1998 Eclipse N/T Restoration Project

[ClangClangBoom]

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1998 Eclipse N/T Restoration Project


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[ClangClangBoom]

I've done a bit of work on the car before I even thought to start a build journal. Mostly small stuff within my realm of expertise. I replaced a broken exterior door handle, replaced the driver side window actuator, and that's about it.

When first purchased, the vehicle does crank and run, but it had an atrocious rattle to it. Getting under the car it looked like it was due to a janky transmission job. Not sure what they did, but there were lots of non-oem bolts, and the flywheel inspection plate was gone. The starter plate was also bent to hell. Against our better judgement we took the car for a short drive, I choked it out learning to drive stick and then it wouldn't start at all. (ominous foreshadowing).

Working with my father in law I managed to do my first transmission removal! We dropped the bad trans out of the 98 eclipse first. It had a BROKEN bellhousing. I'm talking one bolt was just holding a shattered piece on for show. The starter had also exploded, and the pieces were wedged against the flywheel. This is why it wouldn't crank at all. Oops.

Working on the 96 transmission removal went much smoother. With some experience under our belts we dropped it in a short afternoon. All the bolts look OEM and all the plates are where they should be.

I look forward to getting this 98 eclipse back in running condition! I'm having fun and the 2G eclipse has always been a car I wanted.

Guess I will have to learn to drive stick now...