Daily Driving and Racing your eclipse. FAQ

[Sleepr awd]

Typical driving techniques

Daily Driving
Driving everyday in traffic is not the most fun thing to do with a manual eclipse, but the manual advantage can prove to be quite useful. Typically a shift is made in between 2.5 and 3k rpm to be within reason, lower than 2.5 is you aren't accelerating and are just upshifting at a cruising speed. I'm sure other members will give their two cents on this matter since it is different for almost every person.

When your car is cold, the 1-2 shift can be tricky to make. This has been attributed to a loose clutch cable before though i dont' remember where. If you have continued troubles with this please do a Search regarding your issue.

Using Downshifting to decelerate
Using the downshifting technique of decelerating, as in, downshifting and letting your rpm's fall with the car in gear, is not very good on your transmission. There is no across the board answer on this question, and not every manual owner will agree. However when downshifting, you are putting strain on your transmission instead of your brakes. Your brakes are actually meant for stopping. The best suggestion I can give is to just let your brakes and your transmission do their jobs individually, brakes are cheaper to replace than transmissions generally anyways. When driving in snowy or very slick conditions downshift braking is a very good thing to have though and can make slowing down easier than having ABS and snow tires.

Double Clutching
This technique is no longer used since the invention of synchronizers within the transmission, not that you can't still do it, but the technique is generally used on older cars without synchronized transmissions. This technique is also referred to as granny shifting.

Breaking in Your Clutch
It is actually very important to break in every clutch you have put in your car. If you do not break in your clutch appropriately it will wear pre-maturely and you will need another sooner than if you had taken the time to take care of it appropriately.

Racing Your Eclipse

Launching: Getting off the line

Lauching your eclipse can be the most difficult thing to do. The proper technique from a standing postion is to have your car in neutral while holding a 2-3k rpm. Depending on where you hold that rev is important to how fast you want to let the clutch out. Ultimately you want traction, but a total amount of traction will not get you off the line very fast. It is a very delicate balance. Put the car in first when it is almost time to go.
While holding that rev you want to let off the clutch slowly, also referred to as slipping the clutch. Practicing this should mean that you start letting off the clutch too slowly until the point where you feel most comfortable getting off the line quickly and not smelling burnt shrimp.

Getting through first gear
First gear can mean losing traction. Rarely do I go WOT in first gear because of rampant wheel hop and spin. 1/2 throttle getting off the line and 3/4 throttle beyond getting traction. WOT should not be done in first gear.

The 1-2 shift
Shifting out of first gear should be done no later than 5800 rpm. Second gear shift can be tricky with the engine torquing, poor shift bushings, sometimes it will not go into second gear, or you will grind into second gear which is more embarrassing. When you are in second gear and letting the clutch back out, remember that a straight drop is not good for the differential and can cause some strain on the flywheel which has been notorious for warping under stress. I usually make this shift at or around 5600 rpm.

Third gear
Shifting into third is just a straight up shot. Your transmission will rarely let you shift into first when its moving so the next slot open is third. Pushing the shifter straight forward for this isn't hard and could be the easiest shift to make. In a quarter mile race, the very end of third is all you need at the track in stock condition. A shift into 4th will cause you to lose more time than you would gain by the extra gearing.

(2000 Cali Spec Eclipse GT) Stock (K&N drop in and a straight through muffler) Mitubishi Eclipse GT dyno, compliments of RRE

As you can see in this graph, the torque line starts at 2k rpm w/ 95% of the total amount of torque you have at 4k rpm making it useless to rev to 4k rpm to get that torque off the line. 2k rpm is sufficient and causes less strain on your driveline when launching.

Cornering in a Non ABS/TC car

Cornering can prove the most risky thing to do in a car. It is important to kno what kinds of corners you can take and not and you shouldn't go faster than the posted speed recommendation for a turn.

The best way to take a turn is to do a technique called late-apexing.
pretty much follow this line right here, just not the "drifting" angles the car is at

Remember that tail dragging may seem like a faster way to get through a turn, but dragging your tail is just that, losing momentum based on drag/friction. Keeping all your wheels moving is the best thing to do unless you are doing a sport / race where drifting wins points.

Accelerating through a turn (physics)
When accelerating through a turn, it is important for you to feel where the weight is being transfered. Acceleration means that the weight is on the opposite side of the car that you are turning towards. This means most of the stress is going on the front wheel of that opposing side because of the turn, and the weight is then being transferred to the rear because of the acceleratoin. This is your ideal condition.

