colbyc
15+ Year Contributor
- 656
- 6
- Oct 10, 2007
-
Benton,
Arkansas
I've been meaning to do a build thread for a while, and just never got around to doing it. At the time when I first bought my car I didn't take a whole lot of pics so I didn't want to bore everyone with just words.
Well this is it......The build! Lets start with the boring stuff first
I've owned 5 DSM's in my life(so far). It started when I was 14 years old, I know y'all aren't going to believe this but it was because the Fast and the furious movie.....Crazy, right!?!? Haha anyways, my dad helped me pick up a 93 eclipse gs, thing was an absolute slug and a tank. I then picked up a 91 Plymouth Laser, a 96 Eclipse Gs, and a 96 Spyder Gst. Then there's the car I have today which is a 1998 Eclipse Gsx. I knew not a damn thing when I got my first DSM, then slowly started searching the forums. I absolutely loved to read and search over different and potential things you could do to these cars. I was hooked.
I bought the car in the summer of 2010 with a supposed "lifter tick" according to the lawyer I bought it from. Well I got there to buy it and started it up and knew right then it wasn't just a lifter tick. I ended up getting it for a really really good deal so I was happy either way. I lived in missouri at the time, and the car was in Illinois about 2 1/2 hour from me. Luckily my dad is super awesome and got me a truck and trailer to go get it the following day after finding it.
I'd like to also state that I'm by no means a photographer and a majority of my pics were taken with various shitty phones. I would like to get a nice camera sometime in the future but till then we're stuck with this
Here's the original CL ad. Yes it was a pic taken of a computer screen. Also yes I hate the paintjob just as much as everyone else does.
Here's the day we went and picked it up
I know, I know, looks like a toaster was used to take the pics
Anywho, well I got the car home and didn't really do much with it seeing as I was quite sure what was wrong with it and didn't have the space/means to find out. So my next move was to take it to a shop. There was a very reputable DSM shop decently close to where I lived. I didn't want to take it to a shop by any means and still kind of regret doing it to this day. Well I took it to this shop and got news back that the rod bearings on cylinder 1 and 3 had spun. Well I figured while it was there I might as well get all the maintenance taken care of as well as a few goodies. It ended up sitting in his shop for damn near a year. I couldn't of asked for better work though.
I had asked the shop aide to take pics of everything for progress for this very reason, but that didn't happen!
I had them do a complete timing job as well as freshen up the bottom end. I kept the whole bottom end stock, but had to have a rod resurfaced which I didn't want to do AT ALL but was reassured it wouldn't make a difference. I went with some standard ARP headstuds and a mitsubishi MLS head gasket. I also had him do a BSE, replace the oil pump assembly and new timing covers while he was in there.
Well close to a year later I finally got the car back. I was SUPER excited. The car came with an Evo 3 16g, RC 550's, wally 255, 3" cat-back exhaust, Megan racing 3" down pipe, SAFC-2, Greddy 24v FMIC kit, Greddy type S bov, Eibach prokit, Tokico Illuminas, crappy Ebay halo headlights, adjustable cam gears(still have no clue what brand to this day) and some heavy ass Kazerra KZ-A wheels. I won't bore you with the rest.
Well After I got the motor good and broke in I started getting a little power hungry. So I began to search the forums on more of a daily basis, and by daily I mean I'd spend all day on this site. Even at work during free time I'd be on here. I've learned so so much over the years thanks to this site. I learned I had a setup good to get me to the 300ish hp area or 12's. So I started reading more on the tuning side of things. Well after learning more on EcuFlash I came to the conclusion the Safc-2 had to go! I was astounded by the possibilities there was with this. So I sold the Safc and bought a Tactrix 2.0 OP cable and had at it.
Now you somewhat know the story behind everything I'll start timelining from here.
January 2011
Fast forward about a year or so, not much happened here due to moving around alot. The cars been my DD and haven't had an issue with it at all, but the gas mileage hasn't been the greatest. I learn my front o2 sensor is dead so I decide to replace it. Well as my luck has it the o2 sensor seized and broke off in the o2 housing. Luckily I had a spare tubular one lying around from my previous spyder. So off comes the turbo!!
I had thought all the gaskets were brand new and I wouldn't have to worry about replacing them IE: turbo to mani, mani to head, turbo to o2 housing and o2 housing to downpipe. Boy was I wrong, I HAD paid for new gaskets but they weren't new by any means.
Well I ordered new gaskets and decided to clean the turbo up a little while waiting. The 16g had no shaft play at all after who knows how many years it had been on previously. I was impressed, it had definitely seen its fair share of use
After that I had just enjoyed the car and learned more of the ins and outs of tuning.
