The Top DSM Community on the Web

For 1990-1999 Mitsubishi Eclipse, Eagle Talon, Plymouth Laser, and Galant VR-4 Owners. Log in to remove most ads.

Please Support STM Tuned
Please Support ExtremePSI

Street Build '97 Eclipse AWD GS-T (2006 to Present)

This site may earn a commission from merchant
affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

15JUL2015 - Transmission Installed

I got the transmission back on and I think it was the shim under the pivot ball that was creating the problem. Like I said, I don't remember even installing a pivot ball in the Shep trans when I got it from Shep but, either way, it was there. At the time this was a brand new ACT twin disk so the odds are the shim under the pivot ball threw off the geometry of the clutch fork and pushed it too far towards the clutch causing the TOB to "kiss" the PP.

After months of procrastination I replaced the TOB and fulcrum with OEM and removed that washer. I dry humped the transmission into submission, it only took a few dozen attempts and near death experiences installing it by myself, but now the TOB rides freely on the input shaft and the clutch fork's position is perfect without that washer under there.

NEXT! LOL

According to RRE's Tech page I was in the OK side of the window and a shim wasn't necessary after I reinstalled everything. ---> RRE Clutch & Flywheel Tech



20150716_211630.jpg


20150715_215102.jpg
 
16SEP2015 - ARP Exhaust Manifold Stud Install
While it wasn't 100% necessary, I was tired of looking at the OE units I installed because the copper nuts were discoloring from heat and looked like ass. Since my car had already been down for awhile from the TOB issue I figured I might as well take care of everything else I had on the "to-do" list.

I ran a tap down each thread before I installed them and I couldn't be
happier with the result, they looked great and the studs seated better into the head because they're installed with an allen wrench. My only regret is not doing this the first time I pulled the exhaust manifold 8yrs ago...

20150916_180006.jpg


20150916_182054.jpg
 
06OCT2015 - Deleting Unused Waterpipe Connections
The current setup I don't run any coolant lines to my turbo, OFH, or TB. All the OE lines coming off the water pipe are either caped with a rubber plug or looped with a rubber hose. Capping a pressurized coolant line works but isn't exactly reliable, especially when the rubber gets heat cycled and starts cracking over a few years. I decided it was time to pay closer attention to the coolant setup and finish the AN fitting hoses that had plagued me when I tried running 20AN lines.

Here's what the caps looked like, which is why it was time to figure something else out before I was left stranded on the road because I was taking shortcuts and cutting corners.

DSC_0046.jpg



I pulled the t-stat housing, water pipe, radiator inlet/outlet connections, and radiator to get the new 16AN fittings welded up and the fittings cut/welded closed to eliminate the need for the rubber caps.

20151006_153219.jpg


20151006_153513.jpg


20151006_153715.jpg


Untitled-1.jpg


Here's what everything looked like bolted up and installed.

20151006_161548.jpg
 
24OCT2015 - Custom VIN Plate
Something that always bothered me when looking at my engine bay was the 19yr. old faded VIN plate that Mitsubishi put on the car from the factory.

Untitled-1.jpg




I got in touch with the guy that made my FLEXFUEL badge and he said he could make it work, we used aluminum and had it powder coated and laser engraved. Should last longer than the piece of paper Mitsubishi put on there.

This is the PS rendering I sent in...

Screen Shot 2017-02-28 at 12.01.53 PM copy.jpg


Eye sore eliminated.

20151024_211215.jpg


20151027_182218.jpg
 
25OCT2015 - Jeff Bush Transfer Case Brace
It was time to start putting the car back together now that I cleaned up the bugs but I had one last piece I wanted to install that I bought when the transmission was off the car, a Jeff Bush t-case brace.

Hopefully this t-case brace will add some much needed structure to the transfer case. It attaches to each section down the case, where it clamps around tail housing to tie everything together. Not saying that I'm making enough power to warrant this but it's cheap insurance, especially since I plan on launching a bit harder now with these Hoosier DR's.

