Neglected 95 Eclipse GSX nostalgia build

[jesse12345]

I got my engine bay pretty much exactly how it's going to stay for a long while. I'm just waiting on a coupler for the maf to intake. I also decided to keep the rc550s for now and mess with my afc neo a little since I have it. The plug and Play harness makes it easy if I decide to go straight back to stock I can just unplug it all. I'm pretty excited to just try some things out. The biggest thing is hopefully just having zero head aches for this next summer. I did buy a stock ecu so before I button everything up in the car I have to get that in.

 

[jesse12345]

I finally got around to applying this mesh for the front bumper. To me it looks a little tacky but if it keeps the insects from destroying my intercooler I'll be happy. To apply it I just slowly went around with my hot iron evenly on top of the mesh to burn it into the plastic. I think it came out pretty good and as long as it's functional, I'm happy. I still have yet to actually mount the bumper, I'd like to paint it first. It does fit very nice and everything sits straight with the intercooler.

I did swap back to the stock injectors because for whatever reason it was bugging me alot. Everything else is pretty much stock and I have no reason for 550s in with the baby t25. I'll keep them just in case.

 

[jesse12345]

I have no idea why but I got a weird itch tonight to fix the side of my glove box where it sits when it's opened. That was the only spot that was broken when I did the dash swap, so I just melted steel mesh in there and it seems to hold good. I also found some red leds that were laying around so I installed some of those. I don't want to get to carried away so I'll leave everything else stock and put the rest of them in my rs. I might leave them or take them out but for now it all looks good. I remember putting a blue led in my 96 rs back in the day. I thought it looked good so I might do that to this one. My life has slowed way way down so I have alot more time to just think. It's not a bad thing but then I start to want to switch things around. I blame winter and the car just sitting staring at me everyday.

 

[jesse12345]

I decided I wasn't happy with how I mounted my intercooler (the supports were to thin for my liking). I took everything apart and started over and while I did that I threw my bumper support risers on to help with bumper sag. My photo of the bumper is of it free balling and nothing is bolted up and it fits very well. I swear I leveled my intercooler at least 30 times before I welded everything up, I had to have it straight and even within the bumper opening. My ocd is starting to get the best of me as I age.

I was also able to fully button up the engine bay and the car runs awesome (back to a maf setup). It doesn't surge or hunt on the maf so I'm not sure why having it on speed density would make it do that. This was not why I switched everything back just to fully inform everyone. I did it because I want a super reliable car I can enjoy every summer with. The non turbo eclipses my brother and I had back in the day were extremely reliable so that's what I want this to be. I also don't want to break parts that are going to be more scarce as time goes on.

I'm also just going to throw a picture of my gauge cluster in. I finally replaced all of the bulbs that were out and man what a difference. The little things just get me so hyped.

I also had someone interested in my ecu who decided to back out, so I said screw it, ill just toss it back into my car and roll with it on stock settings. Maybe one day when I hit the lottery I can build this thing up but until then she's staying stock.

The absolute last thing I'd like to change under the hood is my exhaust manifold. I'm going to probably end up buying an fp manifold, mainly just for looks. I'd like everything under the hood to really please the eye. Alot of the red led lights will more than likely be moved to my rs. I don't mind the look in this car but it has to keep that stockish vibe on the inside. That's how my brothers was back in the day.
I really could not be any happier right now with how the car sits. I'm happy I'm getting more free time to redo alot of half ass stuff I should have just did right from the beginning even if it took me multiple sessions. Having more time was always the big issue.

 

[DogWhistle]

I finally got around to applying this mesh for the front bumper. To me it looks a little tacky but if it keeps the insects from destroying my intercooler I'll be happy. To apply it I just slowly went around with my hot iron evenly on top of the mesh to burn it into the plastic. I think it came out pretty good and as long as it's functional, I'm happy. I still have yet to actually mount the bumper, I'd like to paint it first. It does fit very nice and everything sits straight with the intercooler.

I did swap back to the stock injectors because for whatever reason it was bugging me alot. Everything else is pretty much stock and I have no reason for 550s in with the baby t25. I'll keep them just in case.

We are about to add screen mesh to our bumper. Never been a fan of letting coolers or radiators take the brunt of the debris blast at speed.

 

[jesse12345]

We are about to add screen mesh to our bumper. Never been a fan of letting coolers or radiators take the brint of the debris blast at speed.

It took one summer to make my intercooler look like I've had it on for 20 years. I almost want to put the mesh on the other openings too. I live by alot of swamps and lakes so the insects are horrible in the summer, especially on the cooler evening drives. I did get the mesh pretty tight so if road grime gets slung into it im hoping it still won't hit the intercooler but we shall see.

 

[jesse12345]

I decided to change the oil and transmission fluid tonight. I got rid of the filter to the turbo and I put the right ristrictor in for the t25. While I changed all that I just did an oil change too.
I then installed the full metal thick transmission filter to replace the little plastic one. Since I knew I had to install that I sanded and painted a pan that was in much better shape than the one I had on.

