I'm back...with a different ride

[l_eclipse_l]

Hey guys. I know it's been awhile since I've posted. I have been really busy with school and getting things worked out with insurance since I wrecked my eclipse last winter. If you want the story on that...which some people probably do...just ask.

Anyway, a few weeks ago I bought a '92 3000gt SL. An older guy owned it and it was his second car, which he decided to upgrade to a Porsche. It has about 87,xxx and is in reasonably good shape. I got a really good price on it so I looked over the few things I knew were going to need attention in the near future.

After a day and a half of driving it, the clutch took a shit on me. I could tell there was a lot of slippage when I test drove it, and he told me it was on the original clutch so I knew that was going to need replacing sooner than later, I just didn't think that a few hard pulls would kill it right away. I had it towed to my mechanic last week, who has 20+ years working on transmissions and owns his own shop. Right away he recommended that I go with a Zoom clutch, since he had installed a few of them and people generally liked them. I did a search for that company and came up with a couple results in this forum, but wanted to get oppinions from people who actually have them installed in their DSM. Any input from these people?

Before anybody asks, no I do not plan on doing much modding to this car, if any. It will stay around the stock power levels of 220 hp. I do not plan on racing the shit out of this car, maybe a few runs here and there but nothing extensive...after I get the timing belt/water pump/clutch replaced I want very little repair/maintenance bills, so I will drive it nice most of the time. I also don't want a very stiff clutch...which I hear the Zoom clutches are slightly stiffer than stock but not by much.

[david-b]

THERE HE IS!!!

Nice choice. Pics? No input on clutches

What happened to your eclipse anyways? I don't remember you wrecking it. Where was I. And no story, just cliff notes.

[Thor06]

Holy shit! Welcome back yo! Always good to see familiar faces.

[Blackcrow64]

Cool... I'd still like to have a 3000gt or stealth someday... They are very nice cars to drive.

[vanilla gorilla]

I was about to get a 3000gt sl way back in the day. It was a rare pale yellow color too, super pimp.

Anyways, I have a zoom stage 2 clutch in my car and I really like it. Pedal feel isnt bad at all and it has held up to the power demands excellently.

You'd probably be fine with a stage 1 since you arent going to mod, and I think you'd be happy with it.

Ask silvr for more info about Zoom, I think his dad works for them or something.

[l_eclipse_l]

I don't have any pics up yet because of the 3 weeks that I've owned it, I've driven it a little over a day and it sat at my parents house for a week while I was finishing up the semester and now my mechanic has it. Once I get it back, probably sometime late next week, I will be cleaning it up good and taking pictures for sure.

I never posted what happened to my Eclipse...after the accident I didn't visit the forums for several months. I needed a break anyway, even if I wouldn't have had the accident. Basicly, I was going to visit a friend in the hospital the weekend before Christmas and we had a helluva storm the night before/continuing into that day. I tried waiting for awhile to let the plows catch up but his sister was kind of pressuring me to get down there and I had driven in pretty shitty weather before with my car so I said hell with it.

I hit a guy who was towing out another guy in the median on a busy highway. It was a white-out and visibility was nothing, and I was staying with traffic at around 25-30 mph when all of a sudden there was an SUV in the middle of the lane practically stopped right in front of me. I hit my breaks, which locked up instantly, and I slid into the guy. To this day I have no idea how the cars ahead of me made it around this douche or if he pulled out in front of me after the car I was following at a decent distance passed, but I had no chance. Looking back I probably could have tried pulling the e-brake and attempting to spin into the ditch instead, but my thinking was not that fast and I didn't realize how fast the breaks would lock.

I hit the guy and my car instantly died and I couldn't restart it. The airbags didn't go off because I slid under him. I used the tow strap he was using to pull the other guy to get my dead car off the road because traffic was going by and several other people almost had accidents. Here is a pic I was able to get after it was towed to the local Mitsu dealer. Click on it to get a bigger pic.



I had to fight with insurance because they wanted to pin it all on me because I rear-ended him and they figured it was my fault. I tried explaining that this guy driving an SUV was towing somebody else out of THE MEDIAN with NO WARNING LIGHTS in the middle of the highway was the reason for the accident and not necessarily my incompetent driving or even the weather. They chose not to believe me because the cop wrote the accident description wrong...needless to say I was fucked with the long dick of the law because the cop thought because I was driving a sporty looking car that I was driving like a dumbass and too fast for conditions. Ugh.

Anyway, insurance totalled it out and I took the check and put it in the bank. I made sure and sucked them dry of a month of rental service while I "looked for a new car" and immediately convinced my parents to switch companies after that. Slimy bastards. Ever since then I was casually looking for a car but after driving the eclipse my standards were pretty high and I couldn't find anything I liked. I found this 3kgt for real cheap and decided to pounce on it.

[SilvrEclipse]

Damn man that sucked. I always liked that car too. As for the clutch yea I would say go for it. I just put another one in my car this past weekend. The first one got oil on it and it chattered like a bitch. I would go with the kevlar stage 2. It will drive just as good as stock but it will handle more power and abuse.

[l_eclipse_l]

I can't remember exactly which one he was going to go with, but he mentioned it had the Kevlar or w/e so I assumed it was either a stage 1 or 2. I think 3 and 4 have different materials. He is getting it for me at basicly his cost, I can't remember the exact number but it was somewhere around $500 for the clutch kit and a flywheel before installation. He is also doing the timing belt/water pump so the labor cost is going to bite the big one, but this guy is good and I know he will charge me fairly. I think he said it would take him around 12-13 hours total to do the clutch/t-belt/water pump, which I thought sounded about right. He usually works on big diesel trucks and stuff but will work on my foreign ass cars because I'm friends with his son lol.

[Thor06]

Ha ha, well glad there is some people willing to help a guy out. 12-13 hours sounds quick as hell to me, I would probably take that much to do either just clutch/flywheel or water pump/t-belt. I like to work at my own non rushed pace, plus I cant do one job for too long... I either get frustrated or bored. I always have a couple projects going.

[david-b]

Damn that pic sucks ass. Sorry to see that. Crazy deal and crazy insurance.

At least you're on the road again and things seem to be looking up.

[l_eclipse_l]

The total bill for Zoom clutch/flywheel/t-belt/water pump with labor he estimated to be around $1,600-1,700. Ouch. I knew it was going to be costly, but I was hoping it wasn't going to be that high. I know that if I was having all this done at a dealer though it would be a lot more. Fortunately my parents are going to take care of the bill and let me pay them back in installments.

Thanks everybody for the warm welcome back.

[steviek]

welcome back dude sucks about your car but hey at least you're allriught

[Sonic Eclipse]

I was wondering where you went. Sorry to hear about the Eclipse, seeing that pic makes me sad, I really liked your car. Man, I really hate the Winter.

Well good luck with the 3000 GT.

[JoeShmoe]

The law always wins, but hell you're still driving so that's the good part. Man, not having an eclipse sucks ass, I'm looking to buy another one soon

And I won't take NA