1995 Mitsubishi GTO Twin Turbo
Discussion
With a very heavy heart I've come to the conclusion it is time to part with my 1990 Jag XJRS 6.0 - lack of indoor storage means the old girl is starting to suffer, so the grown-up thing to do is to let her go to pastures new. But if I have to make a mature decision and be a grown up, I'll be damned if I don't make sure it do it in the most childish and irresponsible manner possible...
To that end, before I have even advertised the Jag for sale, I have bought sight unseen on Ebay a project Mistubishi GTO twin turbo.
It was delivered on a trailer a few weeks ago after much arsing around with delivery drivers over the Christmas period, during which time I lay awake at night panicking about what manner of a dog would be deposited by the hauliers. I was working away at the time, and it was dropped to the local garage. The conversation went along these lines:
Me: "Any sign of it yet?"
Them: "Yeah, it's just got here".
Me: "What's it like?"
Them: After a pause... "No comment".
Eventually I pinned him down to "It's a bit rough". Seeing it for the first time was a positive experience - I was surprised by the presence it has, it is very wide, and low, and looks purposeful but also sleek. Closer inspection revealed a solid car which was exactly as advertised by the seller.
Issues:
No MOT. It's been well looked after in the past but has had nearly a year off the road.
Power steering pump was screaming its head off - rear steering rack is fubar. Front looks ok.
Oil cooler is leaking like an excited puppy on a cream carpet.
Laquer is shot over the windscreen and a bit on the bonnet.
Interior is a bit tired in places.
Suspension is nerfed. Not sure how bad it is, but from driving it in the yard of the garage it made some very unhappy noises.
The plan:
The rear subframe has to come out to address the leaking rear steering rack. The garage have agreed to do bits and bobs over time on it, so to lessen my footprint on their ramps I picked up a used front and rear subframe for the princely sum of £150. These will get stripped down, given the POR15 treatment, then rebuilt (I'm buying a full set of polybushes as we speak). Then in one hit the old subframes will come off and the new ones will go on. That saves them having the car sat on a ramp with no subframes for days while the frames get refurbed.
An unused set of Tein coilovers have been bought from a club member - I did a lot of soul searching over this. I want to keep the car true to its original character, which is a tech-filled wonder machine. I wanted to keep the adjustable shocks, but original parts are daft prices, so for the same money I can fit the Tein system with the motors which allow you to adjust the coilover settings on the fly, and also tweak them in realtime based on how you are driving. That's how I intend to approach this car, keep true to the original design brief but where possible use modern alternatives that do the same and more as what the old systems did.
Once subframe is back on, suspension fettled, and a 60k service done, it will be a case of getting it to an MOT and seeing if it needs anything else. Once it is on the road, I will be able to get a better feel for the car and what is required. The front active aero has been removed so I will try and track down replacement parts for that, the active exhaust has been replaced with a 3" stainless one so I am going to see if there is a more modern system which will allow me to reintroduce a valve in the exhaust for some 'quiet/loud' action, and I suspect the ditchfinders it has on the wheels will end up being replaced quite quickly. It's going to need paint, I'd like to get away with a local repair to the area above the windscreen, but we will see. If it needs a full respray that will be a job for later once funds have built up.
I'm excited by this, it was an impulse buy really, but as soon as I saw it I loved the look of it. I played GranTurismo in my teens, which also plays a part, but more than anything it just strikes me as a car that is chalk and cheese to the Jag, but fulfills the same role - they are both heavy GT cars that are designed to be entertaining on the twisty bits as well as effortless on long cruises. They are also contemporaries, which is hard to believe from the styling (obviously the Jag XJS had been around for a significant period of time when the GTO was launched). I'm looking forward to finding how they compare, and exploring the different way they go about doing essentially the same job.
So that's the story so far. I'll post back as and when progress occurs.
To that end, before I have even advertised the Jag for sale, I have bought sight unseen on Ebay a project Mistubishi GTO twin turbo.
It was delivered on a trailer a few weeks ago after much arsing around with delivery drivers over the Christmas period, during which time I lay awake at night panicking about what manner of a dog would be deposited by the hauliers. I was working away at the time, and it was dropped to the local garage. The conversation went along these lines:
Me: "Any sign of it yet?"
