Voltex Front AERO Replica Part I

Well it didn't take long for me to dive straight into this project. I cut the top canards from a thick gauge sheet metal, bent them with my brake, and polished the edges smooth on my bench grinder. I used my drill press to make the mounting holes, and shot them with some self etching primer. They came out super cool if you ask me. Next update I'll make the bottom canards.

Dang these came out really good

Super smooth

Voltex Style Front Splitter

I've been toying with the idea of a splitter and canards for the front end of my Eclipse, but I wanted something a little... Crazier. Voltex from Japan makes an insane combo for the time attack EVOs, made popular from the CyberEVO. So, I got to thinking. Since obviously no one makes one for an aging DSM, why don't I try and build one? That's what I'll do. Below are some sample pics of what I plan to make, sorta.

The massive splitter underneath

Two huge canards on both sides

Even underneath it's a piece of artwork

Enter, Hideki's 300ZX

Hideki has always been a Z car fanboy. My pops bought a Z32 twin turbo new in 1990, and when I turned 16 it was mine. Seriously, how cool was that! My pops is a die-hard Corvette guy, and while he liked the Z32 it just wasn't for him. When I got the car it was already an old car, and needed some work, but c'mon! Although it wasn't meant to be, one night while my mom was driving the car it got into an accident and was gone forever. With the proceeding insurance monies I bought my Eclipse, but I had to have another Z32. So one fateful day my girlfriend spotted this little red 2-seater non-turbo in some used car lot. I was smitten by the machine and had to have it. We used it everyday until a black 350Z waltzed into my life. But now is the time for me to work my magic onto this platform.

It's a clean, low milage, 100% 1992 factory Z32

... Really really needs some coilovers

Under the hood is a 3.0 liter V6 unlike any other, the Z32 even in non-turbo form came from the factory with dual overhead camshafts, dual exhaust, dual throttle bodies, and variable valve timing. This thing was super advanced when you think that it was developed in the late 80's. I plan on seeing how far I can take the NA Z32 platform. ESCORT in Japan has made some wonderful numbers in NA form, so I'm hopeful.

A New (Newish) Intake for the Gurren

For the longest time I made due with a K&N filter clamped onto the end of the C4's throttle body. It sounded great, and probably gave the batterred old Corvette a few extra ponies. But let's face it, it didn't exactly look good at all. So I went about procuring the factory intake setup for the car. When I rescued the Gurren it was still twin turbo'd with its destroyed factory powerplant. So naturally, it didn't have any of the factory intake components, so when I transplanted another L98 in its place I had to be creative. Of course I couldn't just leave well enough alone, so I cut open the lid to the airbox to let more air in. It's not nearly as loud as before, and power delivery is actually a little smoother... I guess GM knew what they were doing.

Looks more complete this way :) of course I can always go back to the loud K&N

You can see the cut airbox lid

Aluminum Radiator for my 2G

Well it's no mystery that my 2G Eclipse gets put through its paces on a daily basis. So naturally, things are bound to break. What broke this time was my factory radiator. The end tanks are made of plastic, and the spout that lets you clamp the upper radiator hose sheared off. So I ordered a Mishimoto aluminum radiator and dual electric fans. The radiator is physically larger than the one it replaced, and with the aluminum end tanks I wont need to worry about the spouts breaking off. And on the plus side the new fans are more powerful than the factory ones, and since they're slimmer, there's more room in the engine bay for a larger turbo.

Not only does the new setup perform better, it looks soo much better.

... and that extra room will come in handy when I find a bigger turbo.

HKS on the Gurren, WTF?

Anyone who knows Hideki, knows that I'm Japanese through and through. And I tune cars in that sort of flair. When I saved the Gurren from destruction, the Flowmaster exhaust had rotted away and needed replacing. No, nothing but HKS would do for the Gurren. You see, back in the 90's you could see tuned Porsches, Ferraris and Corvettes flying down the expressways in Japan battling even more tuned RX7's, Skylines and 300zx's.