Understeer
Understeer is the result of traction being lost on the front of the car. Depending on how the car is setup, cars can be made to favor a neutral, oversteer or understeer setup. The 3g eclipses' stock are understeering vehicles. Meaning the front of the car, when you turn very fast, is going to lose traction before the rear of the car would.

Oversteer
Happens when the rear of the car loses traction before the front. Can also be referred to as tail sliding, drifting, and potentially spinning out.
Oversteer is unlikely to happen in the 3g eclipse unless the weight transfer somehow changes and the rear gets loose first. We'll cover that in a second. Oversteer can also be accomplished by using your hand brake to cause the rear end to slide.

Neutral is the balance between understeer and oversteer. It means that both will break loose about the same time, and it is very good for handling more efficiently. Personal Driving preference can dicate what you want out of your car though, and be warned that oversteer is unlikely to have in the 3g eclipse.

Through a turn
Well, in reality, based on some physics, your car can accomplish a turn more effectively while accelerating. Not necessarily WOT accelerating, but a gradual or steady acceleration can make the world of difference in keeping the weight between the front and rear tire of that side equal. What happens when you brake through a turn? Well for one, your weight shifts entirely to the front wheel of the opposing side. Having all that stress on that tire means it is making more grip and potentially understeering some. In the event that you lock up, the rear will lock first because it is making less grip and would be the easiest to stop, sending your tail end flying out from underneath you. This is very bad. You can feel free to do some experimenting, but this is the event we do not want to happen, and i would not advise it since i've had some experience.

My experience
Merging onto a highway, it was a 2-lane on ramp and i was accelerating through the tightest lane. The lane was going to end in a little while in the other lane, however the truck to my front side decided to merge early causing me to brake. I didn't brake hard by any means, i had some room, but not enough to feel safe. My rear tire locked up on the right side even though in a straight line, that amount of braking would not have sent me careening out of control. Like i said, i didn't brake hard and was off the brake almost before i felt the rear begin to slide away. It was enough to give a taste of what that would feel like, and another half second on the brake would have sent me out of control

It is important to do all of your braking before a turn and then to accelerate through the turns you might take. This is true at a track and in normal driving on country kentucky mountain highways. Oh yeah, and dont' merge in front of quickly moving vehicles.

All Basic physics rules apply to driving. Weight transfer, mass x acceleration, velocity etc. It is recommended that before you exceed the speed limit, you are aware of the difference it makes. Please refer to the braking times of different cars if you are unfamiliar with the correct formulas, and notice that the speed difference to 0 and the overall time to brake is not equal and is in fact, exponential. Exceeding the speed limit by 10 mph can mean it takes 30-50 more feet to make the stop than the speed 10mph below it.

Reaction Times play a critical role in many accidents. Reaction time is roughly half a second for almost everyone and many times, more. At 60 MPH you are traveling at 60 mi/hr. Translating this into feet per second is a formula that is 5280 times that number and then dividing it by 3600.

60 x 5280/ 3600 puts you at 88 feet per second. 60 mi/hr x 5280 ft/ mi. x 1hr/3600 sec.
explanation



In less than a second you can pass a Semi that is standing still if you are traveling at 60mph.

In your reaction time, you will travel roughly 44 feet before you realize you need to stop, then actuating that mechanism and putting your foot on the brake, and applying the appropriate amount of pressure means you will at 60mph you will travel roughly half the distance it will take to brake from that speed. The advertised braking distance for the Eclipse GT is 130 feet. This means you potentially travel 65 feet before you can begin to apply the appropriate amount of brake power and then going an extra 130 ft. before you reach a complete stop. Reaction time for the average person is half a second. If you have no training in increasing your reaction time or think that you are faster than half a second, you most likely aren't and there is no reason to boast something you can't prove. This puts you at Almost 200ft. to make a complete stop.

now, traveling 100mph can mean this formula
100 x 5280 / 3600 = ~146 ft. per second

half a second of reaction time and anything that pops in front of you within the 73 feet in front of your car you will hit. Not you might hit. You Will Hit. After that the stopping distance is in excess of 220 feet meaning that, even if it is in time for you to react it is likely your screwed regardless, especially if it is a pileup on a bridge. You will most likely travel roughly 300ft. before you can come to a complete stop. A semi trailer is 52 feet, the tractor that pulls it is another 20ft. at 72 feet it will take you a distance of a little more than four of them lined up almost bumper to bumper for you to make a complete stop. 72x4=296 ft.

