Dino Yancey – 95 Eclipse

12 October 2009 in Featured View Comments

What’s your real name?  (What’s your screen name?)
Dino Yancey.  I’m also known as Dino2GNT in various paces, and DarkOne on most forums I frequent.

Where do you live?
Houston, TX

What do you do for a living?
I’m a UNIX and Linux administrator for a seismic data acquisition and processing company.  I manage UNIX and Linux workstations and servers across the globe.

What Mitsubishi do you drive?
I have a 1995 Mitsubishi Eclipse.

How long have you had your Mitsubishi(s)?
I purchased Big E in May of 1999, which means I’ve owned it over ten years now.  Wow.

What got you into Mitsubishi?
At first, I was attracted to the look of the car more than anything.  A shiny, smooth black Eclipse is a sight to behold.  While mine is no longer shiney or necessarily smooth, I still find myself staring at it when no one else is around.

Got a favorite story to tell about your Mitsubishi?
Oh, many…  Losing a trans nearly 1,000 miles from Houston on the way home from DSM ShootOut ’06 was a treat, as was completely annihilating the last 2.0L on the dyno back in ’03 (or was it ’04?).  Installing the turbo kit in the 30* rain over my Xmas break in ’00 was an experience I’ll never forget. There was the realization that I could fix just about anything, when I burned through a 10ga wire feeding my fuel pump and re-wired the car on the side of the road…  Why do all my good stories involve breaking the car?  heh

What are your goals for the car and how close are you to achieving them?
At this point, my goals have become somewhat ambiguous.  Truthfully, I’d just like to be able to drive the car reliably and regularly, instead of having it sit for weeks on end in my driveway, garage, or on the curb in front of the house.  As far as achiving that goal…  I’m not sure.  I need to get back into the engine bay and go through the wiring and drivetrain, fix a few small leaks, do a lot of cleanup.  It may very well be another year before any of this is done.

What was your favorite modification?  Why?
Easily the turbo kit.  It changed the personality of the car in such a dramatic and beneficial way, I don’t think I could ever go back.

What’s next for your Mitsubishi?  Why?
I’ve been building it a long-term home these last few months, so that I have a place to work on it and store it away from the elements.  Now that the garage is close to where I want it, the next step for Big E will be to move in, and I’ll start going through it, probably with the engine on a stand out of the car.  Timing maintenance on a 2.4L block is nigh impossible with the engine in the car.

Who has helped you the most along the way?
The entire community at 2GNT.com has been such a huge part of my life and relationship with my car over the last ten years, I don’t even know where to start as far as naming names.  If I had to pick just one person from the site that’s helped me the most, it’d probably be Thura.  he’s always been willing to help me wrench, help me fix anything, sell me (or “loan” me) his parts, he’s a great friend and always a huge help.

Who do you look up to in the Mitsubishi community?
The guys that are doing everything I ever wanted to and couldn’t or didn’t – Mark Bullet with his NA 2GNT, his high-horsepower turbo, Terry with his awesome fab skills and beautiful work on everything he does, Doug with all the work he’s done for the platform, all the guys making more power and going faster than I am.

Is there a particular shop you’d like to recommend?
I, like most 2GNT’ers, tend to do all of my work myself.  I don’t really have a local shop I patronize, and really don’t have much idea about what’s even out there anymore.  As far as places I buy parts from online, I’m a big fan of atpturbo.com, Modern Performance, Howell Automotive, and Summit.

Do you spend time on any Mitsubishi sites?  Which ones?
I spend far too much time (and effort, and money) on 2GNT.com – It’s been my little sandbox for ten years now as well, and I’ll go there before I’ll hit up any other DSM site.  The community is close-knit, friendly, helpful, and awesome in every way.

Eclipse, Houston