The Top DSM Community on the Web

For 1990-1999 Mitsubishi Eclipse, Eagle Talon, Plymouth Laser, and Galant VR-4 Owners. Log in to remove most ads.

Please Support RTM Racing
Please Support Rix Racing

Spyder Bought my first DSM and am in quite a situation

This site may earn a commission from merchant
affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Bladed

Proven Member
51
4
Dec 11, 2022
Chicago, Illinois
This is a long story and a lot of stuff happened so bare with me, I’m aware I’m kinda at fault for most of this, it’s my first DSM however I have some experience with them from family who owned multiple.

So I went out and bought a 97 GST Spyder with 160k miles, replaced belts, replaced seals, replaced water pump, new Konig backbones and good tires, small oil leak on the right side (seller suspected cross threaded bolt or loose bolt of some sort), a power drain somewhere (suspected something with the convertible so I switched top to manual mode), automatic but it shifted fine, 100% rust free even strut towers, and bone stock besides a 16g turbo. I drove it for about a hour at highway speeds and long story short, I rear ended my friend at maybe about 10mph (owe him a bumper and scuffed up mine but it was super scuffed before so I wasn’t too worried).

The car threw a few lights up but they went away immediately and the car continued to chug along and my friend was in a rush to get home, cut to about an hour later I noticed the low oil light going on and off inconsistently. I went to the nearest gas station since I was also low on gas and picked up a quart of full synthetic that the seller said he was using, I top off the oil use maybe half the quart and then eventually get going again.

Well cut to me driving on the highway, acceleration wasn’t being great so I gave I slowed down and then gave it a little gas and then shortly after car starting being a bit rough then there was pretty distinctly blueish maybe whiteish smoke coming from the exhaust. I immediately pulled over and shut off the car and the battery died while waiting for a tow since I was worried about the timing belt or bent valve stems. I don’t recall hearing any bad mechanical metal on metal type noises but the cabin was so insanely loud at highway speeds I'm not 100%. The tow driver asked to look at the engine bay and there was lots of oil kinda everywhere near but not touching the timing belts and turbo.

Later I take a look at stuff myself and I found a coolant line disconnected from the radiator, at this point I’m suspecting either turbo or headgasket issue primarily and planned on removing the exhaust manifold to see if the ports were wet and to take a closer look at the turbo itself. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get to that part because my neighbor in a large truck backed into the driver side of the car leaving their driveway which messed up my hood, broke the headlight, and messed up the bumper some more.

I do not yet have insurance on the vehicle but was told by an officer that essentially my insurance company should help take care of me with getting it insured even after this. I haven’t yet seen if there’s any structural damage but the neighbor was just backing out of the driveway so I don’t think so, but in this situation I’m not sure what the good ending is as I still need to charge the battery and see if the car even runs. I’m worried that the cost of repair will likely cost more than the car so not sure how I should approach this. I will try discussing with my neighbor and seeing if they are maybe willing to pay for the parts out of pocket and I might just do the labor myself regardless of it being 100% their fault as I found a replacement headlight and hood in the same color however not a front bumper color in the same color.

I would love to see this car live mainly due to the rust free factor and it really did seem like a great project to fix up but not sure which angle to approach this at. Any guidance is appreciated, I’m aware that I was kinda extremely stupid about a lot of this as to be honest I was only really looking out for crankwalk and replaced timing belt, tensioner, 60/120k stuff.

I suspect the coolant line detached when I hit my friend and it overheated but I think it’s more something with the turbo then the headgasket. Any advice is appreciated and im aware It’ll likely be deemed totaled but if it is then I’ll maybe part out some interior pieces and keep the wheels and move on, just really don’t wanna see it go since it’s totally rust free. (I’ll try to add photos soon)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Is there any way for me to do a compression test with the turbo in its current state before removing it? I assume not but I'm not totally certain. I Still need to change the spark plugs and confirm that the engine isn't seized I just need to go get a spark plug socket first, luckily my local menards had a bunch of ngk bpr6es spark plugs on sale in stock so I was able to grab some yesterday.

Also maybe dumb question but can anyone tell if this bolt looks cross threaded, I have my suspicions that this could be where the original small oil leak was coming from but I'm not totally sure I just suspect that the leak has something to do with the oil filter housing area.
I don't know what is screwed into that port but I am betting it isn't the correct size/type. You may still have a problem there.
 
I don't know what is screwed into that port but I am betting it isn't the correct size/type. You may still have a problem there.
I'll have a friend keep an eye on it when I'm doing the compression tests, I cleaned up some of the super gunked up areas on the undercarriage so I'll hopefully have some luck finding the leak if it isn't that bolt.
 
Finally got around to running a compression test, filled with oil took out the spark plugs and all that and results weren’t great. From left to right the first two cylinders were in the mid 90s and the other two cylinders basically had none. Headgasket or piston rings maybe?
 
Finally got around to running a compression test, filled with oil took out the spark plugs and all that and results weren’t great. From left to right the first two cylinders were in the mid 90s and the other two cylinders basically had none. Headgasket or piston rings maybe?
Hard to say. Could be valves too. A borescope down the spark plug holes might tell you something. Otherwise you're at least pulling the head to diagnose.
 
