Quick question(s) for you car guys that run Imports

[LordKwiKSilva00]

Aight, heres the deal....I bought a 93 Mitsubishi Eclipse GS 16V DOHC Coupe 2D
5 speed from a friend of mine for 50 bux...needs transmission work...now, should I buy a new transmission or get a rebuilt one??? not sure if the transmission just needs a new clutch, servos(?), or what....Also, the only other problem is that I need to send for a lost title(prolly why i got it so cheap, this car bluebooks beetween 1100 and 3000 bux)...thing is, I am in PA, and the car is from West Virginia...still has WV temp plates on it.... any ideas how to go about that???

Also, any of you guys know the gas mileage on this car??? I had heard in the neighborhood of 27 city/32 highway...not sure if this is right...

Any help ya'll can give me is appreciated...Soopastar, if ya still around, I know you can prolly help with this question :D

[Shyguy]

If I remember the gas mileage on those older (3 generations ago) eclipses were higher than that, at least teh GS anyways, Eagle Talon, Mitsubishi Eclipse, & Plymouth Laser, all the same car, I wanna say it was around 35MPG tops, but then again maybe it was lower. I test drove a 90-94 Talon (forget the exact model & year, but had the 125HP 4 banger in it), one time, with a ATX in it, was a pretty peppy little bugger. also a Plymouth Laser RS (turbo model), one other time as well, damn that thing had balls.

Is it a Salvage car, may need to get a salvage title for it, if the tranny needs to get replaced. Usually most salvage cars I see around here are either totaled out as a result of significant body/frame damage, Engine or Tranny just trashed.

Only reason My 1996 MX-6 had a salvage title was that it was a theft recovery vehicle & the tranny was pretty much gone (would only drive in reverse), had to have the whole thing replaced with a used one, only to have that used one rebuilt from the ground up less than two years later. Nice thing about it was that I am only the second owner of it, first owner was from Illinois I think?

But Soopa should know a lot more about this stuff.

[LordKwiKSilva00]

tnx shyguy...

first off, on the title issue, this car was owned by a guy in WV...was sold to another guy here in PA, but the original owner screwed around and didnt send the title...said he lost it...so the guy gave the car to my friend to get rid of...the car was bought from the original owner in 94 I believe...and now here I am...I know I have to get the VIN number and do a title check on it to see if there is a title for it still current...

[theKing]

Id spend as little as possible till the title search is completed, maybe a tranny removed from a wreck? If you can get it guaranteed to function and make sure it dont leak, or have visable cracks---or, part the car out and make a couple bucks and forget it?

[LordKwiKSilva00]

tranny is already pulled out...its sitting on the floor in the passenger side of the car....

[Shyguy]

how many miles on it?

as King said also, wait till the title stuff straightens out first before spending big money on getting it fixed, also do a Car Fax history check on it, just to be sure incase there are some shady stuff with it in the past. http://www.carfax.com/

[LordKwiKSilva00]

think there is like 65k miles on it...not sure, hafta check with my friend...

[SoopaStar]

Welcome to the DSM community.
The GS is the non turbo and has a smaller transmission than the turbo model. I think you can even bolt a turbo tranny to it. Can you describe what the tranny does? If it is hard to get in gear and grinds, then it is probably the syncros in the transmission. This is VERY common in the DSM world.
The engine in your car is very similar to the 4g63t in the turbo models, except for compression, knock sensor, and tranny parts. Some people ask about turboing them, but it really isn't worth it.
Anyhoo, you can sometimes find a used transmission on the trader (www.dsmtrader.com), or you should easily find one on my work's website: http://www.Car-Part.com.
If you want to get it rebuilt, there are a number of shops that specialize in the dsm tranny, ShepRacing.com (john shephard), TRE (www.teamrip.com). If you are close to the Ohio border, you could also take it to Buschur Racing (Buschurracing.com), but they aren't cheap.
Ordering a new one is probably a bad idea because it could cost you $1500-2500, which is very much not worth it.

