Advice on rebuilding my 7 bolt 4G63

[LVcountryboy]

Hello all, I just recently bought a 98 Eclipse GST. The car has an automatic transmission, and has 123K miles. I know i'll probably catch some slack on buying a car with an auto instead of a manual, but there's no way i want to drive in the city with a stick. Anyway, the car is buring some oil, and it appears that i may have a leak on one of my gaskets on the motor, as i'm getting some oily substance on my aux belts causing them to squeal and slip on the pullies. Therefore i'm thinking of just having my engine rebuilt. I don't ever plan on racing the car, so i don't need an extreme rebuild. I'm just looking to give my car more power for passing on the high way compaired to stock form. So if i don't ever plan on going over 350hp, do i really need the expensive forged internals and ported heads? Can i get buy with reconditioned stock internals and stock head with maybe just a mild cam swap and a slightly larger turbo like the T28? If so, will the engine still be reliable for a daily drive to work? I don't know much about cars, so all the work will be pretty much done by a shop (for the rebuild), but my roomate and i can handle the turbo swaps and stuff external to the engine to help save on labor costs. I'm trying to keep my total cost under 4000. Just hoping for some advice and ideas. Thanks.

 

[needsy]

Your goals sound pretty modest, so the stock internals should be fine. Most consider the stock internals good for around 400hp before they need to be upgraded. As far as reliability goes, the most important determining factor is maintenance. If you a religious about maintaining the car it will run well for you even at increased power output as long as you don't beat on it.

 

[TuRBoTaLooN]

rebuilt with OEM mitsu internals and you'll never have a problem. DO NOT get topline products.

 

[webconnect]

Buy a new oil pump, new timing belt, oem everything. Just a basic rebuild. Keep your pistons, rods. But get new rings, and hone your block. Topline gaskets are high quality, just get an oem head gasket though.

 

[slow gst]

Why should you stay away from top line products? I'm probably pulling my engine out soon because I'm doing a trans swap so I figured might as well rebuild or build the engine..

 

[JEFFREYCASTGSX]

My advice would be to get some evo 8/9 pistons/rods, because there cheap and there dropin. They are NOT needed but, since there cheap and forged they are a nice cheap ugrade and if you do plan to upgrade to MORE power then you won't have to worry about the internals. Another thing I would definitely do is get rid of the oil squirters, the reason is because you want to get rid of the reason for crankwalk(even with how overrated it is, you still want to be 1000% sure you won't ever get it), and because there not needed and can actually rob power. As always only use a oem oil pump, you can get a topline rebuild kit but use a oem pump and also use a oem head gasket with some studs . As for turbo a 16g is gonna be choked at that powr level so the small hx35 with bolton housing is the perfect turbo which will allow you to make the 350whp without other major mods, and like always remember that fuel is more important the the turbo and do not skimp out on anything.

 

[saechao04]

Well, are you looking for 350 crank hp? or 350whp? if crank hp a t28 or 16g will be plenty, if 350whp I'd go with a 50 trim/20g/hx35. Also remember to get supporting mods like, dsmlink or safc, wideband, injectors etc. Also auto isn't bad, a lot of fast dsm are auto. English racing has an auto talon running 9's I think. I am in the middle of my 7 bolt rebuild and this is what I'm doing.

Wiseco pistons with manley rods .020 over, fp2 cams, FP T28 turbo, dsmlink and e85, shooting for about 325whp @ 25 psi @ the track. Cost will be about $2900 for the motor/cams/turbo.

 

[LVcountryboy]

Thanks for all the help and feed back. I asked one shop out here in vegas how much it would cost to have my engine rebuilt and replyed back witht he following. Please let me know what you think of the price he quoted (remember, i don't know how to rebuild it myself, so i'm dependent on a shop to do it for me):

$3500 includes

Wiseco Pistons 9:1
Eagle Rods
All machine work
Balance shaft eliminator kit
Performance modded oil pump
Metal head gasket
Head studs
Stainless steel valves
BC springs and retainers
BC Cams 272s

all assembled and installed. Add $400 for a stroker motor 2.3.

The engine comes with a start up warranty and thats it.

Is that a good/reasonable deal? Is it normal for a rebuilt engine to only come with a "start up" warranty, or is it kind of shady if that's all they offer? Also, this shop is located in Las Vegas, NV, so please keep that in mind when thinking about the price, as i've been told the labor out here is probably a little more costly than most other places. Thanks!

 

[tragdor]

Honestly this sounds high, but I guess it depends on what they mean by "All Machine Work". Quite a bit of money can be spent in machining a block. I'm thinking though that they will be doing the bare minimum-cleanup, honing, that type of thing. I do think that the startup warranty is pretty weak. I have no idea about real labor rates in Texas, much less Nevada. Good luck!

 

[96eclipzGsT]

Why should you stay away from top line products? I'm probably pulling my engine out soon because I'm doing a trans swap so I figured might as well rebuild or build the engine..

I used topline in my build. The oil pump failed within 500 miles. Everything else seems to be holding up well.

 

[slow gst]

I used topline in my build. The oil pump failed within 500 miles. Everything else seems to be holding up well.

That sucks because I was thinking about putting all Manley stuff into mine. I can get parts dirt cheap from Manley but if it just causes problems to buy topline things then forget it.

 

[saechao04]

Sounds like a reasonable price, my T28 and cams were used fyi.

 

[nyTalonTsi]

If their work is legit, and the machine shop is legit that is a deal.

 

[mike96]

[

Also, this shop is located in Las Vegas, NV, so please keep that in mind when thinking about the price, as i've been told the labor out here is probably a little more costly than most other places. Thanks!

What shop are you looking at if you don't mind me asking? i know several people (myself included) who have had some problems with a particular shop. feel free to PM me if you want. my personal opinion is though if the machine work isn't getting done by Nellis Precision Machine then i don't think i would trust them.