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my98gsx's 1999 Eclipse GSX

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Since this is going to be a lot of information I also want to address the installation of Bobbys front subframe brace. Ill start off by saying - If the transmission is in your vehicle, do not attempt! If I would have known what was involved with this install I would have never done it. Now, don't get me wrong, fitment is spot on, and it looks killer! It was however, a huge project to get in WITH the transmission in place. (God help me when the trans needs to come back out).

Installation required the following;
- Removal of control arm covers (I'm sorry I do not know the real name for them, held in with approximatley 5 14mm headed bolts)
- Disconnection of all transmission motor mounts (front - rear - and top) This includes the full removal of the top mount for clearance
&
- Lower cross member

Even with all of this done, and the transmission raised all the way up I was unable to gain enough clearance for the hardware to pass through the brace and the lower control arm. At this point I was so deep into the project I decided to actually drop the front subframe 1-1.5" in order to gain the room needed.

Since the car is still on the lift I am unable to determine ground clearance, but it does not sit much lower than my aftermarket tubular cross member.

Overall the part looks cool, its made well, and I think if my engine and trans were out, It would have been a breeze of an install. With everything in place a 20 min job turned into a half days work. I just wanted to put this information out there for other who may be interested in purchasing it from Bobby (great guy on here btw).
20210327_133751.jpg

Shown with bulfab tubular cross member, and vamos design drive shaft loop.
 
So my patience finally ran out. I was willing to give NDD Fabrication a shot - as it seems not many people have had experience with their products on here. I placed my order in October 2020 for a rear subframe, and since February they have been telling me "two more weeks, two more weeks". Warm weather is here and I need to get this car going. I opted to change gears and decided to go full Volk Metal Craft. Although I have yet to install any of these parts, I must say I am very impressed -They seem like top quality and Paul's communication was excellent. My order was shipped out, and delivered in just a few days. I spent a bunch of time stripping and grinding the rust off my stock subframe. It's currently at the powdercoater hopefully getting a second life. Can't wait to post more pics of this install!
20210409_181925.jpg
 
You didn't get your rear subframe because NDD is actually Josh Callahan from True Street. He's the guy that has been f***ing over people on subframes for years now. He just changed names and has some other dude running all the Facebook activity.
 
I finally got some work done - (my powder coater took forever to get these parts back to me, adding to my subframe frustration.) All Volk arms were installed, which fit perfectly! I took measurements of the OEM parts before I scrapped them in order to get a close starting point - although an alignment is the first thing on my list to-do when I get the car back on the road. This finished up the rear end - adding my newly rebuild TRE rear, Vamos DS loop, ST Sway bar, and Volk Bushings.
sub2.jpg
 
Another addition was the installation of my new AER valve cover. I am not 100% sold on it yet, but I do love how it looks. In my opinion it has a much needed updated look to the engine. The stock cover is so old looking, the AER cover reminds me of a newer EVO or even a Honda cover (don't hate me for saying that btw). I opted not to reinstall the internal baffles. I kept stressing about the possibility of dropping a screw into my head, so I would rather empty my catch can more often than have that happen. AER's gasket seems much thicker than a stock one, so I am very curious how well it seals, as my stock one always had some weeping no matter what I did to seal it. Please don't mind the dusty engine bay - its been a long project w/o any cleaning.
aer vc2.jpg

Pros:
Updated look, shaved design with recessed bolts
Thicker gasket
Better oil cap, and threaded breather fittings

Cons:
Fitment does not work with aftermarket spark plug covers (JMF)
Gasket is currently unavailable for sale if needed again
Spark plug wire boot on CYL1 needed to be trimmed to make contact with plug.
Fittings are 1.0 thread pitch which cannot be found - forcing you into the purple ones given. (Why purple???)
 
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So last year I was plagued with battery issues... Running the odyssey PC925 proved to be a total nightmare for me. If the car was left overnight it would be dead, constant jump starting - along with it only having 330cca made it mandatory to get rid of that battery.

Call me lazy, but there was no way I was going to mount my battery in the trunk. Now don't get me wrong, it would have looked nice, but NHRA rules are a pain regarding battery relocation. I did not want to put and external mounted kill switch, or run a vent tube from a sealed box. Lucky for me my friend was able to score some free red tops from work, so I was donated one. I opted for this mounting solution, which may not look the best - but is very practical. The car started right up after a long winter, and seemed to like the bump in battery size. Alternator is charging between 13.9v - 14.0v at idle, so only time will tell if this one lasts the season (getting jump started on the race line was so embarrassing, and the car ran like total crap with the PC925.) I always have heard mixed reviews on optima batteries but I figured I would give it a shot since the price was right. View attachment 630952
 
Got so tired of worrying about my damn PC680 that I finally got rid of it after it completely died on me after one winter just sitting there. I couldn't charge it back up. I chalked it up to me using the wrong charger so I bought another one with approved charger. Worked fine for a year or so but would be sluggish to start if it sat for a few weeks. Finally one day it just stopped activating the starter. To this day I have no idea what the issue was but it tested fine at one of their retailers. I sold it and never looked back. Too much energy wasted (pun intended) on worrying if that thing was going to die or not.
 
