DSM_guy

i think some of the biggest improvements in mileage will be tuning up everything...including the often overlooked o2 sensor. i just replaced a faulty one in the dsm...i got an additional 90 miles outta my tank...swear to god. before it got 420 miles to a tank...today i got 510 and my fuel light wasnt even on...just from spending $50 on a new part. that paired with a light foot has drastically decreased my fuel consumption

if its leaking pretty good do NOT drive it. when my pump went on the eclipse it must have gone on a short 5 min trip..but in that 5 min the bearings inside (usually the cause of leaks) was completely shelled. im lucky it didnt seize up the belt and bend some valves. after i took it off i could not turn the pulley. you dont wanna do that. otherwise youll be replacing valves, pistons, and a few other very expensive parts as well as timing components

i have my antenna mounted on the spare tire carrier. i just took out the pass side tailight, made a little groove in the molding just big enough for the cable to slip through. ran the cable all along in the panels and under the carpet then up through the dash. dabbed some silicone where the cable passes between the tailight and body, give it just enough slack to allow the arm to swing out...presto

most decent alarms nowdays come with a kill switch. anymore (esp if you have a nice car) its not about your car getting stolen...its about people stealing stuf outta your car. maybe its just certain cars, but nobody in my DSM community have ever had their cars STOLEN....they are merely stripped quite quickly of stero equip, easy to remove mods, and electronics. yes trying to prevent the car from being stolen all together is one of the major concerns...hence the kill switch, but the reality of it is that most theives only want to take stuff from your car...not your car. and yes...people pretty well ignore alarms adn they dont do much good on the outside, hence my suggestion for putting it inside. then it not only acts as an alart to you and others, but as a deterrent and driving force against the theif. a siren blaring outside to alert other people isnt gonna do a whole lot to the theif...but i promise 150db of shrill wailing inside a car sure will!

here is my latest. finally mounted my cb radio. before it was just stuck between the console and the seat. my HVAC system is pretty well worthless, and my brother had broken out the trim around the vents and jacked it all up anyways. got to cutting all the vents out back there, made me a mounting place out of alum...does real nice if i do say so myself. also you can see my wal mart cup holder and a little bit of my seat covers. these are those "x-bound" covers from wally world. their made out of heavy duty canvas and look great. iv had alot of people ask me if i got aftermarket seats.

here are a few tips on installation/placement of components. 1. do NOT put the alarm brain under the dash. this is the first place they will look...and a big black box tends to stick out when your feeling up under there..they WILL find it with very little effort. put it somewhere else. under a seat, behind a panel, in the console, anywhere but the dash. 2. blend the wires in with existing wires. try to wrap everything up and make everything as clean and neat and OEM looking as possible, that way your alarm wiring dosent stick out like a sore thumb and give theives the heads up. 3. get an alarm and/or siren with a backup battery. even if they disconnect your car battery your alarm and brain will continue to function. 4. mount an alarm INSIDE the vehicle as well as outside. they make great little sirens called "pain generaters" (google it) that proudce a very loud very shrill pitch that will give you a raging headache. they are small and designed to be mounted in your interior. direct it to the area of your stereo and whatnot so that the sounde is blasted TOWARDS the theif. but also hide it to where they cant just rip it out. nobody is gonna want to stick around with that siren going off inside..they should just move on. and plus...anymore people just want your stero or radar detector or whatever. the only good an outside alarm does is alert you or others your vehicle is being attacked...once they are inside the sound isnt that bad. stick one inside and it makes them think twice about rumminging through your car looking for stuff cuz they will go deaf trying. um, thats all the little "tricks" i can think of...if i think of more ill post them up later. as far as asking how to do something...and people thinkin you should just take it to a pro...i never knew anyone who didnt have to ask how to do something...who could do EVERYTHING naturally and w/o anybody else. thats the only way you learn. even if you research something (like searching on here) your still asking a question.

