A 99 GSX came in on trade at my work and given the price I couldn't say no...

It's a one owner car with 63k miles.  Car is stock, other than an old school greddy/trust intake and exhaust.  No boost controllers, freebie mods like cut bov pipe, removed boost solenoid restrictor, etc... so the car is unmolested too.  The big downside is it had crankwalk at one point and they put a reman motor in and it has a cut crankshaft. I pulled the bottom end apart and the bearings look good and the crank play is within spec.  However, I don't trust it long term.

After talking with a couple knowledgable people, it sounds like a 4G64 crank swap would make for a very fun, more reliable street car.  I'm thinking 4G64 crank and a set of the "2.3L" pistons, retap for 1g oil squirters, etc... I plan to upgrade the injectors, fuel pump, downpipe, etc.. all before doing this as well.  That stuff is easy.

I'm having trouble deciding on the turbo setup though.  Right now it's stock and way too small, so I know I want to change it out asap. I was initially planning on the EVO III turbo because it's inexpensive and drops right in, but I'm afraid once I upgrade the bottom end, it'll be too small.  Being a Nissan guy, I'm more familiar with garretts lineup, should I look for something like a GT30 instead? 

I'd like something very streetable with a useable powerband and preferably something that won't break the bank.  I don't need a dyno queen or E85/race gas monster, just something fun with a good, streetable powerband.

Thanks!

Yea, the Evo III 16g turbo on a stroked 4g motor is going to be too small, unless you are going for full spool at 2800!
Yes, Forced Peformance has the best bolt on turbos for DSM's. One of my favorites for a 2g, it's older technology but it put's it down;
(darn, link doesn't work)  but maybe look into the FP Green for DSM's/2g
How much power are you going for? What's the car going to be used for?

Posted By Eric Hsu on 04-14-2010 01:50 AM
I have an ultra low mileage 4G64 OE crank. I may even have rods and pistons, but I have to look around. Let me know if you're interested.

Yes, I'm definitely interested.
 

Posted By Laurence on 04-14-2010 10:13 AM

Yea, the Evo III 16g turbo on a stroked 4g motor is going to be too small, unless you are going for full spool at 2800!
Yes, Forced Peformance has the best bolt on turbos for DSM's. One of my favorites for a 2g, it's older technology but it put's it down;
(darn, link doesn't work)  but maybe look into the FP Green for DSM's/2g
How much power are you going for? What's the car going to be used for?

My plans for the car are to make it a fun, reliable street car.  I have a ~300whp Z (07 HR motor w/ a few bolt ons and ecu tune plus flywheel, gears, etc...) and it's a lot of fun, but I don't like daily driving it because I hate to see it get beat up.  I'd like for the GSX to exceed the peformance of my Z.  I don't want a dyno queen or anything super fancy that needs race gas or E85 to run well daily.   If I had to throw out a number, I'd probably guess somewhere around 350-400hp would be more than enough.

It looks like the 18G, 68HTA or FP green all would fall in range with what I'm looking for and probably offer more than enough overhead as well.

Thanks!

Posted By Justin McClanahan on 04-14-2010 11:37 PM

Posted By Eric Hsu on 04-14-2010 01:50 AM
I have an ultra low mileage 4G64 OE crank. I may even have rods and pistons, but I have to look around. Let me know if you're interested.

Yes, I'm definitely interested.
 

$400 shipped as long as you're in the continental USA. It is an genuind Mitsubishi 100mm 7 bolt crank. This is not a made in China Eagle piece of shit. It has also been balanced to 1g. It just needs to be cleaned and then its ready to run.

350+ on cheap gas!  Yes!  I only know of one turbo that fits that bill.  This was a turbo I always wanted to experiment with , but it's not ball bearing, it's on the slow spooling side, but on a stroker it will eat 91 oct all day.  50 Trim to the rescue!  This, some decent cams, springs in the head, simple bolt ons... and you have a 99 reflashable ECU!

Oh It's a wrap!  I'm so jealous, you will be embarassing Evo's daily.

Scroll down to PTE SCM50;

http://www.roadraceengineering.com/eclturbos.htm

This helped me out back in the day too;

http://www.roadraceengineering.com/2gupgradepath.htm

... and some info on the ECU;

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/tun...g-faq.html

Damn it I miss my old 2g...

