2gmitsueclipse's Eagle Summit

[2gmitsueclipse]

2gmitsueclipse submitted a new DSM Profile :

2gmitsueclipse's Eagle Summit


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[2gmitsueclipse]

Summit Road Trip Day 1:
Meet our newest member to the Mitsubishi fleet at Mustache Motorsports! This 1993 Eagle Summit took us all the way to Portland, Oregon. If you're familiar with this vehicle, you'll notice a few modifications have been done to this VERY clean Summit.
Quick run down:
-Genuine Evo III 4g63t longblock to replace the 4g64 SOHC engine
-JDM RVR headlights, corner markers, center garnish.
-JDM RVR top-mounted intercooler setup with functional hood scoop
-ECMLink v3
-5-lug swap!!!

Our goals for this trip were to:
-Make it home!
-Avoid people as much a possible.
-Keep a minimal schedule to allow for unplanned stops.

Armed with two backpacks (and masks) for the trip, my fiancé and I departed MI for Portland, Oregon where the seller met us with his newly acquired RVR. We had a great evening checking out the car, completing an oil change, and talking Mitsubishi. The next day, we set out to make a couple of stops to acquire a few things needed to make the trip back to MI. Our journey home begins officially at Seaside, Oregon. Having a perfect day, we found a very quiet beach to enjoy the Pacific Ocean for a few hours. Not before enjoying some awesome food, we headed 106 miles west to our next destination, Sandy, Oregon. Here, we topped off fluids and ended up changing the radiator cap since it seemed to be bleeding off some pressure. The guys working at O’Reilly's happened to be DSM enthusiasts, so they had to come out to check out the Summit.
Miles covered: 190

 

[2gmitsueclipse]

Summit Road Trip Day 2:
Our day begins in Sandy, Oregon after grabbing some food and fuel for the trip. It was interesting that nearly all of the fuel stations had attendants fuel your car up for you. We embarked on the Mt. Hood scenic byway, which also happened to be the location for the epic scenic shots from "The Shining". The byway was absolutely a blast to drive and had us in awe at the natural beauty.

The next stop was an unplanned hidden jem in Mosier, Oregon. From the top of the Rowena Crest Viewpoint, we were given a spectacular view of Highway 30. This fantastic drive felt like the European tarmac stages seen in videos. Perfect tarmac, many corners, and a beautiful view. If we had more time, we would have probably spent the rest of the day here.

Our final destination for the day took us a few hours northwest into Washington. Not far off the highway, Alex (awesome navigator) found a BLM site to stay in Sprague, Washington. A couple miles down a gravel trail led to some beautiful scenery with a number of campsites available. After setting up camp and enjoying some food, we brought our chairs up to a rock feature that overlooked our site to watch the moon rise and listen to coyotes in the distance. Perfect ending to the day.
Miles covered: 348

 

[2gmitsueclipse]

Summit Road Trip Days 3 + 4:
A very early start let us enjoy the sunrise while enjoying some coffee in preparation for the day's journey. All packed up, we headed west on i-90. Our main goal today was to locate a BLM site in Montana. Today provided a stunning view of various mountain passes as we traversed the rest of Washington, Idaho's panhandle, and into Montana. We have most of the trip on dash-cam, so footage will be posted once time is available to review it. If you are ever out this way, we HIGHLY suggest you check out this portion of i-90. The Summit had zero issues with the constant inclines, declines, and many curves along the route. We found a BLM site a bit off of i-90 in Emigrant, Montana, so we chose to give it go.

It was getting later in the day and there were a number of RV parks and campgrounds that seemed a bit busy, so we weren't sure what to expect. Once we finally located the BLM site, we were pleasantly surprised! We had a private spot with a table, fire pit, and Yellowstone River access! We quickly set up camp so we could do some exploring. It was nice to be in an area without burn-bans, so we could enjoy some hot food and relax.

The next day, we again, woke up early to enjoy the sunrise with some coffee. We decided to stay another night once we saw the Yellowstone River. Placing our camp chairs right in the river, we spent most (literally) of the day watching the curious horses across the river, hawks diving for fish, and storms travel along the mountains. We were no closer to home today, but we sure enjoyed every minute of it!
Miles covered day 3: 489
Miles covered day 4: Proudly 0

 

[talonesi95t]

How are you getting such nice weather . It snowed all day yesterday in central Washington.

 

[2gmitsueclipse]

How are you getting such nice weather . It snowed all day yesterday in central Washington.

It's a trip that has happened already. Just getting around to writing it up.

 

[2gmitsueclipse]

Summit Road Trip Day 5:
Another early start for us. Our bodies are still two hours ahead no matter what the clock says. We enjoyed one last morning near the river and packed up ready for the day. The goal today was to continue west and locate a camp site in North Dakota. Montana continued to share wonderful landscapes along i-90.