As expected, removing the rear subframe and adding Volk's adjustable arms threw my alignment WAY off. I took measurements of the oem arms as a starting point, but that did not work out too well. Driving down the road my wheel needed to be turned a 1/4 of the way to the right just to go straight. I made an appointment at Little Bear Wheel Alignments located in Westchester NY. They are fantastic and have the only floor-level alignment rack I have seen in my area. (They were able to do my s2000 without issue, and that car is extremely low).

The shop owner came out and actually laughed about how bad the alignment was in the rear. He did however praise the VOLK arms, stating that they were great quality and provided fantastic adjustment. He did say he wished they made front uppers, which I need (2* camber up front). After the alignment the car feels better than ever. This winter I did all the volk arms, subframe bushings, front lower tie bar, as well as the 2 piece driveshaft - WHAT A DIFFERENCE! Here is some pics of the alignment results, and floor level rack.
View attachment 631798
View attachment 631799
 
As expected, removing the rear subframe and adding Volk's adjustable arms threw my alignment WAY off. I took measurements of the oem arms as a starting point, but that did not work out too well. Driving down the road my wheel needed to be turned a 1/4 of the way to the right just to go straight. I made an appointment at Little Bear Wheel Alignments located in Westchester NY. They are fantastic and have the only floor-level alignment rack I have seen in my area. (They were able to do my s2000 without issue, and that car is extremely low).

The shop owner came out and actually laughed about how bad the alignment was in the rear. He did however praise the VOLK arms, stating that they were great quality and provided fantastic adjustment. He did say he wished they made front uppers, which I need (2* camber up front). After the alignment the car feels better than ever. This winter I did all the volk arms, subframe bushings, front lower tie bar, as well as the 2 piece driveshaft - WHAT A DIFFERENCE! Here is some pics of the alignment results, and floor level rack.
View attachment 631798
View attachment 631799
Talked to a local DSMer here in my area the other day - he was talking about some new tubular suspension pieces he was getting soon. I asked if it was Volk, he said YEAH, THAT'S HIM!
 
This past weekend I had my first track day of 2021. While making my 1st pass I launched my water pump/power steering belt off at 8k. This shut me down for the entire day, as I spent my time bending my power steering bracket back into some sort of working angle.
One positive thing was that I was finally able to get my car on the vehicle scale. I was actually very surprised at what it came in at - 3020 lbs. I would think this is pretty good - especially with a full interior and spare tire / jack still installed.
View attachment 633162
GSX - carbon fiber hood, side exit exhaust, aluminum driveshaft, abs removal, volk metalcraft control arms, sparco seats, cruise control delete, front crash bar removed, lightweight flywheel and ac deleted.
View attachment 633163
 
This past weekend I had my first track day of 2021. While making my 1st pass I launched my water pump/power steering belt off at 8k. This shut me down for the entire day, as I spent my time bending my power steering bracket back into some sort of working angle.
One positive thing was that I was finally able to get my car on the vehicle scale. I was actually very surprised at what it came in at - 3020 lbs. I would think this is pretty good - especially with a full interior and spare tire / jack still installed.
View attachment 633162
GSX - carbon fiber hood, side exit exhaust, aluminum driveshaft, abs removal, volk metalcraft control arms, sparco seats, cruise control delete, front crash bar removed, lightweight flywheel and ac deleted.
View attachment 633163
Well, sucks to hear about the PS belt, but that is cool to see the results of the weight reduction for a full interior car.
 
Work has been soaking up much of my time, but I have finally been able to work out a few issues I wanted to address. Fist, I switched over to the "3 belt" system, and removed the Jay-racing Power Steering spacer, which was causing belt-throwing issues. I opted to run Crank to alt, crank to water pump (stretch fit belt) and water pump to power steering - hopefully this solves my belt issues.

Next I worked on a staging brake system for my car. I will not lie, I'm not the most consistent driver - often bogging off the line which kills my times due to very bad 60's. I was sad to see that STM is not currently making their staging brake kit, so I decided to do some research and make my own. With the help of this thread: https://www.dsmtuners.com/threads/installing-a-staging-brake-on-a-2g.383642/. I was able to find all information needed to make a staging brake kit out of parts available in 2021.
20210726_181505.jpg


For those who are interested I will outline the install below.
 
For my staging brake setup I went with a Sikky reverse-pull handbrake. This brake is a perfect height for a 2g interior, and the reverse-pull positions the secondary slave cylinder forward, giving more clearance. The slave is a wilwood pass-through setup with a .75 bore with 3 an braided lines.

First, mounting was straight forward. When installed the throw is much shorter than its full travel so keep that in mind (pull is only a few inches when fully installed.) That being said I decided to mount the handbrake where most install them, along side the drivers side center console. This does not interfere with my leg, as it sits far back enough to clear the gas pedal. I drilled 3 holes into the floor and secured the handbrake using large fender washers. (Note: I learned that if you drill extremely slowly through the carpet it works best. If you blast through the carpet binds. Drill at the slowest speed possible until you are through the carpet and you will have no issues).