Them: "Yeah, it's just got here".
Me: "What's it like?"
Them: After a pause... "No comment".
Eventually I pinned him down to "It's a bit rough". Seeing it for the first time was a positive experience - I was surprised by the presence it has, it is very wide, and low, and looks purposeful but also sleek. Closer inspection revealed a solid car which was exactly as advertised by the seller.
Issues:
No MOT. It's been well looked after in the past but has had nearly a year off the road.
Power steering pump was screaming its head off - rear steering rack is fubar. Front looks ok.
Oil cooler is leaking like an excited puppy on a cream carpet.
Laquer is shot over the windscreen and a bit on the bonnet.
Interior is a bit tired in places.
Suspension is nerfed. Not sure how bad it is, but from driving it in the yard of the garage it made some very unhappy noises.
The plan:
The rear subframe has to come out to address the leaking rear steering rack. The garage have agreed to do bits and bobs over time on it, so to lessen my footprint on their ramps I picked up a used front and rear subframe for the princely sum of £150. These will get stripped down, given the POR15 treatment, then rebuilt (I'm buying a full set of polybushes as we speak). Then in one hit the old subframes will come off and the new ones will go on. That saves them having the car sat on a ramp with no subframes for days while the frames get refurbed.
An unused set of Tein coilovers have been bought from a club member - I did a lot of soul searching over this. I want to keep the car true to its original character, which is a tech-filled wonder machine. I wanted to keep the adjustable shocks, but original parts are daft prices, so for the same money I can fit the Tein system with the motors which allow you to adjust the coilover settings on the fly, and also tweak them in realtime based on how you are driving. That's how I intend to approach this car, keep true to the original design brief but where possible use modern alternatives that do the same and more as what the old systems did.
Once subframe is back on, suspension fettled, and a 60k service done, it will be a case of getting it to an MOT and seeing if it needs anything else. Once it is on the road, I will be able to get a better feel for the car and what is required. The front active aero has been removed so I will try and track down replacement parts for that, the active exhaust has been replaced with a 3" stainless one so I am going to see if there is a more modern system which will allow me to reintroduce a valve in the exhaust for some 'quiet/loud' action, and I suspect the ditchfinders it has on the wheels will end up being replaced quite quickly. It's going to need paint, I'd like to get away with a local repair to the area above the windscreen, but we will see. If it needs a full respray that will be a job for later once funds have built up.
I'm excited by this, it was an impulse buy really, but as soon as I saw it I loved the look of it. I played GranTurismo in my teens, which also plays a part, but more than anything it just strikes me as a car that is chalk and cheese to the Jag, but fulfills the same role - they are both heavy GT cars that are designed to be entertaining on the twisty bits as well as effortless on long cruises. They are also contemporaries, which is hard to believe from the styling (obviously the Jag XJS had been around for a significant period of time when the GTO was launched). I'm looking forward to finding how they compare, and exploring the different way they go about doing essentially the same job.
So that's the story so far. I'll post back as and when progress occurs.
I kinda like 'em... I know they're a bit marmite, but if I imagine it with those wheels in silver it just seems a bit dull. I'll live with them for a bit I think (well, I'll have to anyway due to funds being spent on mechanicals just now) but I'm going to give them a chance to grow on me further.
I'm assuming silver is what you had in mind? Unless you mean they need to be lime green or something?
I'm assuming silver is what you had in mind? Unless you mean they need to be lime green or something?
UPDATE:
A year on, things that have not happened:
- I haven't sold the Jag.
- I haven't got the Mitsubishi on the road.
- I haven't heard the last of it from Mrs Fizmo.
The subframe i bought turned out to be a bit rusty so it's been blasted and welded, I'm just waiting to get some epoxy 2 pack paint on it - can't complain for what I paid for it. I've also sourced a full set of poly bushes from a group-buy offer on the owner's group forum, so along with the coilovers I have a decent amount of parts waiting to get fitted.
I'm hoping to have it on the road by Feb, then I can get a shakedown done and see what else is needed - life got in the way last year, but I want it on the road soon as i want to get some miles done in it!
A year on, things that have not happened:
- I haven't sold the Jag.
