Mitsubishi Eclipse 3G Club banner

Behold The Pale Horse

82K views 591 replies 83 participants last post by  thahnic1080 
#1 · (Edited)
This is my 2001 RS-Turbo. I wasn’t going to make this thread until the car was finished to where I want it but if that is to be the case then I would never be ready. So nevertheless, here she is. I bought it back in early 2010 with 82k on the clock. I have always wanted a third gen Eclipse since they came out when I was ten years old, but after getting one I was disappointed in the “performance” of the stock machine. Now I’m stuck playing this modding game. Here is how she sits now, and instead of making build threads in the very near future, I plan to document and chronicle everything in this Member’s Ride thread.

Most recent picture (06/29/2013):



Most recent video (07/09/2013):



Most recent dyno (09/26/2013):



Most recent tracking (09/26/2013):



July 2013 Car of the Month!



Here is my current mods list:

Exterior:

-Drifz 304MB 18x8 +32mm Wheels
-Kumho Ecsta ASX 225/40/18 Tires
-Lowe’s Garage Door Sealant Custom Front Lip
-Anzo Halo Projector Headlights (going bye bye soon)
-The GrilleGuy Front Grille
-Clear Turn/Side Marker Lights
-RetroSolutions, LLC. 8,000K 55W HID Headlamps
-CREE Hyper White 7W LED Turn/Side Marker Lamps
-TYC Generation 1 Tail Lights
-Smoked Third Brake Light
-Smoked Reverse/Side Marker Lights
-SuperBrightLEDS Hyper White LED License Plate Lamp
-OEM Power Mirrors Added
-OEM Alloy Fuel Door
-Stubby Antenna

Interior:

-Glowshift Triple Pillar Pod
-GTS Black Leather Seat Conversion
-3Gb (03-05) Door Panel Conversion
-3Gb (03-05) Door Switch Conversion
-Prosport Evo Series Gauges (Constant Blue)
-Blue LED Gauge Cluster Conversion
-Blue LED HVAC Conversion
-Deleted HVAC Vents in Center Bezel
-52mm Glowshift Gauges Inserted
-Deleted Clock Pod
-Zeitronix ZT-II LCD Display

Sound:

-Dual XD1225 Headunit (My Pioneer shat the bed, already had this on hand)
-Sony Xplod 1000W Amplifier
-(2) MTX Audio 12” Subwoofers
-Custom Subwoofer Box
-Lanzar LQ16CAP 1.6F Capacitor
-2ga Power/Ground Wiring

Engine:

-Stock 4G64 Long Block
-6G72 Throttle Body
-Custom Angled 4G63 Manifold Flange
-Extended Stainless Steel Exhaust Manifold Studs
-Custom Beveled Washers for Studs (Returns nut angle to perpendicularity)
-XSPower (eBay) Tubular Evo VIII Exhaust Manifold
-MHI Evo VIII 16G 9.8 Turbocharger
-Megan Tubular Evo VIII O2 Sensor Housing
-Cobb 3” Evo VIII Downpipe
-Modified Concepts (eBay) 3” Catback
-Gutted 3” Feline Converter
-OEM Evo VIII Lower Intercooler Piping
-CXRacing (eBay) 28x7.5x2.5” Intercooler
-Custom 3” Upper Intercooler Piping
-Tial Q 50mm Blowoff Valve
-OEM Evo VIII Fuel Rail
-OEM Evo VIII Fuel Pressure Regulator
-OEM Subaru WRX/STI 565cc “Pink Top” Injectors
-Fidanza 8.5lb Aluminium Flywheel
-ACT 2100HD Street Disc Clutch
-OEM Evo VIII Oil Pan/Baffle/Pickup
-Injen 3.5" Intake
-eBay 4.5" MAF Adapter
-Walbro 255LPH Fuel Pump
-Magnecor 10.5mm Spark Plug Wires

Engine Management:

-OEM Evo VIII RS ECU
-2000RS-Turbo Tuned
-ECUFlash/EvoScan Tuning and Logging Capable via Tactrix 2.0 Interface
-Prosport Evo Series Gauges
-Oil Pressure
-Oil Temperature
-Water Temperature
-Glowshift Digital Series Gauges
-Tachometer
-Voltmeter
-Zeitronix ZT-II Serial LCD Interface
-Wideband Oxygen Sensor
-Lambda Calculation
-Boost Pressure
-Exhaust Gas Temperature

