New to forum - need advice from PROS!
 

Hi Guys. I just picked up a 98 GST spyder Auto. still waiting to recieve it. what are some things i should do first thing when i get the car?
change tranny oil and engine oil? stuff like that? whats a good way to improve fuel economy aswell.

Ive been reading a little bit on the forum and cant get a straight answer. How does the Auto GST perform? is it fast? 0-60 times? 1/4 times?
someone wrote the manual is faster than the 5spd (which is hard to believe)

First mod for it i think will be intake. I was looking at the K&N kit which they say adds 7-8 horse (let me know if this is true or a better way to go ie . cai? ) dont know anything bout mitsubishi's just love the look but performance is not my department with these. Fuel economy is a main concern because I have a big commute to work.
Also the auto trans has me worried a bit being in a sports car. Are they reliable? any problems with them? do they slip eventually? I know manuals are practically indestructable.

Thanks guys. Im excited to get this thing :)

RE: New to forum - need advice from PROS!
 

for your first mod dont buy an intake just put on a cone filter that is all you need and youll save more money, Buy a BOV 1G crushed is a cheap but effective one and buy a Manual Boost controller to start those will be the best mods for cheap money.

As far as the 5spd being indestrutible well they DSM trannys are hardly that they break all the time it is one thing I hear alot (kinda like the EVO and its transfercase) I wouldnt worry about yours being an auto if it is almost all stock you wont break it unless you do roll backs in it or something.

a stock GSt 1/4 time was low 15s like 15.3 or something near that.

RE: New to forum - need advice from PROS!
 

5spds are faster than autos... from a start. If you get a stall converter and some sticky tires like the new nto1's or the nitto 555r's that thing will be faster then a 5spd. Plus a auto cant miss gears.. lol. Also i reccomend getting a shift kit, your going to have to get a pro to install it, but that will give your tranny a much longer life if you plan on beating on it.

For the mods check out the sticky at the top of the forum, its a list of mods and what knot. It wont tell you what product to get but it will let you know what your looking for. A quick rule of thumb for performance for a turbo car, the quicker you can move air through the motor the faster the car will be. If you have any other questions feel free to ask them but try to search first you may be able to find the answer quicker.

RE: New to forum - need advice from PROS!
 

First step, you should go over the car with a fine-toothed comb and repair and replace anything that needs to be before you start modding anything..If you can't do it yourself then take it to a garage and have them look at things like lines, hoses, seals, brakes, etc. etc., and everything that makes the car go and have them point things out to you so that you are aware..I work at a dealership and they have put my '99 GS-T coupe up on the rack (one of the benefits of working here lol) not too long ago during the oil change and pointed minor things out that I need to replace on mine while I was standing there watching the tech..It was very helpful to me to have him point this out to me...If you are going to mod the car then don't worry about fuel economy..If you want the ponies then don't even think about the gas...You could also run fully synthetic oil in it..I'm running Mobil 1 fully syn. in mine...My '99 GS-T is an automatic and it does great, never had any problem with it...just a little lag on the turbo but it is still pretty quick.

RE: New to forum - need advice from PROS!
 

Sorry I just HAD to answer this one sarcastically... A manual transmission IS a 5 speed. I'm guessing though that you meant a manual is faster than an auto. And the manual is faster only because YOU control the gear you're in and when the car shifts as well as RPMs at takeoff. Instead of trying to build up to a certain engine speed you can be there for 1st gear. Also you lose POWER with an automatic. Think of it this way: The auto trans shifts FOR you so that it's in the right gear. Well that work to shift gears takes energey. Where else would the car get the energy but from the engine?

RE: New to forum - need advice from PROS!
 

i have to interject my years of racing experience, i wouldnt run nittos if they were FREE.

RE: New to forum - need advice from PROS!
 

If anyone turns this into a oil argument I am going to hurt them.

RE: New to forum - need advice from PROS!
 

I have the Nitto NT 450 Extremes on my GS-T now and I love them...of course I don't race it or anything, but they handle the road great and stick to it pretty well..Very aggressive tire..This summer I'm going to put the Nitto NT 555's or the NeoGens on my 18's.

RE: New to forum - need advice from PROS!
 

I was thinking more of the lines of preventative maintance rather than mods. things i should do first! look at first or things that fail to look for.
what oils to use (synth on both engine and tranny) which are the best. i want more fuel economy rather than performance because i do about 150 km a day. also anything i should know?

RE: New to forum - need advice from PROS!
 

Welll first off use the rcommended oil for your engine. Don't change the tranny fluid have it flushed. Merely changing the tranny fluid and filter only changes 4-5 quarts of it. If you flush it though it will replace ALL the fluid (Between 9-12 quarts). Though you will have to have a shop do it and I would NOT recommend it if the car has over 150K miles. Change the fuel filter and get a fuel injection service done (Cleans the intake of carbon and if it's the valveoline system that I use it'll clean the fuel system as well as the valves and intake it's a 3 part system takes around 45 minutes to an hour to have done again only available at shops most likely). Check the brake pads and rotors, change plugs and wires and distributor cap and rotor. Those will be the first things you want to check out.

