What to Fix First Question... (420a)

[gunnermaiden]

Alright, so if you've seen my posts before, you know I've got 99 problems and all of them are my Eclipse.

I have a 99 420a GS automatic that I am planning on turbo'ing in the future.

I finally narrowed down to where I need to start the most important/major stuff, all of these things are being completely replaced since they are beyond repairable/no point in repairing and I'm ready to start working on:

• Transmission (putting in a neon SRT trans, no 5spd swap)
• Wiring harnesses (engine, cab and dash lucky me)
• Computer/PCM/solenoids

But I don't know which order I need to do this in. Should this be something I need to do all together or can I do one, then the other then the last? My fear is that if I do one first, the existing problems will continue to wreak havoc and risk the health of the new parts.

I suppose I should mention the engine has a loss of power, have not yet confirmed if this is because of bad compression or the transmission is throwing it off, or electrical related, or all three. (I know, I know, if you're familiar with my posts I was supposed to test it months ago but my parking/storage/access situation has been total shit and has only gotten worse since then. I just started the construction of my new house WITH a garage so I can be way more on top of things this coming year).

Although engine is not a main concern in this post since I plan to build/rebuild a new one to handle more power while this one sits in the car until the new engine is complete and ready to swap.

My other concern is I don't want to spend money (and time!) on a new engine wiring harness on a stock setup then realize I have to change everything I did to add the turbo (and the new engine). I don't know if I will be piecing the turbo setup together or just doing a kit (recommendations welcome).

Thanks in advance!

 

[gunnermaiden]

Also if something like this has already been answered, please feel free to move my post. I couldn't find exactly what I was searching for ealrier.

 

[rabenne]

Are you set on building a NT car into a turbo car? It has been done pretty well before and you certainly can go that route, but I would suggest trying to watch for a gsx for sale. I dont mean to sound like a JERK, I just need to know more about your overall plans for the car to give any decent advice.

I've had 4 DSM's in the last 12 years and trust me when I say it is easier to pick the car that is closest to where you want it to end up. I've done a lot of work and spent a lot of money on things that better planning could have spared me. I started with a 94 eclipse 1.8 L and it took me two more cars and over 9 years to realize that I needed a GSX to get what I wanted out of this platform.

Don't let me discourage you! Everybody has a different picture of what their perfect eclipse would be. You will learn a lot by doing and trying. Having said that, don't always listen to people on this forum and take their word for fact. Good luck on whatever you decide.

Do you have mechanical experience?

 

[spyderdrifter]

I say get your replacement transmission, TCU, and wiring at the same time from the Neon. Then install all at the same time too.

 

[gunnermaiden]

@rabenne , yes I am building an N/T into a turbo. The story behind why I have this car is because well I bought the wrong one HA. I was mad about it for awhile, a long while, definitely considered getting a Spyder GST but all the ones I found were either stolen or already in pieces or just too damn much money for really a whole lot of nothing left in them. But I got over it and decided to just build it for the experience because I need it.

I ended up going with that decision because I want this car to be MY car the way I want and it's honestly going to be my grocery getter since I am in the process of grabbing an S2000 (soft spot for Hondas, sorry ). And my S/O can't drive stick and I would like at least one car they can drive ha. That is why I am just going to end up putting in a new engine since my current has 190xxx on it and I want the car for a long time, don't really care about resale/street value. So I don't need superpower out of it or by any means track power, just something perky, responsive, quick and maybe some unexpected power to get the trucks off my ass, fun and reliable (funny joke I know )

I have some mechanical experience, I started out this hobby with a 3rd gen Accord about 4 years ago (rust killed it no longer own it) and I rebuilt the top end to push out more power because damn that car was slow before that. Did lots of work throughout the whole car and it turned out pretty damn slick, still kinda miss it. But to be fair, those cars are very simple and straightforward and it literally had arrows pointing to where things go built onto it and I never had to do trans or electrical work on it.

