Summary of modifications: (12/28/02)
 

                Road///Race Engineering 2.25" Upper and 2" Lower Intercooler Pipes
                GReddy Type-S Blow-Off Valve
                S&B Dual-cone Coaxial Type, Cotton Element Filter
                A'PEXi, Racing Sport 85mm Exhaust
                A-Pillar Guage Mount
                Autometer Phantom 52mm Boost Guage
                Cyberdyne A/F Guage
                Clear Bumper Lights
                Rear Tint - Llumar Titanium 5% Limo
                Front and Rear Strut Tower Bars
                Rear Lower Tie Bar
                Twin-Piston GSX Calipers
                275mm PowerSlot Slotted/Vented Rotors
                Axxis Metal Master, Semi-Metallic Brake Pads
                Kumho Ecsta Supra 712  P225/50WR16
                GReddy Turbo Timer
                Removed WGS Restrictor
                Removed Side MAS Restrictors
                3" Stainless Steel Downpipe NO CAT
                Crankcase Breather
                NGK Race Plugs
 

______________
 

JOURNAL - 2ND GENERATION ECLIPSE & TOO MUCH TIME
 

THE QUEST FOR PERFORMANCE
The thundering purr of a muscular engine makes it's way closer as you sit patiently at a red light.  A middle aged man sits agressively in his 1999 Dodge Viper GTS-R.  The rumbling beast proudly displays its bright orange racing stripes on its white skin.  He revs his engine, and all ten pistons pound the exhaust into a harmonious roar.  By now you're more than impressed by this sight.  Not only has this man made his way into a $150,000 pure bred sports car, but he has also made his way to your side.  He's good to go.  You tap the gas, and your Type-S hisses loudly.  You wonder why a Viper dares to even touch your japanese, road tearing, asphault hugging, fuel burning, turbocharging, street racer.  In your mind, you picture the Viper ten car lengths behind you as you whip into third.  You laugh to yourself, "Haha, watch me spank this fool!"  The light turns green, and the game begins.  Both engines scream, as the race begins.  The Viper rips its massive foot wide rear tires into a cloud of vaporized rubber.  Your turbocharged Eclipse sprints ahead with minimal wheelspin.  Nearing the end of first, you continue laughing, still wondering why any american car would dare to race you.  You look down at the shifter, and snap to second.  You rip the tires for a full second before catching the road.  Your turbo whistles proudly as the car makes it way to the top of second.  The viper emerges out of its cloud of smoke.  The V10 hustles quickly and blows by your whimpy four cylinder, rice burner.  You haven't even shifted to third, as the GTS-R screeches into second.  Once again, a cloud of smoke billows out of from underneath the rear tires, as the monster accelerates down the road.  You finally slop the changer into third, and look once again.  Your jaws drop as you watch the GTS-R continue ripping its monster wide rear tires, nearly 20 car lengths ahead.  It looks more like a white spec than a hurculean american roadster that just "owned" you.  You watch the spec pass the second set of green lights, wondering how much longer it will be before you reach the first...

...you catch up to this white spec on the freeway.  It's 3:00AM and not a car in sight  This time your car is rigged with a T3/T4 Garret Turbo and a Spearco front mount intercooler with custom welded end tanks and mandrel bent piping.  You set the APEXi computer to full boost.  Your 9x18" OZ Racing F1 Cup Rims are wrapped by a set of Nitto NT555 Street Racing Drag Radials.  Nearing 70mph you approach this beast that claimed you as his prey a few months ago.  He squints to look, as your Philips HID Xenon Lights burn daylight into his face.  This time youre not laughing.  He laughs, wondering why your puny engine that has less than half the amount of pistons pounding, and 1/4 of the displacement, is trying to race him.  He waits for your signal.  Cat out, no piping, you blow clouds of exhaust out the downpipe.  The GTS-R guns it, and starts pulling....hard.  As he begins to edge forward ,the T3/T4 whines with surges of energy.  As boost builds, you flip the solenoid trigger for the dual NOS tanks in the trunk.  Instantaneously, your tires rip an eighteen inch-wide, track of black rubber on the freeway.  With a frenzie of tuned power your Northstar White Japanese Roadster lurches forward.  You yank back the knob to fourth and let loose the Cusco Dual Disc clutch.  The turbo and NOS rip the front tires right off the pavement, and burn up the Nitto Drag Slicks once more.  The tires catch, and lunge you back in your seat.  The Viper looks like a parked car as it drops several car lengths in that same instant.  You hear the roar of his ten cylinders slowly die as the turbo purrs with delight.  Edging forward with an uncanny rate of acceleration, the old man stares at your rice burner in terrific astonishment.Straight off the lot the Eclipse GS-T is no slouch.  With 210hp stock, and hefty 214lb-ft of torque at just 3000rpm, we're talking serious power here in a car that weighs less than 3,000lbs.  In stock formation, this car is capable of propelling itself to 60mph in a mere 6.5seconds, and completing a 1/4mile run in 15 flat.  Simply rolling into the throttle off the line builds boost so fast that the front Goodyear P205/55R16's turn instantly to smoke.  As fast as this car is, it's got waaaaaay more potential.  As people realize this, so does the aftermarket for such a car, and today, the Eclipse is right up with Honda and Acura with its aftermarket parts. When Mitsubishi's engineers constructed this car, they did so in a fashion that promoted sales in a country where smog emissions regulations are strict, and where drivability is a real issue.  What this means is, the car has to be pretty quick, with a relatively small engine, while maintaining very little amounts of engine vibration, a quiet passenger cabin, good gas mileage, quiet exhaust, low emissions, and a car thats pretty forgiving of those here and there careless owners that forget their oil changes regularly, and have had the same fluids in their car, since they first purchased it.  So when all of these issues are factored in, you're left with a pretty toned down form of the car you initially started with.  To most of us, this is normal and there is no urge to change the norm.  We drive the car we have, and have no urge to make it perform like it was meant to...

