1980 Mitsubishi Eterna GSR from New Zealand (56k no)

fuel · Post by **fuel** » Sun Nov 23, 2008 8:51 pm

hey guys, I've come across this website and have referred back to it a few times before, but have only just finally signed up now.

I see a few familiar people from this side of the world as well as a couple of you US guys, but thought I'ld put pics and info of my car up for the rest of you Mitsi fans.

Well here goes - it's a 1980 Mitsubishi Eterna GSR coupe, which was imported into New Zealand from Japan in the late 80s by a car dealer, which was sold to a couple who have had it for the nearly 20 years it's been in the country. I received it with 128,000kms (80,000 miles) on the clock in completely factory stock condition right down to the working air conditioning, factory rubber floor mats, and even an alarm clock.

For those who don't know - it's more or less an upper spec of the 4th generation Galant Lambda coupe, which for you US folk is called the Dodge Challenger II or Plymouth Sapporo. It is the predecessor to the Starion, it is what the Starion is largely based on. Because of that, it shares alot of equipment with the Starion from the factory, right down to the G63B SOHC turbo engine and gearbox, IRS, four wheel vented disc brakes etc.

Anyway, enough with the talking - here's the pics from when I first got my filthy hands on it:

I've had it for nearly two years now, so here's a quick summary of what I've done to it since.

First thing's first I couldn't handle the stock suspension and brakes, so I had to do something about it:

A starion exhaust modified to fit mine:

some Watanabe wheels:

and after they were sanded and painted:

E39A VR-4 intercooler install, and engine bay cleaned up some:

fast forward 12 months and a couple of trackdays, and it was clear the suspension wasn't keeping up, so I started gathering bits to do a coilover conversion to the struts, as well as collecting bits to do a DOHC conversion

So then I took it off the road for a few months while I slowly did the suspension. I decided I may as well tidy up things while everything was apart.

rear subframe out:

and apart:

and back together painted up with POR15 and new bushes fitted:

front end got mostly the same treatment:

now for the fun part - the coilovers. I had a set of GAB adjustable platform coilovers to suit my daily driver ('93 Galant) kicking around, but the shock inserts were naffed and they aren't rebuildable, so I robbed them of the springs and keeper springs, and ordered the rest of the parts needed, then got my engineer friend to fab it all together. The results:

the suspension was put together in the week leading up to a trackday, thankfully we got it together in time, and the car handled great on the track:

only problem I'm left with now is that the engine doesn't keep up with the suspension, so I'm pulling it off the road again to do the DOHC swap finally. In the meantime I found some SSR star formular 16x8 0 offset R and 16x7.5 +20 F wheels for it:

Let me know what you guys think. Cheers

89coltgt · Post by **89coltgt** » Sun Nov 23, 2008 9:37 pm

Very clean car, good luck with the dohc swap.

StellarDOHC · Post by **StellarDOHC** » Mon Nov 24, 2008 6:07 am

Wow thats a beauty, and is gonna be just mean with an engine swap. The suspension stuff looks very professional, can u go into more detail, it might be of interest to the people on the forum. Im going to be watching this car with alot of interest. Keep it up!

GRNDSM · Post by **GRNDSM** » Mon Nov 24, 2008 6:59 pm

The car looks awesome!

I find it funny that front syspension looks just like my 80 TR7!!!

fuel · Post by **fuel** » Mon Nov 24, 2008 7:48 pm

Thanks guys!

Yeah alot of the RWD mcpherson strut suspension from the 70s/80s are going to look similar.

As for my suspension up front I'm just using new KYB Starion inserts, with threaded sleeves welded on, 210mm long 62mm ID 9kg/cm springs with accompanying keeper springs, and at the rear as the factory struts are sealed I've chopped the tops off, used KYB SW20 Rear inserts and shortened the strut casing to suit with a threaded section to suit the Toyota gland nut welded on the top of the strut. Am using 210mm long 62mm ID 8kg/cm springs with keeper springs in the rear. My biggest regret is not shortening the front struts and finding more heavy duty inserts for the front while it was all apart, after it was all together I discovered the stock Starion inserts aren't really suited to 9kg/cm springs, and they only have about one inch of travel (with stock bumpstops) before bottoming out at its current height - and I want to go lower still.

turbostellar · Post by **turbostellar** » Mon Nov 24, 2008 10:07 pm

man this car is clean, as i scroll down the pics the car keeps looking better and better, great job and keep us updated, i like the newer wheels on there too. looks much better and fills up those wheel wells nicely

sr71sss · Post by **sr71sss** » Wed Nov 26, 2008 1:02 am

sweet ride wish I can find a sapporo here...

jeffball610 · Post by **jeffball610** » Fri Nov 28, 2008 1:53 pm

Which DOHC intake manifold is that? Looks a lot like the old EVO stuff I've been seeing lately.

fuel · Post by **fuel** » Sat Nov 29, 2008 4:30 pm

Evo III RS which has started to be 'cut n shut'. Head is Evo III.

Jed118 · Post by **Jed118** » Sun Dec 21, 2008 2:19 pm

I have the exact same problem with my front suspension... the damned spindle is INTEGRATED into the shock!!

I found a way around it though... there's a similar car (hyundai Stellar) that uses almost the same parts except... the shock comes APART from the spindle! Glorious news for me!

