Post by ClackMasterFunk on Feb 24, 2020 17:10:57 GMT -5
Hello to everyone who still actively participates on this forum, and thank you in advance to anyone who reads and or replies to this thread. Despite lurking forums for years, I owned a 4g for years, and am intending to buy one again soon. I'm here hoping to make some new friends.
Firstly, let me say that I truly mean it when I say that I'm a Mitsubishi fan. I fell in love with cars when I was twelve as a certain bright green movie car stole my heart, and I've been a Mitsubishi fan ever since. As a matter of fact, I've recently realized that I would consider myself a Mitsubishi fanboy because I've fallen in love with them all over again the last year of learning, research, and especially after hunting down old WRC videos. I can honestly say as someone with a strong love for and interest in design and engineering that I'm constantly impressed, as I'm sure most of you are/were, with Mitsubishi's enduring quest to make some of the finest designed, but specially engineered, automotive "driver's car" masterpieces that average shmo's like us can obtain and enjoy. Mitsubishi epitomizes the design/engineering ethos' I've come to adhere to in my work.
Secondly, if you've read this far and are willing to hear my story as to why I'm here now, please read on. And I'm sorry for the 'country song' I've written below, but it's how I do things, and the only way to explain what's lead to me coming here; and the reason I'm chasing this project car dream I've got. While I've loved cars since I was young, I never had the money or took the initiative, to put my knowledge and experience with cars to the test and taken any car I've owned outside of 'stock', let alone worked on a project car. But I'm at the point in my life where I'm pushing everything else to the side, and doing this for myself and hopefully for my future.
To put things bluntly I had a 4g, loved it, and lost it after my girlfriend and I could've been killed in it on the highway. And while that incident may have been the tipping point that threw me down this unrelenting road I've been on for the last 2 years, it's the events surrounding it; total loss, constant money problems, debilitating anxiety attacks, having meltdowns that lead to me having to leave my job, and everything else that's come at us since, that's what's brought me here today.
My name is Alex Clack. I got my 06' 4g GT in 09' for a song after someone had leased it for a couple years; a fully loaded MIVEC 3.8 of my own. From the first time I drove a 4g at a high school job till the day I lost mine in 2017, I was always impressed by the overall quality of what anyone outside the know would consider 'just another sporty car'. On December 5, 2017, my girlfriend was doing me the favor of driving us on the routine trip to CostCo after making a stop at my parents' place first. Before I continue I will state that both my s.o. and I walked away relatively unscathed. She was driving because I've coped with major depression and anxiety my whole life, but for some reason, I was feeling particularly out of sorts that day, so she did me the kindness of driving.
We were taking a local highway, I-80 Illinois, when traffic started to slow up just before us. The very reason we were in the accident in the first place was also the reason we more than likely survived that day; it was a fluke. We saw as we came to the crest of the overpass before our exit that a man in a small pickup had scattered debris from his truck bed out onto the highway not 30 seconds before we got there, and it was now blocking the outside and center lane of the 3 lane highway. Traffic wasn't heavy, so we easily got into the inside lane to get past it all. And after we trickled through she took her time merging back into the middle lane. But after doing the same and moving into the outside lane, our exit just a mile up the road, I noticed that there was suddenly another vehicle at my passenger side door, so I screamed to try to warn my girlfriend in time, and I did; but from this point on everything I'll be telling you is what we slowly pieced together throughout the remainder of the day in the ER. My girlfriend never saw the perpetrating vehicle until I screamed to her about it, and this was more than likely because they were too impatient after having to go around the debris to properly change lanes, and we can only assume this is accurate because she never saw them coming; that and the fact that despite almost being in a side-on collision on a main highway with us, literally at most an inch from their driver's door, they didn't stop. They watched as we almost hit them, by their fault, then proceeded to watch us bounce off the concrete divider in their rearview mirror. As someone who's generally optimistic about all things, I cannot stress to you the disgust I feel knowing that someone caused this, and kept on driving. I'll never forget screaming in terror before losing control, while I watched as the backend of the blue Suzuki shoebox kept driving like nothing happened.
