With the few people that still pass through this forum getting all nostalgic, allow me to raise something else that was left for dead. Here's a hint, it came from a whale. Check out the new wiki article:

EDZ block install solutions

Holy crap man, this is awesome! I'm glad I'm not the only one out there keeping the dream alive! GREAT article to read and I'd love to know more about the ELDS setup you built.

I'm super curious to know what all was done to that motor and what you found when you tore it down. I was around when it was originally built and that shop did a bunch of shady shit to get it out the door.

Duuuuude. That's so freaking cool. I LOVE IT.

So much respect.

Appreciate it. I wanna keep the ball rolling and continue to move forward on the build.

Originally posted by DarkOne
I'm super curious to know what all was done to that motor and what you found when you tore it down. I was around when it was originally built and that shop did a bunch of shady shit to get it out the door.

Thanks man! It actually sound like you know more about it that I do. Originally, I was shipped the assembled shortblock, a stratus oil pan that had baffles welded in, and some small odds and ends that I wish I could remember what they were. I ditched the stratus pump, sold the pan, and began the teardown. Immediately I found scoring on at least one cylinder wall, so I took the empty block to the machinist who informed me I should look for another one. Unfortunately, I can't remember anything else that stood out. Wasn't the shop that did the build ARD? If I remember correctly, they're the ones who directed me to Polymer Dynamics. What else can you tell me about it?

Originally posted by DarkOne
I'd love to know more about the ELDS setup you built.

I dug up a few more pics. I began by installing the intermediate shaft to see how I could mount it. There was one boss that was at a height that I needed, so I cut a piece of cardboard to see where else it could mount. As you'll see in the pics, I originally wasn't gonna use the knock sensor mount, but figured it would add strength since the shaft mounts so close to it. After finalizing the design in cardboard, I was just left with turning it into steel and finding spacers to level it out. The only change to the mount from the last pic was to lop off that chunk above the top edge of the mounting arm, and round off the corners(which you can kinda see in the second to last pic). I was able to complete it with a NOS OEM passenger axle for the setup on ebay.

Originally posted by DirtMegirt

Originally posted by DarkOne I'm super curious to know what all was done to that motor and what you found when you tore it down. I was around when it was originally built and that shop did a bunch of shady shit to get it out the door.

Thanks man! It actually sound like you know more about it that I do. Originally, I was shipped the assembled shortblock, a stratus oil pan that had baffles welded in, and some small odds and ends that I wish I could remember what they were. I ditched the stratus pump, sold the pan, and began the teardown. Immediately I found scoring on at least one cylinder wall, so I took the empty block to the machinist who informed me I should look for another one. Unfortunately, I can't remember anything else that stood out. Wasn't the shop that did the build ARD? If I remember correctly, they're the ones who directed me to Polymer Dynamics. What else can you tell me about it?

It was a long time ago, so not much. I remember it had a healthy overbore on it and according to the shop, an stroker crank (offset-ground and welded) and custom rods. I remember nothing about the coatings, except that those dudes loved to coat everything they touched.

I want to say that they reused all the 2.0L brackets by welding tabs onto them, or drilling holes through them, and they broke several times. I remember it had a Stratus oil pump on it and maybe a Venom or OBX intake manifold. Think it was on stock cams. I want to say the original fuel system on it was pretty inadequate (some giant pump, a 1:1, and like... 440's maybe)?

This would have been back in 2003/2004 time frame, maybe? I saw it on the dyno once but don't remember the numbers. I had just blown up my 2.0L motor and was reasonably distracted.

After Brynden sold it, I remember Hujjat had it and tried to keep it together, and I remember something about it being in or at a shop and getting burglarized in a parking lot and a lot of things stolen off the car. I know it bounced around for a while and I think someone here at 2GNT (you?) eventually bought the chassis, but I didn't know / didn't remember what happened to the motor.

Originally posted by DarkOne
It was a long time ago, so not much. I remember it had a healthy overbore on it and according to the shop, an stroker crank (offset-ground and welded) and custom rods. I remember nothing about the coatings, except that those dudes loved to coat everything they touched.

