More car problems!!!

[CyberPitz]

This is great. Earlier today my clutch was acting funny. I'd usually sit my foot on my clutch pedal while driving around, not really pushing it down, just kinda resting it....and today, the clutch would start to slip down to the floor, but wouldn't engage. I was freaked out about that. I'd have to pull it back up to use it again.

Now it will go to the floor, not engage, pull it up, push down, not engage....I'm stuck with a dead clutch?! Not sure what it could be. Dad says it might be the cable from pedal...roomate says Clutch master cylender. I dunno....blah. So I'm carless currently, and I'm poor to boot. And it's a ~10 mile walk to work tomarrow..goody.

 

[xcellerate]

Sounds like the clutch master cylinder. At least that's what I’d guess, because my brake master cylinder did the same thing before i replaced it. Although my clutch is a self adjusting cable clutch, so i really wouldn't know.

I guess the real question is, is it a cable or hydraulic clutch?

Because as far as i know, a hydaulic clutch doesn't have any cable...the clutch pedal presses right into the master cylinder...but again, i could be wrong.

 

[CyberPitz]

Sounds like the clutch master cylinder. At least that's what I’d guess, because my brake master cylinder did the same thing before i replaced it. Although my clutch is a self adjusting cable clutch, so i really wouldn't know.

I guess the real question is, is it a cable or hydraulic clutch?

Because as far as i know, a hydaulic clutch doesn't have any cable...the clutch pedal presses right into the master cylinder...but again, i could be wrong.

I dunno..I gotta call some guys tomarrow, but the fact that I have no money to fix it, is the major problem, and I still have until Friday when I get paid..and that means going across town to get check, across town again to deposite. I am a sad Panda.

 

[_Z_Ryuken]

What kind of car is it? I will tell you if it's cable or hydro. Chances are it is cable if it is having the problem.

 

[CyberPitz]

What kind of car is it? I will tell you if it's cable or hydro. Chances are it is cable if it is having the problem.

1988 Mazda RX-7 GTU body style.

 

[_Z_Ryuken]

Hydraulic.

K first thing ou're gonna want to do is locate and check your clutch master cyl and see if it's full of metal debris.

If it's fine, go ahead and replace the clutch slave as they are problematic for this car, and fairly cheap.

If it's anything else, it might be a worn pressure plate, but I'm thinking it's the slave.

Is it making any weird noises?

 

[VirusType2]

1988 Mazda RX-7 GTU body style.

Ha! I used to have a 1987 Rx-7 too.

but anyway same thing happened to my Eclipse. pedal stuck on floor. You can check the clutch fluid, and I'll bet it's leaked out. (clutches always use break fluid (there is no such thing as clutch fluid) if you can refill it so you can drive it so that will save you from getting it towed)

It was the slave or master cylinder in my case.. can't remember which one. I had a shop fix it. Insist on a new one, not a rebuilt one, I had 2 rebuilt ones go bad almost instantly, until I was like, "WTF I paid for a new one (you scammer.)"

You should get rid of that ****ing car. Those things break all the time. My RX-7 was in the shop every week and I owed $1000's in repairs on a credit card. For every 40 miles, something else would break. It broke down and I had to get it towed about 8 times and I only had it 2 years. Old used up sports cars are the worst cars to get because all the previous owners ragged them out. Seriously dude! GET RID OF IT. Save yourself the anguish, I know everyone loves their cars but.. =/

Just wondering, how many miles? Mine had 128,000 when I bought it and didn't make it to 145,000 before I got rid of it.

Oh, and BTW teach yourself to rest your foot on the floor don't ever rest it on the pedal.

 

[_Z_Ryuken]

As a rule of thumb most 80s sportscars are ridden with defects and not worth dumping a great deal of money into.

 

[VirusType2]

Agreed, and unless this is the car you have always wanted its senseless. You should get the clutch fixed and put it for sale and don't drive it.

put that money down on a 1999 turbo eclipse. :thumbs:

 

[15357]

Drive it into a tree.










Or call a mechanic.

