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2G Reliable/Daily Driver DSM

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FallenAvatar

Probationary Member
5
4
Apr 5, 2019
Hinesville, Georgia
Hey Everyone,

Long time DSM fan, I blame Fast & Furious 1. First car was a '97 GS (w/420a) when I was 18. I added some "interesting" mods haha. Sorry, was young and stupid :p. (Injen intake, Pacesetter headers, radio+screen, Tien coil-overs, A-pillar gauge pod, etc.)

I now have another '97 Eclipse, but it's a GST this time :cool:.

Unfortunately, the more I work on it doing maintenance, removing unnecessary things and upgrading things, I keep finding shoddy work from the previous owners. It's to the point where I am currently planning to pull the motor and replace every last gasket and sea, all fluids, triple check all wiring and sensors while doing a wire-tuck to some degree, and anything else I can think of.

I want this to be my daily driver, and want to make it as reliable as possible, while still being a fun car to drive. I'm planning on doing all the normal maintenance with OEM spec or better parts, but am looking for suggestions for mods that may help performance without hurting reliability and mods that help with reliability. I would prefer reliability over performance as I want this car to last. (Chassis is in great shape being a Southern US car all its' life.) And I think I might turn it into a "show quality" car, at least as much as I am able/is reasonable.

Things I am already considering:

  • Coil-on-Pack (with some of mods to remove the wasted spark)
  • Change to Synthetic Oil
  • Blueprinting the motor while I have it apart to check all oil clearances specifically, as well as, checking against manufacturer specs for replacement.
  • Figuring out how to do an oil-to-water/coolant heat exchanger.
  • Switching to Speed Density? (I have DsmLink v3)
  • Setting up a FlexFuel system
I am still doing a ton of research on those topics and more. And like I said I am aiming for reliability first and foremost. But I want a fun car, so I want to aim for around 350-400 250-300 whp (sorry, not sure what I was thinking there) and great/stiff handling. (Driven cars from 100 whp to ~600 whp, and that range seems about the best for me)

Let me know if you have any suggestions on my list or goals, any obvious things I missed, or any questions for me.

Thanks,
- Amy

P.S. I will likely be doing all work myself, but I have and am comfortable doing everything from wiring to replacing conn. rod bearings and everything in between.

P.P.S. I know the sayings about DSMs and daily driving ;) we have another car, so no major worry there.
 
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Pretty attainable goals. start reading and doing research on here to narrow down your upgrade path.

How many miles on the body? Is it the original motor? What other mods have been done? I only see ecmlink v3 in your profile.
 
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Coil on plug isn't really worth the hassle in my opinion. The stock turbo DSM ignition system is very robust and in my experience is much more reliable than COP. Plus it's easy to troubleshoot if you have a problem.

Switching to synthetic oil is a good idea and is highly recommended for all turbocharged engines. Conventional oil doesn't stand up to the extreme heat nearly as well as synthetic.

There is already a water cooled oil cooler on your 4g63 unless someone removed it on purpose, your oil filter screws onto it. However, it's not the most optimal design and an external air cooled heat exchanger would be a rather large improvement in that area.
 
Coil on plug isn't really worth the hassle in my opinion. The stock turbo DSM ignition system is very robust and in my experience is much more reliable than COP. Plus it's easy to troubleshoot if you have a problem.
+1 The stock ignition system is VERY capable. A few say COP is a downgrade. Considering your power goals, don't even worry about COP, it'll be a waste of money. Even if you want 450-500hp.
You won't have to touch speed density either unless you want to for whatever reason.

Overall, your goals are pretty attainable without spending a lot of money. For 250-300hp, there is no need for e85, your DSM will be living life on 93.

I'll hit you with a list you and your wallet might like more:
-FMIC
-Headstuds
-255 or 450lph fuel pump & rewire (450 if you want to stretch in the future)
-AFPR
-Synthetic Oil (no brainer) & consider refreshing ALL fluids (trans, rad, etc.)
-Change any gaskets you deem necessary
-A nice clutch
-AFR Wideband

Turn up your boost to 20-25 lbs and you'll easily be 250-300+

Here's a thread you can read through based on your power goals: https://www.dsmtuners.com/threads/basic-horsepower-ugrades-2g-4g63t.480196/#post-153440095

In the future, throw updates on your vehicle profile's build thread. It's a good way to keep everything in one place.
 
Run an Evo3 16g turbo, gates timing and balancer belts as well as other belts, oem seals and gaskets, no Chinese or Ebay parts unless you know the Ebay parts are legit name brand parts, 650cc injectors Rochester injectors would do just fine and will be plug and play with the proper settings in your ecu, if you want to run a coil on plug setup to clean up your engine bay you should run an ignition box with it to make it strong enough to make sense in having it.
 
Like everyone else stated before, you don’t need to swap to coil on plug, the stock are good enough for what you need.

Side note. I have being running coil on plug for many years, I haven't have any problems and have never touch it concern to troubleshooting or anything like that, they have being so reliable and without saying I’m not using any type of box to control or manage them .
I did the swap because I got all the parts used and cheap from a junk yard (yeah there is plenty around us) and even the aluminum plate I used was laying around the house.

My purpose of converting to coil on plug was for a clean look and eliminating a future wire replacement, however I did struggle to make it work because I was trying to use the worn boots the coils came with and was having a miss fire, after getting new boots I haven’t have a problem.


I’m not saying they are better then the factory set up, but they are not totally trashed either.
 
I agree just do bolt ons and regasket the motor and if i was you go ahead and do the cv axle seals as well. But stick with the stock ignition system and follow the upgrade path on here. That alone should get you to 300whp. Its not hard to make these cars reliable. Oh and get a evo 9 fuel pump and rewire it that way you dont have to worry about a fpr.
 
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