How to Build a reliable dsm ?

[dark at night]

I am sick of getting my mustang stuck in the snow, so I believe that I am going to purchase a gsx or tsi. I know dsm has a tendency to break, but I dont plan on hot rodding it to much, but we all know how that changes. So I want to know what should I do to make it reliable. I want to know what goes first and what should I look for? Im assuming the manuals are a little better for lasting longer.

 

[dark at night]

Thanks alot guys I learned a ton from just this one post, a special thanks to this guy IceMinion who seems to know a ton about these cars.

 

[92AWDHX40]

Way too much to read treat it as any other car maintain it, all cars break if your gonna bang on it expect sometimes for problems. My dsm is damn near new with just about everything replaced except the shell. Im always under the hood of mine.

 

[Achelea]

I never said "Exhaust manifold bracket" what I did say is "if you FAIL to bolt the Exhaust to the bracket that is bolted on the block. " this has nothing to do with the MANIFOLD.

The Exhaust DOWNPIPE-to-BLOCK bracket is down by your oil filter, if you really want ill post a picture of it up. MOST of THE TIME IT IS REMOVED BY PEOPLE WHO DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS.

girlfriend is asleep now and i can use my laptop, but if I get out of bed to go to the garage and take a picture of what I am talking about, she will wake up and be pissed ill post it tomorrow

I'm glad you are asking questions, feel free to ask more.

Sure, a pic would be great. Sorry about being a bit off topic, OP. ^_^;

 

[907dsm]

IceMinion have you ever rebuilt a stock motor or a motor in general and had alot of blow by or excessive pcv pressure?? Any recommendations??

Thanks

 

[GsXtC21]

why make mistakes when you can learn from people online who have suffered?

Good luck

Sweet write up man, really enjoyed reading that...

Comment above is sig worthy

 

[knochgoon24]

That write-up sounds like a dooms-day prophesy. A lot of good points, but you make it sound like my car will explode if I don't follow every point. You don't need to go out and do everything on that list immediately. If stuff breaks, there are some suggested fixes that make life simpler later. That list included many of those fixes. In 10 years, he's probably owned more than 1 DSM. Since he says one is a 450+hp car, he's had his share of stuff break.

If you just search this site before fixing stuff, you'll save yourself a lot of headaches. Ask if you don't know.

 

[MadBlue]

Go give advice somewhere else. A 4g63t is already indestructable.

Thanks for your nice words.

I didn't want to bash turbos... a 4G63T is a fine and reliable engine when it is in good condition and unturned. I would love to own one myself.

But it's not easy to find a good GSX or TSI AWD. And even with a good one there are some of the turbo drawbacks. The turbo itself have to be rebuild every ~150.000 miles, the air pipes will become old so you can have some boost leaks and so one. So there is more room for failure just because the setup is more complex.

In the community I'm used to write there are several non-turbos with real high mileages. The highest I know is about 620.000 km with only the standard service intervals. No big problems at all. (That's about 400.000 miles) And I don't know a single turbo with such a mileage that was not rebuild or had some bigger repairs at this time. – So of course the 4G63T is a good, reliable engine but a 4G63 lives longer.

Sören

 

[dark at night]

Sure, a pic would be great. Sorry about being a bit off topic, OP. ^_^;

No man ask away, I am in this to learn all I can. And if he says a bolt needs to be replaced and not everyone knows what it is, post it , I dont consider that off topic at all.

 

[joe sobo]

(quote::: how to make a dsm reliable? quote)

GOOOOOOOD LUCK

 

[danl]

Don't
-buy shit made in china
-shit on ebay
-cheap shit

Do
-buy OEM replacement parts
-parts made in the USA
-parts sold by established reputable vendors

 

[ccwhisenhunt89]

its very simple dont ream it 24/7 and just properly maintain it .....

 

[BorinquenEclips]

I hope we got the message through, heck only 35 people said MAINTENANCE MAINTENANCE MAINTENANCE FIRST !

 

[GSXeclipsePSI]

You drive a car like a sports car you give it maintenance like a sports car. And if you buy a Ferrari you get it repaired at a Ferrari specialty shop and use Ferrari parts. Same thing goes for eclipse, maintain your car like a Ferrari if you drive it like one.

