:: Project Zero G ::

Welcome to Project Zero G

The concept is pretty simple. You want drive your vehicle's rear wheels with your favorite Mitsubishi engine. From here, things can get much more complicated. What will you need to buy? Will you need to move the engine? What transmission will you use? How will you run the water pipes, intercooler pipes, fuel lines, etc? This is the bulk of what we discuss on Project Zero G. Our members' answers to these questions have evolved over the years as we've experimented on our own swaps. Is there a right way? Not yet, but the prefered recipe is always evolving. The costs of doing the swap are shrinking every year thanks to this discussion making rear wheel drive 4G63 swaps even more enticing.

Project Zero G was started in 2003 to form a community for rear wheel drive (RWD) 4G63 motor swaps. Over the years members of the site have contributed a great deal of information making swaps easier, cleaner, cheaper, faster, more reliable, and more fun. The goal of Project Zero G is not to do a single motor swap, but to form a community of people who want to. Members of the site have swapped Starion/Conquests, Mighty Max/D50 Pickups, Eclipses, Triumphs, 240SXs, 510s, RX7s, and the list goes on and on. The intelligent and free thinking atmosphere has also helped spread information on head conversions, hybridization, and cross brand compatibility making it a great source of information for "wrong wheel drive" Mitsubishi tuners as well.

Swap Basics

There are some basic things we must think about before doing a 4G63 swap. First, you may want to read up on the "Sirius" family of motors sometimes refered to as "4G6x" on here. This will help you to gain an understanding of what options you have when selecting parts and budgeting your swap. There are several variations of 4G6x motors depending on the model and year so be sure to be specific.

It is also helpful to understand what parts are interchangable. There are some wonderful combinations that you can make simply by separating the part's purpose from its application. This doesn't need to follow makes, models or engine families even. Some examples:

Mazda Pickup truck bellhousings can be used to put an RX7 transmission behind a wideblock 4G6x.
GSXR motorcycle coils don't care if they're on a motorcycle engine or a 4G63 automobile engine as long as you give them the correct signal.

Most information on the site refers to swapping a 4G6x into a Starion or Conquest, but most concepts can be used for swapping into any vehicle.

Choosing a Strategy

The very first step is to determine what you want and what you've got to work with. Do you just happen to have a 4G63 laying around, and a Conquest with a cracked head and figured... What the heck? This is how many people start. This is fine, but other things must be considered before jumping in. Do you have the tools, time and money to see this through? This swap may look simple at first, but the beauty is in the details. While it is easy to think "I want this motor. What transmission bolts up?" Planning out your ultimate goal may end up saving you more money in the long run. For this reason, please read through the whole site before you make up your mind. If things are still unclear, feel free to ask any of us a question on the forum.

Mitsubishi were the first to build a RWD 4G63 car. Thank goodness. This supplies us with a few basic ingredients to make the swap easier for people swapping into the various other RWD Mitsubishis. Engine mounts, brackets, water pipes, water pumps and transmissions can all be used from these vehicles. To mount the engine into a Mitsubishi use MightyMax mounts (or 2 right Starion mounts). They're the same part number (MD041030).

While the factory has us pretty well covered on the bottom end, the DOHC head introduces many problems for people doing RWD swaps. The reason for this is that they produced the head for transverse engines rather than our RWD longetudinal setup. They placed a few critcal parts on the back of the head, which interfere with our firewalls. You have options to avoid this. You can move the engine forward, but that comes with its own problems and expenses. Another option is to relocate the parts on the back of the head that interfere. These problems can be overcome with some clever plumbing.

Transmission Choice

The choices of transmissions we can use continues to grow. This critical part depending on your power goals and budget. There are two types of bellhousings patterns for 6 and 7 bolt 4G6x's and yet another for later "Evo" style blocks. For the 6 and 7 bolt engines, the two types are "wide" and "narrow". As a general rule, wideblocks came in RWD cars, trucks and vans and narrowblocks came in FWD,AWD cars. There are exceptions though, so be sure to check the chart, and more importantly measure what you have in front of you. If the lower bellhousing bolts are 12.75" appart than you have a "narrow block" and if they are 13.75" appart you have a "wideblock". After reviewing the advantages and disadvantages of the transmissions available you may want to re-evaluate if you want to use a narrow or wide engine block. Sometimes the costs of sticking with an inexpensive narrowblock outweigh the cost of rebuilding a wideblock engine.

Now that you've got the basics, read more about the details involved with doing the swap. Click on the menu at the very top to read more.

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since 05.Nov.2003