9!'clipseDOHC's 1g DSM build

[9!'clipseDOHC]

I can't even imagine how much of a PITA it is to clean that engine bay after a race!

Love seeing the race updates and the car just covered in mud

Thanks Brian! The engine bay was surprising early to clean, it helps that there isn't too much stuff left under the hood!

Man... That was some serious mud flyin'!! Looks awesome again after the cleanup. Thanks for sharing the pics with us once again Nathan.

Thanks Matt! My next rallycross is in 2 weeks so more pics will be up soon.

 

[92GS603]

Have you contemplated making a front skid plate? After last time I went out "rallying", I don't think I'd want to do it again without one. Seen some nasty pics of what rogue rocks can do to a pan

 

[9!'clipseDOHC]

9!'clipseDOHC updated 9!'clipseDOHC's Eclipse N/T (w/turbo)


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[9!'clipseDOHC]

Have you contemplated making a front skid plate? After last time I went out "rallying", I don't think I'd want to do it again without one. Seen some nasty pics of what rogue rocks can do to a pan

View attachment 243704

It is definitely something I want to do in the future! But not something I have done yet. I had bought a skid plate for my old Evo VIII but I don't have that car anymore. Great picture of your car!

I took my 1G out for some desert fun this afternoon since Rallyx season is over and it hasn't been seeing much action lately. Here are a few pics from the fun:

 

[Christoph]

Read through your entire build thread just now, amazing dedication to your car and also rally racing. I am extremely glad to see your car is still going strong. Do you know what you would like to do next with your car yet?

 

[9!'clipseDOHC]

Read through your entire build thread just now, amazing dedication to your car and also rally racing. I am extremely glad to see your car is still going strong. Do you know what you would like to do next with your car yet?

Thanks so much! Next I would love to install a front skid plate, 4 lights up front, a matching Sparco passenger seat, and an Evo VIII rear end swap.

 

[9!'clipseDOHC]

My 1g has been sitting neglected in the garage for the past 2 years while I was working on various other projects (moving, Evo, Corvette, family, etc). But now things have finally settled down and it's getting some attention once again. Since I'm not currently participating in any Rallyx events, I would love to be able to drive it occasionally. It's really a super fun car, but due to the race seat, gutted interior, and Lexan windows, it's no fun to drive on the street anymore. So my first project is reinstalling the full interior to make it fun to drive again. It's going to have everything except for HVAC. It will have power locks, power windows, power seatbelts, full trim, carpet, radio, interior lights, etc.

So far I have already swapped over the full interior harness, dash, rear seats, and most of the trunk trim panels. I'll post up more pictures as I make progress. One change I made to the setup was the location of the gauges. Before I had a dual center vent gauge pod and a single ash tray gauge pod. Since im not going to be running HVAC I decided to mount the gauges in the HVAC control knob openings. I really like how slick they look there.

I have also had some shifting issues with the AWD transmission. I have tried adjusting the linkage but now I'm thinking it's actually the transmission itself. My Evo transmission is currently in route to Tim Zimmer at TMZ Performance so hopefully once I get that back I can send the DSM transmission out to be rebuilt too.

Once the interior is completely back in and the transmission is fixed, I will be getting it registered as an antique here in Texas so I can occasionally drive it on the street until I have the time to get back into rallyx or find the next adventure. I definitely want to take it to the local drag strip one of these days since I haven't made any passes since making it AWD.

 

[92AWDHX40]

Glad your back keep at it more updates when you can.

 

[SBstar]

Yay! The ol dsm gets some love!

 

[9!'clipseDOHC]

Glad your back keep at it more updates when you can.

Yay! The ol dsm gets some love!

Thanks guys!

Today my dad came by and helped me finish installing the interior wiring harness, all the remaining trim pieces (except for the doors), and the factory seats and seatbelts. It's been gutted for a few years now and I've got to say it feels great to have my interior back in!

I do have some troubleshooting to do though because my auto seatbelts aren't working and my door ajar sensors aren't working either. Hopefully it's just a fuse.

I also ordered some new rear hatch struts, shifter base bushings and autometer brackets. Just some little items to freshen things up a bit.

Next I'll have to get the power doors moved over.

 

[9!'clipseDOHC]

Over the past week I fixed a few bugs and got some more goodies installed. Indeed one of the interior fuses was blown and replacing that restored my interior lights and got 2 of the door ajar sensors working. The drivers side sensor ended up being bad so I swapped it out which fixed that problem as well.