20150817_095413.jpg


20150817_095437.jpg


20150817_102221.jpg
 
Thats exactly what I have been wanting to do with my water pipe. Looks so clean. Just need to pull it off and weld it up. Great work.

Engine bay badge looks awesome too by the way! Thanks for the updates.
 
17NOV2015 - 16AN Radiator Hose Install & EDM Tail Lights

The 16AN lines were a lot easier to work with than the previous 20AN lines I made, wish I wouldn't have even bothered trying to go the 20AN route. Unfortunately, I didn't grab any photos of the assembly but I finished installing the AN hoses and filled the coolant system up with 70/30 and pushed the car out of the garage, then fired it up to burp the system.
20151117_133928.jpg


While the car was idling I took the opportunity to bolt in my new EDM tail lights. I know they're not for everyone but I always liked how they looked on the red 2g's I had seen. The only thing that I didn't like was most people bolt them in and don't get them wired properly. For now though, they're in. Now it's time to figure out how to get them wired to function like they're supposed to.

20151117_133733.jpg
 
24NOV2015 - Properly Wiring 2g EDM Tail Lights
After lots of digging through my electrical FSM's I created a wiring diagram so I could see what wires I needed to move to get the EDM tails to function correctly. The plan was to use the dedicated brake signal going to the 3rd brake light (high mounted stop light), rerouted to the EDM tail lights then remove the brake signal from the blinker so it would only blink on the corners.

15841691_10157927560895398_1123472436_n.jpg

The wiring seemed easy enough but this doesn't fix the "hyper blink" once the wiring is rerouted that's caused because there's not as much resistance on the blinker circuit, so the hazard flasher unit thinks there's a bulb burnt out. The only article I found that showed a fix to solve this problem required wiring in load resistors to each tail light and run additional wiring from the flasher unit to the tail lights. --> Correct 2g EDM taillight wiring with pictures!

Adding load resistors and a huge bird nest of wiring to my car wasn't something I was interested in doing just to run a set of EDM lights. I thought I'd dig deeper and see if there was another way, so I pulled the hazard flasher unit from the dash and opened it up. When you pull the circuit board out of the box you'll notice a bar that's soldered to the board, the current that runs to the blinkers goes through this bar and if there's too much then the unit "hyper-blinks". I took a pair of wire cutters and cut off each end of the bar, then soldered a 18awg wire that was about 6" long between the two posts and plugged it back in to the car's wiring harness.

20151124_142454.jpg


:rocks: WORKS! :rocks:

 
21DEC2015 - Goodbye 2015.
One last look at the engine bay before I left for the holidays, new year new plans for the car. I still needed to replace the valve springs and get my hands on a staging brake. DSM problems... :D

DSC_0472.jpg
 
21FEB2016 - Cutting, Polishing, & Waxing 19yr Old Paint
My paint had never been cut or polished, just hand waxed, since I'd owned the car so for its 19th birthday I bought a professional orbital buffer and some chemicals to freshen up the paint job.

I took a few photos of the micro scratches in the clear coat that I had hoped to fix, even though I had never done anything like this before.

DSC_0537.jpg


DSC_0536.jpg


DSC_0535.jpg


Here's a photo I took after I hand washed it with hot soapy water and a microfiber glove.

20160221_110600.jpg


After the hand wash I pushed it back into the garage and hand dried it, then gave it a complete clay bar before getting out the new polisher and compound and correcting the clear coat.
 
23FEB2016 - Washing, Clay bar, Cutting, Polishing, & Waxing Complete
It only took me two f***ing days to complete the process and get the results I was looking for, definitely wasn't expecting it but I wanted to make sure to get the results I wanted too. I wish I had gone through the pictures I took prior to doing all the work and compare the before and after but I didn't, unfortunately. This is the only photo I took really showing the reflection off the clear coat, doing all this really did eliminate the micro scratches in the clear coat and it was well worth the work.

