Revolution... Get Back To Where You Once Belonged

zodiaque · Dude where's my Car? Joined: 06 Apr 2005 Posts: 602

Thought I'd start a thread here for my project car/daily driver. It's a 1985 RWD lancer with a 4G12 na engine on a 4fwd gear box.

Why a lancer? I actually do not clearly know myself. I grew up around and still have a preference for British cars. I have a inclining to simplicity in function and style. I had seen these Mitsubishis around in my childhood and thought they looked pretty cool back then, especially in the form of the GSR.

When it came time for me to drive my own car I went through 2 projects, A 1975 Hillman Hunter estate and a 1981 Ford escort. Both projects failed to get off the floor properly, the two cars are still in my yard in disrepair.

So I was in need of a run-about to get me to school. I was not particularly looking for a Lancer at the time but I guess she was looking for me. Both my dad and myself had seen the lancer parked up in a parking lot and unknown to me my dad had already spoke with the owner befor I took down the number from the back glass.

Here are the mods/repairs thus far that I can think of.

Body work:

This is my fight with the rust bug. A couple years ago I repainted the car over a period of about a month while still driving it every day, this meant that I was seen driving a partially dis-assembled car at time in various shades of primer and fibreglass.

Had I stripped the car down and done everything carefully, including welding, I may have been in a better position today. Time and money do not afford me such a luxury though. To today the car is in fair condition with rust in the usual places. I will have to deal with that when I get a second car to use as a daily driver.

Engine Work and drive train:

The car has the original engine that came with it off the assembly line. I however have since swapped the automatic transmission for a 4fwd manual.

A couple years ago I had the engine rebuilt by Previn Ajodah. Over sized pistons were put in at that time. The head was also ported polished and shaved. The flywheel was lightened and balanced at this time as well.

A 2.25 inch exhaust system was added a couple days after the car came back from the build. The overall effect was noticed right away. The car had a lot of low end torque and a light feel.

The engine was built with the anticipation of adding a Weber 32/36 which was added after the engine was broken in properly. A spare intake manifold was sourced and I ground out and smoothed the original seating of the manifold to accept the Weber. An aluminum plate as then welded to the top of this to allow for bolting of the carb. While this was more troublesome than just bolting on an adapter plate, it removed any restrictions for air flow into the head.

The result of this modification added to the extra power gained from the rebuild and engine modification. The car not only has low end torque but a very well balanced curve imho.

Since then the car has started leaking oil out of the front seal and sump, I will have to pay attention to that very soon.

Suspension:

I replaced all four shocks with Tokico units, this immediately improved the handling and feel of the car. Shortly after this I also replaced the rear bushings with solid rubber replacements.

I have also replaced rear wheel bearings several times. It seems that my driving style may be a bit destructive on the differential components.

I replaced the steering ends, this took a couple days when it should have taken a couple hours. The old ones were rusted in. I ended up taking the drag link with the ends off the car and using a hammer on em. Not the most gentle method, but it worked. When re-assembling the setup I made sure and used assembly grease so that I would not run into that problem next time around.

I still have the front bushings to change as well as front bearings.

Interior:

At first I wanted to go with a hot rod white and red interior. I even painted the dash white and put in white door panels and carpet. Since then I realized the hard way that white is a bad choice for a car that is driven daily. I have repainted the dash in black and red. The rest of the interior will eventually be in black leatherette with red trim.

I have a lot more to add I am sure, I will post pictures soon as well.
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MG Man · Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2007 8:13 pm Post subject:

finally u start the story Very Happy

Oldschool Tuner #1
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Jahling · Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2007 8:04 pm Post subject:

Nice work man. Having a project car be your daily driver makes it so much harder.
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VK-Sportsman · Zorce Jedi Apprentice Joined: 05 Nov 2005 Posts: 933

nice project man Cool

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zodiaque · Dude where's my Car? Joined: 06 Apr 2005 Posts: 602

Yep, I started my thread finally, lol
Changed the right front wheel bearings today, ended up having to buy a puller because the bearing would not budge, should come in handy for other work though.
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NarendZORCE · Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2007 2:42 pm Post subject:

revolution? put a rotary in it Very Happy

Looking forward to seeing this project TRANSFORM!
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MG Man · Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2007 4:01 pm Post subject:

zodiaque · Dude where's my Car? Joined: 06 Apr 2005 Posts: 602

Lol, nah, no Rotary Laughing

I would like to put either a RWD gallant 4g63 in it, re-built of course, or a newer generation 4g63 eventually.

A couple pics!

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zodiaque · Dude where's my Car? Joined: 06 Apr 2005 Posts: 602

As you can see from the front pic, that bumper keeps giving me problems, I keep breaking the darn thing. |

I had resurrected that bumper from the dead after a cane field incident and it broke again a couple weeks later in a solodex event, albeit minor damage compared to the cane incident.

Right now it is cracked up all over once more, but in the overall picture that's a small problem Laughing

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MG Man · Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2007 4:03 am Post subject:

4g63???
your car would explode upon attaining warp speed Shocked

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solo · Jedi Hopeful Joined: 09 Nov 2005 Posts: 249

Yuh know what I like about this project story? The fact that it's real life and the average man can relate to it....real life time and financial issues, juggling school/work and still spending time/money on yuh daily driver/weekend warrior...

zodiaque, solo salutes you.
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MG Man · Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2007 7:43 am Post subject:

so wah about me?
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zodiaque · Dude where's my Car? Joined: 06 Apr 2005 Posts: 602

^ Zodiaque salutes you MG Cool

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MG Man · Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2007 6:42 pm Post subject:

yay

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zodiaque · Dude where's my Car? Joined: 06 Apr 2005 Posts: 602

Competed at Dex Yesterday. It is very apparent now that the car is loosing water at a fast rate as well as oil. The suspect is the head gasket so far.

I may have to experiment and change it myself, this being my first head gasket change, as are most fixes/ modifications on this car so far.
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