99 GSX Rebirth/Clean-Up/Build

[95eclipser]

Wow Im honestly surprised you made a trip like that.

Maybe, I should considering an srt8 jeep again

 

[bettfootball]

Alrighty folks!

I've been back at it getting ready to do some work on the eclipse. I have all brand new everything up front, suspension wise, to go into the eclipse.

Also acquired another set of brembos/rotors!

What is next for me is another strut tower patch. The rust spot is small and I was planning on completely removing the tower like I did to the drivers side, but upon further inspection the entire wheel well is super solid with little to no surface rust aside from the small spot I had found. I would rather patch this spot with an oem piece from a donor car than cut out the entire thing, since cutting out the entire tower requires a patch panel closest to the firewall.

After I fix the patch, I'm going to wire wheel the entire wheel well on each side, prep them SUPER well, and do U-POL raptor liner roll on bed liner. Stuff looks amazing and has great reviews.

Then I can get all the suspension back up underneath her!

I will also be de-powering the rack while its out.

As for my garage I got a new 1kW craftsman work light that keeps it pretty warm inside actually!

On to pics... I will slowly be acquiring the rest of the parts, saving wheels for last. Would really like to save up for some LEGIT wheels.

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

Until next time


-Brady

 

[idkiliketurbos]

I’m so glad to see this thing back in action!

 

[bettfootball]

I’m so glad to see this thing back in action!

Sameeeee haha. I have about 2k worth of parts to buy, excluding wheels. I really want to save up and do it right when it comes to wheels this time, thinking some bronze TE37 18x9.5 +22. Im really leaning towards a meatier aggressive fitment instead of slamming it again. I want a nice carbon lip on the front and don't really want to worry about swerving for every single pebble in the road. Raise it up about an inch from what I used to cruise at.

 

[idkiliketurbos]

Sameeeee haha. I have about 2k worth of parts to buy, excluding wheels. I really want to save up and do it right when it comes to wheels this time, thinking some bronze TE37 18x9.5 +22. Im really leaning towards a meatier aggressive fitment instead of slamming it again. I want a nice carbon lip on the front and don't really want to worry about swerving for every single pebble in the road. Raise it up about an inch from what I used to cruise at.

I don’t blame you for that at all. It has a more proper look to it anyways, and it is much more enjoyable to drive. Looking forwards to the updates!

 

[bettfootball]

Update!

So I got a set of wheels!! No spoilers until I have pics of them in person. But it got me in the mood to wrench on the GSX. I basically have all the new suspension for the front, plus i have Brembos back!

I figure I can wrap up this little rust spot, re-do the wheel wells, get all the suspension wrapped up and have a nice rolling chassis! I wont really neeed to pull the motor again so thats a plus.

Anyway, here are the pics of my tower rust repair. Im waiting on my weld thru primer to get in before I wrap it up.

In all honesty the tower wasn't that bad, definitely didn't want to replace the hole tower, not necessary. The only piece that rusted through was the shitty ass thin metal where mitsubishi didn't seam seal, and there is a pretty large hole/gap allowing shit and debris to get up in there and rust from within.

Here ya go!

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

As you can see in the picture above ^ the only piece that rusted was the thin piece. You can see the large gap where mitsu thought it would be okay to skimp out on seam sealer....

Peace!

-Brady

 

[bettfootball]

So I wanted to do a good prep job, good enough to last me plenty of years. So I wanted to get some weld thru primer to make sure the underneath of sandwiched together parts were coated. I went with U-POL Weld thru primer.

I primed up the surfaces and started welding.

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

My welder is a Lincoln flux-core welder so MANY tacks were involved in welding this up. Basically a tack, then cool with damp rag, wire brush, then tack on opposite corner.

I tried grinding as little as possible to avoid thinning the metal even more.

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

I still have a couple more rounds of welding to fill in the low spots and then its time for some etch primer (also from U-POL) and then some finishing glaze/paint.

And heres a picture of where the bay is at right now. I'm going to pull the trans and get that nice and spiffy with some Aluma blast and then get started on the wheel wells so I can button up the new suspension components.

