98 GST paint and performance upgrade - finished with pics

[se0nz]

That car is perfect, simplicity is perfection.

QFT and great looking car man, keep it up!

 

[alan305z]

Wow...thats sexy....black out the rims...Polished lip...CF hood...and Smoke Tails you make that car look 10 times better....very clean car tho..bad ass

No WAY!! Bro why u sugesting all this stuff...?? smoke taillights UMM.. if he smokes the tailights the car is gonna look like a Riced OuT car , Bro U dont want that trust me.. just leave it the way it is , it looks really good just like mine we defenetely have the most cleanest 2g's in MIAMI .. and i tought i was the only one in MIAMI.. u make me smile ,Good Job

Here's Mine ..

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[se0nz]

wow nice red one too, makes my 2ga look terrible, too bad cosmetics is one of the last things on my list... makes me re think that now .

 

[ed_GST]

function over form
really clean
love it

i wish i was my DSM first owner although im the second

 

[hediki12]

your car is sick... mayb the best white one ive seen. i have a white gsx and i want it to look like that. keep up the work.

 

[black99gst7]

That is a beautiful car i have a blk 99 gst with 95k miles on it and im about to start the same upgrades except im going mhi 16g i think and thermal exh. i just put eibach sportlines on mine, and it looks like u have them on here by how low it is. mine is pretty low in the back.... just wondering if you have any rubbing issues and what struts you are using as i will be getting 18's to. its low on the stock chromies now and i will be using the same greddy 24 fmic, what fixed the temp rise prob?? thanks for your help, and great job on the car!

 

[SeaveeDSM]

RE: Your question on the suspension components I used and potential tire rub issues:

I have the Eibach Pro-kit springs, not the Eibach Sportline kit which lowers the car MORE than the Pro-kit. The Pro-kit lowers it about 1.3 inches, I can't recall the amount the sportline kit does. I also have Tokico Illumina shocks. At Road Race Engineering there are pics of a 2G Eclipse with both versions and you can see the sportline is clearly lower.

Oh, I also have RRE's camber correction kits for both front and back. This is important for you to know as the wheels with the camber corrections installed do not lean IN as much once your car is lowered. In other words if the car is lowered and you DON'T use a camber correction kit, since the wheels lean in more you are less likely prone to have a tire/fender well clearance issue than with the camber correction kit in place. However, depending on just how low you go and how large wheels/tires you can still get wheel rub regardless of having or not camber correction kits installed.

Finally, my rims are Exel brand, "Fame" Hyperlight color model which are 18" X 7.5" (versus 16" X 6 IIRC on a stock GST) but I am not sure what offset rings were used. My tires are Nexxen 5000 225/40/18. Here are the rims: Shop for Wheels

With ALL of the above in place I have no tire rub issues on the front wheels at all. I did initially have a slight tire rub issue on the back wheels - but only on hard cornering or a bad bump. I was able to fix it by rolling the rear fenders. It was easy to do as follows: Using a cutting wheel, I cut about 8 1/4 inch deep cuts (each cut about 2 inches apart and along the the INNER side of the top 1/2 of the fender well). Then using a jack I raised the back coner of the car, which made the tire drop and opened a larger gap between the top of the tire and bottom of the fender well. Then while raised like this I inserted a 2"x 2" X 8" piece of wood between the top of the tire and fender well and and slowly lowered the car onto the wood - and in the process used the wood as a lever to bend in the fender-well. When finished, using a small modelling brush I painted each of the cuts very thoroughly with several coats of white rustoleum paint so as to avoid any rust there in the future. Note, you can NOT see the cuts OR the touch up paint AT ALL from outside the car with the wheel on. The fix is only visible with the wheel off. Did this on both rear wheel fenders. The rub prior to this was so minimal that I think without the camber correction kit I would not have had ANY rub at all. I can take close up pics and will post this next time I have the car jacked up and wheel off.


RE: The temp creep issue that arose after having installed the Greddy Big 24 FMIC:

Here is a cut and paste about this from a similar thread I have at the DSMLINK forums:

I addressed the heat creep issue in incremental stages hoping each would solve the issue. Each improved the problem but it was not until the last step (cutting the black trim and bumper support behind it thus removing a major restriction to air flow) that the problem was really solved fully.

My twin 12" flexalite fans are part of a single housing so they both went on the inside of the radiator as pullers. I did eventually get to having two 10" pusher fans in front - but that was in front of the A/C condenser as there is not enough room between the rad and condenser to fit any fan, no matter how small.