20160223_145330.jpg


DSC_0540.jpg


DSC_0538.jpg
 
How's the ceramic coating holding up I may do mine not sure if will actually help.
It's holding up but as a heat retainer it doesn't do much. In an update, which I'll post soon, I picked up a blanket that wraps around the FP manifold and actually helps keep the heat out of the engine bay, which is really what I was wanting.
 
24FEB2016 - Evo IX Steering Wheel Install
A close friend as well as coworker has just about everything you could dream of owning in a shop and he's always asking if there's anything he can do to help. Well, I decided that instead of taking something to a fabricator (like I did my AN fittings) to be welded I'd give us a project to work in while I was over at his place having a few beers.

I had ordered a Evo to DSM steering wheel adapter from @2slow4now and I found a Evo IX wheel off of a local DSM board for $100. I took everything over to my buddy Jake's house and we got to work.

First we cut the stock Evo splined hub off the back of the wheel with a bandsaw.
20160216_110748.jpg


Then we used the write-up that 2slow4now provides with the adapter and got the placement of it set at the proper height before welding it in.
20160216_110829.jpg


Using Jake's ARC welder he threw a nice bead around it, damn near looks OEM. LOL
20160216_114105.jpg


Then I placed the wheel plastics on there to make sure there was enough protruding.
20160216_114049.jpg



Couldn't be happier with the end result since the 2g wheel looks like a better fit for a mini van and the smaller diameter of the Evo wheel makes the car "feel" better when you're taking a turn.

DSC_0545.jpg
 
25FEB2016 - Intel Employee Car Show
Seemed like I just posted the 2015 car show images yesterday (LOL) but here it is, already that time of year. Sorry for the spoiler but they canceled the one for Feb. 2017 (which is current date/time) because they decided to do some construction in the parking lot. Hoping they were going to push it a few weeks but they just decided to cancel it. :mad:

Anyway, my car had it's first cut and polish with a orbital and two coats of wax and was looking great. I never make a good showing at the Intel car show because there are a lot of people with deeper pockets than mine with a lot more interesting cars but at least this time I felt like my car belonged there. It had a full interior (even though a lot of the brackets are gutted underneath) and at least had a fresh coat of wax unlike years past where I went with a layer of dust and it completely stripped for the race season.

Here are the two pictures of my 2g from the Intel photographer and once again I was the only DSM their.

Untitled-2.jpg


Untitled-1.jpg


In recent years I've never shared the other cars that are at the show in my build thread so if you're interested, here's a link to the Flickr account of the photographer that took the photos ---> Intel Arizona Employee Car Show 2016

Maybe someday they'll start doing best Mitsubishi and I'll have a chance (since I'm the only one that brings one :sneaky:)
 
13MAR2016 - Kiggly HP Beehive Valve Springs : Day 1
It was time to stop putting off the inevitable, the truth was it had been almost 2yrs since my last time out to the track and I still hadn't addressed my suspected valve float issues. When it comes to doing something I'm unfamiliar with, such as installing valve springs without pulling the head, I really like to make sure I'm doing the right thing and feel comfortable with the work before I jump in head first.
As a last ditch effort I emailed Kiggly and got his opinion which validated what I had assumed was the problem and I can't thank him enough for his honesty and expertise. It's not often you email a company like Kiggly and get an email back from the owner/engineer that designed the product as well as races the car.
Hi Corey,
We generally recommend 1.7x manifold pressure in PSIA for seat pressure in high boost applications. Lower boost applications seem to get away with less than this, down into the 1.5-1.6x range. I believe the stock EVO springs are 65lbs on the seat, this is really just good for about 26-29psi in our experience. Couple that with the relatively aggressive ramps on the FP cams (I know they're not the X's, but they were all a bit aggressive) and seeing either valves blowing open or float in your
application on seems very believable.
Thanks,
Kevin Kwiatkowski
Kiggly Racing LLC
I picked up a set of Kiggly HP Beehives and "took the leap" into the unknown...

