97 Eclipse GSX 300whp Build

[Rayski]

Sup guys. Just bought my first dsm about a month ago. It's my dd, and I've got a goal of 300whp+ on her by the summer. A little about me and my car; I'm an 18 year old senior in high school working part time whenever I can. A solid amount of my money is going into this car. My eclipse is an automatic with 188k miles and a recently rebuilt top end. Now onto the fun stuff

Mods that were on the car when I purchased it for 3k are as follows
-Pacesetter Header
-HKS 3" Cat-Back
-K&N Intake
-Small 16g turbo

Just after I bought her

Here's the first day I bought her after a wash

Mod List for the build

Performance

-Megan Racing 3" Downpipe
-o2 Sensor Housing
-B&M Big Trans Cooler
-FMIC
-Hallman Pro Boost Controller
-AFPR
-AEM Wideband Gauge Purchased
-Poly Motor Mounts Installed
-Defi Boost Gauge Installed
-Balance Shaft Delete Installed
-1G BOV Installed
-EvoIII 550cc Injectors Installed
-Walbro 255 fuel pump Installed
-Apexi Safcii Installed


Suspension
-Kyb Agx Struts


Appearance

Exterior
-A Pillar Gauge Pod Installed
-HID Kit
-Middle Tail Light
-Side Marker Light
-Yellow Fog Lights
-Wheel Wells
-XXR 527

Interior
-OEM Floor Mats

Current To-Do List
-Install SAFCii Done
-Full rebuild Done
-Replace front rotors/pads with oem
-Buy B&M Trans Cooler
-Buy Redline type f ATF
-Buy Megan Downpipe
-Buy MBC
-SAFCii Tune
-Buy Parking Light
-Plastidip trim
-Restore Headlights
-Buy Yellow h3 bulbs
-Homedepot Lip




Parts have arrived!

Megan 3" downpipe and new trunk struts

TurboXS 2Stage MBC

AEM Wideband Gauge

Got a flat tire on Christmas Eve, found out that the PO did not leave a hex key to get the wheel lugs off in the car, nobody I called had one, and every store was closed. Managed to drive 2 miles home on the shoulder at 2mph (Tow truck would take 5 hrs to get there) Merry Christmas ..

Ordered a new tire that took 2 weeks to come in since I had to special order it out of state because my tires were discontinued




Attempted to put the new downpipe in, after getting the rusted screws off the front end of the stock downpipe, I couldn't get the ones that connect to the cat off since they were so rusted, even after excessive use of Liquid Wrench . Soon after that I realized that the new downpipe would not fit, because it turned out to be for a FWD when I was told it was taken off an AWD. Looks like I'm running open o2 sensor housing because the bolts were ruined Time to sell this downpipe and order a new one for an awd.

 

[GofaST4life]

Another Cayenne Red Pearl car. Welcome to the P88 club!

Looks like a clean car from the outside.

Post some pictures up of the engine bay. Just as an FYI I would make sure you have a real 16g on the car. A car with that many miles may have had the turbo die, and someone could have bought a cheap turbo from an eBay vendor as a replacement. Keep the boost low regardless, as you do not yet have the supporting mods to properly run that 16g.

 

[Rayski]

Here are some interior and engine bay pics.

This pic is before the 1G BOV install

And I'm not touching the boost until I've got the other mods on my list on. Does that look alright? Or should I be upgrading other parts as well before raising boost levels

 

[CrackedDSM]

Woo, another Auto AWD. Enjoy never having to worry about bent shift forks, bad TOB, chattering clutches, heavy clutch pedals, changing clutch disks and PP for power, or breaking drivetrain parts. You should look into doing the kiggly shifter mod, as that will help a ton to extend transmission life and it makes the car so much more enjoyable to drive. I think it's great that you're starting out relatively slow, taking your time and trying to do things right. First step before you mod anything, is to make sure all of your maintenance is up to date. Timing belt, compression, all that fun boring stuff. When all that is good and given a clean bill of health and you've got the proper supporting mods, then turn up the boost(safely) and aim for your goal. Car is very clean. Keep up the good work!

 

[Rayski]

Thank you!! And that Kiggly shifter mod looks awesome.. Definitely will look into it. And you are completely right, I'm not installing parts until I do maintenance first

 

[Rayski]

Got the evoIII 560cc injectors in yesterday, forgot to snap pics before putting them in .

Took out the old fuel pump to to find that the fuel pump I purchased was actually from a vr4 and would not fit unless I rigged it, no thanks.

vr4 190lph fuel pump

Comparison of stock and vr4

I decided just to buy a Walbro 255 tonight since it is plug and play and I can install it the right way the first time.




Got the Walbro 255 installed last night, forgot to take pics. Also found a few surprises in the engine bay. The wastegate on my 16g from the PO was rigged with the wrong wastegate actuator, so the waste gate has been wide open No wonder I haven't been making boost until 4-5k rpms !

Black wg actuator is the one the PO had installed

OEM 16g wg actuator

I bought the correct wg actuator for the 16g and went to install it, when I found that there was a mess of hoses where I needed to mount it. The PO rigged the turbo coolant and oil lines with the wrong hoses among other things. So that is the next thing on my to do list now

I also checked turbo for shaft play, there was none And it is indeed a Mitsu small 16g turbo, not an ebay.

 

[Rayski]

Looks like I spun a rod bearing. I will update with what all has been damaged and what I'll be doing to repair it

 

[Pipnorcali]

Bummer..guess its upgrade time

 

[Rayski]

What do you have in mind? Lol, I'm on the lookout for a new engine now, just going to replace it instead of rebuilding, solvent bath, etc.

 

[Wanagofast]

Build was coming along man. And i'm right there with yah with the spun bearing and being a teen. IT sucks :/ but this is your chance to build. If you go that route I would recommend getting all the machine work done on the block first, then go to the rotating assembly. A new Oem crank would be the safest route(cheapest) , With manly pistons and rods. They're cheaper then most forged and you'll hold well over your power level goals. Also look into Acl bearing or Clivite bearings Best of luck on your build keep us updated!

 

[Rayski]

I just picked up a longblock with a bent valve for $350, good thing I only need the bottom end!

 

[Rayski]

Block is coming along! Should be done by tomorrow and I can get back to the build. Next step is putting the engine back in and tuning the SAFCii.

 

[92AWDHX40]

Sorry to hear about the rod bearing did that a while back, ended up just starting from scratch and rebuilding it, again .

 

[Rayski]

Painted the block

Engine is in!!!

MORE PICS SOON

 

[lasershark]

shes coming back together nice man

 

[Rayski]

shes coming back together nice man

Thanks man!! And for anyone wondering how much boost I'm going to be running it's 22psi(14psi while breaking in engine) so hopefully I'll be close to 300hp to the crank, next step is FMIC and big trans oil cooler.

Everything is in! Going to start the car today, I'll upload a vid

 

[Raudel_23]

Wow I'm jealous. Got to start working on mine!

 

[Rayski]

Car is running! Snapped a few pics today since it was nice out

Shot of the gauge pillar, really like how it turned out. Yes I know they aren't matching