My Split Motorsports shifter base bushings came in and I quickly swapped out the old washers for the new CNC machined aluminium bushings. I also cut the trim in the hatch area to reinstall my old rear upper strut bar. I like the minimalist opening I made this time around.

Lastly, I installed a set of factory 1g fog lights. Luckily all the wiring was good and the switch worked! I see LED bulbs in my near future.

Over the next week I will hopefully finish up the door swap. I need to paint the doors (both inside and out) and install the 5 piece wing and side skirt pieces.

 

[9!'clipseDOHC]

I got a little bit more work done on the "freshening up project" over the past couple of days. First off, I got the new rear hatch struts installed, so no more broom handle in the back to prop the hatch open.

Secondly I added COB LED light bulbs (6000k) in all 4 dome light slots and in the trunk fixture. It is so much brighter inside now! 1g interior lights from the factory are quite pitiful to begin with so this is a very noticeable upgrade. I still need to get the rest of the lights ordered and swapped out, but this was a good start. (This picture was taken in complete darkness, so all of the illumination is from the single trunk bulb.)

Next I restored the fog light housings with Turtle Wax Headlight Lens Restorer. It took several years worth of oxidization off of the lenses and made them much clearer. The one on the right side of the picture hadn't been done yet to show before and after.

The biggest item was painting the new passenger side door and getting it installed, along with the factory door panel and my old custom suede door insert. Here is a picture with the factory door now installed on the passenger side, compared my gutted race door still on the drivers side. Wow! I love the solid sound it makes when you close the door, compared to the rattleing sound on the gutted doors.

 

[9!'clipseDOHC]

This week I finished painting the factory doors and got them installed on the car. I also repairs the driver side sideskirt, which was starting to droop. Then on to electric troubleshooting. Currently my passenger window barely moves (After some diogbostic work in pretty sure it's the actual motor) and neither automatic seatbelt moves at all (one is in the forward position and the other is in the rear position). I did fix the power door locking system (it was missing the fuse entirely) and ended up ditching the power side mirrors in favor of my trusty manual set.

Aside from fixing the passenger window and seatbelts I also need to swap the exterior door trim pieces on to the new power doors. Progress continues!

 

[Vegas Smith]

How did you fix your sideskirt? I used 3m tape along with all new clips that go into the body and the tape is now starting to give and half the clips have come out. Totally confused on that.

 

[9!'clipseDOHC]

How did you fix your sideskirt? I used 3m tape along with all new clips that go into the body and the tape is now starting to give and half the clips have come out. Totally confused on that.

I had used factory clips and 3M tape before but it was sagging like crazy on the drivers side. I don't know what part number the clips I was using at first were but they would just pop right out. I replaced them with brand new MB566720 clips and the popped in and held strong. So all new MB566720 clips and new 3M tape and it is rock solid now!

 

[spyderdrifter]

Kinda cool to see a street car turned full race car, then returned to street car again to revive it. Awesome build.

 

[9!'clipseDOHC]

Kinda cool to see a street car turned full race car, then returned to street car again to revive it. Awesome build.

Thanks a lot! It's all part of the fun journey and it's cool that this car has been tagging along with me for my entire adult life.

Big update this week! The automatic seatbelts are working now... it helps if the seatbelt control unit is plugged in. I got the door wing and center door trim pieces installed with 3M Super Strength Moulding tape. The new passenger window motor and assembly has been ordered and is actually supposed to be here tomorrow. I went with an AC Delco rebuilt unit from Rock Auto.

Lastly, I had a leak where the driveshaft goes into the transfer case. The super common recall leak. But since my car comes up as a FWD I went ahead and did the recall kit myself instead of taking it to the dealership. The old one pressed off easily on the bench vice and the new yoke went on without any trouble. However, when I crawled under the car to start working on it I noticed that the rear carrier bearing was hanging off the car. One of the nuts and bushings was completely gone. So I ordered a set of Torque Solution bushings as well as some Redline Heavy Shockproof gear oil for both the DSM and EVO transfer cases. Also while I had the driveshaft off I took the opportunity to scrape off all the globs of dried mud from the underside of the driveshaft tunnel. Two years of rallycross will do that!

So I'm hoping that by the end of the week all of my parts will all be in and I'll have a working passenger window, no leak from the transfer case, a solidly mounted driveshaft, insurance, antique plates, and be driving it!

 

[SBstar]

Great progress Nate! Can't wait to see it doing the daily life again.

 

[9!'clipseDOHC]

Great progress Nate! Can't wait to see it doing the daily life again.

