I just figured I'd Ask those Questions.
I've heard all the DSM and 2G Jokes before, "DSM - Doesn't Stop Malfunctioning", "If your CEL or SES Light isn't On, then it's probably Broken too.", etc. but I still Love my Car, and am Willing to keep Dumping Money into it, though I do become Discouraged sometimes.
Just looking for some of your Stories, how much you've Spent, how Long you've Owned your 2Gs, and like, how far you're Willing to go.

So here's my Story First:

When I was 18, I bought my First Car, a 1966 Oldsmobile Cutlass, Four Door, 350 Under the Hood. It was pretty Smooth considering it's Age, and it Drove well. I learned the Basics of Mechanics on that Car, Older Cars seemed so much easier to Work on, lotsa' space in the Engine Bay specifically. I Sold it Last Year because I couldn't Afford to make it what it deserved to be.

I bought a 1998 Dodge Durango the same Year because I Inherited a bit of Cash from when my Father Passed Away, and everyone said I need a more "Reliable" form of Transportation. The rest of the Cash is Paying for my Schooling to become an Electrician. The Truck began to have Problems that Four Different Mechanics could not figure out for the Life of them, and I Sold it soon after, but not before Buying my 2G.

I Bought the Eclipse, a 1998 GS with 165k Miles on it, Auto, for $2500. It Drove Perfect for like Half a Year, then I had to Replace the Tranny. Did that, then I Blew the 420 after Driving from Wisconsin back Home to Chicago in what was like, Half the Time. I had it Swapped Out for a "Newer" 420 that came out of a Wrecked GS. It had roughly 20k Miles on it. Still Runs very well. I also had a Magnaflow Cat Installed, and Bought some 18" Motegi FF7s wrapped in Kumhos. Got some Black Housed Halos, and Swapped Out the Full Interior from a 10th Anniversary GS. The Car was Silver, but it's now Dark Grey Primer because I Removed the Wing, Rear Wiper Assembly, and Antenna, plus took care of a few Rust Spots.

So here's where I'm at right now..

I've had the Car a Year and a Half now, it's got 172k Miles on the Body, roughly 22k Miles on the Engine, and like 3k Miles on the Trans. I'm about $9-$10k out my Pocket, and lookin' at another $5k if I do what I want to, Turbo, Paint Supplies to Paint it Myself, and some Slight Repairs.

What do you all think? And what have you all been through yourselves?

Thanks a lot.

well someone rear ended me in the winter and caused a lot of damage. after the first quote to fix it was over 6k i went out and bought a bunch of parts for it so thet insurance company wouldnt not write it off. I went to a bunch of shops until i found a good one willing to do it for cheaper for most because of some connections my family had with them. It ended up costing the insurance company a bit over 3500 to fix the it. My driveway if full of oil spots because of the mystery leak and i have enough parts in my garage to build another talon if i ever need to. Right now im in the worst situation though, sence the car is in my dads name, and sence he passed away a little bit ago and his house mortgage wasnt insured, the benk might take the cars and the house and sell them, so it sucks not knowing. Ill just have to buy it from the bank if that happens i guess.

My car has 250354 on it, same engine too.

I added a rear sway, power windows/locks, UDP, CAI, and replaced some broken stuff.

I also picked up a set of GS rims that im gonna turn to black.

Im probably at 4k including the car. And it has some dings/scratches. But thats the best part, I only buy stuff for it if its a GREAT deal, and if some hood rat puts a dent in it from a parking lot, I really dont care!

I know people who have WAY more than what you have into it. Just keep going if you like it.

