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2G Hello! My first car, '96 Eclipse Spyder GS

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Clawless

5+ Year Contributor
112
25
Jun 20, 2018
Astoria, New_York
Hey guys,

I'm new here, very eager to become a part of this community and learn as much about DSMs as humanly possible. Surprisingly, I ended up with a winning bid for a '96 Eclipse Spyder GS at Copart. I never expected to have won with my low bid but here I am now. The car has low mileage for being a '96, around 105k. The Eclipse is currently my daily and I've been learning how to drive stick in it. I'm not sure how long the car sat for but I ended up learning how to change out the oil, oil filter, and coolant. The car would always stall on neutral but the issue went away. The car came with an oil leak coming from the valve cover and a hidden misfire in Cylinder 3 which caused a sputter. I bought the repair manual and found the service manual on this site so thank you for that. I fixed the leak and misfire with my father alongside the spark plugs and corresponding gaskets. This has all been fairly new to me and has been a very stressful month. I plan on spending the first year of this build improving handling components, improving my stick driving, and attending my first track event. What else should I check on the vehicle or replace including common issues in this car? Thank you!

Sincerely,
Joseph
 
Congrats on the winning bid! I daily my 99 Spyder GS and love the car, currently working on a GS-T conversion to make the car even more fun to drive :hellyeah:

Best advice I can give you is maintenance first! Swap out the timing belt, balance shaft belt, and water pump. It may seem like a dive into the deep end when you're just learning to swim, but that's the biggest potential point of failure. That, and the job isn't as difficult as it appears. Just take your time, double and triple check your timing marks, and follow proper torque specs.

The Spyder has its quirks, but they're a blast to drive (especially this time of year!)
 
Yeah definitely! Thank you for the advice. I hope your GS-T conversion goes smoothly as well. Maintenance has been a great way to test the waters. Also, the car seems to have come with an aftermarket single tip exhaust with no visible brand. I'm not sure if its normal but the car is slightly loud and vibrates somewhat.
 

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Yeah definitely! Thank you for the advice. I hope your GS-T conversion goes smoothly as well. Maintenance has been a great way to test the waters. Also, the car seems to have come with an aftermarket single tip exhaust with no visible brand. I'm not sure if its normal but the car is slightly loud and vibrates somewhat.

Looks like a run-of-the-mill eBay exhaust. I tried sourcing a stock exhaust for a reasonable price when I first got mine as the entire system needed to be replaced, but the $150 eBay catback was more in line with my lack of a budget at the time.

It'll increase noise, but definitely won't cause any excess vibrations.
 
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