 

[CyberPitz]

The chasis is at over 230k. The transmission is dying, scratches in 3rd gear almost every time. I can work it in silently sometimes. Bushing is bad I think, not sure. I know these things are a waste of money, but my dream car is an RX-7 3rd gen, and this is a step towards. I've had the car for a year, the only thing I've done to it is as follows..:

New exhaust system
Rear eccentric oil seal replaced
other tiny investments, nothing too serious.

All in all I've spent maybe $500 on it. Maybe a bit more, but nothing much. I really want a 3rd gen like I said, but I don't have near enough money for them, and I can't get a loan to buy one.

I'll probably end up taking it to a guy to fix the problem.

 

[Parrot of doom]

First thing to stop doing is resting your foot on the clutch pedal while driving. Bad habit, get rid of it.

2nd thing is to find a nice Mazda forum, and ask the chaps there. Chances are they'll give you about 50 posts describing exactly how to determine the fault, and how to correct it for nothing.

3rd thing is to ignore the silly comments above about 80's sports cars. There are of course the odd cars around that have been ragged silly by previous owners, but in my experience thats quite rare. Most cars of this age that are still running are going to have been looked after. Provided that the oil changes have been regular, and its not been in an accident, and theres not much corrosion, theres no reason why your car shouldn't run for another 20 years.

 

[clarky003]

I'd usually sit my foot on my clutch pedal while driving around, not really pushing it down, just kinda resting it.

Its not really a bad habbit, just aslong as you dont have it pressed down atall, I just hover over it and pivot with the heel.

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

As a rule of thumb most 80s sportscars are ridden with defects and not worth dumping a great deal of money into.

Rule of thumb that statement is completely stupid.

 

[xcellerate]

yea it is. And secondly, i'm not sure if you do it, but it's also a bad idea when at stop lights to hold the clutch in with the car in 1st.

 

[clarky003]

It's a bad habbit only because its easier to make an error and do damage to the clutch or drive plate, but that depends how skilled you are .. At a stop when its down the clutch is disconnected from the drive plate, it doesn't do any damage whatsoever so it doesn't actually matter.. unless say.. you have parkinsons.

 

[xcellerate]

actually, you can wear out your release bearing, which is designed to only be pressed for brief periods (shifting) and isn't meant to be held for extended periods of time (sitting at red lights). Of course this will probably decrease your clutch life to 85,000 miles instead of 100,000 miles, so boo hoo.

 

[CyberPitz]

I'm going to head to a car shop here soon before I go to work, have them look at it and tell me the problem. According to my roomate, I can still drive it, but hell, this place is like 3 blocks away. Here's to hoping it's not too expensive to fix.

 

[CyberPitz]

Just got my car to the shop...that was an ordeal. Can't put my car in gear, yet I can push start it. Weird clutch.

He said, as everybody has guessed, the Master Cylinder. Hope this isn't too expensive.

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

Just got my car to the shop...that was an ordeal. Can't put my car in gear, yet I can push start it. Weird clutch.

He said, as everybody has guessed, the Master Cylinder. Hope this isn't too expensive.

What you should really save up for since you want an FD, a 13b-REW. It's a lot cheaper than buying the car+faster.

 

[OvA]

Manuals are fun but not really worth the trouble to me.

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

I am so sick of driving automatic pos, I miss manual

 

[Evo]

Lets all make a

'Save Pitzy's Car Fund!'

And help him realise his goal

All we need is $5/£5 from every regular here, and we will be nearly towards a fixed car!




























Note: All contributions will be shared 50:50 by me and Pitzy

 

[_Z_Ryuken]

Rule of thumb that statement is completely stupid.

Show me a nice, well running, defect free, reliable 80s car with at least a few electronics.
Chances are, any car you find, I will be able to point out some major fault.

 

[xcellerate]

There are about 20,000 on vwvortex.com with cars below 1990 that they drive everyday, and many of them have been featured in magazines. Jeff Bynum is a guy in my town who has been in Performance VW more than three times, and has MANY defect free, reliable, 80's Volkswagens.