This is part of the printout I received from JE. I still have it, so I'll have to dig it up to post the full sheet. According to the EDZ fsm, the stock bore is 3.444" and the stock stroke is 3.976". So that makes the overbore 0.056"(1.4mm), and the added stroke 0.149"(3.78mm). I believe the machinist I took the rotating assembly to told me the rods spec'd out to stock 4g63, so I think they were forged Eagle's for that engine.

Originally posted by DarkOne
I want to say that they reused all the 2.0L brackets by welding tabs onto them, or drilling holes through them, and they broke several times.

I can't provide any info because I didn't receive any mounts.

Originally posted by DarkOne
I remember it had a Stratus oil pump on it and maybe a Venom or OBX intake manifold. Think it was on stock cams. I want to say the original fuel system on it was pretty inadequate (some giant pump, a 1:1, and like... 440's maybe)?

I do remember receiving the Stratus pump, and moving it along once I made the decision to use the SRT oiling setup. Like I mentioned in the wiki article, I only bought the bottom end, so I can't comment on the rest. I think the head had already been sold or parted.

Originally posted by DarkOne
This would have been back in 2003/2004 time frame, maybe? I saw it on the dyno once but don't remember the numbers. I had just blown up my 2.0L motor and was reasonably distracted.

Understandable.

Originally posted by DarkOne
After Brynden sold it, I remember Hujjat had it and tried to keep it together, and I remember something about it being in or at a shop and getting burglarized in a parking lot and a lot of things stolen off the car. I know it bounced around for a while and I think someone here at 2GNT (you?) eventually bought the chassis, but I didn't know / didn't remember what happened to the motor.

I don't know Hujjat, but what I do remember is that a member by the name of Whoodat(same person??) had it running and had some dyno numbers, but ran into some insurance issues which forced him to sell it. I believe the member I bought it from, pghsebring(??), bought it from Whoodat.

Originally posted by DirtMegirt
I don't know Hujjat, but what I do remember is that a member by the name of Whoodat(same person??) had it running and had some dyno numbers, but ran into some insurance issues which forced him to sell it. I believe the member I bought it from, pghsebring(??), bought it from Whoodat.

Yeah, same guy. Hujjat / Whodatt / Hugeass ... Nice dude. He put corn stalks in my bed one year at the Shootout. Wonder whatever happened to him.

Originally posted by DirtMegirt
I believe the member I bought it from, pghsebring(??), bought it from Whoodat.

Sounds right. I bet if we searched the board, we could find a post or two about all of these events...


*edit*

Huj update on it... https://forums.2gnt.com/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=60&topic_id=24681&mode=full

Ah ha, Graph-X bought the shell. I'd _completely_ forgotten about that! https://forums.2gnt.com/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=60&topic_id=24495&mode=full

Man. Reading all these old threads is mind blowing. So much stuff I'd forgotten about. So many good memories.

Good lookin' on those old threads Dino. I'm sure that's where I got most of my info, but it was still cool going through them again. As promised, here's the spec sheet I received from JE. Don't know if there's anything more we can garner from its contents...

This thread brings up fond memories of builds. Awesome work man. Look forward to seeing a video of it starting up!

Originally posted by ez
This thread brings up fond memories of builds. Awesome work man. Look forward to seeing a video of it starting up!

Thanks ez, and here you go:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3fIvkHrUI8

Originally posted by DarkOne
I had just blown up my 2.0L motor and was reasonably distracted.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! (From the guy who crowdfunded that dyno session.)

Originally posted by DarkOne
After Bryden sold it, I remember Hujjat had it and tried to keep it together, and I remember something about it being in or at a shop and getting burglarized in a parking lot and a lot of things stolen off the car. I know it bounced around for a while and I think someone here at 2GNT (you?) eventually bought the chassis, but I didn't know / didn't remember what happened to the motor.

Damn, dude. It feels like we were just talking about this yesterday. And I can still remember seeing Shamu in person for the first time. I think the pictures are still up in the Shootout sub. Handful of cars in a random, Illinois parking lot. (Wasn't that also the year we met for the first time, D? Cereal5 picked me up at O'Hare and delivered me to Bitch Hands' parents' place.

God. We were such children back then.

Originally posted by DarkOne

Originally posted by DirtMegirt I don't know Hujjat, but what I do remember is that a member by the name of Whoodat(same person??) had it running and had some dyno numbers, but ran into some insurance issues which forced him to sell it. I believe the member I bought it from, pghsebring(??), bought it from Whoodat.