So my question is, what kind of person buys a performance car and just leaves it at that?  If you don't want to go fast, then just buy a Civic or Corolla and save the many thousands for other things.  If you buy a performance car, the assumption is, you're out for performance, and with that....I am here to explain what kind of performance potential this baby has.

REMOVED INTERCOOLER RESTRICTION
The first modification that was done to this car was the removal of the plastic wall that was situated behind the side mounted intercooler.  The intake is relatively unblocked for the intercooler, but behind it, is a large plastic wall that keeps it clean and unseen from rocks and other road debris that may damage it.  But what good is an intercooler if it cannot perform to its maximum efficiency.  If you're blowing a certain amount of air into the intercooler you need to make sure that air can also get out just as quickly.  Say for example you have pipe, and you blow into it.  The air that you forced in from one end, comes out to the other.  This is an example of perfect or near perfect flow.  Now lets say you put your hand on one end of the pipe and completely cover that end.  Now blow into the other end.  Hard, huh?  Your hand covering the other end is the same influence the intercooler wall is creating on the air stream path for the intercooler.  Remove this wall, and a free flow of cold air will be allowed to the intercooler, and let it perform its job.  As for road debris, if you're not driving in constant sand or off road, then you shouldn't have too much of a problem, its high enough off the ground to be away from any road debris.

REMOVED DUMP TUBE
The next modification was made the same day.  The Blow-off-Valve (BOV) dumps back into the intake tract, right behind the MAS.  The "dump-tube" as it is called blocks a large portion of the intake air flowing to the turbochargers compressor assembly.  It extends a good four inches into the intake stream, seriously impeding air flow.  When the throttle plate is closed (when you let go of the gas pedal), the excess pressure being generated by the spooled turbo needs to be expelled or blown off to prevent the pressure from surging back into the turbo, where it could cause rapid deceleration of the turbo and possible damage.  This is why the BOV exists.  To blow off that excess pressure.  By doing so, a "pitshhhhhh" sound is created from the pressurized air rapidly losing pressure.  To quiet this sound, the dump tube goes far down into the intake away from where sound may escape.  While this causes the BOV to remain quiet during operation, there is absolutely no excuse for the existence of this tube.  Cut the tube off, and you have the cost of a louder Blow off, but at a gain of increased throttle response.  We want the throttle response, it makes our car perform better, who cares about a little bit more sound.

HIGH FLOW COAXIAL-TYPE CONE INTAKE
The next modification was to remove the extremely restrictive air-filter box assembly.  By creating a box for air to flow through, there is a serious reduction in the sound produced by the air rushing into the turbo.  Because all of the sound is encased within the box, even with a turbocharger that sucks the intake in with a fan that spins at many tens of thousands of RPMs the car still remains relatively quiet in operation.  But the cost seriously outweighs the gain.  By doing this, the airflow to the engine has been seriously restricted.  Less air per volume means less combustion charge.  Less combustion power means less overall power given by the engine.  This problem can be easily fixed with an aftermarket intake system.  I chose the S&B high flow intake for its reasonable price and its effectiveness.  It's completely washable and reuseable for the life of the car and even comes with a Million Mile Warranty (probably originally made by K&N).  The filter is made of cotton and outflows the stock airbox.  This does create a considerably louder intake sound, and a louder blow off, but a sound that I really like.  This simple mod alone adds a good 10hp to the car, and you can really feel that power, especially when boost kicks in.

