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Need some motivation...

Ok, so many of you know I have posted like 10 threads asking for help. This is not another one. Heres my problem ok i bought 1501 from craigslist paid 2000 for it but i was impressed how perfect the body and interior are. So it ran good besides an idle surge wich is most likley a boost leak. I was told it need a clutch and the owner had the tcase out and drive shaft cause he said he was getting ready to do the clutch. I was going thru finals at school so i payed the guys in the clinic to do it. Well they took the clutch out and it was pretty new so they resurfeced the flywheel put it back together and then called three weeks later and told me it wont start. So i told them pretty much they suck at life and should quit school. well me and my teacher go to do a compression test i did one before i purchased and it was 150 pretty much across. well this time we did it and upon cranking it wasent getting any compression. now the guy in charge of the clinic said it was running for about 20 secs then shut off. so now were having an argument at school weather to put it back in time or just pull the head and rebuild it now iam on a realy limited budget right now but i could not part with this car to me its about the history of them and the rarity i love the looks of the car but i dont have high horsepower goals maybe just a little above stock and a reliable car. I just need some motivation to hear where some of your cars have come from and the stuff youve been thru just to give me that kick to get it running so i can adress the other issues it has like idle surge and probably bad sensors and what not.
 

AnotherNewb

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 25, 2010
Messages
1,472
Location
Orlando, FL
Me and Dbossman picked up 1947 with a little over 200k on the odometer. He bought the car for a daily driver with simple mods. After getting the car home we discovered that the turbo was trashed, not smoking, just not boosting. After about 300 miles we fell victim to a loose oil filter. He was going up a hill with traffic behind him and pumped all the oil out and trashed a rod bearing. So that was the end of that motor. Another motor was sourced out locally and we started tearing down with the intent of just dropping the new motor in. We took our time and replaced the steering rack and other little stuff. New clutch. New radiator. New timing belt among other things. Right before we went to drop the new motor in I took a look down one of the intake ports to see water sitting on the valves. Pull the head. Now we see a nasty ring of rust inside one of the cylinders. So now our drop in replacement motor needs rebuilt to. Rebuilt that as basic as we could. All stock parts. Removed the balance shafts. Got that motor dropped in and the used turbo we got off of ebay was DOA. A member on here hooked us up with a new MHI 14b and we were back at it. 10mi later the cheap composite head gasket blew. "Off with its head" A new cometic Head gasket and some ARP hard ware and we were rolling.... again. Fast forward to 2 years later, 60mi on the rebuild and he still has only put 300mi on it. The every time we have drive the car we discover new problems. 90% of everything has been replaced.

You want motivation. Every time we drive this thing, broke or not, we giggle like little school girls. Our friendship has only grown and our fondness of these cars is still there.

There are a lot of guys on here with horror stories that started with what they thought was a gem and found out it was fools gold. However, lots of perseverance, blood, sweat and tears, you will have a car you can be proud of.

In the end is it worth the money and headache, yes. You will have something that you know intimately inside and out and can be proud of. Go to the members showcase and look at everyones finished product and imagine how long it took them to accomplish their goals. Speaking of goals... Get a note book and start writing. Write everything that needs to be done, everything you want to do. You will probably find your lists months or even years later and look back on it and say, "WOW! That was a lot of work and it was worth every second/penny." To this day we are still finding our LISTS in old parts boxes and look back at how far we have come.

Calm down, don't be so bummed. Your problems are not as bad as you think. If your school has the stuff to rebuild a head then you may only have the cost of the valves, guides, seals and timing belt set. Or, you could find a used head cheap, just ask someone on the board. I know Natecrisman is always parting out DSM's. After that comes the real fun, dreaming about camshafts and bigger turbos. Just the day dreaming is worth the adventure. Before we started on the FMIC I would lay in bed at night and imagine how I was going to mount everything, long before I had the bumper off.

I hope this helps with the motivation. Your not the only person on a low budget with semi-major problems, just keep a cool head (no pun intended) and keep at it. I love these cars even though I have had more wrench time then seat time. I know Matt (Dbossman) will never part with his car, neither should you.

On a side note, I wouldn't let anyone at your school work on your car without you there. I went to MMI Orlando and some of the students I went there with were total dumbasses. This should be your project, not some other clinics project. Stay after class if you have to. Part of the pride in owning one of these cars is being involved in every aspect of its build. I KNOW that you can get 1501 back in tip top shape and you'll be cruising before two shakes of a jack rabbits ass.