Suspension/Handling/Brakes:

-Complete Polyurethane Motor Mount Set
-Polyurethane Front Sway Bar Bushings
-KYB AGX Adjustable Gas Struts
-Tein S-Tech Lowering Springs
-Rear Disc Conversion
-OEM Evo VIII Brembo Calipers
-Centric Premium Slotted Rotors
-Centric Premium Brake Pads
-Stoptech Stainless Steel Brake Lines
-10mm Billet Aluminium Hubcentric Wheel Spacers

That’s all I can think of for now. Here are some pictures when I first got her:







How she sits now:




























And just for shits here are some videos. No they don't show its true potential but that isn't the point. I love the sound of my 3G.





I'm terrible at taking pictures and that is a skill I'd like to polish. I'll post up some pictures of the progress that has been made to get it to where it is today. Stay tuned for the near future :ninja2:
 
See less See more
5 18
#59 ·
Thanks man.
 
#60 ·
Had more time to sit and really look over a high res copy of my gauge cluster and realized some issues between the stocker and the stock replica. First of all, not sure if Mitsubishi even noticed this, but there was two different fonts used in the 3Gb cluster. The main instrument panel featured more round and curvy lettering while the fuel level and water temp gauges retained the straight 3Ga style font. I had Blackcat ensure the font was the same throughout the cluster. Also had them add the factory black outline around the tachometer numbers.



That finished, I should have the final product in a week or so when they make it come to life.

I was chatting with a buddy of mine in the Evo world and he just finished assembling his built 4G64 and is ready to drop it in the car. It was the swift kick in the ass I needed to finally fully undress my block to get it ready for the machine shop appointment that is just a week away! :eek3:

Removed all the freeze plugs I could using the "eyelid method". Don't have a drill down here to get the remaining two out that butt up against the cylinder sleeve.





And did the balance shaft delete in my new oil pump:



I pressed in the rear shaft freeze plug and JB-Welded the ever-loving piss out of it:



Mirage "stubby" shaft installed in the driven gear:



Anddd didn't have a vice handy so I tried to torque the stubby shaft by holding it with pliers in one hand and the torque wrench in the other and I think my torque wrench is out of whack so I need to get it recalibrated. This is how it will stay, I removed the bolt so the loctite didn't have time to dry.



And got rid of the old pump and balance shaft business. Still left the crankshaft and mains intact in the block. Waiting to go to the store and use an entire roll of bubble wrap around the crankshaft and find a suitable sized box for it.



Finishing up eating some Hot Pockets right now then I'm gonna go play with my cylinder head and look for any touch ups or revisions I can make to get it all prepped up.
 
#61 ·
Deleted my EGR just now. Where I'm from we have very strict visual inspections for emissions devices. Specifically cited in this visual inspection is the EGR valve and the EGR Vacuum Solenoid. Therefore, one must either A: find a "backyard garage" and tip them $50 over sticker price to give you a backdoor inspection or B: you have to put up with 1200*F gases being dumped into your intake manifold, turning your plenum into a soot tray and overheating the air coming into the engine, reducing performance. I like Option C: better.

I found that on the Evo head the EGR recirculation port was perfectly sized to accept a 1/8-NPT tap. Before any moron comments about it being "crooked", yes, it is crooked with respect to the horizontal but it is dead on with respect to the angle of the recirculation port.



I purchased some stainless steel 1/8-NPT allen head pipe plugs off eBay previously. These MUST be stainless steel or stronger. The brass pipe plugs are a dime a dozen but they WILL melt and get into your engine.



From here it was smooth sailing.







During final assembly I will reinstall the plug with red Loctite though I'm not sure it will be needed once its torqued down hard into the tapered thread bore. I have since removed the plug though as all my parts will be hot tanked at the machine shop after their respective work is completed, and I'd like it to be as thorough as possible.

To this end, I will be able to bolt up the intake manifold and EGR valve as normal; however, there will be no gas flow and therefore the system will appear as functional though it will be dismantled. It's only a visual inspection, it doesn't have to work, just has to be there. I will superglue and clamp the hell out of the lines associated with the emissions system so they won't be a bother but will still be visible. I of course will delete all of the functionality in the ECU with periphery edits.

I'm getting more and more antsy by the second.
 