TURBO TIMER
To keep the turbo from cooking in the oil that makes it run, a turbo timer was installed.  This simple device allows the car to run for a preset amount of time, after the driver has removed the key from the ignition.  While the car rests for this preset time, the oil in the turbo is still being circulated by the oil pump, and allows the oil to be cooled down to a safe limit before the engine is shut down.  Without the turbo timer, when the driver removes the key, the oil in the turbo assembly stops right where it is, and is no longer pumped because the engine has been shut off.  The turbo which gets as hot as 800 degrees centigrade literally cooks the oil that is sitting in it, which leaves a thick harsh coke that can damage the bearings and turbo shaft.  Allowing the engine to run for several minutes after driving, lets things get a little cooler and prolongs the turbos life.

FRONT STRUT TOWER BAR
The Eclipse is a baby's car when it comes to chassis rigidity.  Although the stock GS-T handles better than a stock Integra, much of this is owed to suspension tuning. The new 2000 model Eclipses have a chassis that is over 40% more rigid.  When you take your car on an offramp at high speeds, you car leans to one side, and all of the weight shifts to that side as well.  This causes one end of the chassis to flex, as a result of the added force from the cornering load you have created by turning the wheel.  When the chassis flexes the components attached to it moves with it as well.  The suspension is slightly off balance as a result of the strut towers flexing inward, and pre-mature wheel "chirp" may occur as a result of the lack of traction created by this incident.  A simple cure comes in the form of a steel bar that connects the strut towers together.  In a turn, as they attempt to lean towards each other, the bar exerts an equal amount of effort in the opposing direction by resisting the flex.  This eliminates a certain percentage of chassis flexing, especially at the strut towers where the suspension is connected to.  Body flex still occurs in other sections of the car, but at the most important part, where the front suspension is, this flex has been eliminated.  Also note that, each time your body flexes, it becomes more and more 'flexible' and flimsy.  The abuse this creates makes an old car creak on hard turns.  The strut tower brace prolongs the life of your chassis by alleviating some of that abuse.

BLOW OFF VALVE & UPPER INTERCOOLER PIPE
Because of the large stock airbox, the pipe that runs from the intercooler outlet to the throttle body has very little space to work with.  As a result, this plastic pipe is bent up into three 90 degree angles where the airbox is, not to mention it sizes down to about an internal diameter of 1.5".  Compare that to the 2.25" aftermarket pipe I purchased through Road///Race Engineering in Huntington Beach the stock pipe offers immense restriction.  As you can see in the photo the Road//Race pipe has only one small mandrel bend, as opposed to the stock pipe, which is mangled up into a series of bends in order to pass air around the airbox.  The fact that the compressor bypass valve is mounted on this pipe, means that, by removing the stock pipe, we are also removing that compressor bypass valve which is attached to it.  Simply placing a Road//Race pipe on does no good if there is no compressor bypass valve to replace it.  This mod is a double-up mod, which means you need the other to make it work. The stock valve leaks past 11psi so its no good to make all of these intake modifications only to have them being leaked out through a crappy plastic valve.  Closer inspection of the valve is a bit upsetting.  The stock valve that was equipped with the car has no gasket or any type of seat to seal the valve.  It's simply plastic to plastic contact, with a flimsy spring.  I can't imagine how air can be contained with such cheap construction.  I chose the Greddy Type-S adjustable bypass valve, which is one of the better and more popular valves out on the market.  This valve does not leak, and is made out of metal rather than plastic, and simply, looks a lot nicer.  With these two mods, there was a significant increase in the power of the car.  At about 3,000rpm when the turbo is fully active, the car literally punches forward with no additional effort on the gas.  The turbo no longer dies off at 3000rpm as experienced previously.  It continues to spool hard and allows sufficient boost to build at Wide Open Throttle (WOT).

REMOVED WGS RESTRICTOR
I still wanted more power and I knew it would be a little bit longer before I got my exhaust installed so I started looking for more free mods, and of course, I found one.  This one involves removing a small plastic insert in the Wastegate Solenoid.  The plastic insert restricts airflow and reduces pressure in the hose that connects to the wastegate.  With less pressure, the wastegate valve opens prematurely to bypass the exhaust from the turbo, which means, you guessed it, less power.  By removing this restriction, more air is flowing into the hose, which allows the wastegate valve to hold a bit longer before it bypasses the exhaust.  This mod is totally safe and does not cause boost creep or overspooling.  It's supposed to be good for about an extra two pounds of boost.

HEADLAMP UPGRADE
That was it for the power mods for a little bit of time.  I would have done more, but it takes time to order parts and install them, and with only several days left until school started, I was out of time.  But I knew there was enough time for one more simple mod.  They came to me in the form of a two sided plastic package.  A clear plastic front with a black plastic plate behind it.  In this case were two PIAA Platinum Series Super White high-output bulbs.  These are the only aftermarket lightbulbs that are SAE and DOT approved, which means the only aftermarket bulbs that are legal for street use.  These are absolutely the best halogen bulbs you can purchase for your car.  They are 35% brighter than stock, while consuming no additional power.  PIAA achieved this by winding the filament tighter, and putting the gases under more pressure.  If you are in need of the added safety of better road illumination, I seriously recommend these bulbs.  They are a bit steep for the price of halogen bulbs, but PIAA went through the trouble of making these legal for road use.