That's the stupidest statement I’ve ever heard. Go turn on the barrett-jackson auction and you'll see plenty of perfectly restored cars.

But i'll play you're game, what's wrong with any of these cars?

The sad thing is these wheels on this last car, are worth more than their weight in gold. Plus they have kodiak 2" lips on them, which is basically sell your son and your kidney, and maybe you can buy 3 of them.

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

Show me a nice, well running, defect free, reliable 80s car with at least a few electronics.
Chances are, any car you find, I will be able to point out some major fault.

Go search 89 Eclipse/Talon/Laser turbo models.

My friends 89 Laser RS-T was nice and dyno'd 300/320 with stock motor from 1989 with 17c turbo, custom front mount, 2.5in exhaust, etc etc.....Oh it was reliable till he left for the Army then other people started messing it up.

 

[_Z_Ryuken]

There are about 20,000 on vwvortex.com with cars below 1990 that they drive everyday, and many of them have been featured in magazines. Jeff Bynum is a guy in my town who has been in Performance VW more than three times, and has MANY defect free, reliable, 80's Volkswagens.

That's the stupidest statement I’ve ever heard. Go turn on the barrett-jackson auction and you'll see plenty of perfectly restored cars.

But i'll play you're game, what's wrong with any of these cars?

For one thing they are not stock.
The author of this thread doesn't have 10 grand to blow on his car. Stay within the realm of reality.

80s Veedubs are great, reliable cars popularized by rally cross but only because they were underpowered with inferior engines.
Fault.

Any car can be good if you dump thousands of dollars into restoring nd upgrading it, but then it isn't really an 80s car anymore now is it?

Go search 89 Eclipse/Talon/Laser turbo models.

My friends 89 Laser RS-T was nice and dyno'd 300/320 with stock motor from 1989 with 17c turbo, custom front mount, 2.5in exhaust, etc etc.....Oh it was reliable till he left for the Army then other people started messing it up.

I can't find any information on the 89 model year, but 1st gen DSMs have had numerous recalls.

Mitsubishi ECLIPSE 1990 (90)

Component: POWER TRAIN:AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION
Recall Date (Y/M):1998/03

Defect: VEHICLE DESCRIPTION: PASSENGER VEHICLES. LOCKUP OF THE TRANSFER CASE CAN OCCUR DUE TO INSUFFICIENT LUBRICATION.

Consequence: THIS CONDITION CAN CAUSE A LOSS OF VEHICLE CONTROL, INCREASING THE RISK OF A CRASH.
------------------------------------
Mitsubishi ECLIPSE 1990 (90)
Mitsubishi Recall Campaign No.:
Component: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:WIRING

Recall Date (Y/M):1989/07

Defect: WIRING HARNESS FOR THE HEADLAMPS MAY BREAK DUE TO THE STRESS CREATED BY THE HEADLAMP POP UP DEVICES.

Consequence: BREAKAGE OF THE WIRING HARNESS CAUSES LOSS OFHEADLAMP ILLUMINATION WHICH COULD HAVE A POTENTIAL FOR AN ACCIDENT.
-------------------------------------
Make: Plymouth
Model: Laser
Year: 1990

Component: Seat Belts:front:buckle Assembly

Potential Number Of Units Affected: 920000

Summary: The Front Safety Belt Buckle Release Buttons Can Break. These Red Plastic Release Buttons Are Marked "press." If A Button Breaks, Pieces Can Fall Into The Buckle Assembly Causing The Buckle To Operate

Consequence: The Safety Belts Would Not Provide Adequate Protection To An Occupant In A Vehicle Crash.

Sure his car may have run fine, but from the factory 1st gen DSMs have cheapy, crap plastic interior. They have no great advantages to speak of which is why the second gens outshine them completely in aftermarket support and general popularity.
Your friend got rid of his Laser because that engine would not last long at that boost level without sufficient reinforcement in the engine and transmission.

 

[xcellerate]

80s Veedubs are great, reliable cars popularized by rally cross but only because they were underpowered with inferior engines.
Fault.