- I haven't got the Mitsubishi on the road.
- I haven't heard the last of it from Mrs Fizmo.
The subframe i bought turned out to be a bit rusty so it's been blasted and welded, I'm just waiting to get some epoxy 2 pack paint on it - can't complain for what I paid for it. I've also sourced a full set of poly bushes from a group-buy offer on the owner's group forum, so along with the coilovers I have a decent amount of parts waiting to get fitted.
I'm hoping to have it on the road by Feb, then I can get a shakedown done and see what else is needed - life got in the way last year, but I want it on the road soon as i want to get some miles done in it!
Edited by fizmo100 on Monday 6th January 18:14
lukeharding said:
I've wanted a GTO for ages, nearly bought one a year or two ago but it was far too rough (and I have too many projects 
). I'd love to hear more about your XJR-S though. I've got one but its always nice to hear from another owner and PH could use more XJS based threads. 
Aye, I'm well at the stage where I have more jobs to do on the cars than I have time or money to do them, which was really the thinking behind parting with the Jag. It's been off the road for a year sat in front of the house with two flat front tyres, it even showed up on a Facebook group called' Sitting Rotting on a Driveway', which was a personal low point! I've had it for 10 years now, in that time it's been well looked after and had a full respray about 5 years ago - though sadly the rust is starting to show in places again, which was what made me think maybe it was time to say goodbye - I've put it through one respray, do I really want to keep up the war with rust? But then I go and start it up and sit in it and I think 'maybe I'll just hold on to it for one more summer'. I made a few videos of it, they are on Youtube - if you search 'XJR-s Before Respray' you'll find the first one - I went round it before it had the work done, there' a video of it during the job and then one when it came back home afterwards.). I'd love to hear more about your XJR-S though. I've got one but its always nice to hear from another owner and PH could use more XJS based threads. I'd like to get the Jag and GTO back on the road again this year - the master plan is to have the GTO at home, and the Jag and my TVR over at a storage barn. The GTO is the everyday car if it's just me, or me and one of the kids, then when I want to go for a blast in the Jag/TVR I'll go over in the GTO and swap them out. That way the family lugging Jeep is always at home and not stuck at the barn while I'm tarting about in some daft shouty car. We'll see if the funds allow both to be put back on the road at once - it will depend on what the Jag needs for its MOT - it flew through the last one, but after a eyar sitting outside who knows what will be lurking.
fizmo100 said:
lukeharding said:
I've wanted a GTO for ages, nearly bought one a year or two ago but it was far too rough (and I have too many projects ). I'd love to hear more about your XJR-S though. I've got one but its always nice to hear from another owner and PH could use more XJS based threads.
Aye, I'm well at the stage where I have more jobs to do on the cars than I have time or money to do them, which was really the thinking behind parting with the Jag. It's been off the road for a year sat in front of the house with two flat front tyres, it even showed up on a Facebook group called' Sitting Rotting on a Driveway', which was a personal low point! I've had it for 10 years now, in that time it's been well looked after and had a full respray about 5 years ago - though sadly the rust is starting to show in places again, which was what made me think maybe it was time to say goodbye - I've put it through one respray, do I really want to keep up the war with rust? But then I go and start it up and sit in it and I think 'maybe I'll just hold on to it for one more summer'. I made a few videos of it, they are on Youtube - if you search 'XJR-s Before Respray' you'll find the first one - I went round it before it had the work done, there' a video of it during the job and then one when it came back home afterwards.). I'd love to hear more about your XJR-S though. I've got one but its always nice to hear from another owner and PH could use more XJS based threads. I'd like to get the Jag and GTO back on the road again this year - the master plan is to have the GTO at home, and the Jag and my TVR over at a storage barn. The GTO is the everyday car if it's just me, or me and one of the kids, then when I want to go for a blast in the Jag/TVR I'll go over in the GTO and swap them out. That way the family lugging Jeep is always at home and not stuck at the barn while I'm tarting about in some daft shouty car. We'll see if the funds allow both to be put back on the road at once - it will depend on what the Jag needs for its MOT - it flew through the last one, but after a eyar sitting outside who knows what will be lurking.
Having just watched your video your car is a very similar spec to my one!
