1998 Mitsubishi Eclipse

GSX Hatchback

2.0L 4 Cylinder Gasoline Fuel Turbocharged

Manual

4A3AL54F3WE059592

All Wheel Drive

Gasoline

Power Windows

I bought this car in March of 2009 from an eBay auction. Rode Amtrak to Orlando and drove the car back to South Carolina (~480 miles) with no issues. Drove it around town for a couple days to show it to friends, then put it up on jackstands to start modifying the suspension for autocross and maybe some road course time (Carolina Motorsports Park is 45 miles away and I had dreams of being a racer). But I never really got finished with the car and it's stayed in my garage for 2 1/2 years, mostly up on jackstands. I charged the battery up today and she started right up after 2 or 3 seconds of cranking. 8/10/11 edit:Added some pics of the interior and one of the DNA Motorsports racing seats installed. I was hoping to gain some headroom with these seats, but they actually sit taller than stock. You might gain an inch back by doing something creative with the mounting, but that would probably just be back to stock height. I'm 5' 11" with kind of a long torso and I felt like wearing a helmet in the car was going to be an issue, hence the so-called "racing" seats. Also note that sunroof cars have about an inch less headroom than non-sunroof cars. It would be best if you'd consider this a project car and plan to trailer it vice drive it home. It's probably perfectly driveable (I drove it around the block today), but there are a few issues to address before it would be safe to drive: 1) The brake lights are on all the time, key in or out. I have the fuse pulled so it doesn't drain the battery. 2) NO SEATBELTS! The previous owner had removed the stock ones from the front and had a Sparco 5-point harness on the driver's side. After I got the seats from eBay which came with harnesses I threw out the old nasty/crusty Sparco. But the new ones mount differently (not to the eyebolts the Sparco used), and I don't know if I'll have time to attach them properly. 3) When I took the stock driver's seat out the back left stud ripped out of the floor instead of the acorn nut coming off of it, and I hadn't fixed that yet. The seat is held down by three bolts and would probably be fine IF there were seatbelts. 4) I hadn't wired up the new radiator fans yet, may not have time to do that but I'll work on at least a temporary fix, even if it's just a jumper to the battery. 5) The brakes need to be bled, there's almost no pedal at all. 6) At various times I was messing with the SAFC, and while I studied up on it, I'd never messed with one before, so it may need some adjustments to ensure the engine is running safely (not too lean).A move to Atlanta is forcing this sale, and also causing me to not have enough time to do the fixes above. We've got movers coming tomorrow and Friday, then we take ourselves to Atlanta Saturday for my new job Monday. I'll keep trying to work on it, but can't make any promises. It may be that the buyer and I tinker with it next weekend if they want to drive it home. Almost forgot the most exciting part when I posted this last night: the ECUs (engine control units) in the 98s & 99s are flashable/programmable using a free program called ECUflash, with datalogging by EvoScan ($25), what the Evo guys are using. You need a $169 OpenPort 2.0 cable from Tactrix. Much cheaper than the $545 for ECMlink (used to be called DSMlink), and arguably easier and more versatile. I pulled the ECU from this car and it's one that can be flashed. For full details see ceddy.us, or the thread "First Flashed DSM ECU! (98/99 Flashing FAQ)" on DSMtuners dot com. Here are the mods that were listed in the auction I bought it from. I've no reason to doubt that they're in the car, but I'll note the ones that I know are there: HKS 264 intake cam, HKS 272 exhaust cam HKS dual valve springs, Ferraa titanium retainers, Ferrea valves [never had the valve cover off, so can't attest to any of these parts] Super 20G turbo [probably Hahn Racecraft, but no markings on it I could decipher; they claim it's good for up to 450HP] Injen intake [pictured], 2.5" O2 housing [pretty sure it's there], Anchor downpipe [probably there too] GReddy front-mount intercooler [there's a honkin' FMIC on the car, but can't say I saw GReddy anywhere on it, not that I looked either] GReddy intercooler pipes, GReddy blowoff valve [see picture], GReddy boost controller [see picture] GReddy turbo timer [took this off the car, but still have it and it goes with] GReddy boost gauge, GReddy Exhaust Gas Temperature gauge [note that the temperature probe doesn't want to stay screwed into the exhaust manifold, like the hole is stripped] GReddy coolant lines 880 cc injectors HKS carbon titanium cat-back exhaust [it's there] Apexi S-AFC Super Air Flow Converter [pictured] Shep-built transmission [nothing to really go by on this one, but RTV on the transmission case suggests it's been opened up] Fidanza flywheel [again, haven't seen this] Gator axles [these are there, but don't know what Stage] [And I'll add this: the seller, a car dealer who'd bought it from a friend, told me it had limited-slip differentials in it. Don't know if it would've been front, rear, center (not likely), or all three, but she's a bear to maneuver at low speeds, almost like the wheels are locking up if you're turning sharp to park, so I'm guessing that's what LSDs would feel like at low speed. With the car on jackstands I could turn one wheel and the opposite wheel would go the opposite way, not what a clutch-type LSD would do, but a Quaiffe would from what I've read, and the seller knew that it started with a Q, based on what the friend had told him.] [Another data point for drivetrain stuff: as I was about to leave with the car the seller told me the ex-owner said he was crazy for selling the car for 5200, that "the transmission is worth more than that". Now back then a Stage 3 (their highest/best) Shep-built tranny was only about $1900, but if you count the axles and any LSDs then you might be getting close to that figure. So anyway, I'm not saying that any of this drivetrain stuff (besides the axles) is in there, I'm only relaying what I was told.] AEM Big Brakes in front [See pic showing drilled and slotted AEM rotor. That's all I know about this one; the calipers look stock but could be bigger, have nothing to