well, im not a firm believer in the fact that this is all bush's doing. yeah, he may allow for tax breaks for the oil companies...but lets get a few facts straight. the federal government cannot step in and tell a company what to set its prices at...wheather its shell oil or disneyland...the gov't has no control over that. this is a free market economy and people can charge whatever they want for things. i think it would be beneficial for the gov't to step in and advise a reduction in prices...but its not their job. if anyone is to blame for the oil crisis its the oil companies and the exec's who make the decisions. sure, dubya is in the oil business..but he didnt say "hey yall, lets really stick it to the american people bla bla bla". so far i have heard no reasonable allegations. and even as far as getting tax breaks...ok sure...but how would taxing them make us pay less?? it wouldent. its just more money that goes to gov't. get in through your heads people, the oil kings aint rollin in the dough because of tax breaks...its because they have all ganged up on the average american and stuck it to us with $3 a gallon gas. has anyone noticed a chance in motor oil prices? i sure havent. why has gas hiked up a buck in 3 months? it just dosent add up. the fact is, all the oil companies KNOW that we need gas...we HAVE to have it. so they can all rause the price to whatever they want. there is no law against it, and there is nothing to stop it. if we tried to boycott the oil companies it would never work. we may not buy gas for a day...or a week...but you sure know we wouild buy it the week before or the week after! they have us by the balls and they KNOW it. and just a little more on teh political trail...im a moderate conservative...i do sway conservative but i try to stay pretty middle of the road. im not saying bush is the greatest president ever..and nobody is trying to make that argument. there are plenty of things i agree with, and plenty i dont. i know the war and the economy arent going that well...but i cant see putting the blame on one man. i know he is the figurehead and will take most of the grunt, but lets at least be fair here. as far as the war...i do think they had WMD's..and i think we will find them. you forget they had 10 years to bury all this stuff in their own countries and take them over the border to neighboring nations. they had hundreds if now thousands dedicated to this. dont think for a second when they knew we were comming they didnt just leave everything laying on the floor. its out there, buried under the sand or in some other country. yes, the war is now a mess. it is nice that we went in and liberated the people...but that wasnt the real objective. i would honestly have more respect for bush if he came out and said "look, we are still looking for the weapons, were pretty sure they are out there but they may not be, and if our reports were incorrect we are sorry. but, since we are here..i will ask for the support to help the citizens of iraq form a democratic nation if they so choose." that would give me respect..if he would admit that he could be wrong....and then change directions. but no, now after we havent found anything yet we smoshed over and say well.....the liberation is the important thing and thats the real goal. i agree, it was something we might as well have done while we are over there, but at least admit that your changing course...instead of denying the possibility of being wrong. personlly i think our part should be over in that hell hole. those people arent gonna accept democracy. they cant even agree on anything and arabs have been fighting eachother since ancient times...what makes you think their gonna put down their AK's now? even the citizens wont help us..they let terrorist take pock shots from their balconies and cache weapons in their homes. they wont give us crap for information so as far as im concerned they can go back to the dictatorship they had. and from now on if anyone threatens us...send no troops...just bomb their ass and go home. i support the troops, and i think its a good thing we are trying to help...but you cant help those who wont even help themselves. i think its a lost cause and we just need to let them do their own thing. bush had a noble cause..but the way we got to where we are now isnt all that great...and i must say i disagree with it as stated above. and yes, i know that last section was way off topic...but since it took on a more political stance in the last couple pages i did feel the need to express my views. i may be a repub, and i may have voted for busy...but it dosent mean im so blinded by my beliefs that i dont see when things go array. and as my college gov't teacher said..."if you dont vote, dont bitch" and i have at least earned my right to voice my opinion. (not that nobody here hasnt..not what im implicating.) p.s. but i do think were better of than we would have been with kerry. the UN would have been over here rationing gas and kerry woulda been burning up the phone lines to every country asking what to do. when in a bind when quick decisions were needing to be made my dad always said "do something, even if its wrong". and thats what i admire about bush. sure...he may have made some wrong decions..but at least he didnt cower down, waste time and sit in the corner writhing his hands over what to do like kerry would have.

ok well maybe i was a little vague....production vehicles MAY be made up into the the year they are sold as...but most of the time unless there is a huge run with very little preperation time...the production is around a year before the product is actually dated/modeled as such. so yes, i wouldent expect EVERY vehicle to be made a year or few months before the actual year model...but most are. to meet the demands of consumers world wide its not exactly easy to curn out 88 model pathy's starting and ending in 88, they gotta get a jump on things, but of course stockpiles are always running out, so they must continue to make vehicles at the same time their selling the current production

no, as i said...install it your own self.

yes, im sure our gas consumption has increased...but come on...its DOUBLED in 1 year. thats insane. hell, its come up $1 since this spring/first of summer. it was around $2 now were at 3 now. if you ask me these oil companies need to be taken down a peg or 10. oil profits are at an all time high...and they say they cant help the prices? BS! katrina drove the oil prices up? BS! iv heard every excuse in the book as to why were getting bent over at the pump. the war, katrina, china..you name it. but what it boils down to is a few greedy SOB's. sorry but how much wealth can one accomidate? they have gotten MORE than their fill. its time to stop all this crap. this keeps up the economy will be in the toilet...mark my words. you cant charge people an arm and a leg for fuel and expect them to get out and buy things...which are also subsequently more expensive due to the rising cost of fuel. and youd never know prices were high with the way people drive. even tho gas is at a premium...people in their H2's are driving around at 95mph. tell me thats good for gas mileage! i know SUV's arent helping reduce the supply...and thats part of the reason i put mine away...that and i cant afford to feed it anymore right now. maybe one day when prices are sensable....or for play time..but certainly not for a daily commute. and ill make them a deal..ill pay $3 a gallon...if they increase the min wage and my paycheck by $3 an hour!

