Sobo's 2011 - Why did I buy a DSM!? build thread.

[sobo]

Long story short this has been my little side project. I picked up this car for a pretty good deal off a random dude on craigslist and I’ve been working on it ever since.

It’s a 2g Eclipse GSX with a limited slip rear end. The car has 150k on the odometer, but has been resprayed recently and looks pretty good. Infact, the only spot of rust is on the strut tower which is very common and a minor detail.

I bought the car NOT running. The kid said it sputtered out one day on the highway and just wouldn’t restart. It could have been a million things. So my first objectives were to check the timing and compression of the motor.

Timing was dead on. Then I did a compression test. The results were not good. 100 - 90 - 60 - 40

So, regardless of what the running problem was I decided to focus on getting a motor in the car that wasn’t so tired.

Then I began the destruction.

Day 1.

Cracked exhaust mani

Day 2

Meanwhile, I was searching for a new motor candidate. I settled on a pretty good deal I found in PA about 5 hours away. Not to be one to procrastinate I paypaled the guy money and went right on down to get it.

The deal was not exactly what I expected, whether that be a good thing or a bad thing. The motor ended up being a 1g 7 bolt (Which being ignorant I did not even know that 7 bolts ever came in 1g talons). This being said, the only differences are in the head, intake manifold, and sensors. The 1g 7 bolt is supposedly stronger than the 2g block because the piston squirters grab oil from a different source that does not starve the crank from a nice oil supply. This meaning, that the 1g block is more resistant to crank walk.

The other benefit is that I got the more desired 1g Cam angle sensor which is supposed to be an upgrade on the 2g. Now. The real problem at hand is finding out whether I can run my 2g head on the 1g block. Yes, they will bolt up. But my dilemma now is finding out what part is causing the old motor to be so tired.

Today I took apart the 2g long block. Here are my findings:

Cylinder head from top to bottom. Mind you the top 2 are the ones that read the lowest. (NOTE: Disregard the gaps in the valves it’s because of the cams not because they aren’t seating correctly. They all seat, it seems like.)

Cylinders from the bottom end in no particular order. Note cross hatching but also notice streaking (It’s oil, not scoring)

The dark spot in the cylinder is my fat head blocking the sun light.

Surprisingly this cylinder had the best compression

Tell me what you think guys, I’m not exactly sure what to make of it. I’d like to use my 2g head on my 1g block but if I can’t then it is not a big deal to me. I’ll make it work.

[focusinprogress]

did you do a leakdown test? that would have told you WHERE you were losing compression to help you narrow down whether it was the head or the bottom end bleeding off compression…I.E. great that you got a replacement block, but hopefully the head is still usable

[sobo]

@focusinprogress

did you do a leakdown test? that would have told you WHERE you were losing compression to help you narrow down whether it was the head or the bottom end bleeding off compression…I.E. great that you got a replacement block, but hopefully the head is still usable

I could have done a leak down test. Yes.

But honestly it’s not worth my time to buy the tester or trailer this thing all the way to where ever.

The motor I have is all together and has great compression, I can make it work. But the 2g head flows better and I was looking to see if I was missing anything.

[Xander]

How about the obvious ones like rad fluid in the oil? or squirt some oil in the engine to see if the compression goes up?

X…

[sobo]

@Xander

How about the obvious ones like rad fluid in the oil? or squirt some oil in the engine to see if the compression goes up?

X…

No mixture of fluids.

EFF it, I’m just gonna use the whole 1g 7 bolt.

For one, It saves me the hassle of buying a gasket kit. For two, it eliminates the guess work.

[deebo]

im not sure if you can, i know a bunch of ppl run 6bolt bottom ends with 2g heads, however im unsure what modifications are needed to run the 7bolt 1gblock 2g head on your car. (there is quite a bit of machining for the 6bolt/7bolt)
i think this would be a good question for the ppl on dsmtalk forums or another related side. hopefully ppl here can help you though

if you used a full 1g 7bolt i would assume u would need to modify your current harness with the harness from that motor to make it work, there’s quite a few differences between them, 1 i know for sure would be the maf

how much did u pay for your new motor?
if the pistons are in decent shape you can probably try and clean them up a good amount on the old block and sell them. they’re a little bit stronger than 1g 6bolt pistons and bump the compression up a little

edit: if you’re going to be using the evo8 ecu anyways just disregard everything i just said LoL

[sobo]

@deebo

im not sure if you can, i know a bunch of ppl run 6bolt bottom ends with 2g heads, however im unsure what modifications are needed to run the 7bolt 1gblock 2g head on your car. (there is quite a bit of machining for the 6bolt/7bolt)
i think this would be a good question for the ppl on dsmtalk forums or another related side. hopefully ppl here can help you though

how much did u pay for your new motor?
if the pistons are in decent shape you can probably try and clean them up a good amount on the old block and sell them. they’re a little bit stronger than 1g 6bolt pistons and bump the compression up a little

What it’s going to come down to is:

1. Swap Knock sensor
2. Swap CAS sensor
3. Notch motor mount.

Make it go.

