Eclipse GSX Rescue

[Zmangsx23]

Zmangsx23 submitted a new DSM Profile :

Eclipse GSX Rescue


Read more about this vehicle here...

 

[Zmangsx23]

Soon after the car was delivered I began tearing into it. The battery was junk, probably from sitting. After replacing that, I decided to see if it would start. Car cranked perfectly but, no bad noises though from either the head or bottom end. Swapped spark plugs for new ones checked that I was getting spark and fuel (gas was/is an unknown age), still nothing. Went and got a Harbor Freight compression tester and (assuming the tester isn't junk), I got 0 or extremely close to 0 psi on a 4 cylinders. Very strange. When I had the plugs out a looked down into the cylinder bore as best I could, I could see a little bit but not much in there as I don't have a camera to stick in there. I didn't see any scoring on the piston tops or chunks of debris. I did notice during all this a few of the valve cover bolts were loose.

As working on the car I start to notice that some components appear to be new. The purple BOV is an obvious replacement but also random hoses as well as the timing and all accessory belts, plugs and wires etc. I found this interesting and began piecing together what might have happened to the car. Smack dab in the center of the drivers window is the remainder of a massive sticker (yes the impossible to remove paper kind) from a HOA. It details that the car is violating their neighborhood code as it had been deemed "non-running" and asked for a response or for the car to be moved. Guessing the car was non-running due to the HG "heading" out (pun intended) and was towed away after no reply and wound up at the junkyard because it had no key and became a nuisance to keep moving around. Also when I first got the car I decided to actually look through it. I found all the original purchase information as well as the window sticker and manuals. This was honestly super cool for me and I think at least at some point in its life this car belonged to someone who at least looked after it and kept it inside which is why its not completely eaten with rust after spending its whole life in the Midwest. Pics of the documents are in my photos on this thread as well as some other misc pics.

Anyways, after compression.exe decided to not be found, I let the car sit in storage over the winter as I was at school, working part time, and in the midst of getting my WRX ready for a dyno tune. This allowed me time to read up on the forums as well as the book I mentioned in my intial post. I also located and downloaded all the FSM for my year as I'm sure I'll need to use them when I start putting stuff back. Now that COVID-19 has brought the world to a halt, I figured what better time to dig in than right now, school is online and my hours at work have been cut way back, might as well use the free time for something fun. This past weekend, my girlfriend and I went to pull the motor out, or that was the plan at least. After a pit stop at harbor freight my hopes were dashed as they were sold out of cherry pickers and won't be getting restocked until next week. Nevertheless, we set to work.

Jacked the car up and put it on stands. Removed the hood and set it aside. The front bumper on the car was already not installed correctly and after removing/snapping the 5 top bolts that held it on, off it came. Seems in pretty good shape and has both fog bezels. Next, up front wheels, which is where I hit my first obstacle. The wheels on the car are aftermarket, not horrible but also not my taste, but they were held on with splined lug nuts, hence a key was needed. After rooting around the interior I found it under the drivers seats and popped both front wheels off. Then came fender liners. Next I drained the coolant, not enough came out to make me think all was right but it was clean, a further sign the car had been freshened up at least semi recently. When checking the oil during initial troubleshooting it looked clean and pretty new. That was not the case when I drained it. In fact, quite the opposite . The car has a severely blown head gasket by the look of it. The trans and t-case oil level was good but the fluid was NASTY and smelled a little burnt in both and the drain plug for the t-case had some foreign stuff on it. After that I had had my fill of being under the car and getting crap in my eyes so I went up top and got to work. First we removed the radiator, then intake, intercooler and pipes, then set to work unplugging the harness from the engine and trans. Next I undid the shifter cables from the shifter arm but I couldn't dislodge the big clips that held them to the bracket on the transmission, so I just unbolted the whole bracket. Next was the cruise module and fuel feed line for the rail. Unbolted the A/c line from the drivers tower as well as misc ground wires. Undid the heater hoses. At this point it was getting late so we packed up our tools and called it a day. Before we left I laced both front axle nuts with PB blaster, I know these are notorious for rusting as my brother fought these doing a clutch install long ago. Fortunately the aftermarket wheels have center caps and they appear to have kept the nuts from welding themselves to the axles. I think they'll zip right off with an impact. I also hit the ball joints as well as the stock downpipe bolts as they were giving me fits. Later this week I'll be working on it again, hopefully the motor will be out. All I've got left is the motor mounts, axles (fingers crossed), and the t-case as I can't access all the bolts to take it off with the downpipe in the way.

 

[Zmangsx23]

Continuing on pulling my motor, this time I took a full size Milwaukee impact with me. Zipped off both axles nuts no problem, same with the dp bolts that were stuck last time. Cut the exhaust hangers and removed what was left of the stock exhaust. Next dropped the t-case and pulled it off the driveshaft to get it out of the way. Hooked up the motor to the engine crane along with a leveler. I removed all the bolts holding the motor/trans mounts in place, And removed the passenger side and driver side mounts entirely by lowering the motor and trans down after loosening all the bolts The engine is free except for 2 things. First, per some videos and reading, I unbolted the upper control arm from the strut tower to gain more movement of the hub assembly. On either side of the car, where the hub bolts to the strut at the bottom, I could not undo those bolts. I laced them with PB blaster, and ugga dugga-ed them to death with that impact and a wrench on the bolt head. They won't budge. With the motor unbolted from the mounts however, I was able to push it far enough towards the passenger side to slide the axle out of the driver's side hub (barely) and the popped it out that way but no dice for the passenger side. The second thing is one of the bolts holding my A/C compressor to the block. It will not break loose and I don't want to strip it as it's in a tight spot and I don't have the means to evacuate my system. Hoping once everything else is off I can lift it enough to get a better angle on it, also a smaller impact might fit back there so I will try that when I go back.