FOGLIGHT UPGRADE & LOWERING SPRINGS
I've already gone through a set of clear corners, seems like they're still pretty popular, because they were stolen off my car the next day.  My quest for night time illumination has lead me to American Products Company's Xenon Plasma H3 Foglight bulbs.  Rated at 100 watts, they illuminate 130 watts of equivalent light output.  This definitely helped.  The power consumption over stock is noticeable.  At idle, the activation of the foglights, dim the PIAA's, but around 1200rpm, everything's cool.  I also received my Tanabe Super Down Precedio Springs, (Tuesday, 12/14/99) which are noticeably stiffer than stock, and bring the car another two inches lower to the ground.  Not only do I turn heads with this low riding, nice handling car, but I also shread precious rubber, as the lower stance pushes the suspension higher up into the camber curve.  At night, it seems like everyone's driving with their brights on.  In shopping malls, speed bumps are a chore.  Small potholes in the road, send rigid kicks into the car, and inconceivable dips in the road, now seem like huge cliffs.  When I get out of my car, no need to step down, I'm already at ground level.  I'm so low to the ground, I could bottom out on a grain of sand.  Whatever practicality that used to be in this car, is now sitting in two boxes on the shelf of my garage.  Do I like it?  HECK YAH!  Though I imagine the novelty of driving a lower car will wear off in a couple of months, no car is complete without being closer to the earth, and its center of gravity.  There have been problems with handling though.  I anticipated exceptional lateral traction and excellent road holding abilities, but I gained just the opposite of that.  During hard cornering, the car felt unstable and wobbly, and the tires squealed sooner into the turn.  Cornering hard and hitting a bump proved even worse, causing the car to handle unpredictably and sending a loud "kurchunk" sound into the cabin.  What happened as a result of the lowering was, the level of suspension travel was reduced by exactly the same amount the car had been lowered, two inches.  This meant that during compression, the suspension had two inches less of travel over stock, which meant it was prone to "bottoming out."  This occurs when under a hard load, the suspension reaches its maximum amount of compression and no longer absorbs shock.  Any additional level of compression will consequently force the shock assembly to channel additional energy to the chassis as well as the bump stops that keep the suspension from destroying the car.  When this happens, as in a hard turn while hitting a bump, for all intensive purposes, the dampening level becomes infinite and the tires reach slip angles beyond the tuning specifications of the suspension.  When a car manufacturer designs the suspension, they take careful consideration of the slip angle caused by each tire and use that to help tune the suspension.  When a car is lowered, the slip angle is also changed, generally as a result of the lack of wheel travel, and the additional stiffness of the spring, without change in the level of compression dampening by the shock.  This is also a reason why shocks are important when lowering a car.  Lowering a car also causes different imputs by the suspension.  Because the car is so low, and the camber is pushed up higher into its curve, a bump might send steering imputs into the suspension.  Instead of absorbing the bump, the suspension now channels that shock into a directional movement which will cause the car to move in a direction which is not approved by the driver.  The only possible benefits lowering your car can have is A) reduction of the center of gravity B) improved looks.  A reduction in the center of gravity will help improve the handling of your car, but you must also take into account the resulting change in your suspension geometry.  When your car turns, the suspension compresses, which causes a change in the camber that will enable the tires to remain parallel to the pavement.  However, when you lower your car, you are also simulating a hard turn to your suspension.  Your suspension will act as if you car was constantly turning by a level of two inches or whatever height your car is lowered.  Consequently your camber will also increase no longer allowing the suspension to hold the tire parallel to the ground during normal driving.  This in itself not only causes a problem for the handling of your car, but also causes severe tire wear, normally on the inside portion of the tire tread.  The contact patch is also reduced to that small portion of the inner tire which is experiencing the most wear.  The outside portion rarely contributes to traction, and as a result your car will have a higher slip angle than anticipated by your manufacturer.  If you are simply going for a lousy ride and just want looks, then this information does not pertain to you.  If you can afford to get toasted on the onramp by a stock car because you wanted your car to look good, that is your choice.  But if you want a good ride, and one that can handle well, lower your car an inch or inch and a half at most, and get a set of good adjustable shocks to compensate.  The shocks will reduce the level of suspension travel under load, by providing more dampening force which will ultimately prevent your suspension from bottoming out.  The increased stiffness of your springs is not enough to accomplish this task.  Your car will also have improved transient response (weaving in and out of traffic) as a result of this modification. P.S. I no longer have these springs on my car. =) They're for sale.  Anyone interested?