Well, things are finally starting to progress after a year of not much happening.
I got the subframe painted in my last leave. I used a 2-pack epoxy primer and topcoat system - it's what the guys out here on the rig use to coat the pipework, so I reckon if it's good enough for the North Sea it will hold up ok on the roads. Also, it's quite forgiving of less than perfect prep - since the subframe was grit blasted enough time has passed for it to start to ginger up, so after a wire wheeling I got 3 coats of the Jotun Jotamastic 90 Alu primer on there and a top coat of Jotun Jotamastic Hardtop AX.
You only really appreciate the complexity of fabrication of something when you do a task like polishing it or painting it - I was surprised at how intricate and complicated the structure of the subframe was, and impressed with how accurately all the brackets etc must have been located to get the geometry correct. I know it sounds daft, but when you spend time working on things you appreciate them a lot more, I find.
Pics of the subframe:
Example of the holes, now welded:
Subframe wire wheeled and reading for paint:
In primer:
And finally with the topcoat:
Now I'm back at work, but before I left I dropped off the polybushes, Tein coilovers, and a set of good used rear hydraulic pipes from Ebay with the garage. I have also ordered the remaining required parts to be delivered there: camber adjustment bolts for rear subframe, reconditioned rear steering rack, cambelt service kit and water pump, oil and filter. While I'm at work the garage will be getting busy, and hopefully I'll be able to get some tarmac under the wheels when I'm home in 3 weeks time (and I'm really hoping there aren't a whole load of extra gremlins waiting to be found once I get it on the road).
Will post back with updates!
I got the subframe painted in my last leave. I used a 2-pack epoxy primer and topcoat system - it's what the guys out here on the rig use to coat the pipework, so I reckon if it's good enough for the North Sea it will hold up ok on the roads. Also, it's quite forgiving of less than perfect prep - since the subframe was grit blasted enough time has passed for it to start to ginger up, so after a wire wheeling I got 3 coats of the Jotun Jotamastic 90 Alu primer on there and a top coat of Jotun Jotamastic Hardtop AX.
You only really appreciate the complexity of fabrication of something when you do a task like polishing it or painting it - I was surprised at how intricate and complicated the structure of the subframe was, and impressed with how accurately all the brackets etc must have been located to get the geometry correct. I know it sounds daft, but when you spend time working on things you appreciate them a lot more, I find.
Pics of the subframe:
Example of the holes, now welded:
Subframe wire wheeled and reading for paint:
In primer:
And finally with the topcoat:
Now I'm back at work, but before I left I dropped off the polybushes, Tein coilovers, and a set of good used rear hydraulic pipes from Ebay with the garage. I have also ordered the remaining required parts to be delivered there: camber adjustment bolts for rear subframe, reconditioned rear steering rack, cambelt service kit and water pump, oil and filter. While I'm at work the garage will be getting busy, and hopefully I'll be able to get some tarmac under the wheels when I'm home in 3 weeks time (and I'm really hoping there aren't a whole load of extra gremlins waiting to be found once I get it on the road).
Will post back with updates!
OK, slow with the updates, apologies. The big news is it is back on the road. Got it back in December and got some miles in it.
I've not had a 90s turbo performance car before - I love the 'stamp, wait, boost, giggle, repeat' driving style. The overwhelming impression from driving the car is that is is planted. I love the way it corners, for a heavy car it just grips and goes. Possibly down to the RWS. There is no way it should stick the way it does considering it is still wearing the LingLong ditchfinders it came with.
It needed a new front downpipe for the MOT - found a stainless one on Fleabay, so from the manifolds back the exhaust is stainless now.
I was worried about what issues I was going to find once it was back on the road - the jobs done previously were the obvious problems as the car sat in the yard. Sure enough, there are some jobs needed.
First job - I picked up a leather interior which I need to fit. Got the old seats out and found the carpets were soaking wet. I took advantage of homeschooling to get my oldest son (7) helping with the car, through a combination of hosepiping the car with one of us inside checking for leaks, and then smokebombing it, we found a trim clip over the driver's side window had bent downwards and was distorting the rubber seal over the top of the window. Trim clip put back in place, hopefully that has sorted it. Once I know it is watertight and the carpets have dried I will fit the new interior.
