Street Build 98 GST Revival Street Build

[kyler021]

I haven't really done much to the car lately other than drive it everywhere. I got the motor mount put in, and now under load the car is much more comfortable and it doesn't feel like the engine is going to come through the firewall . I wired up the AFR gauge to my ECU and now the gauge is reading more accurately than before. I still need to fine tune the calibrations when I get some time. The oil pressure gauge sensor completely took a dump so I have a new 150psi AEM sensor on the way.

In the coming months I will hopefully buy and install coilovers (BTW, if someone has tein or megan racing coilovers for sale near MD, let me know). Porting my oil filter housing, replacing the head gasket, and installing my AFPR are next on my to do list. I've also decided I may try to record replacing the head gasket, it would probably make it a little more fun and could possibly help some people out even though there's many videos out there already.

Thanks for reading!
Kyle

 

[kyler021]

Here is a third gear pull from today after finally getting my AFR gauge calibrated. I'm seeing about 9.3AFR in the log at WOT. This log is only from about 2800-6000 because it was night and there was cops out haha. Let me know what you guys think about running Evo fuel trims to lean it out a little bit. My AFR gauge only reads down to 10 AFR and that's what it stays at during a pull.

Thanks for reading!

Kyle

 

[Justin DuBois]

Here is a third gear pull from today after finally getting my AFR gauge calibrated. I'm seeing about 9.3AFR in the log at WOT. This log is only from about 2800-6000 because it was night and there was cops out haha. Let me know what you guys think about running Evo fuel trims to lean it out a little bit. My AFR gauge only reads down to 10 AFR and that's what it stays at during a pull.

Thanks for reading!

Kyle

Awsome - Love to see you getting the data. What are you running for a fuel pump and regulator?

 

[kyler021]

Awsome - Love to see you getting the data. What are you running for a fuel pump and regulator?

Running stock fuel system as of right now. I have a fuel pressure regulator sitting around so I’m going to try to get that installed sometime within the next week or so.

 

[kyler021]

I've got a bit of an update this week! I bought some used coilovers from someone local; some old school Tein Super Street Dampers. They were a little dirty, so I got them cleaned up before installing them on the car. Once I got them installed, the car looks much better and drives amazingly. Overall it took about 15 or so hours total to get them installed because of rust, and I had to cut the sway bar links off because the locking nut got rounded off by some idiot (definitely not me ). So I have new ones on order. But overall I'm happy with these $250 marketplace coilovers. My stock struts rear top hat rubber bushing things were also melted completely. I don't even know how that happens without being in a fire.

I also took it to a meet local to me and found another dsm! We were the only 2 there which I was stoked about.

Thanks for reading!
Kyle

 

[kyler021]

So the car will be going under the knife on the 25th for a head gasket and a bunch of other stuff (timing, power steering lines, AC o-ring reseal etc.) but I had a question for the people reading.

Should I upgrade the valve springs while I'm in there? I am planning to upgrade the cams in the future, like 264/272 HKS, 264/264 cams or 272/272 cams, I'm not 100% decided on which ones I want. I want to re-lap the valves while the head is off because of the leak down test results from a couple months back. Just figured it may be easier to do the springs while the head is off since I'm planning on upgrading cams in the future.

I'm kinda conflicted, maybe someone can jog my mind a little bit?

Kyle

 

[kyler021]

Hey guys!
I'm pretty excited today because a couple of friends and I got the head off last night. My goal was to just get the head off and the surrounding area torn down in one day and we did it! If anybody has any recommendations to replace something while I'm in here let me know! I also found out the block in my car is from a different car. From decoding part of the vin I believe it's still from a 98, which means I still have the split thrust washer 7 bolt block.

Going to try to get some miscellaneous stuff done today. I have replacement power steering lines I need to fit up and I will replace my turbo drain line that's dripping oil onto the floor.

 

[pauleyman]

Now is the time to clean stuff you otherwise can't reach easily. NO power tools to clean gasket surfaces. Carbide scrapers work great. If you use them go slowly. They can just as easily ruin a surface.

Remove the block dowels. Done correctly it will look like this.

 

[19Eclipse90]

…I also found out the block in my car is from a different car. From decoding part of the vin I believe it's still from a 98, which means I still have the split thrust washer 7 bolt block.

I’m seeing it differently. The last eight digits appear to me to read “SE177669” or something similar. Maybe the 7s are 2s. The numbers don’t matter here.

The “S” indicates a 1995. The below is from VFAQ.com.

 

[kyler021]

I’m seeing it differently. The last eight digits appear to me to read “SE177669” or something similar. Maybe the 7s are 2s. The numbers don’t matter here.

