Lincoln is gone

Mackenzie · Post by **Mackenzie** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 6:30 pm

I just got rid of the lincoln yesterday, and im in the hunt for a new car now.. I was thinking about getting a 02 or higher explorer, but after some thought I really want a fast car that I can tune up easily.I Trying to keep it at 8k Ive ran across several 02-above eclipse's. Wanted to hear some thoughts on tuning up eclipse's..

Post by **bdubs767** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 7:14 pm

eclipse = girls car

Mackenzie · Post by **Mackenzie** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 7:19 pm

I donno, ive seen a few tuned up, they dnt look bad at all. Ide say mazda miata, or a vw bug is a gurls car.

Mackenzie · Post by **Mackenzie** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 7:20 pm

btw I see more and more girls riding in suv's now a days.

Post by **stipud** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 7:37 pm

2000 Saab 9-5 Aero
Fast
Slick
Cheap
Luxurious
Different
Fast

Post by **mr tibbs** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 7:47 pm

How about a Saturn SC2? That's what I have right now. It's now the prettiest thing out there, but it was cheap, pretty dam reliable, and easy to work on. I have a 2002 and when I bought it there were around 50K I believe. It cost me around $6k. Plus, if there is a problem parts are cheap because it's domestic. It's not real fast out of the box, but people are starting to play with them and there are many with turbos on them. Just a suggestion!

Mackenzie · Post by **Mackenzie** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 8:19 pm

Saturn anything is eliminated... One thing I Like about the 00-03 eclipse's is that they have tons of parts. Probably the only car that has more is a honda, which im not interested in.

ydnap · Post by **ydnap** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 9:24 pm

Eclipse have *the* worst case of crank walk EVER.

If you must get one get a pre 95 with the 6 bolt engine.Avoid the 7 bolt like the plague. Theyre also very flimsy and tend to rattle alot.

The GK Tiburon is a great car for the price, as long as you get the elisa V6. the build is better than the eclipse and they can be supercharged pretty inexpensively. And, theyre not prone to crank walk or any other major engine problems. They also have awesome handling and the 6 speed box is one of the best in the business.

Personally if I had to get something other than the tib I would look for a clean turboed MR2. Avoid saab they have fucking costly turbo systems and nasty timing chains.

twisted · Post by **twisted** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 9:24 pm

nissan 300zx... twin turbo, fast, pretty reliable,lots of aftermarket go fast parts.
hell if you want to go real fast with it you can stuff a skyline motor in it

Mackenzie · Post by **Mackenzie** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 9:28 pm

twisted wrote:nissan 300zx... twin turbo, fast, pretty reliable,lots of aftermarket go fast parts.
hell if you want to go real fast with it you can stuff a skyline motor in it

Kinda rare around here, and wont fit into the budget.

Mackenzie · Post by **Mackenzie** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 9:29 pm

Pandy wrote:Eclipse have *the* worst case of crank walk EVER.

Crank walk.. Explain?

ydnap · Post by **ydnap** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 9:31 pm

Mackenzie wrote:
Pandy wrote:Eclipse have *the* worst case of crank walk EVER.
Crank walk.. Explain?

Give me 10 mins Ill scan a article that will save me typing

twisted · Post by **twisted** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 9:32 pm

Mackenzie wrote:
Pandy wrote:Eclipse have *the* worst case of crank walk EVER.
Crank walk.. Explain?

crank walk is when a crank moves front to rear under a load , and is generaly caused by weak main journal caps and excessive bearing tolorences.
it is very detrimental to the life of a motor, tends to break cranks under heavy boost from turbos and S/C's and cause bearings to spin

Mackenzie · Post by **Mackenzie** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 9:34 pm

twisted wrote:
Mackenzie wrote:
Pandy wrote:Eclipse have *the* worst case of crank walk EVER.
Crank walk.. Explain?
crank walk is when a crank moves front to rear under a load , and is generaly caused by weak main journal caps and excessive bearing tolorences.
it is very detrimental to the life of a motor, tends to break cranks under heavy boost from turbos and S/C's and cause bearings to spin

I dnt know much about engine upgrades, so explain why this is bad, and what it does.

ydnap · Post by **ydnap** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 9:36 pm

fnarr...

twisted · Post by **twisted** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 9:38 pm

if you break a crank of course you just broke your engine.
if you spin a rod bearing you could throw a rod out the side of the block (not uncomon in eclipse's) if you spin the main bearing you just destoyed your crank in a eclipse anyways, as the dont take kindly to alot of machineing.
any way you slice it you get to buy a new motor, or car

ydnap · Post by **ydnap** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 9:40 pm

And to add a horror story to the mix I will tell you about a young lad local to me who didnt heed the advice.

He bought a 400WHP AWD eclipse and it was making a noise. He took it in and the drive shafts were shot. So week one he had them all replaced. Thatll be a grand thanks.

Week two he took it out and the crankshaft snapped in half, Thatll be $1200 thanks.

Week three he took it out again and cracked the head internally, spelling the end of the engine and the end of the car.