Paul

[SoopaStar]

oh, and as for the gas mileage - my turbo 92 (front wheel drive) and my 91 (all wheel drive) both got around 26-28mpg on the highway and 23-25 in the city. My 98 with major upgrades gets 23-25 on the highway and 18-20 in the city :)

[LordKwiKSilva00]

tnx soopa :) knew you could answer my question :P I also now know why Eagle talons look almost EXACTLY like an eclipse :D :D :D

as for what the tranny is doing...I am not sure...I will hafta ask my friend the exact symptoms(?) of it...my first thoughts were the clutch went out when he told me about the tranny bein shot....

[SoopaStar]

eagle talon's look better ;)

[LordKwiKSilva00]

bah, still think the eclipses are better ;)

[SoopaStar]

Nah, 1) you pay more for them because they are japanese 2) the body styling of the talon's is more exciting and 3) they are more rare :)
But aside from some plastic changes on the body, the cars are identical. By the way, if you have problems with the headlights clouding up (common problem for 90's cars) and turning yellow, some company just made some new crystal style headlights that look pretty sharp.

[LordKwiKSilva00]

lol :) i see :)

headlight issues :P oh boy :rolleyes: that reminds me, gotta pop the parking light on the passenger side back into the headlight bezel :D

[JBlostsoul]

yeah Kwik, i have to agree that the first thing you should worry about is the title situation. My brother had some serious issues over it with a motorcycle he bought. As for whether or not to buy a new or rebuilt, he's a mechanic and said the rebuilt trannies are just as good as a new one as long as you get it from a good company.
He has used rebuilt parts in a lot of cars and never had any problems.

Just thought I'd let you know a mechanics opinion.
Hope it helps.

JB

[GohanSSJ]

Personally i think the Eclipse looks great, although i do think they should get a different spoiler, i just don't like the one that is on it, something like this http://www.rhudos.com/AS-GTH56B.merc.jpg

[Shyguy]

The Eclipse He's talking about is like this one, not sure about the color, but, its like this one here.

[SoopaStar]

ugh...gohan i hate those spoilers. why put a big *** spoiler on a car that is fwd? like you need the downforce on the rear wheels. :) Those are nothing like the factory spoiler...and anyone that puts those on the car would have to remove teh factory spoiler anyways.
His car is like my old one:
http://www.92turbo.com/gallery/

Paul

[LordKwiKSilva00]

Tnx JB for the inquiry :)

Gohan, I hafta agree with Soopa on the spoiler, the factory one looks a hell of a lot better :D

Shyguy, my car looks EXACTLY like that, but all black with the pinstriping on the sides/rear :)

Soopa: what kinda price am I lookin at to fix the tranny if it is the synchros???

[GohanSSJ]

ugh...gohan i hate those spoilers. why put a big *** spoiler on a car that is fwd? like you need the downforce on the rear wheels. :) Those are nothing like the factory spoiler...and anyone that puts those on the car would have to remove teh factory spoiler anyways.
His car is like my old one:
http://www.92turbo.com/gallery/

Paul
Well i'm not talking about what's best for the car, but what looks best, anyway the spoiler i was talking about is one of these http://www.freewebs.com/whiro/Mitsubishi-Eclipse.jpg which is standard on a certain eclipses.

Oh and i don't think the spoiler would have to be really big, just different.

[Shyguy]

Gohan, That link just sends you right back to teh beginning of this thread...?

[GohanSSJ]

I see... copy paste it.

[Shyguy]

thats a 2nd gen Eclipse, the one LKS & Soopa have are 1st gens.

[LordKwiKSilva00]

i think the 1st gen spoilers are better than the 2nd...2nd gen are too big and kinda ugly IMO...too flamboyant :p (yes, i used a big word TTwit :D)

[LordKwiKSilva00]

update: found a tranny for the eclipse from a salvage yard...if I pull it, it is 425 bux...if they pull it its 525...the one i found is HERE (http://www.arichnersautoparts.com/)

1992
Transmission
Mitsubishi Eclipse
5SPD,1.8,WORKS GOOD
part number: 008250043
price: $525
Location: A-Richner's Auto Salvage USA-PA(Milesburg) 1-888-572-3428

not sure though if my car is 1.8 or 2.0L w/o turbo...any ideas Soopa??? I know if I get the VIN number I can find all this stuff out...