you do realize that the date of MFG will be a year earlier than your actual model year right? my DSM was made in nov 95 but is a 96 model. all mfg's make the year model a year or few months early...just cuz its a 95 dosent mean it was made in 95

well, my pathy is now garaged and the sippin' DSM is out. i cant handle this $3 a gallon, 80mi round trip to school jaunt in this gas guzzler. oh well, gives me time to do a few mods that may keep the ol girl down for a while. i sure hope this BS blows over and someone gets all over these oil companies for jacking up their prices. driving a DSM like an old freakin lady is NO fun :furious:

my fan clutch needs to be replaced as well. i do hate the jet engine sound. but instead of replacing it i think ill take the easy way out and just get a SPAL fan or something. we replace the origional clutch fan not too long ago but its out again already. reminds me of driving a big rig the way they do the wooooshing in lower gears

it all depends really. people say you need a pro....but i have installed 2 alarms myself and also added keyless entry and i had never done it before. i had installed a CD player, CD changer, and installed a set of woofers, but never anything like an alarm. if you order from someone like crutchfield, they include a sheet with all the colored wires and a general reference on where to find them for your specific make, model, and year. the alarms also come with detailed instructions on how to wire up a host of things as well as just the basic setup of the alarm. i had absolutely no problems with my setup. i think most people just see a gazillion wires and get scared off. the only thing you have to do is connect a few wires and only cut one...and thats only if your instaling a starter interript. the rest is just splicing in wires to existing ones. not too hard IMO. and plus, out of all those wire...there gonna be between 3-10 wires that you WONT use. alarms are made to work with all types of vehicles and vehicle setups. therefore they have to include extra wires. youll probably end up connecting about a total of 10 or so wires up...if that many. i say go for it..but thats just me. tools? a couple screw drivers, test light, wiring diagram, electrical tape, crimpers, splice connections. that will do it

they should be right over the rear wheel well. you wont have any in the rear doors. there should be 2 funny lookin box's with a screen over the top of it. remove the screen top and you should see the stock speakers. these will be back in the cargo area back in the very back

nope, i have a big Q-logic box and with the amp, subs, and box it all weights around 50ish lbs. so there isnt really a need to bolt it down. and if somebody wants my stuff...they will get it wheather its bolted down or not. i try to keep it covered when i feel the need. but yeah, i have a small pioneer 200W amp thats screwed to the back of the box and it all comes out in less than 1 minute.

3" is severe overkill for any NA 4-6 cyl. youll lose tremendous low end torque.

i have my amp mounted TO my box, that way i can unhook the rca jacks, remote, and power/ground wires real fast and pull the amp and sub out all at once. but yes, to answer your question the speakers you have will all fit in the existing stock locations.

correct me if im wrong...but arent aftermarket UCA's pretty much needed to do the lifting job right? you might sacrifice one thing for another, but welcome to cars. you change one thing...you may lose another. i mean, i know you can use the BJ spacers for the stock arms...but i was under the assumption that if you wanna do it RIGHT, you need to pony up the dough and get aftermarkets? also, another question that was raised...if you use lift UCA's, do you get more lift from your stock t-bars? as i mentioned earlir...i thought stockers were only good for about 2" of lift max. after you swap uca's do you get more lift then? or is that where re-indexing come in? and dang 88, your pathy looks HOT! that is some flex! and all you did for that is the bl, sl, shocks, and tires?

makes perfect sense. the best solution (and it will happen) will be to just replace with heavy duty t-bars im sure. thanks a million guys, there has been much help given here. hopefully this will clear up a few other peoples questions in the future as well.

ok....so just making sure i read correctly, aftermarket UCA's do NOT give any lift. they only correct the BJ angle when you lift your front end whatever distance they are designed for? and another comment above sparked a question. as far as factory t bars go...i thought you could only get about 1.5-2" of lift outta them? is that because of the stock UCA's? if i upgrade to aftermarket UCA's will i be able to get more lift out of the stockers? thanks guys..yall have been a huge help

ok, well i have been looking at doing both a BL and a SL. i have been reading about ways to raise the front end after the JGC SL. i have seen posts about calmini and a few others brands of 3" lift UCA's. here is my question....does bolting on one of those automatically GIVE you 3" of lift? or is that UCA engineered to correct everything in the event of a 3" lift from say.....aftermarket torsion bars? sorry if it sounds confusing, couldent find a better way to put it. tia!

im not considering ditching my pathy...but im looking at buying a motorcycle. where ill be returning to school and living for the next 6 years...as well as owning a cabin only accessable through a 4x4 only road....i need my pathy

i put "internet search..." but it wasnt because i was trying to find out how to do anything specific to my pathy. i have learned internet forums are a GREAT source of info with my eclipse. i am a member of numerous DSM, buick, and the 2 pathy forums.

cars must be in runnning condition or drivable, no parts or dead vehicles. on or off road...street legal or not..dosent matter. this does not only apply to pathy's or 4x4's. personally i have 3...refer to sig