Well, I've made the decision to do an Ebay project on my car.

Aside from major engine components, most if not all boltons are going to be Ebay. I've always wanted to do one of these, and since I don't plan on keeping the 7 bolt in the car, and until I get down to Southern Ontario permenantly (doesn't look like anytime soon) for racing, I'm going to be doing Ebay for everything.

I want to test these components I've heard so many stories about failing/succeeding in the market for myself. Look forward in the coming months for some upcoming information.

Here's a short list of what I will be testing:

Manifolds/O2 Housing/Exhaust
Intercooler and Pipes
Turbocharger
Wastegate and Blow Off Valve
Radiator
Intake

Lets see what these Ebay Bolt-ons REALLY have to offer.

Safety and measuring equipment will not be tested (Brakes, Gauges etc).

Wait till 2010 when I do Project Canadian Tire/Walmart Cavalier.

This sounds like such a cool idea!! Keep the thread updated regularly please!!

hmm...

^^ I agree....very interesting...
I'd like to know how some of those parts work out..
I too am in the same position, the 7 bolt isn't staying in there long. Cheap alternatives are always interesting, that way more money can be spent on the 6 bolt swap!

Looking forward to reading some updates..

I like this idea, I have ran more than a few ebay parts on my cars not only the dsm's. I have had some really good luck. But then again, my expectations are not as high either. I have also had some bad luck with high end dsm parts failing. Which because of the name and price really hurts. When an ebay part fails, I don't get as upset.

It should be very interesting and I am looking forward to it. On that note, I will probably be keeping most, if not all of my stock configuration as a backup.

My eBay o2 housing just cracked in two.

My eBay o2 housing also cracked in two a few months ago.

The tube walls are super thin and eventually the weight of the DP causes them to crack off around the weld. But they're $50 instead of $150 for a quality one, so you can buy three

you can also re-enforce the welds, or weld on something to give it more support. A lot of people do that with ebay manifolds.

why the hell you would spend the money and time fixing a brand new part is beyond me.
You could do many things brandon but why... makes more sense to me to do it right the first time.

Ryan I dont see how your testing anything here... There are millions of forums on the web with threads proving conclusive evidence that 90% of the dicouncted parts on ebay are useless inferior pieces of crap.

It is an interesting idea, but like Nick has said.. most parts have been reviewed on Tuners and on other threads on the net.

Plus, it almost seems like a waste of money to buy a product which may be useless.

Ryan, your defently braver then me. To me that seems like you may just be throwing money away, I'd rather pay once & know its a quality product that will last.

Take for example the knock off evoIII. Sure its much cheeper initially but I bought a real evoIII, used it for a couple summers, its was still in perfect condition & I then sold it to recoupe a good portion of my money back. So it maybe cost me as much as one of the knock off turbo's plus I didn't have to worry about it maybe failing (sometimes within only a few km's) & being out that money.

I look at buying the knock off products as a 50/50 chance of just throwing your money away. I personally can't justify taking that chance.

Like Nick says, I'd rather do some research on the forums on what knocks off's actually work & pick those up, instead of taking my chance on everything.

And what with all the 7 bolt hate in this thread? 7 bolt FTW

there was a thread back on dsmtalk a while ago where the guy had a ebay turbo kit. The turbo oil seals let go blowing oil through the intercooler and back into the engine causing massive engine damage.
even if you could careless about toasting your 7 bolt, what happens when you get the 6..

Look at it this way too, if your ebay part fails, are SOL... would make a nice paperweight or door stop, thats about it. If you purchased from a name brand company, chances are you`d be able to get some type of replacement or other compensation.

This has been brought up many times but there are reasons why name brand manufactures spend hundreds of thousands in R&D and quality control on their products in turn causing the final cost of the product to be more, vs. A company in china who just replicates designs with next to no R&D and quality control.

I think I have 1 ebay part on my car.

A short shifter.
I did have a turbo once, but it was a MHI unit.

My rule is that I don't trust moving parts from e bay.

Even so, I installed an ebay intake on my friends car and it clogged up his maf from all the debris inside.

I think you are alone on this one Ryan.

How come you're so down on the 7-bolt motor anyways? Isn't your car auto? That drops your chances of getting crankwalk alot. I'm pretty sure there's still alot of 7-bolt engines out there putting down alot of hp.

Ahh, I was waiting for the "What the hell is wrong with you" group. And here they are!

Nothing wrong with the 7 bolt, but I still want a 6 bolt. I'm a truck mechanic with access to EVERYTHING, so I can repair/rebrace if necessary.

I've heard good and bad about certain things. Guys on DSMLink run lots of Ebay parts with some success and some failure.

Yeah there are lots of threads on "This part worked, and this is crap", but as they say, you never know till you try it yourself.

Besides, I could luck out! It would be kind of nice (in a dream world) to pay 1K for an Ebay turbo kit (Turbo, O2 Housing, FMIC, BOV, WG) and have it last for 2 years. In 2 years time, I would like to see the car running 10's, but a cheap way to get a 12 second pass for a few summers, meh, why not.

It's along the same lines as "Topline Water Pumps or OEM" and "Topline Front Case vs OEM"

This is going to be fun.