#64 ·
Don't I know it, my friend! :lol:

Great build so far! Love what you did with the clock pod and the stock replacement gauges with raised redline.

(BTW I finally got the Diamante throttle body and the bolt pattern is the same but the throttle body won't seal on a evo intake manifold. The TB flange is bigger than the evo manifold flange in one spot. Also I needed 3/16" more clearance between the diamante tps and the -8an fuel fitting that goes on the fuel rail. I'll be going with a magnus v5 manifold to fix both these problems. Cruise control testing is officially delayed.)
Thanks man. I was going to send you another PM and see how you were making out but I was waiting to see if you were going to post up in your thread about it. Have you found your V5 yet? I know they were sold out everywhere for a while, and people came out of the woodwork on EvoM to sell them 200% above retail price. Not sure if they made more yet or not.
 
#63 · (Edited)
Great build so far! Love what you did with the clock pod and the stock replacement gauges with raised redline.

(BTW I finally got the Diamante throttle body and the bolt pattern is the same but the throttle body won't seal on a evo intake manifold. The TB flange is bigger than the evo manifold flange in one spot. Also I needed 3/16" more clearance between the diamante tps and the -8an fuel fitting that goes on the fuel rail. I'll be going with a magnus v5 manifold to fix both these problems. Cruise control testing is officially delayed.)
 
#65 ·
I had the day off so I decided to get everything exactly how it needs to be in order to go to the machine shop.

Rear main housing removed.



Main bolts removed.



Main girdle removed.



Dat beautiful crank.





And closed her back up.



 
#66 ·
Another NOGAF update with more pictures :lol:.

Bled/cleaned my lifters today. The Rockafeller I bought the cylinder head from was running royal purple. Must have been recently changed before being pulled as it still had, quite literally, the royal purple color.





I was happy about that. I figured someone that was willing to spend $10/qt on Royal Purple engine oil would have a well taken care of car. However I soon was disappointed and when it was all said and done I had a paper towel full of metal shavings. They're extremely hard to photograph, but I highlighted some of them for you. In a single sheet of paper towel that caught all the junk bled out of the lifters, I counted 17 metal fragments.



It should have been obvious that people don't just randomly decide to pull and sell their P&P'd, built cylinder head unless they blew their engine up but nevertheless here we are. It isn't necessarily a bad thing that the metal fragments are coming out of the lifters. They can't do any harm to the lifters but I just need to make damn sure there isn't any left in the lifters when I go to run the engine. They wreak havoc in circulation.

Anyways, I bled them all out and then refilled them all with diesel fuel as per the OE technical maintenance directions. They're going to sit here and soak overnight when I will repeat the process all over again until I get a clean bowl.



And I got a box full of $100 worth of gaskets and seals from ExtremePSI today too.



Head gasket should be here soon as well as my speed density harness, 4 bar MAP sensor and GM IAT sensor and bung.
 
#68 ·
It was a gorgeous day out and I finally had a day off of work so I headed out to the yard to hopefully scrounge up some last minute parts.

I'm trying something a little different than most people going DOHC and that's using stock 4G64 cam gears. Every person on here with a DOHC head is using adjustable 4G63 cam gears in order to zero their timing due to the belt not fitting 100% correctly. The 1994 Galant GS DOHC timing belt, if I'm correct, will fit exactly like stock with a 4G64 block, an Evo head, and 4G64 cam gears. It should be noted that I will be running HKS 272 camshafts and so depending on my powerband, I might need to later on get adjustable cam gears but for now I am trying this out and seeing how it goes. HKS camshafts are lobed nicely for stock timing so I'm hoping to make power up until at least 8,000 RPM.

This is what I ended up with:



I got my 4G64 cam gears (without removing any motor mounts :p) and I needed the harmonic balancer drive gear and the timing belt drive gear. I broke my ratchet while pulling a harmonic balancer off and so after removing the main bolt I had no other way of getting the balancer off to take the lower timing cover that I needed and the gears.

It was like a miracle that struck me as I was walking out I spotted a 2G and walked over to it and the engine was gone. But right smack on the ground in the engine bay was the exact two gears I needed! I also need the trigger disc which was also there but it was all bent up so I left it behind.

Lastly, this elusive little bastard. This was pretty much the main reason for driving 200 miles to the yard in the first place: the crankshaft woodruff key. Horribly out of focus, I apologize.