CAT-BACK EXHAUST
Got the APEXi RS Exhaust on (Tuesday, 1/1/00), and darn does it help.  The piping is very different from most typical exhaust systems for the GS-T.  First of all it is currently the largest piping available for the GS-T model.  The A pipe that bolts onto the cat is sized down to 70mm in order to fit onto the cat, but enlarged to 75-80mm after about three inches of piping.  It expands again at the rear, after the resonator, to 85mm where it goes through the straight through muffler and exits the 4.5" tip.  This "megaphone" style piping has been pioneered by APEXi based on the concept that exhaust gases travel on the outside of the pipe.  The gradual increase in the pipe allows the gases to move out freely with minimal backpressure and resistance.  Most other pipes that I could find for this car, only had one piping size, generally at 70mm.  This is roughly 2.75" which is pretty large, but not large enough.  Turbo cars need the least amount of backpressure in order to operate efficiently.  Another interesting thing I noted was the fact that, the APEXi pipe goes below the rear suspension frame as it connects to the muffler.  All other exhausts make a sharp bend over the suspension frame and then proceed into the muffler.
I had some time to test out the drivability differences between the stock exhaust and APEXi exhaust, and was immediately surprised by the differences.  The APEXi system was surprisingly quiet, I thought it was going to be much louder when I first started the car up.  The stock exhaust was decent, but had small piping and several resonators, not to mention a very restrictive muffler.  Ultimately it was quieter even under hard acceleration, but was seriously depriving the car of high end power.  The car did not like to pull after 4000rpm, I could actually feel the car losing its power as I edged toward 6000rpm, and after about 6000rpm, the car was only making a harsh noise and not really accelerating.  It felt like the car was begging me to shift to the next gear so it could go back down to a more efficient rpm range.  The APEXi system made considerably more power at the top end and pulls hard all the way to 5000rpm, and starts to die off after that.  Around 6500rpm I also noticed the car wasn't really pulling, but rather making more sound that anything.  This is not a fault of the exhaust system, rather, the fault of the turbo.  The turbo is geared toward low RPM torque, as proven by the 3000rpm torque peak.  This means that anything after that RPM, the torque decreases, and the higher RPM you get up to, the less torque you get.  The APEXi did a good job leveling out the torque curve, not dropping as much after the peak, but only gradually decreasing in power, and then finally losing it around 6000rpm.  The stock exhaust seem like it was fine till about 4000rpm, where then it just decided to make sounds and not really flow out the exhaust.  The APEXi exhaust also allowed boost to build up more quickly especially when transitioning from normal driving to wide-open-throttle, where as the stock exhaust seemed to hum a bit and gradually reach effective boost pressure.
When compared to the Tanabe G-Power Medalian system designed for the GS-T, I noticed pretty interesting differences, in both the engineering and design of the exhaust, as well as the sound of the exhaust.   The Tanabe G-Power Medalian is a bit bassier and deeper sounding than the RS.  It grabs more attention with its audible tune when idling or at Wide Open Throttle (WOT).  The RS is much quieter under normal circumstances, but a bit harsher at WOT.  The piping in the exhausts are also fairly different.  The design of the mandrel bends and their travel path are also quite different.  The stock exhaust makes a steep bend above the rear suspension frame reducing the flow of the exhaust.  The Tanabe system also uses the same bend over the suspension frame, which, may be stractegic planning in backpressure levels.  The APEXi exhaust system prefers to have its pipe go under the suspension frame with less intense bends.  This however makes the piping closer to the ground, which poses a problem in lowered cars.  Even at stock height, the pipe scrapes the ground when I go up the driveway.  The APEXi clearly has larger piping, exiting at 85mm after the resonator, as opposed to 70mm on the Tanabe system.  Since the Tanabe system has an extra resonator, and smaller piping, I would have to say that there is considerably more backpressure when compared to the bigger diameter, less restrictive APEXi system.  The Tanabe system allows the car to have a bit more mid-range torque where as the APEXi system seems to shine at higher RPMs.  Both systems are of excellent quality, but I prefer the larger piping on the APEXi system, and better high speed high end power characteristics.  If you're looking for a system that has good mid-range punch, I recommend the Tanabe system.  It flows way better than stock, without sacrificing mid range torque, so you get the best of both worlds.  Get the APEXi if you like racing (me) and dont mind a slight increase in noise (not much louder than Tanabe, both systems are extremely quiet!) and don't really care too much about backpressure (me).  If you don't care about noise, get the N1 or Dunk system by APEXi.  They both have the same pipe configuration as the RS, but have different muffler configurations for different tastes in sound and style.