And for shits and gigs here is my (actually my girlfriends) garage. They don't park in it because its detached and in a tight back alley so I cleaned it up and made it my own little workshop. It is a dream come true :')

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

Peace!

-Brady

 

[95eclipser]

How do you like using that Aluminum blast stuff?

That garage looks perfect.

 

[bettfootball]

How do you like using that Aluminum blast stuff?

That garage looks perfect.

I really love the stuff. I like that it isn't shiny, it looks like fresh cast aluminum.

I will say that it doesn't seem very resiliant to spills.. I think I dripped a little coolant on my transmission and it looked like shit very quickly. Rubbed right off. So If you can keep it clean it looks great! Which I plan to do from now on.

And yes the garage is perfect! Plenty of room to work in. Plus this is my first time where I am the ONLY one working on something in the garage, and the only one with keys. Its nice being able to completely clean up everything and put it back where it belongs after shutting down for the night, and it being like that when you get in the next day.

-Brady

 

[eclipse gsx]

Nice

 

[Doubleot]

Looking good man!

 

[bettfootball]

So I got off my ass and pulled the trans. I wanted to clean this up and paint it while it was easily accessible etc etc.

I pulled it and spent about 3 hours cleaning/ degreasing/ cleaning /degreasing etc etc. I wanted to make sure the paint stuck.

I used AlumaBlast, its the best for aluminum IMO.

Picture before I pulled the trans:

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

Trans all done.

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

I wanted to get new hardware for the mounts etc but at $5 a piece for bolt/nut I wasn't willing to do that at this time. I think i'm going to brush the shifting mechanism's with some black paint to freshen them up.

Hopefully I can wrap up welding the tower tonight and then prep the bay for paint before I throw the trans back in!

Peace!


-Brady

 

[bettfootball]

Yo Yo Yo

So I ordered a ton of yellow-chromate zinc M6-M8 bolts in various lengths just to have on hand. Much cheaper than OEM. Pretty stoked about that.

So while I was kind of hanging out in the garage with no big job to do after I cleaned my transfer case up as much as I did to my transmission, i started working on the steering rack.

I got all new components for every bit of suspension up front, so I started dissasembling the rack to de-power it.

Both tie rod end boots were torn, and original from 99, i'm so pumped to get all new everything under the front of the car.

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr


Also got new bellows for the rack. Old ones were also dry/cracked/original.

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

My mom is in town this weekend so I will not be working on the car unfortunately. Going to de-power the rack and clean that up then move on to the next little thing!

Also, I would like to add that EVERYTHING suspension wise up front is not OEM. I got everything off rock auto, including axles/hubs. I am completely comfortable with OE parts on my eclipse, hell, I've been driving on 100% stock original suspension parts minus the coilovers and i'm at 122k miles.

-Peace

 

[Zmann42087]

this build is one of my favorites. looking forward to seeing it road-ready again!

 

[bettfootball]

So I have some bad news regarding my wheels..

They came apart in shipping and two are currently lost in UPS land with zero tracking/barcodes or anything on them. Not looking good for me in regards in actually getting the two. Also they denied the claim stating they were packaged incorrectly... soooo major waste of money considering I will not be able to sell two for even half of what I paid, and the wheels are no long made anymore so yeah.. Probably wasted 1k on wheels unfortunately..

This is how they were shipped.

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

Notice the black bands and tracking information ONLY on the top wheels.

This is how they arrived..

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

This is the wheel on the car. Wheels are 5zigen FN01-RC, 18x9.5 + 34 with 255 junk tires on them, but they are brand new so ehh..

by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

Oh well... we will see if I end up getting the other two.

Also, my mom was visiting and i'm moving so I haven't had any time to get to work on the eclipse! I need to finish a little bit of welding so I can paint the tower area!

Peace


-Brady

 

[bettfootball]

My wheels have been found! One was in Utah and one was in Illinois.....

Idk how that happened but shoutout to Blaine at UPS and Travis Wilson of Kalamazoo for tracking these bad boys down.

Wheels should be here by the weekend!

They aren't in the best of condition but I would like to get them powdercoated or polished in the future!

Peace

-Brady

 

[bettfootball]

So I got to work on the eclipse this past weekend.

