I Really Need Help With My Eclipse

I have a 1997 Mitsubishi Eclipse (RS) it has:
AEM Cold Air Intake
Greddy Stainless Steel Headers
Magnaflow Exhaust w/ 3A(?) Muffler (extremely deep sounding)
Eibach Springs
Tokico Struts
NGK Plugs/Wires

My dilemma is this: Turbo is NOT an option. I want to squeeze all the power i can out of a 420A. Where can i go from here. My results with the curremt setup have been: (3) wins against a Lancer OZ Rally Edition (1) win against a Mazda MX-3 with 75HP Nitrous shot (1) win against a VW Jetta VR6 (1) loss against an Infinity G-35 (maybe 1.5 Car Lengths) (1) Loss agaisnst a CRX Si w/ Spoon ECU (by about 0.25 car lengths).

Where can I go staying naturally aspirated? Would the pricey SAFCII help? Would it even work in an RS? Also I have a set of APC F1 Seats. Anyone know where to get the installation brackets, or even how to install them. I'm only in High School so money is a tad tight, but ill work extra hard to get stuff for my car, so any REALISTIC mods would be super helpful thanks.

thats a good question. i dont know if safc would be worth its $ if you dont have larger injectors or fuel pump. if your going naturall, what does that mean? no force inducion, or nitrous or co2?

You have almost the EXACT same setup as my 97' RS right now. Before I decided that a GSX would be better to start from (getting it this week :smokin:), my next step was going to be a 50-75 shot of nitrous for my RS. I'm not really sure you can pull much power out of the 420A naturally aspirated without spending some serious $$$. There are definitely lots of options out there if you want to stay N/A, but it will probably cost you. EclipseRST built his RS very well, so he could probably help you a lot. Although he turboed his RS, I'm sure he has the most knowledge about the 420A out of anyone here.

If you want more power, you are going to be wasting money from here as opposed to buying a GST/GSX. I know you have spent a lot already, but do you really want to spend another $3,000+ on your car and still have stock turbocharged cars and V6's beat you? Why is turbo not an option? Yes it would waste some money to sell your car, but it would cost less in the long run if cars are your passion.

RIGHT NOW MY MAIN CONCERN IS INSTALLING MY SEATS. THEYRE SITTING IN MY GARAGE WITH A SET OF TAKATA HARNESSES (THANK YOU TEAM MUGEN...LONG STORY) I REALLY NEED GUIDANCE ON HOW TO INSTALL THESE THINGS THE DONT FIT THE OEM POSTS I THINK(?) THEY REQUIRE NEW BRACKETS.
The reason I wanna stay naturally aspirated is because:
a) reliability issues
b) cost
c) the costs that coincide with with putting a turbo into the car (i.e. upgrading tranny, axles, etc.)

Also this car HAS to be a daily driver till i can finish my '86 project car (prob. 6 months away) so a turbo would significantly hurt my reliability and take away from my project car. I was thinking about:

AEM cam gears
Crower Cams
a SAFCII
60mm throttle body
MAYBE the new "sneeky pete" style nitrous kit by Venom(50 HP shot i believe)

The car, is weird. It is my second eclipse since my first one died the day after I bought it. They were equipped EXACTLY the same but this one just seems to have alot more power i cant explain. It can keep up with a V6 G35 (6 speed) just fine. Im not too keen on Nitrous since my buddy put some in his car and in the hot So. Cal. weather it has a shall we say an *eruption*

I don't share your concerns about reliablity or cost of turbo. Reliability is compromised when adding power, the turbo itself doesn't touch reliability. Getting nitrous would do the same thing to reliability. Next, you can spend 3,000 bucks on all your listed mods, and still be slower than spending $1000 on a EclipseRST style turbo upgrade.