While I had some free time I made a spreadsheet of new parts I think I'll need to replace/upgrade when restoring this car. Plenty of bolts are not in any shape to reuse, most of the brackets I'll probably blast and paint myself as a project. I've got it all split into different categories with pricing and links to all the parts at their cheapest offering. If anyone is interested I could post it up and if there are things I'll need in addition please chime in.

One thing I can't seem to locate are stock/OEM/or OE replacement rear axles. I see offerings for upgraded higher hp axles but I'm not sure I want/need to shell out the extra money for them.

The last question I have is what all can I delete/get rid of as far as the stock emissions/sensors etc go. These cars are 20+ years old and even on my Subaru I deleted my EGR, air pump system, TGV's etc. I would like to retain my A/C, power steering, and cruise control.

 

[bettfootball]

We want pics! Regarding asking what you can remove as far as emissions/sensors etc. Please just search. There are 20 years of archives on these forums, its in there I swear.

Rear axles, discontinued and no OE offered. Drive Shaft Shop rears are the only off the shelf. If you're LSD rear, even harder to find axles. There is a set of non-lsd on ebay right now.

And lastly, I was in Ames at ISU. Good times!

 

[Zmangsx23]

Hey @bettfootball thanks for replying. I actually ran across your build when I joined the forum a while back. Super clean man I'm a big fan. I actually think a coworker of mine showed me your build on Instagram over the summer when I was embarking on this journey. He used to have an Evo back in the day around the time you might have been going to school around here. If you PM me, I'll give you his name, I'm almost certain it was your car and he mentioned you being in Colorado.

I'll add some more pics as soon as I can, I've got some from my engine removal so far but I can't really get good shots of the car as whole as the storage unit I'm working out of isn't super wide and it doesn't really have any lighting, I mostly work by daylight. Currently it's not much to look at . I mainly asked about the emissions thing just to put a feeler out there, that's a LONG way down the road, I will definitely do my homework when the time comes. Still a lot for me to learn, I'm glad resources like this exist, I feel they are a dying breed sadly.

I've seen DSS rears but I was hoping you had better news for me . My window sticker shows an optioned rear LSD. Would I have any luck sourcing new boots/rebuild/refresh kits for them? A quick search on RockAuto shows (from 1 vendor at least) a boot that is claimed to fit AWD front inner, OR rear inner with LSD, no idea if this is accurate, I'll read up more.

In other news the donor strut towers showed up. Had them cut the way my body guy wanted them, they're from a red car, strangely the only things not rotted on that car were the towers. Speaking of body work I'd like to pose a question to the audience (however big or small) on the color I should have this car painted. On one hand the purist in me wants to have it redone in the Kalapana black it came with, black on black cars look good and this is a nice example of one however I've always been drawn to the Monarch Green color as well. I've got plenty of time before it hits the shop but I've been weighing those 2 options in my mind for a while now. Curious on others thoughts.

 

[Zmangsx23]

Got the motor and trans out of the car. Split them and then loaded them into my car. Once back at my garage I put the motor on the stand and began disassembly. The farther I get the more this car looks untouched, all bolts are where they should be and most of them are coming off with a little elbow grease, not to mention every single crevice is filled with dirt and grime, this motor is filthy. Only thing that's really given me trouble is the turbo oil feed line which I just ended up bending because I plan on replacing it with a braided one after I pick a turbo. Took off cam gears, head studs, intake and exhaust manifolds, water necks (found a giant piece of casting flash by the upper neck), fuel rail, crank pulley, various tensioners and covers, and the oil pan. Didn't find any metal in there however there was quite a bit of rtv and crud built up on the pickup screen as well as it resembling chocolate milk courtesy of the coolant. Removed the baffle and gave all the rods a wiggle. They have some play but not a whole lot (not sure what spec is) but I'm going to be tearing this down anyways. Tomorrow the head comes off and we'll have a look inside. Judging by how much carbon is built up on the valve cover etc, this thing missed more than a few oil changes in its life. Pics added.

 

[Zmangsx23]

Stripped the block down to bare and knocked out the balance shaft bearings. I took the block, front case, bearing girdle & bolts, head (still assembled sans cam gears & valve cover), and crank to a local machine shop. I spent some time with the machinist and he seems extremely knowledgeable and has some previous experience with these blocks. He's going to clean everything up first and then start checking clearances and such. He plans to check the crank journals for alignment, (although I read it's best to check this with upgraded studs (if you plan on using them) as the torques are different and this distorts them differently), as well for any signs of crank walk although with this motor being a later model and using a 3 piece thrust bearings I don't think there will be any damage. Additionally he's going to pressure test the head and check for any warping. Once he makes sure all the parts check out I'm going to have him get to work on machining and I'll go ahead with ordering manley rods and pistons.

I just picked up a super mint front subframe and it's in the mail as we speak. My front subframe has some rust starting and would need a lot of work to make it nice and worth bolting back to the car. My plan is to drop the front subframe next and then build a new a refreshed subframe complete with poly bushings and all new suspension components to put back in. I will probably do this in the rear as well but I haven't even gotten back there to assess the condition.

Been working on slowly stripping the car when I have time while I wait for my time at the body shop.