That's Amazing to hear someone has more Miles on their Car than mine. Wow. I don't Plan on Selling my Car, Long Story regarding my Title, Short being.. Within 24 Hours of getting my Car, I got Three Tickets, No Front or Rear Plates, even though the Rear Temp Plate was in the Back Hatch, and No Sticker, that's the only one I really should've got, but since the Stupid Cop didn't see my Temp Plate, they gave me the Tickets on my VIN, and now my Title is back at the DMV or something.. Guessing they want me to come to them to get it so they can stick me with the Fees. Assholes.
But since I'm not Selling it, I wouldn't want to even if I had the Title, don't think I'd get much for it anyways, I just worry about how much I'll actually keep putting into it.
I sometimes get the Urge to Buy another Car, I'm currently looking into Leasing an Evo, but then again.. I really Love my 2G, I see more and more being Parted Out Online, and I can't wait 'til I have one of the few left over. I'm for sure Buying a Bike come Spring of 09', and FWD Cars come in Handy during the Winter here in Chicago, so I guess everything works out. I guess the only real thing that gets me down about my Car is not having a Stack of Money to throw down on it at once, so I have to keep doing little things.

i bought my car for 5k with the turbo kit and everything else done to it. a month later i cracked a ring and my engine rebuild took over 8 months for collecting money. 4k later my car still isnt running too great but it is a dsm and i love it. now im running to rich and have an oil leak. so pretty much 9k into my car. i still refuse to buy a honda

Oh shit...if only the interweb had enough bandwidth for me to type out my dsm story...

Let's just say about $25K out of pocket, plus price of 2 GSX's, 3 motors, crankwalk, rebuilt tranny (twice), wrecked GSX #1, bought #2, it sat for over a year waiting for motor, got motor, broke, fix, broke, fix, broke, fix, broke, so on and so forth, about 8 times before it crankwalked at 4K miles.

Car now sits on jackstands, waiting to be parted out...but I'm having a hard time with parting it, even though I now have an M3 to drive around.

Mine has 168K miles and has been the most reliable vehicle I have ever owned. I bought it 4 years ago with 72k on the clock.

So far I have popped a T-Belt and bent 10 valves. The auto started slipping so I swapped in a five speed and went with a non-modular clutch kit. While I was swapping in the five speed I noticed that all the ball joints on the car were bad. As long as the suspension was completely torn apart I did Prothane bushings all over the car, rear disc brake conversion, and went with RRE upper control arms since I had planned to lower the car at some point in the future. 6 weeks after I started swapping the transmission, the car ran again.

There are other times that the car has been worked on, but they aren't worth mentioning. Nikita has been down about 10 weeks total in 4.5 years though. That's not too bad.

Originally posted by freelancefool
Nikita has been down about 10 weeks total in 4.5 years though. That's not too bad.

I think Malachi has been up maybe 10 weeks in 4.5 years

Everything would be fixed if I had the time and a garage to do the work in. a little more money would help too.

I'm still not giving up. this is the first car I bought 10 years ago and he ran like a top for years even through all the abuse and neglect I put him through.

Originally posted by RoninEclipse2G

Originally posted by freelancefoolthis is the first car I bought 10 years ago and he ran like a top for years even through all the abuse and neglect I put him through.

Damn, you Bought it right off the Lot? Or Used? That's Awesome. I don't think I know anyone who is the 1st Owner of their Eclipse.

I wish. I'm the 2nd owner.

I bought mine new almost 10 years ago, only 67k miles on it, paint almost perfect and it has sat outside all of those 10 years (meguiars 3 step every spring works wonders), something like 450 drag run, a several autocrosses, a couple of bent valves once, and a decent number of mods over the years, but still the stock clutch (hey, it's not slipping so I won't touch it until I have to).

Seeing as how much 'redo' work I do to my Eclipse, I cant seem to let it go.

From 3 paint jobs and 3 motors and now onto my new project, seems as if I am always dumping money into my car.

I get fed up and want to sell it at times,but seriously, working on this car makes me happy and keeps be busy.

Everytime I think about giving up and getting rid of her, I think, what the hell else would I buy? There is nothign out there sexier then a 2g, I dont care what anyone says. Best body style ever created, sexy as fuck.

Thats what keeps this car in my garage.

Originally posted by eclipse982nrRST
Everytime I think about giving up and getting rid of her, I think, what the hell else would I buy? There is nothign out there sexier then a 2g, I dont care what anyone says. Best body style ever created, sexy as fuck. Thats what keeps this car in my garage.

amen to that. that's how I feel exactly

Originally posted by eclipse982nrRST
Everytime I think about giving up and getting rid of her, I think, what the hell else would I buy? There is nothign out there sexier then a 2g, I dont care what anyone says. Best body style ever created, sexy as fuck. Thats what keeps this car in my garage.