I did see that after decoding, I was pretty disappointed actually haha. Originally I thought the S was a 5 because it's super hard to see in there so I thought I got a good block.

After running the VIN, I found that the car this engine came from had 162k miles, and was last registered in 2013 in TN. I'm thinking this was a partout car and my car just happened to end up with the engine. Also, this 95 block came with a 98-99 timing belt hydraulic tensioner, which I found a little weird. It ran fine with that tensioner though.

Also I have a question for you guys, I think I made a mistake sending my cam gears to get sandblasted. Now the gear is grayish silver and isn't zinc coated anymore. Should I buy new gears for 40 bucks? Or would I be fine to run these gears without a coating? I'm assuming they do that for rust protection purposes. It's no big deal for me to buy new gears, just wondering what you guys think.

 

[kyler021]

It's been a little bit, but I lapped the valves, rebuilt the head, did the timing belt, replaced the coolant hoses that looked crusty with new black silicone ones, bled the coolant and it still runs!

Not without it's troubles though. The turbo feed line from the OFH was kinking when I tried to remove it from the housing, so that needed replacing. The oil filter housing needed replacing as well because I took a nice chunk out of it when I tried to screw in the mechanical oil pressure gauge all the way in, the filter housing gasket also needed replacing again because it would not seal on the top side where it goes into the timing cover.

So far, I'm just driving it around and looking for any possible water leaks or oil leaks. The car still runs perfectly as it did before (knock on wood), maybe even a little faster boost response but maybe thats placebo.

I had such a fun time rebuilding everything and was very anxious for how it run after the rebuild, but seems like we didn't do too bad of a job!

 

[kyler021]

Shootout 2025 in the books!

I managed to grab an MHI Big 16g from someone at the Shootout for $100 and an OG Greddy Type S BOV for $200! I still haven't decided if I will use the Type S, or keep it as a collectors item. Once I get IC piping, injectors and speed density stuff I'll be going for a turbo upgrade! I wanna try to race in the 2026 Shootout. Commence The Shootout scramble!

 

[kyler021]

A package came in today! I'll get to installing this tomorrow!

 

[kyler021]

Last night was kind of a nightmare getting that Torque Solutions mount in. Basically, I was not aware that the car had to be fully on the ground and the bumper taken off for the front motor mount bracket to line up with the bolt holes on the trans. No matter what I tried on a jack or jack stands, the bolts would not line up.

Eventually, at around 12:30am I finally got it done and the engine clunk under full torque is gone. I feel like I can fully enjoy this car now as I'm not always feeling that horrible clunk under load. I think that mount is definitely worth the money and time it took to do it, but just remember not to jack up the car while you do it. (I'm guessing its because the car/engine mounts need to be under their own weight)

 

[kyler021]

Recently I installed that Greddy Type S BOV and I'm currently having a rev hang problem. This happens when shifting gears and revving in neutral. My idle is perfectly fine at 1100 rpms set through DSMLink, and it's hitting the stock boost levels perfectly fine. My thought was that it was the throttle cable that was too tight, so I loosened it and readjusted it about 4 times, still no change. Before, I had an HKS blowoff valve that was vented to atmosphere, and it ran great. The Greddy is currently recirculated into the intake, I've been adjusting it throughout the day no change from to that.

Does anybody know all the causes of rev hang and what I should look for? I'm honestly kind of stuck here. I'm about to switch back to my HKS just to see if that would fix it.

Thanks for reading!
Kyle

 

[kyler021]

Turns out it was the Greddy BOV. Reinstalled the HKS and no more rev hang!

I did an oil change the other day as well. Very bad. Lots of metal. Not good. It may have been from cleaning up the surfaces of the block, but that doesn't change the fact that it was swimming around my engine. The magnetic drain plug definitely helps, but I did see silvery glitter upon first drain. I'm going to do another oil change on the 8th, a day before I'm planning to leave for Ocean City, Maryland for Cruisin' OC. I really want to take this car down, but 200 miles round trip on an engine that's on it's last leg may not be a good idea. I'll decide if I want to take it when I do the oil change.

 

[92AWDHX40]

Great pictures see you next year with mine.

 

[kyler021]

Great pictures see you next year with mine.

Absolutely! Thank you!

This motor may not live much longer... may be looking for a new short block soon unfortunately. On the bright side I'd be replacing a non split thrust block, but it's very demotivating to see after just rebuilding the head...

 

[kyler021]

Good news! - The car made it to Ocean City, Maryland and back this weekend! With only one minor hiccup along the way - one of the power steering lines that screws into the rack seems to have sprung a big leak. BUT, that's not important.

