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GSX AutoX Street Mod

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Looks very nice and aggressive, make sure the mounts are strong! I mean very strong!!! Ive seen some home jobs thats pull the brackets off the chassis because it works as designed and its not nice.

Be aware if you tap that at speed on a curb it will likely rip it or crumple it due to the material, I myself have chosen ABS plastic for this reason as its used alot in this way and takes a pounding too!

So far what you have done looks great and the effort gone into it is top notch, love home aero buiilding LOL.

As for the lower part of the splitter is to use a small rad on the front most underside to create more downforce, this will pull it down alot more then without so more bracing might be needed on the corners, if this splitter does work very well i see your corners being pulled down and since you have no corner support this might become an issue. Its not uncommon for splitters to have lots of braces, 4/6/8 to spread the load its seeing
 
Thanks!

Looks very nice and aggressive, make sure the mounts are strong! I mean very strong!!! Ive seen some home jobs thats pull the brackets off the chassis because it works as designed and its not nice.

Be aware if you tap that at speed on a curb it will likely rip it or crumple it due to the material, I myself have chosen ABS plastic for this reason as its used alot in this way and takes a pounding too!

So far what you have done looks great and the effort gone into it is top notch, love home aero buiilding LOL.

As for the lower part of the splitter is to use a small rad on the front most underside to create more downforce, this will pull it down alot more then without so more bracing might be needed on the corners, if this splitter does work very well i see your corners being pulled down and since you have no corner support this might become an issue. Its not uncommon for splitters to have lots of braces, 4/6/8 to spread the load its seeing

I agree on needing more rods. I was pushing down on different areas and the far sides need support. I'm going to take a rod from the fender, near the headlight, down to the edges. That should work. Can't wait to get the rear arms from you too.
 
Long time no update, so here it is. Also, it's Monday and I don't feel like working.

First thing I've done is get a quick release bumper kit from gixrman here in Tuners. These things are great! I was using just the one bolt into the fender and, of course, it sagged and was not rigid at all when the bumper was on. You could easily pull down on the bumper and it would flex and eventually tear the hole out on the bumper. After installing gixrman's kit it's like the bumper is one solid piece with the fender. I highly recommend it. Plus it's just a couple of quarter turns and the sides are ready to pop off. Here is a link to the install, http://www.dsmtuners.com/threads/quick-release-bumper-cover-kit.466414/
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We also had our end of year banquet this year and I got second in Street Mod. It was only by 3 points on the season scoring. The way it works is best 5 finishes get added up and the most points for the 5 events wins, 100 points for first and everyone else is scaled against first, max total of 500 points. So over 5 events I lost by 3 points out of 500. Had I gone something like .01 seconds faster in any of my 5 best events I would have had 1st. Yes, that close. The whole season was like that, super fun stuff.
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I managed to get my hands on a stage 4 TRE trans with 4 spider and Evo3 1-4th. Did a 10hr round trip to Detroit and back on a Sunday and got a really good deal on it. Also installed it with an ACT streetlight flywheel while I was in there.
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I added 2 more rods onto the splitter on the most outer edges. I wound up making my own splitter rods using aluminum tubing and some other items off of McMaster-Carr because my spliced together short ones were flimsy and cheap eBay stuff anyways. Now they are one nice piece, still adjustable, and much sturdier. Plus it's painted and has the aluminum C-channel on the front for scraping.
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Also, finally got in some more parts from @ec17pse. Great looking rear lower arms. They went in no problem, just like his other pieces. Now I just need his front uppers and I have all the tubular control arms for our cars(except the stupid front curved one of course). Woohoo!
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I did wind up getting the TRE max lock upgraded rear diff put in and all I can say is it's going to be a fun year. When I go out on the back roads and can take a turn in second gear, throttle out and POWER OVERSTEER (that's right, power ovesteer) I couldn't ask for more. It's crazy how much this one mod has changed the bias. I even managed to power oversteer a turn in third. That one was unexpected and I caught it, but welcome nonetheless. I could even still get power oversteer in second gear with the next mod too, that was surprising.