So what happened on our end of things played out like this after I did a little forensic thinking, and confirming with the car post-crash. While my girlfriend isn't the best driver, she's a safe driver, but by no means has the knowledge or skills, at least at that time, of anyone who takes driving seriously; which is why her overreaction sealed the deal. When she heard me scream she naturally acted and steered away from the offending vehicle, but then she double overcorrected; steering back towards the outside lane, only to snap oversteer back the other way. We spun and slid passenger side nose-first into the divider, and because she had the wheel in opposite lock, we hit it with enough force that we swung almost 360 then smashing the driver's side front, bringing us to a halt in the emergency lane. Being the way I am and having been in a decent enough accident a few years prior, I was quick to assess our situation, make sure we were alright, and if possible get out and clear of the car. Despite walking away from the accident with nothing more than some wicked buckle rash, whiplash, and some bruises, we both had excellent insurance at the time, so we took the ambulance rides to the ER. And I never got her name, but a nice woman who witnessed the whole thing pulled over to make sure we were okay until the paramedics showed up.
And with all that, as I said, that isn't even what brought me here; but the nonstop torrent of hits that have come from this, one after another that got to me. My girlfriend and I had just moved out for our first times six months prior, and money was tight before it happened. But beyond my car insurance covering our medical bills, I completely lost out on the car, and in the panic of things didn't have the right of mind to say KEEP THE MF'n CAR! And before I could even process the whole thing I had to get a new car to keep paying the bills, and my parents had to take out a loan to afford anything with it; as I also learned post-accident that despite having perfectly spotless credit, I didn't do it right, and couldn't get more than $5000. The anxiety from everything concerning the crash, and everything after, just kept snowballing until I ended up being carted away in an ambulance because everything was coming down around me, and I was thinking about killing myself. I've been extremely open about all this for two years now, and dealt with and understood depression and anxiety my whole life, but I still have a very hard time explaining to anyone who doesn't personally know what depression, in particular, is like; but if you know anyone, and sadly most of us do, with addiction issues, it's not far off from how that affects people. Both have a hold over your life that you'll never 'get over', and is something, that if not watched vigilantly, will find a way to come at you every chance it can. And it sounds ridiculous, but if you've ever heard someone in a similar situation talk about having difficulty doing even the most basic of things, and laughed it off, I'm here to say that it's as bad as they're describing; it's easy to become consumed by it. So when I say it was a steady decline into madness over the six months after the crash, I mean it. It all came to a head when I was given a neigh impossible task at work that could not be done in the time frame allotted. And after spending an entire day at it with absolutely nothing to show, and knowing there was no way I could possibly do what was asked of me; I had another anxiety attack that prompted me to seek out help. So I took some work leave, went into a day program, and started getting the help I needed; but I still haven't been able to return to the workforce. And while I may NOW, FINALLY be in a better place than I was a year ago; this past year has only been even more hellish, and we're doing everything we can to barely stay positive on our way through this ever-increasing downward spiral. I've had time to do a lot of thinking, and over that time I've found clarity in returning to dormant passions, and finding and seeking a new life it that. I'm going to use this project car as a means of focusing my efforts in aid to conquer my demons, and with the trials and tribulations therein, better myself. This is not the answer to my depression, but it will be a key to helping me overcome the things that ARE holding me back; and what's keeping me from doing amazing things.
The reason I'm here is that I have nothing, and have had and done nothing my whole life, and I'm now willing to put it all on the line for one last push. The one thing, besides my girlfriend, that's kept me sane over these last two years was me rekindling my love for, and introducing my girlfriend to, the deeper automotive world. Over the last year, I've spent countless hours devouring everything I can about the cars I love in search of a project car that I may confidently be able to go from beater to race car with. And for what I want to do I know without a shadow of a doubt at this point that I need a 4g 3.8 MIVEC Eclipse GT. Because of this site, and various tangential others, I've learned that the 6G7X family of V6's is even more impressive than I already knew, and has been killing it since 1985. Also, the 4g Eclipse platform may be one of the greatest overlooked coupe chassis' of all time. The potential it has, from what I've already seen others do, has yet to be even pushed anywhere near its limits I know it's capable of handling; and it's mainly because most people have no idea how good it is. And I'm relatively convinced 6G7X is the "LS" of V6's, in that they are an incredibly designed engine with tons of untapped potential, can be found anywhere, and dropped into whatever with whatever. Honestly impressive.
