I'm looking for some guidance with my 99 eclipse gs.

[ccsimpson3]

Alright, well, let me start with a little back story. My 99 Mitsubishi eclipse oz rally was purchased for $2500 with a salvage title. Maybe not the smartest thing in the world to do but I needed a car quick, the options were not looking good and this model eclipse has always been my favorite car outside of the later model Toyota Supra. Let me add my initial interest with all of these cars was purely cosmetic. I was pretty young when I bought the car and I fell in love with it instantly, even with all of it's problems. The first big problem was, the car is an automatic, and the transmission died, just committed suicide or something. I had the transmission swapped with a dodge avenger I picked up for $250 (the owner threw a rod and just wanted to get rid of it but luckily for me 2,000 miles earlier he got a brand new transmission, it was a great deal in my eyes.) Anyway the transmission works great and only cost me about $500 total for the whole deal; gotta love mechanic friends . Here's my new problems, I've been stressed as hell lately with a whole bunch of stuff in my life and ended up neglecting my car, no oil change, didn't check coolant levels, etc; just basically being a real bastard to my car. Well, today, it pretty much blew up; crazy loud noises all sort of insane smoke; pretty neat show for everybody around. I thought I was screwed but with a little love, affection, oil, antifreeze, spare bolts, 2 feet of hose, a few clothes hangers, and some electrical tape.....it's running better than ever and much more quiet......weird, I know. Anyway, I feel this new found running proficiency is going to be short lived. I find it hard to believe I didn't cause any significant damage. So now I'm on a mission. I love my car I don't want to sell it and buy a new one. I had a few body shops check it out, because of the salvage title, and they said everything is good and straight. I don't want a 10 second car. I want a fairly reliable eclipse with about 210hp to the wheels and I want to convert it to a manual. I don't plan on doing much of this work on my own because when it comes to cars I'm more of a MacGyver than a mechanic and well you've seen the show I'm sure. I've read the tech pages and what not on this site but it does not give much mention to power increases and reliability issues. I'd like to stay all motor if it's possible to get 210hp to the wheels using this method. I'm dealing with a strict $6,000 budget but the actual work is discounted due to my enthusiast friends who would love to make me feel uncomfortable while their messing with my vehicle. I would like to change out as many components as possible in the engine because of my fear that I messed it up a little. Is there anyone on these forums that has done something similar to what I'm attempting? If so I'd love to hear about your set up, performance, and any relative issues. These cars are beautiful; I'd love to hold on to it until it goes antique and long after that as well. Any feedback, suggestions, smart ass remarks, or reticule is greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time.

 

[poonman]

Well the best place to start is tearing apart the engine. Go ahead and get yourself some OEM pistons, you will be fine with them if only talking 210 horses in your case. Get new bearings, Rods all new internals. You shouldnt have to get a new crank just take it to a shop and have them check and polish it. After that get your 10 over pistons, take the pistons, bearings rings rods to your shop and have your block done 10 over.

Next your going up top to the head. Its always more cost effective to find a local head exchanger, you can get a full rebuilt head for under 400.

After those basics your going to be spending your budget on your SAFMS turbo header and turbo setup.

I know there is more to it then this but this is the right way to point you.

Or you can go to howell automotive and order a full rebuild kit to your desired specs. About 700 with new rods 20 over pistons and bearings and oil pump.

 

[ccsimpson3]

That all is a little abstract to me, I guess to put my request a little more simple, my friend has an integra gsr that's running 210hp to the wheels, I like the amount of power it has. It's not too much but it moves when you want it to. Considering the differences in the two cars i'm not sure what kind of power I would need to get that feel I just said 210hp because that was his number but I am trying to do this without going turbo. He did something like boring it out or..........eh... i'm not really sure I know it changed the numbers, you know like 2.0 to 2.4 is there a way to do that with the 420a engine?

 

[Mitsu RacerX]

Very good company and good prices to boot.
95-99 Eclipse Non Turbo 420a - CI Motorsports

 

[ccsimpson3]

yeah, i've been doing some more research the past few hours and that does seem to be a problem...I wonder why more people havn't developed components for larger power boosts in all motor 420a's......if I did decide to go turbo what kind of reliability do you think i'd be looking at if I only wanted 210 - 250 whp?

 

[Mitsu RacerX]

Get what ya can(stock) and turbo it you can run 6 to 8 psi and hit about 200. Rebuild the motor and you can run it too 12 to 16 psi(with right tune).

