Im looking into buying a cheap second car that can still be somewhat sporty (at least in a straight line) for next to no money and not kill me on the insurance. I think I've found it. Buy a 1990ish Eclipse GSX for 3000 and pay 300 dollars for a boost controller and you have a car that is running in the 13's for the quarter mile plus can handle inclimate weather. What do you guys think is the perfect beater?

 

eeek, I meant to post this in off topic. Sorry about the wrong folder.

 

The insurance on these probably is a lot higher than you think...

 

Beware of these cars with higher mileage - they have a weak bearing design. Crankshafts have a tendency to get a lot of axial play around 100K miles.

 

You could get a manual boost controller for $50. How much inclement weather do you get in Florida?

 

I bought a 91 Honda CRXsi for my daily driver / beater car and I love it. It

 

What do you mean by axial play? Have a hard time putting power to the ground or unpredictable handling or something else? As far inclimate weather go we only have heavy rains but if I ever need to take it up north it would be useful....

 

not really the board for this go to dsmtalk.com eclipse gsx is a good car to modify and have fun with any used car check it over and make sure you are getting a good deal before purchase. Not sure what txst is talking about, I've seen 1Gs with nearly 200k miles and no problems. It's all on the previous owner and how they took care of it.

 

I've been away for a while....

There are many owners of these cars that after 100K miles (sometimes a lot sooner) the engine develops major problems. One of the more common ones is bearing wear, even on well maintained cars. One of my friends was a victim of this - one day his car was running great and then just died - left him stranded and he had to have it towed. The diagnosis was the crank sensor had broken. They replaced it, and he drove away, and the car died again on his way home. Back it went, and the same diagnosis - broken crank sensor. Upon investigation, they found that the crank was moving axially and breaking the crank position sensor. Apparently, there is something about the lower end design that is very tricky for the average engine rebuilder to deal with, so the dealer recommended a Mitsubishi factory rebuilt engine. Upon doing some research, he found that this is a fairly common problem.

 

Ok, I believe you are talking about crankwalk and it isn't a very common problem. In fact it is quite rare. Seems to occur mostly in 2Gs. It's quite easy to detect when you depress the clutch it should make a constant clicking sound if you catch it in its early stages. Mostly happens to people with upgraded clutches (that's one theory). But it is very rare on 1G Eclipses in fact on the dsm boards I believe there have only been 3 reported cases in first gens.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by txst
[B]I've been away for a while....

There are many owners of these cars that after 100K miles (sometimes a lot sooner) the engine develops major problems.