I intend to do something dramatic with the car while using the platform and it's stellar components to highlight the oft-overlooked Mitsubishi that truly deserves the attention of its past models and sister vehicles. I'll be chronicling this whole thing from start to finish with pages of images and hours of video. In particular, I'm intending on using the platform as a testbed for my exterior and bodywork skills by creating aero of my design for this. I not only have the skills but now have the ability to take advantage of the programs and tech to finally do just that.
If anyone who's read all this is willing to talk at length on the various aspects of this vehicle please let me know. And while I'm more than willing to keep diving through the archives that are this site and scour for each nugget of info I need, believe me, I'm still going to do that regardless; but since the majority of threads are held hostage by Photobucket's inevitable greed, hopefully, someone would be willing to give me the time to get the majority of my questions answered quickly over some form of voice chat, Discord, Skype, and move this project along another couple steps. I'm the kind of guy who plans out all my moves before I even think about starting, but it means I'm better prepared for eventual snags. And as I stated before, I'll be sharing everything I learn from the experience, especially consolidating the info I've gathered that's relevant to 4g builds in 2020 going forward in my build thread; hopefully helping future knowledge seekers some running around. That's what I've been doing, and am doing here; I'm here to soak up all the awesome knowledge that others have so generously recorded over the years, and I wanted to show my appreciation by contributing. I'm hoping someone or some people are willing to help expediate the process.
Cars can be found as a connection between a multitude of talents, skills, knowledge, and experience in my life; and I'm going to take this opportunity to make something out of all of it. Again, if you've come all this way and read my story, thank you.
-Alex
Alex Clack, 2014 Lancer Sportback GT, looking to make friends, pictures inbound, far South suburbs of Chicago.
Firstly, let me say that I truly mean it when I say that I'm a Mitsubishi fan. I fell in love with cars when I was twelve as a certain bright green movie car stole my heart, and I've been a Mitsubishi fan ever since. As a matter of fact, I've recently realized that I would consider myself a Mitsubishi fanboy because I've fallen in love with them all over again the last year of learning, research, and especially after hunting down old WRC videos. I can honestly say as someone with a strong love for and interest in design and engineering that I'm constantly impressed, as I'm sure most of you are/were, with Mitsubishi's enduring quest to make some of the finest designed, but specially engineered, automotive "driver's car" masterpieces that average shmo's like us can obtain and enjoy. Mitsubishi epitomizes the design/engineering ethos' I've come to adhere to in my work.
Secondly, if you've read this far and are willing to hear my story as to why I'm here now, please read on. And I'm sorry for the 'country song' I've written below, but it's how I do things, and the only way to explain what's lead to me coming here; and the reason I'm chasing this project car dream I've got. While I've loved cars since I was young, I never had the money or took the initiative, to put my knowledge and experience with cars to the test and taken any car I've owned outside of 'stock', let alone worked on a project car. But I'm at the point in my life where I'm pushing everything else to the side, and doing this for myself and hopefully for my future.
To put things bluntly I had a 4g, loved it, and lost it after my girlfriend and I could've been killed in it on the highway. And while that incident may have been the tipping point that threw me down this unrelenting road I've been on for the last 2 years, it's the events surrounding it; total loss, constant money problems, debilitating anxiety attacks, having meltdowns that lead to me having to leave my job, and everything else that's come at us since, that's what's brought me here today.
