Hopefully own one soon!

[EuroFanatic]

Hello all, I don't currently own a DSM, but hopefully this week I can pick one up-depending on if I get the job offer i'm looking at. I am not new to cars, or repair and modification on cars, I build my own OBD1 Civic with many, many mods (almost all OE Mitsu parts so dont hate!) but I am not used to building on an OBD2 platform.

Anyway, Saturday night a buddy of mine brought over his Eclipse hes going to be selling me. It is a 1996 Eclipse GST, the previous owner butchered the $hit out of it, and there's wires disconnected everywhere, and numerous issues that make me wonder how it runs. Well anyways, within the past week, it has been shuddering HARD under acceleration. We did the basic technician checks, plugs wires, checked the piping etc. Plugs and wires are new, and the piping is questionable. Sprayed soapy water all over the intake and pluming and pressurized the system, leaks air everywhere at only 2psi. So we fixed all but one, the set screw on the throttle body that adjusts idle still blows air by, but we cant remove the screw to put a new Oring in. Ok, that didn't fix the shudder. 1st and 2nd gear is ok, but 3rd gear at about 8+ psi the shudder starts. We bled the clutch (supposedly the previous owner installed a stage 2, clutch). There was nothing but chunky green fluid and white stuff in the lines. Now its clear and the clutch is much more firm, but it still shudders under acceleration. Daily driving through a city is fine, but you couldn't pass someone to save your life!


Now here is my question when I buy this car, I want to turn it into an autocross car. It already has minimal interior- steering wheel and seats is about it- and blown shocks under it. I am not worried about the suspension or anything yet, as long as its running, I am wanting to remove the radio and put a block off plate, in this location I want to run numerous switches for the accessory items, such as fuel pump and starter power etc. I would like the turn of the key to power the switch line, and then each individual switch to turn the car over. Is it possible to have an ignition like this on a car run by a full ECU? (The CEL is inop right now, as soon as I buy it I will make it work, I was told its only o2 codes because of no cat-I KNOW there's plenty more in there than that)

 

[Boostinsideways]

If its gonna be a purpose built track car you don't need to worry about OBD, unless you live in one of those nazi states that requires to have emissions done even for off road use only vehicles.

Sounds like aside from wiring issues, you just a lot of boost/vacuum leaks. Boost/vacuum leaks will make these cars run like total and complete shit because of the type of MAF they use (all the air is metered just after the air filter. Even with a GM Maf, you would still have some drive-ability issues with boost leaks after the MAF.

Speed density would have less issues with boost leaks, just noticeable reduction in horsepower.

Yes you can interrupt power to the starter or fuel pump with a switch. Somepeople have been doing some pretty cool stuff with Key less entry and push button starts. I know one guy has done some really cool stuff with the RFID cards and his push button start.

 

[EuroFanatic]

Haha, I definitely don't have to worry about emissions, just the local cop wanting to write a ticket for a non-OE exhaust.

The boost/vac leaks are becoming more difficult to find on this one. We have fixed probably 99% of the boos leaks, but I know there are still many vac leaks around the manifold. Used 2 cans of carb cleaner and the car only reacted once but not consistently enough to find the leak. (I am good friends with our parts store people, once I buy it I am probably going to get a few different size boxes of vac lines and just redo them all.)

For the MAF meter by the air filter...is there any way to eliminate that? My last build only had a MAP sensor after the throttle-body... If not, what could I do to improve it? The owner now thinks its faulty for some reason, but I just would like to get rid of it.

For the switches, I would like to keep the key to power the switch panel (that way no one can just jump in and drive), would the ECU throw codes saying faults with things like the fuel pump if it did not activate when the key was turned? I only want the key as a theft deterrent, I want the switches to activate everything else.

My last question, he currently has a BOV attached where the recirculating valve is supposed to be and it runs poorly when driving. I told him to put the REC valve back on and its much better. Without an ECU tune, can you run a BOV setup and not have the car freak out?

 

[CrawlinZX14]

Can u get rid of the MAF, YES. Do u need to? NO. If your going to autoX it ONLY then just go speed density and call it a day. U need a MAP, AIT and a tuner program like DSMlink or something like that to adjust for the SD and other mods you are likely to do. You could also run a VPC or a MAFT pro. depends on your budget. A standalone would offer you the most tunability but those are a few grand. Basically I would suggest checking the vac line that comes off the intake to the PCV first. If its never been changed, it may be cracked. You could have bad vac lines in your EGR too. There are not many places there are likely vac leaks, it is just a pain in the azz to trace them since they are often out of your sight line.

You are likely only going to need a couple vac lines tho. do an EGR block off, and cap off all those lines, and eliminate your AC and other acc related items if its a track car. That should leave you with about 4 vac lines. mani to BOV, Mani to FPR and then turbo to wastegate. Those should be your main ones that I can think of off the top of my head. Just figure out what you plan to keep and disconnect the rest. You will save yourself a ton of headaches that way. especially if you dump the EGR and cap the lines. No worrys about leaks when there are no lines right.

