1996 Gst-X

[onefast2gdsm]

Hey all. ill start from the beginning, when i purchased this car.

9/17/12 - I picked up my new dsm last week. I paid 900 bucks for it not running, with a brand new rebuilt 7 bolt engine.body is decent and interior is near perfect. 99k on the body. The first night it was home i pulled the motor and trans to make sure the pilot bushing for the trans was there. I put the motor and trans back in the next day, and started fabbing up the front mount. Believe it or not the front mount has been the biggest pain in this whole ordeal. I used the bumper support to mount the intercooler and had to cut all the pipes to make it fit. The left front caliper wound up being locked up so i had to replace that as well. I used a 1g cas and my 95 ecu with emlink because the cam gears weren't the right ones for the 95-96 cas. Mods are a small 16g, motegi wheels, godspeed fmic, greddy rs bov, 1g cas, ecmlink and aluminum radiator. I plan to leave it this way for awhile. Heres some pics!

 

[onefast2gdsm]

9/27/12 - Did some more stuff to the car. I installed an autometer boost gauge, and oil pressure gauge. I also installed my innovate lc1 wideband with the red db gauge. I put it in the front o2 spot and enabled narrowband simulation in link. I have a lot of tuning to do so i can get the car running 100%. Tonight i plan on switching valve covers becaise mines cracked, installing a catch can and possibly moving the battery to the subframe to allow room for the catch can. Then i will be doing a boost leak test and start tuning!

10/28/12 - Ok well I haven't posted anything in awhile. I switched out the maf for speed density. I couldn't compensate for the vented bov with a maf, i tried everything i could think of. I loaded stock VE maps to my ecu and setup the speed density parameters and the first time i fired it up, it was running perfect. I have a little bit of fine tuning to do, but its getting 115-120 miles to a quarter of a tank.

I also picked up a 2gb bumper and headlights. I am painting the bumper to match the two tone body, so I put the 2ga bumper back on for now.

Last week, my driver door handle broke. I ordered a dorman replacement handle. This was my first time ever replacing one, through all the DSM's I've owned. It was a pain in the ass to say the least.

I had to replace my aluminum radiator, due to two tubes being crushed. I don't know how it happened, but I am sure it was the reason my car was overheating. I put the brand new aluminum radiator in that came with the car when I purchased it.

Finally, I put my vrsf inter cooler on. I mainly did it to see if it would fix my boost issue. It will not boost past 10 psi, even with the boost controller turned up. I think it might be due to a partially clogged catalytic converter.

pics:

11/1/12 - update.

I made a test pipe last night, and it didn't help the boost issue. However, the car is more responsive and spools quicker, I can definitely feel a power difference.

I also installed my sony xplod stereo and my 2g rs oem radio pocket.

Next I have to source a wastegate actuator to see if that will fix the boost issue.

11/5/12 - update.

Lots have happened in the past few days. Ill start with the most annoying thing, my sunroof broke. I was driving and opened the vent, heard a loud pop, left it open and when I git home I tried to close it, and only one side closed. I wound up unbolting the glass, and opened it and closed it with no problem. I think one of the tracks got ahead of the other.

I installed a kenwood amplifier, for the speakers. I used the wires from the stock amp connector. Music is crisp and clear, and was well worth it.

Last but not least, after I installed my test pipe, the car started misfiring really bad between 2500-3500 rpm, not matter if i was in boost or not. I did a boost leak test, came up with nothing. I then took out the spark plugs and regapped them, still no luck. I wound up switching to br7es plugs, beat the crap out of the car for 20 minutes, all seemed well till the next morning, it was misfiring like crazy. I popped the hood and noticed my 1g cas plug had a loose wire. I connected it as tight as I could, and shes fixed.

AND... the car now boosts past 10 psi

 

[onefast2gdsm]

11/16/12

Heres some recent pics. Finished my 2gb bumper, it looks awesome.

2/26/13

A lot has changed since that last post, as inever updated the project log from then til now. I put a holset hx35 on the car, with a tial 44mm vband wastegate, and 3" turbo back exhaust. The timing belt broke on 2/13/13, had it running the next day. On 2/20/13, i blew the transmission. After long debate, I am swapping the car to awd.

The parts that are on the car now are:

Engine:
7 bolt block/head completely rebuilt
obx racing tubular t3 manifold
Balance shaft delete
Brian crower 272/272 cams
1g cam angle sensor

Turbo:
Holset hx35w 7 blade with stock holset hotside, good for 600whp
Tial 44mm vband wastegate
vrsf short route intercooler kit
hallman pro rx boost controller
Greddy RS blow off valve

Fuel:
Fuelab 515 afpr
fic 650cc injectors
Walboro 255lph fuel pump

Misc engine:
Aluminum radiator
2 12" slim fans
battery located on subframe
emissions delete
cruise control delete
ABS delete

Exhaust:
3" turbo back, 4.5 inch muffler

Interior:
Black dash swap, black door panels

Engine management:
DsmLink v3 FULL
Speed density conversion
Innovate lc1 wideband controller&gauge
Autometer 30-30 boost gauge
Autometer oil pressure gauge

Other:
97-99 front bumper&headlights
HID headlight bulbs
blacked out tail lights and reverse lights
2" lowering springs
Front cross drilled&slotted rotors
16" motegi wheels

I am swapping the car to awd. I am putting my stm tank to feed line kit in with my fuelab filter, big brakes, and swapping the rear end to a talon. Other parts will be an ipt end clutch kit and a translab shift kit.