I bought my DSM (yes I checked it is still a DSM) back in July and I haven't done much to it other than basic maintenance here and there because I am making sure I start this BIG project off right. I am on 3 different forum sites and talking with my local machining shop on and off as I religiously research and ask questions. After All, these cars are not silly Hondas . Being an AZ car, the body/frame is in excellent condition which is mostly why I'm willing to work with it.


@spyderdrifter , do you know if that' okay to do all of that before I add the turbo? No experience with turbo so I don't know if the electrical components need to be beefed up when you put in a turbo and if those beefed up components are okay to use without a turbo. Super noob question, sorry. Just moving onto the turbo section of research plan

My first and foremost goal right now is to make this car A LOT more safe to drive, although driveable, and it did pass inspection surprisingly, but it is NOT safe to drive

 

[spyderdrifter]

It is okay to do electrical things first. Think of it like this, if you're planning to go from an oem turbo to an upgraded turbo that will raise the power beyond the capabilities of your injectors, it'd be wiser to get injectors first so that you don't bog down on oem injectors. I know you don't have a turbo yet, but this was just an example. Supporting mods are just that, they support your power potential so the upgrade operates efficiently. No worries about "noob" questions. If you don't know, it's far better to ask and get good info, than not ask and waste money and time

 

[gunnermaiden]

@spyderdrifter THAT was the answer I was looking for. Thank you!!

Just wanted to make sure that putting more powerful components on an otherwise stock setup wouldn't damage anything in the long run.

Also, thanks for mentioning the injectors. Had a blond moment there

If anyone thinks of anything else I should look into, please don't be afraid to tell me! I've done lots of reading and research but I'm sure there a lot more things I missed (like the injectors LoL)

 

[spyderdrifter]

Not a problem, always happy to help.

 

[dsmcrzy]

If your adding a turbo you will need a way to tune it. You could add a megasquirt now and start learning to tune on an nt car which is much more forgiving than a turbo charged car.

 

[gunnermaiden]

If your adding a turbo you will need a way to tune it. You could add a megasquirt now and start learning to tune on an nt car which is much more forgiving than a turbo charged car.

Very good point! Thanks for the suggestion, just typed it into google and it seems fairly easy to find info on. I'll probably start another binder on that this week.

 

[dsmcrzy]

There is TONS of info. Download one of the manuals and start reading. The people that get frustrated with it are the ones who don't put the time in to research and read.

 

[gunnermaiden]

There is TONS of info. Download one of the manuals and start reading. The people that get frustrated with it are the ones who don't put the time in to research and read.

So true, I definitely see that on all of the forums I'm part of is mostly just people complaining, but I do get a lot of info from the other comments so it's still a win/win for me.

Also just found a hole in my research, can't find info on it (sorry if it is out there already). I plan on replacing my current trans with the Neon SRT trans (as mentioned already). Just realized that A/T's have a TCM and that could be a cause of a lot of my problems and with that I never checked to see if the previous owner had wrongfully bolted or connected it since the entire interior was not attached when I bought it. I could *magically* get the trans working *better* by checking those simple things until my garage is done being built, however I don't know if I will need something better even if I do fix it when I add a turbo.

If I do, will a GST TCM fit in my GS? Already found out the 95's aren't compatible with the 96-99's since they're in a different spots.

 

[dsmcrzy]

GST will not be compatable. Honestly I don't know much about the AT swaps. Try 2gnt.com. There should be a ton of info over there on the AT swaps that can be done. Most people do AT to MT swaps.

 

[gunnermaiden]

GST will not be compatable. Honestly I don't know much about the AT swaps. Try 2gnt.com. There should be a ton of info over there on the AT swaps that can be done. Most people do AT to MT swaps.

I'll post an update here when I find the answer, it's gotta be somewhere on the internet ;P

 

[dsmcrzy]

No doubt there!

 

[gunnermaiden]

Update:

With no answer to my search, however, I found an alternative I think I'm interested in and just might work. Shift boxes - overrides the use of a TCU (Please Confirm!)? I'd still have to rewire all my harnesses, throw in my Neon trans and swap my solenoids of course. Anyone have experience with this setup in a daily driver? Sounds like an awesome concept, wondering how well it works in stop & go traffic before I get too excited about this.