My name is Alex Clack. I got my 06' 4g GT in 09' for a song after someone had leased it for a couple years; a fully loaded MIVEC 3.8 of my own. From the first time I drove a 4g at a high school job till the day I lost mine in 2017, I was always impressed by the overall quality of what anyone outside the know would consider 'just another sporty car'. On December 5, 2017, my girlfriend was doing me the favor of driving us on the routine trip to CostCo after making a stop at my parents' place first. Before I continue I will state that both my s.o. and I walked away relatively unscathed. She was driving because I've coped with major depression and anxiety my whole life, but for some reason, I was feeling particularly out of sorts that day, so she did me the kindness of driving.
We were taking a local highway, I-80 Illinois, when traffic started to slow up just before us. The very reason we were in the accident in the first place was also the reason we more than likely survived that day; it was a fluke. We saw as we came to the crest of the overpass before our exit that a man in a small pickup had scattered debris from his truck bed out onto the highway not 30 seconds before we got there, and it was now blocking the outside and center lane of the 3 lane highway. Traffic wasn't heavy, so we easily got into the inside lane to get past it all. And after we trickled through she took her time merging back into the middle lane. But after doing the same and moving into the outside lane, our exit just a mile up the road, I noticed that there was suddenly another vehicle at my passenger side door, so I screamed to try to warn my girlfriend in time, and I did; but from this point on everything I'll be telling you is what we slowly pieced together throughout the remainder of the day in the ER. My girlfriend never saw the perpetrating vehicle until I screamed to her about it, and this was more than likely because they were too impatient after having to go around the debris to properly change lanes, and we can only assume this is accurate because she never saw them coming; that and the fact that despite almost being in a side-on collision on a main highway with us, literally at most an inch from their driver's door, they didn't stop. They watched as we almost hit them, by their fault, then proceeded to watch us bounce off the concrete divider in their rearview mirror. As someone who's generally optimistic about all things, I cannot stress to you the disgust I feel knowing that someone caused this, and kept on driving. I'll never forget screaming in terror before losing control, while I watched as the backend of the blue Suzuki shoebox kept driving like nothing happened.
So what happened on our end of things played out like this after I did a little forensic thinking, and confirming with the car post-crash. While my girlfriend isn't the best driver, she's a safe driver, but by no means has the knowledge or skills, at least at that time, of anyone who takes driving seriously; which is why her overreaction sealed the deal. When she heard me scream she naturally acted and steered away from the offending vehicle, but then she double overcorrected; steering back towards the outside lane, only to snap oversteer back the other way. We spun and slid passenger side nose-first into the divider, and because she had the wheel in opposite lock, we hit it with enough force that we swung almost 360 then smashing the driver's side front, bringing us to a halt in the emergency lane. Being the way I am and having been in a decent enough accident a few years prior, I was quick to assess our situation, make sure we were alright, and if possible get out and clear of the car. Despite walking away from the accident with nothing more than some wicked buckle rash, whiplash, and some bruises, we both had excellent insurance at the time, so we took the ambulance rides to the ER. And I never got her name, but a nice woman who witnessed the whole thing pulled over to make sure we were okay until the paramedics showed up.