The problem with Eclipses is what they tend to stand for, and how they are treated. There is no good example of the 7 bolt engine eclipse and unless you fancy driving a 90-95 (which are hideously fugly) then I would avoid them.

The non turbo ones are also slow, and still have the crankwalk problem.

Honestly, if you can get over the badge the Tiburon is a really good car.

twisted · Post by **twisted** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 9:42 pm

Pandy wrote:unless you fancy driving a 90-95 (which are hideously fugly) then I would avoid them.

i kinda like them

ydnap · Post by **ydnap** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 9:45 pm

twisted wrote:
Pandy wrote:unless you fancy driving a 90-95 (which are hideously fugly) then I would avoid them.
i kinda like them

I suppose it is because the only local one to me has a 4" exhaust and looks like a friggin wheelbarrow with it sticking out the back

Ugly it is, but feckin fast it also is. Dyno'd at 390WHP which is impressive.

With 8 grand I think I would go subaru, possibly a outback or legacy.

twisted · Post by **twisted** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 9:48 pm

a friend of mine had a 93 talon tsi that puts 588 to the 4 wheels
it is not ricered.
it looks real clean just has nice wheels and is lowerd about 1.5"
has stock appearing exhaust with a cutout in the down pipe...this thing is a real sleeper!!!!!!!!
and on radial street tire to boot.

Mackenzie · Post by **Mackenzie** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 9:55 pm

My dad has an 03 eclipse he bought brand new, and I have driven it over the years, and have never had any problems with it.

Post by **stipud** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 10:06 pm

Pandy wrote:Avoid saab they have fucking costly turbo systems and nasty timing chains.

What are you basing that on? I haven't heard of a single problem with a timing chain in a year and a half of browsing numerous Saab forums. It's the same as with any car... timing chain gets replaced LONG into the life of the car, 200k miles and up typically. You may be confusing it with the timing belt on the V6 boat anchor engine, which is specced to be replaced every 60tkm.

I wouldn't recommend the V6 to anyone. It's a shit GM sourced engine they haphazardly threw into the car because the North American market demanded more cylinders, despite that the I4 was much cheaper, stronger, more powerful, and a lot more reliable.

How is the turbo costly? I pay the same for my turbos as I do for any car... it's just a Mitsubishi TD04HL, used in very many cars, and can be had for cheap as long as you don't buy inflated parts from the stealership. They do this with any "prestige" brand though. I shop from www.eeuroparts.com and www.genuinesaab.com , and this car has been just as expensive to maintain as my previous 2000 Honda Accord, despite having double the horsepower.

Just find one that has good maintenance records and frequent oil changes and you'll be fine. Oil changes are particularily important in any turbocharged cars, due to the heat generated by the turbo. One of the nice things about buying the 9-5 Aero instead of the base model (other than the additional 90hp, bigger brakes, better suspension and styling) is that it was specced for fully synthetic oil from the start. As long as they have service records you should be golden.

If you want a "sports" car though, I will agree, a newer model Tiburon GS-R is surprisingly a shitton of fun. My friend and I stuck a cold air intake on his just this weekend, and I got to drive it around for a bit. Definitely has enough get up and go to scare the shit out of you, if you know how to push that 6 speed gearbox. The engine itself is pretty lame, no variable valve timing or interesting features... coupled to the excellent gearbox and chassis it does it's job however. If I bought one I would definitely do something about the suspension first... they must have designed it for people who lower their cars without upgrading shocks, because it is completely underdamped and way too crashy and jarring.

Mackenzie · Post by **Mackenzie** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 10:19 pm

Any other opinions on the 00- up eclipse's Like I said Ive driven my dads for 3 years now off and on, and it has worked flawlessly engine wise.

Mackenzie · Post by **Mackenzie** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 10:28 pm

Also Ide probably end up going with the 4 cylinder. Are their still some good upgrades for the 4 cylinder model to make it pretty fast.

ydnap · Post by **ydnap** » Fri Dec 29, 2006 12:21 am

stipud wrote: What are you basing that on?

Experience.

My cousin had a saab 9000 turbo and the turbo went. they wanted the equivalent of about 8 grand for a replacement.

A friend of mine in MA has had 2 9-5 aeros. the first one the timing chain snapped bending the valves and the second developed a bearing rattle in the turbo after 3 years, it ended up costing him upward of 4k.

Saabs are VERY expensive for parts. Remember Mack is pretty young and so the running costs of a saab (being realistic of course) will outweigh pretty much any other choice for around the 8k mark. Frankly for someone that age with that kind of income a saab is out of his league both in cost (for a good one) and repair costs.

Also dont forget that subaru are now rated number one in the world for reliability, and with $8k to spend you could pick up a legacy with the turbo that is a sleeper in it's own right. Plus they are very spacious and have the killer AWD subaru was made famous for. A wall of sound in there would be a piece of piss

Saabs are pretty much getting into infinity/bmw and others territory, and at mack's age and income theyre not good cars to chose. (yet)