 

[AG 305]

the set screw on the throttle body that adjusts idle still blows air by, but we cant remove the screw to put a new Oring in.

try loosening it all the way out and THEN do a boost leak test. that should make it pop right out. make sure not to loose it

 

[EuroFanatic]

try loosening it all the way out and THEN do a boost leak test. that should make it pop right out. make sure not to loose it

Haha, I remember we were going to try that..but I think the many drinks we had before that made both us us forget to try it...getting too frustrated at it.

I will start to look into the other swap arounds for the MAF sensor, see what I can do with that. I definitely plan on removing the A/C and possibly removing the power steering....did a model of Eclipse come standard without it? I would like to swap racks if one did. My Civic never came with it, and I found out FF cars only need it in a parking lot...

By blocking off the vac lines to everything, and removing the EGR from the system....how do I make the ECU believe everything is ok? (Again, I'm used to OBD1 where everything is ok as long as it runs )

I'm hoping the sale turns out, he wants to drop a clutch in it and keep it as his DD.... I keep telling him cash in hand this week!

 

[AG 305]

the many drinks we had before that made both us us forget to try it...

hooray for alcohol

 

[Boostinsideways]

No there was no 2nd generation DSM without a powersteering rack. Though a few have found workarounds to depower the rack, but if you are going to autocrossing with wide sticky tires you will want some p/s

I am a pretty big guy and its not the easiest car to flick around a corner, Especially if your running a stick, two footing, downshift, and trying to flick it around with one hand. Got to experience that this week as I burned the shit out of left hand.

One thing that is becoming more and more popular is the switch to an MR-2 Electric PS Pump.

The easiest way to bypass the OEM MAF would be to get a MAF-T and a 3" GM MAF. Beyond that you will have to convert from a Mass Airflow System to a Speed Density System which can be done with DSM Link which is like the DSM World's Hondata or you can switch to 98-99 ecu or an evo 8-9 ecu and use Ceddy Mods, or Evo Scan/Evo Flash. A speed density setup would just require a Manifold Absolute Pressure sensor, and an Intake Air Temp Sensor.


I am sure if you show up at his house, and flash some bills at him he will want to sell it. Its happened to me 4 times now. I wasn't sure about selling a car, someone put my full asking price in front of me, and I just couldn't say no.

The ECU doesn't give a shit if any of those vacuum lines on the throttle body are there, just as long as you cap the nipples off. As long as you don't unplug the egr and fps etc you won't through any codes. DSM Link can be used to turn codes off completly, though I am pretty sure it locks your ecu out from other communication so you can't have your car emissions tested with codes ignored.

 

[EuroFanatic]

I am sure if you show up at his house, and flash some bills at him he will want to sell it. Its happened to me 4 times now. I wasn't sure about selling a car, someone put my full asking price in front of me, and I just couldn't say no.

I'm going to accept a job offer tomorrow...and I'll see if I can get some cash to try this approach .

Looks like I'll be keeping the P/S for a while then...

If I purchase the DSM Link, which I did a basic google search for $550, and wanted to swap this to the speed density style, would I have to take it in and have any dyno work done? And would I have to purchase any other sensors or meters to convert it?

No matter what, the firt things I am doing to this car is flushing out all the fluids of who knows what garbage, and replacing the outer tie rods.

As for parts, is there a wholesale site popular for DSMs? For us Euros, we use AutohausAZ for most anything. And whats the best priced aftermarket place to buy?

 

[Boostinsideways]

There is no one best site. We have an ass load of vendors.

Vendor Announcements - DSM Forums
DSMtuners Supporting Vendors

http://www.ecmtuning.com/ For DSM (Now called ECM) Link. You can do the initial setup yourself. Once you purchase the software/hardware you from them you get a forum account, tons of user support, tons of Vendor support. A knowledge base (wiki with tons of info) and they even have some videos allready up on there website you can watch to see how truely easy it is to do your initial installation and setup on dsm link.

I had never tuned with a standalone besides Megasquirt before DSM Link and I got dsm link installed and setup in less than an hour. You don't need any Dyno time. It can be helpful but its not an absolute. You log your cruise, idle, and Wide open throttle pulls and make adjustments to your fuel tables or VE charts as needed. Its not the easiest thing in the world to get into, but your tech savy at all you usually get it down taking baby steps.

 

[EuroFanatic]

Ok everybody, I now own my own DSM. 1996 Eclipse GST.

Anyway, I dropped $150 on maintenance stuff tonight, and now I am hunting down vacuum leaks. I found the waste-gate solenoid, there are 2 vac ports on the side of it, according to the Chilton manual, there is one on the side and one on the bottom. So I need to know, which runs to the waste-gate and which gets blocked off.

Also, I disconnected the vac fitting for the BOV and the boost gauge-and the car ran smooth. I would assume that means theres a clogged line right? I checked the PCV valve but the plunger works just fine (seems loose maybe?) Any Ideas?

Also, on the passenger side of the valve cover, right under the breather hose, there is a ground wire mounted to the head. Where does this wire go? They left an open connector but no wire in it.

Bump Bump!