ECMLink Speed Density

More goodies have arrived!

Will be having the car Chicken Tuned very soon. :)

Gear Oil Change

Changing gear oil.

The Daily ESi

Couple updates.

So far the ESi has been treating me great. Have been doing everything within my power to do the same to it. :)

This week I was meeting with a few clients in not so normal area's where I travel to usually.

Couple of destination pics,

after a long week of working,

Even though the paint isn't good (will be remedying soon), still keep up with it and wash it.

Today, figured it was time to replace the poor condition radiator that it had. Car was always filled with tap water it seems by the previous owner. Bought new hoses, and radiator.

New rad.

(These are so skinny compared to turbo models!)

Old rad,

Comparing both together,

...yeah

Got it installed, and runs great. Running Peak Flush water for the next few days, then 50/50 coolant, with distilled water.


Also, snagged these.

Going to paint them in silver, and throw some fresh rubber on them.


And these,

95-96 Eagle Talon "Twisty" Side-Skirts. Pretty rare find.

Surely, but slowly

Not much has happened from my last post to today. Lack of funds // other unexpected high expenses have kept me from doing much to the car.

It has been driving great this whole time, still no over-heating problems at all.


I did recently pick up a 95 Eagle Talon on July. Been daily driving that since August. Nice to have another car that can take some weight of the GSX. :)

Heat Resolution Explained

So it's been almost a week since the car has been driving with the absence of any over-heating with A/C on full blast. I really wanted to make sure this problem was resolved before posting about it.

What's been done,

-Reverted back to using the Internal Waste Gate rather then the use of the Tial 38mm External. With this, the stock Exhaust Manifold went back on replacing the HAFE.
-Stock Heat Shields back in place
-Switched from Mishimoto Radiator to a OEM Radiator [This was done for space issue's]
-OEM Condenser Fan is back in place.


Zero heating problems. With A/C on at all times! ( This is with the front bumper back on )


Here are a two interesting things I found along in the process.

• Evo III 16G while authentic from the intake side, has a Ebay Exhaust Housing side, which is why I couldn't bolt up my 14b Actuator to it. If you compare a Ebay Evo III 16G to a genuine one, you will notice the Ebay actuator is actually adjustable. Also, where the tip meets the flapper lever is stick out way farther then a OEM one. I had to unfortunately bolt up my spare 14b Exhaust Housing to my 16G in order to make this work. [I'm guessing the previous owner replaced it with the ebay housing to minimize costs]

• 02 Housing that has been on my car the whole time was from a 1st generation dsm! And what made matters worse is that it was bolted on with only 1 bolt! About half an inch of the 02 Housing was not sealed flat against the downpipe. So the good news is, I fixed a horrible exhaust leak I had no idea about, and quickly grabbed my spare 2G 02 housing

Before

 In Process

 Cannot have any project done with this and some friends (Thanks to Jose, and Ariel)

 End Result.

 

So after many days of rigorous testing with this setup, on hot and humid Miami weather days, I must say. The car has never ran cooler in the whole time I have owned it. And that's being said with the OEM radiator over the Mishimoto!

Average coolant temps on a 90F day with around 80% humidity and A/C full blast is roughly 183-193F. The car pulls harder then it ever has, and no longer feels sluggish during hot days. Over all, I'm very pleased with this current setup. 

At a later time, just to further help improve the cooling even more, I will be ceramic coating the Exhaust Manifold, 02 Housing, and wrapping as much of the down pipe as possible.

All in all, what I think really helped the car from over heating with the A/C on was the addition of the A/C condenser. The external was keeping me from being able to have a decent one on. Sure I could have replaced the dump tube and had it routed a bit different, but I honestly like hearing the turbo spool again. :)

Over Heating Resolved

Finally resolved over heating issue.

Actually moving forward

So it's been a while since I've made any kind of update. I finally sat down, and started planning things out for what I want for this car.

When adding up the prices, it's a bit staggering. This isn't even including exterior body work, interior, or my spare block that I want to build into a 2.4L. The price range can almost buy me another GSX if I wanted when everything on the list is added up.

But as the say, "you got to pay, to play". I'd honestly rather spend my money on a hobby that I enjoy personally. There are people out there that spend so much more on other things that I won't mention here cause that's not what this blog is about. :)

On to the list!

