New to DSMs, Mods to Get?

[johnk12845]

Hello all!
I just bought a new 1998 Eclipse N/A, that I am looking to modify further than I already have. Since this is my first thread, let me sort of introduce myself at the same time. My name is John, and I from Eastern PA. I am sixteen years old, been in a mechanic shop since I was very young. I bought my Eclipse two days ago, and from what I was told by the seller, the car needs some obvious body work, a new head gasket(Cracked, not blown), and a battery mount. I bought the car for $1500, but it does already have a sort of extensive mod list. This is what its got so far:
-AEM Cold Air Intake
-Aftermarket Exhaust
-Full Body Kit(Replacing Front Bumper because it is cracked through the middle)
-Lambo Doors
-Flip Out Touch Screen Head Unit
-LCD Screen in Passenger Vanity Mirror
-An LCD Screen in the back of each seat
-Custom Sub Box in the trunk
-Few other random interior mods

Now, I do need to get the new front bumper painted when I get it to match the color of the car, but I also need to get the car's paint repainted and brought back to close to the factory look. The Lambo Doors also need to be tightened and have the weight distributed evenly on some new shocks. As you can tell, the car needs a little bit of work, but the parts alone in the car are worth more than the $1500 I paid for it.

My question to everyone now is, what mods should I get performance-wise, and also interior-wise? The car is automatic, unfortunately, but I will make due. Under the hood, I was thinking of doing a turbo setup, not sure what kind of turbo though. Headers, blow off valve, the normal bolt-ons. What else? No clue of what else I want to do in the interior besides two new seats in the front for some show.

My predicted budget once all the repairs, and paint and installations are done is going to be about $3000 all together. Also, I will be going back to my job in the Spring, so I will have some money from that.

If anyone could help me out with some ideas that would be great! Also, if anyone could help me out by giving me a price range on getting the paint corrected, and the front bumper paint matched, to make the whole car look close to how it was when it came out of the dealership.

Thanks!

 

[Zdrummer15]

Well with the $1500 you spent on the car and your $3000 budget you could have gotten a 4g63t powered DSM that would have far exceeded in performance as far as bang for the buck. Honestly if you want a fast car and not just something for show, sell what you have (maybe after putting a little work into the repairs to make a profit) and buy a TSi, GSX, or GS-T.

 

[njdaewoo]

That's true, I would go for the turbo models because at every stop light someone in either a Honda ,Toyota, Suburu or American muscle is going to try that nice looking car of yours and when they win they are going to their forums and explain how they destroyed a hyped up turbo car!

Get the right tool for the job! If you want performance buy a performance car

 

[95whitegst]

i would say ditch the body kitted 420a and go get yourself a clean stock gst gsx tsi or tsi awd 1g or 2g or heck even a laser rs turbo

 

[oneslowwdsm]

Auto trannys in GS's and RS's are nightmares. I'd do what drummer said and sell the car once you get the headgasket fixed. We're not in our Fast and Furious days anymore. Body kits, neons, lambo doors, etc, aren't cool anymore! They won't make your car faster and will actually make it look like crap! If you can, find some stock bumpers and panels and sell it!

Also, if you're really serious about that turbo setup you might as well throw that tranny in the garbage and sooner or later the 420a too.

Not trying to make you feel like crap man, I'm just speaking from experience.

 

[2slow4now]

Not to be negative but converting to turbo will end up costing alot more than your budget. Fix up the car some drive it around get some use out of it and sell it. Buy what you want. On the positive side still sounds like a decent deal. You could even part the car out for body panels and interior or save the car for parts for your turbo car. Like you said the parts are worth more than what you paid. Welcome to the DSM world.

 

[dsm-freak]

yea sell the n/a. your fighting a losing battle with the 420a. buy a gsx or gst with the money you sell it for and some of your parts buget. you will be so much further ahead, plus then you will own a real mitsubishi

 

[JusMX141]

I am sixteen years old

Your mod list reveals your age.

-AEM Cold Air Intake

Don't waste your money.