IMG_20210726_203843_488.jpg


Once mounted you can now bench bleed the slave cylinder. I decided to do this in the car, since I was constantly pulling back the handle for clearance checks. If bled, this would have made a huge fluid mess. The slave comes with a reservoir in the box (this will not be used once fully installed). Mount the reservoir and fill approximately half way. Temporarily install one of your lines on the front fitting location, and put it into a cup of clean brake fluid. Now slowly pump the hand brake until you no longer see air bubbles forming in the cup. (Make sure you do not run out of fluid in the reservoir during this time, otherwise you will need to start over.)

20210726_162857.jpg

Once the slave is bled, make sure the reservoir level is low - then put in paper towels to soak up the excess fluid in order to not spill any onto your carpet. Remove the reservoir and install the -3 fitting adapter into the top position.

20210726_181533.jpg

The top line, 42" in length runs from the stock brake master (forward most fitting location). This feeds the system. The forward facing line, 44" in length then runs to the bottom most left hand side port on the proportioning valve, making this a pass-through staggered brake setup. I found that lines with one straight (to handbrake) and one 90 degree end (to engine bay locations) worked the best. Connect the lines to the handbrake, and now bleed your brakes as you normally would. Since this is a pass-through setup, as long as the handbrake is not pulled back fluid will go to your brakes without interference. When the brakes are bled it is now complete! Took me about 90 minutes to install once I figured out all my lines, and mounting positions. Adjust the handbrake to your liking, I decided to lengthen the throw, which puts my hand closer to the shifter when pulled back.

Here is a list of all the main parts used:

handbrake parts.png

In addition to these parts you will need one 42" and one 44" 3an brake lines, I purchased these from Amazon. Again, one straight and one 90 degree end worked best for me. I also used a 45 degree adapter on the front fitting which looked cleaner to me when running my lines together. You will also need hardware, fender washers, and brake fluid.

Hope this information is useful to anyone looking to add a staging brake to their car.

20210726_181445.jpg
 
Ugh, it's been such a long time since I've posted an update to my build, this is mostly our of frustration... My car developed a problem which drove me crazy - press the clutch in, and the car just stalled. I tried everything I could imagine to solve the issue, vac leaks, iac, electrical grounds, clutch adjustment etc, etc, etc. After all proved to be useless in solving the issue it was time to drop the transmission. To my surprise my oil looked like I struck gold! Littered with brass, not good. Once out my clutch which has numerous 6k track launches (but less that 1000 miles on it) proves to also be toast.
20220212_104415.jpg

20220212_104401.jpg

20220212_104403.jpg


Looks like my focus will now be on getting my transmission serviced, and switching to a twin disc setup.
 
I'm so over this. I spent a good $3,000 on this car this past week - Sent my transmission to TRE for a fresh rebuild (adding a billet bearing plate and magnus shift levers to top it off), purchased a Haltech 1500 Ecu, and now this...

As I have reported my car has been stalling when the clutch pedal get depressed, well now I can say I finally found out why. The crank was walking into the thrust bearing - fantastic news, especially with only 1,000 miles on this build. Now I have some serious thinking to do... part out? sell? slap a bearing in and send it? Why do these cars that we love so much give us so many problems...
thrust washer.jpg
 
I'm so over this. I spent a good $3,000 on this car this past week - Sent my transmission to TRE for a fresh rebuild (adding a billet bearing plate and magnus shift levers to top it off), purchased a Haltech 1500 Ecu, and now this...

As I have reported my car has been stalling when the clutch pedal get depressed, well now I can say I finally found out why. The crank was walking into the thrust bearing - fantastic news, especially with only 1,000 miles on this build. Now I have some serious thinking to do... part out? sell? slap a bearing in and send it? Why do these cars that we love so much give us so many problems...
View attachment 654872
That's super frustrating. Sorry man.
 
I'm so over this. I spent a good $3,000 on this car this past week - Sent my transmission to TRE for a fresh rebuild (adding a billet bearing plate and magnus shift levers to top it off), purchased a Haltech 1500 Ecu, and now this...

As I have reported my car has been stalling when the clutch pedal get depressed, well now I can say I finally found out why. The crank was walking into the thrust bearing - fantastic news, especially with only 1,000 miles on this build. Now I have some serious thinking to do... part out? sell? slap a bearing in and send it? Why do these cars that we love so much give us so many problems...
View attachment 654872
Wash, rinse, repeat. Nothing good comes out of giving up. Well, just regret. But I wouldn't want that...
 
These cars were built with 210 HP and when they are modified with more power they will start to have problems . With my car i had 2 trans rebuilds and an engine . My air fuel went lean one time which caused cylinder 3 to go . The trans went the first time when my son drove it . The second time i was just doing a 3rd gear pull and 3rd gear shattered .
 
These cars were built with 210 HP and when they are modified with more power they will start to have problems . With my car i had 2 trans rebuilds and an engine...
Haha well... I'm on transfer case #2, differential #2, trans #3, head #3, and block #7.

Let's just say I 100% feel your pain haha
 
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