My good buddy is in the process of building up his N/A 420A? 96 Eclipse. I'll list the parts in a sec. I'm mostly a honda guy, but know my fair share about all cars. Anyway, with his setup I told him he would be lucky to break 200 whp. He thinks much higher, like a minimum of 250whp. His setup is below

Bored .020 over.
Weisco 12.5 to 1 Pistons
Eagle H-beam Rods
Honed Intake Manifold
60 mm Throttle Body (I think is too small)
2.4 Liter Cams
Titanium Springs and retainers
Massive porting on the Intake side of the head, mild on the exhaust side
Pacesetter header (just to start, I say its a waste)
2.25" Cat-back
Still uncertain about injectors
Stock ECU (I told him Stand-alone, or atleast an S-AFC and some dyno time at the least)
O-Ringed Block
ARP Studs and bolts
Lightweight Flywheel
Clutchmasters Clutch

I don't want to hear, "don't waste your time, slap a turbo on it".
Just guesstimates, or suggestions.

Moved from Advanced tech to Perf/Eng

Originally posted by ratt_finkel
Bored .020 over.
Weisco 12.5 to 1
Pistons Eagle H-beam Rods
Honed Intake Manifold
60 mm Throttle Body (I think is too small)
2.4 Liter Cams Titanium Springs and retainers
Massive porting on the Intake side of the head,
mild on the exhaust side
Pacesetter header (just to start, I say its a waste)
2.25" Cat-back
Still uncertain about injectors
Stock ECU (I told him Stand-alone, or atleast an S-AFC and some dyno time at the least)
O-Ringed Block ARP Studs and bolts
Lightweight Flywheel Clutchmasters Clutch

You can't run 12.5:1 on 93 octane without timing control of some sort. Have him buy an MSD or Crane with timing retard.

2.4L cams are worse than 2.0L cams when it comes to breathing at high RPM. Get some Crower stage 2's. Stock anything cams suck ass.

Stock injectors are fine on a stock ECU.

No need to O-ring or ARP anything.. Stock headbolts on a factory MLS gasket will be fine.

Fidanza makes a nice lightweight flywheel.

Originally posted by ratt_finkel
My good buddy is in the process of building up his N/A 420A? 96 Eclipse. I'll list the parts in a sec. I'm mostly a honda guy, but know my fair share about all cars. Anyway, with his setup I told him he would be lucky to break 200 whp. He thinks much higher, like a minimum of 250whp. His setup is below Bored .020 over. Weisco 12.5 to 1 Pistons Eagle H-beam Rods Honed Intake Manifold 60 mm Throttle Body (I think is too small) 2.4 Liter Cams Titanium Springs and retainers Massive porting on the Intake side of the head, mild on the exhaust side Pacesetter header (just to start, I say its a waste) 2.25" Cat-back Still uncertain about injectors Stock ECU (I told him Stand-alone, or atleast an S-AFC and some dyno time at the least) O-Ringed Block ARP Studs and bolts Lightweight Flywheel Clutchmasters Clutch I don't want to hear, "don't waste your time, slap a turbo on it". Just guesstimates, or suggestions.

Not a bad start. I would change a few things.
2.25" is too small for exhaust, go 2.5"
Injectors I'd say a set of 24lber would be good with some tuning.
The pacesetter header is better than stock, but there are better design out there.
He will need some form of fuel management S-AFC, E-Manage, or stand alone.
12.5:1 you'll need some timing control, be it through stand alone or CD box. I do recommend a CD Box added to the list as well.
Stay away from 2.4L cams go with a nice set of Crower 2 or 3 dependsin oh what he's looking to get out of it.

Dyno time will be mandatory to getting thsi all in tune. A datalogger will also be an invaluable tool to monitor fuel injector trims. and other outputs of the car.

Don't bother to o-ring the block it will cause more problems. The MLS gaskets are not designed to crush into groove, o-ringing only works with composite crush gaskets. Have the deck and head checked for flatness and milled is neccessary.

And have you friend sign on and say hi. I always enjoy another all-motor freak.



Exile Racing Technologies: http://www.exileracing.com
una salus victus
It's holding down the garage floor right now.

Thanks for the help guys. The block has already been o-ringed. The copper head-gasket seemed to take the o-rings fine, as you could see where they pressed in to the head gasket.

He has some type of MSD Ignition Retard Box.
Also, a lightweight flywheel and cluchmasters clutch as well.

Who makes a good header for the 420A, and I'll see if I can get him on here.

Oh, he plans on a 150 shot as well on ocassion :) Well, I'm trying to get him to spray that much, he was thinking like a 50shot.

Individual throttle bodies
oversized SS valves (Don't remember seeing that)
Don't just hone the intake mani but bore the shit out of it too.


60mm is pretty much the threshold for our intake manifolds because you already have to ad material around the neck in order to bore the intake port to a 60mm match. If you went 65 or higher you'd need a sheetmetal intake manifold to get the proper match.


Pacesetter headers have fitment issues and really won't help much anyway. Find some sort of long tube header design.

And I didn't see an underdrive pulley in their either.

Good luck with 250na hp. I think you're really gonna be stretching it and spend a TON of money trying to get there. Probably twice what you'd spend to go turbo for the same hp level.

Edit: nm.