The plan was to install the Kiggly valve springs with the head on the block, keeping the valves from dropping into the cylinder using a leak down tester fitting that would push a constant 100psi into the cylinder while the valve springs were off. I also picked up a set of good condition (used) Evo rockers which are lighter overall than the stock DSM rockers, the less weight off the valve train the better. I also thought it would be a good idea to actually do a leak down test since I'd never done one before and it's a lot easier with the cams out of the car.
The tool to remove the valve locks I picked up for $30 from Amazon but, as you'll see, it became a paper weight on the (4) of valves which were the inner most of cylinder #2 and #3 because of clearance issues so a good local friend let me borrow his
EuroExport 4g63 valve spring compressor tool and it worked amazing.

DSC_0004.jpg


I pulled the timing belt and cams then called it a day, ready to start fresh the next morning...

DSC_0008.jpg


DSC_0010.jpg
 
14MAR2016 - Kiggly HP Beehive Valve Springs : Day 2
I woke up first thing in the morning and pulled out the leak checker and dropped it in. I bought the leak testing kit a few years back but I put off doing it because I was afraid of the results I my find. This time though I had no excuse not to do it since part of the kit was needed to pull the valve springs with the head on the block. I was worried about the results but it had to be done.
I used @Calan Compression & Leak-Down Testing write-up to base my results off of.
Calan said:
No engine is perfect, and all will have at least some loss. The percentage of air lost should be consistent across cylinders: if only one cylinder has major air loss, then there is a problem specific to that cylinder. Use the following loss percentage numbers as a rough estimate of the overall health of your motor:

1. Less than 5% - You either did something wrong or have one hell of a nice tight engine.
2. 5% to 10% - Great to good. You should have no worries.
3. 10% to 20% - Your motor may still run ok, but it isn't at it's best. Parts may be starting to wear out....keep an eye on it and test it more regularly.
4. 20% to 30% - It may be (and probably is) time for a rebuild.
5. Greater than 30% - You have some major engine issues that need to be addressed.
DSC_0011.jpg



Cylinder #4
DSC_0012.jpg


Cylinder #3
DSC_0014.jpg


Cylinder #2
DSC_0015.jpg


Cylinder #1
DSC_0016.jpg


I moved onto pulling the Evo IX valve springs that were giving me fits and installed the Kiggly HP Beehives. I pulled the lifters and soaked them in a thing of oil then plugged all the oil drain backs from the head going to the pan with lint free paper towels, the last thing I needed was to drop a valve lock down into the oil pan.

DSC_0018.jpg


Then I back filled the cylinder I was working on with air set at 100psi and got to work, my little 5ga air compressor was on 100% of the time. LOL

DSC_0021.jpg


DSC_0023.jpg


It was fairly tedious work but not as bad as I thought it was going to be, if it weren't for the constant drone of the air compressor motor running it would have been great but it was still do-able with a small 5ga air compressor and some ear plugs.

I started popping the valve springs out at 0930 and put the last Kiggly spring in and shut the compressor off around 1130, so about 2 hours. Below is a Kiggly HP beehive on the right and on the left is the OE Evo beehive spring on the left.

DSC_0026.jpg


After I finished installing the new valve springs I cleaned and bled the lifters before dropping them back into the head.

DSC_0029.jpg


Then installed the Evo rockers...

DSC_0030.jpg


Dropped in the FP2's and torqued down the cam caps, then installed the cam gears and took a few photos to show the finished result. Hopefully now this will clear up any issues I was having with valve float at the track, only time will tell!