Yeah, same guy. Hujjat / Whodatt / Hugeass ... Nice dude. He put corn stalks in my bed one year at the Shootout. Wonder whatever happened to him.

I like to think he got in with Bucknutty and they're still partying out there somewhere with Hester's mom.

In any case, Mr. Megirt, I don't know how much we interacted back in the day, but for the record, I think what you're doing/have done here is legendary. We cut a lot of teeth on this board. So many lives changed for the better by "wasting time" on the company dime 20 :whoa years ago. Seeing this lump back up and running—perhaps better than at any point in its life—is damned inspiring. Kudos to you, sir.

Originally posted by DR1665
In any case, Mr. Megirt, I don't know how much we interacted back in the day, but for the record, I think what you're doing/have done here is legendary. We cut a lot of teeth on this board. So many lives changed for the better by "wasting time" on the company dime 20 :whoa years ago. Seeing this lump back up and running—perhaps better than at any point in its life—is damned inspiring. Kudos to you, sir.

Thanks Driggs. Our only interactions would've been through this forum. I've never been to a shootout or any other get-togethers. The work that you OG's put in back then has helped me immeasurably since I've been a member though. Your second-to-last sentence is a bit depressing with the update I'm about to provide...

What a difference a year makes…

Since my last post, a lot has happened, some good and some bad. Let’s get the bad out of the way first. Unfortunately, the 2.6L is down. In February, I had everything buttoned up and was out on the road attempting to seat the rings when a massive failure occurred. I was making pulls on the highway through certain rpm ranges, actually decelerating after the final one, when I noticed the temp gauge reading very hot. I shifted into neutral and coasted off the ramp to a stoplight, hoping that if I wasn’t “on” the engine, it would cool down. As I was attempting to get back to a safe spot to pull over, smoke (or what I thought was) began pouring out from under the hood. Finally finding a parking area, I pulled in and shut her down. After a once over of the engine, nothing stood out as being out of place. She was still holding oil, and the coolant hoses were still attached and in one piece. For some reason though, she was very low on coolant and had released some onto the engine, mostly the firewall side. The first of a handful of hastily made decisions was to top off the coolant and attempt to limp her home. I got about halfway there, and when I finally switched the car off it sounded like it was knocking on death’s door.

The next day, I made the decision that if the car started, I was going to get it back home no matter how slow I had to go and no matter how long it took, which was a success, only from the perspective of me now being able to fully get to the bottom of the matter. Looking at the engine in a much more systematic way, I began to check every point that coolant could be released from and sure enough my eye caught the twinkle of shiny metal between the passenger side of the head and the inner timing belt cover. This shine was coming from the inner side of the large core plug that was supposed to be enjoying life pressed into the head keeping coolant where it needed to be, however was now vacationing in the small pocket having ridden the wave of gushing coolant after vacating its post.




I have to admit that I took certain things for granted when I received my remanufactured head, and the installation of the core plugs was one of those things. Fortunately, when I received the head, I took some pics to document its condition. I went back through them to see if anything looked different between the passenger and driver side. While I didn’t see anything to set them apart, something did stand out overall, the depth with which they were pressed in. Since I had been in the process of swapping this engine for many years, I remember CODE4 having posted pics on 2gnt of his head assembly, and thankfully they were still there. Clear as day you can see the plugs pressed into his head were resting much deeper than the way mine were installed.




Once, I got the engine out of the car and removed the timing components, I was able to clearly see the carnage. I was heated, and more questionable decisions were to follow. I removed the plug on the driver’s side of the head as well (just to be safe), and reinstalled new oem plugs following the fsm instructions. I then got the engine back in and was in the process of filling the coolant when another issue arose. Now, coolant was puking from the filler neck. A blown head gasket or warped head was probably letting cylinder pressure into the coolant passages, so again, out came the engine. A new gasket was applied, but still the same result. Out again, and at this point I am fuming.





