techboy

Just like the ad says ... black center console from an 88. Nice lid and inner compartment tray. Latch is missing, like on them all. Otherwise perfect condition. No scratches in the plastic or cracks. Ash tray is still in the back w/ wiring harness connector. $20 picked up / $30 shipped. Paypal preferred. http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/6176/console1.jpg http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/6172/console2m.jpg

I'm going back to my 8th post in this thread ... what and where is the power transistor? In the FSM under the "cranks but won't start" section (pg 8-143) it's listed in the bullets as the 3rd thing to check. I've checked everything on that list but that.

Did I read once on here someone was making the thin metal strips that go between the airdam and bumper out of stainless? Who was it and are they still?

Indiana - like Star said, it did run. Actually, it was running as well it has ever run since I got it. One day it just wouldn't start, it was running fine the previous day. Coil wire does spark. Haven't tried starter fluid. Shelby, typically I do replace spark plugs, but I wanted to order the BUR's, since I have the BRP's right now. I'm currently waiting for them to come in. The other thing though, those plugs probably only have about 300 miles on them so I thought if I cleaned them up w/ some brake fluid and put them back in I could at least figure out if the plugs were the problem ... but they're obviously not. Question: If I take the OVCP off and have my wife crank the car, should I be able to feel the injector spray in the TB while cranking? I want to triple check fuel.

Well, I slow charged the battery last night overnight and tried to crank it again today when I got home from work. It's cranking again, so I guess I had just sapped the battery with all the cranking. But, it still won't fire. I'm still convinced it's not getting spark. The pump runs when I run 12V to it, I can smell fuel after cranking, and I can here the ECI relay clicking in the passenger side dash when I turn the key .... so ..... When I have time, probably next weekend, I'm going to go through the electrical stuff above and see what I can find. I did start peeking at the grounds already ... and I think I'm going order all new fusible links from Dad just for the heck of it. (They'll come in handy down the road anyway).

Yup ... just as I had suspected. The fronts are SHP's and backs aren't. No little logo.

No problem man, it's the BS section. I could care less. It looks like 2 of us figured out we have SHP's today ... lol. I've heard people talk about this little "logo" on the wheel before, but I've never looked into it. I'll have to check it out tomorrow. It's near the valve stem huh.

Look at the drivers door tire size and pressure sticker. It's my understanding SHP (Special Handling Package) cars were only available in 88/89, that's your first clue. Non-SHP cars received 7 & 8 inch rims w/ a recommended 205 in front and 225 in rear. On an SHP car the rims were 8 & 9's and the recommended tire size was 225 up front and 245 in the rear. Your door jam sticker will tell you right away. SHP cars also received adjustable suspension and larger sway bars. Unfortunately there was no special badging, that would have been cool though. I'm sure Burton could whip something up. That's all I know. If any of this incorrect or there's more to it, please ad or correct.

Yep, that's pretty much the case ^^^ lol. It's like a normal car, all 4 wheels the same.

Starfighter ... I actually haven't done that. But, things haven't gotten any better either. I cleaned the plugs all up and put them back in today and it still cranked and wouldn't start. So I figured, I'll swap out the ECI relay. So I did that. Now, it won't even crank. Just nothing other than a bunch of clicking coming from the dash and bizarre lights going off. I'm not sure what's going on, but I'm totally frustrated at this point. I thought maybe the battery went dead since it was sitting for a few weeks now, but I tried jumping it w/ the truck and same result. So, now I'm worse off than I was this morning.

So about a month ago I bought an 88 Starion shell to begin restoration on over the winter. When I bought it the front driver side wheel was on a donut. Today, I finally got around to taking the stock rim and getting a temp. crappy tire mounted on it just so I can push the car around. I brought the guy a 205 tire. He comes out to tell me he had a hard time streching the tire onto the rim. I'm thinking ... what? My quest has 205's on it up front. He wheels out the tire and sure enough, it looks at all stretched. Immediately my brain clicks "SHP?" I drive home and pop open the driver door (which I've done several times in past month already) .... and sure enough, it's an SHP. I pretty sure the rear wheels aren't SHP's, which is why I think I didn't notice, but the previous owner left the fronts on. I guess I'll have a to track down a set of rears in the future. So, wow, surprise for me. Bought it, trailer'd it home and didn't even realize.

Shelby and Indiana - thanks for those thoughts. The possibility of being stuck in open loop makes a lot of sense to me.

