Picking up a 97 GSX...what do I need to know lol

[DaddyBuiltRacing]

I am picking up a 97 Eclipse GSX off my dad's buddy. Its too good of a deal to pass up, 84, original miles, mint black interior, virgin as can be, no rust/dents/scratches in the paint. This car will be my gf's play toy and will rarely be beat on, just something for her to cruise around in and get used to boosting.

 

I am a Honda guy mainly and have only tinkered with friends DSM's in the past. I know about the crank walk issues that arise. From what I have read/heard its caused by the clutch throwout bearing? Most people say to put an OEM replacement clutch in rather then some heavy duty one when its time to change that out. Other then that what are some things to look out for going bad, when do things need replaced i.e Timing Belt/Water Pump? If she takes it to the track whats a "safe" rpm to launch it at, being AWD I dont want to start breaking shit left and right.

 

What are some cheap easy mods, that wont require a whole lot of tuning. I have a buddy that is selling his FMIC, IC piping, and blowoff valve. Would these be worth picking up and putting on?

 

Turning the boost up some, safe or just leave it alone and be happy with the 7-8psi (I believe thats stock setting)?

 

Anything I might not have covered please feel free to add. I don't want to hear "Oh god you bought a DSM" or "Sell it" lol, trust me your preaching to the choir. I am anti DSM, however like I stated earlier, it was way too good of a deal to pass up

[Guest Spam]

Bring a friend who knows dsm's to go along!

 

Things to look for, rust on strut towers. Lower ball joints. And crank play. I would also ask about the wiring and make sure thats not been hacked. I honestly wouldnt buy it if you have the slightest hesitation that is was modded and returned to stock.

 

As for launching and AWD, you slip it until it grabs and release all the way while giving gas. A stock upgrade would be an ACT 2100 or a better one would be a stage 2 Southbend clutch.

 

Easy mods would be an exhaust, porting the 02 and exhaust housing, an intake, FMIC and a TUNE!

 

Boost levels depend on a lot of things so i wont go into that.

 

How much you buying it for. AND THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH DSM'S!

[Patterson]

Is it purple by chance?

[DaddyBuiltRacing]

No its silver, has absolutely no rust. It started out with me and my dad painting the fender, bumper and door on it along with a 65 Impala, for my dad's buddy. It then turned into "Hey Josh, you interested in buying this car?" I am picking it up for under 3k, it has no been modded what so ever. Old man owned it, my dad's buddy took it in on partial trade for a fastback mustang.

 

I started it up yesterday and let it run for a while, it just purred. The water temp was normal, didn't hear any squeeling, ticking, knocking, clutch felt good. I will start it up again tomorrow when I go back up to work on the Impala and check the crank out.

 

I was told you can check for crank walk by driving the car, jerk car to the left and see if the clutch pedal goes to the floor...that sound right?

 

 

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p81/alittlelessordinary/97%20GSX/eclipse.jpg

 

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p81/alittlelessordinary/97%20GSX/GSX.jpg

[BoostedAce]

If you sell it let me know. I also have tubular headers and a apexi neo for sale.

[superstangOH]

You need to know.. No matter how much you spend it will still run 13's

[DaddyBuiltRacing]

You need to know.. No matter how much you spend it will still run 13's

 

Mmm didn't know i was trying to make it a world beater? Its my gf's car, she doesn't need anything super fast. I just can't leave anything stock, so was looking for ways to upgrade parts without risking reliability, but thanks for the help. She'd be happy with 13's, its not that hard to do with an AWD DSM, my buddies bone stock 1st gen went 13.4 on street tires with the boost turned up.

 

Ace i'll let you know if we ever decide to get rid of it

[99BlownYellowGT]

You need to know.. No matter how much you spend it will still run 13's

 

Thats funny I had a GST that ran 12's

[KentStateTsi]

The crankwalk "theory" has nothing to do with the throwout bearing. Your little turn left trick won't do anything. You need a dial indicator and a prybar to check crank endplay. You won't notice any crankwalk ssymptoms until the crank trigger damages the crank sensor. I don't know why people make it sound so catostrophic. The 95-96 7 bolt thrust bearing is the main culprit. Being you have a 97+ car I wouldn't worry about it. I'm sure you searched the interweb and crankwalk showed up in bold on sites such as wiki, dsmtunerz, and cardomain. If those are the people you trust ok, just remember that there is a large dsm crowd in columbus. Some in the sub 10 sec 1/4, but most are daily driven.

[2 Sweet]

i hear that an aftermarket BOV is pointless on these cars

[spooling 1g]

i hear that an aftermarket BOV is pointless on these cars

 

The 2g bov's are junk period even on stock boost,And being a 97+ car i wouldn't worry to much about crankwalk.

[RC K9]

i hear that an aftermarket BOV is pointless on these cars

 

2G Stock BOV's are worthless. But you don't need a $300 TiAl either. 1G BOV is just fine and you can pick those up for $20-$40.

 

Congrats to the OP on the purchase. Nice Car.

[Patterson]

No purple, no likey...

 

J/k. That'll be a fun car. You'll mod it. I predict FM, 880's, 30R, and a bad trans by August.