In order, one at a time I did:

1. new t-stat & radiator cap
2. Water wetter with 40/60 distilled water and radiator fluid
3. Replacement of the stock rad & fans with a Fluidyne radiator with two 12" puller fans on the inside (engine bay side)
4. Added two 10" pusher fans to the front side of the A/C condenser (between it and the back of the FMIC but pressed up against the front of the A/C condenser) wired with relays to always be on with ignition on.
5. Removed t-stat completely - took a much longer time to reach temp and an even longer time to have temps creep up while at idle/slow but even with the t-stat off if I drove long enought in these conditions the temps would creep up.

What finally totally solved the issue:
6. Cut out the black trim and "bumper beam" just behind it. This alone removed approximately 25% obstruction to the front of the intercooler. That thick intercooler alone causes an obstruction but adding to it the physical obstruction of the bumper trim and beam REALLY ultimately was the problem. With this I have been able to put the t-stat back on and the issue is still solved in any and every driving condition now with the A/C on or off.

Here is a pic of this after cutting out the black trim and beam behind it:

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Note: #6 above required removal and reinstall of the bumper. I left the right and left corner pieces of the "bumper collision beam" in place (about 10-12 inches each corner) as they still provide limited protection from a slow speed collision and also provide alot of backing area so the bumper fascia cover is solidly in place resting on them.

Again, the problem with the temp creeping up solely had happened when idling for extended periods or in very bad bumper to bumper stop and go traffic after putting in the FMIC. Having the A/C on made it start to get hot much more quickly of course. Moving at any speed - anything 25 MPH or more and no issues, even on a very long sustained drive with the A/C on or not. This made it pretty clear the problem was insufficient air flow over the radiator.

In cool "winter" weather in Miami it was not a problem but thats only about 2 months out of the year. For us, "winter" is daytime highs in the low-mid 70s and lows at night averaging in the low 70s maybe mid 60s. Most of the rest of the year it blazing hot with super high humidity.

Throughout all of this testing I had set DSMLINK to hit the CEL engine warning light at 220 degrees - quite a bit less than stock (234 IIRC?) so that I would never truly overheat the engine. Fortunately I successfully avoided a true overheat and any kind of damage.

Sorry this is such a long-winded reply, just trying to answer clearly..... maybe its only more confusing now

 

[707GSX]

way to keep it oem. looks great

 

[black99gst7]

RE: Your question on the suspension components I used and potential tire rub issues:

I have the Eibach Pro-kit springs, not the Eibach Sportline kit which lowers the car MORE than the Pro-kit. The Pro-kit lowers it about 1.3 inches, I can't recall the amount the sportline kit does. I also have Tokico Illumina shocks. At Road Race Engineering there are pics of a 2G Eclipse with both versions and you can see the sportline is clearly lower.

Oh, I also have RRE's camber correction kits for both front and back. This is important for you to know as the wheels with the camber corrections installed do not lean IN as much once your car is lowered. In other words if the car is lowered and you DON'T use a camber correction kit, since the wheels lean in more you are less likely prone to have a tire/fender well clearance issue than with the camber correction kit in place. However, depending on just how low you go and how large wheels/tires you can still get wheel rub regardless of having or not camber correction kits installed.

Finally, my rims are Excel brand, "Fame" model which are 18" X 8" (versus 16" X 6 IIRC on a stock GST) but I am not sure what offset rings were used. My tires are Nexxen 5000 225/40/18.

With ALL of the above in place I have no tire rub issues on the front wheels at all. I did initially have a slight tire rub issue on the back wheels - but only on hard cornering or a bad bump. I was able to fix it by rolling the rear fenders. It was easy to do as follows: Using a cutting wheel, I cut about 8 1/4 inch deep cuts (each cut about 2 inches apart and along the the INNER side of the top 1/2 of the fender well). Then using a jack I raised the back coner of the car, which made the tire drop and opened a larger gap between the top of the tire and bottom of the fender well. Then while raised like this I inserted a 2"x 2" X 8" piece of wood between the top of the tire and fender well and and slowly lowered the car onto the wood - and in the process used the wood as a lever to bend in the fender-well. When finished, using a small modelling brush I painted each of the cuts very thoroughly with several coats of white rustoleum paint so as to avoid any rust there in the future. Note, you can NOT see the cuts OR the touch up paint AT ALL from outside the car with the wheel on. The fix is only visible with the wheel off. Did this on both rear wheel fenders. The rub prior to this was so minimal that I think without the camber correction kit I would not have had ANY rub at all. I can take close up pics and will post this next time I have the car jacked up and wheel off.


RE: The temp creep issue that arose after having installed the Greddy Big 24 FMIC:

Here is a cut and paste about this from a similar thread I have at the DSMLINK forums:

I addressed the heat creep issue in incremental stages hoping each would solve the issue. Each improved the problem but it was not until the last step (cutting the black trim and bumper support behind it thus removing a major restriction to air flow) that the problem was really solved fully.

