2000 Eclipse GS

Hey. Wuts up. I'm new to the forum, so if I make myself sound really stupid, go ahead and laugh, I don't care LOL.

Anyways, I just need some opinions on what I should do to my car first. I got the eclipse Monday, and I'm planning on either racing it or makin it a show car, I'm just sure which yet. I just need some input on what I should work on first, the interior? The engine? Or the exterior? Like I said, any ideas or suggestions would be a huge help.  

engine and suspension upgrades first.  
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the godfather has spoken

Well you can make anything you want into a show car as long as you have enough money, a garage, and something else to drive around. Also keep in mind that daily driven show cars are more subject to vandalism and harrassment by the police.

As for a racing platform, your car in its current form has little potential, unless you plan on racing other FWD NA cars. Forget about beating any moderately quick v8's or turbocharged cars, short of rebuilding the engine, transmission, getting racing slicks and getting some kind of a turbokit, probably costing in the neighborhood of $10000.

Also for track your car pales due to its FWD drivetrain. You can learn more about why FWD is not good for handling, braking or hard acceleration in this FWD vs AWD vs RWD video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jV18ZBXwwYM  

that was another load of bs brought to you by scrotum sack. now back to people who actually post informative information.

i swear hes like a broken record. the eclipse is a good tuning paltform. hes just pissed that it cost us less money to build our cars then it costs him. just cause they dont make *** for your discontinued motor and car doesnt mean you can talk *** about everyone elses cars.  
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the godfather has spoken

Look, the truth hurts, doesnt it? Here, I will go to the professionals at Edmunds.com and read an unbias'd opinion on the 2000+ Eclipse. Here are a few of my favorite quotes from the review of the 3rd gen eclipse.

"Suffice it to say, the Eclipse isn't meant to be a race car."

"But at the racetrack, the Eclipse's lap times were slower than everything but the power-challenged Cougar. It plowed merciless through the turns, and the front tires took a beating in terms of wear. The Eclipse clearly didn't like us, either. With ambient air temperatures near 100 degrees at the racetrack, it threatened to overheat after just two hard laps."

"Overall, we're not impressed with the Eclipse. For the 20-point evaluation category of this test — the part where each editor rates the car on everything from engine performance to cupholder design — the Eclipse earned an average score of 58.5 percent. Not only is this the worst evaluation score of the six cars, a casual check of other previous comparison tests we've conducted reveals that this is one of the lowest scores any car has ever earned."

"The Mitsubishi might be OK for somebody wanting a comfortable and stylish two-door to punt around in and nothing more. But if that's the case, why not just buy a Toyota Camry Solara? Consider your decision long and hard before settling on an Eclipse."

"Overall, the Eclipse isn't a bad ride for someone who has to deal with poor roads and inclement weather on a consistent basis. But for those looking to keep the sport in their sport coupe, the Eclipse falls short."


So thats the review of the 2000+ 3rd gen eclipse for ya, not really much of a sports car at all, unless your trying to race v6 Mercury Cougar's.  

I think im gna go wit godfather with this one.

And, sircr0tum, if and when i do decide to race, I`m not going to go up against v8`s unless I have no other choice. Ill stick to all 4`s.

And I made this thread to get an idea of what I should do to my car first. Not how bad the car is. trust me I did my research on my eclipse before I got it.

Truth to be told, Im going to listen to people who know what there talkin about. Thanks for the info though from both.  

if you got the money, i suggest an evo 8 or 9 head on the car. the dohc will bring about a higher rev line and more power. alot of parts from the evo 4g63 will bolt onto the 4g64. you can purchase some stronger pistons and rods. a kit to set you up for turbo will run you almost a grand. you can buy turbo headers for the evo and they will bolt onto the 4g64.  for suspension i always go with bilstien struts and eibach springs. they have never done me wrong.  
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the godfather has spoken

i wanted to get a evo 8, but i didnt have the funds. The only thing I was able to afford was the eclipse. Hell, y not, maybe i can prove people wrong by making the car quick as hell.  

No offense, but my turbo 4cylinder probably makes more power than both your 2.4 4g64's combined. But thats because I chose a motor that was built for racing from the factory, not one that needs almost every component replaced in order to be fast.

Ok if you got about $10000 to dump into the motor, transmission and replacing virtually every component of the motor and drivetrain before you can run a decent quartermile time, than go ahead. But short of dumping all that money, YOU WILL NEVER BE FAST. What is good about your car? It runs high 15's stock. My car on the other hand, runs 13.3 stock. So you gotta make up 3 and a half seconds before you can touch what a stock version of my car runs.

What is good about your car for racing? It comes with a non-LSD transmission, its Naturally Aspirated 4cylinder (NA is slower than Turbo/Supercharged/v8 cars for racing FYI) I mean look, if you want to go slow, you picked the correct platform, if you wanted to go fast as hell, than you picked the wrong platform.

YES, there ARE Eclipses out there that are fast, but almost none of them Are NA FWD platforms. Almost all of them, are AWD Turbo Eclipse GSX's. If you go on dsmtuners.com and check out the quartermile section, the top 22 fastest DSM's are ALL non-FWD Turbo 4cylinders, none of them are 3rd gens.

If you want to go fast, I say sell the 3rd gen eclipse and buy a 2nd gen or 1st Eclipse GSX/Talon TSI AWD/Plymouth Laser RS.  

wut u drive sirscr0tum?  

I drive a MR2 Turbo. Its MRWD, comes with 240hp stock and heres video proof of it running 13.3 from the factory.

http://videos.streetfire.net/video/100-StockMk2-MR2-Gen-2-vs_8123.htm  

there some more bs. his mr2 only comes stock with 200bhp. he did a jdm swap which gave him a 240bhp.

i wasnt talking about getting the actual evo 8, just the head from the 4g63 in the car.  
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the godfather has spoken

The motor in my car is completely stock from how it left the factory, but for a few bolt ons. 3rd gen 3sgte MR2 Turbos are pretty common since a lot of them are on their 2nd motors and can easily be had for under 10g's.

The USDM 200hp motor is also a good tuning platform though as well, Jose Rosario ran 11.4@120mph using a USDM 3sgte with just a methanol injection kit and a turbo kit on it.  

ABSOLUTELY IGNORE EVERYTHING SCROTUM-SACK SAYS... he is the biggest liar ever... mr2 turbos are 14.6 from the factory not 13.3... he will show you some Japanese video in Japan, steering wheels on the right side, Japanese audio... and that is suppposed to make me think if i look up in the auto trader, or car dealer...i can find those cars... yeah sure  

My bad, I wasn`t thinking straight that day. As for swapping, im gna stick wit my 4g64. I`ll probably just change a few things.

As for listening to scrotom, again,  ill stick with people who have an idea of what there talking about. I appreciate the opinoins tho.