Thanks Shane! It's much closer as of today! It is officially insured and registered again, but this time as an antique! (It's sounds crazy, but it meets the requirements!) I got my new plate put on this morning.

Also the FedEx man dropped of my new passgnger side window motor assembly and I got that put on so as soon as I can get the driveshaft put back on she is ready to hit the road!

 

[92AWDHX40]

Great its coming along.

 

[9!'clipseDOHC]

Great its coming along.

Sure is! Thanks for following!

I spent most of yesterday and today working on the car. Since having rattle can painted the car a few years ago, the black top had taken a major beating from the El Paso sun. The Rustolium clear had peeled almost completely off the roof. Also the fiberglass work I had done to fill in the opening for the rear wiper on the wing had cracked and needed some attention. I spent a few hours tediously taping off the windows, mirrors, and protecting the body of the car (and the Evo next to it) from getting any over spray. Then I applied a new layer of Bondo-glass over the hole in the wing and sanded everything down to repaint. I used 4 cans of Rustolium black, no clear this time. It's not perfect, but it looks pretty good for the $30 I spent on paint and supplies.

Today my Torque Solution driveshaft bushings came in and I thought it was going to be a simple install... boy was I wrong! As you recall, when I took the driveshaft down, it was missing one of the rear bushings and nut completely and the driveshaft was just kinda hanging there. Well, when I went to reinstall it, I discovered why... both rear mounting studs were broken in half. They were too short to get the bushing on, and one of them was also stripped, so I couldn't even put the driveshaft up without the bushing. Time to break out the welder. First I cut off what was left of the old studs. I then cut a new bolt to the proper length. The end that I was going to weld to the chassis I ground down to a point, to give me space to weld it, without interfering with the installation of the bushing. I then placed a jack underneath the new stud to hold it in place while I welded it up. Afterwards I ground off any extra metal around the base of the bolt so the bushing would seat properly. Then I covered the bare metal up with some black spray paint to keep it from rusting. I did the same thing on both sides and was finally able to mount my driveshaft. I'm very happy with how it turned it!

 

[SBstar]

Great work sir! I love the ingenuity and attention to detail .

 

[9!'clipseDOHC]

Today my wife and I participated in a local SCCA RoadRally sponsored by the Pan Am SCCA region. The event was a GTA (Game, Tour and Adventure) Rally, which requires participants to answer questions based on signs and landmarks along the route.

There was a 2 hour time limit to complete the route and 49 questions to answer along the way. The route followed backroads from El Paso, Texas to Las Cruces, NM, going through small towns, rural farm land, and pecan orchards.

My wife and I finished within the allotted time and correctly answered 42 of the questions (for perspective, first place got 45 and last place got 21) for a third place finish. The Eclipse did great and garnered a lot of attention, especially at the the starting line, which was at a local Nissan dealership. I even had one of the employees wanting to know how much I'd sell it for.

We had a great time and are looking forward to doing more events like this in the future with the antique haha!

 

[2gmitsueclipse]

That actually sounds pretty fun. This seems to be unique to your SCCA region. My fiance would totally dig an event like this. She already supports the HPDE's and RallyCross. We did a TSD school together, but it really wasn't our cup of tea. I am pretty excited that she may try RallyCross once we finish the Laser. Glad to see others involving their significant others!

 

[9!'clipseDOHC]

That actually sounds pretty fun. This seems to be unique to your SCCA region. My fiance would totally dig an event like this. She already supports the HPDE's and RallyCross. We did a TSD school together, but it really wasn't our cup of tea. I am pretty excited that she may try RallyCross once we finish the Laser. Glad to see others involving their significant others!

Luckily my wife has always supported my hobbies! I once even got her to drive in a rallycross event in the DSM but it wasn’t really her thing either. She had a lot more fun participating in the GTA Road Rally as my navigator.

New update on the DSM: My original suspension setup on the DSM was KYB AGX struts with Eibach Pro springs. I used that setup for probably a decade. When I started rallycross racing and went AWD I planned on using Evo VIII/IX Bilstein struts with factory Evo VIII springs all the way around. I modified the fronts to work but never got around to modifying the rears to fit. This left me with nice Evo stuff up front and factory 25 year old Eclipse stuff in the back. Far from ideal. So today my Dad and I installed new KYB Struts and Tein S. Tech springs all the way around. This lowered the car just a tad and should increase ride quality significantly. And as a bonus, the factory Evo VIII springs will now be going on the Evo V, replacing the Swift springs it has now and giving me a little more clearance for the wide tires.