 

[rush2252]

yeah, i've been doing some more research the past few hours and that does seem to be a problem...I wonder why more people havn't developed components for larger power boosts in all motor 420a's......if I did decide to go turbo what kind of reliability do you think i'd be looking at if I only wanted 210 - 250 whp?

Try searching for components for 95-99 dodge neons. They share the same block only w a SOHC head on them. As for trying to reach 210whp I would say your cheapest and best route would be to keep it NA all motor. Find you a good machine shop that does respectable head work. One that can show you flow ratings of before and after aftermarket larger valves are available for the 420s as well I found them for mine when I was NT. Beef up the valve train and get a good set of cams. This would be the best way to go. 210 all motor is very feasible I believe the NTs put out somehwere around 135 to the crank factory which is around 117 actual whp. At any rate I had mild head work done w a good valve job ported manis and aftermarket ignition and it made my NT come alive. I would say the cheapest most noticeable mod I did to it was buy the MSD replacement coil and the 8.5mm wires. It ran so much smoother and actually improved fuel economy.

 

[phill]

you'll get nowhere near the 210 hp mark that you want NA. plan on going turbo or spray or a different car.

and another thing, once you get at 210 or so you'll get bored after awhile and want 270, then 300, blah blah blah. with $6000 you should be able to get to 300+ easy I would think. I'm at 200+ for under a thousand .

 

[ccsimpson3]

now that sounds great rush, I was reading all otherwise, everything said it was pretty much impossible to hit the 210 whp mark, from everything I read this is the work up I put together, I don't really know what i'm talking about and I havn't priced the stuff or went brand hunting yet but let me know it this is a decent list of modifications, I was just gonna get everything at the same time then throw it all at an awesome mechanic I know and tell him to have at it.
1. new intake -
2. header -
3. exhaust - mandrel-bent 2.5" (inner diameter - I.D.) exhaust system
4. underdrive pulley -
5. pistons - 11.5
6. longer rods.
7. Machine work - perfectly concentric cylinders
8. new oil pump
9. new water pump
10.new rod bearings
11. new main bearings
12. lower and upper gasket kit -
13. MLS head gasket -
14. APR head studs -
15. all new timing components -
16. Manual tranmission swap -
17. crower 2 cams -
18. adjustable cam gears -
19. valve springs -
20. lash adjusters - pt cruiser 2.4l engine.
21. rocker arms - pt cruiser 2.4l engine.
22. valve spring retainers - crower titanium.
24. intakes manifold - stock - machine out injector humps in lower half of manifold,
port runners to match gasket and intake ports on head,open throttle body port to
56mm.
25. APR cam retainer studs -
26. port and polish head - talk to experianced machinist.
27. full radius valve job.
28. have a seasoned professional handle all of the tuning for optimal performance
without sacrificing reliability.

I don't know much about all this but shouldn't I be running pretty high compression when going all motor, would this list get me where I wanna be?

 

[ccsimpson3]

200+ for under a thousand........teach me.

 

[ccsimpson3]

oh wait that's........turbo, I think i'm getting confused here.

 

[phill]

that was just the turbo stuff though. I didn't have to rebuild my engine like you do.

I think everybody on this site will tell you that power is addictive so I would strongly suggest the turbo route.

bullettdsm has the fastest NA out there I do believe. check out his profile and mod list and see if you're still interested in NA

 

[rush2252]

you'll get nowhere near the 210 hp mark that you want NA. plan on going turbo or spray or a different car.

and another thing, once you get at 210 or so you'll get bored after awhile and want 270, then 300, blah blah blah. with $6000 you should be able to get to 300+ easy I would think. I'm at 200+ for under a thousand .

Like I said find a shop that does some beast head work and this will be your best investment. You can reach 200 NA its about port matching and getting the flow through the head. The problem is everybody is wanting to "bolt-on" horsepower and its not gonna happen. You wont get 210 out of an NA car with a bunch of bolt ons. Crunch the numbers and you"ll figure it out. They are right though the best way to get quick HP is FI forced induction but this isnt as well for dependability driveability. Head work head work head work. Valve train and cams. Your talking about 80hp increase ive seen 20+ off a good head job alone. The key is this remember one mod such as cams isnt going to be as good say cams w a good valve/head job. The more supporting mods you have the better numbers you will see and the better the car will run

There were rumors of somebody doing a stroker w the Chrysler 2.4s as well but not sure if that one went south or not. I think the guy ran into alot of problems and spent alot of money on the project but you should be able to google it somewhere.