I dont know. I have friends who have turboed a N/T with aftermarket or *homemade* turbo kits and their cars have never been the same. Sure they're fast, but they dont go too fast when theyre broken down because something in the internals snapped, or when the car is moving the axles are making noise because of the the drastic increase in torque. For me a N/A setup is ideal. I dont think however cams/cam gears/Throttle Body/SAFCII will cost $3000. Maybe more like $1300(my quote with eveything installed)$1100 if I install Throttle Body myself

Listen... Your best bet would be to sell your car... get a turbo talon to eclipse (1st gen will set you back mabye 3000 for a nice one) and relibility will depend on how you treat them. A friend of mine has 208,000 miles on his... he races... beats his car to hell and takes it to redline every shift... he runs a 14.6... His car was rebuilt at 90,000... But ive seen ones with the stock engine run to 180,000 without major problems... My brother talon tsi AWD has 130,000 no probs. So turbo cars arent necessarily "unrelible" If you take of it and maintain it youll see many miles out of them... Will things go wrong? Yes... What car doesnt have problems... If you worried about reliability... Get a 95 hp civic... a body kit and neon lights... Then you shouldnt have many problems... Haha let us know what you do...

okay smart ass if i wanted a 95 HP civic i would have bought one. This is only a daily driver that i need to go fast(er) than it does. Im not gonna sell it for 1g that looks like a car an illegal would drive. The 2g is far superior to anything as far as looks go and a GST or GSX would be way too much to add to my insurance, considering I have to pay insurance for both my eclipse and my 2004 corvette...and for minor insurance sucks! (yes I do have a corvette) http://www.cardomain.com/id/xklipse, so really ADVICE FOR A NON-TURBO ECLIPSE IS ALL I WANT, NOT "HEY YOU SHOULD GO BUY A GST OR GSX" because I have a drag car (Vette), my '86 is my project (pics will be added to cardomain once I finish her up) and all the Eclipse needs to do is keep up with my teammates, because it can hold its own going on the straightaways but a little extra uuh would be better....Would Cam Gears, Throttle Body, SAFCII be the answer i seek (do i need other parts for SAFCII)

I agree I wont buy a 1g dsm.. 2g dsm way better looking and Ill risk CW (though in my case i put in a 6 bolt :) )

but to do a NA dont know much else you can do... dont want to sound like your broken record but everybody IS right... sell car.. cough up some cash... buy a GSX.. go fast.

teamsevenseclipse i was not trying to be an ass by the 95 hp civic... it was a joke... chill out... you just seem all over the relibility factor so i put it in there as a joke, because they do last forever ... Second I only said to buy a first gen. cause you seemed like you were short on cash and thats why you have a RS... But if you have a Vette you must not be... I agree completly that the 2nd gens look better... 1st gens have a better engine though... I still say you sell your RS and get a turboed eclipse. They will be just about as reliable as a N/A if you dont beat on them, and if your looking for a "This is only a daily driver that i need to go fast." Then why are you driving an RS? Because they are far from fast with any mods unless you put extreme cash into them and turbo it. Insurance on the turbo eclipse isnt that bad either. There not considered a "sports car" its considered a "warm engined car" so its not really high. Lastly dont hate on the first gen. If your in it for looks put a body kit on your RS and be off. If your in it for the engine who gives a sh!t what it looks like... How would you feel if your vette lost to a POS 1st gen,with the bumpers falling off. That would be a big F@#% you! If your truly into cars youll respect a car for whats in the car and not who has the better paint job and body kit. Please dont get offended by this because im not here to flame you and get into little fights on these threads. You know what i think you should do but in the end of the day its not my car... There is nothing to get out of the 420A and not good parts to give you decent gains... Do yourself a favor and get a nice 2nd gen turbo... LAter

If you bought a GS-T or GSX, and did light mods to it, you'd be pretty quick. The cost of that + the insurance will probably not be near the cost of you trying to make that 420A motor fast and keep it a daily driver. BUT, if you're just dead set on keeping your RS, then talk to the guy "EclipseRST", he'll be the best resource for what to do with your RS. Either way, good luck to you bud.