As we exited the interstate for our first fuel stop today, the car began idling a bit low, and the WB gauge (Innovative) displayed an error. We filled up, and luckily had a tablet to connect to the ECU to get a better idea of what was going on. The o2 sensor readings were cycling normally, so it seemed fine once the car was restarted. Out of caution, we stopped at a nearby Home Depot to pick up a 22mm wrench in the event we needed to swap the o2 sensor. Everything seemed to be going well, but kept a close eye on the WB readings.

We passed Billings, Montana and transitioned onto i-94 to continue west. The car began to go lean under load while ascending hills. Letting off a little seemed to help for a while, but got worse as we began looking for an exit. We ended up in Miles City, Montana making a quick exit as I shut the car off (don't want to damage the engine) as the o2 sensor completely failed. It was nearly 100ºF as we coasted into a dirt/gravel parking lot just off the exit. Luckily, we had a spare o2 sensor in the car. With the repair made, we went through the process of calibrating the new o2 (WB) sensor. It wasn't logging properly and come to find out, the settings for the WB o2 sensor (switchover point, etc.) in ECMLink were completely gone. The previous owner was really helpful getting us the settings needed for the sensor. So, back out for another test drive, a slight shutter is still present, but the live stream from the ECU seems fine. We hit about 55 MPH, and BAM! A very noticeable knock was coming from the front passenger side.

Frustrated at this point, we limped the Summit to a gas station in the down town area to investigate. Once we jacked it up, it was apparent that the passenger side CV shaft inner joint had completely failed. It was around 6pm, so we decided to find a place to stay for the night and figure out a plan. We decided to get a room tonight since AC and a shower sounded nice after the action today. We considered ourselves lucky we ended up in Miles City. We were smack in the middle of Billings, Montana and Dickinson, North Dakota. Both are about 2 hours away. Not the day we intended, but not stranded in the middle of nowhere.
Miles covered: 289

 

[2gmitsueclipse]

Summit Road Trip Days 6-8:

Not the progress we had hoped for on the trip, but you need to make the best of a negative situation. With the Summit being a rather uncommon vehicle, replacement CV shafts would take some time to get. Being a Friday and a rather remote zip code, replacement parts would not be available until Monday. RockAuto was the best option for getting what we needed in a timely manner. We managed to get some bikes to get us around town for the weekend.

The Yellowstone River ended up being a few miles away, so we made the inaugural trek (on our new bikes) to find a nice private spot to cool off and relax. With both of us in a rather good mood (and cooled off), we began making our way back to town to check out the local cuisine. I found the front tire my bike was completely flat! With no obvious sign of the cause, we ended up walking the bikes back to town in search of air (and a replacement tube). Luckily the small downtown area gas station had free air machine! Filled up, we were in search for a replacement tube. A local store had the tube we needed, but by this time, my tire was flat again. Wanting to make the repair back at our room, we filled the tire again. Something still seemed off, and found that the rear tire was now flat! After walking our bikes to to our room, we were able to find the cause of our failing tires. We discovered Miles City has some rather gnarly thorns as we pulled them from our flat tires.

Overall, the weekend was enjoyable getting to explore the town, try some excellent local food, and even got to watch the Formula One race in air-conditioned goodness. We sure got lucky where we ended up having a failure. With our parts expected Monday, the motel owner was happy to let us stay until our parts arrived. We sure have a few miles to cover once we fix the Summit!

Miles covered: 0

 

[2gmitsueclipse]

Summit Road Trip Days 9 + 10:

We cannot express how happy we were to see the tracking information for our parts update to "Out for Delivery"! The motel was cool with us checking out a bit late waiting for our package to arrive. Unfortunately, the unintended parts failure meant we lost a few days for the trip back. If all goes well, we would have to drive straight back to Michigan.

The moment our parts arrived (Thank you FedEx and RockAuto), we were on our way to a local O'Reilly Auto parts.
They were really helpful letting us perform the repair in the parking lot in a little bit of shade provided by the building (it was like 90°). The loan-a-tool program (32mm socket, pry-bar, breaker bar, slide hammer, and torque wrench) was a lifesaver since we only had a basic hand tool set and jack w/stands. We ended up just replacing both front CV shafts for good measure. The passenger side completely separated trying to remove it (driver's side was similar). The passenger side only took an astonishing 20 minutes start-to-finish, but the driver's side put up a good fight. The driver's side CV shaft needed to be separated from an intermediate shaft.

Lesson learned:
"Don't be stubborn thinking you can separate them while still attached to the car thinking you'll have leverage with a slide hammer....."

I finally gave in and removed the two shafts together. Using the concrete anchor for a light pole as leverage, a big hammer made quick work of separating the two shafts (wish we got a pic). Once everything was assembled, torqued, and cleaned up, we crossed our fingers this test drive would be more successful than the last one. The Summit drove as smooth a butter!