In chasing leaks I took out a lot of interior trim. While it is stripped I will fit the Tein EDFC motors that allow adjustment of the damping from a controller in the cabin. Undortunately when the garage fitted the Tein coilovers they didn't fit the brackets that are needed to stop the motors spinning in place and tangling up the wires, so the suspension will have to come off again. At least the bolts won't be seized.
Gearbox felt pretty crap when I collected the car - it wouldn't go into reverse, and the change felt horrible. Adjusting the clutch helped a lot - reverse is back on the menu, and I was pleasantly surprised to find there is a 6th gear in there after all (was starting to think I had bought a 5 speed). I've got a set of 3SX solid clutch linkage bushings, and a set of bushes for the shifter, which I am hoping will improve things further.
Motor mounts look minging - the easiest one to see is clearly cracked and torn, and apparently they tend to be the last to fail, so I can only imagine what the rest are like. 3SX poly mounts are waiting to get fitted.
There is an oil leak from what I think is the transfer case. Hoping it will just be seals - going to investigate further when I have it up in the air for the rear motor mount/suspension removal.
Other than that, it's cosmetics, but the oily bits need sorting first. Everything else, even the A/C, works brilliantly. While the above is a list of problems, I'm actually really pleased with the car. As I have gone through it and stripped it down, everything has been really solid and in lovely condition. It is definitely worth spending time and money getting it sorted, it will be a really nice example with a bit of elbow grease. Looking forward to delving deeper into this one.
And because we are on Pistonheads, a photo is required!
I've not had a 90s turbo performance car before - I love the 'stamp, wait, boost, giggle, repeat' driving style. The overwhelming impression from driving the car is that is is planted. I love the way it corners, for a heavy car it just grips and goes. Possibly down to the RWS. There is no way it should stick the way it does considering it is still wearing the LingLong ditchfinders it came with.
It needed a new front downpipe for the MOT - found a stainless one on Fleabay, so from the manifolds back the exhaust is stainless now.
I was worried about what issues I was going to find once it was back on the road - the jobs done previously were the obvious problems as the car sat in the yard. Sure enough, there are some jobs needed.
First job - I picked up a leather interior which I need to fit. Got the old seats out and found the carpets were soaking wet. I took advantage of homeschooling to get my oldest son (7) helping with the car, through a combination of hosepiping the car with one of us inside checking for leaks, and then smokebombing it, we found a trim clip over the driver's side window had bent downwards and was distorting the rubber seal over the top of the window. Trim clip put back in place, hopefully that has sorted it. Once I know it is watertight and the carpets have dried I will fit the new interior.
In chasing leaks I took out a lot of interior trim. While it is stripped I will fit the Tein EDFC motors that allow adjustment of the damping from a controller in the cabin. Undortunately when the garage fitted the Tein coilovers they didn't fit the brackets that are needed to stop the motors spinning in place and tangling up the wires, so the suspension will have to come off again. At least the bolts won't be seized.
Gearbox felt pretty crap when I collected the car - it wouldn't go into reverse, and the change felt horrible. Adjusting the clutch helped a lot - reverse is back on the menu, and I was pleasantly surprised to find there is a 6th gear in there after all (was starting to think I had bought a 5 speed). I've got a set of 3SX solid clutch linkage bushings, and a set of bushes for the shifter, which I am hoping will improve things further.
Motor mounts look minging - the easiest one to see is clearly cracked and torn, and apparently they tend to be the last to fail, so I can only imagine what the rest are like. 3SX poly mounts are waiting to get fitted.
There is an oil leak from what I think is the transfer case. Hoping it will just be seals - going to investigate further when I have it up in the air for the rear motor mount/suspension removal.
Other than that, it's cosmetics, but the oily bits need sorting first. Everything else, even the A/C, works brilliantly. While the above is a list of problems, I'm actually really pleased with the car. As I have gone through it and stripped it down, everything has been really solid and in lovely condition. It is definitely worth spending time and money getting it sorted, it will be a really nice example with a bit of elbow grease. Looking forward to delving deeper into this one.
And because we are on Pistonheads, a photo is required!
Edited by fizmo100 on Thursday 28th January 01:19
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