Maybe its just me but Id hit the bottom of the Eclipse with a rattle can of black or undercoating to hide the red paint
i’d POR-15 with undercoating on top or even line-x/rhino judging by the rusted out pieces i see driving around up here all the time and all the work y’all did to make this thing right… so glad my truck was in the shop for winter and it didnt see any of that devil salt DOT uses up here
Eclipse is moving right along. Its consistent part runs every other day though. The donor car didnt have much in the way of good parts on the chassis, and the motor going in is 99% 1G stuff, so very few parts off the 2G engine could be retained either. But we are plugging away at the giant box of lego parts on hand and putting it all together.
AWD rear suspension is 100% finished! Spindles were sandblasted and painted. The bushings are not serviceable and we couldnt find replacements to press in, so it was painted instead of powder coated to retain the bushings which are just fine. Same with the forward links, they looked to be recently replaced on one of the two cars, so we just blasted and painted them too. New rotor are on, calipers are cleaned, powdercoated silver vein and getting a fresh rebuild then can be bolted up and loaded with new pads. Wheel hubs out back seem to be on good shape, its hard to gauge the slop without driving it. Wheels bolted on there doesnt seem to be any play, but they were rusty on the outside… so who knows how old they are or how the bearings are until its driven. so for now, they were wirewheeled and reinstalled. Axles and diff is in. Swaybar was blasted and powdercoated then installed with new endlinks. Everything was undercoated around it to keep the DSM cancer from spreading any further on this car. No corners or expenses were cut here. Feels like more of a restoration project than a run of the mill AWD DSM swap… which is a good thing!
Engine is coming along too. We found a 1G thermostat housing, but still need the 1g water pipe. Also found out the 2g oil housing is different, and luckily sourced one of them too in 1G flavor. Again, everything on the motor that could take the heat was powder coated, everything else got or is getting cleaned and painted. Ordered a gasket set for the oil, water and msc stuff that has to be bolted on, so some of whats pictured is for mock up and loosely mounted until the gaskets come in. We are trying to pick parts from 3 motors, and 2.5 cars, but sofar so good.
yeaahhh buddy, ill be beating up on cars soon enough!
FWIW, keep in mind that David’s HTA86 is water cooled, and will need to pick up a source/return from the factory cooling system.
10-4 good buddy.
We still have to find a 1G coolant pipe, and if its a turbo it has a feed right there, if not I can tig on a nipple on the pipe where we need it. Return could just go back into the same pipe couldnt it? or if there is an open port on the thermostat housing to dump it back into.
I am open to suggestions. :number1
Not 100% sure, but wouldn’t you want the supply to come off the pump (coolant line on a DSM does I believe) and then go to the return side of the system? My thought process being if you have the supply and return in the same line there won’t be much actual flow through your cooler line since there will be no pressure differential on either side of the turbo cooling circuit.
Then again I could be totally wrong and over thinking this.
You’re 100 percent correct.
Also, the center section of the turbo should be clocked at a 20 degree angle, and the ‘cold’ water should be plumbed into the lower port, and the ‘hot’ water should return thru the higher port. This will allow fluid thermodynamics to do their job, and keep the turbo as cool as possible.
Take that FWIW-according to some, I just buy my cars and never turn a wrench on them.
ok so feed off the pipe return to the housing, where I think the stock return is anyways. Of course i will double check that, but I am not near the motor or a diagram. I am too busy to look right now, I am fighting with John on the internet! 
lookin good!
Heads up for Johawk… i am finally getting to your cat deletes! Hammered out one last night. tonight I should have the other one done if it goes as expected.
He’s a little busy with my daughter on their honeymoon right now…
^^ awkward haha
LOL!
actually I thought it was sig worthy
Had Mike make me this nifty little -10AN to 1.4" round pipe adapter.
Although I’m fairly confident that it will be fine, I need to see the mini-radiator that’s required to be used with my new forward facing turbo kit in action, to be fully convinced that it will keep the car cool.
The mini-radiator uses AN connections instead of your typical clamp hardware. I’ve already got the modded upper t-stat housing with AN connection, however I’m left with no way to connect to the lower water pipe. Rather than remove the water pipe and have a fitting welded on it, I had Mike make me this adapter…for the simple reason that I don’t want to remove the water pipe, have a fitting welded on, and then end of not wanting to keep the mini-radiator for some reason. This will make a clean, secure connection with the proper clamps, and allow me to revert back to stock if need be.
Thanks Mike!
Mini-radiator for reference (you can see the modded t-stat housing in the back)
Just to be safe, I had the radiator pressure checked and flushed. Will probably install it by mid summer, not a priority.
I like your approach, and preparation. Its the details and scrutinizing that separates the men from the boys.
Thanks a lot.
I pride myself in research, preparation, and execution.
Mike any word on the other pictures of my truck?
Change the order of those. Make it acronym to REP. Then you get +REP