DSC_0032.jpg


DSC_0034.jpg
 
25MAR2016 - Sparco Evo II Race Seat Test Fit
If you asked me in 2008 if I would ever install a racing seat and replace the black leather interior I installed from a '99 I would have told you you're crazy. It was the black leather interior I was pulling out while my car was on fire because it was the one thing I was trying to save! Things change, especially after 8yrs, and I was wanting to lighten up the car as much as I could which means getting rid of the heavy motorized driver seat. After doing a lot of reading/research, since getting a FIA approved seat isn't cheap, to make sure it fit my body properly I decided that the Sparco Evo II was going to be my seat of choice (not the US version as it's bigger). If you're interested in getting a race seat this site was very informative as far as taking measurements go... ---> OG Racing : Sparco Race Seat Fitment

Once I decided on a seat I needed to figure out mounting options, which shouldn't be taken lightly either. You get a nice race seat and it's mounted to the floor with tape and bubblegum you're not going to survive a halfway serious crash at a track or on the street, you want something you will bet your life on. The idea though, to install a bracket that used the OE seat mounting points that would allow me to pull the stock seat and install the Sparco for track days and toss the OE seat back in for DD'ing around the streets. There were limited options available for bolt-in brackets for the 2g - Wedge ($90 each), WeaponR ($115 pair), & Planted Technology ($140 each). I wasn't interested in the Wedge bracket because I had seen first hand their fitment issues as well as headliner clearance problems once they were installed. I decided I'd checkout the WeaponR and see how they fit because they had a seatbelt bracket too, I just hoped they fit right and looked safe enough.
The Sparco Evo seat is a side mounted seat so I needed to choose what side mounts I'd go with too. I decided to keep it simple and just grab a set from Sparco and I grabbed their steel brackets.

I placed my order and received a few boxes of goodies... :sneaky:

DSC_0039.jpg


Immediately after opening the WeaponR brackets I knew they were pieces of shit, garbage welds and poor craftsmanship. I should have known based off the price but wanted to see for myself. Besides them feeling cheap and looking like they were fabricated in Cletus' trailer I thought I'd see how they fit on the OE seat mounting points. What a joke...

This was my immediate tip off, they had to drill out one of the stud holes to get it to fit the OE seat mounts.
20160330_130516.jpg


Once I got the front mounts dropped over the front studs and hand tightened down the bracket didn't quite fit the contour of the floor. You can see it's about 1/2" too high and not even touching the floorboard in the rear, I would have had to bend it down (somehow) to get the rear bolts to thread down tight to the floorboard.

20160323_182951.jpg


20160323_182931.jpg


I boxed them up and returned them to China then placed an order with Planted Technology up in Washington and waited patiently for them to build and ship the brackets since they were made to order. I also decided to return the Sparco steel side brackets too because they were poor quality for their price (I thought) and weighed a lot for what they were. The Sparco logo in white was painted on and looked like it would easy scratch/chip off after a few times of in and out which isn't what I wanted in a $1000 seat setup.

Time to wait!
 
04APR2016 - Sparco Evo II Seat Test Fit & Planted Seat Brackets
I received my Planted Tech. seat brackets and aluminum side mounts, both were 10x the quality of the WeaponR brackets and Sparco side mounts.

DSC_0067.jpg


These were something I'd trust to bolt my ass to and, worse case scenario, if I were to get into a serious accident I would trust it to keep the seat in place. The Planted Tech. dropped perfectly into place on the OE mounting points without any convincing it to do so, just like it should. My only concern after looking at it without the seat installed what how high it appeared off the floor, I wasn't sure if I could use it because I didn't want my head banging off the headliner.

DSC_0069.jpg


I still wanted to give it a shot and see how the Sparco see sat on them with the Planted Tech side mounts bolted to it so I placed the seat on it to mock it up, giving me an idea of height and side to side clearance. What I had expected though, the seat bracket was too high and put the Sparco seat up into the headliner not giving any room for head clearance. My head was touching the headliner without a helmet on, I'm not sure if I could have even sat up in the seat if I had my race helmet on.

