1988 Mitsubishi Shogun 2.6 HT BBR Turbo
Discussion
What a great thread!
Just read the whole thing from start to finish! I had a mint (body wise) 1990 2.5 diesel SWB. Honestly still regret selling it to this day as I've never seen another one in as good nick and prices are creeping up again for any that have an MOT.
Had great fun in mine doing a bit of off roading etc. I have to say though, I'm glad the suspension has been upgraded because I was never brave enough to venture much over 60mph (If it would have made it.)
Great machine! Just one of those vehicles that you smile when you get into.
Just read the whole thing from start to finish! I had a mint (body wise) 1990 2.5 diesel SWB. Honestly still regret selling it to this day as I've never seen another one in as good nick and prices are creeping up again for any that have an MOT.
Had great fun in mine doing a bit of off roading etc. I have to say though, I'm glad the suspension has been upgraded because I was never brave enough to venture much over 60mph (If it would have made it.)
Great machine! Just one of those vehicles that you smile when you get into.
Sorry for the delay in replying!
After the manifold was repaired, one of the jobs the Shogun had to do was help out at our community firework display. Turning a load of fireworks, boards, stakes and cable tie from this:
to that:
I like the little Suzuki too, it is so light it leaves almost no imprint behid.
The Shogun is back in the workshop for it's MoT. Thankfully, the exhaust manifold has held up and I don't believe we have any more leaks.
Pretty sure the BBR is set to run rich, the tailpipe is black! The internals of the 'Astron' engine wasn't modified by BBR in the conversion, the sales literature from earlier and some contemporary road tests suggest that they thought the engine was tough enough without modification to take the boost; so there is a danger of running this too lean but to be frank, the truck has done in excess of 180,000 miles and the engine is in quite strong need of being rebuilt.
Lovely SWB Shogun; the BBR will rev out to 5,000rpm in 5th. I'll let you do the math. Although, partly in view of above and also because I'd opinioned that the truck's handling was above my skill set, when the manifold and wastegate went back on last October, the boost was left a little lower than before. It runs at about half a bar now.
I've never been that comfortable with the front seats, they lack lumbar support and they have been pretending to be an old stuffed bear - with all the padding coming out; a common problem I think:
So, in a desire to be better located and to reinforce the 1980's modified look I've found some old period Cobra recliners, complete with little air bladders to squeeze so that you can pump up the lumbar support, one is missing but I might find a replacement. We'll see if they fit.
I'll update the thread when the service work is done.
After the manifold was repaired, one of the jobs the Shogun had to do was help out at our community firework display. Turning a load of fireworks, boards, stakes and cable tie from this:
to that:
I like the little Suzuki too, it is so light it leaves almost no imprint behid.
The Shogun is back in the workshop for it's MoT. Thankfully, the exhaust manifold has held up and I don't believe we have any more leaks.
Pretty sure the BBR is set to run rich, the tailpipe is black! The internals of the 'Astron' engine wasn't modified by BBR in the conversion, the sales literature from earlier and some contemporary road tests suggest that they thought the engine was tough enough without modification to take the boost; so there is a danger of running this too lean but to be frank, the truck has done in excess of 180,000 miles and the engine is in quite strong need of being rebuilt.
Lovely SWB Shogun; the BBR will rev out to 5,000rpm in 5th. I'll let you do the math. Although, partly in view of above and also because I'd opinioned that the truck's handling was above my skill set, when the manifold and wastegate went back on last October, the boost was left a little lower than before. It runs at about half a bar now.
I've never been that comfortable with the front seats, they lack lumbar support and they have been pretending to be an old stuffed bear - with all the padding coming out; a common problem I think:
So, in a desire to be better located and to reinforce the 1980's modified look I've found some old period Cobra recliners, complete with little air bladders to squeeze so that you can pump up the lumbar support, one is missing but I might find a replacement. We'll see if they fit.
I'll update the thread when the service work is done.
The BBR is back with a fresh MOT at 185,011 miles. The Cobra seats and Mountney steering wheel have been fitted; it helps to make the drive feel more positive and comfortable while still keeping you a long way above the road.
I've also replaced the Bridgestone Blizzak tyres with some all-terrains; these are 235/75 R15 BF Goodrich T/A's which are exceptional in snow and mud.
I don't have any further work planned on the Shogun this year.
I've also replaced the Bridgestone Blizzak tyres with some all-terrains; these are 235/75 R15 BF Goodrich T/A's which are exceptional in snow and mud.
I don't have any further work planned on the Shogun this year.
As a clue it was a bit unfair; the wheel in question belonged to the Saab Viggen.
Having fallen in a pot hole and FUBAR a wheel, broken a front spring and damaged a gearbox mount the Saab was off the road for some time while replacement parts were found. The Shogun had recently passed the MOT so I was using that instead and was steadily adding miles. I’d done over a thousand by the time it came for a family holiday to North Yorkshire.