One of my favorite things in the past couple of months, Hoosiers. I have made the leap to a set of slicks and I can't wait to get a warm day to run on them. I put them on to try and heat cycle them and the feeling of the tire wanting more is a crazy feeling. I will definitely take time to get close to the limits on them. The setup I went with is Enkei RPF1s 17x10 +18 with 275 wide Hoosier A7s. I will have to get fender flares because as much as I love the poke I got hit with a pebble that came in through the sunroof when I pulled out of my driveway.LOL Another bonus is they fit over the Brembos with NO spacers.
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The last thing in this update is the rear wing. I didn't like where the stock brackets made the wing sit. It was below the roof line and I would have had to bolt the mounts right next to the hatch to make the wing not hang over the back edge of the hatch. I decided I was going to design my own using a few details from the original brackets. Keep in mind this is just a Megan racing wing I'm messing around with, so original placement was more Fast and Furious than it was aero. I sketched it out on some engineering paper, to scale, of the idea I wanted. Then, I drew it up in CAD and had it 3D printed for testing. I made a couple of adjustments to it and had a final design water jetted out of aluminum. The pictures below show the original vs. my taller and less offset front to back design. Also, I didn't like the idea of a slot with a bolt just clamping at an angle. If it created any real down force I figured it would just slip.
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This week I will be trying my hand at a power steering rack rebuild. Apparently in the past couple of weeks, probably around the time I tried to heat cycle the Hoosiers, my power steering sprung a leak and it isn't a small one. I had ordered a used one because mine had play in it. By the way, there is a bolt that holds the u-joint from the steering column onto the steering rack. When it backs itself out, it makes you think you need a new rack when in reality you just need to turn the bolt in the 4 turns it had backed itself out and..voila! No more steering center dead spot. Of course the fixed steering play seems have to more rapidly deteriorated the rack seals. If I mess up the rebuild on mine I'll still have the junkyard one to put in.

Next event is this Sunday, hopefully no rain. Maybe videos to come.
 
wide tires and wheels are always great! whats your clearance like on the knuckle? if i worked it out in my head correctly you should be a good 5mm away ish because you went 275 on an 18ET. im going to try jam a 285 or 295 25ET in front LOL i know i need to modify stuff more. nice work so far man, car is looking very aggressive
 
wide tires and wheels are always great! whats your clearance like on the knuckle? if i worked it out in my head correctly you should be a good 5mm away ish because you went 275 on an 18ET. im going to try jam a 285 or 295 25ET in front LOL i know i need to modify stuff more. nice work so far man, car is looking very aggressive
That's about right for clearance. I could probably fit a 285 but tire width over a 275 comes with a 300 lb weight added to my minimum required weight. I'm still probably overweight anyways and 275s are cheaper to learn on .

Looking forward to seeing your results!

@ileagleracing Looks like you have some SM competition!
It's going to take me a while to get used to the car now. It's totally different after my changes this off season. But so awesome haha
 
Last weekend was the first Autocross event of the season. A nice balmy 40 degrees so the Hoosiers stayed in the spare bedroom. For the first event trying everything out, it went pretty well. My RE71s have almost 2 seasons on them so they are pretty toasted along with the cold weather grip was not great, and I ran in the morning too. I didn't launch at all because the rear diff still needs it's first fluid change and the transmission was freshly put in.

I did have a couple of issues however. First, I decided to run without my valve stem caps on just for ease of checking pressures. Well that doesn't turn out well when your front driver's side valve stem leaks because the center needle thing is loose apparently. I have a nice rollover mark on the tire that goes all the way to 1/4" away from the rim from running on 0 psi. Got it filled back up and left the cap on and no more leak. Not sure how the tire didn't de-bead, lucky I guess. The next issue, I changed out my leaky steering rack for a non leaking one (this was a giant PITA btw) and it runs fine at normal speeds and longer corners. However, when changing directions quickly it's like there is a dead spot in the power steering pump almost. When the steering wheel turns from quick left to quick right, for example, in the center of that transition I have no power steering for a split second. Its almost as if the power steering isn't reacting fast enough. After I manhandle it past center it has assist again. Anyone have any ideas? If you watch the video, right in the beginning around the 9 second mark you can see the slight hesitation in my hands. It's because the steering wheel weighed 40lbs for that split second. That should have been one smooth motion.

The new rear diff upgrade has completely changed the way the car drives. It acts like a rear biased AWD if that's a thing. Power understeer is non-existent so far and much more welcome power oversteer has been achieved (I had to countersteer a couple of times in the video). Changing to a good LSD rear diff is just like I read everywhere on here, it changes the car. I can't wait for some warmer weather to really see what I can do. It's going to be an interesting year.