How can i get ahold of EclipseRST, i suppose he's the man for eclipses...

Im not hating on firdt gens my buddy has a 1G GSX pushing 400HP, i like hime the owner of the car think the styling is like the 3G...BAD(just an opinion)

You can send him a private message.

Thanks I'll Ask him

for those seats.....arg, lol where to start. I have some tenzo seats that came with "universal" brackets. But unless you want to drill into the chassis they wont fit, or line up correctly for that matter. www.MMRUSA.com they have some brackets that they say or custom fit and all you have to do is drill into the bracket to mount the seats to them. But they are about 300 shipped. If you go that way hit me back up and tell me how they work. As i still need to get my seats installed

the only reason putting a turbo on a rs blows internals is because its the fastest way to raise your compression(raising compression = more horsepower. sure you know already but ill toss it in anyway) which puts more stress on the internals then they're made to take.

I have an RS... I feel your pain....

Doesn't JE Pistons make pistons that keep the compression ratio down?

yea but if you get pistons rods wouldnt be a bad idea

With the advice of EclipseRST, the Apexi SAFCII will be installled 6/5.... 60mm Throttle Body and Intake Manifold port are to Follow

look into underdrive pullies as well...

looked on your cardomain site and thought 2 things:

i want to know what that fast & the furious pic says [you can't enlarge it]

and i was the OG poster of that proof that girls are evil...

The Fast and The Furious Pic basically mocks parts of the Movie, like "Naws" and "Neon=HP" stuff like that. For Underdrive Pulleys, do they have any bad effects on things like AC, Water Pump, Alternator, Etc. because doesnt underdrive mean "Slow Down"?

Hey are those PIAA Spark Blue 7500K Headlights like HID blue, or just have a faint tint? Ive been thinking about those...

And the Brembo Slotted Rotors, Worth the $$. Hit me back, saw ur cardomain sight...Nice Ride

And the "girls are evil" thing is old school, i got it from an associate at my bros MX sponsor, scanned it.....im not the original poster of it, but everyone gots it.

you alrteady have underdrive pullies, you just want lighter ones, you know, less rotating mass. they are better for NT than turbo. Unorthodox makes a pretty widely accepted underdrive pully set...

thanks for the coments!

if you can, email me a copy of that F&TF pic, i would love a[nother] good laugh at the movie!

[email protected]

the PIAA 7500k's are VERY blue. i had 80w 5500k ones that had a pretty good tint of blue, and these are WAY more blue. i keep meaning to get some pics. they are also only 65w, so they are not the brightest, and the 7500k light range isn't that btight either, so if you are looking for very powerful headlights these are not it. but if you want every one saying "damn those are some blue as fuck headlights!" they are your ticket. and i trust PIAA more than any other 7500k bulbs i found for much cheaper, so i ate the $90 pricetag.

i have to say that the rotors are more for show than anything else, because there was not really much difference in braking, although i noticed better braking from high speeds, so they do work a little better. the only real answer to better braking is upgrading the calipers. bigger rotors with the same size calipers will not matter much, since you arent changing the clamping force or friction area at all ;)

The AFX UDP are everyone's favorite

thanks Ashah!

I wised up and Sold :bigthumb: my (2) APC seats for $250, a hundred bucks more than I bought them for. They were so cheap....Universal my @$$! Ill use the money for some useful like Unorthodox UD pullies....Thanx to everyone for their help, keep hitting me up w/ suggestions (NO GST,GSX, or TURBO) stuff....

Well....I had to cancel the order on my SAFCII :disappoin: because of the fact that running it in my car put it in too much danger. The shop was gonna 'guesstimate' tune it, and could not guarantee their work,or if it would even work so out went the SAFCII. I came home did some thinking when BAM it came :thinkerg: So now I got/am ordering a B&M Short Shift Throw Kit, a 60mm Throttle Body (being ordered monday), and an Underdrive Pulley(again on Monday) :ylsuper:
Next to come: PIAA 7500K Plasma Spark bulbs

Is there anything else i could really do? Cam Gears Maybe?

