Hey guys. Mod suggestions on 420a?

[lusk219]

Hey everyone. So first of all, I just bought a 1998 Eclipse RS, 5 speed w/ 175,000miles on it. Suprisingly, it runs great, no problems. First, what all should I have checked out on it? It runs great, but are there common problems with them that I don't know about?

Then after I get it checked out, what should I begin working on performance wise? I'm not wanting to turn it into any 12 second car or anything, I just wanna put a little more power behind the wheels, and of course, I want it to sound nice. haha

It's going to be a daily driver for me so good gas mileage is preferred when figuring everything up.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Kyle97-clipse]

Well first I would do what you said and do all the basci maintence on it, change the oil, fresh sparkplugs, check all fluid levels, and you know the basic stuff. I'm not really sure of any common problems as i'm pretty new to dsm myself. Performance wise for good gas milage and a reliable daily driver I would go with cold air intake, headers, cat back exhauast could get an ebay one for like under 200 or get a good one like I have for like 600 but personally I just think I paid for the name. Under Drive pulley will give you a little gain and you could also get a MSD coil pack with wires though you wont gain much from that. Thats basically all of the basic bolt ons without getting to complicated, need any help on anything just ask.

 

[head_trauma911]

Well since you don't want a 12 second car then you should just stay N/A no need for a turbo. Basic bolt ons Intake, header exaust, then you could do a little to suspension, strut tower brace(front), maybe lower it, rims good tires not walmart. lots of little stuff you can do.

 

[Locke]

Change the timing belt.

 

[tegster1]

Get a stock gst exhaust if you can find one and run that. It sounds good and bolts right up. If you need it to stay as a DD and get good gas mileage I wouldnt worry about anything else performance wise. Maybe lower it a bit and get some wheels and be done if you want more of that sporty look to it.

 

[lusk219]

Thanks a lot for all the suggestions. Any suggestions on specifics? I honestly don't know too much about DSM's and don't know what works good with what yet. I'll probably go K&N for the cold air intake, but I don't know about the headers, exhaust, tires, timing belt, etc. I don't know anything about the under drive pulley, coil pack, or the specifics on the strut tower brace. I feel stupid... Haha

Thanks in advance for being patient with me.

 

[jacobevan611]

As for headers and exhaust if you dont want to spend a lot of money get the ebay ones. If your willing to spend a bit of money you could get pace setter headers or dc sports and for exhaust apexi n1 or greddy. I personally am running the megan cat back and I paid 300 for it and I love the way it sounds. BUt before all of this I would do what others have said new tires, change oil, new plugs, timing belt is extremely important because if it breaks youll destroy motor so I would get that first expeacially since your car has a lot of miles.

 

[head_trauma911]

I have 138,000 on my 97 GS non turbo should i change out the timing belt or should i replace (2 tie rods on left side and 1 on the right) my steering is fine dont hear nothing the tire place people told me they were bad and couldn't do an alignment because of bad parts. Which one should I do first? TIMING BELT or TIE RODS(3) any help thank-you.....

 

[VelocitàPaola]

Thanks a lot for all the suggestions. Any suggestions on specifics? I honestly don't know too much about DSM's and don't know what works good with what yet. I'll probably go K&N for the cold air intake, but I don't know about the headers, exhaust, tires, timing belt, etc. I don't know anything about the under drive pulley, coil pack, or the specifics on the strut tower brace. I feel stupid... Haha

Thanks in advance for being patient with me.

If it were my car, I would get an eBay "short ram" intake and use an K&N filter. Then I'd look for cheap headers on eBay. These look good:

eBay Motors: Eclipse 95-99 98 97 96 RS/GS 420A 2.0L Non-Turbo Header (item 180348788809 end time Apr-27-09 15:58:05 PDT)

I'd check the same place for the strut tower braces. These ones look pretty good:

eBay Motors: Front Rear Up Strut Tower Bar Eclipse 95-99 GS RS GST (item 130301880231 end time Apr-27-09 09:07:53 PDT)

I like the suggestion about upgrading to a GS-T muffler. It's a drop-in replacement, and although the piping is the same size as your RS/GS muffler, the muffler itself is freer flowing.

The best tire for your car depends on quite a few variables. Plus, everyone seems to have their own opinion as to which brand or style is best. Personally, I like the Goodyear Eagle RS-A's; they perform rather well can came on the car stock. I wouldn't go out of my way to purchase new tires unless my current ones were worn or otherwise unsafe, however.

Don't worry about "upgrading" your coil pack. You probably won't notice a difference. Spark plug wires, on the other hand, should be replaced.