HIGH INTENSITY GAS DISCHARGE HEADLAMP
Got the true HID's installed (Thursday 5/18/00).  No more PIAA's.  The High Intensity Gas Discharge system is custom fabricated by Philips and Hella Lighting Systems.  The headlight conversion was relatively painless and offers an extraordinary increase in lighting.  The system consists of two ignition ballasts with fast re-strike capabilities, receiving power directly from the battery.  The bulbs consist of a filamentless capsule of gas filled with noble gases including Xenon.  The electrodes at each end of the capsule are charged with high voltage current which allows the gas to ignite and form the bright purplish-white beam of light.  The HID bulbs are placed in the stock location with no modifications to the housing, and are linked to the ignition ballasts by thick high voltage cabling.  The ignition voltage of the XENON light is 25,000 volts and emits a high pitched whine under normal operation.  Upon cold ignition, the HID's emit a bright blue light that slowly warms to a bright white within a minutes time (see pictures).  The illumination in lumens is about three times as much as my PIAA's, while only consuming 35watts as opposed to 51W.  Previously, when I turned my foglights on I noticed a dramatic increase in the amount of diffused light being projected in front of me, but now, activation of the foglights shows almost no difference in the amount of light being observed on the road.  The HID's are just too powerful.  Because the Eclipse has a seperate lamp housings for the High-Beams, the addition of HID's did not cause for the removal of the high beam system as common in dual filament installs, such as Honda's.  I am thoroughly impressed with the performance of these HID's.  I no longer need to activate my high beams in poorly lit back country roads.  Having gone through many halogen light bulbs that promise to provide the illumination of HID's, I've been through the quest of searching for the brightest lights.  The blue bulbs actually put more strain on my eyes at night.    There is nothing that can compare to the intensity of true Xenon.  Blue bulbs have a blue coat on the bulb which produces blue light as a primary source of road illumination.  While blue light has a higher resolving power than normal yellowish light, the wattage must be increased in order to compensate for the reduction in lumens caused by the blue tint on the bulb.  True HID's have no such tint on the bulb.  The purplish tint you see is the bi-product of the of the gases, the actual useable color is in the upper color temperatures.  In contrast, those "Hyper/Super/Plasma White Bulbs" with Xenon on their labeling have some sort of tint on their bulb.  Halogen lights emit light in the color temperature range of 3200K.  This is the primary color of the useable light.  The blue tint on the bulb filter light below around 4100K.  So now you have a bulb that burns at 3200K, produce light at 4100K.  Halogen bulbs were not meant to do this, and you will see that with all of the useable light blocked out, everything will be blue and dim  These bulbs normally consume more wattage than stock in order to compensate for their lack of road illumination.  If you are a riceboy and just want blue lights that look different, then you can settle for cheap imitations.  If you are an intelligent person and are looking for better road illumination for added safety, and cannot afford the steep price of HIDs, I recommend the PIAA Platinum Series Bulbs.

REAR TINT
The windows were treated with Llumar Titanium Film  Tuesday (6/20/00) with a 5% light transmittance on rear three windows.  The tint reduces heat and blocks out 99% of UV light.  The amount of heat reduced by just the rear tint was tremendous.  During the hot summer days that immediately proceeded the application of the tint, the interior of the car remained significantly cooler than previously.  You can easily feel the heat of the sun burn through untinted glass when cruising on the freeway, even though my front windows came treated with UV protection straight out of the factory.  But the rear windows offer immense protection from the sun.  The tint also helps at night by reducing the amount of glare caused by bright lights from higher sport utilities or trucks.  This used to annoy me on the freeway, when a large truck with a higher beam angle would blind me from the rear.  Now with the light transmittance being reduced, the lights dont look so bright anymore.  The tint also added a more stylish visual appeal, something that I don't mind having.

BOOST GAUGE
Happy Birthday to me!  (7/10/00) My friend Ben gave me a -30-0-30 Phantom 52mm Boost Gauge by Autometer for my Birthday.  Thanks Ben!  Installation was pretty simple.  A T-fitting had to be purchased, since one did not come with the boost guage.  This was the only additional item that was required for proper setup of the boost guage.  The T-fitting mounts to the hose that runs directly out of the intake plenum.  This is the best source for reading boost/vacuum in the car.  Since I am not writing a "how-to" page, I won't go over the install details.  If you need help though, you can always contact me by email.  The engine idles at around -20psi of pressure (a.k.a. vacuum).  Back to 'Boost 101.'  All cars should idle at vacuum since the engine is sucking in air from the intake plenum causing a reduction in pressure.  In naturally aspirated cars, a maximum of 0psi, or 1atm of pressure can be reached at WOT.  The pressure inside the plenum is equal to the outside pressure, since the throttle body is open, and the air pressures can be matched.  (During idle, the throttle plate is closed, and air is obtained through a seperate valve)  In turbocharged and supercharged cars, 'boost' can be obtained, whenever the pressure exceeds that of the standard atm.  This is accomplished by a compressor which is operated by exhaust gases (turbocharging) or by the motion of the crankshaft (supercharging).  The compressor allows the engine to receive air pressures that are greater than the standard of the atmosphere, allowing more efficient volumetric combustion of gases.  At 14.7psi, or 1 kg/cm² of boost (two times the amount of standard atm) the engine is, in effect, receiving double the charge of oxygen (as that which can be obtained from a naturally aspirated engine).  More oxygen per volume, means better combustion (assuming the proper ratio of fuel is added).  Careful attention to the boost gauge revealed interesting results during many driving situations.  With the current mods (everything above this paragraph) typical driving on the street yields about 6-10psi of pressure (a.k.a. boost).  Boost spikes of 19-20psi were detected at initial WOT in second gear.  However, these values leveled to around 14psi.  The maximum constant boost pressure that I could obtain was about 16psi in 4th gear, WOT, at around 90-100mph.  The addition of an electronic boost controller should allow me to safely increase boost levels for better performance.

