Yea thats why I was always afraid to do what people say when your in school. "pick a career in something you enjoy doing." Well if I make a career of what I enjoy doing it will at some point become work and I wont want to do it for fun anymore... lol

Anyway. The weather and my new puppy have really slowed down the progress on the Eclipse. Im hoping it will start to warm up soon and I can actually leave my pup outside to play while I work in the garage.

Although this has given me some time to collect some parts and tools for the car. I'll try to remember to take pics when I get home.

 

parts n' tools..!?

YAHTZEE!!

 

LOL yea just some stuff i'll need to clean up the engine, work on the intake manifold, and get the head ready to be put back on.

Found a 1G DSM I am going to go look at this weekend. Its a 1992 Plymouth Laser RS AWD Turbo. Seller says it need a fuel pump (which I have), new brakes cause its been sitting for a while, and a new tune. Its been sitting on craigslist for almost a month now. He wants $1600 OBO. Might make him an offer if everything else checks out. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

 

sounds like a pretty good deal...
hope it works out man...maybe now you can have 3 project cars...lol

 

Well this winter has halted the progress on the Eclipse... But its starting to warm back up finally so Im getting myself back in the swing of things.

So last night I brought the stock 2.4l throttle body into the house with the bigger V6 throttle body I bought. I then performed an operation.

BEFORE:


I had to remove the TPS sensor. And there was a tiny bolt stuck in one of the holes for the lower sensor. I extracted the tiny bolt. Then proceeded to spray a bunch of black gunk inside and on the back of the TB with some engine degreaser. Then I gave it a nice hot bath with some dish soap. Water came out black... I then took out the throttle plate sanded it smooth and clean then did the same with the inside of the TB. once it all looked nice and dry I polished a few more places then put it back together and put the sensors from the 4cyl TB on it.

AFTER:


Im thinking about picking up some carb cleaner to really break up some of the gunk that I couldnt get to with my fingers. Maybe even the dremel to polish up a few more places. Then after modifying the intake manifold for better flow and to match the larger TB, paint it all BLAAAAAACK!!!

(shameless mighty car mods reference at the end there for you who know it. :P)

 

Mmmmmaaaaaddddd!!!

 

lmao...
+1...

wish i could see the pics but w/e i get the jist...im sure it's good enough...
even if you don't get it 100% perfectly clean it'll perform better then the 4cyl tb...
plus you don't wanna end up with a vacuum leak because you cleaned too much and wallowed it out or something...

 

So me and my military friend Preston have been kicking this Eclipse's a** this weekend. We still have more work to do but we have made excellent progress. In preperation for the new RA Im getting I really need to get this car out of the garage.

So what did we do?

Well Preston prepared the block for the head to be replaced shined down the surface and shined the pistons. He reattached the oil pan and that little shield on the transmission. And I installed the power steering loop I made. Sorry for the crappy Cell pics.



While he worked on cleaning parts and working on the block I worked on the head. Put the new head back together with stronger valves, and springs. The head was already ported and polished by NationalHead.com when I bought it from them. I previously rebuilt the v6 throttle body but I cleaned it a bit more. I then modded the intake manifold to delete the EGR pipes. Plugged a hole on the plentum where the Exhaust Gas was recirculated back into the motor. Ported the plentum to match the new throttle body, cleaned and polished the runners. Then Installed the TB, injectors, fuel rail, looped coolant lines on the TB to bypass it, and reconnected a few hoses. Then finally I blocked off the EGR port on the head, and re attached the completed intake manifold. Installed the new thermostat and called it a night.



Goals for the rest of the week:

Monday: Put on head, Set the timing, replace timing belt cover, install alternator belt, fully mount the engine, do the wiring, install the new radiator.
Tuesday: Wire in battery relocate, fix headlight wires, put the battery in, fill with fluids, put on valve cover, install spark plugs, header, cold air intake.
Wednesday: Put passenger fender on, Mod and put on front bumper, put in headlights, patch up the exterior, Install short shifter, put wheels on, start it up, unload things from inside the car.
Thursday: Drive it, Wash it (weather permitting), put some of the interior back in, maybe wire up the radio. Start to clean up the garage.
Friday: Get it out of the garage, finish cleaning garage, remove Eclipse parts from the garage.
Saturday: Get my new Ralliart!

 

Well unfortunately I did run into a snag with the fuel rail. Set me back a bit more than I was expecting. Ended up swapping the Evo VIII fuel rail I had laying around using some ghetto spacers. Gotta do the timing tomorrow now... also have to find a socket thay went missing... gunna make a stop at auto zone tomorrow.

 

Ghetto spacers. Nuts used to hold the rail down and keep using the stock bolts. I didn't have any other bolts to replace them with. So I improvised lol.

http://i887.photobucket.com/albums/a...psg4wbnka8.jpg

And here is my latest pic of the engine. I'm actually a day and a half behind schedule.

 

AT LONG LAST!!!!!

The car is running again!!!!! After working on it, getting set back, working on it, getting set back again and again. It is working!

