91 Eclipse

[Cherry]

Cherry submitted a new DSM Profile :

91 Eclipse


Read more about this vehicle here...

 

[Cherry]

So I guess I'll give a little introduction on the story of my car, and ill try to dig up some old photos to see the progress throughout the years.

So I got my 91 eclipse as a base model 16 years ago when I was 15. My dads friend had a mechanic shop that was pretty busy in a small town and there were 2 cars in the back yard of the mechanic shop, one a 1991 Mitsubishi Eclipse base model with a 1.8 auto and a 1992 Eclipse with the same stuff. My dad had asked about it one year since I was getting my learners and they said that if he could get it running he could have it. So apparently they had tried swapping the computers in it with no success.

Well my father seen that there were 2 computers and it would seem they were swapping out the transmission computer since that is the one that you see when you remove the 2 I guess you would call them kick plates closest to the firewall. Mind you these people usually work on older cars and a lot of them were part of a car club at the time. Swapped the right computer and the 91 fired up and a bill of sale was written up but no title. Got a title and they also gave us the 92 to clear up space in the back.

At the time the Fast and the Furious film came out and NFS Underground was big at the time. Being 15 I decided to get rid of the popup headlights which now I am regretting. I got the clear side markers and "clear" headlights which basically didnt have the factory lines in it and the aftermarket tail lights that everyone was getting at the time. Needless to say the sidemarkers are in the trash and so are the tail lights.

I also had gotten the drift body kit for it and an aluminum wing and some 16 in rims that you still see on the car today for like 200 dollars total. I need to get that plasti-dip off of them and actually get them repainted, or just get new ones. I had it painted a silver close to the stock color and basically drove it for a long time with the only mod to the 1.8 being a Weapon R cold air intake. I dont know if the double pipe design actually does anything but its there and I still use.

Some years later when I moved back to Georgia I decided to try to do a bunch of stuff that I had no business doing which just led me back to getting it as close to stock as possible in terms of the body. Front bumper cover, stock side skirts from the 92 which I am missing one piece on the driver side but I think I have a solution for that and I just have to keep working on it.

I do have the side moldings and if anyone knows anything about getting those things off, and I had the body kit molded to them, well they all broke or just werent worth fixing. I have a new set and I repaired them, if they actually hold up however is another story but I used plastic bonding epoxy to fix them so fingers crossed.

A few years ago however we got ahold of a 2.0 with a 5 speed manual, ECU and wiring harness. I changed it all out and then had basically the GS model. I cant remember what had happened to the first motor, but there was something very wrong with it that we ended up buying another one from Pull A Part. Popped it out with the transmission and headed home with it. Idiot us didnt change out the timing belts, the small balance shaft belt snapped and took a trip around the timing cover and bent the intake valves and I think cracked something else, needless to say we got a new head and everything because it was cheaper at that time. Something else happened which bent some valves again, all human error but we were able to get new valves and put them in at a buddies shop.

So now we are coming up on the present in my DSM journey I guess you could say. I recently found out that my front motor mount was splitting the rubber inside the mount. I wonder what could be causing that.

Oh, I found the culprit. The previous owners or somewhere down the line had what looks like broken off where the bracket mounts to the motor and tried welding it back together. This through off the bracket at an angle which put pressure on the motor mount splitting the rubber insert.

I decided to just fix that and to a rebuild with the plans of doing a turbo build. I probably should of saved up for a complete turbo motor, but I bought a turbo block and turbo pistons. I did a complete rebuild with BC 268/272 cams from STM Tuned and a bunch of other parts from them and ExtremePSI. I also got a rebuild kit and so far no leaks and it runs smooth other than an idle issue that is getting better and better every time I go out and try to get things straightened out. I also got a JM Fab intake manifold and s90 throttle body.

Kind of a messy picture but there it was, all built. I left the alternator and power steering pump off while putting it in the car.

Relocated the battery to the back, oil catch can though its a pretty cheap one. Power steering pump cleaned up as well as the alternator.

Then when it was running there was a loud whistle whir, one whistle was coming from the s90 when you barely touched the throttle, goody. The other was coming from the JM Fab intake manifold. I guess it wasnt seated properly or the build in gaskets just didnt do right but its probably human error.

Time to get the wrenchs back out.

Needless to say I relocated the battery to the front, I also shaved the stock intake manifold to match the Hyundai valve cover which I think im going to try to redo because I dont like the color and the one I had on was much more purple. I got everything back to stock basically and no more whistles but the idle problem is still being worked on. The only thing left I have to do is decide where I am going to mount the oil catch can. I still want to have one on it but finding a spot for it is a little difficult.

I have ordered a new throttle cable because I think mine is sticking so I get to get rid of the cruise control stuff that doesnt work and has never worked since I did the 2.0 swap. I did have a cheap clear upper timing cover but it was rubbing this go around and I dont know why but I took it off and put this one back on and no rubbing.

I do need to give the engine bay a bath though. Also I made a completely new wiring harness for my headlights and there is a switch panel under the radio to work the lights. It works and maybe one day I will try to get the stock switch and everything working again. I remember hearing the headlight relays clicking when I turned the switch but the lights never game on, any of them, parking lights, headlights, tail lights, interior lights. They were all dead. I havent had any trouble with the new ones and other than the switches inside you would never know the difference.

