Got a New Boosted Toy

[Countryboy96]

So I really wanted a manual transmission convertible to play around with. Well, I found it in this 1998 Mitsubishi Eclipse Turbo. It has a ton of mods including an Evo TDO5H turbo, new manual trans with short shift, Greddy everything (blow off valve, wastegate, boost controller, full 3" exhaust, etc). I'm pushing almost 300 hp for under 2500 dollars...
So is it better than my Lincoln? Well yes... and no. If you want a comfortable luxury car with balls, the Lincoln is the obvious choice. If you want a low, loud, obnoxious sports car that can back up its look and sound with performance, a turbo Eclipse is your better bet. It's like comparing a Caddy Escalade to a Jeep Wrangler. To each his own, I guess.
The Lincoln felt like riding on Cloud 9. This car feels like riding in a go-kart.

Thanks for all the helpful advice y'all gave me back when I had my Mark VIII. If I come across another one, modded to the point of me not caring about it being automatic (or a 5-speed Mark VIII anyone?) I just might swap the Eclipse for it. I'm sure by winter, I will be ready for a toy with a real roof. But I just had to get another convertible.
That's about it... I'm off for a top down ride to enjoy the sunset.

 

[Austin]

Well congrats on ya! Used to have an Eclipse myself.

 

[tixer]

I've had my share of fun in an Eclipse. You've found yourself a nice little toy.

Just watch the timing belt. I'd had at least three friends toast engines in those things from neglecting routine maintenance.

 

[SCTBIRD1173]

COUGH COUGH girls car COUGH COUGH

Just busting, I know those turbo DSMs can be fast! Just not the most reliable things in the world...

Good luck with it!

 

[Countryboy96]

Well, thanks guys! Timing belt was done at 100K and the previous owner had the receipt, so I think I'm good there. Yeah, this is not the first time someone said I got a girl car, but when I smoke the naysayers, they change their tune to "well that girl car drives like a big boy toy", lol. I caught flak when I had my Lincoln for having a grandma car, but people were just as quick to change their tune after watching my taillights and smelling fresh burned 93 octane, lol. I hear you on the reliability, bird, I've already had to fix the alternator that went bad and replace the valve cover gaskets, and those were good when I bought it (a 300 mile round trip to the beach will bring out the bugs in your new used car, no doubt about it). Glad I am mechanically inclined enough to replace those myself, it ended up costing less than $100 for parts.

 

[KStromberg]

You're like me. You drive something fast and the next car HAS to be faster. I'll bet that thing hauls the mail for what it is. Do you have any intentions of running it at the track or modifying it any further?

On a side note, my first turbo experience was in the passenger seat of an 87 Regal Turbo-T. It was running 23 psi on a turbo with a built 3.8 V6 motor and it was the first car I ever rode in where I feared for my life. We came back from getting race gas and a guy was on a crotch rocket and he looked over at my buddy, they both nodded and the guy went into the tuck. Right away my buddy mashed it and spooled up the turbo and we walked away from that guy. I looked over at my buddy and said, "Wow dude, we did not just walk away from a crotch rocket." LOL I could not believe the power that car had. The guy he bought it from said it ran an 11.1 in the 1/4 mile. It sounded a bit far fetched to me until I rode in the car. I have been in a low 12 car before and this thing was much quicker.

 

[Countryboy96]

LOL yeah I fit that bill... Now that you ask, here's what happened over the course of last week: Last Saturday, I replaced the spark plugs with some NGK Tiridiums. The car ran better, but after driving about 20 miles, it suddenly developed a bad misfire as well as started burning a ton of oil, complete with a check engine light. I limped it back to my house (at 2 am and in pouring rain, I wasn't about to walk like 7 miles), hooked up the old diagnostic reader, it said cylinder 3 misfire. I hit the sack, the next day, did a compression test, cylinder 3 was at 30 psi while the other 3 are at 90. Pulled the new plugs, the new one in #3 BROKE due to a bad valve! And #2 plug was beat up bad and cracked, that valve ain't no good either. So much for reliability. The old plugs were **** and this is the reason it stayed together (****+****), as soon as I put in new plugs, all hell broke loose (new+****, you know how it is).
So, I figured since I have to redo the valves, I might as well rebuild the head gasket. I have a feeling the same formula I just stated will also apply if I have brand new valves yet the original head. So to save myself the trouble of having to pull my motor apart AGAIN, I decided to kill 2 birds with 1 stone.
As I type this, the car is in the garage (ES350 is outside, hope it doesn't storm tonight), motor pulled apart with a new head and valves, waiting to have everything put back tomorrow (putting the turbo back on will be a pain in the ass tomorrow, I have small hands but DAMN this car seems to have been made exclusively with 7 year old underage laborers working on it in mind).
I dynoed the car at a show before all this, at 19 psi of boost, it put down 291hp at the front wheels, I am anxious to find out what it'll do with the new head, valves, and plugs. I think I'm gonna tune it to 20 psi and see how it does, maybe even go a couple psi higher. Haven't hit the track yet, but plan on it whenever the local place (which is WAY too expensive to frequent) has one of its free invitationals.
My first real turbo experience was with a buddy's Supra which had a T4 turbo and NOS (150 shot I believe). He would never let anyone drive it, but after having about 20 drinks, he was willing to let me drive since I only had a couple. Well I got it on an empty highway and opened it up, not even using nitrous, and I almost **** my pants. It was way faster than the big block 85 Cutlass I drove at the time. Ever since then... I wanted a turbo.

 

[SCTBIRD1173]

As I warned you about these DSMs... Fast when they are running

I building an '89 Probe GT with a Mazda FE3 2.0 DOHC turbo for my next project. Looking for 400-450fwhp

 

[svtlincoln]

I can practically see the crankshaft walking from here!

 

[Countryboy96]

Well, bird, you were right, no doubt about it. Good luck with your GT, make sure you got everything beefed up to handle all that power... I rebuilt the head and redid the valves, been driving it around with the top down in this great weather we were having until Sandy clouded everything up. The car runs SO much better, and feels much faster as well. Running 23 psi as of now. I've been driving it almost 3 weeks, the crankshaft has not walked on me yet (if that's what you meant, svt).