Yea, really underpowered. The car weighs 2300lbs.
1.8l 8v -- 105hp / 114 ft-lb
1.8l 16v -- 123hp / 120 ft-lb
2.0l 16v --134hp / 133 ft-lb
2.0l 16v (ABF) -- 175hp / 168 ft-lb
1.8l 8v G60 -- 158hp / 166 ft-lb
2.0l 16v G60 -- 210hp / 198 ft-lb

not to mention you could get the Golf Rallye, the Golf Limited, the G60 Golf and the Syncro, which were all AWD. Plus VW had a factory option for a turbo which would put any of the motors at or over 200hp, the problem is i can't think of the name..but it'll come to me. Now i'm not saying that's awesome amounts of horsepower, but my mom's 99 maxima only makes 195hp, and some of these motors make more power than some cars coming out now, and they're 15 years old or older.



And you don't need 10 grand to make the car quick, Collin Gyenes was one of the original owners of Techtonics Tuning, and in 1991 he had a rabbit which ran a [email protected] on an 8v motor with no turbo, carbs, supercharger or nitrous using the factory CIS injection. It's amazing how far 200hp will go when your car weighs 1800lbs.

 

[_Z_Ryuken]

1800lbs of what though? Luxury? I don't think so.

It's a grocery getting beater til the bitter end at maybe over 300k miles.

-----

Oh and instead of me having to search for hours finding out about obsolete trim models why don't you post a source detailing them.

-----
http://www.carfolio.com/specifications/models/car/?car=17446&Volkswagen
91 model year

~2.0L SOHC 8v
115 bph
122 ftlbs

Doesn't match what you posted. Why would they downgrade their 90s engine?
-----
http://www.gti16v.com/vwrec86.htm
A few recalls for the 86 Golf & GTi. Fuel leakage.

 

[xcellerate]

you missed the real part of that post though, that last little paragraph was just to be informative, it's the stuff before it that was important.

And no, it's 1800lbs (actually i'd bet it was less) of (a) seat, a steering wheel, and a tach. My point is, not all 80's volkswagens were underpowered, the 8v's were slow as they were the base economy engine, but the 16v's and g60's had plenty of power for the weight.

And besides, you said a well running, defect free, 80's car, and i showed you one. Then you said it wasn't stock. But when you listed what you were looking for, you kinda implied that it wasn't going to be stock, since all stock cars are well running and defect free from the showroom floor….otherwise they wouldn’t be on the show room floor.

 

[_Z_Ryuken]

you missed the real part of that post though, that last little paragraph was just to be informative, it's the stuff before it that was important.

And no, it's 1800lbs (actually i'd bet it was less) of (a) seat, a steering wheel, and a tach. My point is, not all 80's volkswagens were underpowered, the 8v's were slow as they were the base economy engine, but the 16v's and g60's had plenty of power for the weight.

And besides, you said a well running, defect free, 80's car, and i showed you one. Then you said it wasn't stock. But when you listed what you were looking for, you kinda implied that it wasn't going to be stock, since all stock cars are well running and defect free from the showroom floor….otherwise they wouldn’t be on the show room floor.

If it's not using stock 80s parts, it's not an 80s car. It's a modified with 80s origins and unless you have a pool of sitting money to drop into your average 80s car, it's not worth it because 90s cars are better in every respect.

Even if an 80s car is reliable, it probably has a shitty decayed body. If it was powerful at one point, chances are by now it's lost (estimating) 30% of it's power and needs a MAJOR overhaul. Almost all 80s car with (at the time) new electronics have more wiring problems than an 80 year old house in the ghetto. In general 80s cars have sub-par interiors with almost no thought of ergonomics. Most average 80s cars have ugly boxy styling, tiny wheels, iffy fuel management, little or no rust protection, cheap paint, discontinued OEM support... I could go on. I used to have a couple 80s cars. I knew people that had them. All problematic in one form or another. My 88 XT6 had an awesome pneumatic hydraulic electronic controlled air suspension from the factory.