Clint Hannah
 

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif
 
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It's taken me almost 4 years to get my car where it's at. I've replaced every suspension, braking, and drievtrain part except the rear end and transfer case. I drive my car every day. No one would ever guess what it's capable of. It cruises completely under the radar. Totally quiet. Completely stock exhaust. It rides smooth and the A/C blows cold. No one would guess it's riding on Evo suspension and capable of hanging with a stock WRX.

Stick with it. It's worth it. A little perserverance goes a long way.
 

Diego

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 9, 2007
Messages
2,132
Location
In a van down by the river, Iowa
Ok... here's my list,

I started this journey as a bored 18 yo dude reading a ModdifiedMag with Brians car in it (TurboWop) and I have always drove dsms before.. few focus' and a 87 gts celica and a 87 rx7 a but always was in a dsm somehow, wether it was my older brothers or mine.

I always took this one route on my way to my moms from my apt and seen this mysterious 4door, I could tell it was mitsu galant but never did I think it was a vr4, I mean the car just looked homely as hell, I have drove past that same spot for years and it was there.

Back on track, fast forward a few days after Wops debut it was confirmed the car I drove past for years was a gvr4, so I called up the place it was sitting at, I leave a message and when I get down there the car is gone from its normal spot out front of the gates I called the number and it was mine for a easy $1,200. If I spent another 300 I could have had a sweet pair of rota torques with it... didn't care much for rims so I said nah.

Now onto the fun, brought it home, popped the hood and there was a ground squirell eating my maft wiring and he ate my hood insulation... made a nest he did.. Clean all the wiring up and proceed to pull the head, this is what I was told was the reason for parking. Anyways pulled the head and replaced it, walls on the block looked fine so I install the head, time it and it fires right up.(always loved having dsm's made for lots of spare parts). So I have this bad boy in time I go out for a drive and 10 miles my oilpump locked up and it was back to the drawing board. Got a very nice block from a friend for a steal, had a polished crank and 2g pistons on 1g rods, bse, and decked the block. After that I installed the new head I had put together, time it and it fires, go for a drive, it works it drives just fine I put in a E3B16G and other random parts. That lasted for about 1500 on a stock clutch as it just couldn't handle anymore and so it went down again... .... 1309 is relaxing in the garage with the xcase out and driveshaft pinned up. Waiting to get a oil pan and cv shaft, because the 2 bolts that hold the drivers side cv up went loose and trashed my oilpan.

Ther headaches are worth it. No one here is Steve Jobs. We don't make trillions of dollars either, were just normal humans that live for everyday to be pinned back in there seats;always hunting for that one retarded ballsy muscle/import to race;just to have complete freedom.

Give it time. I will have had 1309 for 4 years and 6 months. I've only driving it 3,8xx.xx miles. I've driving my brothers more miles in the time we have had it for 3-4 weeks and I've have mine for 4 years... haha. Mines still faster /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devil.gif


:Edit. Ya I forgot to post up what I've had to do to get it to where I got it.

3 heads
2 blocks
2 transmissions
5 clutches
2 flywheels
4 x cases
1 new FMIC
Wiring up maft
2 Turbos
1 radiator
6 tires
And other odds and ends...


Again sh*t happens.
 
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Maybe some of the more experienced guys here could offer some kind
of apprenticeship for the not so mechanically talented guys like myself.
There is just so much you can learn from forums or books. Having an experienced
wrencher beside you in my opinion is the best way to learn. Some of the best
mechanics I know learned from watching and working with a sensei. Damn I would
be willing to even pay someone for their time if thats what it takes. At least
I know my car will be done right by someone who cares about these cars as much
as I do instead of these clowns that call themselves mechanics. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/banghead.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/banghead.gif
 

Boostdtalon

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 15, 2009
Messages
913
Location
Buckley, Wa.
Like most the guys I started my obsession with DSM's. Mine started back in high school when I saw that silver GSX in the super car shootout. I fell in love with the huge FMIC. All thru school I never had one. Join the Navy and within a two months I owned two of them. A 92' Talon TSI and a 95' GS. Both were stock for the longest time. The talon had a muffler and the eclipse was the ricer. Blitz bodykit and all. I finally got orders after school and transfer to San Diego. Well my education in cars grew so much there. I left the eclipse in NC and brought the talon to SD. What do I do within two months of being there CF hood, turbo back exhaust, K&N filter, and a mbc. She stayed this way for some time as I was out to sea alot! I saw my first GVR-4 at a car meet there in 05'. Loved the looks of it. In Oct of 07' I buy an 05' Evo MR and after a few more month sale my talon to a friend at ball Mitsubishi. After finishing my time in the navy I return home to a busted ass GS. Bodykit is junk (removed and swapped to a 2gb body), trans is trash thanks to my bro in laws shitty driving and it's been sitting in my moms backyard for three years. I fix it with intention of driving it daily and building the Evo. That never happened, after being home for a few months I decide I want to get another 1g awd or maybe a 2g awd. I search and find nothing I want or can afford. A close friend Donnie or bugeye on here suggests looking at the for sale section on here. We refueled our obsession and he went back to Mitsu's because of me. I found 192 in Ashville and the owner is asking $2500. She's got a fair amount of upgrades. Five lug swap, ARP headstuds, laser RS mesh wheels, burnt valves, and a ACT 2900 clutch. After talking with him I traded my GS and some boot for her. My bro in law went with me and we drove the blue ridge parkway. It took me 4.5 hours to get home but the trip was worth it. Other than the smoking she ran fine. Oh I have a T-25 on my car cause the holset blew it's center cartridge at the track. One whimpy turbo for this car, but it's got zero shaft play and spools 15 lbs no problem.