Perfectly said. I almost traded in my eclipse last year for a new wrx since it seemed like it was time for something new. It wasnt running the best and had some smoke coming out of the exhaust. I had never rebuilt an engine or done anything so involved so it seemed like the best idea at the time. Long story about why I didnt trade it in but I took it home and pretty much started on it right away and wondering why I would ever think of trading it in. Now it has a freshly(mostly) rebuilt engine by myself and a turbo to be installed very very shortly. I LOVE MY CAR!!!

Originally posted by RoninEclipse2G
I wish. I'm the 2nd owner.

Still. I am probably the 3rd or 4th Owner of mine.
I had to Park in a tight fit last night, my Door wouldn't even Open all the way because it was hitting the Grass. When I pulled away this Morning, I ripped my Door Cap off. Does anyone know where to get those little White Button things? I used one of the Red Ones from the Door Panels on the Passenger Side, and since it's bigger and you have to force it in, it actually holds a lot stronger.

Dealer part. looks like there's 2 kinds, 4-5 smaller ones and 1 longer one per door. I can get em for a buck a piece.

Originally posted by stillettoDSM

Originally posted by RoninEclipse2G

Originally posted by freelancefoolthis is the first car I bought 10 years ago and he ran like a top for years even through all the abuse and neglect I put him through.

Damn, you Bought it right off the Lot? Or Used? That's Awesome. I don't think I know anyone who is the 1st Owner of their Eclipse.

Originally posted by VX100
I bought mine new almost 10 years ago

and I believe Driggs is also the original owner of his talon, so there are a few out there :)

Originally posted by cs82685
I believe Driggs is also the original owner of his talon, so there are a few out there :)

one of the original triplets. is she the only one left? I know KapMyke sold his. don't remember who had the other

Third owner on my turd.

Got it may of last year. I thought it would be a fun, fast project. Boy, was i in for a surprise when i popped the hood directly infront of my friends' gst realizing i couldn't swap motors...

So far i've dropped it, spun a rod bearing, put in a 95 neon block, 97 talon trans, 3 clutches, 1 axle, 3 motor mounts, fart can, intake, mls headgasket, 3 sets of wheels, 2 sets of tires, 3 or 4 radiator hoses, countless stereo installs........

So far i've been trucking 900 miles on my "new" engine. I do about 99.9% of my own work. My other friends who tune cars and used to come over and skate are fucking useless these days.

There have been times i've been behind the wheel and should have been dead but my dsm wants me to suffer instead. FF drift at 90mph up a ditch between a propane tank and an electrical transformer!

I dont really want to sell it (wanted to put forged internals and msns in) but i'm probably moving to boston and it's impossible to take the car. I'll get something fun when i get up there. Maybe a 2g awd, maybe a nissan s14, maybe even a wrx turbo.

We're still getting to know one another and i work on it almost every day but i got the "this is how it has to be" talk and the dsm has to go, probably because i do actually work on it almost every day. Lol.

Used to love mine, but I get tired of taking trips with friends and hearing their turbo VW's blow past me. :(

Originally posted by BigRedMonster
Used to love mine, but I get tired of taking trips with friends and hearing their turbo VW's blow past me. :(

wow, turbo your car and it will make the VW's look like the slow turds they are.

I love mine to death but SOOOO wished I saved up an extra 2 grand or so for the AWD! When I bought my '97 Talon 420a back in January '06 I had absolutely no intention on EVER modding it beyond headers, CAI, and catback exhaust due to the insane cost of anything...I asked around to see if I could find noticeable HP gains for around $400 at one point but when I found out there really weren't any I reverted back to "Oh I'll never mod it...". Well then I got a good deal on a turbo kit while I was at Mobile Dynamics and 3 weeks after I got back from Toronto I took a road trip 6 hours away to Canada and broke my timing belt along with about 8 valves!! My grandpa loaned my dad his F-250 to come pick my car up on a U-haul trailer - that cost me about $400 for rental fees and gas and food! Then I paid my mechanic $950 including parts to fix it and it all went uphill from there....
After he got the head off and did a compression test he found 3 out of 4 cylinders with poor compression and told me that if I turbo'd this engine it would not last long at all....5000 miles was the guess he gave me - and he admitted it was a guess. So at this point I'm faced with either rebuilding the whole motor OR selling the turbo that i had been stoked about for a couple months (I had decided to get the turbo before the deal came along...) well I wasn't about to cheap out now....