In the past, due to my indulgence with this Shogun and the Viggen, I’ve had to hire a family friendly car for long journeys but seeing how successfully the BBR was doing and bearing in mind there are two teenagers, two dogs, the prospects of snow and a weeks’ worth of self-catering provisions to take to Skipton I thought I’d risk the longest drive the truck had yet undertaken with me.
All went well until the gear-lever grew increasingly hot, the gearbox was making a shrieking noise like two ceramic plates spinning against one another and the only way to continue the homeward leg in forth gear wherever possible.
The Shogun at least got us home but at 187,000 miles and who knows what abuse the gearbox is ruined. Luckily it turns out there was a Pajero mark one box from a diesel long wheel base on eBay. Bought for £68 and collected from Cornwall it should be a straight fit in. It does have one other advantage too, Mitsubishi fitted all the gearboxes with appropriate ratios for each engine fitted to the vehicle; the early 2.6 like mine had the shortest to the diesel and later petrol V6 with longer ratios. This lump has a 0.829 ratio in 5th gear which should raise the speed from 20mph/1,000 rpm to just over 21mph/1,000rpm. Assuming everything goes to plan I should have met one of my additional goals of raising the gearing of the BBR!
Having fallen in a pot hole and FUBAR a wheel, broken a front spring and damaged a gearbox mount the Saab was off the road for some time while replacement parts were found. The Shogun had recently passed the MOT so I was using that instead and was steadily adding miles. I’d done over a thousand by the time it came for a family holiday to North Yorkshire.
In the past, due to my indulgence with this Shogun and the Viggen, I’ve had to hire a family friendly car for long journeys but seeing how successfully the BBR was doing and bearing in mind there are two teenagers, two dogs, the prospects of snow and a weeks’ worth of self-catering provisions to take to Skipton I thought I’d risk the longest drive the truck had yet undertaken with me.
All went well until the gear-lever grew increasingly hot, the gearbox was making a shrieking noise like two ceramic plates spinning against one another and the only way to continue the homeward leg in forth gear wherever possible.
The Shogun at least got us home but at 187,000 miles and who knows what abuse the gearbox is ruined. Luckily it turns out there was a Pajero mark one box from a diesel long wheel base on eBay. Bought for £68 and collected from Cornwall it should be a straight fit in. It does have one other advantage too, Mitsubishi fitted all the gearboxes with appropriate ratios for each engine fitted to the vehicle; the early 2.6 like mine had the shortest to the diesel and later petrol V6 with longer ratios. This lump has a 0.829 ratio in 5th gear which should raise the speed from 20mph/1,000 rpm to just over 21mph/1,000rpm. Assuming everything goes to plan I should have met one of my additional goals of raising the gearing of the BBR!
Edited by TurboBlue on Saturday 14th April 20:33
It had all gone very quiet from the workshop but an email last week suggested that the gearbox swap was not going as swimmingly as we had hoped:
Extraordinarily, it feels like a different vehicle; although the gearing has only gone up by 5% or so the Shogun feels quieter and more long-legged; the old gearbox was always quite cantankerous to change in the lower gears but this one swaps smoothly and easily and has changed the whole demeanour of the car (yes, I’ve called it a car; possibly for the first time).
It has been very worthwhile and the effort put in by the workshop has been fantastic.
- Update on the shogun, got the old box out, then the straight forward job turned in to not quite straight forward!
- This diesel gearbox is different in a few ways, first thing is it uses a different bell housing, removed and checked it fitted the engine - all ok.
- Then the slave cylinder has a different mount, different one sourced and made to fit
- Then the rear prop shaft wouldn’t fit the transfer box because the splines are damaged! So, removed undamaged transfer box from old gearbox and attached it to new box and it fits ok.
- Then, we checked that the clutch fitted the input shaft on the gearbox and all was fine, but we could not get it to locate in the clutch; so, after some thinking and swearing this diesel box has a bigger input shaft and was hitting the spigot bearing in the flywheel, so we need to source a correct size bearing then it should all work.
- Basically it’s 2mm stopping it all from working!
Extraordinarily, it feels like a different vehicle; although the gearing has only gone up by 5% or so the Shogun feels quieter and more long-legged; the old gearbox was always quite cantankerous to change in the lower gears but this one swaps smoothly and easily and has changed the whole demeanour of the car (yes, I’ve called it a car; possibly for the first time).
It has been very worthwhile and the effort put in by the workshop has been fantastic.
Edited by TurboBlue on Wednesday 9th May 22:39
I do love seeing these updates and knowing it’s still alive 
To think I almost bid on this when you bought it - I doubt I’ve have sunk quite so much love and attention (and money) at it though...
It always makes me want to go searching for mk1 Pajeros and Shoguns that I have no justifiable excuse for buying.
Too work.
To think I almost bid on this when you bought it - I doubt I’ve have sunk quite so much love and attention (and money) at it though...
It always makes me want to go searching for mk1 Pajeros and Shoguns that I have no justifiable excuse for buying.
Too work.
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