What happened during it's 14th year of life? Complete failure. $400 a strut and a couple more for the compressor. The power steering was electronic and not belt driven. Awesome. Failure comes, it costs a bundle to replace and finding good parts is a huge pain in the ass.

Part of the problem was my car had no aftermarket support, but I think I've made my point.

 

[VirusType2]

It's funny because I've owned all three of the cars being mentioned here. I had an 87 RX-7, and an . shit.. think it was 87 VW Golf, and I own a 2nd gen Turbo Eclipse

I can tell you that the RX-7 is a problematic car. This is the second gen RX -7 and it wasn't nearly as good as the first or 3rd gen. This one looks cool, but its pretty heavy at about 3000lbs. and has plenty of future trouble areas. A piece of the car actually broke from shifting and they had to weld something to gether to rig it up to work.

It floods easy, requiring new spark plugs on this model. Trust me, I had to do it twice. If you start the car and then shut it off, for example if you had to move it out of the way so someone could get out of the driveway, it will flood the engine and it will never start again until you buy new spark plugs. The transmission is pretty weak like made out of plastic and they are expensive. About $2,000 for a rebuilt one I'm guessing and rebuilt is never the same. The transmission broke in my car on a cold morning and I sold the car for parts. Since it sounds like money is tight and you say that it crunches into 3rd gear nearly every time It would be a great idea to sell the car.

Yes of course you can constantly repair a car and keep it on the road forever, which is why you see these beautifully cared for VW's in the pictures, but you have to remember that cars have like a million wear parts on them. Eventually these parts will wear out, so you will be replacing all of them, and new parts from the dealership are extremely expensive for these cars. (RX-7's) Most imports are. Trust me, you try to go buy a couple of car specific hardware bolts and it will set you back like $40 instead of $4 for American parts (or UK for you) If you want to restore the car one part at a time thats your choice, but it would be a good idea in my opinion to have a reliable 2nd car while you restore this one. The rotary engine in the 2nd Gen RX-7 is really great and could probably run forever but there is more to a car than the engine. Do you have any electrical problems yet? Those can be hard to troubleshoot. I had a bunch of electrical problems with my RX-7.

About the VW. Like I said, I had one of these too. I never had any problems with it. I bought it from someone and it only had 50K miles on it. Unbelievable for a car that old. The previous owner had apparently died and the car sat for years on end. My girlfriend at the time totaled this car unfortunately.

Finally, about the Eclipse. The only one with the rear transfer case lock up problem was the 1990 All wheel drive model. This could be fixed however, by replacing it with a newer model transfer case on this car. Also, the only model with the pop-up headlights was the 90 Eclipse/Lazer/Talon, so that would be a specific year problem.

The 1st gen Eclipse, Lazer, Talon (E/L/T) (90-94) had the same engine as the 2nd gen 95-99 E/T (Lazer was dropped this gen) but the 2nd gen had some stronger parts particularly the pistons which allowed it to run more boost safely, so yes if you want to run more boost on the 1st gen E/L/T you would have to beef up some parts. You could use 2nd gen parts since the engine was the same. When I speak of these cars I am always referring to the 4g63 engine which was the turbo model from 1990-1999. This engine is world renowned for being nearly bulletproof. Awesome engine and at various times was used to power 800-1200 Horsepower eclipses, lazers, and talons. The fastest modified imports in the world right along with the CRX and Civic. Just go to www.Extrememotorsports.com or www.DSM.org for more on these DSM cars. The only problem with these cars is that the driveline is a bit weak, especially if you upgrade the horsepower you may run into problems. I'm prepared to replace the transmission if necessary becuase I love mine.

Engine: Extreme Motorsports 4G63 2.0L
HP at flywheel (w/nitrous): 1125 HP

http://www.extrememotorsports.com/talon.htm


I still warn that it's cheaper to make payments or buy a newer car than it is to restore an older car, since there are so many parts that are nearly worn out at this many miles. I also warn that the 2nd gen RX-7 is a problematic car.