Rough times at the 1/4track (stock)

Eclipse RS 4cyl 5 speed ... 16.1+
Eclipse GS 4cyl 5 speed ... 16.5+
Fed spec (2000 only) Eclipse GT 5-speed ... 15.2+
Cali spec 2000 and 2001-2005 GT 5-speed ... 15.6+
2003 -2005 Eclipse GTS ... 15.2+

Slipping your clutch vs. dropping your clutch
Slipping your clutch is the best way to get off the line. Dropping your clutch is not. I did a little experimenting with this when my car was new
(er) and in order to get off the line without wheel hop it is necessary to have your rpm at 4k and then drop the clutch. This results in massive amounts of wheel spin and a very poor 60' time. The drop itself shocks every part of your driveline which, if you aren't familiar with physics, makes those pieces more likely to break and warp.

If you drop your clutch at all, you will warp your flywheel. They symptoms of a warped flywheel is a bucking of the front end when driving normally and while the car is cold. This will become increasingly worse with continued dropping of the clutch. The flywheel is not strong at all. If you feel like waiting it out or not racing your car for a while, it can supposedly be remedied by normal driving for a long... long... time.

Slipping your clutch gradually puts the stress onto the driveline keeping things from being shocked and broken.

** With this being said, Street Racing is not a good idea and I do not condone of this activity, this write-up is meant to be a guide to racing your eclipse and I am not responsible for your actions or the breaking of parts on your car. **

Parts that should be replaced when you want to race your eclipse

Differential
Short Shifter
Clutch
Flywheel
Flywheel bolts with these:
A/T drive Plate Bolts/ *forged flywheel bolts*
part number: MD720036 from the "stealership" er uhem, dealership
qty : 10
Tires
Motor Mounts
Shift Boot Bushings

Terms:

Wheel hop. Associated with launching, your front tires will actually leave the ground and your front end will not have traction for periodic amounts of time because of this. It causes strain on your differential and should be stopped as soon as it starts. Immediately shut down if you are racing.

Wheel spin: burnouts, no traction while the tires spin.

Fried/burnt shrimp: a smell associated with the clutch not grabbing. you will kno this because your wheels won't move, the rpms will go higher and you will get this smell. It's aweful. The smell will go away eventually (within 5min. to 5 hours)

If anyone has anything to add to this writeup please post below or pm me

If anyone disagrees with anything in this writeup please post below so I can answer questions.

Please post questions regarding content and more complex driving procedures here.

[rodbls]

Is that your dyno sheet? If so, over 50hp loss from the crank to the wheels is outragious, I didnt think it was that bad. I thought the GT/GTS were supposed to make like 170+ at the wheels.

[Sleepr awd]

nope that was compliments of roadrace engineering on a cali spec 2000 Eclipse (which absolutely positively suck)

cali spec sux

i will have a dyno sheet on the 18th of march

might have been a sport too, i believe the torque and hp lines are similar though

[eclipsed4utoo]

yeah, i believe that was a sporty

[Sleepr awd]

Originally Posted by eclipsed4utoo

yeah, i believe that was a sporty

yeahhh, they had another one at RoadRaceengineering that had 170 at the wheels, a manual 2000 GT in california

[Sleepr awd]

This Thread is updated as of 2/19/2006

I've added some more information

Basic Driving tips

Cornering

And Braking and how speed affects distance in braking

[808drifter]

add that the most efective way to corner in our cars is late apexing.

[Sleepr awd]

ok.. uhh... what may i ask is late-apexing??

a rough description of how to accomplish this could prove useful

i have never raced at a track,... or kno any track techniques... soo uhh you would know better than i about that!

[808drifter]

here (not always for drifting but used on turns where the curve is constant and dosnt change.)
http://www.modernracer.com/lateapexdriftangle.jpg

[Sleepr awd]

mk added

[leo1005]

hey i have a question. I have a 2000 eclipse and i wanted to know what all do i need to do to my engine before i turbo it? Do i have to do internals ? And if i do , do i have to buy everything new like pistons rods and etc.?

[Sleepr awd]

check the other stickied post on this part of the board, read through it entirely. it should answer almost all of your questions

[sockerdad67]

i have another question. does the eclipse have a fuel govenor or electonic shut off? im going to europe soon and would like to drive it as fast as possible at least once.

[Sleepr awd]

no it doesn't, unless you are in a 2g, then yes it does.

[sockerdad67]

txs for the answers