I had one of these on my GS for about 2 months. There was absolutely NO noticeable power gain, and my fuel mileage actually went down because of the additional fuel required to warm the incoming air.

-Aftermarket Exhaust

Not a bad idea, but be careful what you buy. Some systems make the 420A drone around 3k to an unbearable level.

Find something with a muffler that doesn't utilize a straight-through design, or a system that has multiple resonators.

-Full Body Kit(Replacing Front Bumper because it is cracked through the middle)

If the bumper is damaged, replace the bumper.

You're 16- you're going to smash the shit out of everything around you including curbs, parking spot stoppers, and small animals until you get used to driving. This will make your car appear as if it was just in a demolition derby if you're running a fiberglass body kit.

...Not to mention every body kit in the world looks horrible on a 2G.

-Lambo Doors

You'll like these for 5 minutes. Then, when the doors no longer stay up on their own and your girlfriend can't get in and out of the car by herself because she's too small to lift the door, you'll wish they were back to stock again.

Not worth the time and money unless the car is a 100% show-piece, and even then I think they're ridiculous....but that's just my age showing.

-Flip Out Touch Screen Head Unit
-LCD Screen in Passenger Vanity Mirror
-An LCD Screen in the back of each seat
-Custom Sub Box in the trunk

You've been watching too much "Pimp My Ride". All of these items will become lackluster in a very short period of time.

Remember- real sports cars don't need televisions in them to be entertaining.

If anyone could help me out with some ideas that would be great!

Go balls-deep on the car if you want it to be a show piece. Otherwise, save your money for next year when you're sick of driving a non-turbo automatic ricemobile and want a real DSM.

Trust me- one day you'll look back at this thread and say "My god, what the hell was I thinking?"

 

[NiKKUH_BOViCE]

, more than 1500 dollars worth in upgrades? to who? in my opinion just those lambo doors cut the car's value in half. not to mention the body kit. sell it and buy a sleepurr looking turbo dsm. i wish i had.

and btw @jusmx141, this wasnt his planned mod list. thats what the car already came with.

 

[JusMX141]

and btw @jusmx141, this wasnt his planned mod list. thats what the car already came with.

Wonderful.

Initially I was taking it as if he meant "that's what he had so far", as if he were compiling a list of things to waste money on. I now see that someone's previously wasted money on the car.

I also missed this somehow:

Under the hood, I was thinking of doing a turbo setup, not sure what kind of turbo though. Headers, blow off valve, the normal bolt-ons. What else?

Right, because blow off valves are absolutely required on any turbo setup, and header(s) are what's needed to make the most of any boosted application.

What else? How about an intercooler, fuel pump, larger injectors, something to tune with, wideband o2 (no, not an air/fuel gauge), perhaps some engine internals if you're ever planning on making over 8psi, transmission mods so the power can get to the ground, bigger brakes if you ever plan on stopping....

The list could go on forever.

 

[95'RS-T]

Well If You are only gonna spend 3k your only gonna be able to afford a good turbo kit but not the supporting mods as stated above. I would spend 3/4 of the 3k and return the car as stock as possible (example) stock 2gb bumpers and side skirts, and paint. Bottom line is also stated above flip the car and get a Turbo dsm.
But in the end it all comes down to What you want. Do you want a fast car or a show car?

 

[domothegreat18]

Get an 4g63t swap. Get rid of the lambo doors and bodykit (ricer) 420a's are not fast at all

 

[rlacasse1]

Dude, get a different car. I use to have a cavalier that was faster than my friends 420a eclipse. They're are slow. But his did have lambo doors so +37 HP.

 

[greenDSMdude]

haha wow you guys a rough. im only 17 but yeah i agree lambo doors i went through a phase where i i thiought i wanted them but believe it or not im pretty content with my clean stock looking dsm. all ive done is lowered it exhaust ofcourse an intake and some interior work. buttt i do have interior lights and neons under the car but i dont think it looks bad but hey.. maybe its cause im young?