 

[wwarlock]

Ok first and fore most there is only one guy on here that I am aware of that has gotten anything close to that with a N/A car. You will have to replace all internals with a stroker kit. And port and polish the head and go with oversized everything to get that kind of horsepower. sorry to say it is not going to be that easy. I know I was going to try the same thing till I did the research. You will get close but without a total rebuild it is not going to happen. And on 6000$ if that is just for the motor then you will be close doing it. If you plan on using that 6000$ on anything else start looking into a turbo. you can turbo your car and just go mild build and have a reliable car with the horsepower you are looking for.

 

[ccsimpson3]

yeah i'm gonna have to do some rebuilding stuff anyway I got like 90000 on the original engine and i'm not feeling very comfortable with it anymore

 

[rush2252]

that was just the turbo stuff though. I didn't have to rebuild my engine like you do.

I think everybody on this site will tell you that boost is addictive so I would strongly suggest the turbo route.

bullettdsm has the fastest NA out there I do believe. check out his profile and mod list and see if you're still interested in NA

hes putting down 204.1 is says w 169 ft lbs. Annnnd hes running 18s

His fastest 1/4 time is 13.3 at which is the current record and hes running slicks....Its whatever though this is pretty much and endless argument.

 

[Mitsu RacerX]

Pull the motor and take it to CAPS in Biloxi. Take them the parts you have and they will asemble the motor for you while doing all your machine work.

 

[ccsimpson3]

have you gotten anything done by CAPS?

 

[Mitsu RacerX]

Yes my first 420a turbo motor. They did my work then CD Motorsports finshed the turbo setup..

 

[phill]

yeah we could sit here and argue all day long about this.

One thing though is he needs it to be reliable. that much work could very easily drop the reliability he is looking for. I wouldn't take Bullettdsm's car as a good DD, but I could be wrong.

 

[ccsimpson3]

I am really leaning towards the all motor thing.....I just have a good feeling about it for some reason, so head work, Valve train, cams, what else? and what kind of limits should I look out for I don't want to blow stuff up.

 

[phill]

The least you can do is try I guess. Good luck

 

[ccsimpson3]

and 210 may not need to be the mark it's just a number, I just want the damn thing to move it's seems so sluggish. I want like stock acura rsx type speeds you know? still having passing power at 75mph on the interstate....just generally better performance but not a crazy race car....i'd have too much fun and end up hurting myself.

 

[rush2252]

and 210 may not need to be the mark it's just a number, I just want the damn thing to move it's seems so sluggish. I want like stock acura rsx type speeds you know? still having passing power at 75mph on the interstate....just generally better performance but not a crazy race car....i'd have too much fun and end up hurting myself.

A decent set of cams will make the thing come alive. I remember they are rather sluggish. Its totally upto you though. Im just stating that doing a turbo build on an NT as your first turbo car and hoping its going to be reliable and easy to work on etc etc etc keeping that in mind stay NA. Turbo chargers and boost leaks are giving me a headache lately ::

I sold my NT 99GS and bought the 2g Tsi Awd funner to drive but a PITA sometimes to narrow down problems

 

[wwarlock]

I need to be up in a few hours so I am heading to bed but I will get you a list tomorrow if I can find it. the short list for what you want to do....

Throttle body 60mm there is no reason to go aftermarket intake as there is no better or worse intake out there. !!!they all Sucks for our cars!!!!

Stroker 2.4 kit.... howels automotive has them and well as CI motorsports.

Ported head w/ 1mm over valves (or you can buy one from CI motorsports go there and look at what they have)

Valves, Cams, PT cruiser lifters and rockers, spring kit with ti. retainers( go with ti retainers because you want the reliability only the only other advantage is high rpm range you can not get there with a stroker) Adj. Cam gears,

Aftermarket electronics, fuel management, larger fuel pump and injectors I would go with 245cc injectors that will be big enough to handle the added air flow of the head port.

And like I said you will be looking at close to $5500 for this setup..... depending on if your friends have a machine shop and how much work they are doing vers how much you will have to have an outside source do.

Also what kind of gas millage did you want to get if it matters??