DSM + RWD = WIN

dexter · Post by **dexter** » Mon Aug 16, 2010 12:38 pm

Greetings.

I'm Dexter.

I started working on DSMs 8 years ago. I've had a hand full of them and had my hands in quite a few over the years. I started liking Starquests since the first time I saw a 4G-swapped one at my first Shootout in Norwalk. I never really looked for one, but I kept my eyes peeled for good deals.

I also have had a few S13s and really enjoy working on them. I have a couple Colts that I tinker with a lot as well. I'm also a member of a local car club, so I get to work on a lot of different things - Tiburons, RX7s, Hondas, 80s/90s Mopars, Subarus... So I've been around a lot of different cars. At heart though, I'm a Mitsubhishi guy and would love to put a Sirius motor in everything.

Well a few months ago, a new friend of mine says, "Hey, you're a Mitsubishi guy. You want to buy a Starion? I can get you a good deal..."

Turns out, he used to have this 87 Starion that got whored out to a bunch of people through ambiguous trades and shady cash exchanges up north. Well after it spun a bearing, it spent the last few years in some guys yard. When I went to check it out, it was REALLY clean. I've seen a lot of these cars and they're usually rusty piles if they're not well taken care of - especially up here.

Of course, the engine and trans were pulled out and scattered about this guys garage, but I think in the end, we managed to track almost everything down. $500 later and I had another project car to bring home to add to my collection.

That last picture is the only significant rust I saw on the whole vehicle. It's just a rust hole at the bottom of the front fender. Of course, there are a few cracked trim pieces like the front air dam and the rear license plate bezel that I'd like to replace, but overall it appears to be a solid starting point.

The interior is pretty bad. I don't know how long the trans tunnel had been open, but some wild animal made the Starion its personal living quarters for quite a while. Judging by the size of it's crap, it was probably a raccoon or opossum.

Anyways, future plans are to find a wideblock 2.4, toss a 4G63 dual cam head on it and make it a 300-400hp street car that doubles as a weekend drag racer. However, I have about 3 other projects that will be taking precedence over this back-burner project.

I just thought I'd introduce myself and stop lurking the forum. I'm always looking for a good deal on parts I might need in the future, so you'll probably find me trolling the classifieds. I'll probably comment on interesting threads when I see them elsewhere too.

Thanks for having me.

JDOliver · Post by **JDOliver** » Mon Aug 16, 2010 4:58 pm

Welcome Dexter.

Check the frame rails and the edge where the floor meets the rockers before you get into it too much. I picked mine up in almost the exact same circumstances, after stripping it I have one spot rusted through for 8 inches at the floor pan edge. Mine didn't show rust anywhere else and doesn't have a sunroof.

dexter · Post by **dexter** » Mon Aug 16, 2010 7:52 pm

That doesn't sound good... When I get her up in the air someday, I'll be sure to check it out. I aborted my last few AWD DSM projects after I got them up in the air and crawling around underneath. The first one's rockers were rotten the whole length under the skirts. Under the second one, the frame rails looked like they had been beaten in with a sledge hammer.

Hopefully the Starion project will make it past the "get off the ground" stage. If not, I supposed I can always go look for another.

Post by **DJpowerHaus** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 11:22 am

Just look at this and you'll realize there is never a rust problem too big to fix:

http://www.mat.fi/n_index.php?nav=galle ... turbo&g=13

dexter · Post by **dexter** » Sun Mar 20, 2011 3:37 am

True, bu that's too much work. I do not have the money to pay for something like that, nor do I have the patience or skill to undertake such a project myself. Amazing work though.

So, yeah, it's been a while and I haven't really been on this site much - or any sites lately, to be honest.

I did make some progress recently though! I ended up getting my hands on a 4G64 shortblock from a 92 Mighty Max. I had to drive all the way to some town south of Columbus, Ohio to get it though. It ended up being an 11 hour trip or something like that. I got it for $100 dollars though, so it was probably worth the drive. The junkyard was selling it as a "core motor" because the head had been gone for so long. I almost had the feeling that they were trying to talk me out of buying the thing. They kept reassuring me that it was just a core and asking me if it was really all I needed.

Anyways, that was back in February. When I got it unloaded that night, I put a wrench on the crank bolt and tried to turn the engine over to no avail. I wasn't really concerned as I have plans for machining the whole thing anyway. So it was sitting on an old tire on the floor of my shop for a while.

Last week when I had some time off work, I stuck that 4G64 on one of my engine stands and started tearing it down. Oil came out when I pulled the drain plug from the pan, so that was a good sign. It was pretty dark, but it was just oil, so I was happy. Tore all the crap off the front and when it came time to pull the crank pulley, I got the internals to spin around! So I got the pan off to see that the internals look to be in decent shape - no dry spots, no rust. Awesome.

That was as far as I wanted to take the tear down. I don't see the sense in pulling the internals out when I'm not going to be building this anytime soon. Why expose all the bearing surfaces to the air and moisture and risk corrosion? So I set it on a couple pieces of wood on the floor for now until I can get around to putting it up on the racks later.