$3,295 later I had most of the parts....
$400 later we were about down buying random things at Schuck's during the lengthy rebuild...
and $2500 later I paid my mechanic!
Turbo, DP, Header - $2000
Then it got bad...
200A HO Alternator - $440
Machine shop fees - $800
Towing + Labor fees between 3 different mechanics trying to figure out why my car would not start after everything was put back in only to find out the Crower II's were the "wrong part" as Crower put on the invoice 3 months later - $1100!! Do you think Crower reimbursed ANY of this after we specifically told them about our financial loss and that it was ALL because they engineered the wrong cams (which they admitted; I'm not just accusing them here!) that ended up being 2-3 degrees off thus why the engine wouldn't start after the rebuild.
Megasquirt and 2 sensors - $550
AEM FPR - $190
Gauges + Gauge pods - $514 (5 gauges, 2 pods)
Wideband 02 sensor - $190
Fuel Injectors - $245
New head gaskets, ARP head studs, hi-flo cat, and other random things for the "partial rebuild" next month - $640
IC Piping - $110
Random turbo parts - $125
Boost Controller- $300
Boost Controller switch on steering wheel - $130
Turbo Timer - $70
I'm not sure where it went but that only adds up to $10,385 when it definitely should be closer to $14,000!! Bottom line is I've put about $14,000 into this car so far without counting the $3500 I bought it for and although I HATE that it has cost me that much I'm not about to stop now! I still haven't touched the brakes or suspension....My ultimate plan now is to get this thing up and running smoothly with 300-350hp and then in a few years have enough spare cash to buy something nicer and just use this car for the weekends or something...cause I know there's no way I'm gettin $14k back out of it!!

Labor Day will mark 12 years I've owned the talon. 207k on the chassis, third engine is stock other than an eBay intake and GST cat back. Maybe 160k on this engine now.

I've spent about $12k on it over the years (list on site in sig) plus the $15k I paid for it. Took delivery with 7 miles on it. Still have the window sticker and owners manual with the cards on how to adjust the AC controls.

Most reliable vehicle I have ever owned. Hope to make her look good as new for my next project.

I see no point in building a race car that I will never race. No point now that Mr Bullett rained on my parade. :p Ill probably own the Talon long after this site is gone.

Posted via CrackBerry.

nice double post from the Crackberry Brian :)

I bought my 99 back in 02 with 47K on it, and dove head first into VFAQ!

Now @134K and the ONLY time I am proud to say it has been in a shop is for alignments. 2 T-belt/waterpump jobs, preventative maintenance, and mods I can scrape together on military salary between deployments have been steady by yours truly. Ballpark for the RS mods is probably around $3000 plus the ~9K for what I paid.

And where am I going? Get out of the military, get a daily driver, and start with the motor work on her. Once she was paid off & Squirted I realized I was never going to let her go.

It's all about the $ and how you want to spend it. You spent $2,500 on the car, plus $10k so far, $5k coming up, and if anything breaks after adding the turbo kit you spend another couple thousand dollars on a 170k+ mile car. You might be in your car for about $20k and not have much to show for it unless you plan to keep it for a long time. Would you of rather bought a $20k car at the end of all of this or no. That's the ? to ask yourself.
That's what I did twice going from my 2gnt to VR4 and VR4 to Legacy GT. I wanted something faster I wouldn't have to mod so I bought the VR4 instead of putting more $ into the 2gnt and I bought the Legacy for the reliability after the VR4 starting breaking and I didn't want to deal with it anymore. Now who knows what I want considering I just sold the LGT and started leasing a Corolla S so I'd have some extra cash to buy a toy.

Originally posted by Dualgen2
..unless you plan to keep it for a long time.

Yeah I do. I Love my Car. I Hope to have one of the few Eclipses in the City in the Years to come.