The rest is all maintenance: check and change fluids as needed; check air pressure and inflate tires; replace spark plugs and wires.

I would also recommend changing the water pump, timing belt and timing accessories if you have no record of when those things were done last. It's important to address these components because if any should fail, the consequences will be catastrophic. On the other hand, replacing these parts is a big job for a novice... so take your time planning. Parts Dinosaur is where I would buy these parts:

420A Mitsubishi / Chrysler 2.0 DOHC 16V Engine Parts

 

[VelocitàPaola]

I have 138,000 on my 97 GS non turbo should i change out the timing belt or should i replace (2 tie rods on left side and 1 on the right) my steering is fine dont hear nothing the tire place people told me they were bad and couldn't do an alignment because of bad parts. Which one should I do first? TIMING BELT or TIE RODS(3) any help thank-you.....

If you don't know the last time the timing belt was changed, I would replace it. However, if you have known bad parts (i.e. the tie rods), I would replace those first.

 

[LD25Delta9]

Best mod I ever did was a Kid Seat! Got 32whp/17wtq from it! HA! But on a serious note: The only thing I don't see mentioned is doing a Comp. test, Fuel Pressure Test, and check the Fuel Filter. But the again, I'm A.R.
Reason I suggest doing a comp. test is that my friend just bought a 95 RS and it had about the same amount of miles on it, but the rings were fried, giving him inbetween 130 and 170. FYI: Stock Spec is 175-225. Granted, it ran like poopie from the get go. It was a previously boosted car. UNBUILT! Before anyone asks.

 

[lusk219]

What all is included in the "timing accessories" you mention replacing, VelocitàPaola? I understand getting a new timing belt, but what else?

 

[VelocitàPaola]

What all is included in the "timing accessories" you mention replacing, VelocitàPaola? I understand getting a new timing belt, but what else?

Idler pulley and tensioner.

 

[Doubleot]

I'd go with an ebay special exhaust if you were going to go in that direction, I bought the whole header and down pipe for less than 100 buck shipped and they are pretty good. Now as for the suspension i'd go with these tenzo springs i also bought on ebay they were only 120 shipped and work like a charm they make your car sit clean and some nice wheels would be a great addition. Let me know if you need specifics on anything glad to help

 

[lusk219]

Tenzo-R lowering springs? I also don't wanna go too low, seeing as I live in Indiana and have a lot of really bad roads and bumps. haha

I'm eventually wanting to put a body kit of some sort on it, but I still want it to sit 4" off the ground or so. Also, in terms of wheels/tires, I'm wanting to put 19"s on it with at least 3 or 4" of rubber on them. Low pros aren't an option out here. Any suggestions? I'm thinking Toyo tires and God knows what wheels. haha

 

[erald01]

Body kit is not going to give you anykind of performance, BUT mostly headache from trying to put it on and fitting it good from cracking it while pulling in some kind of driveway, so keep the 2gb body on because it looks good the way it is, and just do the basic bolt ons. Before doing all these, check the compession on all your cylinders and make sure they can hold an extra 10-15 hp without blowing things up.

 

[EDM95]

You should just get a lip kit for the front bumper and a vented carbon fiber hood and call it a day body wise.

 

[lusk219]

I know a body kit doesn't do anything performance wise, but it looks good. haha
I'll probably just go with EDM95's idea on the lip kit on the front bumper and the CF hood. Sounds good enough to me.

 

[LD25Delta9]

Are you guys seriously saying that a body kit can't do anything performance wise? There are some body kits (not specifcally for our car) that help with aerodynamics. If you get rid of uneeded drag, you can go faster with more control at higher speeds. Every little bit counts when the stop watch reads hundreths of a second. There are even lips that help with aerodynamics as well. That's my $0.02

 

[habitatguy187]

, I don't think this guy is trying to break the land speed record with a 420a. A bodykit would be useless for almost every car, if anything it will add weight.

 

[mitsubishi98gs]

Want some chicken with that rice? RICER no body kits or 18S and no they dont make it go faster unless your like in nascar or something plus there all ugly!

 

[Locke]

I think that, by now, the OP understands the general distaste for body-kits and the like that is generally held by the DSM community. It'd be much appreciated if we could keep this on topic.

Thanks guys.

 

[mitsubishi98gs]

I agree.

 

[Doubleot]

I'd say get a cf hood and a front lip, I have a kit on my esi and it's getting torn off as soon as I have time to get it off, in utah in the winter, it's a snow plow, no kidding my front bumper is like 2 inches off the ground. So if you wanna lower and do body stuff, definetley dont do a bodykit plus, they look better stock and really clean

 

[cheap90gsx]

SS tubular 4-2-1 exhaust manifold.