RE: New to forum - need advice from PROS!
 

ok sounds good. should i run bosch platiinum or ngk platinums in this? on the wires which ones are best, ngk/bosch or is there perf ones
also the tranny oil filter needs to be changed i guess. i think its expensive. is it possible to add an inline one instead?

RE: New to forum - need advice from PROS!
 

Your tranny fluid filter is IN the tranny no inline available. I recommend FLUSHING the trans it saves you fom having to replace the filter as long as the trans has less than 150K since the last flush. I don't really see much difference between the plugs and wires plats are good double plats last longer. I'd also look into thicker wires. 9.5MM wires or better.

RE: New to forum - need advice from PROS!
 

I am supprised, so far every one that i have talked to that use nittos had nothing to say but good things about them. My friend has a 99 ls1, hedders, intake, full exaust, at the track he could bearly get those things to spin... he ran 12.8 on them. What was your bad experance?

RE: New to forum - need advice from PROS!
 

ok awsome! the car has 98k miles on it so a flush should be enough? i looked at the price of at filter and it listed at 1300???? hehe so dont want to change that. which tranny fluid should i use? switch to synthetic? and if so which one

RE: New to forum - need advice from PROS!
 

I don't think there are very many ATF fluids out there. Most use a mercon dexron I believe. And flushing the trans at the shop I used to work at was $130. So it;s MUCH less than that trans you priced earlier. Get it done at a shop as they are the ones that have the machines to do it. You won't be able to get the machine yourself.

RE: New to forum - need advice from PROS!
 

just about everone that makes oil makes ATF mobile/exxon valvoline castrol ..........
this is for slow420a my oil can kick your oils ass. :D LMAO!

RE: New to forum - need advice from PROS!
 

my oil > *

RE: New to forum - need advice from PROS!
 

just wondering. my friend started scaring me with this crankwalk talk? can someone tell me about it? does it affect my car? the auto's?

RE: New to forum - need advice from PROS!
 

In 1993 the gst's and gsx's changed their motor platform, the motor stayed a 2.0 turbo doch but they changed some internal work and gained pumped 210hp out of the motor. Its refered to a 7 bolt(refering to the number of bolts on the flywheel) where motors built before 93 were refered to as 6 bolts. When they did this they started to manifacture the motor in the us and crank walk is refered to the connecting rods wiggling back forth on the crank. To fix it you need to replace the lower bearings and crank. The 6 bolts dont have the crank walk problem, but the 7 bolts CAN be know to do it. there is a 1% chance that your car will have crank walk. It mostly happens in 5spds because holding the clutch in for exteneded peroids at a stand still puts stress on the crank and aids to the problem. Also if the car has been beaten to crap... that aids crank walk. But i wouldnt worry about it, you have a better chance of getting hit by lightning then getting crank walk.

RE: New to forum - need advice from PROS!
 

so i guess it affected autos aswell just not as much? is there a way to tell when the car gets here if its got theproblem? and whats it cost for parts to fix it?

RE: New to forum - need advice from PROS!
 

nittos..well, as you may or may not know, i frequent/admin about 50 forums. from the slowest of the slow to 8 second street cars. my half brother has nittos, and dont they hook for s***. i have also spoken to ALOT of guys running low 12 second F bodies and stangs, none of which have anything good to say about them. what model nitto does he run?

i only run hoosier QTPs. tell your buddy to try a set sometime...he wont ever think about nittos again.

RE: New to forum - need advice from PROS!
 

no, it will not affect autos. only manuals.

RE: New to forum - need advice from PROS!
 

The autos and manuals share the same crank and same bearings... how would it not affect it

To find out if your car has crank walk, a few signs are when making a hard left turn you will hear a clicking sound from under the hood, also when the motor is just sitting and running you can sometimes hear a clicking comming from the timming belt. But the only sure way to know is to rip the motor apart and check the spec on the bearings and crank shaft. Like i said I wouldn't even worry about it, the chances of your car getting it are slim to none. Most 7 bolt 4g63's never crank walk, even up to 200k.

Patrick- my friend is running the 555r's, tommy, the owner of outragiousperformance.com reccomends them, my firend sean has a boosted 420a neon and runs them. I know that their are much better tires on the market than the nittos, my friend tim runs mt et streets on his lightning and that thing pulls 1.8 60's. But for a dd the nittos seem to be the way to go. What i am thinking is that maybe your buddys used an older style and didnt like them? Personally I am all about the big "street legal" <-- sarcasim right there, slicks with just 2 groves running down the center of them.