This sounds like something a company trying to compare their quality parts to cheaper ebay parts would do, not something someone just does for fun on their own.

I hope it all works out for you but I can't help but think you'll end up losing money on this project.

What the hell is wrong with you?

Rob, I heart you.

All in all, anything we do to our cars is a waste of money, if you think about it.

Look at it as me wasting less money.

That's like telling people that the PowerFist parts at Princess Auto are useless pieces of crap. Yes, but you can buy 3 for the cost of 1. And Ryan's argument holds true. If you buy a $100 part, and reinforce it with $50 worth of welding/work/bracing, you're still saving over the $300 part.

And if the $300 part stands a chance of failure anyway, where's the loss?

You drive DSMs, not BMWs, Porsches or Ferraris. The name on the part isn't usually an issue.

It all depends where you place your time value. Some people like tinkering, welding, whatever, so potentially saving money on the part cost works for them. Others don't like spending time doing those things and will pay more so that they can spend their time where they value it most.

Driving at least 2hrs for an event you have to consider:
1. Entry fees lost
2. Points lost in series
3. Gas to get to event wasted
4. Tow home (you save gas getting home!)
5. Replacement part
6. Additional damage potential
7. Time to repair car for next event and/or drive to work
8. Upset gf
9. Dinner, flowers, chocolate, so that it's not her or the car...

My hobby is driving my car so I value the time more than the part costs. If your hobby is wrenching, then go for it, and if your drive to work is short, a break-down isn't as bad.

However, most people like me still won't buy the China knock-offs even after they've been proven to work in some cases. As mentioned before, the quality control is non-existant and the likelyhood that you might get an equal quality part to 'the one that worked' isn't guaranteed.

Have fun!

I say you build your own performance parts, Top Gear Challenge style.

I put 90,000 km on an ebay turbo and had an expensive brand name one last 50km, I never made it out of the city(I live in the country). Sh** happens. I love working and fabricating more than driving, and as a friend of mine always said "you don't have to look good to go fast" He ran a Holset on a 87 Chrysler Laser back in 1999, fabed all his own parts and took a fwd to a low 11. But to each their own. I truly admire the dedication some fellow dsmer's put into their cars. The proven parts, the clean cars and they are fast! Some like brand name jeans, some couldn't care less. Personally, as I see it, it is the A$$ in the jeans that is worth something.

I'd like to see a "best running" stock competition. I remember seeing a 1g with 20,000 miles @ the shootout. Nearly totally stock, I almost jizzed myself because it was so clean and in good shape.

Figured I'd update this a little more since it's my build thread so to speak.

You all saw this:


Everything (except for the vacuum lines) is Ebay. All Hayame stuff.

Picked up my Eclipse front snout last night, off Kijiji (READ: EBAY) and am checking the classifieds out for the rest of the components.

The Car is actually from Ebay, considering it was purchased through a Kijiji ad.

Hey, those parts weren't on the list!

The list has expanded.

MAY 1993 7 Bolt

Can't wait to see some EBAY 1/4 times

Looking good so far..What Ebay turbo you going to use?

Put some gauges in today.




They work well.

I'm up in the air between a T3/T4 kind of setup or a China 16G.

I do know there's one or two people rocking a China 45 on here and doing some pretty good times.

The mods will be slow, and I'm sticking to the Ebay thing, however I do want to see what I can get out of the stock setup first. The first Ebay part is going to be an exhaust system. I'll be running DSMLink V2, '95 EPROM, and Meth to start, and suck as much out of the stock setup as I can before I upgrade.

The gauges are going to be the ultimate tuning tool. AEM 5 Bar MAP and UEGO to log.

Then go from there.

To add: There is no Ebay Automatic stuff I've found, so I'll be running IPT goodies in the tranny.

Care to share some more info? PM me if you'd like.

I believe Joe Bucci was using one of those China 16g's to run 9's.

Wasn't there a Colt running a China 45 on here as well? I believe he was consistant 11's.

I'm on one of our local boards up here, not my own, but another one, and it's funny to see all the Sunfires who dropped big $$$ on slicks this year.

"Looks like we're all going to be really fast this year!!" says one... I think they're all going to be snapping drive axles on launch.

Should be a fun summer.

FYI: IPT sells end clutches and shift kit on ebay, their user name is IPT Trans, if I recall correctly. So you still are staying true to your build.

Well thanks Stacey!

Update: No pics yet but the EBAY (Kijiji) 2Gb Eclipse front bumper on and Ebay Projector lights are on.

Hell, even the ADR Rims I threw on today were from Ebay.

Car's mean looking now. I'll get some pics ASAP!

ahaha yeah man lets see this thing already

Never again.......

LOL, thanks Ian.

Yeah, I will admit, it was rather frustrating (I may have sworn just a little bit) when doing this in the rain.

So I drove to Trenton tonight with it, and my headlights SERIOUSLY have to be aimed. It seems I also wired the Highs as Lows and Lows as Highs, so needless to say, I pissed A LOT of people off coming down. I'll be fixing that tomorrow. I'll get a few shots of her when I get it cleaned. Right now, it's embarrasingly dirty.

Pics of what it currently looks like:




And of course, rocking a pair of RTM Racing Stickers!

buy some ebay suspension to un- 4x4 it please