A/F GUAGE & A-PILLAR MOUNT
No more 'ghetto-rigged' boost guages sitting on the dash.  Now the guages are more or less professionally mounted on the A-Pillar.  Too much rice?  Maybe, but with the addition of an Electronic Boost Guage, I think these are going to be a necessity for careful tuning.  The Cyberdyne A/F Guage consists of 10 multicolored LEDs that measure the voltage off the O2 sensor to determine the ratio of Air to Fuel.  It is a helpful tuning tool when raising boost levels beyond stock, but it is not as accurate as some guages that measure exact voltage.  Still, it will warn you of an extremely rich or lean condition.  As for the A-Pillar Guage Mount, I found it kind of bulky and unsettling.  I should have had it painted to match my interior, but still, even then it probably would'nt have looked all that great.  My main complaint is in regards to the ergonomics of the mount.  The mount is made of extremely thick plastic which makes it difficult for proper mounting.  It is also heavy.  The plastic screws that came with it are a joke, as well as the double stick tape.  I had to drill a seperate hole for a real screw, and now I'm going to have three or four holes in my A-Pillar when the guages come off.  I also feel that it makes my car uglier, but that is the only place I could think to mount them.  Enough complaints, on to more important things.

REAR STRUT TOWER BAR
Like the front strut tower bar, the rear bar was successful in adding a significant amount of torsional and structural rigidity to the chassis.  As stupid as I am, I drove for nearly a year with only a front tower bar thinking my handling was going to improve.  For my use, I think it actually deteriorated.  While the chassis was stiffer, the front was now much stiffer than the rear, which made the car prone to understeer, a characteristic which is horrible for skidpad style manuevers.  With the addition of the rear strut tower bar there was a noticeable increase in handling.  On-ramps are no longer a chore at double the posted speed limit.  With a hint of rear tire chirp, the car carves the turn with confident precision.  I am still searching for other ways to stiffen the rear chassis, since this now seems to be the ultimate goal in performance handling.  The Eclipse comes out of the lot with a really flimsy rear.  This supposedly prevents disaster caused by an inexperienced driver.  Generally, most FF (front engine, front wheel drive) cars have a noticeable amount of understeer by nature.  During a hard turn, a typical FF car will start losing traction in the front tires, earlier than the rear tires.  This means, the front starts sliding towards the outside portion of the curve.  You will notice that when this occurs, you will fly off the road if you continue to accelerate.  Realizing this, the would-be inexperienced driver, would take a course of action to correct, generally, slow down, regain traction to the front tires, and make the turn.  But this is the slowest way around a turn.  In reality, for an experienced driver, you would want a stiff rear, so that the front no longer loses traction first, rather, the rear.  Now, on a hard turn, you are not sliding outside of the curve, but instead you will be sliding the rear end out, which means orientating the front towards the center of the circle.  This is called oversteer.  Most FR, MR, and RR cars have this type of behavior.  This, however, makes the car a bit more unpredictable, since the driver is unable to tell whether the rear will slide out completely and force the car into a complete spin.  Careful applicate of traction loss is what makes FF cars potentially awesome on turns that would normally only be conquered by RWD vehicles.  FF cars are also more stable around a turn when accelerating, since the front tires are taking care of putting the power to the ground.  You get serious issues if you have RWD, since you have to worry about not putting too much power into the throttle.  In FF cars, constant application of power to the front tires, continuously correct the steering angle on a turn.

REAR LOWER TIE BAR
I think this thing is more of a joke than a functional part.  The tie bar connects two bolts that are attached to the rear subframe.  The rear subframe is one of the most rigid parts of the car, and why a bar would have any additional effect is beyond me.  In my eyes, the rear lower tie bar is just a shiny, polished stainless steel gimick that adds a good 3-4 pounds to the car.  I didn't really notice any differences in handling.  I would try and use more space by typing some useful information, but I suppose useful information only comes from useful parts.
 

