DJ's Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX Project

[Mike]

The Autopowers that I've seen are good for high volume models like Civic but are wretched for low volume models like MR2s.

Right, which is why I didn't say to get an autopower bolt-in

[D_Eclipse9916]

Can you feel the scoring on the cylinder walls with your fingernail? It was likely there before you over revved it, and if it ran strong then i wouldnt say its causing any issue - you can still see the cross hatch on the scoring and it looks like fairly normal wear for the use and power it makes. Save the $$ for safety gear, cooling and brakes before tossing a ton of HP into it.

Chromoly doesnt weigh any less than mild steel, the only reason you save weight is that some sanctioning bodies allow a thinner wall tube when compared to a cage with mild steel.

If you want something to build off of for later, then have piper weld in a rollbar - they can finish it into a cage down the road, thats what I did with my integra. Rollbar while doing DE's and driving it on the street, then put the cage in it when it was a trailer queen. Cage tubes near your head while running around on the street isnt the best idea. Also consider the cost of having a good seat mount made, that will run you $200-300 with a slider. They're very easy to work with, and do great work and wont keep your car for weeks on end.

Whats an "8 point" rollbar anyways? 4 is fine (floor/rocker and rear shock tower).

Money is going into safety gear, ive already got good seat mounts and seats (just got momo seats and mounts), harnesses will be going in with the harness bar (obviously need the harness bar before harnesses :lol: ) Braking is done, ive got wilwoods with 13inch by 1.1 rotors, 4-piston forged superlite calipers, ss lines blah blah blah with brake ducting being put in while the car is down. Cooling is also taking care of aside from ducting, ive got a 1-inch thick radiator, external air/oil cooler and working on ducting for that. Also my exhaust is heat wrapped (just got odne with that) and heat shielded. Water pipes and intercooler piping are gonna get heat reflector wrap on them to help combat absorbing heat.

I am hoping thes will help and my main focus is getting bugs worked out and getting the suspension where I want it. I Want the engine reliable and dont want to go back in there for a while, so a good finished build with new seals/bolts/everything is why im doing this.

The roll bars are junk from autopower for my vehicle. I dont mind spending the money if its worth it, but from what ive heard of piper itll be worth it.

[.RJ]

I Want the engine reliable and dont want to go back in there for a while, so a good finished build with new seals/bolts/everything is why im doing this.

Was it not reliable on track before? Just curious...

getting the suspension where I want it

Whats on the car now?

[D_Eclipse9916]

It was, aside from issues that I actually did and this incident (well I guess that can be blamed on me too).

I had an incident where my driveshaft vibrated a little bit (forgot to tighten some of the driveshaft bolts)

Oil leak from valve cover (broke when I was stupid enough to let someone work on my car other than me)

And this incident where there is scoring on the cylinder wall, oil leak, and intake valves bent (which could be blamed on me and my 10,000rpm shift).

Ive always just wanted to go through the car, its a weird thing of mine. Why I said I wanted it reliable, was I dont want to just throw it together to "get it back on track". I want to do it right so I dont have future issues when that scoring turns worse.

The suspension is just on some konis and skunk2 coilovers with RM sway bars. Id like to dial in some more caster, get rid of the hsitty old rubber bushings and higher spring rates. Maybe some adjustable upper control arms and spherical shock mounts later.

[Evan]

a piper bar-only for a miata is $1500, full cage $2500 so its going to be a bit more than that for a bigger car that he doesnt have templates for.

[.RJ]

Rollbar for my integra was $800, FWIW. I bought the car in with the rear half gutted, so they just had to cut & weld. The forward half was another $1700, but 1/3 of that bill was all the misc crap like window net, ecu relocation, dash mounts, window mount, cutting the doors, kill switch, etc. And then the seat mount was $300

Bikes are so much easier :twisted:

[Ginger]

I'm never gutting another car.

Ever.

[Evan]

This was a quote from piper 2 weeks ago. Higher material costs and labor rates now.

[Andy]

Higher material costs and labor rates now.

I told RJ this 2 years ago. He had his car done back when Piper was still in ManAsses. Now with this new baller setup and high demand, his labor rates are damn near double what RJ paid.

1500 for a Miata? Good lord. Did he explain whats so much more gooder than any of the other millions of rollbars?

[Evan]

thats the rear cage section this is the price quote

Cage (parallels and X in the rear)
349 Materials
2,070 Labor (23hrs @90/hr)
30 Miscellaneous
$2,449 Total

Just the Bar (parallels and X in the rear)
176 Materials
1,260 Labor (14hrs @90/hr)
30 Misc
1,466 Total

when I had my cage done 2.5 years ago, Mitch said he had stopped counting when he reached about 120 miata cages done.
That guy is going to retire early off SM

[Andy]

I was paying 70 an hour 2 years ago. At this rate, he'll only accept first borns or hot daughters.

[.RJ]

Wouldnt it be more $$ in labor for a miata rollbar (through the parcel shelf, etc) than in an integra/DSM/etc hatch back?

Building them off of a jig, and then charging the customer the same is making them a lot of coin I bet (note: not bashing... the cage is well worth it).

[D_Eclipse9916]

Well just talked to my friend and he is giving me an okay deal, but its being built by some of the best guys that could ever build a motor.

Looks like im just doing a simple rebuild.
Wiseco Pistons, Eagle Rods, ACL rod and main bearings, hottanked/bored/honed to .20 over and then all assembled for about 1500 bucks. After looking around, prices for the parts are about 990-1100. so that makes machine work around 500 bucks including assembly, which I have found is an amazing deal, at least around here for machine work prices (unless you guys know anyone better?)

[WRXtranceformed]

That sounds like a great price. That should hold up to plenty of abuse too. Maybe have them throw in some bigger head studs in case you want to throw more boost at it? They're relatively cheap.

[D_Eclipse9916]

Oh simple ARP head studs with an oem gasket should be good for 30-32 psi runs...at about 140 bucks for that setup.

Thanks for the comment, I was gonna ask which shop you got yours assembled at.

[WRXtranceformed]

Mine was assembled at GT Motorsports out in Rancho Cucamonga, CA and shipped back to Andrewtech in Gaithersburg for the install.

[Evan]

Wouldnt it be more $$ in labor for a miata rollbar (through the parcel shelf, etc) than in an integra/DSM/etc hatch back?

3 holes...not too time consuming.

measuring and figuring out a car they dont know is going to take a lot more time.

but yeah, they are making bank off SM

[Evan]

Well just talked to my friend and he is giving me an okay deal, but its being built by some of the best guys that could ever build a motor.

Looks like im just doing a simple rebuild.
Wiseco Pistons, Eagle Rods, ACL rod and main bearings, hottanked/bored/honed to .20 over and then all assembled for about 1500 bucks. After looking around, prices for the parts are about 990-1100. so that makes machine work around 500 bucks including assembly, which I have found is an amazing deal, at least around here for machine work prices (unless you guys know anyone better?)

yeah thats a killer deal. i was quoted $1600 just for labor for a bottom end rebuild.
just make sure you are actually getting what you are paying for.
ask kaan about that....

[HAULN-SS]

Yeah, 1500 does sound like a pretty good deal. Do you have a Dial Bore indicator? I'd want to check some of their work..just in case

[CaptainHenreh]

That's a pretty killer deal, DJ. I'd jump on it.