And already made my first purchase in to returning the car back to it's AWD state!

Non-Welded Center Differential that came out of a 99 GSX.

Total cost of $50! Spent a lot less then I thought I was going to spend on it. Now to send it out somewhere to have it machined into a 4-Gear Spider. That's what is going to cost me a arm and a leg.



Also, went to the junk yard today! Scored myself a nice clean set of 2gb white side skirts minus the door caps all for $50 with some black interior trim pieces for my new Talon that I picked up for a DD (engine replacement in process).

Heat is around the corner

To try and explain things quickly, the car pretty much retains everything from power steering, to A/C. Minus cruise control. Which sometimes when I drive up to Orlando/Disney World, I kind of regret not having.

So with the summer time around the corner, it's gets hotter and hotter as the days goes by. The DSM tends to over heat a bit when the A/C is on for extended periods of time. One of the major contributing factors to this is the Front Mount Inter-cooler (FMIC) that sits directly in-front of the radiator. On a hot humid day, the car cannot get the airflow that the A/C Condensor/Radiator requires due to the Front Mount standing in-front of the way.

If you notice, other turbo charged vehicles that have factory front mounts such as Mitsubishi Evolutions, Dodge Neon and Caliber SRT4's, all have 2 separate opening/ducting to accommodate for a radiator, and front mount. Unfortunately for DSM's, they were side mounted inter-coolers from factory and never designed with a FMIC in mind. Therefor, there is only 1 opening.

As great idea and cool it is to put it right in the opening, it's unfortunately very restricting for the radiator. Especially if you still retain A/C. Now, depending on where you live and other variables, this effects some people, and some people who live in colder climates won't notice much of a difference. But what choice do you really have if you decide to upgrade to something from a factory T-25?

A lot of people cut out separate holes in their front bumpers, and I simply hate the idea of steering away from an all factory look. So I decided to do this only as a test just to see the results. Since summer is approaching fast, I decided to take my old 2gb bumper that's quite beat up, and make the necessary cuttings for it and try it out to see if there's any change in coolant temps with A/C on and the goal is to keep temps below 196F.


Now, keep in mind. This bumper is really trashed from towings, curbs, and other forms of damaged.
This is simply function>form.

My friend Richard, who has a beautiful 98 GS-T original owner had to cut away at his bumper as well. But he says the benefits are worth it.
 

 

Notice how his is evenly cut, and has quality wire mesh. Since mine was only a test, I went off this template visually. Not measuring or anything. Just going by the eye.

And unfortunately for me, I could not find a straight edge anywhere. So I did the best I could.

Before

 After
I know, it's not pretty at all. But again, function > form. :(   If I do decide to stay with this set up, the final product will look much nicer on my new bumper.


Drove it real hard for about 15 minutes with A/C on, and the temps still started climbing, but a lot slower then it normally does. Not the exact results I wanted, but still progress none the less. I also noticed the car during throttle pulls to have a bit more power to it.

There are still things that I need to have done that I know will reduce underhood temps.


-Remove external waste gate and Exhaust manifold to place a Evo III Manifold or Ported 2g Manifold (Ceramic Coated or Coated by Swain White Temp Coating as well) so that a Heat-shield may be installed in both locations and run internally gated.
-02 Housing Heat Shield (02 Housing will also be coated)
-Install Factory A/C Condenser Fan (External Waste Gate prevents this and Slim fan that is on now no longer functions)
-Replace A/C Condenser with a new unit. The one that's currently in the car is slightly bent, and is really close to the radiator, so I wouldn't be surprised if its heat soaking it.

Optional: Install 1 or 2 small fans on the condenser as pushers. [But this may cause a even larger airflow restriction]

EDIT: 5/7/2012 - 9:40pm

After driving all day in around 86F weather, back completely sweaty, I've seen no difference in coolant temps/behavior compared to my other bumper. Switched back as I couldn't stand the ugly look. No point in driving with a destroyed looking bumper if it's not helping.

I think I will try to drive the car without a bumper period and see how that fairs.

EDIT: 6/20/2012

Been driving the car without a front bumper without a while, and temps remain below 186 (average temp is 183F) at all times. Unless idle it will get to 193-200ish and stop (remember, only 1 fan). But once I get moving, especially on the highway, the temps drop tremendously and the A/C can be blasted ice cold the whole time.