I de-powered the rack and put on new bellows and tie rod ends, no pictures but its nothing special. I didn't paint it or anything.

Next I got to work on the wheel well and strut tower again.

I cleaned the wheel well with a wire wheel, then used simple grean, then soapy water, then paint de-greaser/ de-waxer.

Then I masked it up and sprayed with 3M undercoating, stuff is ssweeeeeet. Still need to wrap up the other side though.

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

Then I wrapped up the welding on the tower and sprayed some self etching U-POL primer on the SOB to get started on finding highs/lows.

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

I layed a couple coats down and then laid some glaze. I want this to look perfect so this will take a long time for me to get this shape correct.

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

I'll be working on this filler/paint work most of this week!

Peace!

 

[bettfootball]

I think I have wrapped up, or have gotten extremely close to having this side of the bay how I want.

I may make some artificial bumps to replicate the oem spot weld divots for that OEM fresh look.... we will see.

I'm super happy with how this all has came out! Hopefully spraying some color by the end of this weekend and then ASSEMBLY TIME!!!!

On to the pics.

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

Peace!

-Brady

 

[Doubleot]

Great work man keep it up!

 

[bettfootball]

Had a good weekend working on the car.

Got color sprayed, clear sprayed, and started assembly! Bad news is I think I need to paint the drivers tower now... It is yellowed from an oil leak and I can't stand it next to the fresh passenger side tower .

I enjoy being able to take my time putting this together though, missing a bolt? Just order a new one, it isn't holding me down any.

Heres some pics, I don't think i'm going to even waste my time wet sanding the tower, I think it looks OEM fresh.

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

Peace!

-Brady

 

[bettfootball]

Welp.. I stared at the engine bay for way too long before I just decided that I couldn't have one side be minty fresh white and the other parts have some random chips and some decolorization from an oil leak. So I got to work on sanding and prepping the rest of the bay to paint.

I did the front rad support and drivers side tower.

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr


While I was waiting for paint to dry, I turned my attention to my wheels, 5Zigen FN01-RC's. The wheels are in pretty rough shape, no huge marks or curb rash or anything, just a lot of small scratches and the aluminum coating is deteriorated in some spots.

So I decided I was going to do a couple test spots to see how polishing them would look. Well it was much easier than I though, and the shape of the spokes makes it easy to use some mechanical help on polishing the faces of the spokes.

Here are some pics.

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

Peace!

 

[bettfootball]

Drivetrain all wrapped up pretty much. Suspension bits as well. Waiting on some hardware to mount my Brembos up front, also misplaced my hub/bearing bolts so waiting on Miller Parts to get those in to drop this thing on the ground. My time now is focused on the fusebox harness. It will be under the passenger side wheel well area. Going to de-loom it and route everything nicely. Wont spend too much time on it.

I have a couple parts waiting to be delivered:

-Brand new Punishment T3 manifold
-Fuelab black on black AFPR/gauge
-Polished TiAL Q 50mm BOV
-Red TiAL MVS wastegate
-Custom Dump tube
-Custom o2 housing to oem placement downpipe

I'm going to run through all the bolts with a paint marker to verify torque specs this go around. I noticed a couple bolts were semi-loose when I took this thing apart a year or so ago.

Also didn't want to nick any of the paint so excuse all the green tape

Untitled by Brady Dingeldein, on Flickr

Peace.

 

[95eclipser]

Very nice.

interested in seeing how your fuse box relocation turns out. That's where i want to put mine too, just haven't looked at what it will take to accomplish that.

on a side note, did you sell your evo for the jeep?

 

[bettfootball]

Very nice.

interested in seeing how your fuse box relocation turns out. That's where i want to put mine too, just haven't looked at what it will take to accomplish that.

I originally did the glovebox relocation with this car. Then switched over to the under the wheel well location a couple years ago. I never took any pictures of it but basically you don't need to extend anything except maybe 1 or two plugs. I'll make sure to document it this go around.

 

[95eclipser]

Please do! I would be willing to extend those plugs now since most of my car is torn apart. I don't want to put the Fuse box back in the stock location.
I sent you a PM about some other stuff maybe we can chat about the fuse box also.