Ok, so for those of you who don't know, I own 2 Mirages. The one I'm driving now is a turbo charged 98 DE sedan, the other is a NA 99 DE sedan. I've been talking with a guy out of Indy who was going to buy my car outright, but won't be able to, but it so happens that he has a 1991 Eclipse GST with about 140k that he's willing to trade for the Mirage plus some cash. I wouldn't be doing anything to it other than changing the exhaust and trying to clean it up a bit for now, and mainly using it as a DD. My question for you Eclipse guys is this: What are the problems that this model is notorious for, what are the good points, bad points, things I should look out for, etc. I'm interested in this because it'll give me a relativley fast car that I can drive on a daily basis without too much concern for cosmetics and milage. I would eventually like to rebuild the engine and give it a bit of a make over, but that's at least a year down the road. Is it worth my time and effort to get ahold of this car?

 

i dont know much about the 1G's but something to look for b4 you get it is look for oil leaks, engine knock, how it drives, pretty much take a good look at it and make sure its "decent" cuz for 140K mi its not going to be in mint condition. my first eclise was a GS and it was a horrible car cuz i didnt take the proper time to look it over correctly. im just trying to say give it a good look over on the interior, body, engine, etc... good luck with it

 

I'd be trading the 99 NA for it by the way, no possible way I'd part with the turbo econobox for anything less than a 97 GSX in mint condition lol. I've seen some pictures of it, and it needs a little TLC. Classic DSM fade, a couple small spots of surface rust, normal dings that you'd find on a 16 year old car. As far as the mechanical condition of it goes, the only thing wrong with it is that it idles high (bad TPS, and he's offering a brand new TB with TPS to replace it) and the radiator is leaking, but he's got a new radiator for it that he would throw in. Didn't mention this before, but it has a 16g turbo and an Evo FMIC. He says there are no oil leaks and no lifter tick, and is in overall good running condition. So what do you all think, is it worth my yellow NA baby?

 

well its definetly gonna be a good car. Its got the 6-bolt in it, so thats a plus. Also with a 16g is pretty good too. The only thing id be worried about is if the person knew enough to get supporting mods with that turbo, and not overboosting the car more than it could handle. But as long as its a reliable seller id say it should be a pretty good DD.

 

what sort of boost should it be running for a safe DD?

 

10-20Psi I believe

 

it really depends on what he got for some supporting mods. If he has a fuel pump and injectors then you could run around 18psi on that turbo, but you would want an SAFC and wideband to make sure you running safeAFR's. But for just a good DD i guess around 15psi would be fine.

 

Ok, well... I was close. Maybe not exact, but am I ever?

 

sounds likea pretty good deal to me. if all he has is fmic and 16g. id say keep it between 12-15. if he has a fuel pump and injectors then you can push it like TheEngineer said up to 18-19psi. with a decent tune w/ an SAFCII you'll be upwards of around 300-320whp. which is fine for daily driving but if you don't want that much... simply turn the boost down.