My twin 12" flexalite fans are part of a single housing so they both went on the inside of the radiator as pullers. I did eventually get to having two 10" pusher fans in front - but that was in front of the A/C condenser as there is not enough room between the rad and condenser to fit any fan, no matter how small.

In order, one at a time I did:

1. new t-stat & radiator cap
2. Water wetter with 40/60 distilled water and radiator fluid
3. Replacement of the stock rad & fans with a Fluidyne radiator with two 12" puller fans on the inside (engine bay side)
4. Added two 10" pusher fans to the front side of the A/C condenser (between it and the back of the FMIC but pressed up against the front of the A/C condenser) wired with relays to always be on with ignition on.
5. Removed t-stat completely - took a much longer time to reach temp and an even longer time to have temps creep up while at idle/slow but even with the t-stat off if I drove long enought in these conditions the temps would creep up.

What finally totally solved the issue:
6. Cut out the black trim and "bumper beam" just behind it. This alone removed approximately 25% obstruction to the front of the intercooler. That thick intercooler alone causes an obstruction but adding to it the physical obstruction of the bumper trim and beam REALLY ultimately was the problem. With this I have been able to put the t-stat back on and the issue is still solved in any and every driving condition now with the A/C on or off.

Here is a pic of this after cutting out the black trim and beam behind it:

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

Note: #6 above required removal and reinstall of the bumper. I left the right and left corner pieces of the "bumper collision beam" in place (about 10-12 inches each corner) as they still provide limited protection from a slow speed collision and also provide alot of backing area so the bumper fascia cover is solidly in place resting on them.

Again, the problem with the temp creeping up solely had happened when idling for extended periods or in very bad bumper to bumper stop and go traffic after putting in the FMIC. Having the A/C on made it start to get hot much more quickly of course. Moving at any speed - anything 25 MPH or more and no issues, even on a very long sustained drive with the A/C on or not. This made it pretty clear the problem was insufficient air flow over the radiator.

In cool "winter" weather in Miami it was not a problem but thats only about 2 months out of the year. For us, "winter" is daytime highs in the low-mid 70s and lows at night averaging in the low 70s maybe mid 60s. Most of the rest of the year it blazing hot with super high humidity.

Throughout all of this testing I had set DSMLINK to hit the CEL engine warning light at 220 degrees - quite a bit less than stock (234 IIRC?) so that I would never truly overheat the engine. Fortunately I successfully avoided a true overheat and any kind of damage.

Sorry this is such a long-winded reply, just trying to answer clearly..... maybe its only more confusing now

No sir.... that was very helpful! its nice of you to take the time to answer my questions so well. I can't believe you have prokits... usually there is alot of visiable fender gap with those springs! thats why i got sportline so it would look more low and flush, but i may just take the sportlines off and get prokits. they are still brand new basically... not even 1,000 miles on them yet as i dont daily drive the car. thanks again!!

 

[alan1592]

Dsmj89 - every so often I go to the informal gatherings of modded cars on Monday nights starting around 9:30PM. People go to Bird Road & SW 107 Ave where the Pizza Hut is and/or the parking lot next to Shorty's at Bird Road and approx SW 116 Avenue. I probably won't go again until mid January due to the holidays. Most of the people are in their 20s, some late teens and a handlful over 30. I'm 44 and feel a bit out of place with that crowd but the car turns heads. There are ALOT of Hondas, SRTs, etc but there are a handful of DSMs.

I'm not sure what my numbers would be . I guess pretty quick but nothing atomic as I'm boosting only about to 18 PSI and am FWD. When HP motoring did the initial work with a modest but not perfect tune and the cat still in place they dynoed it at 289 WHP. Since then I took off the cat and tuned it alot more with JeffGST's help with logs and on the phone. I haven't dynoed it again since then but the cat and tuning definitely "felt" faster. I guestimate it should be somewhere 20-25 WHP more so maybe around 310ish????

I'm hoping to go to a track and run a 1/4. I'm 2WD though and even with the quaife (which made a HUGE difference BTW) I easily get wheel spin from a dead stop and have little real practice launching hard that way. Yes, I'm too wimpy and have never really spanked the car from a dead stop as I worry about the wear and tear on all the drivetrain components.

From a roll however she seems real quick. I never road race "for real" - I'm just not gonna kill myself as I have a wife, a 3 year old and a 6 month old and more importantly won't put other people's lives in jeapardy street racing.

Hot blond chick and guy mad because he dosent know what hit him ... classic

 

[SeaveeDSM]

.... we defenetely have the most cleanest 2g's in MIAMI .. and i tought i was the only one in MIAMI.. u make me smile ,Good Job

Here's Mine ..