 

[GofaST4life]

Looks awesome man!

Keep up the good work!

 

[cianfar]

Nice work! More power to you for dealing with more headache. AWD swap.

 

[onefast2gdsm]

3/10/13 Ive been real busy the last couple weeks.

I stripped the awd talon of everything I needed, which wasnt bad at all. After the talon was stripped I started working on my eclipse. Finding where to cut the hatch to access the awd front bolts and rear bolts wasnt bad at all, I thought it was going to be a lot of cutting and guessing, I got all of them on the first try. The fwd gas tank mounts needed to be removed, so I just drilled out the spot welds and gave them a few good hits with a BFH. The awd gas tank bolts were tricky, I drilled out the holes from under the car, and it was hard to see if I went straight up or at an angle. I wound up screwing the front holes up, I went through the wrong holes in the frame, which wasnt a big deal. I didnt realize this until it was time to bolt the tank up and the front bolts were nowhere close to being right. I used 1/2 -20 bolts for the gas tank, the rear bolts were 4 inches long and the fronts were 2.5 inches long. The front awd subframe bolts I used really thick metal to reinforce the sheet metal that the bolts go through. I welded all bolts in place so they wouldnt spin, and I know that I dont need to take the bolts out for any reason. Mounting the rear up was a pain to get everything lined up right but it bolted right up. The driveshaft however, is critical in making sure that it is perfect. I welded the front bracket in place, bolted the driveshaft to it and hung the driveshaft with the rear bracket bolted to the carrier bearing to see exactly where it needed to be. I bedlined the rear and gas tank and all welding spots after everything was in place.

Last night I installed my 255 walboro in the awd pump hanger. I also ran my STM tank to rail kit, and unlike my previous car that had the fuel filter in the engine bay, I mounted it under the car behind where your feet would be if your sitting in the back seat. I also ran my battery wire to relocate it to the hatch, deleted my power steering and started painting the engine bay.

To be done yet... well, I have to finish painting the engine bay, paint the talon rear bumper and sideskirts, install new seals in the transmission and transfercase, install the motor and trans, route my trans cooler lines. I still have to order my timing belt pulleys and water pump. I chose to go to with my 6 bolt block- old faithful.

 

[onefast2gdsm]

3/13/13 Last night I hooked up the rear brake lines, changed over my calipers, hooked up the ebrake cables and painted the engine bay. The car is now sitting on all four. I got my transmission cooler in today, and I'm still waiting on a few parts: transfer case seals, pilot bushing, torque converter seal, headgasket and thermostat to head gasket, and throttle body seals. Depending on what I want to do I'm either going to paint the Talon rear bumper and sideskirts and then put the motor/trans in or vice versa.

Prepping engine bay

Engine bay painted

Car on all 4

Trans cooler

 

[onefast2gdsm]

3/14/13 - 4/4/13

The car is officially running and driving. After a long wait for parts and days of trying to find the right bolts, etc. i got the motor together and changed all the seals in the transmission and transfercase. I had a huge problem with my passenger axle, the one from the donor car some how broke when it got towed. I couldnt find one at any nearby parts store and had to go an hour and a half to get one. I had to redo my downpipe because the 6 bolt is setup a little different, and welded the exhaust so its a one piece system up till the rear axle. I got an apexi n1 catback from my buddy, because i needed an exhaust. I added an extra resonator and it sounds amazing.

Upon initial startup i heard a very awful noise coming from the bellhousing. I knew it was the torque converter bolts hitting something, but didnt know what. After a few hours of tryigto figure it out we concluded it was the starter. Took it out and it was completly destroyed. I put another one in yesterday, fired it up and its perfect. The other starter wasnt disengaging. In the coming days i need to do some testing and tuning, paint the rear bumper and hatch an it will be finished.

 

[onefast2gdsm]

Been a few weeks since I posted. Ive been diagnosing and tuning the car. It slips from second to third under load, but i am sure its due to not enough line pressure. I had a stalling issue coming to a stop, and it wound up being a broken isc. One of the bolt holes cracked right off the isc an was allowing air in/out. The car is running awesome now, just have to get a shift kit an up the line pressure before i can bring it to the track.

Plans for the near future:
Trans temp gauge
Shift kit
Kiggly shifter mod and ratchet shifter
Take it to the track!

[ame]http://youtu.be/cNtDwC8fCXs[/ame]

 

[camfast]

Nice build....you dont have to get a shift kit just full line pressure via chipped TCU or shift box will do the trick.