Get a symbroskit shift kit with that short throw

I dont wanna sound cheap but is the symbronski shift kit worth the extra $40?

What can I expect from the new TB? +/- 5 HP?

The pulley, +/- 5HP also?

My current mods are on the first page........

So now I got/am ordering a B&M Short Shift Throw Kit, a 60mm Throttle Body (being ordered monday), and an Underdrive Pulley(again on Monday) :ylsuper:


These are next on my list. My question is where did you find the throttle body? I just installed an OBX IM and need a bigger tb or there's no point. Installaion of this was bitch so I want to make it as effective as possible.

BTW, I'll post pics of the modification required for the intake manifold soon and what it look's like under the hood.

Wait a minute... you're in high school, you own a 2004 vette, have an 86 project car, and a nicely modded RS? What kinda job do you have!!?? I'm not believing this :grinno:

I dont wanna sound cheap but is the symbronski shift kit worth the extra $40?

What can I expect from the new TB? +/- 5 HP?

The pulley, +/- 5HP also?

My current mods are on the first page........


Yes the symbroski will make a difference. IMO they are worth 40 easily. But it is your choice.

I would guess and say TB ~5hp and UDP ~7 or 8

Hey, I got a 1999 Eclipse GS-T and my turbo's dead, needs a rebuild or to be replaced, anyone know if i could take the turbo out of the car and still drive it? I dont have the money to replace it right away do to some speeding tickets...

wtf... HS????

what is going on here???

If you dont believe I got my rides go to my cardomain sight (page 1)....The '86 cost me only $800, The Eclipse was like 5K (that one hurt the 'ol pocketbook), and as for my Vette heres the deal. My dad said I could drive it whenever I wanted if I paid 1/2 of the monthly payment, maintained my GPA and paid 1/2 of the Insurance, (God I hate insurance people :angryfire: ) So every month I give him $500, and the 'Vette is there to be used at my disposal (i.e. dates, fridays, cruising with my homies)....How do I pay for all this stuff....Well, I work for my Uncles Co. (a distribution warehouse) and budget my money VERY carefully, thats why I have to stay on budget for my Eclipse, because I need to finish the '86, (because it is a real eyesore right now), keep my Eclipse looking tight (I prob. drive that 60-75% of the time) and still pay my 'Vette bills....capiche.

ok i guess you got all your shit together ;)

can't be too certain sometimes...

ya i would say 10-20 hp for the UDP's and throttle body

believe me i work hard for all the shit i got, but its worth it at the end of the day.

god damn it sell the old car, work on the eclipse. you have too many "cars" to worry about. forget the Corvetter payments and make the Eclipse your focus.
better yet sell the RS and get a GSX. :iceslolan

Sell my '86! no way man......i like it, granted its not fast, good looking, or anything like that, but its fun to work on.....As for the 'Vette you should see the attention a 17 year gets when he driving a 'Vette that sets alarms off just idling. AND IT SAYS ON EVERY PAGE IM NOT SELLING MY CAR FOR A GST or a GSX, its not the fastest eclipse around, but i like it none the less!!!!

Quick question, what does, if anything, a "test pipe" do? Will it increase HP at all????

It depends some people say it does some say it don't. I think mine did slightly but nothing to go crazy over.
Now I think I need to find a cat converter again.. damn cops keep pulling me over.. luckily their lazy asses dont have decimal meters

the best exhaust for a turbo car is no exhaust at all. that said, a test pipe is way less restrictive than a Cat on it. on a n/t car there is a need for exhaust gas velocity [NOT back pressure which is not good for any setup] so the cat may be a bit more neccesary.

What is a "Venom" Intake? I see people that say they have a Venom Intake AND a Venom Intake manifold. Where can I find the "Venom Intake"...

Are test pipes bad for my car?