I came in 3rd out of 3 in my class (AKA last ). But it was cold, my tires were old my competitor's we're not, car is completely different, no launching, the list of excuses goes on and on haha.

 
A little late but, the second points event was April 22nd. It was the first event on the Hoosiers. The tires were great, of course. Out of the 6 runs I never did get the tire pressures down to where they should have been. I don't have an air compressor so didn't want to overshoot it. The event was a success despite coming 3rd in my class again. I did come in 6th place overall which was a big jump as I was usually 15-20 overall. I was a 1.5 seconds behind my fellow SM guys on my 3rd run. Then on the 4th run I broke the street tire/slick barrier and dropped that 1.5 seconds after trusting there was more grip now. I also did the VFAQ 2g power steering mod to eliminate the high RPM power steering cutout and it worked. I didn't have a loss of power steering at high RPM so that was a relief. Also, still was able to power oversteer but my alignment was pretty off, to wise, so that's probably why.


The next event was this past weekend. It was a new venue that the club hadn't had in 6 or 7 years. It was a parking lot out in front of the UK college football stadium.
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In the background is the clubs truck and trailer. This lot is twice the size of our normal pad. It was relatively smooth as well which was nice. There was only one place where we had to go over some drainage grating. The car handled very well. I was timid for the first few runs because I still don't know the limit of the tires. Its just crazy how much later I can brake and not lockup the brakes like I did on the RE71s. My 4th and 5th runs were good for 7th overall and second in class, but we had one more. I looked over to my other S Mod buddy(who was currently in 1st in class and overall with a 42.5) and told him I was going to drop the hammer down and go for it. Well I did go for it. I nailed the launch. I was struggling with bogging it because the extra grip didn't let the tires spin. I slipped the clutch more than normal to start moving and then let it out and it went. I waited until what I felt was the last second to brake around all corners, some still felt like I was too early. Everything I threw at the car stuck. Half way through the run I knew it was going to be good. I came through the timing lights and to my disbelief they said, 41.967! My first FTD! I was ecstatic to say the least. Apparently there was a lot of cheering in grid as well because I not only got FTD but by a half a second and the only person to hit a 41. What a day. It was also my first time running an event from setup to packing the trailer. I look back at the video and there was quite a bit more time to be gained as.well which is nuts. I need to work on my focus to stay ahead of the course, I wind up reacting to the course rather than being ahead. The next event is this weekend. That will make 3 events in a row.

The camera angle kind of sucks as I was more curious as to how close the fenders were getting to rubbing. I never thought "Hey I should move this because this run will be FTD".
 
This past weekend there wasn't any racing so a nice weekend off. The weekend before last was another event back at the pad in Lexington. It turned out to be a great day despite the forecast for rain, but luckily it held off so everyone could run in the dry. I wound up getting a 3rd overall in Raw time. That's 2 in a row for top 3 finishes. The guy who came in first was in a fully prepped beast of an STI running in STU, ahead by half a second. A fellow Street Mod driver squeezed one out on the last run to put me into third by .08 seconds. I had 1st for the first half of the heat so there's that. I'm still not pushing as hard as I should still because I'll still have those runs that are wicked fast each event for the past 3 now. Still learning but holy hell is it fun haha. I am going to try and mess with the timing down low to see what I can get out of it. I haven't tuned it in a while and the last time I did, I was more focused on boost areas rather than spool areas. The car has started to smoke at idle which stinks but I am beating on it pretty well. Other than that, knock on wood, everything is holding up very well. The new flywheel and trans haven't given me any issues. If anyone has any pointers, I'm all ears.
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Car looks great! Your driving has improved quite a bit as well.

Can you add a bit of rear roll resistance? Should help with mid corner push, but the car will get loose so you’ll have to keep that in mind.

The biggest thing i’ve noticed with myself and others who start getting better with car control is braking. Don’t do so much of it. Getting the car to dance is key and honestly the only way awd cars go fast for autoX. You almost have to drive it as if you hate it, if that makes sense. Lol
 
Car looks great! Your driving has improved quite a bit as well.

Can you add a bit of rear roll resistance? Should help with mid corner push, but the car will get loose so you’ll have to keep that in mind.

