92_awd-TeRRor
08-04-2008, 12:49 AM
So it all starts back in december of 2005 when I decided to buy my first all wheel drive dsm. I had owned 2 gs-t's when i was in high school, but always wanted a gsx, so after two years of driving hondas and acuras i decided to get back into dsm's. I spent the better part of six months looking for just the right car. It had to be awd, it had to be black, and it had to be a six bolt, AND it had to be a 1gb. I became obsessed with finding.
I finally caught a break when i came across a post on dsmtuners with no pictures and a short vague discription. I emailed him and hit the jackpot. after a few emails and some careful planning I drove to St helens oregon 3 hours away to pick the car up. It was everything i had been looing for, the poor car had fallen victim to a bad timing belt job and thrown the belt doing 60 on the freeway. It needed a motor and i was itching to give it one. We brought it back and the planning began.
After six months of planning, working, spending obscene amounts of money and lots of frustration, it was time to drop the motor in. I had spared no expense, forged eagle rods, wiseco pistons, crower camshafts, and the list goes on and on. (Check my mod list if you are curious). It was the first time I had ever built a motor and i was so excited to hear something i had built come to life. We dropped it in, no problems, wiring no problem. We go start the car and.........nothing.......wtf? So after some careful checking we realized that if the fuel pump isnt hooked up the car wont start. Wierd huh? So stupid oversights aside, I get in turn the key, crank, crank, crank nothing....crank, crank, crank, vrooom the car roars to life. It was the best sound i had ever heard, from the random vibrations that every dsm ever has to the angry lope of the camshafts. This car was mine, and i had built it.
So fast forward a year. After a about 20,000 miles and some minor issues i thought me and this car were in the clear. the car had died on me in olympia at our company golf outing due to some shoddy work at the machine shop on my head, so a new set of stainless valves later the car was back on the road, i had fought the notorious alternator belt squeel and actually won, hell even with all the work I had done to the car it would still start on the 3rd or 4th crank even in freezing temps. I drove the car everyday when we had a horrible snowstorm two years ago and i worked about 30 mins away. I even installed my 650cc fuel injectors, 190lp walbro fuel pump, and boost gauge on a night when i got home from work during this storm and the car never gave me any trouble, because of the snow I couldnt even get the car going fast enough to build any boost so o couldnt even test it till the snow melted. Anyways though we had been through some good times and bad, and we had made it.
Now come to feb of this year. The worst thing i could ever imagine happened. I wrecked my car. I would like to say atleast i wrecked doing something cool, maybe at the track, beating some jackass in a camaro onto the freeway anything, but alas i was at the back of a four car pileup on I-5 southbound heading towards lakewood. In one horrible metal crunching, tire screeching moment, my hopes were crushed. No pun intended. After the accident and having the car towed and recuperating for a couple of weeks. I go and finally examine the car. the damage is horrible, headlights vaporized, hood is bent almost in half, my bumper is almost cracked in half, core support along with my intercooler, ac condensor, and radiator are destroyed.........but despite all this damage there is a glimmer of hope. the core support and stopped bending literally an 1/8th of an inch short of the exhaust manifold. The motor had survived the crash.
So i'll wrap this up for the moment. I had almost decided to hang up my dsm keys and cut my losses when fate stepped in yet again. One night while randomly searching craigslist someone in grandview washington had posted a 1992 eclipse on craigslist. I passed it by no picture, no price, and no reply when i emailed him. So about 2 weeks later as Im getting ready to post up the parts on my car for some vultures to come tear apart, i email him one more time. Within 20 minutes he responds. I ask him if its turbo? yes
AWD? yes......it was too good to be true. He was asking 1200 hundred for it.
800 for it without a motor and 700 without wheels. i said 700 will work. So before I was gonna buy it I needed to see it. My girlfriend and i drove 3 hours one way to see this car. When i got there it was dirty, the headlights and tail lights were tastlessy painted and the interior was dustier then it was outside. it showed promise. Then i look at the door plate. Manufacture date Nov 1991. It was one month older then my other one. It was too good to be true I had found another 6 bolt 4 bolt combo. I acted like i wasnt interested and he dropped the price to 600 and offered to met me halfway with the car. I agreed. A couple of days before we supposed to pickup the car he emailed and said he couldnt meet me halfway anymore. I told him that wasnt gonna work for me and he dropped the price to 550. So on the 3rd of july i made a 6 hour trip to go get this car and begin the madness again. I have the car and now its time to get myself back on the road. Its been too long since i've felt the pull of my big 16g turbo and seen the flash of my boost gauge on a late night drive. Eclipse 2.0 will be coming soon.......