If you really love that car than by all means, maintain it. I'll never sell my 1995 Eclipse, it's paid for, its reliable, its fast as ****, and I take care of it. I'm the 2nd owner, the first owner put 54K miles on it, i've got it up to 80k in the 6 years I've owned it. Since I'm the 2nd owner, and the original owner kept all the maintenance and repair receipts and worked at Mobil, I'm certain this car was well cared for, and I have done my part. Nothing but the highest quality oil and parts when I work on it and I haven't intentionally ragged out the car by burning rubber or anything since I bought it.

 

[xcellerate]

~2.0L SOHC 8v
115 bph
122 ftlbs

Doesn't match what you posted. Why would they downgrade their 90s engine?
-----
http://www.gti16v.com/vwrec86.htm
A few recalls for the 86 Golf & GTi. Fuel leakage.

That's because the 2.0l 8v motor never came out until 1993. The 1.8l 8v motor was produced from 1985 to 1992 which was the mkII body style, in 1993 VW changed to the mkIII body style and took the 1.8l 8v motor and bored it .2l and increased the stroke which increased torque and smoothed the idle out. They also changed the injection from Digifant to Bosch Motronic, and changed the head to a crossflow head instead of the counterflow head on the 1.8l 8v (which is impossible to work on).The 2.0l 8v motor (also called the ABA) and the vr6 12v were the only engines offered in the mkIII body styles (93-99.5), it wasn't until 99.5 when vw produced the mkIV body styles that they released the vr6 24v and 1.8t.

I don't post sources because i'm not using any. I'm telling you about mkII volkswagens, i've rebuilt mkII volkswagens, i drive and own mkII volkswagens and i don't need google to tell me what motor came in what car in what year.

edit: They stopped selling the ABF motor because they didn't want a 4cyl 16v competing with their 12v vr6 (AAA) which made 172hp / 173 ft-lbs. I also think it's fair to tell you there were about a dozen versions of the 1.8l 8v motor, on different injection, there was CIS, CIS-E, and Digifant. The CIS version which was the earliest, 83-86 (i'm pretty sure) and it made 90hp and 105ft-lbs, the CIS-E version made 102hp and 110ft-lb, and the digifant made 105/114, each injection system had 2 different motors a 'high' power and low power version (the low power version was typically the same HP but a few ft-lbs less). Except for digifant, because when digifant came out they had the cabriolet also, so there was 3 versions of the digifant motor, the cabriolet version made like 95/100.

 

[CyberPitz]

It's funny because I've owned all three of the cars being mentioned here. I had an 87 RX-7, and an . shit.. think it was 87 VW Golf, and I own a 2nd gen Turbo Eclipse

I can tell you that the RX-7 is a problematic car. This is the second gen RX -7 and it wasn't nearly as good as the first or 3rd gen. This one looks cool, but its pretty heavy at about 3000lbs. and has plenty of future trouble areas. A piece of the car actually broke from shifting and they had to weld something to gether to rig it up to work.

It floods easy, requiring new spark plugs on this model. Trust me, I had to do it twice. If you start the car and then shut it off, for example if you had to move it out of the way so someone could get out of the driveway, it will flood the engine and it will never start again until you buy new spark plugs. The transmission is pretty weak like made out of plastic and they are expensive. About $2,000 for a rebuilt one I'm guessing and rebuilt is never the same. The transmission broke in my car on a cold morning and I sold the car for parts. Since it sounds like money is tight and you say that it crunches into 3rd gear nearly every time It would be a great idea to sell the car.

Yes, 2nd gens flood real easy. There are ways around it though. You could get the fuel injectors cleaned/replaced to help it out, or you can *if it isn't an S5 model* take out the fuse that is Fuel Injection, then crank the car for a few seconds, then put plug back on, and it starts every time. Or if it IS an S5, hold the pedal down while your trying to start. That is the same as the fuel cut-off switch.

Rotaries in general ARE unreliable in comparison. I'm not gonna sugar coat..they need ALOT of TLC to keep them running well. But the fact that they put out so much power...it's amazing. Plus the sounds they make, I find more appealing then the V8s and everything. Kind of like a sleeper car.