It started with a brief thought. Hideki, what machine would you of piloted in Japan to defeat your enemies? Well, the Gurren of course! So how would you of tuned the Gurren? Like a 300ZX of course! So the idea of an HKS exhaust system on my C4 Corvette was born. I managed to aquire two HKS Hiper mufflers, and fabbed up a 3" main pipe that splits into dual 2.5" pipes. The system is larger than the factory, has the distinct look I was going for, and probably picked up a few ponies over the old rotted system.

Hideki

Brembo Brakes on a 2G

I'm not gonna lie, I originally wanted an EVO VIII when they came out. I went to the dealership and tried, it was going to be $400 a month for the car. No big deal, it was going to be another $400 a month for insurance. Big deal... That's what spurred my interest into the world of tuned Mitsubishis, if I couldn't have an EVO I'd have a turbo Eclipse. Because after all, they both have the 4G63 engine under the hood.

That's why when you see my car you can pick off the small EVO styling cues I've subtlely tried to instill into this machine's DNA. Take for example, the EVO VIII shift knob, oil cap and vortex generators. Not enough? How about the EVO III block and cylinder head (as well as special valve cover) Still not enough? Well then how about some EVO VIII Brembo brakes front and rear. Thought so.

For size comparisons, this is before with my GSX brakes

And after, massive Brembo craziness

But it's not as easy as you think. While Mitsubishi was kind enough to make things gently fall into place, for instance the rear EVO 8 brakes literally bolt-on. The front brakes was a little bit trickier (well not really trickier, more like more expensive) The factory 2G front knuckles don't have enough space between caliper mounting bolts to line up for the EVO calipers. But once again Mitsubishi was kind enough to offer us a standard template, so '99 JDM Galant knuckles swap out easily enough, look identical to the 2G's and have enough space for the Brembo calipers. Then all you need is SS brake lines for a GSX, because they have the correct banjo fitting (GST's don't) and they're long enough for use in the Brembos. And, you'll need some washers to space out the caliper bolts because they're just too long (I had to buy EVO caliper bolts from Mitsu to make it work)

The EVO styling cues are starting to come together

Don't mind the wastegate bumper vent :)

Rear brakes bolt-on 100% no fuss

A few other issues to tackle. Obviously your old dust shield won't work, the new EVO parts are MASSIVE compared to the old stuff. The rear shield are spot welded in place and can be pried off, the fronts can be unbolted. For the perfectionist you can buy the EVO shields but you'll have to fab up some way to make them work. And since these brakes are freakin huge you'll need wheels big enough for clearance. To make things simple I just bought EVO 8 wheels.

ARC style air-box

I've always been a fan of the Abbey Road Company (ARC) in Japan, and in particular their handmade airboxes. They don't make a box for the '97 Eclipse, or any Eclipse for that matter. Sure, I could buy one for an EVO III and make it work, but I decided to make my own cold-air box with a distinct Hideki flair all its own!

Early on I realised the importance of getting the heat away from my air cleaner with my heat shield

Using my old heat shield I made a long time ago as a template, I started cutting and bending the metal to the desired shapes. I then marked and drilled the neccesary holes in my new box for the mounting hardware, sealed the lip with foam weatherstrip (to make it air tight) and cut a 3" hole into the bottom of the new airbox with my hole saw. But why cut a 3" hole into the bottom you say? Well that's because attached to the airbox is a 3" hose that goes straight to my front bumper to feed cold-air directly into the box.

All the air gets fed directly into the box via a 3" velocity stack

A completely sealed cold-air box for my DSM

The unit actually polished up nicely

But Hideki, what difference does the box make (if any)? I have a bluetooth OBD-II adapter for my car that feeds information directly to my Droid X phone and logs pertinent info (and I can actually check CEL codes and/or clear them) well, intake air temperatures is one of the parameters that gets logged. And I'm glad to say temps are 5-10 degress colder than before, and within ambient air temps. My logger also displays horsepower and torque on the fly, and while I don't use it to publish power numbers I do use it to see theoretically if my modifications make a difference. To that answer yes, yes it does.

the Other cars...

At one point I had seven, yes seven cars. I now only have six... Here are them in a tiny bit of detail. You'll see my collection of cars is very eccentric. I'm not just into one type of car.