With this information, I contacted the shop that did the work, laid out the details, and made them aware of my expectations of receiving a replacement head. They fought me tooth and nail, and initially denied my request. It wasn’t until I argued that, because they chose not to use the oem plug and not drive it to the oem depth, that it letting go could not be attributed to anything that I did, and that they were lucky I wasn’t pressing for money for the additional damages (we’ll get to that in a bit) that the failure may have caused to other parts of the engine. I fully realize the last bit would’ve been mostly in vain because I had to understand my part in the condition of the engine because of my decision to limp it home rather than have it towed. Finally they accepted responsibility, and the head was on its way to Los Angeles to get a fresh sealing surface, on their dime, however only after another battle as to who would be responsible for shipping charges! One thing that I made clear, and was agreed upon with the shop manager, was that I wanted the oem plug and install procedure used. I even offered to send the oem plugs with the head, but they said no and assured me they would take care of it. After a few weeks, I received the head, and sure enough, the same plugs driven to the same shallow depth were staring me right in the face. So again, I had to pull them and replace.



New gasket again, got the engine back together and back in the bay. I wanted to check the sealing of the head gasket before I went ahead with the last steps before turning it over, so I did a compression test. Another issue that I encountered was that the testing hose wouldn’t thread into cylinder 4. A spark plug would, but because of the stepped nature of the treads on the testing hose, the threads weren’t complete enough for it to grab. So the head was going to have another round trip to the shop for a thread insert, SMH! So, I continued with the install, then started it up, and immediately heard a noise I hadn’t heard before. IIRC, the sound went away when I would rev the car, so I thought it was something simple. I guess it was because I was able to narrow it down to cylinder 1. Off came the oil pan and as soon as I cracked the rod end, I could see the condition of the bearing. Once I had the engine out AGAIN, and a better view, I could clearly see that the bearing spun. Due to these setbacks, and how close I was to having the build complete, I rushed my decisions and failed to check basic yet vital things, instead having tunnel vision probably because I was so furious over the ineptitude of the shop I bought the head from. After seeing the condition of the rod bearing, I looked closer at the oil pan and was greeted with glitter. I should’ve at least reconnected the stock oil pressure sensor, so I could have some insight on oil pressure. Oh well, you live and learn, sometimes the hard way. At this point, I decided to tear the block completely down and take the crank to a shop for their opinion.

I believe that I was beginning to let my desire to get the car back on the road, cloud my judgment as far as how to handle these setbacks. I made the decision that I needed to take it slow, so I shelved the 2.6 project so that I can give it the attention that I would like. As far as the Eclipse, and all the work I’d accomplished to accept the EDZ block, I wanted to keep that momentum going, so I got my hands on another 2.4 and stripped it down to just the rotating assembly. Flipped the pistons 180 degrees, new rod bearings and bolts, and just needed the head to top it off.




Speaking of that, I tried my best to anticipate any issues that could arise during the procedures that the head needed each time it was returned to the shop who sold it to me. The last visit, which was for the thread insert, I figured that shavings might get into the head, so I asked the shop manager to clean it once the work was finished, which he assured me would be the case. Shame on me for actually believing anything he told me because once I got it back, sure enough multiple shards of aluminum were laying here and there throughout the casting. I included this info just to let anyone know who may be looking for a remanufactured head, to understand that if you deal with ADV Cylinder heads out of Los Angeles, you may not only receive the head but also some headaches.
With that out of the way, the engine is in and I am now in the process of buttoning everything up. This time I plumbed in a mechanical oil pressure gauge. The firewall has a nice flat spot to the passenger side of the shift cables. A bulkhead fitting and some sealing washers made for a clean install. I’ve been told that leaks are something I may eventually experience, so I’ll have to keep an eye on that.




I’m finally in the homestretch with the exhaust and have had the time recently to address something that has been on my mind for about five years, Charger-esque taillights. From the moment I first saw the way Dodge outlined the taillight housing, I thought the Eclipse setup lent itself to something similar. At the moment, the leds are in, running off a relay, and load resistors to keep the flash interval consistent.




After a lot of years with very little progress, this last year has been a very short time with lots of progress with a bit of regress mixed in. We’ll see what the future holds.

Those taillights look badass! I would love to see a write up on this.😃

Originally posted by megaskillz
Those taillights look badass! I would love to see a write up on this.😃

Thanks. Definitely not a difficult mod, however at the same time, not plug and play either. If I have the time, I'll see about putting something together.