Speed Limiting

[diggerzmound]

I can't find much for this topic, imagine that, who wants to put a speed limit on a their GS-t?

I am going to be turning the Eclipse over to my teenager soon and would like to know the easiest way to limit the top speed. This thing goes faster than is safe when I am driving much less a teenager..

 

[Kastigir]

IIRC, these cars come from the factory with a speed limiter. Not sure as I've not hit it yet.

 

[95blackGsTurbo]

Factory speed limiter on a FWD is 137mph. As far as adding one I'm not sure on that one.

 

[Rob10_99]

Easily set with dsmlink if you have it. I would just open the wastegate for at least the first week, maby even a throttle limiter mechanically at the least.
Add a little restriction in the exhaust? Put weights in the car(bolted down/trunk). Intake restriction maby?
Being a turbo car, if you limit the TPS or mechanically stop it from opening more than say 70% its going to be really hard to build boost like it would now.
I could get pretty evil and turn that thing into a turd to be safe for kids, huge spark gap?

 

[1sttimedsmr]

You could always put a bolt on the floor with the gas pedal hits, so the pedal won't go as far down limiting the throttle. That way he won't be able to floor it.

 

[JMiller]

Couldn't you limit the speed by setting a lower redline.

 

[Rob10_99]

Yes but that would only limit top speed, not how fast it gets there.

 

[95blackGsTurbo]

Yes but that would only limit top speed, not how fast it gets there.

That would limit speed too if you can't rev it part 4500 rpm .

 

[Rob10_99]

Lol yeah I guess so, but it would have to be pretty conservative on the % the throttle could open, or it would boost, then he would be ADDICTED!
Thing is, I bet your kid knows at least something about your car, or will learn if you two are working on it, then he will be like, wholy shit I can take this off and go faster!?

 

[Achelea]

Or wire the waste gate wide open, but that might hurt the car more than help it. If you've got a GPS thing handy you could track him. XD My Garmin tells me highest speed. But then you'd have to lock it and find a way to keep it permanently on. XD

 

[steve]

The factory speed limiter is still fast enough to kill yourself

If you were running an EPROM ECU you could change the rev limiter (redline) to 5k or so and that would make racing it unproductive but still driveable.

Has the teenager in question wrecked their first car yet? You might not want to turn over the keys to the GST until after they learn the hard lesson of car control and that driving really does require all their attention.

Also consider supplemental teen car control class so they don't have to learn and get it right on their very first exposure to loss of control. At minimum, make sure to take them out to the parking lot and teach then how do donuts and practice skid control.

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[Achelea]

I don't now how responsible your son is, but something my dad told us boys when we were growing up made us be a TAD more careful.

"You break it, you fix it. I've got tools, and I've got experience, but I'm not buying parts, and you're not taking it to a mechanic."

Those words is the reason it took my brother 2 and half years to fix his first truck.

 

[habitatguy187]

Easiest way, unhook the wastegate actuator arm from the wastegate (no more boost whatsoever)

You could also just remove your mbc and run the vacuum line straight to the wastegate actuator, that would lower the boost but still keep it somewhat quick.

IMO, if you're too scared for him to drive it how it is, then he shouldn't be driving anything.

 

[Rob10_99]

I don't now how responsible your son is, but something my dad told us boys when we were growing up made us be a TAD more careful.

"You break it, you fix it. I've got tools, and I've got experience, but I'm not buying parts, and you're not taking it to a mechanic."

Those words is the reason it took my brother 2 and half years to fix his first truck.

Instant classic.
On another note yeah, if your kid is one of those nervous people behind a wheel(like a lot of women) then this is not a good first car.
Any dirtbikes or quads in the past?

 

[miniturbo23]

next time dont buy him a turbo car..

 

[the_mork]

I'm not sure if Ceddy has defined the option in the DSM H8 ecus but that may be the first place to look, if you switch to an H8 ecu and he has the speed limiter defined then you can set it to anything you want and you'll have a tuning solution for your car that rocks.

If Ceddy hasn't defined it then you can switch to an evo8 ecu, I know that the speed limiter is defined in that ecu but it takes a bit more work to get it going. It is definitely a nice option though and I have loved every minute of running one.