I dont have pictures but a brand new front transmission mount was also installed, while I was under there. The only thing I'll have to replace gasket wise is the oil pan. I'll shell out some good money for a rubber gasket. I'm on my second cork gasket and it's leaking again so a better one is going on.

 

[jesse12345]

I put my new radiator hose on along with new clamps tonight. I also read up on this oil pan fiasco a little more and I guess rtv is the method. I did find a rubber gasket for 100 bucks but I think I'd rather just use rtv instead. That is literally my only leak on the car. It sucks because I just changed oil but I'd like to get this leak handled.

I've also just been thinking of doing any kind of full bolt on under the hood as I can. The engine isn't what i had in highschool so I'm not too worried about what gets done to that. I just want it to be clean for possible car shows. I'm trying to keep things from about 2011 and older if I can. There's still plenty I can do.

 

[Jacob5se]

I don't know if you can fit it, but for me one of the pinnacles of early 2000's engine bay is Greddy uicp. It's a long/stock route so not everyone likes to use them but I think it looks best. I'd also paint valve cover red or wrinkle black with polished lettering, try to find Injen spark plug and fuse box covers, swap silicone couplers to black and mount a manifold heat shield. Early 2000's is what I went after with my engine bay, so you might find some inspiration there.

 

[jesse12345]

My intercooler was actually setup to go the stock route but I have added stuff that's unfortunately in the way. I would have much rather ran it the stock way. I do know if I can clean up around that hole I would definitely run piping through. I have an automatic so things are pretty tight.
Stm tuned sells some cool 2000s inspired stuff I'm looking to buy. Like the power steering reservoir and brake fluid cap. I'm still really itching to just replace my exhaust manifold even if I do get a heat shield, it's very ugly right now. I'm just not sure what I want. I can still order an injen intake and spark plug cover brand new so that's the route I'll probably go for those.
I have definitely gone through your build and that's what I'm looking at doing. The one and only thing I don't want to change on my car is the bov. From my research this particular bov came out in 2008ish and it works very good with the stock setup.

 

[jesse12345]

I decided it was time to finally get rid of the big fuse. I mainly had it because the wires wouldn't reach my battery so I used it as a distribution block. As easy as it was there was more junk in the engine bay I didn't need or want. I checked my 420a wire harnesses and they are the same except longer so they worked out great. I'll just need to get some terminal ends to fully finish it.

 

[CrackedDSM]

I love the Synapse Synchronic BOV. Always wanted one of those back in the day.

 

[jesse12345]

I love the Synapse Synchronic BOV. Always wanted one of those back in the day.

While I was curious I saw a post from back in 2008 where there was a group buy on here for this bov. It looked like everyone liked them from reading the forum. I did buy 2, I ended up keeping one for parts. It works extremely well.

 

[jesse12345]

I've had way to much time to think and tinker. I've had 2 weeks off from work so to add to my early 2000s show car build, I decided to build a fiberglass subwoofer box. I was pretty young in the early 2000s and since I didn't get to experience all the fun then, I'm going to right now. Since this is the nostalgia build still I bought all my gear I had in highschool (my very first system). It was loud in highschool but to me now its very pathetic. I found it all brand new on ebay and it's mainly just for show. Again I don't want to get to carried away but as I talked to my brother recently, he agreed that I should make the car how I want now since we really couldn't back then. I'll see how things roll if I'm not really liking it in this car it will go in my rs. I just really wanted to try my hand at fiberglass and building these legendary "volcano style" subwoofer enclosures.

The box isn't finished yet, i literally sprayed interior black paint on it just to get it covered but I couldn't wait to see how everything fits. I built the box this way so I still have room in the trunk for just in case stuff and then obviously the show part of it. I already have the 2 channel amp running my speakers because of the dead factory amp.

I'll add this little story to the build on how I got this stuff back in 2009-2010. My brother actually got the sub/amp combo for Christmas from my parents and I remember thinking I could hook it up but I had no idea. My parents friends actually came over and hooked it up for my brother. When we tried it out we were extremely underwhelmed. I remember a neighbor came over and bridged the amp with both subs because they were technically 8 ohm (6.3 ohm to be exact). We were both smiling ear to ear, it got way louder. The amp that came with it was a 2 channel and of course we didnt know any better. It was fine for a little while as in 3 months because then my brothers birthday rolled around and he got an "upgrade". It was the 600 watt mono version this time. It was definitely louder but I laugh now days because it was maybe 50 to 75 watts more than the rated 150 watts from the 2 channel. The reason I told this story is because when my brother sold his gs he gifted me the subs and I ended up running them up until I graduated highschool. I did have other subs and amps but I always ran those kenwoods in my eclipse, they were rock solid.

I did not know this but the 97 and 95 hatch strikers are actually different lengths. The 97 is longer and my hatch had alot of play even with the latch adjusted all the way down. The only reason that I found this out was because I was adjusting my hatch gaps and noticed I could see inside. So the seal wasn't even making contact with the hatch. While I was messing with that I threw on some new struts for the hatch as well. It's all right where it should be now.

I can not wait for winter to be over.