Posted By Laurence on 04-15-2010 11:24 AM

350+ on cheap gas!  Yes!  I only know of one turbo that fits that bill.  This was a turbo I always wanted to experiment with , but it's not ball bearing, it's on the slow spooling side, but on a stroker it will eat 91 oct all day.  50 Trim to the rescue!  This, some decent cams, springs in the head, simple bolt ons... and you have a 99 reflashable ECU!

Oh It's a wrap!  I'm so jealous, you will be embarassing Evo's daily.

Scroll down to PTE SCM50;

http://www.roadraceengineering.com/eclturbos.htm

This helped me out back in the day too;

http://www.roadraceengineering.com/2gupgradepath.htm

... and some info on the ECU;

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/tun...g-faq.html

Damn it I miss my old 2g...

Mike was right, this forum is awesome!  After doing a little more research, I may have been overshooting the pump gas numbers a bit.  Damn rice math!     Though I found out the gas station around the corner from my work is getting E85, so maybe that'll be a possibility down the road...  That turbo looks interesting.  It looks like it'll put down good pump gas numbers and still allow overhead for an E85 tune down the road.  Thanks for the info! 

Also, the few people I know here in AZ with EVO's have built cars that would make me look silly, even if I made a LOT more power.  I believe Tony's most recent dyno was around 650hp.  On the upside, they're all very familiar with the motors and they have also been a great help so far. 

Thanks!

You're welcome. 

Bah!  Dyno shmyno.  Does he drive it everyday?  I doubt it.

Look silly in an Eclipse?  Never.  Evo's are ugly.  I know, I have one and it has never gotten a second look from a female.  The 2g on the other hand will get you action; I know I used to have one.  Now who looks silly?

Damn I miss my 2g.

Posted By Justin McClanahan on 04-15-2010 10:14 AM
That sounds good to me. I'm in AZ, so shipping shouldn't be too bad. Is paypal ok, or do you prefer something else?


Thanks!

Trying to PM you, but this forum requires that we are friends first. If you approve my request for friendship, I'll send you some details.

Eric,

Not doubting your experience but I've seen several DSM style rockers bust, especially at high RPM's (though I suppose he wouldn't be seeing too much of that with a stroker) but have never seen a broken evo roller rocker. It's a pretty common upgrade in the DSM community actually.

Stroker motor's have quite a few quirks actually... Many seem to crack the crank even at modest hp levels around the #4 filet/journal. They've been known to back out flywheel bolts, and the pistons (if you go the forged route) seem to crack pretty easily since they have the nice short skirts. That's a lot of trouble to deal with if you're just aiming for 350hp which can be had with a few bolt-ons and a 16G I have both a built 2.3l and a few built 2.0l 4G63 motors and those are just some of my observations. Anyways it looks like it's a done deal, enjoy the torque

Posted By Eric Hsu on 05-03-2010 11:26 PM
Too late. The crank is probably going to be at Justin's door tomorrow.

I agree that 350whp can be attained with a 2.0L easily, but it can be done even easier with a 2.3L. On top of that, the extra off boost torque and driveability doesn't hurt either. If you can light up X sized turbo at 3500rpm with a 2.0L it's always going to spool sooner with a 2.3L also. You can also run bigger cams to broaden the powerband even further and not reduce any off idle driveability either because of the added displacement. In a street car that doesn't live at high RPM like a road race car, a long stroke isn't detrimental either.

A junkyard 2.4L can have a questionable past. Actually it's always questionable at a junkyard unless you knew the previous owner of the car but that's unlikely. To take a day off, go to the yard, pull an engine out getting dirty as hell in the process, taking it home, cleaning the block, taking it to the machine shop only for them to tell you that the block has a hairline crack in it would suck big time. Sure not every block at pick-a-part is cracked, but you certainly run the risk of getting a POS motor at any junkyard and there's no way for you to find out until it's generally too late. Some people enjoy this kind of time consuming activity, but I'd rather work with something I know isn't going to have problems (a block with a known past).

I agree with the EVO cylinder head makeover except with the EVO roller rockers. The Eclipse rockers are forged steel while the EVO rockers are stamped steel. They are both the same ratio so you might as well keep the stronger Eclipse rockers.