So it's finally beautiful out today and I had a chance to look at the car some more. I decided to pull the plugs, which is probably the first thing I should have done instead of busting out the multimeter and messing around w/ the fuel pump. Anyway, the plugs are totally fouled black. Now, mind you, these plugs are about 6 months old and have maybe 300 miles on them. Stock BPR NGK's. At first I thought it was oil, which would make sense for a higher milage engine with rings starting to go south, but it definitely smells like fuel to me. In my experience, that's a symptom of running rich. Now .... my question: why would a completely stock car w/ a recently rebuilt TB and new OEM injectors be running rich? Oh ... and I'll add - Idle fuel pressure is within spec also. I just replaced my coil, could this happen if the coil was sending a weak spark? I don't recall when I replaced the old plugs them being totally black. That would suggest a good mixture previously. I'm gonna clean these plugs up and see if it'll fire. If so, I'm going to go ahead order the BUR plugs everyone says are a bit better and go from there.

I'm pretty sure I've seen those avaiable on eBay from MK1 (101 propose). I don't see any there now, but I know he's had then in the past.

I'd stick w/ the 1G BOV if I were you. That's a great performing BOV. Bout the only difference you're gonna get is a different sound.

I haven't wired any gauges into my Conquest yet myself, but I have wired gauges into 3 previous Eclipses. I always use the cig lighter as my 12V power source b/c it's constant and I don't smoke. So, I usually just cut the line and re-route it over to my gauges. I leave the lighter in there, but it's not functional. For dimming, I have always just spliced directly into the dimmer itself, that way the dash lights dimmer w/ the gauges uniformly. I've never used any in-line fuses on my Eclipse's and have never had any problems, but maybe Starquests are a little different. Certainly can't hurt.

Pretty much rained here all day today ... so I couldn't work on the car. Once it clears up I'll post up where I'm at.

it shouldn't be the ECU. The only real difference b/t the 88/89 and the 87 is the metal case it resides in and the 87 is a little bit more restrictive in the amount of boost it will allow the car to see, which is why guys switch 87 ECU's out for 88/89's. Definitely work through the TPS reset procudure. Did you replace all the filters when you did the gas tank swap and new pump?

After poking around this morning w/ my multimeter, I'm pretty sure it's my ECI relay that's bad. I ran a jumper from the battery to the fuel pump test port and got the same exact voltage reading as my battery back in the trunk at the E-17 harness. I can also clearly hear smooth operation of my pump w/ the jumper. However, If I remove the jumper, and just key forward, I'm only reading .02 volts at the E-17 harness, which means I'm getting no voltage from the ECI to the pump. Unless I'm doing something wrong w/ this test, that has to be the problem. I also checked the ECI fusible link for corrosion, it seems to be fine. And my new coil reads w/in the Ohm specs given in the FSM. I think the only thing left is the ECI relay. Anyone know if they are still available and where to get them?

Believe it or not, I checked that FSM first. Mine is an 89, so I'm reading on page 8-130. There are 4 bullets listed: check ignition coil, check distributor, check power transistor, and check plugs. That's why I did the coil first. The only one I have a question about is the power transistor ... what is that and where is that? I'm an electronics teacher, so my brain is picturing like a small 3-prong 3904 or 3906 transistor, but I'm guessing that's not it ... lol.

I am using OEM injectors, w/ recently installed injector clips. Spark plugs are the OEM NGK's I installed about 6 months ago along w/ the blue NGK plug wires. I haven't pulled a plug to look at them, I assumed they were fine b/c they are new, but I will take a look at them. Cam is stock. What is the heated 02 sensor? I replaced the DP 02 sensor last December when I had a custom DP made.

Replaced the ignitor coil, no change. Was doing some reading/research and I'm thinking knock-box.

I rubbed mink oil all over mine and then tied black plastic trash bas over them. I let them sit in my sunroom, which has 4 skylights, for several summer months so they'd get hot and absorb the mink oil. Definitely helped. Much softer. I take no credit for this idea, StarquestJoe recommended it to me about a year ago.

I I kinda thought that too at first ... but then again, it doesn't really make sense to tell someone who claims to not be a mechanic or know much to "drop a gas tank" does it? Judging by the age of this post and post count Bottomout left anyway.

It's not that hard. Easier if you take an extra 5 minutes to remove the front seats. That way you don't have to contort yourself in the car.