Hideki's W124 300E
This car had an interesting story. I've always been a fan of 190E's and 300e's and was looking for one to tune, and this one fell into my lap. I get a phone call one night I can have the car, for free! The only catch however, is that someone vandalized the car pretty bad, all I had to do was tow the car home. Well the car was in top shape mechanically, so I just drove the thing home, I included a picture of what the car looked like before, you can laugh.

I drove it home like this :D



The Chronicles on an old 300E

I spent a considerable amount of time (actually I didn't it was like a weekend) replacing what was broken, headlights, mirrors, interior bits, and giving the car a decent polish. And the whole thing seemed transformed, I had my cousin cut 3 coils off a set of Sportline springs I had from a buddy (my cousin did it cause he wanted to learn and who am I to pass up free labor?) and I made a custom Carlsson valve cover. I also painted the grille black, got rid of the headlight wipers, and made a custom exhaust using a Lorinser muffler I found at a junkyard (no joke) but my girlfriend sold the car while I was at work and never got around to taking decent snaps of the car finished. I know right, she sold it and I didn't even know! It's cool though.

Hideki's Corvette "the Gurren"

Well folks, the next car up to bat is my shutokou racing inspired '90 Corvette 6-speed, nicknamed "the Gurren". Hideki's Pops bought the Gurren way back when it was new. It was your average everyday Z51 coupe, which did mean however, it had some serious hardware from the factory. Bilstein dampers, stiffer monosprings, bigger sway bars, an engine oil cooler, and a bunch other goodies. Including the J55 factory big brake package. But what makes the Gurren, the Gurren. Is shortly after it was purchased it was driven to Unser Engines in Santa Ana CA, where a bespoke twin turbo kit was built for it. When I was a kid I'd look at that car and say "the more I see it, the more I wanna be in that body!" this thing was just that cool back in the day, and freakin fast. But all good things come to an end, I remember also as a kid the Gurren being brought home on the back of a flatbed. The factory L98 5.7 liter V8 couldn't handle the force placed on it from two Garrett M24 turbochargers, and gave out. Hideki's pops put the car on the side of the house to never be seen again.

Years later, Hideki is about 18 years of age and mounts a rescue operation for the old Gurren. I caught wind of a plan for my pops to finally dispose of the old beast, junked. Together with help from his team mates Hideki frees the battered old Gurren in the middle of the night, and transports it secretly to his workshop many miles away. My pops wasn't mad at all, in fact he was grateful and signed over the car to me. This awesome machine now belonged to me.

But don't think for a minute the machine you see today was ANYTHING similar to what was rescued from my pops collection. The Gurren was originally white, and wore the same "narrow molding" body panels any '90 coupe wears. I updated the Gurren with '94 "wide molding" bumpers, painted it red, and yanked out the destroyed L98 and installed a fresh one. Of course, that meant the twin turbo kit had to go (for now) I still have all the components neatly organized in the workshop, awaiting a time I can reunite them to the car that fascinated me decades ago.

The Gurren 100% OEM after getting painted red

What makes the Gurren such a gnarly beast, twin Garrett M24 turbos

At this point the car is mostly OEM with a 2" lowering kit

Modifications?
Progress has always been slow for the Gurren, it's one of those treasured machines you don't really want to mess with, even though in the pit of your stomach you know you have to. It's odd though, a machine as a kid I pined over, positively drooled over. And now, I can slide behind the steering wheel and pilot it with rutheless disregard, all the while with a big grin on my face. Here is a list of stuff I've done to the car.

Under the Hood

*I cut the factory airbox open and put a K&N filter inside

*Accel ignition coil, and spark plugs

*HKS 2" exhaust, yes I said HKS more on that later

Rollin' Goin' & Stoppin'
*Lowered 2" front and rear

*Period correct ARE meshies 17x9.5" front and rear

*BFgoodrich g-Force tires (stretched to achieve my desired look)

*1.5" wheel spacer to achieve my desired look

You can see how close that tire lines up to the plastic fender

Anyone who knows anything about the C4 Corvette will recognize that unattainable Callaway front bumper chillin' in my garage!!!