BIG BRAKES
What good is go fast modifications without something to slow you down safely and efficiently?  Many people do not realize how important it is to have an adequate brake system to match the extra power generated in modifications.  When you start moving faster, you're going to need a brake system that can handle that extra speed.  Generally, your stock brake system will suffice, however, in some cases, an upgrade will be necessary.  There are exceptions.  With this reasoning, I would have to be pretty arrogant in thinking my car is too fast for the stock brake system, so I will say, this is one of those exceptions.  Generally speaking, most cars use single piston calipers to bind the pads onto the rotors, and in effect, slow the car to a stop.  The problem with a single piston is not the fact that adequate effort cannot be generated, rather the fact that it does not distribute the brake force efficiently.  The center of the brake pad may experience the most friction, while the edges experience less.  The trick is to get the most frictional surface area possible.  Let's say you get larger pads.  Sure this is going to give you more surface area, but how will the single piston be able to distribute all of its power, to the large swept area of the bigger pad?  Using two pistons, instead of one does the job.  Having two pressure points spread out over a large surface area will help you generate more friction over the surface of the bigger pad, and allow you to stop in less distance than a single piston might afford.  A few cars employ twin piston calipers, including the Corvette, Mustang GT, Eclipse GSX, etc.  Some manufacturers even go to added lengths and equip their cars with four-piston calipers.  These cars include, Supra Turbo, 3000GT Turbo, 911 Turbo (I am not biased toward turbo cars =), etc.  I have some oppurtunities to test out these brakes, with impressive results.  They dont lock up, like I thought they would under heavy braking, but they do stop the car instantly.  The amount of braking effort required to stop in a certain distance, is less than the stock single piston calipers.  The brakes also work effectively under repeatedly stopping.  It was difficult for me to distinguish if any brake fade was present.  If anything, the brakes bit harder when hot.  Road///Race Engineering did the conversion using OEM GSX calipers, high performance Axxis Metal Master Brake Pads, and PowerSlot Slotted/Vented Rotors.  The packaged set is dubbed, "Road Race Big Brake Upgrade."  Indeed they are.  Aside from having two-pistons and bigger pads, the rotors themselves are also larger.  The Big Brake Rotors are 20mm bigger than there smaller counterpart, measuring 275mm, roughly 10 3/4."  Still, considerably smaller than AEM Rotor Upgrades, but the magic is not really in the rotor (I never noticed any problems with heat) but in the caliper.  Afterall, the rotors job is to simply disappate heat efficiently; its the caliper thats doing the work.  I'd imagine braking distances under 120ft on even surfaces, even without antilock brakes.  This is considerably better than the 126ft distance with the stock calipers.  GSX's manage to get 118ft with anti-lock brakes, and 200lbs of drivetrain added.  [right: stock setup; left: RRE Big Brake Upgrade; bottom: rear view of caliper with twin pistons showing

SPARK PLUGS:
Felt, heard and smelled nothing different.  Car's probably too slow to take advantage of it.

TIRES: (10/23/02)
The stock Goodyear Eagle RS-A's are nice tires.  They benefit from expensive tire construction (tires are directional AND asymmetrical) with decent wear characteristics.  But they're not exactly performance tires.  They are H rated which means they're only good up to 130mph.  Any faster and they're bound to overheat.  This also means sidewall construction is not as stiff as say, a ZR or even VR rated tire.  I solved the problem with a set of four new Kuhmo Ecsta Supra 712's.  Not only are they wider (225/50R16 vs. 205/55R16) but rhey're W speed rated for high speed stability (excess of 168mph) and relatively good performance all around.  Kumho tires are not known for their longevity; their soft tire compound works well when the tenacious grip is needed, but at the cost of increased wear rate.  Note:  Its harder to drift on these tires because they're so sticky, but the car will still throw its back end out when trail braking into high speed turns (or with liberal use of the E-brake =).

DOWNPIPE (12/23/02)
Three inch stainless steel straight through downpipe.  Seat of the pants self dyno suggests additional acceleration.  Nice growl between 2700-3200RPM.  Definitely better throttle response, less turbo lag, and more top end power.  Smells like a race car now too.

CRANKCASE BREATHER: (12/26/02)
Checked all the piping from where the fumes vent into the intake all the way to the throttle body.  Oil made it halfway up the upper IC pipe, and drenched the intercooler, lower IC pipe and compressor side of turbo with oil.  Definitely needed this illegal modification.

LOWER INTERCOOLER PIPE: (12/28/02)
Rewelded the holes in the intercooler and cleaned out the oil then stuck a nice 2" mandrel bent hard S-pipe from the turbo to the IC.  Car pulls more at the top end and when turbo initially comes on.  Getting some strange boost creep now, that I never noticed before.