they would check for that but we would rather be safe than sorry.

 

[steve]

I wonder if turning the lower shaft down (BSE race shaft) and leaving the upper belt off would be against the rulebook? Is blueprinting?

Back in the day when we (my best friend and I) raced in SCCA, we could pick the best stock parts from all the model years that would work and anything not specifically denied was fair game.

 

[Burnettmotorsports]

I wonder if turning the lower shaft down (BSE race shaft) and leaving the upper belt off would be against the rulebook? Is blueprinting?

Back in the day when we (my best friend and I) raced in SCCA, we could pick the best stock parts from all the model years that would work and anything not specifically denied was fair game.

Great point! After all grey area is meant to be explored right would removing the upper shaft belt cause any issues? I can't imagine it would if the bottom shaft is changed out, then it would appear stock but that potential fail point of the belt wouldn't be a concern. Thanks for the thought.

 

[steve]

Once you eliminate the lower by using the race shaft (or a stub shaft) you have to either pull the upper balance shaft and block off the bearing oil feed or take the "B" timing belt off and leave the shaft in so it doesn't create new vibrations rather than the two working in concert to counteract the natural vibrations of a inline 4.

By leaving the upper shaft in some oil flow continues via the bearing/shaft clearances but not a massive leak like you would have if you removed the BS but didn't block the oil feed.

There are two pros to performing the BSE (balance shaft elimination), the "B" belt can't break and take out the "A" timing belt, you don't expend energy spinning up the two hunks of metal, it goes to the wheels instead. The one con is that you will feel the engine vibration that the BS's canceled out. That usually fades above idle.

 

[Burnettmotorsports]

Once you eliminate the lower by using the race shaft (or a stub shaft) you have to either pull the upper balance shaft and block off the bearing oil feed or take the "B" timing belt off and leave the shaft in so it doesn't create new vibrations rather than the two working in concert to counteract the natural vibrations of a inline 4.

By leaving the upper shaft in some oil flow continues via the bearing/shaft clearances but not a massive leak like you would have if you removed the BS but didn't block the oil feed.

There are two pros to performing the BSE (balance shaft elimination), the "B" belt can't break and take out the "A" timing belt, you don't expend energy spinning up the two hunks of metal, it goes to the wheels instead. The one con is that you will feel the engine vibration that the BS's canceled out. That usually fades above idle.

Would there be an external leak with the upper balance shaft still in? I don't see why it would be able to get passed the seal, I could be wrong of course but I can't really see that being a worrying leak. And as far as the vibration goes I'm not worried at all, Its a race car so we aren't concerned about a vibration at idle as long as we know what it is. That and its a 4 cylinder, it should be pretty well balanced as is.

 

[pauleyman]

Would there be an external leak with the upper balance shaft still in? I don't see why it would be able to get passed the seal, I could be wrong of course but I can't really see that being a worrying leak. And as far as the vibration goes I'm not worried at all, Its a race car so we aren't concerned about a vibration at idle as long as we know what it is. That and its a 4 cylinder, it should be pretty well balanced as is.

People leave the front balance shaft in place all the time and run the factory stub shaft in the oil pump. And as far as balanced that would be no. 4 cyl is inherently not balanced and that's why mitsus have those balance shafts.

 

[steve]

Would there be an external leak with the upper balance shaft still in? I don't see why it would be able to get passed the seal, I could be wrong of course but I can't really see that being a worrying leak.

With the upper/front shaft still installed oil reaches it and the pressure will cause some to flow out via the bearing clearance just like it would normally. If you look at the shaft you'll notice that both the front and rear bearings are fed from the block so you either leave the shaft in or you have to pull the bearings and block the feed, usually by rotating the bearing so it blocks the oil passage.

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Balance shaft - Wikipedia

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