I have recently purchased a 2002 Mitsubishi Eclipse gt V6 3.0L and i am hoping to put aftermarket parts into it. I am kind of new to all of it and my question is, what is the recommended first aftermarket part to put into my car? please reply back. Thanks!  

Well someone will eventually tell you to buy a For Sale sign.  And they're right in a sence.  If you want a race car or something you need a different platform.  But if you want a nice looking car, or a faster than stock car, I'd buy coilovers first.  It will lower you which you need to look "good" in an Eclipse anyways, and it will really help your handling.  Or if you want a cool car for you and your friends to cruise around in, throw 12k into Bose speakers, an MTX Sub, Bose headunit, an MTX amp, and a sunroof to stick your head out of when you feel the need to yell ata people.  The last part being optinal, and mainly for your passengers...  

ok, so on these coilovers, what brand do you recommend? and i have already put in 2 12" pioneer subs with 1000 watt insignia amp, 4 pioneer speekers, and pioneer dash deck raio. so you do not recommend any performance parts for my car?  

For Coilovers and pretty much anything suspension wise, my first choice would always be Tein; and I think most would agree with me.  But for a list of brands I would trust:  Tein, K Sport, JIC, Ground Control, Megan Racing,  NRG Innovations, and DC. ( not the shoe company)  Idk if I'm alowed to balntenly advertise or not on here, but heres a link and it's already narowed down to your car because I used it to see which companies make stuff for your car, and left out skechier ones - http://www.horsepowerfreaks.com/performanceparts/Mitsubishi/Eclipse_00-05
 
  or you can just go to horsepowerfreaks.com and go from there, you can also check out other peoples cars on there and your car too, and it will usually list specs and what upgrades they have.  Although bare in mind some cars may have rebiult engines to handle boost.
 For your car you have an NA ( Naturally Aspirated ) platform.  You should probably keep it that way too.  So for performance parts I would recommend things like lighter flywheels, and retuned ECU type of things.  Things you can also do but won't add much Horepower until you really buy a lot of them, are things like Exhuast, Intake, Fuel rails, Fuel Injectors, Throttle Body spacers.  HP is the result of more air and more fuel, and since you can't turbo charge your car you need to open up and widen every breathe point in your engine and add fuel accordingly.  You could have a pretty beastly NA car, but once you spend that much it might be worth it to just spend a couple grand on new internals and a big ass Turbo kit.  

ok, all that sounds great, i was thinking of putting the AEM short ram cold air intake system in. would this be a good idea? and if so, what kind of things is it connected to in the engine?  

It won't give you that much more power.  But it's probably a nice way for you to get used to your car, and an ok first mod to learn from.  It's a one shot deal to the engine, once you take your old one off it should be pretty obvious to you where it came from.  PS - Why are you on this Forum at 5:30 in the morning.  

haha, well i am from kentucky so it was around 9 30 when i was on it. so would you recommend some kind of a cat back exhaust?  

If spending $200 on a AEM ram air intake system so you can go from a 15.7 quartermile to a 15.4 is what you consider good bang for the buck, than my manual boost controller I peiced together with $10 in brassparts at a hardware store and made 50 extra hp over stock must make my car an absolute bargain barn.

I say save your money and buy a different platform, you can see 3x-4x as much power for the same dollar invested into a stock turbo car.  

DUDE! Before you purchase anything, you need to check out Club3g.com.  All your answers will be answered there.    The 3g is not a big power car.  Although there are alot of 3g that are in the 300+ range.  But is sure is hella good looking.  For a drop, Tien if cost is no limit.  Great quality resonalble price Megan Racing.  Cold air intakes, either AEM or Injen.  Doesn't really matter.  Exhaust, Magna flow - deep and quiet, Greddy - deep and a little loud,  Borla - loud v8ish.  


3gInOc
club3g.com
socal3g.com  

ive heard horrible things about Tein. Anyone Ive known with their coilovers say that the sleeve was rusting after having them a month.  

Probably were knockoffs.  

Yeah, Tein has a new problem since knock offs of their coilovers have been perfectly copied at least appearance wise.  They even come in the same box with the same manual.  

My friends got them directly from Tein.  I cant really question their quality because I've never owned any of their products, but ive heard great things and not so great things.  However, I guess that can go with any company that makes after market parts.  Factory defects sadly do occur from time to time.  

Tein is a mixed bag. Some applications turn out great, others turn out mediocre at best. :X

KW Suspension is also a good brand name to stick by, but I don't know if they have a setup for the 3G Eclipse.  

you have to understand how a car works in order for your mods to make sense to you. I would research your specific vehicle and find out what mods make sense to you.

Me telling you that coilovers is a good idea but not telling you its worthless unless your taking turns at 80mph is a little rediculouse so yeah learn because you knowing whats going on with your car is the most important part.