Well, after my last disaster, which some of you may remember, I decided to take a 2 month break from working on the car, so I've been away for a little while. Sometimes it is just good to get a fresh perspective. So ... FINALLY the car is up and running and actually is getting inspected as we speak. It only took 10 1/2 months to get the car on the road, I don't know if I should be embarrassed or proud.

Truns out the reason I had no compression was about .50 cents. Ready for this one?? I sheared the dowel pin on the intake cam. So, although the timing marks were all lining up and the car appeared to be in time, the cam gear was actually just spinning on the shaft of the cam and not actually spinning the cam. I think that the bolt came lose on the cam gear causing all the torque of the cam gear to be place onto the dowel pin, and that begin aluminum just snapped. So, 50 cents for a new dowel pin and some JB weld and the project finally comes to a close. I have like 60 miles on the new motor. I've obviously got some things to fine tune, but it's alive .. and that's with a Retrofit LSD installed. :thumbsup

Tonight, I'm going to do a run down of all the money I've spent and on what and post it up so anyone thinking about getting into rebuilding and turbos and all that can have an accurate idea of what it might cost them. Just a little FYI for all your guys.


Lol .. the inspection station just called. They wanted to know why the car still runs after they turn it off .. hahahah. Turbo timer man, turbo timer.

Well, I just finished a rebuild also, here is a rundown of what I paid.

Star stage 2 turbo kit - $2,200
Upgrade BB t3/t4 50 trim - $600
Bottom End Rebuild Kit - $1,100
Clutchmasters Aluminum Flywheel - $400
Clutchmasters Stage 3 Clutch - $350
Web turbo regrind cams - $200
HKS AIC 3 - $250
UDP - $100
Phantom Grip LSD - $300
Headgasket - $50
Timing belt - $60
Headwork - $350
Polished Crank - $35
Tranny Fluid - $30
Spark Plugs - $6
Secondary Fuel Rail - $15
Apexi Turbo Timer - $75
1:1 Fuel Pressure Regulator - $50
Other oils, gaskets, and sealants - ~$100

Grand Total - $6,271

I know there are other things I forgot but that is a pretty good breakdown.

That's actually probably very close to what I spent. I think a lot of people think they can do a rebuild for the price of the rebuild kit and have a car .. but it doesn't work that way. You need to have some bucks to do this kind of crap :thumbsup

My estimates for the rebuild I'm doing right now are somewhere in the 4000 dollar range...

Thats for:
Je Pistons/Rings
Eagle Rods
Machine Work (~ 500 bucks worth)
Clutch
Megasquirt
Wideband O2
etc. etc... those are the expensive parts anyway.

Can't wait to get this thing done. Should be making over 300 whp.

1996 Eclipse RS / 5-Speed / Aerogear Body / Coated in Magnetic Red Metallic rev.2 / T3 Turbo Intercooled @ 8 psi / http://www.team2nr.com
Mark Galyan - Indianapolis, Indiana

Hey Chris, awesome! I want a ride in the car real bad! Off topic, call my dad sometime and he will help you with your w/e you needed haha. If you need his number again, PM me and I will send it to you.

Thanks Geo .. I totally forgot I owe him a call. I'll touch base with him ASAP. Give me a call when you want a ride. I'm still breaking in the engine, so it will be a while 'til I can pound her.

Added up all my reciepts and other misc things that I've done to the car over the last 10 1/2 months. Grand total comes to ... 4,155.93 (actaully cheaper than I would have thought) :thumbsup

Here's a list of some of the things I've done worth mentioning .... this is by no means an exhaustive list. If anyone would like individual breakdowns of what I spent where let me know:

ARP Head studs, Battery, Water pump, Oil pump, Retrofit LSD, Anerobic Sealer, Tranny fluid, XTD racing clutch, new S16G tubro (original took a dump), various powder coating, Head gasket kit, rebuild kit (which included Wiseco Pistons, Pauter rods, Total seals rings), 30lb injectors, 3-pillar gauge pod, boost controller, and timing belt.

So there you go, that does NOT include the price of the turbo kit, I had that on the car for roughly a year before I rebuilt.

Since you mentioned it, whats the real purpose of ARP head studs? Are they worth all that money? I heard before that you had to do some grinding for proper fitment. True?


1996 Eclipse RS / 5-Speed / Aerogear Body / Coated in Magnetic Red Metallic rev.2 / T3 Turbo Intercooled @ 8 psi / http://www.team2nr.com
Mark Galyan - Indianapolis, Indiana

ARP head studs are stronger than the original head bolts and work differently thus holding better. The stock head bolts are just that, bolts ... over time the threads stretch, and they can't be reused if you take your head off b/c of that. ARP head studs are studs, they thread into the short block, you slide the head on over them and then torque down using washers and nuts on top. You can torque the head down a lot tighter (something you want if your turbo) and they don't stretch. I've never heard of anyone having to do any kind of modifing to them, and I certianly didn't. That's new to me. And ... if anyone is interested ... I have an extra set of ARP's unopened, still in the box, never used. I got them from Exile racing. I have two short blocks, thought I was going to build the 2nd one too, but changed my mind. I'd be willing to part with them.