Also, I've never seen the 4G63 SOHC in turbo guise before! That's stunning to see, but not at all unexpected. Those motors are non-interference too... I've got a carb'd version of one (two actually) and am working on a G4CS (4G64) DOHC myself.

Killer car man, that thing's sick! Sorta reminds me of a Pony and a Stellar combined into one, with a hint of Nissan in it.

I'll be following your head swap closely!

fuel · Post by **fuel** » Mon Dec 29, 2008 12:42 am

More pics, finally got some tyres for the front rims and put them on with some spacers.

StellarDOHC · Post by **StellarDOHC** » Mon Dec 29, 2008 4:50 am

Yea I am also drooling over this car, its almost like a Stellar Coupe. I like the look of the fender mount mirrors but are they easy to use?

fuel · Post by **fuel** » Mon Dec 29, 2008 2:36 pm

I think they're easy to use, you only have to glance over a little bit to see a full rear view, whereas on normal door mounted mirrors you have to look right over. It's strange going from the Eterna into my daily driver, keep looking over the steering wheel and hood to try see what's behind me haha.

fuel · Post by **fuel** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 4:39 am

well guys bit of a progress update

have finally yanked out the oily SOHC

BUT.... and I'm sad to say.. the 4G63 *wont* be going back in! Instead.. an amalgamation of these two engines will be:

Diamante 30M 3.0 MIVEC

and this engine will be familiar to alot of you.. a 3000GT 3.0 twin turbo

so what do you guys think??

89coltgt · Post by **89coltgt** » Thu Apr 09, 2009 8:22 pm

This oughta get interesting. Building a turbo mivec v6?

What trans will be going behind it?

fuel · Post by **fuel** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 5:31 pm

I'm stuck at the trans to go behind it, am hoping to find a 2WD V6 Triton/L200 (D50 or Mighty Max on your side of the world) 5speed manual but they are proving hard to find here!

I could always use Toyota W58 or even R154 with custom bellhousing or an adapter plate, but that would be an expensive option.

Anyway, an update. So stripped the engine bay some more and lowered the V6 into the hole pretty much where I want it to sit:

front of the motor is about inline where front of the 4cyl was

rear of the motor would just clear the clutch master cylinder, however I need to either find a slimmer brake booster or cut down the spacer behind the brake booster - brake master is fine for space though.

room between driver's side chassis rail/steering box and engine block, with no mounts fitted

and on passenger's side - a bit more room

and the sump, the rear section of the tin bottom of the MIVEC sump hits on the front edge of the crossmember, and the engine is resting on it sitting about 20mm higher than it could be mounted, so it needs to be notched further by approx 25-30mm

stripped down the GTO TT motor

the tiny TD04s, they don't actually share the same compressor housings or exhaust housings, they are different per side and may look a bit weird if I mount them a bit forward in plain site - am thinking of using CD5A Lancer GSR TD04s or even WRX TD04s as they are cheap enough to pick up a pair of.

the illusive and hidden oil squirters!

and that's about it for now. I hope to go visit some wreckers to find out more about mounts from a Pajero/Triton etc over the next few days.

jeffball610 · Post by **jeffball610** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 7:11 pm

Looks like that V6 fits pretty nice. So what are your power goals? I figured you could blow the tires off that thing with 300hp from a simple 4G63. What is the weight difference between the V6 and the I4?

Doesn't the Pajero/Montero/Raider share the same style V6? You might be able to source a RWD tranny from one of those. I don't think they came in 2WD form, but it's worth a look. You might be able to use the bellhousing at least.

I'd hate for you to get in over your head and find out things won't work, but I definitely won't discourage you from trying the V6 option. It would be very cool, but may not be very practical. Let us know how it goes.

fuel · Post by **fuel** » Thu Apr 23, 2009 1:04 am

I would be happy with a good increase of power over stock which is 320hp and 427Nm of torque. With the MIVEC technology and higher boost (12-14psi) I am hoping for around 350-400hp. I know those power figures are easily achievable (perhaps not the torque figures though).. and it almost certainly will be more expensive to do the V6 swap given the amount of custom fab work will need to be done to make it work - but 4G63s are just too overdone these days. I'm already happy with the 4G63 in my Galant VR-4, and my other Galant has a V6 MIVEC too and I just am impressed with its engine so that swayed me towards going V6 to be different.

I'm unsure of the exact weight but I would gather it would be a good 50kgs over the 4G63.

fuel · Post by **fuel** » Thu Apr 23, 2009 1:10 am

ok some more progress today - went to the a wreckers this morning and found a Pajero V6 and checked out its mounts, they looked promising and mounted in the same spot despite being mid sump:

so $50 later they were mine and used the original Eterna rubber section of the mount and it all bolted up sweet:

but it moved the motor back about 1", which means I can't use the original clutch master cylinder and I'll probably have to cut into the firewall for the thermostat housing.

the engine sits at a good height with plenty of clearance from sump to crossmember height wise:

but as mentioned earlier the sump will need to be notched.. but makes it tricky with the two piece metal section.. I might just get rid of that altogether and have an alloy plate welded in place and just wing the sump. It needs to be notched up until about the dipstick tube (which is seen at bottom of the shot)

while I was there I placed the turbos approx where I want them to be mounted, they are just resting on the mounts but seems to have a bit room on the passenger side but not so much on the drivers side:

and that is all for now