Nikki Williamson

“Hey! Nice Eclipse! Is that thing turbo?” I get questions like this a lot while I’m out sporting my DSM (Diamond Start Motor) and just incase you’re wondering, my Eclipse is non-turbo AND automatic. Frankly, it is embarrassingly slow, yet I am in love with it. However, all you Hondas with stickers and big exhausts better watch out when I’m in my Nissan Sentra Spec V. That car is a whole other story.

My love for cars goes back to the days I’m lucky to even remember. At the age of three, I would be so excited to watch when my father went outside to check the fluids of his car. I can’t remember what kind of car it was, but I do remember he once made the mistake of not telling me he was going outside. I was quite an upset three-year-old with him that day, but I’ve since forgiven him and these days at the age of 23, I am involved in a local area DSM team. A small group of guys and I started this team back in 2002 when we decided to have a DSM-focused meet at George Mason University. The meet turned out to have over 100 cars show up with just the work of about two or three people and the power of the internet. That was the start of Team Trinity and we have since then grown and gained sponsorships. That George Mason meet has become a yearly tradition to kick off the season and this past March was our 4th annual gathering.

What is a DSM anyway? It stands for Diamond Star Motors and includes the Plymouth Laser, Eagle Talon, and Mitsubishi Eclipse. The Eclipse is the only car of these three that is still being made, but any built after 1999 is NOT a DSM. DSMs were built together as basically the same car, a conglomeration if you will. Team Trinity keeps the DSM culture alive as well as the car enthusiast culture in general. For more information about this team, visit www.team-trinity.com and to learn everything there is to know about DSMs, visit www.dsmtuners.com.

Over the years, I’ve met many people that have taught me a lot about my Eclipse and cars in general. I’ve made many priceless connections and invaluable knowledge. Since my other love next to cars is writing, I took my skills and have written proposals to gain the sponsorships Team Trinity currently holds. I have also been involved with other local companies helping at car shows and answering any customer questions.

This past year or so has been rough with my 1997 DSM. She has been starting to show her age and things naturally began to break. In the winter of 2004, I had the motor rebuilt because it was going through a quart of oil literally every two days. Once that was fixed, I could begin to focus on modification plans for it. However, other things kept breaking or going bad. Then, for a period of 2 months, if something wasn’t breaking, it was being vandalized. I knew it was time to buy a second car. I looked at Hondas because they’re reliable but when I saw the horsepower stats, I couldn’t do it. I needed a car I would enjoy driving every day to work. That’s when the thought of the Sentra Spec V hit me. I knew that was the winner with 175hp, LSD (Limited-Slip Differential), and a 6-speed transmission. That was the power and the fun of a manual transmission that I was missing in the Eclipse. So I bought a 2004 Spec V and love it. Now I can let the Eclipse rest and focus on making it a show car. There are many projects in store and I’m learning a lot as I go along. The best way to learn is to go through it.

I’ve had the “ingenious” idea to incorporate my love for cars with writing. Many people go through high school, college, and many times even longer not knowing exactly what they want to do. I was lucky and always knew what I enjoyed the most: writing, editing, promoting, and media in general. For now, I have the typical DC area job as a contractor with the government and my title is Technical Editor. My dream is to be involved in the car aspect of media whether it is a magazine, producing company, or even television. So until my dream is fulfilled, I’ll just continue to enjoy working towards it. May the love for cars never die.

1997 Mitsubishi Eclipse RS Modification List

Motor
Motor rebuild at 100K (OEM Spec)
Multi-Layer Steel (MLS) headgasket
NGK Platinum plugs
Accel plug wires
Cold Air Intake

Suspension
Ingalls front & rear adjustable polyurethane camber kits.
Prokit springs
KYB GR-2 shocks
Front & rear strut bars
GST chrome wheels (Winter wheels- 16")
ADR Comp 7 (Summer wheels- 18")

Exterior
White LED lights in reverse lights, license plate lights, and corner lenses
Fog Lights installed with “super white” bulbs
Clear corner lenses
Nokya Artic White headlight bulbs
Black front mesh grille
35% tint all around
Chrome Mitsubishi hood emblem
Team and team graphics company stickers

Interior
All interior lights converted to red LED lights
Autometer Carbon Fiber Transmission Temp. Gauge
Autometer Carbon Fiber Voltmeter
Carbon Fiber dash bezel
Custom 2-seater conversion
2 red neon lights inside backseat sub box
2 plexiglass pieces in sub box. One on top to read from outside rear of car saying "Team Trinity". Other plexi you can read from inside looking into back seat saying who it was built by and who does my graphics.
Switch for neons installed on front dash

Sound System
Rockford Fosgate 160X4 amp
Rockford Fosgate 80X2 amp
Two 10" Kicker subs
Rockford Fosgate 1 farad capacitor
Infinity speakers
131 decibals

Brakes
Rear drums converted to rotor and disc.
Front calipers upgraded to dual-piston calipers.
All calipers powder-coated red
Stainless Steel brake lines
Speed Bleeders

2006 Projects still to come…
Remote start & pager
HID conversion 6000K
Black out headlight housing
Black out taillights
Bigger transmission cooler
Shift kit
End clutch kit
Carbon Fiber hood
Replace parts like oil & fuel pumps, etc etc

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Posted May 14, 2006