This piece absolutely HAD to be present by tomorrow since all my parts are headed to the machine shop and the crankshaft will be balanced. It needs to be there or the balance will be off.

Oh yeah, and I was surprised but saddened to see this, a boosted third gen

....


in the junk yard smashed to pieces. I couldn't get a good look at the turbo because the radiator core support was so far pushed in so I took it off and for some reason they were running the T25.



Perhaps this belonged to a member on here?
 
#70 ·
Precisely. It makes power 0-2000RPM but anything other than that and it's a stranglehold. There's a lot of weird shit people throw on these cars though, so I can't say I'm surprised.
 
#71 ·
I would have taken that redline shifter boot.
 
#72 ·
I thought it was ugly. I don't have any red on my car whatsoever though. It would look good in a red car. Like yours.
 
#74 · (Edited)
Well I haven't updated this in a while since everything has been sent off to the machine shop but here are some pictures, and I'm calling upon some people for help whom I know have built and meticulously documented their blueprinted block.

First the pictures:

My SpoolinUp plug-n-play Speed Density harness and GM IAT sensor and aluminium bung came in the other day. Great quality piece and dirt cheap.



Here was everything before being taken to the machine shop:





And did four rounds of Diesel cleaning with 24hr soaking periods between the cleanings/bleedings and finally found no trash or metal shavings so I put them in some 30W and filled them up. I will bleed them before reinstalling them dry.



Alright now the help I need. Here are my target machining specs, please comment if something seems out of place or if you have advice.

Piston diameter: 3.4252"

Cylinder bore: 3.4252"

Top ring gap: .018-.019"

Second ring gap: .011"-.012"

Target PTW clearance: here is where I'm unsure of. Manley recommended a .0035" clearance for moly skirt coated pistons (such as my Platinums); however, this engine will not be on the stock Evo IX turbo the rest of its life and it will see 600-700whp and be fully streetable. I believe the three and a half thou to be a little close and was considering bumping it up to at least .0040".

Crankshaft micropolishing, very minor.

Main journal diameter: 2.243"

Rod journal diameter: 1.771"

Target main bearing clearance: .025"

Target rod bearing clearance: .025" (I have heard of making this slightly looser to exemplify the path of least resistance since rod bearings take a hell of a beating).

BEARING PLACEMENT

What the actual fuck do people mean when they say the bearing tangs must face the exhaust side. That is so god damned ambiguous it drives me up a wall. Does this mean the bearing tangs are on the exhaust side of the engine, or are they on the intake side? If you want to be technical, if an object is FACING something, it is actually in opposition to it. For example, if I was being technical and saying a bearing tang is facing the exhaust side, the bearing tang would actually be located on the intake side.

I also understand that if the main bearings are grooved on one half I am to place them on the block side as the girdle takes the load, not the bottom of the block. I'm not sure if my ACLs are grooved or not.

I'll have some more measurements later on, this is enough for now to get me started. Thanks to anyone who replies.
 
#76 ·
Tav, how much did you pay for yours? I payed less for my harness, bung and IAT sensor than most IAT sensors go for on eBay. $30 shipped brand new from SpoolinUp.
 
#77 ·
Wait... what are you doing? Machining targets? Just give the shop all the parts for your shortblock and let them do their thing. They know their machines and their tools, let them take their measurements with their torque specs and assemble it under the same circumstances. If you assemble your own shortblock it will not go together the same way they intended it to. All tools read slightly different so even if you're settings are correct you can botch the assembly just because they're off a couple pounds.
 
#78 ·
When I said "targets" I was just referring to everything I gave them. I gave them all the parts to my shortblock as well as a quite lengthy "target" blueprint, meaning just what I wanted clearance wise and all the measurements I wanted.

I understand things will be a little different than what their torque wrenches will read, but a properly calibrated torque wrench will serve its purpose well when I do the final assembly on it.
 
#80 ·
Thanks man! :yesway:
 
#83 ·
Thanks Boston, you confirmed all I needed. What about PTW? .0035" too close?
 
#85 ·
Thanks bro, heading to the powdercoating shop tomorrow to drop off my valve cover to have it coated pearl white. Before and after pictures to follow. I called the machine shop today and they acted like I was just inquiring about some criminal conspiracy. All I wanted was to see how things were going and they got testy like I expected everything to be completed. Oh well.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top