I’m back been busy with things but i’m looking to possibly do a stock rebuild or even just refreshen the engine since it has 160k, I don’t have access to a air compressor at the moment so it hard to do a leakdown test but I figured the engine needs to be freshened up anyway.
I’ve been doing a decent bit of research and was just wondering what machines shops anyone might know of in the Midwest or Chicagoland area and also what exactly I need to do involving machining since I’ve never rebuilt an engine before and it’s hard finding guides or other info on what I would need to do for a basic stock rebuild besides getting the bottom end hot tanked and the maybe the head resurfaced.
 
I’m back been busy with things but i’m looking to possibly do a stock rebuild or even just refreshen the engine since it has 160k, I don’t have access to a air compressor at the moment so it hard to do a leakdown test but I figured the engine needs to be freshened up anyway.
I’ve been doing a decent bit of research and was just wondering what machines shops anyone might know of in the Midwest or Chicagoland area and also what exactly I need to do involving machining since I’ve never rebuilt an engine before and it’s hard finding guides or other info on what I would need to do for a basic stock rebuild besides getting the bottom end hot tanked and the maybe the head resurfaced.
Don’t have power goals or anything just want a basic rebuild with stock power numbers.
 
I stand corrected, found this old thread on doing a 7 bolt rebuild, can someone confirm if this would be a good route to go? (still need a machine shop though)

You must be logged in to view this image or video.
 
With that mileage, block and head both need fully disassembled, both need hot tanked, head and block need resurfaced, valve seats need cut, valves need refaced, block needs the bore checked for size and concentricity, and if necessary bored out to oversize, crankshaft needs checked for concentricity and straightness, the blocks main bearing boss's need checked for concentricity and if necessary line bored, after that you need to order appropriate parts, if you can still use the stock bore for example then you can order stock size pistons unless you can re-use your stock ones, same with the bearings etc, if your not replacing the rods with aftermarket units the stock rods need checked for concentricity also, so first you need to send it all to a machine shop to see what is salvageable the eay it is and what will need replaced with oversize or undersize parts.
 
With that mileage, block and head both need fully disassembled, both need hot tanked, head and block need resurfaced, valve seats need cut, valves need refaced, block needs the bore checked for size and concentricity, and if necessary bored out to oversize, crankshaft needs checked for concentricity and straightness, the blocks main bearing boss's need checked for concentricity and if necessary line bored, after that you need to order appropriate parts, if you can still use the stock bore for example then you can order stock size pistons unless you can re-use your stock ones, same with the bearings etc, if your not replacing the rods with aftermarket units the stock rods need checked for concentricity also, so first you need to send it all to a machine shop to see what is salvageable the eay it is and what will need replaced with oversize or undersize parts.
Appreciate the reply this is exactly what I was looking for. How much would I be looking at for all that machine work? Obviously depends on where I do it I’m sure but maybe a ballpark estimate? And if I need to bore it out and go up in size would evo 9 pistons be appropriate or would that be kinda overkill for what I’m trying to do?
Also is a torque plate absolutely necessary for a rebuild? I’ve read mixed opinions from some older threads but just wondering what people think now
 
A torque plate for any engine is "nice" to have but in no way necessary for basic performance of any engine, otherwise every machine shop wold need a torque plate for every application in existence and that they dont do, it would bankrupt them. Evo pistons are a nice upgrade, but you could likely buy some forged pistons for a little bit more money if you ever plan to turn things up, if you dont ever plan to crank the hp up then sure Evo pistons are just fine. As far as prices, it varies wildly with your location and exactly what you need done but I would figure around $500 for things considering that you might not need all of the things I mentioned, but $500 is a good ball park.
 
A torque plate for any engine is "nice" to have but in no way necessary for basic performance of any engine, otherwise every machine shop wold need a torque plate for every application in existence and that they dont do, it would bankrupt them. Evo pistons are a nice upgrade, but you could likely buy some forged pistons for a little bit more money if you ever plan to turn things up, if you dont ever plan to crank the hp up then sure Evo pistons are just fine. As far as prices, it varies wildly with your location and exactly what you need done but I would figure around $500 for things considering that you might not need all of the things I mentioned, but $500 is a good ball park.
Makes sense, was having a hard time rationalizing the purchase since after the rebuild it would presumably be an expensive nicely milled paperweight but if it’s not needed then I’ll probably just do without it. Now I just need to find a reputable machine shop.
 
There are shops that will rent you a torque plate if you really wanted one, I had one made and it wasn't at all cheap, its 2" thick steel that I picked up from a local steel mill and then had machined to match a head gasket, super heavy paperweight indeed LOL.
 
There are shops that will rent you a torque plate if you really wanted one, I had one made and it wasn't at all cheap, its 2" thick steel that I picked up from a local steel mill and then had machined to match a head gasket, super heavy paperweight indeed LOL.
the thought of having it even as a paperweight is kinda appealing LOL
Luckily I think I found a reputable shop (Apex Auto Machine) in bensonville (IL) which is less then an hour out, I found some old threads on here recommending them and the reviews seem to indicate that they do good work and they’ve been open at least 15 years now so hopefully they’ll have a torque plate
 
Support Vendors who Support the DSM Community
Boosted Fabrication ECM Tuning ExtremePSI Fuel Injector Clinic Innovation Products Jacks Transmissions JNZ Tuning Kiggly Racing Morrison Fabrications MyMitsubishiStore.com RixRacing RockAuto RTM Racing STM Tuned

Latest posts

Build Thread Updates

Vendor Updates

Latest Classifieds

Back
Top