Hideki's DSM

Okay enough of the sentimental stuff and onto the machinery. Introducing, Hideki's D32 or '97 Mitsubishi Eclipse GST to most people. I bought this car using the insurance money from my wrecked Z32 300ZX. It's a shame I didn't save pictures from when I first bought the car. It was covered front to back with decals and vinyls, and the WHOLE interior was painted white. What a mess. But, alas I got the car home and began the transformation.

I fell in love with the Eclipse when I was in Japan, for reals. Despite popular belief there actually are 1G and 2G Eclipses in Japan. Yes, they all were built in the USA. But, the one's destined for the land of the JayDM got gauge clusters in only k/ph and different tail lights (amber colored side markers) they ever were all left hand drive like the US cousins, which is probably why they weren't very popular. But people tuned them there nonetheless.

In the Beginning
These are the earliest pics I have of the car. You can still see in the first pic that greyish paint the previous owner dicided to go crazy with all over the car. I installed a Ground Control coilover sleeve kit the first night I had the car, so I don't have any pics at the OEM ride height.

All the crap the previous owner did to the outside is almost all gone :)

A world of a difference compared to when I first picked up the car

Bring on the Mods

The car kept getting upgraded at a steady pace until one fateful night, while racing against an equally as impressive turbo Honda Prelude, the whole bottom end went -BLAMMO... Amazingly the car managed to turn over and I thought all I did was trash the headgasket (boy was I wrong) I had it towed home and when the oil pan came off, I surveyed the damage. Crankshaft was split in two, and it looked like a grenade had gone off within the confines of my 4G63. The car got towed to Hideki's moms house (which is over an hour away) and awaited what was coming to be.

Hideki's friend had a spare 4G63 from an EVO III sitting in his garage, and allowed me to use it (actually he was going to use it for his car but I coaxed him out of it) but like all things too good to be true, it was. The engine was nowehere near in as good a shape as I hoped. But, all was not lost. We stripped the engine down and sent it out for a full rebuild, but not an ordinary rebuild either. In went stroker pistons, longer connecting rods, stronger bearings, and a new crank. Hideki's 4G63 is what's called a 2.1 liter destroker, it's supposed to square out the engine (bore vs stroke) to let the engine rev higher. Well it works.

I'm missing a ton of info here, but here is a run down of everything I remember that I've done to the car.

Under the Hood

*2.1 Destroker rotating assembly; EVO III block, Clevite bearings, Manley "I" beam rods, Wiseco stroker pistons

*HKS metal head gasket

*EVO III cylinder head; ported during rebuild
*Dejon intake & intercooler pipes, Greddy Type RS blow-off valve, K&N FIPK
*ARC style Super-Induction cold air box
*Greddy 24V front mount intercooler
*Forced Performance T28 turbo and exhaust manifold, Dejon MBC
*ACT 2600 clutch, RRE lightweight flywheel, SS clutch line Motul fluid
*SSAC O2 sensor housing dump with Jayracing bumper mount
*RRE 3" downpipe, Espelir GT500 3" exhaust system
*Setrab oil cooler, factory auto DSM shroud for cooler
*Samco radiator hoses, ARC radiator cap
*Walbro high flow fuel pump
*NGK plugs, Magnecor plug wires
*JayRacing wastegate through the bumper kit (whatever it's called)

Rollin' Goin' & Stoppin'
*EVO 8 Brembo brakes front and rear; '99 JDM Galant knuckles, Project Mu pads
*Megan coilovers, rolled fenders
*Front, rear, and B&C pillar bars
*SS brake lines, Motul 600C fluid
*EVO 8 Enkei wheels, BFGoodrich gForce tires

Lookin' the Part
*EVO style vortex generators
*Stripped out the trunk area
*Shaved "mustache" on the front bumper
*Autometer Boost and EGT gauges, Greddy turbo timer
*Super-duper rare factory strut tower "Multi-link Suspension" rubber dust covers...
... I'm sure I'm forgetting a bunch of stuff...