 

[jesse12345]

I've been going through my garage trying to organize things a little. I just so happened to find my 14b turbo that has been sitting for quite some time. I decided to clean it up and toss it on. It has zero shaft play and cleaned up extremely well so why not use it. I used some waste gate dump tubes to fab up a j pipe that actually clears everything. I do have 2 ebay aluminum ones but of course they didn't work. I've had this turbo for 9 years and I've never really used it. I have no idea what to really expect. I know I said I would have liked to throw on a t28 in the future which I still may do but I have to try this turbo. Stock for stock I feel like it makes more sense. If I didn't have the turbo or front mount on I probably wouldn't have changed it, but here I am talking myself into it again, whatever makes more sense. I try to keep pushing myself to make things better each time so I don't see it as a bad thing.
Man It used to take me 20 minutes to do a turbo swap now it takes me half a day. I hate bolting on nasty parts and everything has to be almost perfectly placed otherwise I'm doing it over. I unbolted the turbo probably 5 times because of those water lines. I did find one that fit pretty good on the back side and I used some universal one on the front.
My exhaust manifold does drive me crazy and it will be replaced soon. Excuse the mini ramble, its just how I feel as I age.

I was also playing around with the boost control solenoid on ecmlink and I was able to get that working awesome. As of right now I have it set to 17 psi.

 

[jesse12345]

A little update on the car as I've been driving it this past week. It's been an absolute blast! The 14b pulls very well and has absolutely surprised me. I dialed it all in on link very easily. This is the first ive tuned with the maf and it wasnt hard to figure out at all. I have the thing making 15 pounds which to me feels super good. Im sure i could pump it up a little more but for now its been a blast as is. With all that said the car hasn't skipped a single beat and has been super reliable.

In the next couple of weeks I'd like to swap in some bc 280 cams I have. I'd like to push this setup a hair more but I do like it as is. I've had all this laying around so I might as well use it. I'll have to check back in with the results.

I'll put some throw back pictures in here of how everything started. It's come a long way.

 

[SixBolt_16G]

View attachment 791123

I commend you on the work youve done. Youve really turned it into something to be proud of. Shes definitely a head turner.

A little update on the car as I've been driving it this past week. It's been an absolute blast! The 14b pulls very well and has absolutely surprised me. I dialed it all in on link very easily. This is the first ive tuned with the maf and it wasnt hard to figure out at all. I have the thing making 15 pounds which to me feels super good. Im sure i could pump it up a little more but for now its been a blast as is. With all that said the car hasn't skipped a single beat and has been super reliable.

Ive always loved the smaller,quick spooling turbos on these cars for a street car.

 

[jesse12345]

I appreciate the kind words. It has come a long way. I can't beleive how fast time goes, it feels like yesterday when I got the car.

The 14b has become one of my favorite turbos so far. I do love the quick spool and I like how strong it pulls down low. It gets up to 60 real quick.

 

[jesse12345]

2 weeks ago I finally swapped in my bc280s. I tried to research as much as I could about them just so I wasn't going in completely blind. I like them and they definitely pushed the power band higher but for a daily there not the most ideal. They idle just fine but when in traffic with an auto the idle gets a little low and the brakes start to become questionable. I wasn't even thinking about cams at all but I had them in another head and I wanted to try them out. This probably wasn't the smartest move before driving the car 500 miles in one day. I did throw 4 brand new tires on along with new brakes and an oil change.

Now on to the next big win in my book. It was my sister's graduation last weekend and I decided to take the car. Round trip was 500 miles and the car didn't skip a single beat. I trailed my brother most of the way while the wife and kids were behind me, just in case. While I'm still running the 14b I was able to easily pass my brothers 2012 ford Taurus with the v6. He said he had his foot to the floor and I laughed. The speed limit was 85 so I barely had to pinch the gas to fly pass him. The next thing I know he sends me a listing of an eclipse for sale asking if he should buy it. He's a funny guy sometimes.

I chuckled at this part.
Someone got a picture of my sister in front of the car with a normal camera, and then when we both went to get a picture together it was with some janky old school camera that spit the picture out. I don't think I'll ever actually be in a normal photo with my car, it's just not meant to be.

I've literally been driving the car every single day without a single issue. It's been an absolute blast to say the least.

 

[Anthony Hornback]

Brother, What a transformation! Great work

 

[jesse12345]

Brother, What a transformation! Great work

Thank you! I still need to paint the front bumper, which will be soon.

 

[miliman13]

I've literally been driving the car every single day without a single issue. It's been an absolute blast to say the least.

So jelly!!
And happy for you !!!

You could always adjust your valve train to move the power band to low end.

 

[jesse12345]

Thanks buddy! How come your not running yours daily??

I'm going to monkey with it more in the coming days. I'm just having way to much fun ripping it everywhere. It's been dumb hot but I still daily no problem.

 

[miliman13]

How come your not running yours daily??

Me ?

Because she’s been on her pedestal getting her belly rubbed for months.

Haven’t updated it, but I’ve been grinding away I’ll post something soon.

 

[SixBolt_16G]

Mine is also in her natural habit at the moment