Only downside is the un-wanted attention I attract with the FMIC being exposed and all. But sure beats arriving to clients all soaked and sweaty looking.

A/C Troubles

A lot has happened over the course of last month. One of the main things being that the A/C Blower Motor failed on me on a 95F day with high humidity.

Was not a pretty day.

I luckily had a doner car that had a perfectly working A/C blower motor. Couldn't justify paying $230+ from Mitsubishi, and while aftermarket units are significantly cheaper, they are also much nosier according to a lot of people.

 The A/C blower is actually not that hard to change. Unless, of course. All 3 of your bolts are completely rusted! Now, Mitsubishi thought it was a great idea to put in these weird star/flat head shaped bolts to hold the A/C Motor up.What took a 3 minute job on the doner car, took almost close to 3 hours on my car fighting with the bolts! There was almost no way of getting them out due to the rust/lost design on them from rotting out, and also dealing with almost no space because of the tight clearance, rug and wiring.

All said and done, I got the bolts out and quickly discarded them. Swapped the broken motor for the working one, and replaced the retarded bolts with actual standard philips screws. Seriously Mitsubishi, what were you thinking?

Though, at the end of the day it was still worth the trouble. Cause not having A/C in 90F + Humidity, is nothing but a nightmare.

Blackstone Lab Report

I forgot to post this. Basically this is a company that does a analysis report on the condition of your engine based on your oil. When your changing your oil, you collect some of the oil that you drain in a special container they provide to you and ship it to them for examination.

I've used this service twice, and pleased with their results so far. Have heard nothing but good things from them.


This is the first report done in 2011



And here is the most recent one,

In search of a new Daily Driver

Not much of an update other then detailing it today.


I acquired a new job recently in the IT field, which is quite exciting. However, the job requires quite a bit of driving. A lot of it actually. So rather then putting all the harsh miles on my pride and joy, I'll be looking for either a 95-99 420a platform eclipse/talon, or a 1st gen Miata. Something that can get decent MPG, and A/C.


If I do get a daily driver, this opens up windows of opportunity to be able to take care of a lot of small details on the DSM that I've been wanting to do. Examples being powder coating many parts, brembo swap, ect.


Would probably sell whatever daily I buy later on to help me buy the Evo VIII I want later down the road.

Blinker Madness

So today I received some parts from Miller Imports.


-Relay
-Break Pad Clips

Two issue's that my car is having that is driving me crazy the most. The DSM has had a problem with the passenger front side brake pads constantly ratting and shaking due to a missing clip that is supposed to hold the pads still. I had one out of two clips that's supposed to be on the caliper. When I got this car back on the road, I lost the clip when replacing the pads, so go figure. It sounds really bad while driving. Especially with all the Potholes in Miami.

The other is it's turn signals acting up for as long as I can remember. Roughly 6 months now. This video will speak for itself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1hAS05NQiQ&feature=player_embedded

So I begin tearing apart into the center console thinking I was getting to the turn signal relay.

Only to find out that the relay I had was for either power locks, or for the fuel injectors. Got mixed searches and answers, but upon swapping the relays, there was no difference.


Since the Center console was out anyway and a bit dirty, I decide to give it a bit of a cleaning. Especially the shifter boot.

I did, however start playing with the actual bulbs after doing some reading on this thread,
http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/newbie-forum/30029-turn-signal-help.html

Got the left turn signal working perfectly! Now I have no idea what's up with the right side.



So that's pretty much it. Will probably add the clip sometime this weekend. Though, depending on how soon I get started on my Brembo swap, might throw that whole idea out the window.

Is this for real?

So I haven't been using this as much as I should have. A lot has happened, and I'm only realizing now that I'm not really keep much track or records of things that are done.

For now, I leave you a pic of how it once sat, and how it sits now.





before,






After,

To give a bit of history on the car, it's a 1995 Mitsubishi Eclipse. I love how 95-96's look, but loved the 97-99 style more ( which I later found out, so did everyone on their mom! ).

It was nearly impossible to find a clean 2gb Eclipse (97-99). They were all hacked, damaged, body-kitted, or stickers galore with sun faded paint. Most owned and neglected by young kids who had no idea what they were doing. So, I started from scratch with a solid shell, which had been stripped via theft, but that's for another story.