Good Idea/Bad Idea?

Hey everyone. Here's a situation for ya:

I can buy a 96 Eagle Talon non-Turbo with 150,000 miles for $1,000. Problem is, it burns oils which tells me that it needs a rebuild. Normally, I'd be all over it, but it has an automatic tranny. I hate automatics....

So here's the question:
Is it going to break my budget to buy it, rebuild it, and do a tranny swap? Would it make more sense just swap the engine-tranny-drivetrain with an EVO? This is a budget car, so lets not get outrageous, ok! What's the most sensible choice?

As is, I'm thinking about passing it by, but the car does run...so it is tempting. I just don't like the fact that it's an automatic transmission.

Hey everyone. Here's a situation for ya:

I can buy a 96 Eagle Talon non-Turbo with 150,000 miles for $1,000. Problem is, it burns oils which tells me that it needs a rebuild. Normally, I'd be all over it, but it has an automatic tranny. I hate automatics....

So here's the question:
Is it going to break my budget to buy it, rebuild it, and do a tranny swap? Would it make more sense just swap the engine-tranny-drivetrain with an EVO? This is a budget car, so lets not get outrageous, ok! What's the most sensible choice?

As is, I'm thinking about passing it by, but the car does run...so it is tempting. I just don't like the fact that it's an automatic transmission.


If you are going to swap the tranny. It's definately not worth the money. Swaps can be expensive and there is no way of knowing why it burns oil. And rebuilds aren't so cheap if you are looking for a budget car. I would hold out on something else. Perhaps with a turbo? ;)

the transmission swap costs more than the car is worth. add that to an engine rebuild and you'd have $6000 into a $3000 car.

swapping the evo drivetrain into a Talon ESi would cost more than buying an Evo or a solid 6 months of work.

the transmission swap costs more than the car is worth. add that to an engine rebuild and you'd have $6000 into a $3000 car.
It would be a bit less then that unless you buy all new parts :licka: . I bet you could do it for $1500 (if you do it yourself). I doubt you can do an evo engine/trans/drivetrane swap for cheap.

Thanks everyone. I'm gonna follow my initial thought and pass on it then. I should be able to one in better condition, with a manual. It'll cost more to boot, but at least I know it won't die on the drive home.

You should buy a turbo dsm!!!

I'd love to buy a turbo DSM. But I'm looking for an all-motor budget project car. I'm thinking; buy a car for no more than $3,000, put no more than $2,000 under the hood and $3,000 into the exterior. Obviously I want to go with a popular car like an eclipse, civic, or integra so I can get more parts for less money. At the same time, I'm going to use my budget-project as a dialy driver and moniter it's performance closely. I'm trying to see the long-term effects of tuning a car for racing and then driving that car to and from work, the store, where-ever. If I keep my records well enough, you might see an article in Import Tuner about it in a couple of years. :smokin:

parts for eclipse's are expensive!

Tou can get a 1g and possibly a 2g for 3k, 2k in mods wll go much farther in a turbo car than in an na car.

Performance parts for any Japanese import is expensive compared to Domestic cars. On the flip side, they're cheaper than parts for German imports.
Anyway, the car will eventually go force induced. But i don't do things half-way. In order to properly turbo a car, you have to rebuild it; resleeve it, and throw in forged internals. Else wise you'll eventually blow your motor. Performance rebuilds aren't cheap at all, which is why I'm going naturally aspirated for this project. Spending $2,000 on a bolt-on turbo will give me more bang for my buck, but it's the literal 'BANG' that I'm trying to avoid, savvy?

Performance parts for any Japanese import is expensive compared to Domestic cars. On the flip side, they're cheaper than parts for German imports.
Anyway, the car will eventually go force induced. But i don't do things half-way. In order to properly turbo a car, you have to rebuild it; resleeve it, and throw in forged internals. Else wise you'll eventually blow your motor. Performance rebuilds aren't cheap at all, which is why I'm going naturally aspirated for this project. Spending $2,000 on a bolt-on turbo will give me more bang for my buck, but it's the literal 'BANG' that I'm trying to avoid, savvy?

He wasnt talking about buying a giant turbo on a stock block, with even just intake and exhaust youll get bigger gains then u would on a na car, and the cost to turbo a gs/rs will put you around the stock hp of a gst/gsx.

So what are you thinking? A Garrett T3/T4 hybrid at 6psi with a front mount intercooler and turbo-back exhaust? Isn't that still gonna cost around 3 or 4 grand?

I think you mis understood him. He means that putting exhaust and intake on a N/A car compared to putting exhaust and intake on a turboed car you will see more gain in power on the turboed car. Also, no not 3/4 grand. I just purchased a HUGE fmic complete kit for under 300 bucks. A T3 im guessing would be a little under 1000 bucks something like 900. SO, putting alot of money into a rs/gs eclipse then turboing it would put you at lets say 250hp or so. The stock hp on the gsx/gst is 210. What everyone is saying is that if you want a good amount of power from your mods the gsx/gst are a better choice.

Oh, and if I was looking for a non turbo car, I do not think I would go with that car. 150K and its an auto. Personally, I would pass it up. Non turbo eclipses/talons are not hard to come by.

Gotcha, thanks. I did misunderstand him. It's been a long couple of weeks, what can I say? The GS-T and GSX is getting pretty rare though these days, isn't it? Even if I found one for $3,000, what are the odds of it being in relatively good condition? More importantly, what are the odds that the tranny will still be in good shape? Don't get me wrong here, I had an 01 Eclipse and I loved the life out of it. But I also realize that Mitsu doesn't make very dependible transmissions.

For 3000 it probably won't be in the best condition. It would probably have many miles on it so it would probably need a rebuild. As for the transmission, my tranny is fine as of now although it has already been rebuilt and I am not even breaking 300whp yet. If you are willing to put alot of money into it check out http://shepracing.com/ This guy knows how to build a tranny for even the highest HP dsm.