I am thinking of buting a 2000 mitsubishi eclipse gt 5 speed. would it
be feasable to install a turbo kit for added horsepower if the car
will be used for mainly daily driving. If so i would like to know how
much horsepower and some precautions i sould take when driving.

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Clarification of Question by alibi-ga on 06 Jan 2005 15:57 PST

Adding the turbo without upgrading the pistons, rings etc...

Actually, no. This engine is already strong enough (and more) for
daily driving. To add a turbo kit, you would need other upgrades to
notice the difference and keep the car steady on the road. Finally, if
you add these prerequisites, you would have more like street racing
car than a usual day driving car.

I forgot, you would probably gain between 15 and 20 horsepower more
with turbo kit only.

Right, so a bit of research finds a company that builds a complete kit
for your car. You didn't mention whether you had a V6 of the I4, but
they have kits for both and pricing is comparable:

http://www.ddynopower.com/
http://www.ddynopower.com/2000turbo.htm

Pricing is on the link from the front page. Between $2,949 and $3,775
depending on which motor you have and the options you choose.

The V6 kit recommends new rods and pistons. The I4 does not require
them. One of their graphs shows a 100HP gain. That will get the
business done for you.

That being said. To me there is no such thing as "strong enough" so I
understand where you are coming from. Having owned several turbo cars,
including my current 2002 Subaru WRX, I have learned a few things that
you should pay attention to.

Fuel. The #1 reason turbo cars trash their motors is detonation.
Detonation is when the air/fuel mixture is ignited BEFORE the spark
plug fires. It is usually caused by a bit of carbon on a superheated
piston. This condition usually happens when the engine if fuel
starved. Remember, with a turbo you are shoving more air AND fuel into
the combustion chamber. That mixture should be at least 14.7:1 but it
is ok to run a little rich (more fuel). Where you will run into
trouble with adding a turbo to a non-turbo car is typically in the
fuel portion of the equation. Non-turbo cars do not have the fueling
requirements of a turbo car so everything from the fuel pump to the
fuel lines to the fuel injectors are too small and underpowered to
provide adequate fuel. So if you get a kit that has no fuel pump or
fuel injector upgrades, ask clarifying questions. Maybe a low boost
(5psi) kit would work with no fuel changes, but anything higher than
that I'd be suspect as to why they aren't including those items. No
point in taking the time to install the turbo and whacking your engine
on the first run.

Tuning. The site above recommends that you get an electronic
boost/fuel controller. I agree. The fuel/air requirements change in a
vehicle throughout the RPM range under different load situations. If
you are a novice mechanic, I would not recommend this route to you. If
you don't tune it correctly, you will be buying a new engine very
quickly. Put it this way. I am very comfortable with a wrench, but I'd
seriously have to consider putting a turbo on a non-turbo car and
dealing with the tuning efforts.

Electrics. Make sure you use high quality spark plugs and consider
upgrades to your wires and electronics. I installed upgraded ignition
coils and wires in a 1988 RX7 Turbo and it made the car run better all
through the rpm range and gave me better gas mileage to boot.

Running gear. You will probably run into problems with clutches and
possibly your transmission too. Look into the cost of an upgraded
clutch and see what the word is on the power handling of the tranny in
your car.

Finally, check out the boards for your car. Almost every car has at
least one really active bulletin board dedicated to it. Here is what I
found so far:

http://www.eclipseforums.org/

That appears to be the big daddy based on a google search. I prefer
dedicated forums as opposed to make forums in some larger forum.
(automotiveforums.com/eclise for example)

If you haven't purchased the car yet, I'd consider a stock turbo car.
Here is a list that I know of:

Toyota MR2 (1st gen or 2nd gen, not the ugly ass convertible)
Subaru WRX
Mitsubishi (1st gen and 2nd gen)
Mazda RX7 (2nd gen and 3rd gen. 3rd generation RX7 is arguably the
finest performance automobile produced by Japan. It won 7 or 8
straight SCCA Solo II, Super Stock National Championships over the
Corvettes until the 2001 Z06 came out. You can pick them up in good
stock condition for 12 to 15k.)

Hope this helps.

Thanks so Much diatribe, first i'd like to say that that "comment"
really belongs in the answer space. I have not purchased the car yet,
and if i do it will be my first turbo car, first non-american car as a
matter of fact. It looks like that the price of putting a turbo in an
eclipse gt is just too much to bear, not to mention the fact that it
requires expertise that i simply do not have. I drive a 93 caddilac
sedan deville as of now, it has a 4.9 liter v8, i also have a 1987
cutlass supreme with a 5.0 liter v8. But the cutlass is just not able
to keep up with these punk as kids that i see on the street with a
cheaply modded civic and a loud muffler, and that troubles me. I'm
looking for something thats like 8-9k and sort of respectable, and the
eclipse looks like the one. I think i'm seriously considering a 99 Gsx
now, thanks a lot man

Thanks, glad I could help. Unfortunately, Google isn't taking new
Researchers so I'll just have to drop my .02 where I can.

The 2nd generation Eclipses are great cars. The GST is very nice.
Turbo inline 4 and all wheel drive. Very WRX-like. You'll love the
handling of an AWD car, they stick to the road like nothing else.

There are tons of performance parts for those cars too. HP upgrades,
brake upgrades, suspension upgrades. Everything you need. The upside
of a factory turbo, is that you can usually squeeze 30 to 40 *safe* HP
out of them with simple modifications like turboback exhausts and
minor tweaks to the fuel computers. Check those boards forums I
listed. They generally have a "newbie" section that has all the info
you'd be looking for in terms of "where to start".

First thing I'd do is see if they recommend a turbo timer or not? When
I owned RX7's it was highly recommended. For my WRX it isn't as much
of an issue as Subaru engineered a slick solution to the problem. A
turbo timer keeps your car running after you park it to allow the
cooling oil for the turbo to keep circulating and to cool down the
turbo. The problem is that if you drive a turbo car relatively hard,
on the boost a lot and head up the turbo and bearing surfaces...and
then shut the car down, the oil is no longer flowing over the turbo,
it is just sitting there. It can actually cook onto the bearings
(called coking) and limit the life of your turbo. So the solution is
either to sit in your car for 5 minutes with the car running or to get
a turbo timer to automate that process. They are relatively cheap
(under $50 now I'd assume) and well worth the investment. And you can
get wiring harnesses that make installing them a snap.

Finally, one tip for the first time turbo owner. Turbo cars do not
make boost at idle or under no load. So sitting in your garage, you
won't see any boost on a boost gauge. Only if you are moving under
load do they make boost.

Have fun and drive safe. 

Diatribe

That is correct. Blitz, Apexi and Greddy makes some well known boost
controlers and timers. If you are looking for a less intrusive engine
upgrade to the 3G Mitsubishi Eclipse, I recommend taking a look at
Ripp Modifications LLC (http://www.rippmods.com).

They build superchargers for the 3G Eclipse and the Tiburon. Their
superchargers will add a significant boost without making major mods.
You can even add an intercooler for some added gains. I done a couple
of installations with the Ripp SC Kit and it performs very good. Hope
this helps. - Optimum Motorworks