I might possibly sell the JM Fab intake which is the street version and the s90. I also have the JM Fab coil mount bracket and I have some hardware to go with it to mount up the coils and other bits to it. At this point though I would rather wait until everything is worked out before I start selling stuff.

Its a long first post, but future posts shouldnt be so long.

 

[Cherry]

Its been a while since I have been on due to moving and stuff, but ive made a little progress on some things.

My windshield washer bottle after being so old basically fell apart. I got a Vibrant Windshield Washer bottle and put it in the same location where the stock bottle was. That meant I needed a way to fill it. Had some metal from a display from work with some tubing, and some parts off of a motorcycle I started working on to make a filler neck.

I also did some tidying up around the front and and making it more rigid since its a front visual conversion from a 1ga to 1gb and it was in 2 minor accidents about 15 years ago, ive been trying to slowly get things worked out. Going to be cleaning the engine bay and doing some body work to hopefully finish this stuff up.

My idle issue did return somewhat but different from what it originally was. Now when I let off the throttle it will just completely shut off or even if I blip the throttle so it goes up in rpms it will shut off as well. I checked the ICS motor, the IPS, went through the entire process of setting the idle with making sure the timing is right and the screw set. The only thing I can think of is the computer is acting up but I wouldnt know where that circuit is in the computer. Its not throwing any codes or anything like that either but ill take care of it again.

I dont know if anyone cares about motorcycles, but I got a 1988 Honda CBR1000F Hurricane for free that was in a wreck and that took up quite a bit of my time I could have spent working on my car.

Maybe next time I post I will have more things car related. I know its also a DSM forums, but this is what I started my welding ventures on that lead to fixing stuff on my car and Im a little proud of what I have done so far on it so why not show it off a little bit.

If anyone might have any ideas of the idle issue yet again, any input would be appreciated. I am also contemplating on using the stock intake manifold and throttle body again or using the JM fab intake and S90 throttle body that I originally had on the car. The throttle feels smoother to push with the stop throttle body, but I spent money on the JM Fam intake and S90 Throttle body. I have a some big ocd in how something looks and I think the JM fab intake manifold just sits too low in the engine bay. I kind of wish it had an s bend going from the intake housing to the head but I understand why its a straight shot.

Hopefully more updates coming soon.

 

[Cherry]

I had to do a complete engine rebuild because some stuff went through the engine. Good thing is nothing made it to the head but the crank and main/rod bearings were pretty bad. New oversized bearings and the crank was turned for smooth surfaces. I cleaned, cleaned, and cleaned once more everything. I didnt get many pictures along the way but everything is cleaned.

I also removed the baffles for the valve cover and cleaned everything out in there as well.

I would have had it all back together by now but whenever I buy a complete gasket kit there is something wrong with it.

I contacted Rockauto on this piece but it might be worth it to just go an get one instead of waiting another 11 days for one to possibly arrive.

I havent found the cause of the damage other than maybe the valve cover or block which I bought from ebay had something in it that eventually freed itself. I guess lesson learned, get everything cleaned thoroughly but I am pretty lucky that the damage wasnt worse.

I just have to finish my valve cover and will provide some pictures of why you should shy away from the Purple Duplicolor Metalcast paint color. I have some other things in mind for some minor projects that I might try to do as well.

 

[Cherry]

I am not good at taking update pictures. But I have gotten the engine back in and started on bodywork. Its in the primed stage now, just have to smooth it out since im not the best painter and the primer dries super fast, but its getting to a point that it doesnt look like a Bob Ross palette.

I did a test on the color that I am going to go with at first which came out pretty well. No clear on it or anything and is just the basecoat. I tried getting as close to the A16 Modena Silver Metallic as I could.

I resealed the hood, and the rear hatch and anywhere else that the sealant was cracking or missing and I re-glued the hood skins together prior to priming. I also had to scratch make part of the driver side side skirt because it went missing at some point and it turned out pretty well considering I couldnt even find the part to buy.

I sprayed the underside of the rear hatch, the driver side door, and a little body panel just to see how things were going to turn out. From the looks of things it should come out quite well if I was able to get a pretty good result from just a tiny touch up gun with a 1.1mm tip. I have a 3M Accuspray One gun that I am going to use on the rest of the car with a 1.4mm tip that is recommended for the paint.

The paint that I am using is the Duplicolor Paint Shop ready mix paint. I mixed a 1:1 of Jet Black and Brilliant Silver. I still have to get the closs clear. Im just going to take my time and not rush it since metallics can streak easily if you dont carry the wet edge and the edge starts to dry out.

Im not too worried about my tires and rims since I have to redo the rims anyways and the tires should clean up as well.

 

[Cherry]

I did a little more prep and paint today though Ida bands are going through I didnt want to do too much with the high humidity.

The underside of the hood would have turned out better with a higher flow tip but I am limited on liners for my gun so I just used my touch up gun. Given the areas it turned out pretty well. Tomorrow is another day.