Stage 0 for my 94 1.8L
 

Hey guys. I'm new to the Mitsu scene. Never even driven one until I test drove my new Eclipse. The previous owner thought he was a street racing legend, judging by the skull and pirate stickers, "carbon fibre" shift knob, etc. but obviously knew nothing about cars. I changed the oil yesterday and it was just disgusting.

I pulled out the spark plugs today and they had thick coats of silver and white carbon buildup and each lead was gapped differently. My question is what is the best spark plug for stage 0? I'm thinking $2 NGK plugs since that's what seems to be the best for all the cars I've owned so far. Are Eclipses different?

What problematic areas are there that I should keep an eye out for? Next week (when I have money) I want to check the tranny fluid, axel fluid, etc. Belts and hoses are on my list, as well as a new exhaust and air filter.

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Welcome. NGK are just fine. From what you've said I'd change every fluid and filter in the thing and then park it over a clean white cloth and see if anything ends up on it. It looks like you've got a good setup and have experience fixing things up from you pictures. (Three door garage and a Fiero waiting to be gone over too?)

That's my house mate's MR2. We both got new cars the other day. I got a 94 Eclipse and he got an 85 MR2. Both fun little cars. My 85 Volvo 740 is still my baby, and his 02 Mustang GT his is.

There was a little bit of oil dripping before I change the oil, but I think that was from a dried, cracked oil filter seal. I'll keep an eye on it and see what comes out where.

One of the things I learned from playing with my Volvo is that stage 0 comes before stage 1. :) And from what I hear Mitsu motors can be a little demanding when it comes to maintenance so it's probably doubly important now.

I'm getting too old and too lazy to get deep into things anymore. You will find many members here (especially the mods) who have an extensive and deep knowledge base you can draw on about the mitsubishi's and their engines as well as modifications.

Change the timing and balance shaft belts asap. When you have enough money change out all the filters and fluids and you'll be fine. 1.8's are pretty reliable cars.

Are there specific brands that I should get or brands I should stay away from when it comes to replacing OEM parts?

A good suggestion. Go with OEM belts or you might be sorry.

Definetly stick to OEM factory stuff. Ive baught stuff from autozone though for accessory belts and some other simple stuff and dont have issues with though. But timing is just too important to lean on the cheap parts. Better to spend alittle extra on that belt then alot on rebuilding head.

And brokedad, please tell me you didnt call that mr2 a feiro....ugh the ultimate insult to an mr2 owner....hahaha. Just messing with ya man. This is just comming from a fellow mr2 owner

I was looking at the Goodyear timing belt. Should I go to a dealer and get a timing belt there?

We built a ram air for the Eclipse yesterday, and after we plugged the MAF or AMM or whatever it's called in Mitsubishi land we let it run for a minute. Everything was running great. My house mate's dad who was helping us started pushing the throttle and reving the motor. It then started pouring oil from somewhere under the block. We drove the car into the garage and put it on jacks. There no oil around the new filter or the drain plugs. We're looking and looking, reving the motor not and again to see where the oil is coming from (while keeping an eye on the oil levels) and it looks like it's coming from where the block meets the trans. My house mate, who's a big Mitsu buff, says it's coming from the oil pan.

So we have our work cut out for us with our $600 Mitsu. The plans right now is to replace the gaskets for the oil pan, replace the 2 day old oil (:(), and cross our fingers.

sounds like oil pan gasket to me. Although those are ussually not as big a problem on mitsu's as they are with the mr2's as im sure your buddy knows, hehe.