Use OEM parts or better and don't half ass things. Be knowledgeable in your own car if you plan on working on it or having joe blow working on your car. I believe this is how some people give eclipse/dsm's bad reps.

 

[IceMinion]

First off, sorry about the lack-of-bracket-picture, been out-and-about

Second, I was drunk, I'm a little long winded at times, but I thought it important to share every negative maintence experience/way to fix it ever, and after 10 years it does add up.

The cars are very reliable, no DSM has ever left me stranded anywhere and every time there has been a "problem" or "something broke" it was because of me not understanding how to do it right.

IceMinion have you ever rebuilt a stock motor or a motor in general and had alot of blow by or excessive pcv pressure?? Any recommendations??

Thanks

You asked multiple questions, so here goes:
1.Yes, I have rebuilt a stock motor
a.Rebuild with new rings, stock bore, honed
b.Rebuild with .20 over pistons/rings (ebay OEM pistons, believe it or not)
c.Rebuild with Eagle's and Weisco's
2.Blowby: Blowby is normal, however if the hone is done incorrectly, if the rings are too big, and if you fail to break-in the motor properly, you WILL have lower compression and lots of blowby.

Remember, break-in is done within the first hour or so of the engine running, beat the crap out the engine (NA, unhook the wastegate flapper)

This allowes the rings to be sucked/pressed onto the walls and the (micro small) sharp edges from the honing file down the rings so that they seal properly.

If you rebuild an engine and drive normal/timidly, the rings will never seat.

Now on my high HP DSM, it was a 200000 mile motor, HORRIBLE and UNEVEN compression, I didnt care about this car so I beat the crap out of it, 30 LBS boost, 272's, SCM61, e85.....LOTS AND LOTS OF BLOWBY.

Now I have dealt with blow-by by deleting the PCV valve completely and porting and tapping larger vents in the valve cover.

The PCV system is designed to re-burn the blowby on a stock engine.

Sadly, on our high-mileage cars, high boost cars, the PCV system is overwhelmed (and does not work while boosting) and your valve cover will fart-out

I have a write-up on DS-MAP.net, ill link to it, read it all DS-MAP.NET • View topic - Leaky valve cover gasket.

Good luck, and ill try to post up pictures later

 

[dsmfa9nutter]

Build it to spec+easy on the boost+maintenance=reliable car.

 

[fran_drivertsi]

Fix yo sh*t before beating on it! Simple!!!!!!!!

 

[Tally13]

Maintenance first, mods second.

 

[Baron4406]

Thank god for Ice minion. I'm a 42 year old guy getting into DSM's again, I owned 4 of them and rebuilt two from a shell and boxes of parts. My goal is to have a fast, fun and reliable daily driver. My goal is to get a car everyone says to avoid, a modded/beat car for pennies on the dollar and turn it into a driver. That means all maintenance first, new wheel bearing, bushings, struts, tie rods, everything. Then convert it to SD and try to get it as fast as possible without adding parts. If you have a well equipped garage and like to work on cars DSM's are a dream come true. Do the less glamorous stuff first and you won't be crying how unreliable DSM's are. I had a honda Accord that left me sit THIRTEEN times , heck i blew my one DSM up and it still got me home.

 

[IceMinion]

This is what needs to be bolted up to save the turbo bolts

Heres a better pic

 

[1995gsx20g]

iceminion you are my hero.

 

[99gsxman]

I'm with everyone on this. Maintenance is the key. Keep up with the oil changes, timing belt changes, etc. and you will have a good car. Just make sure you complete go over the car you get to make sure everything is good to go and go from there.

 

[yoshi_tony]

ok i just rebuild my enigne new rings main and rod bearings head gasket timing blet valve job re-surfaced head in i have 100 miles right now i havent reved it no more than 3,000rpm's and no more 60mph... and my question is long do i have to wait to break it or what the proper way to break in a 4g63t

 

[dsmfa9nutter]

I never even knew about that bracket. Wish my aftermarket dp had a place to bolt to it, I'd get one asap. Damn dp bolts always work themselves loose no matter what loctite/lockwashers/crimped nuts I put on there.

 

[Achelea]

crap.... i don't got it >.> Explains the reason my exhaust bolts were working themselves loose. Any one have a part number for that?

 

[lukaszp]

does anyone have any 750 cc injectors for sale pm me ###