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Exhaust
Our "racecar" is also a daily driver so straight piping is not going to happen. Adding an exhaust is the next step.
Count on about 4 horsepower, 4 lbs of torque. In the kit most likely they wont give you new gaskets so go out and buy on for
where the new exhaust connects to the old piping. The exhaust pipe allows for better air evacuation. Think of the engine
as a vaccum the more air allowed out the more allowed in. The pressure the engine feels when evacuateing air is called backpressure.
Backpressure however is not a bad thing all the time. Backpressure creates torque at low rpms. Increasing the exhaust pipe
diameter decreases backpressure but increases horsepower. Meaning you have more horsepower and more torque at a higher rpm.
The eclipse has pretty good low end torque so the loss is negligiable. High end torque is desperately needed so this is a
great addition. Installation is easy for this as well. However on my car the bolts were so rusted that I had to take a torch
to the bolts to heat them up and then an impact wrench to get them off. When your done I have to say this is a very nice sounding
car, if you have the V6. It does not have that bee hive ricer sound at all.
Underdrive Pulley
There is alot of criticism against this part. Also it will only get you about 1-2 horsies. I would say do not do it, the risk
outweighs the power gains. However I bought an Unorthodox Racing one and have had no problems whatsoever and no check engine
light so this one is up to your preferance. The most common arguments against it are that the smaller pulley allows for vibrations
in the cam shaft that a larger pulley would cancel out. Vibrating cam shaft well basically, major repairs. Again I do not
know if these claims are true. I spent an entire day researching the topic and got no where closer to an answer. For example
I called three Mitsubishi dealership service deparments. The first said absolutely it would destroy the engine. The second
said not at all and the third wanted to know what an underdrive pulley was, obviously it didn't instill any faith in that
particular dealership. If you do decide to get it this is what it does. The lighter and smaller diameter of the pulley means
that the engine has to work less to power the accessory pulleys. Adding a little more powers to the wheels. I did not expierence
any light dimming or battery failure.
The installation instructions that come with this are pretty bad. Also you will need more than just a ratchet set to get
the pully off. This is a tough bolt. Also once the bolt is off its still extremely dificult to pry the pulley off and you
will need special tools for it. To put it into perspective while prying ours off the factory pulley broke in two.
Lightened Flywheel
This is an item that alot of the forums skip over. It will get you about 8-15 whp. However you will lose some torque in 3000-4000rpm
range but on a track you dont use that range anyway. However after 4000 watch your rpm needle fly. What it does is this, my
orginal flywheel weighed in at 14 lbs while the new one weighed 7lbs. The lighter wheel now allows the transmission to turn
more easily. This frees up some horsepower but also more importantly it allows the engine to rev faster. This faster rev means
you can go through the gears faster, basically alot quicker accelleration. When you replace it you'll also want to get a new
clutch disc and compression plate. After about 500 miles of breaking in the transmission you can finally test it and out of
all the other things talked about thus far this is the only one you can really feel.
Headers
These unfortunately due to lack of funds have not made it onto my car yet. CMF has just come out with some great new ones.
Their old ones were dynoed at about 25 hp and torque. I believe they are still waiting on dynos for the new ones. Just like
the exhaust the larger piping and Y formation allow for more exhaust fumes to flow through. A definate must for your car if
you want to lay down more power.
You have two choices with these, short or long. My eclipse is a daily driver and does not have any major upgrades. Therefore
short would be my choice. Short provide the most power and better gas mileage without the tuning. Long are meant for a track
car. They will be very loud, smelly and require tuning. If you do not tune them you might come out with even lower HP numbers
than the original. These just require more time and attention then the short ones. If you are going for 100% track these are
what you want though.
Cam Gears
These can be good and bad. Good for the expierenced tuner with a dyno present. Bad because most shops will probably just
set it at factory specifications and you may loose for hp from this mod. The gears are meant to be adjustable and are great
for changing around you power band. However the eclipse really doesn't respond that much to them. They adjust when fuel and
exhaust are released. If a normal shop installs them without doing dyno tests between you could lose horsepower or end up
with some extra right before redline which is basically wasted power that won't ever be used. Unless you have time to tune
around with them or money to spend on a good shop don't get them. However if you do have the expierence and correct tools
they are another valuable mod.
Throttle Body
This allow more air into the intake manifold. Just as with the CAI this allows for more combustion. However the only ones
I've found are only a 2mm diferance. I also couldn't find any dynos them either. It comes out to about an 8% more airflow
but without any dynos I have no idea what that entails. They aren't that expensive so if your trying to squeeze just a little
bit more power out of the car go for it. Just keep in mind that you probably won't feel the diferance, for other cars performance
throttle bodies are usually 10mm and up diferance.
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