[gillbot]

No its silver, has absolutely no rust. It started out with me and my dad painting the fender, bumper and door on it along with a 65 Impala, for my dad's buddy. It then turned into "Hey Josh, you interested in buying this car?" I am picking it up for under 3k, it has no been modded what so ever. Old man owned it, my dad's buddy took it in on partial trade for a fastback mustang.

 

I started it up yesterday and let it run for a while, it just purred. The water temp was normal, didn't hear any squeeling, ticking, knocking, clutch felt good. I will start it up again tomorrow when I go back up to work on the Impala and check the crank out.

 

I was told you can check for crank walk by driving the car, jerk car to the left and see if the clutch pedal goes to the floor...that sound right?

 

 

[]http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p81/alittlelessordinary/97%20GSX/eclipse.jpg[/img]

 

[]http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p81/alittlelessordinary/97%20GSX/GSX.jpg[/img]

You never know what might have happened to it if you don't know the entire history of the car.

[SRTurbo04]

what you need to know? the phone number to a tow truck company preferably the tow drivers cell and home number since you will call him often. oh an who has the best deals on duct tape an zipties.

 

goodluck

[AWW$HEEET]

man speaks the truth. his dsm was spewing oil on the dyno, all while making pulls with one DR and one blizzak snow tire.

[Patterson]

what you need to know? the phone number to a tow truck company preferably the tow drivers cell and home number since you will call him often. oh an who has the best deals on duct tape an zipties.

 

goodluck

 

 

CR discount from Capital Towing!

man speaks the truth. his dsm was spewing oil on the dyno, all while making pulls with one DR and one blizzak snow tire.

 

 

There was some popping and banging too.

[DaddyBuiltRacing]

Ran car fax today, nothing came up, which makes me feel a little better. I have heard just about every "theory" on how to check for crank walk, from the left turn yank, press clutch in and see if rpm's drop, check to see if timing belt moves from side to side...why do you think im asking here lol

 

As for mods I would have to agree that a FMIC and hardpipes will be done. Other then that maybe an exhaust, blowoff valve, lower it and slap some wheels on it. Not going to get insane with this one. Again its the gf's car, she doesn't need anything super fast just something to cruise around town in.

[Patrick]

what you need to know? the phone number to a tow truck company preferably the tow drivers cell and home number since you will call him often. oh an who has the best deals on duct tape an zipties.

 

goodluck

 

 

Mine started every time

 

Blew out the transmission in fall,

drove it next spring, it was fixed and shifted perfectly.

[Dammit Charlie]

For the stock T25 and stock injectors I would say 15psi is the best you'll get out of it. As far as mods go?

 

Bang for the buck;

 

Ported 2g exhaust manifold

14b turbocharger

3'' exhaust (doesn't really matter, just whatever you like)

Evo 8 injectors

bigger fuel pump

FMIC

1g crushed BOV, recirculated.

manual boost controller

 

Tuning?

and I would go with dsmlink for tuning.

 

I would also consider a welded center diff. makes for an even 50/50 power transfer instead of the normal 70/30 (f/r). A buddy of mine and I took a 95 gsx with nothing more then a down pipe, hard piping, diy manual boost controller and a welded center diff and got a 13.60 out of it. I think we had maybe $500 in all the parts.

[DaddyBuiltRacing]

Yeah I don't see us doing any of the mods you listed outside of FMIC and BOV lol. Still not 100% sure I am going to be picking this up or not, still got some negotiating to do with my dads buddy lol, he is trying to raise the price after he researched them online lol.

[Dammit Charlie]

Yeah I don't see us doing any of the mods you listed outside of FMIC and BOV lol. Still not 100% sure I am going to be picking this up or not, still got some negotiating to do with my dads buddy lol, he is trying to raise the price after he researched them online lol.

 

None of the mods I listed were terribly difficult, or really that expensive. Good luck getting it!

[DaddyBuiltRacing]

I don't recall saying that they were either of those...I do recall stating that I don't want to mod this thing that much lol. Thanks though, hopefully he doesn't try backing out of the price he originally told me, if he does oh well i'll buy something else or save the money

[Guest Spam]

 

I would also consider a welded center diff. makes for an even 50/50 power transfer instead of the normal 70/30 (f/r).

 

Your list was great but this is wrong. A dsm/evo/gvr4 all have a 50/50 torque split. All a welded center diff does is make the wheels turn at the same speed, which sucks for turning/cornering. It makes your wheels chirp and hard on rear diff. What you should have recommended is a 4 spider center.

[Dammit Charlie]

Your list was great but this is wrong. A dsm/evo/gvr4 all have a 50/50 torque split. All a welded center diff does is make the wheels turn at the same speed, which sucks for turning/cornering. It makes your wheels chirp and hard on rear diff. What you should have recommended is a 4 spider center.

 

Bah... I haven't been in the dsm stuff for well over 5 years now, I was lucky enough to remember about the diff mod.lol.

 

Besides, a vicous coupler style diff will only be true 50/50 if it's hot. At the drag stip the only time it's really being worked is at a dead stop and slow speeds. I don't remember much as far as the 4 spider center mod, I'd have to read in to it.