 

[caboose]

if you are nervous about the situation, then it probably is not a good idea to give a young inexperienced driver a fast front wheel drive car. You know she is going to be with her friends one time and she is going to be like check this, and then just floor it,,, its pretty much guaranteed to happen at least once.

 

[diggerzmound]

It is for my daughter, I am not worried about her per say, but you know how convincing a friend or boyfriend could be. Can I drive it.. I agree it is not a good first car, the only thing that worries me is the top speed handling. What teenager wouldn't want to "see what she will do."

I bought the car for my wife and it only makes sense for us to turn it over to her when she turns 16. It is an inexpensive car to fix the little bumps and bruises a 16 yr old gets. Luckily she did experience the rebuild and all the work I did putting the engine in the car. I think she will respect it.

I downloaded DSMlink and found the RPM limiter, and read about removing the speed limit, I was just hoping that I could specify the speed limit. Hell I need it some days!

 

[caboose]

If she was with you throughout the rebuild process it should add a lot of respect. The best thing to do is, just talk to her and make it obviously apparent that driving fast is not for the street, and that driving cautiously aware and safe is superior.

 

[steve]

I bought the car for my wife and it only makes sense for us to turn it over to her when she turns 16. It is an inexpensive car to fix the little bumps and bruises a 16 yr old gets. Luckily she did experience the rebuild and all the work I did putting the engine in the car. I think she will respect it.

I downloaded DSMlink and found the RPM limiter, and read about removing the speed limit, I was just hoping that I could specify the speed limit. Hell I need it some days!

It's not really a matter of respect, it's a matter of experience. I've been through this twice now and the bottom line is kids get into situations they can't handle or make bad judgment calls because they can't imagine that another car might stop while making a turn and leave them hanging out in an intersection or that somebody else might run a light or merge into their lane. These things happen all the time and most of us have learned from painful experience to keep a watchful eye on the other drivers, to look several cars ahead to see what's going on or to check driveways for people who aren't paying attention.

You have a rare car. The odds are almost 50% that it will be destroyed in the first year of being driven by a young driver. Get her a beater and tell her if you can make it through the first year without ruining it she can have the nice car.

It used to be that young boys were the problem drivers and girls were meak careful drivers but it you look around those times have changed. It's the young girls who drive distracted and much faster than they should. Coupled with the lack of extra driving experiences that Dads usually give their sons (like taking them out to practice skidding) they get into more serious trouble and panic behind the wheel.

The car can be replaced, your daughter can't.

BTW just so you know, what you downloaded was the client to DSMLink. You have to buy the actual software that goes into the ECU to make the client work.

 

[reinhardt_07]

simple, depending on the boost controller you have. just open it up a bit so the turbo cant build boost. easily done, and wont hurt anything.
just my opinion

 

[Turbowing]

^
opening a boost controller will not allow the cur to run no boost the car will run off wastegate depending on what that is 8,10,12

 

[SnprSlick]

Buy her an inexpensive nonturbo DSM. Then when she gets older as long as she doesnt wreck it, give her the turbo.

I started with a 98 N/T Eclipse last year in October. I recently got a 97 Talon TSi for 250 bucks!

 

[the_mork]

There is no simple solution without spending some money.

You can spend $600+ an eprom for dsmlink.

You can spend $250 for an H8 ecu and cable.

You can spend $225 for an evo8 ecu and cable.

All will require some work and reading all are more expensive than one might hope and dsmlink is almost as much as a workable beater car. I understand the impulse to put your daughter in a car that she will like and have fun with but also remember that DSMs and the spyders especially have horrible safety records so it should be a consideration. Keep it as your wifes toy and let her take it on weekends and dates then get her a beater Saturn for everyday stuff.

Also you should consider taking her to the race track. I could not get the fast out of me until I got to the track and you will both have a blast plus she will learn some valuable technical skills. A local autocross race is a days worth of fun for less than $50 (one driver, one car and usually not too much more for two drivers). It would be a great bonding experience and something she more than likely will love to tell people about afterward.

 

[RiGs2G]

I had a 74 K5 blazer that wouldnt do more then 100 mph and took so long to get there and sucked soo much gas, that I didnt want to speed in that thing. haha. I suggest a different "first car". Get him a beater for 2000 or less (I paid 1000 for my K5 back in 97) and just make sure its road worthy. That way if he does wreck it, you arent out a bunch of money and the car wont go very fast anyway.