 

[rEclipserGST]

haha wow you guys a rough. im only 17 but yeah i agree lambo doors i went through a phase where i i thiought i wanted them but believe it or not im pretty content with my clean stock looking dsm. all ive done is lowered it exhaust ofcourse an intake and some interior work. buttt i do have interior lights and neons under the car but i dont think it looks bad but hey.. maybe its cause im young?

The generation and simple taste has a lot to do with it. I know 50 year old man wearing pants around their ankles. They would only know what that means if they went to prison

I also wanted to get a body kit and lambo doors when I was young. Didn't everyone want an Eclipse after Fast and Furious? However, now you can see my car is classy but effective. The birds flock to me

 

[greenDSMdude]

i like my car clean looking. no ricey grossness. i just hope im not ruining it with neons i dont think it will be too bad.. i hope

 

[rlacasse1]

i like my car clean looking. no ricey grossness. i just hope im not ruining it with neons i dont think it will be too bad.. i hope

Same here

Although i did have blue neons and a front body kit and 18" rims on my old 3G Eclipse and i think it looked damn good.

 

[laser92DSM]

Get an 4g63t swap. Get rid of the lambo doors and bodykit (ricer) 420a's are not fast at all

The only 4g63 he can swap in his car is an Evo 8 one since the tranny is on the other side and that swap is a good amount of work.

Here's my opinion try and sell the eclipse and look for a turboed model and since you have a shop to work in better for you, but if you can't sell it drive it until you have enough money to buy a turbo DSM.

I'm 18 I loved my non turbo laser because it was my first car (bought it when i was 14 sold it at 16) but since I went turbo i'd never go back.

 

[wdbagger]

I'm going to add yet another vote for getting a turbo eclipse.

 

[kmj 4g63t]

Please don't waste your money!!! Also swapping to a 4g63 from a 420a is a very big job since the motor mounts are in a completely different place. Keep the car to work on for a couple months maybe a year, to practice on but in all honesty don't spend a lot of money on the engine unless your 100% committed and willing to spend $$$$.

 

[gst_project]

Please don't waste your money!!! Also swapping to a 4g63 from a 420a is a very big job since the motor mounts are in a completely different place. Keep the car to work on for a couple months maybe a year, to practice on but in all honesty don't spend a lot of money on the engine unless your 100% committed and willing to spend $$$$.

Very well put. My first eclipse was a 420a. I had a fully built 4g63t eclipse after that one. Blew it up, sold it, and now on my 2nd 4g63t. Many people on this site know what's up when it comes to these cars. I only WISH I knew about this site when I had the other ones. My 1996 420a, metallic green, stock body car won several trophies. It's all about keeping it clean. I dumped so much money into it and learned alot through my DSM years. I had an endless mod list for that thing and enjoyed it, then my friend bought a GSX and I was hooked. Made my transition after getting to know alot about his car. Keep your 420a, sell the screens, the body kit(except front bumper of course) grab bumpers and sides from 97-99 and call it done. Keep it mostly stock. With the budget, do eibach pro kit springs for a clean look, wrench on that thing and learn the body/electrical, familiarize yourself on anything DSM, and THEN sell it. Learn a little before jumping straight into modding one out. Trust me from my own personal experience.

 

[dsmtun3r98gst]

Get an 4g63t swap. Get rid of the lambo doors and bodykit (ricer) 420a's are not fast at all

you better have been joking when u suggested to do 4g63t swap....

 

[nyTalonTsi]

Sell the car, get rich again then.......... well pick up a clean 4g63t powered dsm.

 

[johnk12845]

Haha you guys are rough. I have been reading a lot on these forums, and it doesn't seem like its very easy to turbo the 420a. I'm not sure if I said it before, but I am 16, and not really looking for anything too extensive, just what to pick up besides CAI and Exhaust for my car. I am not looking to resell it and get another car =P

 

[2gGSXEclipse]

Ill sell you mine. It breaks too much..... 2 years later and still have only put 8,000miles on it