And with all that, as I said, that isn't even what brought me here; but the nonstop torrent of hits that have come from this, one after another that got to me. My girlfriend and I had just moved out for our first times six months prior, and money was tight before it happened. But beyond my car insurance covering our medical bills, I completely lost out on the car, and in the panic of things didn't have the right of mind to say KEEP THE MF'n CAR! And before I could even process the whole thing I had to get a new car to keep paying the bills, and my parents had to take out a loan to afford anything with it; as I also learned post-accident that despite having perfectly spotless credit, I didn't do it right, and couldn't get more than $5000. The anxiety from everything concerning the crash, and everything after, just kept snowballing until I ended up being carted away in an ambulance because everything was coming down around me, and I was thinking about killing myself. I've been extremely open about all this for two years now, and dealt with and understood depression and anxiety my whole life, but I still have a very hard time explaining to anyone who doesn't personally know what depression, in particular, is like; but if you know anyone, and sadly most of us do, with addiction issues, it's not far off from how that affects people. Both have a hold over your life that you'll never 'get over', and is something, that if not watched vigilantly, will find a way to come at you every chance it can. And it sounds ridiculous, but if you've ever heard someone in a similar situation talk about having difficulty doing even the most basic of things, and laughed it off, I'm here to say that it's as bad as they're describing; it's easy to become consumed by it. So when I say it was a steady decline into madness over the six months after the crash, I mean it. It all came to a head when I was given a neigh impossible task at work that could not be done in the time frame allotted. And after spending an entire day at it with absolutely nothing to show, and knowing there was no way I could possibly do what was asked of me; I had another anxiety attack that prompted me to seek out help. So I took some work leave, went into a day program, and started getting the help I needed; but I still haven't been able to return to the workforce. And while I may NOW, FINALLY be in a better place than I was a year ago; this past year has only been even more hellish, and we're doing everything we can to barely stay positive on our way through this ever-increasing downward spiral. I've had time to do a lot of thinking, and over that time I've found clarity in returning to dormant passions, and finding and seeking a new life it that. I'm going to use this project car as a means of focusing my efforts in aid to conquer my demons, and with the trials and tribulations therein, better myself. This is not the answer to my depression, but it will be a key to helping me overcome the things that ARE holding me back; and what's keeping me from doing amazing things.
The reason I'm here is that I have nothing, and have had and done nothing my whole life, and I'm now willing to put it all on the line for one last push. The one thing, besides my girlfriend, that's kept me sane over these last two years was me rekindling my love for, and introducing my girlfriend to, the deeper automotive world. Over the last year, I've spent countless hours devouring everything I can about the cars I love in search of a project car that I may confidently be able to go from beater to race car with. And for what I want to do I know without a shadow of a doubt at this point that I need a 4g 3.8 MIVEC Eclipse GT. Because of this site, and various tangential others, I've learned that the 6G7X family of V6's is even more impressive than I already knew, and has been killing it since 1985. Also, the 4g Eclipse platform may be one of the greatest overlooked coupe chassis' of all time. The potential it has, from what I've already seen others do, has yet to be even pushed anywhere near its limits I know it's capable of handling; and it's mainly because most people have no idea how good it is. And I'm relatively convinced 6G7X is the "LS" of V6's, in that they are an incredibly designed engine with tons of untapped potential, can be found anywhere, and dropped into whatever with whatever. Honestly impressive.
I intend to do something dramatic with the car while using the platform and it's stellar components to highlight the oft-overlooked Mitsubishi that truly deserves the attention of its past models and sister vehicles. I'll be chronicling this whole thing from start to finish with pages of images and hours of video. In particular, I'm intending on using the platform as a testbed for my exterior and bodywork skills by creating aero of my design for this. I not only have the skills but now have the ability to take advantage of the programs and tech to finally do just that.
If anyone who's read all this is willing to talk at length on the various aspects of this vehicle please let me know. And while I'm more than willing to keep diving through the archives that are this site and scour for each nugget of info I need, believe me, I'm still going to do that regardless; but since the majority of threads are held hostage by Photobucket's inevitable greed, hopefully, someone would be willing to give me the time to get the majority of my questions answered quickly over some form of voice chat, Discord, Skype, and move this project along another couple steps. I'm the kind of guy who plans out all my moves before I even think about starting, but it means I'm better prepared for eventual snags. And as I stated before, I'll be sharing everything I learn from the experience, especially consolidating the info I've gathered that's relevant to 4g builds in 2020 going forward in my build thread; hopefully helping future knowledge seekers some running around. That's what I've been doing, and am doing here; I'm here to soak up all the awesome knowledge that others have so generously recorded over the years, and I wanted to show my appreciation by contributing. I'm hoping someone or some people are willing to help expediate the process.
Cars can be found as a connection between a multitude of talents, skills, knowledge, and experience in my life; and I'm going to take this opportunity to make something out of all of it. Again, if you've come all this way and read my story, thank you.
-Alex
Alex Clack, 2014 Lancer Sportback GT, looking to make friends, pictures inbound, far South suburbs of Chicago.