The biggest thing i’ve noticed with myself and others who start getting better with car control is braking. Don’t do so much of it. Getting the car to dance is key and honestly the only way awd cars go fast for autoX. You almost have to drive it as if you hate it, if that makes sense. Lol

Thanks for the input. I was toying with the idea of increasing the rear spring from the 6k it is at now and it sounds like that's a good idea. I can get an 8k spring and not have to re-valve the Feals. I have 13k in the front. I have noticed my braking change as well. On the street tire it was so easy to lock them up I had to not get on the brakes too hard. I have yet to lock them up on the Hoosiers and keep braking harder and harder. I'm surprised how much grip under braking there is. I totally get it when you say drive it like you hate it. On my fastest run this past event I did just that haha. I kept saying in my head "Come on you mofo, let's go". And I was pumped afterwards because it was fast as hell.

Looking good

Thanks!
 
Long time, no update.

There have been 2 events since last time. The 5/20 event I came in 6th overall. My last run was good enough for 3rd overall but of course, one of those sneaky cones got me. I never posted the video on YouTube strangely enough. Oh well.

6/17 was the last event. In between the two events I bought a pair of 8k swift springs for the rear. The test drive after I put them was surprising. Just a 2k bump in spring rate and the car handled even more like a go kart. The turn in was much faster as well. I definitely recommend it. This event was held in the parking lot of a minor league baseball stadium. It was recently re-sealed so it was quite slippery until tires and the asphalt warmed up. There is a lot in the way at this venue so they have to get creative but it was a fun one. Made even more fun by the fact I got 2nd overall in raw time. My best points event so far. I had 1st overall for the 1st heat but a 70s Malibu on slicks and some new to him hawk pads(rightfully nicknamed the Malibeast) got me in the 2nd heat. Notice how nicely the rear kicks around with the higher spring rates too.



youtu.be/lX1KCIjPTow

On another good note, I have signed up for a couple of National events in Bristol,TN on July 5th-8th again this year, a Match Tour and Champ Tour. Last year I drove down there on the RE71 street tire and no E85, and got last in SM haha. This year, however, I will be renting a truck and trailer from U-haul and hauling it down. Its a different animal this year and I want to really be able to push it without worrying about getting back home. I will also be camping out in it since its the same cost as a hotel room for those days. That will be interesting. One event this weekend to check everything before the national events.
 
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Another month, another update. The Bristol Match and Champ tours were during July 4th weekend. The U-haul tow rig worked out well. The car actually made it up into the trailer and I only had to remove the front bumper and splitter.
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The trip down to Bristol was uneventful. The lot is much bigger than locally so I was looking forward to trying out the Hoosiers on a big course.
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The first day, Thursday, consisted of 3 runs. My first run was slow but opened my eyes to how much grip I really had. The second run I really got on it. I kept it in second the whole time and paid the price by hitting the rev limiter what seemed like 20 times. After the run was over I thought the valve train noise was loud but figured it was just because I was running it harder than usual. I was a couple of tenths off of 3rd after the 2nd run with much room for improvement. However, I wouldn't get to really push it as when I went out for the 3rd run the car was breaking up at rpms over 4500, sounding like ignition related. It sounded like spark blowout. Since the day was done after that I went to the parts store and grabbed spark plugs and wires. Got them on and did some pulls on the road and still breaking up. Next was coil pack. Same thing, went to the store and got one and it sounded like maybe it helped a little bit, so I called it a night. The next day, Friday, was met with the same issues so I wound up leaving it in third most of the time and just trying to maintain speed and practice using the Hoosiers at high speeds. After Fridays racing was done I figured I would check the turbo since I should have rebuilt it before I went but didn't want to make any changes that might effect the long weekend. I had quite a bit of side to side shaft play and enough in and out play that the wheel was starting to rub the housing. I guessed that this was where my problems were coming from and sat the GSX on the sidelines for the rest of the weekend. I was lucky enough to have a friend let me borrow a 2016 5.0 Mustang prepped for a street class for Saturday and Sunday. It was fun because it was set up well and I hadn't driven a RWD car with torque at speed before. Overall the weekend was fun but I was disappointed because I would have placed much better than last year, perhaps with a trophy and some free tires. I got the car back home and continued to try and figure out what happened. I rebuilt the turbo, which I thought was the problem, and still the same high rpm sputtering. Now I was getting worried. So out comes the compression tester and sure enough...the results were fine. Lucky me. I was stumped and came onto here to search for the answer. There were a couple of threads that had mentioned rocker arms popping off. I went outside and unbolted the valve cover and sure enough, there was a cylinder 4 intake rocker arm laying in the head. A couple of expletives later and I laid the valve cover down and went inside for the night. The next morning I went outside and took the 10 minutes to bleed the HLA and pop the rocker arm back on. Took the car out and it pulled all the way to redline with no issue. I was not happy with the fact I didn't even try to check that in Bristol, but the car was running normally again. I did get one good video with the overlay to work.