Well this is it......The build! Lets start with the boring stuff first
I've owned 5 DSM's in my life(so far). It started when I was 14 years old, I know y'all aren't going to believe this but it was because the Fast and the furious movie.....Crazy, right!?!? Haha anyways, my dad helped me pick up a 93 eclipse gs, thing was an absolute slug and a tank. I then picked up a 91 Plymouth Laser, a 96 Eclipse Gs, and a 96 Spyder Gst. Then there's the car I have today which is a 1998 Eclipse Gsx. I knew not a damn thing when I got my first DSM, then slowly started searching the forums. I absolutely loved to read and search over different and potential things you could do to these cars. I was hooked. I bought the car in the summer of 2010 with a supposed "lifter tick" according to the lawyer I bought it from. Well I got there to buy it and started it up and knew right then it wasn't just a lifter tick. I ended up getting it for a really really good deal so I was happy either way. I lived in missouri at the time, and the car was in Illinois about 2 1/2 hour from me. Luckily my dad is super awesome and got me a truck and trailer to go get it the following day after finding it.
I'd like to also state that I'm by no means a photographer and a majority of my pics were taken with various shitty phones. I would like to get a nice camera sometime in the future but till then we're stuck with this
Here's the original CL ad. Yes it was a pic taken of a computer screen. Also yes I hate the paintjob just as much as everyone else does.
Here's the day we went and picked it up
I know, I know, looks like a toaster was used to take the pics
Anywho, well I got the car home and didn't really do much with it seeing as I was quite sure what was wrong with it and didn't have the space/means to find out. So my next move was to take it to a shop. There was a very reputable DSM shop decently close to where I lived. I didn't want to take it to a shop by any means and still kind of regret doing it to this day. Well I took it to this shop and got news back that the rod bearings on cylinder 1 and 3 had spun. Well I figured while it was there I might as well get all the maintenance taken care of as well as a few goodies. It ended up sitting in his shop for damn near a year. I couldn't of asked for better work though.
I had asked the shop aide to take pics of everything for progress for this very reason, but that didn't happen!
I had them do a complete timing job as well as freshen up the bottom end. I kept the whole bottom end stock, but had to have a rod resurfaced which I didn't want to do AT ALL but was reassured it wouldn't make a difference. I went with some standard ARP headstuds and a mitsubishi MLS head gasket. I also had him do a BSE, replace the oil pump assembly and new timing covers while he was in there.Well close to a year later I finally got the car back. I was SUPER excited. The car came with an Evo 3 16g, RC 550's, wally 255, 3" cat-back exhaust, Megan racing 3" down pipe, SAFC-2, Greddy 24v FMIC kit, Greddy type S bov, Eibach prokit, Tokico Illuminas, crappy Ebay halo headlights, adjustable cam gears(still have no clue what brand to this day) and some heavy ass Kazerra KZ-A wheels. I won't bore you with the rest.
Well After I got the motor good and broke in I started getting a little power hungry. So I began to search the forums on more of a daily basis, and by daily I mean I'd spend all day on this site. Even at work during free time I'd be on here. I've learned so so much over the years thanks to this site. I learned I had a setup good to get me to the 300ish hp area or 12's. So I started reading more on the tuning side of things. Well after learning more on EcuFlash I came to the conclusion the Safc-2 had to go! I was astounded by the possibilities there was with this. So I sold the Safc and bought a Tactrix 2.0 OP cable and had at it.
Now you somewhat know the story behind everything I'll start timelining from here.
January 2011
Fast forward about a year or so, not much happened here due to moving around alot. The cars been my DD and haven't had an issue with it at all, but the gas mileage hasn't been the greatest. I learn my front o2 sensor is dead so I decide to replace it. Well as my luck has it the o2 sensor seized and broke off in the o2 housing. Luckily I had a spare tubular one lying around from my previous spyder. So off comes the turbo!!
I had thought all the gaskets were brand new and I wouldn't have to worry about replacing them IE: turbo to mani, mani to head, turbo to o2 housing and o2 housing to downpipe. Boy was I wrong, I HAD paid for new gaskets but they weren't new by any means.
Well I ordered new gaskets and decided to clean the turbo up a little while waiting. The 16g had no shaft play at all after who knows how many years it had been on previously. I was impressed, it had definitely seen its fair share of use
After that I had just enjoyed the car and learned more of the ins and outs of tuning.
Due to this I had to use my old flywheel 