So do follow up from my last post. My brother started coming over and helping me. Yes the one that blew it up in the first place lol. We set the timing, set the engine, forgot the water pump pulley, lowered the engine again, installed it, set the engine proper again, bolted everything back together, wired up the radiator fan, and a new headlight bulb harness, wired the battery inside the cabin of the car, cleaned up some of the wiring harness. Was filling up the radiator when suddenly we hear water pouring from the back of the engine. We find a split O ring on the outlet end of the water pipe is the cause. I end up driving all over creation until I find the one ring to rule them all, or at least the flow of the water... Finally I find it head home install it, fill the radiator. I even put my Motegi's on the car just to make it look a bit cooler.

Then came the magic moment. I sat down turned the key... Nothing. For a split second I panic. What happened? Could the timing be off? Is the wiring wrong? Did we forget something? I shut myself up and turn the key again. Wah... Wah... Wah... It turned but it didnt start. Then I rememberd that the fuel rail was empty from disconnecting it so long ago. Maybe the pump hadnt filled the lines yet. I try one last time. Key, Wah... Wah... BRRRRRRRRUUUUUUUUUUUMMMM!!!!!!!!! It roared to life! And kept roaring.

I thought it may have been settling fuel trims, relearning its idle after being dead for so long. But still it idles at 3000rpm unless you put it in gear in which case it will idle at 2000. It doesnt really go down to a reasonable RPM until your moving in 4th or 5th gear. It feels like someone is always hitting the gas, you nearly dont need to touch anything once you get moving. Then I got to thinking. Maybe it has something to do with the V6 throttle body? Maybe I have a vacuum leak? Maybe the throttle cable has a bit too much pressure on it somehow? Then the best guess of them all dawned on me. It most likely has to do with the Evo fuel rail Im using. I couldnt swap over the Eclipse FPR because it was too small for the Evo rail. So I just left the Evo FPR. But maybe that is causing it to run more gas than it should.

IDK at this point though. Im tired, beated, bruised, cut open, and sore from head to toe. Ive kicked my own *** working on this thing for the last several days. All I know and car about is that the engine starts, and it will drive. If you have any thoughts on the idle issue please let me hear them. I'll be glad to work that out before I try to sell the car. I'll also get a picture of the finished engine bay, and car in the morning. Im going to get some sleep now.

 

Looking awesome josh what engine this have?

 

1st off congrats on getting it running again after all the time of it apart and rebuilding it, and getting it back together..

I wouldnt think the fpr from the evo would have anything to do with it at idle
since untill you get into boost it shouldn't allow the fuel pressure to go up...but if its electronic and not vacuum operated(not sure in either case)
it may be loking for a pressure signal instead of a vacuum signal so it's basically working backwards..?
you said you used the evo fuel rail...did you use evo injectors too, or the 4g ones?(i wouldnt think they run any different tho..?

i doubt it would be a vacuum leak since that would likely just make it run crappy till you sorted it out...idling rough or possibly rolling the idle

maybe it is the throttle cable...try removing it from the tb end and allowing the tb to be at rest because if the cable is too tight it's leaving the tb open some and causing it to rev up...
or is there a idle stop screw on the tb maybe you adjusted improperly when cleaning it and rebuilding it?...or maybe something happened when you swapped out the sensors like meybe they're not exactly compatible?(you did say you swapped the tb electronics right?..or am i just remembering the wrong thing?)

or maybe it's an ecu thing...maybe since it blew in the first place the issue was also something ecu related?

 

@347 - Thanks! This car uses the 4G64. Think 4G69 without mivec. :P

@Nekkid - LOL Thanks!

Well the FPR is vacuum operated. I would think that when it sees vacuum it lets fuel pass via the return line. Then under pressure it closes to hold the fuel ready and available in the rail. There was no electronic on the stock FPR either. It too was vacuum operated.

Im going to check the throttle cable tonight to see if it has any pressure on it, maybe its pulling the TB open a bit. When I drove it last night it didnt feel like it had much movement to the pedal...

Going to pull the CEL's tonight to see if anything engine related has popped up. It use to have a few codes regarding the exhaust and cat.

Oh! Pictures here they are:











You can see how much color change there was on the header. Im thinking its running really lean somehow. Which would point to recieving more air than it needs, and a higher RPM. Now I just need to figure out why its doing that...

Oh and along with that the brakes are horrendous... I never got around to doing the disc brake swap because of time constraints and costs. But It needs it bad... Its dangerous to drive with brakes this bad. I was doing a lot of transmission braking when I drove it last night.

 

i don't think running lean would raise your rpms..but whatevs, hope you get it sorted out..

ps about the brakes..
i bet they weren't as bad as my dad's brakes when he first got his conquest...4 rotors were SERIOUSLY rusted and both rear inboard pads had become delaminated..one actually had the pad material fall off completely somehow on the drive home and grind the rotor to hell and back...
also the master cylinder leaked internaly(inner seals bad) and externally at the brake line fittings...we had to stop about 3 times and top it off and each time it was close to the min line on the reservoir

not to mention the alternator belt flew off somewhere along the drive(~45 mins) and he drove on batery alone for a while untill we got to my work and the car died 3 feet from the spot we were going to park it in