DSC_0085.jpg


DSC_0076.jpg


Another important thing to note is side to side clearance on the door panel and the aftermarket seats shoulder wings. Head clearance with the Planted Tech. bracket was none existent but even after pushing the seat as far inboard (towards the center console) as I could it was barely high enough to clear the door panel with the door closed. So if I drop the seat lower so my head is out of the ceiling of the car then it poses a different problem, door panel clearance. So I either ride with my head up into the headliner and close the door or I lower the seat 4" like I need to but the door has to stay open... compromises. LOL
I decided that even though the Planted Tech parts were great they didn't work for my application so yet again I returned everything, including the side brackets, to Planted and went back to the drawing board.

dsc_0083-jpg-302778-jpg.302780.jpg


So far my Sparco seat was an expensive Playstation GT gaming chair.
 
10APR2016 - Zaklee Clear Timing Belt Cover
When I did the valve springs I noticed my OE timing belt cover had seen better days and it was time to replace it. A brand new OE unit was ~$70 shipped but since I had some nice looking cam gears I figured that if I was going to replace it I might as well get a clear one and show them off. The Zaklee I found on eBay for $50 shipped!

The install was a PITA but I struggled through it in about 5 minutes then took a few pictures. I called in backup for the install too...

DSC_0093.jpg


...and months later after all the work I spent cutting, polishing, and waxing the paint looks like its still holding up.

DSC_0089.jpg
 
19APR2016 - Rusty Coolant
I'm not sure how/when it happened but when I replaced the upper/lower radiator hoses with AN fittings I noticed that the coolant coming up when I was burping the system was rusty looking. I thought it was because the car had been sitting for months when the transmission was off and assumed (you know where that gets you) that if I completely drained the system and put in a fresh mix it would be all good. Well, I was wrong.

I decided to check on it and bumped a little antifreeze out of the radiator QD drain and what came out wasn't what I wanted to see. I was hoping for that bright green look and I got a copper orange, which wasn't the color of the coolant I filled it up with in Nov. 2015.

DSC_0061.jpg


I figured it was time to pay more attention to this and fix the issue before it gets worse. I used my air compressor and blew out the system completely, rather than just relying on gravity to drain it, which doesn't get everything. I even jacked the car up on the passenger side to tilt the block towards the water pump so try and get EVERYTHING...

Then I pulled the t-stat and bolted everything back up and flushed the system with hose water with the radiator drain open for 15m with the car idling, just keeping the coolant funnel full.

20160403_132222.jpg


After doing that I re-installed the t-stat and used the air compressor again to push all the remaining tap water that wouldn't gravity drain out of the system.



Then I filled the system up with distilled water, antifreeze, and some Prestone flush+cleaner and started driving the car to/from work like a daily to heat cycle the coolant system and let the Prestone work it's magic.
 
Is the airbag functional on the evo steering wheel?
I'm not sure if it's possible to make it functional or not. When I bought the wheel I completely gutted the airbag system from it, then mounted the airbag cover back in the steering wheel so it didn't look like a hack job.

Reading this install though ---> Evo Steering Wheel in a DSM it looks like they retained the factory CC and wired in the airbag. The only way to know if the airbag is still functional though is to wire it in and then wreck the car, so I'm guessing they never found out if it actually functioned.
 
30APR2016 - New License Plate
I liked my AWDGST Arizona Veteran plate but after I received my new registration paperwork I decided it was time for a change. I was paying $25 for the Veteran plate, $25 for the AWDGST plate number, & $18 for the actual tax/title/license of the car. WTF

I decided I still wanted a vanity plate number but I'd get the freebie Arizona plate so I changed things up a bit and went with UNDERPSI since the AWDGST confused people, everyone thought it was short for Awe Dog, Shit. LOL

20160430_184658.jpg
 
Support Vendors who Support the DSM Community
Boosted Fabrication ECM Tuning ExtremePSI Fuel Injector Clinic Innovation Products Jacks Transmissions JNZ Tuning Kiggly Racing Morrison Fabrications MyMitsubishiStore.com RixRacing RockAuto RTM Racing STM Tuned

Latest posts

Build Thread Updates

Vendor Updates

Latest Classifieds

Back
Top