The car made it 112 miles each way for it's first big car event, Endless Summer Cruisin' 2025. I cruised down with some good friends of mine, and they made sure that nothing major happened to the car on the way. It cruised down Coastal Highway multiple times, sitting in traffic, doing pulls, showing off the car (even though she's not much of a looker). I counted 6 DSMs there, a red 2gb talon, a blue 2ga talon, my buddies 2gb minden silver FP Green eclipse, the white and red turbo LS swapped DSMs, and mine of course. I would definitely count this trip as a success and am more motivated to fix this thing!

As for the power steering situation, I think I may swap to an electric steering rack, just to remove fluids from the equation. I was thinking of the prius swap, but I need to do more research. It's a good thing Priuses are popular at my local junkyard.

Also, my car shoots flames? My buddy was following me on the highway and I let off around 4k (no load by the way) and he said it shot a flame up to my taillight... then when I got closer to home it happened two more times, he was even able to get it on video. I know it's not good for the car... but I'm not gonna complain yet. My hypothesis is that it just got SUPER hot from the drive home, and with the combo of it running rich, it just happens sometimes... I don't even know .

Enough of my rambling. Enjoy these pictures!

Flame Video: Eclipse GS-T Flames?

 

[kyler021]

On the way home from my girlfriend's house the other day, I did a pull to 5k in 2nd, then into 3rd, about 30 seconds later, it was misfiring like CRAZY. I mean, I didn't think I would make it home. Pulled the plugs yesterday; cylinder 4 had some weird marks on it. Almost like something was bouncing around in there. The problem lies with cylinder 2, where I think I spilled some oil into the hole while doing an oil change. The plug was covered in oil, so I cleaned it up and put it back in and everything seems okay.

Also, I recirculated my BOV just to see if it would run better. It did not. Everyone says if you don't recirc, it'll barely run, misfire etc. If I recirc, it'll rev hang, and run worse. So not sure what's going on there. I guess they only meant it'll run better with the stock one .

Another problem that just came up, is that my turbo sounds like a turbo diesel after revving it. Gonna take the whole front of the exhaust system off, including turbo, 02 Housing, downpipe. The turbo is also tired I think. It's burning a lot of oil on decel, and it's a noticeable difference on the dipstick after driving it hard.

Good thing I have a 16g waiting to go in. Bad thing is that I don't have a job to fund it.

Thanks for reading!
Kyle

 

[jesse12345]

Aren't you on ecmlink or did I read one of your posts wrong? Switching from the maf to the aem map was the best thing I did. No more recirculating the bov and if i blow an intercooler pipe (which i have lots of times) the car will still drive normal. The added bonus was just running the intake tube with no maf and hearing that turbo. It straight up sounds like I have a vacuum on my lap when getting on it. To me the 16g is an all around fun turbo, I think you'll like it.

 

[kyler021]

Aren't you on ecmlink or did I read one of your posts wrong? Switching from the maf to the aem map was the best thing I did. No more recirculating the bov and if i blow an intercooler pipe (which i have lots of times) the car will still drive normal.

Yessir I’m on ECMLink. But I thought the only way to get it to run fine with the BOV recirculating was with speed density? I currently don’t have that but am definitely doing that upgrade in the future. I’m currently on stock MAF and MAP. It would be great to know if I have my settings wrong though .

 

[SixBolt_16G]

Also, I recirculated my BOV just to see if it would run better. It did not. Everyone says if you don't recirc, it'll barely run, misfire etc. If I recirc, it'll rev hang, and run worse. So not sure what's going on there. I guess they only meant it'll run better with the stock one .

Some cars can get away with it for a long time while others will start acting up immediately. I got away with it for a while and then, like over night, the car started running terribly until i recirculated.

and if i blow an intercooler pipe (which i have lots of times) the car will still drive normal.

That was the final straw in my decision to switch over. My passenger side pipe coming right off the intercooler on the passenger side, separated from the coupler after I hit the gas hard and was trying to showoff for my wife . Instead, the car died at the red light and I had to push this bi*** into the gas station parking lot on the other side of the intersection. Glad she was with me so she could steer or it wouldve been extra embarrassing.

 

[jesse12345]

It's not ideal but I had to drive 30 miles with one blown off but being on speed density just made me happy. I had literally no tools on me and it was double clamped so I though I was good.

 

[chrysler kid]

I preferred the t25 for the daily driver. Boost would kick in low and make partial throttle feel like full throttle. The 16g for sure is stronger on top end, but it’s not like I race the car at all as a daily