One day I let a friend drive her up the road and back. My headlights were on when he returns. I ask if he turned them on and he says no. I check the switch. Nope not on. And than I see smoke roll out from the steering column. Lucky me the PO put the battery in the trunk so it was easy to disconnect. At this point she sat from October to April. I had to replace the entire front harness as it got destroyed because of the PO's cheapness. I'm still undoing his lazy ass mods. I gutted a 90' gsx I found in a junk yard where I now have a spare block and the rear subframe from it. I had the head built from the spare and it's now ready to go on on e I find out my compression. I installed a TRF slim battery kit up front and bought a sirocco radiator from member on here. I threw on a Evo maf with a keydriver chip to rid myself of the giant turd.

I've collected quite a few power mods that will eventually find there way onto the car. Like a 3076R, RC 750's, and a FMIC. But right now my main concern is maintenance and care of the car. I don't care that she isn't fast or the best looking. I don't get props from others about her except from my friends that know her potential. I still get excited evertime I drive her. I love this car I look forward to the long road of caring and fixing and modding and going broke because of.

It's kinda like full metal jacket. This my galant VR-4, there are many in the world but this one is mine.

Trust me many of us have been in your shoes
 

wow, you guys are making me feel lucky I made it 5,600 miles on my rebuild /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rofl.gif I've driven the car a total of... 6,5xx miles since i bought it, and it only didn't blow smoke for the last 120 or so, then the oil pump seal blew out /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rofl.gif my car has a vendetta against not losing oil i guess /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/banghead.gif
 

thanks guys. i,m just trying to be patient with it i think i may just build a new motor for it thanks guys.
 

Diego

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 9, 2007
Messages
2,132
Location
In a van down by the river, Iowa
See jdm2k1 your never going to be THE only one with problems... hell for a start yours ran when you bought it.... mine was DOA and I made it run.

It takes time my friend. And money... both, which again, takes time
 

To make a long story short i have owned my VR-4 for almost 3 years now, and probably only driven it for about 1.5 of them. Ive been through 3 head gaskets, 2 motors, 3 turbos, and im currently installing a new tranny. They are a lot of work, and everytime i find myself in the situation you are currently in i say i hate the car, but when it runs (for however short of a time it may be) it makes all the blood sweat and tears worth it. IMO

Just be patient while its apart and do it right..... so you dont don't end up doing it twice. Like i did /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/banghead.gif
 

AnotherNewb

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 25, 2010
Messages
1,472
Location
Orlando, FL
Motivation... or intimidation? Sounds like everyone is saying to keep spare parts around and plan on changing them ofter /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/banghead.gif

Just out of curiosity, everyone that has had to change multiple HG's and heads... What kind of HG's and what happened to your heads?

Sometimes I wonder if we are trying to turn these into hover cars with all the JSB going on /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 

Diego

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 9, 2007
Messages
2,132
Location
In a van down by the river, Iowa
Shitty fel-pro hg split under the right amount of boost.
heads, were from timing jumps and one was from my car shutting off during idle in the winter... -36 deg made my head freeze.
 

Diego

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 9, 2007
Messages
2,132
Location
In a van down by the river, Iowa
Oh and clutches...

1st one was a 2400 and after to many ebrake boost break holds at 20psi didn't go so well.
2nd clutch was stocker replacement....15psi would spin that thing like you wouldn't believe.
3rd clutch was a 2100 and lasted fine only put 15 miles on it and parked the galant. Ordered a ClutchMaster FX100
It holds so much better then my 2400 and my god is it a heavy pedal..
 

Quoting AnotherNewb:


Just out of curiosity, everyone that has had to change multiple HG's and heads... What kind of HG's and what happened to your heads?