The only issues I think I might run into is with the thermostat housing.

[deebo]

yeah it looks like its a pretty straight forward swap after reading about it now, a lot easier than a 6boltblock/7bolt head

[sobo]

@deebo

yeah it looks like its a pretty straight forward swap after reading about it now, a lot easier than a 6boltblock/7bolt head

Should be good stuff. I’m gonna try and score some ARP head studs for this 1g 7 bolt and then just put a big ass turbo on it.

Good news though, my tuning job just got a ton easier. I just happened to have an Evo 8 maf and stock injectors laying around

Now all I really have to do is some wiring and upload my stock rom from my car.

I’m probably going to grab an evo 3 big 16g to start with and use my stock FMIC from my evo and my forge DV too since I no longer need that either.

Haha best project car ever.

[deebo]

headstuds will definitely be a good investment, especially if you plan on running more than 21ish lbs of boost… it sounds like it should go together pretty quick after all the wiring since you have most of the parts you need lol

gl

[Carbonfiberhooded]

http://magnusmotorsports.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/1gina2g.pdf

Here is everything you need to know. It’s the same as swapping a 1G 6 bolt into a 2G.

You are not going to notice much between the stock 2G and 1G head. Maybe down the road with a bigger turbo, but if your on a budget and looking at a 16g, I’d just go with the good 1G head for now. You can always build the 2G head down the line and have it set and ready to swap on a future date.

[sobo]

Finally got back into the garage.

Got the new motor in and all attached. Then I got the accessory crap back on.

Then I proceeded to start on the turbo and what not. I decided to use the original turbo and manifold because I’m just going to get the car running first before I make any decisions on whether or not I want to throw the 16g or hx35 I have laying around on it.

Then I proceeded to wire up the new computer. I decided to run the Evo 8 ECU. Why? It’s cheap, effective, and has many options that I can play with.

Evo 8 computer compared to 1996 shit one

Evo 8 computer installed. Note the wires I didn’t use and note the wire I need to flash to computer.

I’ve managed to simplify the engine bay as well. The only vacuum lines that will be ran are for the fuel regulator, turbo stuff, and other minor stuff. I removed all the emissions crap and will turn the codes off with the evo computer. Keeping it simple is always good in my book.

I also ripped out a bunch of ricer bullshit from the interior of the car. All 4 gauges. I simply left the boost gauge and I have a wide band I hard wired into the evo ecu.

I’m waiting on a 1g water pipe and thermostat housing, various gaskets, and I need to rebuild the transfercase. It decided at the last second when I installed it that one of the seals wanted to let loose.

[Jbaker1121]

nice project!

[Xander]

So evo and the eclipse turbo used roughly the same wiring harness too?

X…

[LUKE_L]

Huh, paging 91MR2. Almost a duplicate story for him. But, his is currently running. It was ultimately the fuel injectors. Timing still needs to be adjusted.

Good luck with the build Alex.

[sobo]

I have all new injectors going into here anyways. I pretty much replaced everything.

[Z31NA2T]

@sobo

I have all new injectors going into here anyways. I pretty much replaced everything.

It had 450ccs before, right?

[sobo]

Idk. Stock DSM injectors.

I had the evo 8’s laying around so I figured why not.

[upstateclipse]

@Xander

So evo and the eclipse turbo used roughly the same wiring harness too?

X…

Very similar, you only need to swap a couple pins around at the ecu connection.

[sobo]

@upstateclipse

Very similar, you only need to swap a couple pins around at the ecu connection.

Essentially… My idea for this project car was to simplify the car and make it very easy to fix and work on.

Evolution 8 ECU helped me with that. It allows me to delete the egr, evap, and misc other emissions crap very easily with just the toggle of a check box. The ECU itself is very easy to tune (Although time consuming…) but is a pretty worthwhile improvement.

The Evo 8 injectors I just had and flow more, and with the Evo ecu it makes things actually a bit easier on my end since I can use the stock injector scaling or very close to it to make the car run. Also, it eliminates the chance of having broken old dsm injectors since I know these work.

The 1g 7 bolt, while not as strong as a 6 bolt was cheap and is definitely a more reliable mill that the 2g 7 bolt due to the difference in oiling. If need be, $100 in stock evo 8 pistons and rods will make the engine reliable to 400+ horse on the cheap. The good news with all the modifications I had to do to make the new engine fit, a 6 bolt “swap” is now a bolt on affair.

I’m hoping to sell the car for $3500 when all said and done. It’s been a pretty rough road putting this thing all together (I did not know the difference in 1g and 2g 7 bolts until it was too late… definitely not a bolt up deal) and I feel thats a pretty fair price. The body is in good shape, although there is some rust. The interior should be in pretty decent shape when all said and done.