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Very nice ride Alan. I think you are right its been a long time since I've seen another really clean 2G or 1G down here.

This is the third Eclipse in our household. All three were original owned. I got my first Turbo Eclipse '91 dark green color. Back in '98 when I got hte white one, at that time my then girlfriend (now wife) got an identical black GST. We had to sell it 3 years ago because we had a baby and needed a more family friendly car (Ford Explorer)... The black one was bone stock but it was in great shape too.

 

[jjgrizz73]

Gorgeous 2gs and great job gettin your gst back into shape i love white on the 2gs. My car originally came from FL about 7 yrs back Im thinking about coming there for schooling in ft.lauderdale so if I do I'll have to get in touch with you guys

 

[tunethis]

That is a very clean, well done GST. It took you a while but, you finally got it the way you wanted it. Done right the first time.

 

[broads72]

Nice. I like it.

 

[silverbullett]

She's beautiful. Nice job.

 

[SeaveeDSM]

I had the car painted about 10 months ago but was not happy with the aftermarket fascia. It fit fine but it lacked the indentation in the front center to accomodate the red Mitsu "Three Diamond" logo. Also, right after painting I put on Eibach Pro kit springs with Tokico Ilumina shocks which lowered it a bit. That created a new "learning curve" as to what was a hazard driving and I ended up with a few scratches from steeply angled driveways/parking lots, etc.

So, being anal as I am about things I got a new OEM bumper fascia, and red Mitsu logo from Satan and had the same shop that painted the car color match it to the prior fascia. $180+/- for the fascia and $100 for the painting with me doing the removal/install of the bumper fascia.

Here is the new one - just a week old:

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Very high res image of the same pic:
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a289/RaisingCane/98 Mitsu Eclipse GST/98GSThires.jpg

 

[Dsmj89]

Nice ! I was undecided on my new spring setup to run but clearly your car helped me solve that problem. Funny though cause my shocks on my to-do list are the same ones you have, i guess i know what my car will look like height-wise thanks to you.
Keep up the good work on your dsm, it's very clean and immaculate. Good to see some people are anal about little details to their car as i am. I hope to have my dsm look just as good as yours someday, only black.

 

[shredwin]

Damm.. thats a clean 2G you got, the white looks awesome in the 2G DSM's

 

[Chrispy0530]

Damn bro, I love your car. I live around you, and I've never seen such a clean DSM. What type of rims are those? I want those exact rims . I'm in the process of getting my car to look like a clean out of factory white DSM. Hopefully I'll get there.

Very nice nice man, props for maintaing it.

 

[SeaveeDSM]

Damn bro, I love your car. I live around you, and I've never seen such a clean DSM. What type of rims are those? I want those exact rims . I'm in the process of getting my car to look like a clean out of factory white DSM. Hopefully I'll get there.

Very nice nice man, props for maintaing it.

If you see me on the road sometime give me a shout and let me know you are from the tuners boards.

As far as the rims, see post #32 AND #34 in this thread above. You may have to slightly roll in the rear fender wells if you get the 18"s as described there. I got them from HP Motoring on Bird Road and 93ish Ave, Miami.

 

[Chrispy0530]

Oh wow, my friends go there all the time. They know the guy who owns the red 1stgen with the body kit.

I'm gonna swing by the checkers meet tomorrow if you wanna pass on by to show off your sexy car. I'd love to see it .

 

[purewake07]

Wow that looks amazing. I usually don't like white cars but that is so clean how can you not love it. My Talon has nasty sun fade damage i need to pain it really soon but it costs so much money.

 

[MIenKEi446]

Very nice dsm! How does the RS sound recirculated?? I cant find any vids of it that arent vented.

 

[SeaveeDSM]

Very nice dsm! How does the RS sound recirculated?? I cant find any vids of it that arent vented.

Definitely louder than stock BOV but not nearly as loud as the ones vented to the air - but my car runs right . I've not touched the "soft - hard" adjustments on the RS - need to look up what the effects are with that.

I'm a 44 y/o corporate banker that works at the bank's heedquarters office. Its my DD 3/4 the time. Fortunately I don't look or feel too old (yet) but my car stands out as sort of a younger person's car while in the parking lot with all the other people's Acuras, Beemers, Benz', etc. I like the "close to stock look" regardless and that's even why I picked the Greddy Evo2 3" exhaust - its noticeably louder and deeper than stock of course but not nearly as loud as an Apexi, for example.

I'll try to record a little of both the exhaust and the BOV from inside and outside the car. It may be a couple weeks but I'll post it in a separate thread if/when I do with a link to it here.

 

[gieri002]

Wow I Love Your Car!