The next weekend, 7-15, was a local event. I got my first FTD! At Bristol, even though the car was broken, the couple of runs I did get showed me how I need to throw the car around instead of trying to be gentle and smooth. I was still smooth but way more agressive and was amazed at how it stuck. I repeated this at a local event and it paid off. I now know how I need to drive it.


Last weekend, 7-29, was points event 7. This was our last hoorah at the EKU college venue in Richmond, KY. It was a fast-ish course with a weird really tight painful finish. I was in third until a CSP miata came around me on the last run. My last run was also my fastest but I went wide on the 2nd to last turn and too hot into the weird painful hairpin finish. Finished 4th.


The bump in rear spring rates has made a world of difference and with my newly found level of grip I should be closing out the year strong. 2 points events left and a few end of year challenge events.
 
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Your not the first one with rockers jumping off nor the last, ive reae many posts on that, just would like to know if its an oil problem from pressure drop,

I have the GSC lifters with harder springs so i hope i never get that,
@Black95TSIawd i think had the same issue and it killed his motor though,
 
Im not sure if its pressure related. I am on stock valve springs so I'm sure that doesn't help. I do have the Kiggly regulator though. A buddy of mine mentioned that the SR20s for the 240s have rocker arms pop off so much that they have actually a retaining bracket that holds them on. Apparently it's usually one of the first mods haha.
 
Im not sure if its pressure related. I am on stock valve springs so I'm sure that doesn't help. I do have the Kiggly regulator though. A buddy of mine mentioned that the SR20s for the 240s have rocker arms pop off so much that they have actually a retaining bracket that holds them on. Apparently it's usually one of the first mods haha.
Interesting. I will have to see how they do this
 
Interesting. I will have to see how they do this
I was going to talk to you about it and see if it is something that would peak your interest anyways haha. Add it to your collection of DSM products. :thumb:The SR20 only has one rocker per 2 valves which makes it a little easier for them.
 
I had my rev limiter set to 7800 and would hit and ride it constantly. (Local venue has huge lots) This developed a tick in the head that would come and go so I changed my lifters as a precaution. I too have a kiggly hla, but also an accusump. With sweeper heavy courses and 285 re71r’s, the car made a ton of grip so oil starvation was a concern.

Well, the tick returned one morning while driving to an event and the motor instantly quit on me. I towed it home to find a snapped timing belt. Haven’t worked on it yet, but either the head or my oil pump locked up. Be sure to inspect everything every few events and make swapping maintenance items a yearly chore.

Will you be attending Nationals? I’ll be there in my STU evo.
 
I had my rev limiter set to 7800 and would hit and ride it constantly. (Local venue has huge lots) This developed a tick in the head that would come and go so I changed my lifters as a precaution. I too have a kiggly hla, but also an accusump. With sweeper heavy courses and 285 re71r’s, the car made a ton of grip so oil starvation was a concern.

Well, the tick returned one morning while driving to an event and the motor instantly quit on me. I towed it home to find a snapped timing belt. Haven’t worked on it yet, but either the head or my oil pump locked up. Be sure to inspect everything every few events and make swapping maintenance items a yearly chore.

Will you be attending Nationals? I’ll be there in my STU evo.

I have yet to install my accusump and really need to but was wanting to get the fitting you got made (the 'T' with the 10an). Did someone on here make it for you? I would be willing to buy one from them.

I was on the fence about Nationals and decided not to go this year. I am in a weird spot where I have to tow the car for long distances but don't have a tow rig. A U-haul to Nebraska would be close to a couple grand.

Its a shame that happened to your car. I was looking forward to seeing it continue to do well. Good luck at Nationals. 1300-1400 drivers is going to be nuts
 
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