Re-energized from the successful test drive, we were finally continuing our journey back to Michigan. Crossing into North Dakota late in the afternoon provided some great scenery (and a bug friend) as we drove along the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Just after the sun set however, we had a pretty close call with some deer standing in the highway. About 11:45pm, we stopped at Bismark to grab a quick bite to eat. Consoling ourselves to the second food option, the Summit began running very rich and struggled to idle. A quick scan pulled a DTC for the Mass Air Flow sensor. Hoping for the best, I unplugged the connector for the sensor and plugged it back in. "What did you just do?" Alex exclaimed from the Summit as the car returned to normal. It was further secured with some zip ties to avoid that from happening again.

It was around 3:30am local time as we crossed into Minnesota. Exhausted, we stopped at the first rest area for some much-needed rest. We managed to get a good 4 1/2 hour nap before resuming our journey home. Everything was going smooth with the exception of rush hour traffic in Chicago. Once in Michigan, we stopped at a gas station shortly after the border that has become a bit of a tradition as this was the third new vehicle we have stopped here with on the the way home. The normal picture session we do didn't happen as we were both just ready to get home. One of us was tired/needed to use the bathroom, and the other had done something to their shoulder during the repair and was in a bit of pain. It seemed to take FOREVER as we counted down the miles home in the dark. It's hard to describe the sense of relief you have when you reach familiar surroundings, but it was strong with us. We pulled in the driveway at nearly 1:00am. Grateful to be home, but more grateful to take a shower in our own bathroom, and sleep in our bed.

We made the 1,457 mile trip from Miles City, Montana to Metro-Detroit, Michigan in about 29 hours including our short rest. In total, our trip from the Pacific Ocean in Oregon, to Metro-Detroit spanned approx. 2,773 miles. The highs and lows of the journey provide a great story and help cement an emotional bond with a car we will keep for some time. We have much of the trip recorded via dash-cam, so we will post highlights of some of the awesome roads/scenery when time allows. We hope you have enjoyed the adventure!

Miles covered day 9: 604
Miles covered day 10: 853

 

[2gmitsueclipse]

Now home, I can get to work on checking everything over a bit closer and perform some maintenance. Had a little issue dialing in the idle on the Red Summit. Time to pressure test the intake. Have a homemade pressure tester and tested the ISC for good measure. ISC is no good and found leaks on an intake pipe, throttle body seals, and BISS screw. Figured out a way to adjust the new BISS screw with the intercooler on top. With the BISS screw and ISC replaced with a known good unit, I still had some trouble with the idle. Well, turns out the ISC also took out a driver in the ECU. Luckily, we have a spare ECU to swap in. Currently, idle seems pretty good, but need to still address the throttle body shaft seals. Now to send the ECU out for repair and order up some shaft seals.

 

[2gmitsueclipse]

Have been itching to take care of some large pressure leaks from the throttle body shaft seals on the red Summit. Opted to go for the HD shaft seals for this rebuild. 91-99 DSM shaft seals will work for the Evo III throttle body. Really need to get myself one of the shaft seal install tools. Fuel injector upper and lower seals were also replaced (common pressure leak). Some words of advice if you try this:
- Check out the Jafro video.
-Keep all components together and take pics for reference.
-Mark springs/sensors/throttle plate for reassembly.
-File/grind the throttle plate screws since they are peened to prevent backing out.
-Use an impact screwdriver (manual) to remove the screws on the throttle shaft and housing.
-purchase extra shaft seals in the event you damage any upon install.
-use thread locker and re-peen the throttle plate screws on reassembly.
-take the time to adjust everything properly.

 

[2gmitsueclipse]

With pressure leaks taken care of, the next thing to tackle was the exhaust. The 2.5" downpipe and stock cat-back just wouldn't make the cut, so a 3" system seemed the most prudent course of action to open up the current restriction and meet the demands of future goals. This platform does not have the luxury of aftermarket support for exhaust, so a custom setup is required. The vision was to have a true 3" exhaust that stayed as close to the chassis as possible with reduced drone. A good friend was able to turn that vision into reality with this stunning setup that is easily serviceable:

 

[spoolinpos]

Looks great! I'm glad I found your thread to follow along! I was nice meeting you the other month when you picked up that transfer case!

 

[2gmitsueclipse]

Looks great! I'm glad I found your thread to follow along! I was nice meeting you the other month when you picked up that transfer case!

Thanks man! It was great to meet a local enthusiast. They are fewer and far between these days! That transfer case will hopefully find its way on this Summit with the next transaxle upgrade! I'd love to check out your 2g when you have her back together!

 

[2gmitsueclipse]

Cleaned up the Summit a bit. Swapped the headlamps in favor of the blacked out housing. Found some weatherstripping to finish the edges of the cut-out for the hood scoop. All but one of the wheels was missing the center caps, so managed to track down a new set.