Felpro failed on me, I got a cometic MLS and havent had a problem since.
 

mikus

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 11, 2007
Messages
2,763
Location
Aurora IL
first off, because it is flagrant here:
Grammar_Natzee__Wall_O___Text_by_dinyctis.jpg


Moving on, don't be intimidated by the horror stories. I got 20-25K miles out of my last two without cracking a motor open. Don't get me wrong, I did a boatload of maintenance and some turbo swaps - but I DD both, hard, and was only stranded once or twice.
 

raptorWagon

Well-known member
Joined
May 17, 2007
Messages
2,828
Location
Oak Harbor, WA
I picked the car up in June 08' down in NC with 142k, I didn't get very far before the already slipping clutch finally went out in around Statesville, NC, a good 5hours or so from Norfolk, VA. Dropped about $1500 to get the clutch done, I didn't have a choice at the time because I didn't know anything about the 4G63s from being a 2GNT dsm owner prior and I was pretty much stranded out there, oh well.
My main focus has been dealing with rust and have asked the question a couple times on here if I should continue pressing further to remove all the rust on the rear end or to pick up a rust free body, my decision I'm sticking with it in the long run. I have already put too much time and effort into the car to ever want to give up on it. It's not the "oh I can just sand it down and primer it rust" it's mostly been "oh hey there's a crack in the subframe" or "I can pick it apart with my fingers in certain areas.

I've had my share of oil and coolant leaks, I'm sure everyone has been there that uses the car for daily driving and problems arise when you least expect it. I spent a couple nights winter nights outside my apartment in VA trying to fix coolant leak which resulted in having to get a whole new tstat housing shipped over night from a friend, nothing better than wrenching with only a flashlight and 20 degree weather. Had to go inside every 20 minutes or so to warm my hands up after they would numb up in the cold.

The entire rear subframe and all components have been replaced(trailing arms, rotors, calipers, caliper brackets, E-brake cables, Subframe, upper/lower control arms, bolts, sway bar, Rear diff). It wasn't up until a few months ago that the car found a new place to start leaking oil from after the oil filter housing. At first I thought it was the oil pan, so I replaced that seal and thought I solved it...nope, leak came back once the car was warmed up. Had already went through a couple alternators because of blowby coming off oil filter housing and soaking it as well as the original 14b had bad seals and would could empty 4quarts of oil in about an hour if you were constantly in boost. Half the oil went down in the exhaust another half went everyone else underneath and the pavement. Then the trans decided it wanted to start acting up with 5th gear going out and a week later with Reverse, 2nd would grind once in a while. Now the car is down and will be getting the proper rebuild and TLC it needs.


Quoting Diego:

I started this journey as a bored 18 yo dude reading a ModdifiedMag with Brians car in it (TurboWop)



When did Mark change his name? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hsugh.gif
 

I bought mine for $300 in 2005, and it was railed. I got it blown up (the PO said bad head gasket), with wasted tires, wasted brakes, wasted wheel bearings, wasted cv axles, and wasted tie rods and ball joints. It was missing the V/C, front bumper, BOV, battery, and fuel injectors. The PO had a tv mounted into the dash, so it was destroyed. It turned out that the H/G wasn't bad, but I didn't find that out until I already had the head off. After more than $2000 in parts alone, I had the suspension rebuilt and the car was running. 50 miles later the clutch went out. New clutch. Two months later I snap a rear axle, drive the car nearly 30 miles, and destroy the tranny too. All I can scrounge up is a fwd tranny, so I am tire burning for over two years following. Approximately 4000 miles into owning this car, the head gasket I'd just put in failed. Head come back off. Once it's back together, I hadn't noticed that I'd dropped a socket down the timing cover. I was so lucky, it only snapped about 80% of the width of the timing belt. New timing belt. I little while goes by and it seemed ok, until the 14B crapped out. New big 16G. I finally find a front bumper. After building a cold air induction setup, we got hit with a huge snow storm, the wheelwells got packed with snow and knocked my filter off, I ingested something, and blew the new turbo. Another 16G. A bunch of trannies, another clutch, I snapped a front axle while still fwd. I came into a bit of money, so I finally get back to awd, but I'm still 4ws equipped. That started puking about five weeks later. I find a 4bolt after running with no P/S for about 4 months. That goes in. I decide to launch it for fun one night and snapped a u-joint in the driveshaft. Once the new u-joint was in, the new vibration says I've tweeked the driveshaft too. Through all of this, I had random failures: cas, couple alternators, nearly every sensor, the car has been hit twice while parked (both hit and run), I ran up onto a high curb a cracked the end tank on my first aftermarket IC. It is a never ending project. Just stick with it,
 

Quoting Anothernewb:
I can't read any of that wall o text... Damn this 11.6" monitor

At least my iPhone can zoom in...... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devil.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hsugh.gif
 
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