Anyway, it's weird...I do love RX-7s to death..it's kind of like a dream car for me. I really DON'T want to give this car up..but I've got a stroke of genious.

I'll get the window fixed, new paint job, put a cheap tranny in there *one that doesn't scratch, but isn't new* Tint the windows and fix my mirror..and sell it. I will probably get around 2 grand out of it. Maybe more depends on how good the paint job is...hmmm

Anyway, yeah...I am gonna find out tomarrow how much it is going to cost....I sure as **** hope I have enough...

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

Sure his car may have run fine, but from the factory 1st gen DSMs have cheapy, crap plastic interior. They have no great advantages to speak of which is why the second gens outshine them completely in aftermarket support and general popularity.
Your friend got rid of his Laser because that engine would not last long at that boost level without sufficient reinforcement in the engine and transmission.

WRONG WRONG WRONG. I hope someone slaps you, I seriously do. 2nd gens didn't have the 6 bolt/4 bolt combination AT ALL, secondly weight 1g's weigh less than a 2nd gen.LOLOLOLZ 2gs have more aftermarket support? I obviously see you are blind as a bat. Also why are people owning 2g's swapping in 6 bolt for 1g's? HUH HUH HUH??? My friend still has that car I don't know where you got the idea he doesn't have it, now where did I say he go rid of it.

"because that engine would not last long at that boost level without sufficient reinforcement" SON you've got a lot to learn about 4G63's one thing is the motor can easily handle 300hp, you can swap in 2g pistons and run 450hp on stock motor aswell. You've got A LOT of research to do there buddy.

Oh and about transmissions yes they do suck, but my friends transmission didn't die, the clutch blew itself to pieces basically because way too much power for a stock clutch. He now has an ACT 2100 in it and its fine.

The 1st gen Eclipse, Lazer, Talon (E/L/T) (90-94) had the same engine as the 2nd gen 95-99 E/T (Lazer was dropped this gen) but the 2nd gen had some stronger parts particularly the pistons which allowed it to run more boost safely, so yes if you want to run more boost on the 1st gen E/L/T you would have to beef up some parts. You could use 2nd gen parts since the engine was the same. When I speak of these cars I am always referring to the 4g63 engine which was the turbo model from 1990-1999. This engine is world renowned for being nearly bulletproof. Awesome engine and at various times was used to power 800-1200 Horsepower eclipses, lazers, and talons. The fastest modified imports in the world right along with the CRX and Civic. Just go to www.Extrememotorsports.com or www.DSM.org for more on these DSM cars. The only problem with these cars is that the driveline is a bit weak, especially if you upgrade the horsepower you may run into problems. I'm prepared to replace the transmission if necessary becuase I love mine.

You are a tad bit wrong 1g's engines had different heads than 2g's along with turbos, 1g=14b 2g=T2small. Yeah the pistons were much better than 1g's thats why you can throw some on 1g big rods and run about 450hp on stock internals quite easily, of course with ARP headstuds and supporting mods. The only real probably will drivetrain is transmission but you can easily solve that with a shep racing built one which is damn near bulletproof if you drive correctly. That or you could go SUPER crazy and get yourself a dogbox, lol.

 

[xcellerate]

Even if an 80s car is reliable, it probably has a shitty decayed body. If it was powerful at one point, chances are by now it's lost (estimating) 30% of it's power and needs a MAJOR overhaul. Almost all 80s car with (at the time) new electronics have more wiring problems than an 80 year old house in the ghetto. In general 80s cars have sub-par interiors with almost no thought of ergonomics. Most average 80s cars have ugly boxy styling, tiny wheels, iffy fuel management, little or no rust protection, cheap paint, discontinued OEM support... I could go on.

woa woa woa. First off, the boxes are hot. My car is 1 step below a brick wall in terms of drag coefficient but everybody loves it (including myself).

And you want 80's modified? Oettinger made an factory optional head for their 16v which added 65hp, although fewer than 500 people actually opted to get one so if you find one today, it'll basically cost you more than the car it goes in. And Drake made a 16v that made 280hp at 8,750 rpm (that's basically honda style revving with 130 more hp). Both motors are naturally aspirated of course.