I will update as soon as i get my new prothane mounts and bring my beast back to life.......:D
I finally caught a break when i came across a post on dsmtuners with no pictures and a short vague discription. I emailed him and hit the jackpot. after a few emails and some careful planning I drove to St helens oregon 3 hours away to pick the car up. It was everything i had been looing for, the poor car had fallen victim to a bad timing belt job and thrown the belt doing 60 on the freeway. It needed a motor and i was itching to give it one. We brought it back and the planning began.
After six months of planning, working, spending obscene amounts of money and lots of frustration, it was time to drop the motor in. I had spared no expense, forged eagle rods, wiseco pistons, crower camshafts, and the list goes on and on. (Check my mod list if you are curious). It was the first time I had ever built a motor and i was so excited to hear something i had built come to life. We dropped it in, no problems, wiring no problem. We go start the car and.........nothing.......wtf? So after some careful checking we realized that if the fuel pump isnt hooked up the car wont start. Wierd huh? So stupid oversights aside, I get in turn the key, crank, crank, crank nothing....crank, crank, crank, vrooom the car roars to life. It was the best sound i had ever heard, from the random vibrations that every dsm ever has to the angry lope of the camshafts. This car was mine, and i had built it.
So fast forward a year. After a about 20,000 miles and some minor issues i thought me and this car were in the clear. the car had died on me in olympia at our company golf outing due to some shoddy work at the machine shop on my head, so a new set of stainless valves later the car was back on the road, i had fought the notorious alternator belt squeel and actually won, hell even with all the work I had done to the car it would still start on the 3rd or 4th crank even in freezing temps. I drove the car everyday when we had a horrible snowstorm two years ago and i worked about 30 mins away. I even installed my 650cc fuel injectors, 190lp walbro fuel pump, and boost gauge on a night when i got home from work during this storm and the car never gave me any trouble, because of the snow I couldnt even get the car going fast enough to build any boost so o couldnt even test it till the snow melted. Anyways though we had been through some good times and bad, and we had made it.
Now come to feb of this year. The worst thing i could ever imagine happened. I wrecked my car. I would like to say atleast i wrecked doing something cool, maybe at the track, beating some jackass in a camaro onto the freeway anything, but alas i was at the back of a four car pileup on I-5 southbound heading towards lakewood. In one horrible metal crunching, tire screeching moment, my hopes were crushed. No pun intended. After the accident and having the car towed and recuperating for a couple of weeks. I go and finally examine the car. the damage is horrible, headlights vaporized, hood is bent almost in half, my bumper is almost cracked in half, core support along with my intercooler, ac condensor, and radiator are destroyed.........but despite all this damage there is a glimmer of hope. the core support and stopped bending literally an 1/8th of an inch short of the exhaust manifold. The motor had survived the crash.
So i'll wrap this up for the moment. I had almost decided to hang up my dsm keys and cut my losses when fate stepped in yet again. One night while randomly searching craigslist someone in grandview washington had posted a 1992 eclipse on craigslist. I passed it by no picture, no price, and no reply when i emailed him. So about 2 weeks later as Im getting ready to post up the parts on my car for some vultures to come tear apart, i email him one more time. Within 20 minutes he responds. I ask him if its turbo? yes
AWD? yes......it was too good to be true. He was asking 1200 hundred for it.
800 for it without a motor and 700 without wheels. i said 700 will work. So before I was gonna buy it I needed to see it. My girlfriend and i drove 3 hours one way to see this car. When i got there it was dirty, the headlights and tail lights were tastlessy painted and the interior was dustier then it was outside. it showed promise. Then i look at the door plate. Manufacture date Nov 1991. It was one month older then my other one. It was too good to be true I had found another 6 bolt 4 bolt combo. I acted like i wasnt interested and he dropped the price to 600 and offered to met me halfway with the car. I agreed. A couple of days before we supposed to pickup the car he emailed and said he couldnt meet me halfway anymore. I told him that wasnt gonna work for me and he dropped the price to 550. So on the 3rd of july i made a 6 hour trip to go get this car and begin the madness again. I have the car and now its time to get myself back on the road. Its been too long since i've felt the pull of my big 16g turbo and seen the flash of my boost gauge on a late night drive. Eclipse 2.0 will be coming soon.......
I will update as soon as i get my new prothane mounts and bring my beast back to life.......:D