[SoopaStar]

If you open the hood you can find out. The 1.8l looks tiny in the engine bay. The 2.0l is the 4g63 and will look similar to this:
http://go2fast.net/albums/91EagleAWD/P1010014.sized.jpg
(except since yours is NA, the air can will pipe directly into the throttle instead of dipping down into the turbo like this pic). The 1.8l tranny will not bolt up to the 2.0 l engine.
Gohan - That spolier was only on the 97-99 eclipses. 95-96 had a low profile spoiler similar to the non turbo 97-99 eclipses. It was considered teh 'turbo spoiler' but in 99 they released a sport package that had some 16" OZ wheels and that spoiler for the 10 year anniv. edition.

[SoopaStar]

Oh and DUH on my part. You have the GS. that is a 2.0l non turbo, so you need to find a different tranny.

[GohanSSJ]

i think the 1st gen spoilers are better than the 2nd...2nd gen are too big and kinda ugly IMO...too flamboyant :p (yes, i used a big word TTwit :D)
I agree, of those first ones the spoiler is well simple but nice, it's small so you don't really notice it, but it gives a nice effect.

[LordKwiKSilva00]

damn :( they guy at the salvage yard said that I can bolt up an eagle talon tranny to it also, since its interchangeable(?)

Update: revised my search, found one closer to me for 400 bux plus tax, total of $424...just north of York, PA is where this one is...Bibs auto Inc. has it....guy said it has a little over 100k miles on it, and is in working condition....5SP, 2.0L w/o turbo...they also had a 92 eagle talon tranny with 187k miles on it for same price...

[Shyguy]

Also Look for Plymouth Lasers of those years too, same car, but usually cheaper all around compared to Eagle Talons & Mitsu Eclipses. At least around here anyways, every Laser Ive seen has been quite a bit cheaper than comparable year & model Eagles & Eclipses. Not sure if Tranny's would be cheaper as well?

[LordKwiKSilva00]

I'm gonna call the place tomorrow that I found the tranny and see how much it will cost to ship it to me from where they are around York...shouldnt be much, considering york PA isnt very far south...I have no way of getting down there though to pick it up myself...funny thing is, the Talon tranny they have is same price as the Eclipse tranny....

[jad1097]

Before buying a used tranny get an estimate of what it cost to rebuild the one you have. Even if it is a few hundred more it is worth it IMO.


Before doing anything to that car contact your local DMV and see what needs to be done to aquire a tittle. You may decide it is not worth the effort. The repo man may be looking for it.

[SoopaStar]

If you are searching for the transmission on my company's website, www.Car-Part.com, then it will automatically search for interchangeable parts. EG: if you search for yours, it will bring up the compatible transmission from any vehicle that used the same part for any year, make, or model. I agree with JAD though, check with AAMCO or some other transmission specialist. However, I have a feeling that the cost will be double what you are going to spend on a used one simply due to labor hours.

[LordKwiKSilva00]

Thats what I thought also Soopa...i asked around and a buddy of mine said that if it is the synchros, to get them replaced i will prolly pay around $1200 for the labor/parts all together...big worry now is getting the VIN number to do a title check on the car...

[SoopaStar]

You don't have the VIN? Its on a plate on teh dash board close the the winshield. Should also be in the door jam I think.

[LordKwiKSilva00]

hehe soopa, I know hwere its at, but it doesnt help that the car is sittin 200+ miles from me atm :D

[theKing]

think there is like 65k miles on it...not sure, hafta check with my friend...

Did you find out that there was a previous 100,000 put on it before the 65,000 it shows now?

[LordKwiKSilva00]

not yet, still gotta get ahold of my friend who is selling it to me...if worst comes to worst, I can say the h*ll with fixin it up and take it to a scrap yard and prolly triple my money paid for it(granted I paid 50 bux for it, but if I can get that back and then some, hey :D)