compare them to] H&R race springs [replaced these with coilovers, discussed below] KYB AGX adjustable shocks [pictured] Racing Hart CP-35 18" wheels [These are beautiful wheels and just need to be cleaned up. High-dollar wheels back in the day. Note that they say they're for competition use only and not for street use. No center caps when I got the car, and in March I emailed eWheelz.com, which carries Racing Hart, and they said there were no center caps for these wheels.] Nitto NT555 tires in 235/40ZR18 front and rear Body kit, custom paint, PIAA 80 watt fog lights Carbon fiber hood (faded, needs to be refinished) Here's the stuff I've added to the car: Ground Control coilover kit (mounted on the KYBs, replacing the H&R springs that came on the car) RM Racing rear sway bar (I have the front bar too, bought as a set, but 1) the front bar is a bear to get out on these cars, and 2) the consensus is that you don't want a bigger bar in front; in fact a lot of folks disconnect the front bar entirely. But the new one goes with the car and you can decide) Energy Suspension Master Set (This is where I got demoralized with this car, putting these stupid bushings in. I've done two Datsun Z-cars and they were relatively easy, but on these cars it's hard (read some of the forums and you'll see). Probably less than half the bushings are installed, the others still in the box. Good luck to you if you attempt it.) Megan Racing short shifter (see pic), Symborski shifter kit that stiffens up the shifter mount to the car New OEM dipstick eBay aluminum radiator and two electric fans (Mounted these in a push/pull arrangement so the one fan wouldn't be too close to the hot turbo. Still have the original radiator and fan, nothing wrong with it, just wanted the thicker core.) Goodridge stainless steel brakeline kit (I've done the two fronts; the hoses for the rears will go with the car) NGK BPR7ES spark plugs, gapped to 0.028", NGK plug wires (nothing wrong with the old set, and they'll go with the car) Moroso battery box installed in the rear of the car, and the negative cable, but that's as far as I got. I've got some heavy wire (0 gauge? Maybe 2), terminal ends, distribution blocks, a 200 amp breaker, a fuse, and a Moroso battery disconnect switch I was going to mount behind the license plate to be legal at the drag strip. The battery is still in the front of the car, you'll have to finish the relocate if you want, but you should have all the parts. Aluminum "racing" pedals that say Turbo on them. Yeah, they're rice, but they were the only aluminum pedals I could find. $79 for those stupid things. The footrest plate is still in the box because the car didn't have a foot rest and I was going to have to scrounge/make mounting posts. Not added yet, but goes with the car: eBay racing seats, eBay seat brackets (Did not fit at all, but I've got one modified to fit. Will put the seat in the car and add a pic.) McGard chrome/gold SplineDrive lug nuts with locks (not on the car yet but will try to put them on and post pic. See them on Amazon, McGard 65557GD.) STM fuel pump re-wire kit Stainless clutch line, master to slave Shifter bearing kit, goes where the two shifter cables attach to the trans. EGR and FIAV blockoff plates from Level Zero Motorsports Extended clutch pushrod (when I got the car the clutch engagement was nearly at the floor, so I bought this thing, but since then I've adjusted the clutch travel under the dash and think I've fixed it) New Mitsubishi emblem and 2.0 emblems I thought would be cool to stick on the car ("You've only got 2 liters?!", says the Mustang guy, only to get flogged by that sweet DSM power.) For the mileage, the original auction said, "Miles are unknown as cluster has been changed, but previous owner stated it is not more than 65k." You should see the mileage discrepancy in the Carfax or whatever report eBay adds, or I've got an AutoCheck I ran on the car and could forward it to you. I've put less than 600 miles on the car.Air conditioning wasn't working when I got it, so I removed the condenser coil and lines to/from the compressor. The compressor's still there because as you may know, it's hard to get to. Evaporator coil is still under the dash too. No radio in the car when I got it. I removed the rear wiper and its spray pump and reservoir, but still have all those pieces. There was an alarm system in the car when I got it (Python?) but I didn't like it and didn't know how to work it so I yanked it out, but man that thing had wires going everywhere. I think it was during that process that I snipped one too many wires and now the driver side power window doesn't work, nor can you do the passenger side window from the driver's side (but you can do it from the passenger side, so I think I've just interrupted the wiring from the driver's door). Please ask any questions you have and I'll try my best to answer them, but with this caveat: I'm moving to Atlanta Saturday so after then I won't be able to look at the car for anything specific. I'll be back here in SC the weekend the auction closes to meet the buyer or whatever. If you can't come that weekend then the following weekend would be fine too, but it can't be during the week. If you win this auction I won't hold you to it if you get here and determine the car isn't what it was represented to be. Here I'm mainly thinking about the valvetrain and drivetrain. If you want to pop the valve cover and we find stock parts then I'll let you out of the deal. Or if you don't think the transmission's been built then that's an out too. But remember I'm not stating that there are Quaiffe LSDs in the car; that'll be a bonus if there are. Look over the pics carefully. Note the dent in the left front fender: the closeup makes it look bad but it's really not that bad, as you can see in the other shots. I never took the fender liner out to try, but I bet it would pop out. Note the scrape mark where the driver's door closes because it's sagging a little. Also the passenger side mirror has some scrapes, I think from kid's bikes in the garage. And the outside handle on that door is broken, but it still opens from the inside. The sunroof works, but the shade thing needs to come out, it just looks awful. I think part of it is missing because it doesn't cover the whole sunroof, and the fabric is dangling from it. That's it, good luck!