You're wrong about ergonomics too, i've driven my car from here to new york and never had problems with discomfort, it's on a stock interior too. And if the original owner had opted to buy the optional interior then it would have come with recaro seats, which i'm sure we can all agree are pretty nice seats

Yea my car came with 14'"'s originally, and i put 15"s on it. But smaller wheels can do everything better. Since they are smaller they weigh less, accelerate quicker, and stop better. Go watch an auto-x, some cars there will run 13"s.

Again, my car has no rust on it, and it has factory paint, and it looks pretty damn good for being 16 years old. The OEM support? Like parts? I've rebuilt my car using mostly OEM parts, the ONLY part they have not carried for my car so far was the little rubber stripping that runs along the outside of your window that prevents water from getting into your door.

You're making statements with no evidence, you had 1 car that had some problems. Go buy a 2006 honda civic and come back to this thread in 26 years, and see if it has had any problems. Things break, and you fix them.

It sounds to me like your argument is that all cars made in the 80's that have been unmodified from their original condition but still driven everyday and get no new parts installed on them suck because they are 26 years old. I'm not doing this because i <3 volkswagens, but because you're saying 80's cars can't be just as good as a 2006 car. Which is true, but only in terms of safety really.

edit: Here's the most recent picture of my unreliable, decayed, rusted, poorly wired car:
http://nortonsflorist.com/ava/pics/alec/feeler/IMG_0646.jpg

 

[VirusType2]

You are a tad bit wrong 1g's engines had different heads than 2g's along with turbos, 1g=14b 2g=T2small. Yeah the pistons were much better than 1g's thats why you can throw some on 1g big rods and run about 450hp on stock internals quite easily, of course with ARP headstuds and supporting mods. The only real probably will drivetrain is transmission but you can easily solve that with a shep racing built one which is damn near bulletproof if you drive correctly. That or you could go SUPER crazy and get yourself a dogbox, lol.

It's not that I was wrong, I just didn't include that information. Yea the first gen had better heads and the second gen had better pistons, but they were interchangeable since it was the same block. It's been a while but the first forum I ever used was www.DSM.org and was on there for a while, thats where I learned all of that stuff. I hadn't heard of Shep racing or dogbox, I haven't been doing any research on my car in years, I basically memorized the game plan on what I want to do to my car and when I moved I never went back to using that forum again.

I actually had opportunities to get 1g parts but I haven't needed to open my engine yet. It's running strong as hell. When the day comes when I have to repair the engine, I'm going to upgrade the parts in there so it will be that much faster and stronger. Thats basically my policy on everything with this car. If something breaks or wears out, I'll put a high performance part in there. When the shocks were gone, I got high perf, when the breaks and rotors went bad, I got high perf, when the clutch died, I got an ACT 2600 Clutch (RAWR), etc. So ya.

And yea I know the 1g had a 14b turbo that could output more power, but I figured If I'm going to do all that work, I don't want to put a used turbo with 130k miles on it, and If I'm going to get a new turbo I'm going to get a superior one. Besides that turbo had a bit of lag didn't it?

The 2nd gen turbos like mine had less power and get hot really fast with repeated use (with increased boost via boost controller) but they have like NO turbo lag, and they don't produce enough boost to break any parts. They are awesome for the occasional spurts that I tend to use once in a while on the street. My car is a rocket man. I've got an intercooler sprayer, that thing is sweet! Cooler turbo air going into the engine is safer and more HP to boot.

Like I said, upgrade stuff as it wears out, so when the turbo starts to die I'm going to get a this hybrid turbo I saw (can't remember the name) but it supposedly had turbo lag somewhere in the range of the T2 but with more power than the 16g! I think it was ball bearing. Whats your take on that? Ball bearing or no?

 

[The Monkey]

And it's a ~10 mile walk to work tomarrow..goody.

Why don't you just take the bus?

 

[Uriel]

I now know how normal people feel when I talk about computers.

 

[CyberPitz]

Why don't you just take the bus?

What bus?