44 replies to this topic

[GSRVR]

Hi all,

 

Not long ago I welcomed another 80's 4G equipped car to the family. All the way from Sunshine Coast QLD I had the pleasure of driving this rare machine 1,800 kilometers home. I am the 3rd Australian owner since being imported in 2007. The car itself was in need of some TLC & still is for 28 years old, though each month it's making progress one step at a time.

 

This being a late build Starion & one of the last means it got all the good stuff which I've listed below to the best of my memory. 

 

Plans are to restore it to a satisfactory level & to keep it on the road. I'll continue to update as I make more progress.

 

Specs:

 

Make: Mitsubishi

Model: Starion GSR-VR

Year: 1988

Color: W09

Engine: G54B

Trans: Automatic (originally)

 

Modifications/Maintenance

 

Exterior:

- GSRVR license plates

- OEM Wide body mud flaps

- Conquest side mirrors (using JDM motor/wiring) [25/05/16]

- Conquest tail lights

- Pajero clear side indicators [05/04/16]

- US "Starion" trunk badge [to be fitted]

- Philips H4 X-treme Vision Plus head lights [28/06/16]

- Philips H3 Power2night X-treme fog lights [30/06/16]

- Tinted vinyl wrapped front indicator lenses

- Black powder coated fog light frames

- Tinted windows

- Polished exterior locks

 

Engine Maintenance:

- Oil changed every 5000km w/ Penrite HPR30

- New OEM timing chain [20/02/17]

- New OEM oil pump [20/02/17]

- New Aisan water pump [20/02/17]

- New OEM timing chain guides & OEM gaskets [20/02/17]

- New OEM rocker cover gasket & seals [20/02/17]

- New Fel-Pro intake manifold gasket

- New OEM RHS engine mount [26/04/16]

- New OEM LHS engine mount

- Rebuilt Throttle body [07/04/2016]

- NGK leads w/ insulators [22/03/16]

- NGK BUR7EA-11 spark plugs [06/12/16]

- Acdelco 430 CCA battery [23/03/16]

- Brass battery terminals [23/03/16]

- New Gates drive belts [30/03/16]

- New Borg Warner rotor button

- New Bosch distributor cap

- New vacuum advance

- New OEM exhaust manifold gasket [02/04/16]

- New turbo, dump pipe & oil gaskets [02/04/16]

- New Bosch style injector clips [04/04/16]

- Bosch 02 sensor

- New 180F thermostat & gasket [07/04/16]

- New OEM rad cap

- New OEM oil & fuel caps [28/07/16]

- New OEM P/S reservoir cap [23/08/16]

- EGR thermo valve deleted [24/08/16]

- New OEM oil pan plug

- New OEM engine bay stainless mounting bolts & screws [06/07/16]

 

Engine Mods:

- 1G turbo MAS & new connector w/ Cosmo Racing air filter kit [to be fitted]

- Relocated oil separator w/ new Gates hoses

- Blitz Dual SBC EBC set to 12 PSI [PO]

- BSE elimination kit [20/02/17]

- TEP Intercooler hard pipe kit w/ new silicone couplers & Turbosmart dual port BOV [--/11/16]

- Magna M6 head [PO]

- ACL Duralite pistons [PO]

- MK1 EGR blanking plate [14/07/16]

- New braided oil, fuel & water lines [--/--/16]

- New silicone vacuum hoses throughout [24/08/16]

- JMF aluminum brake reservoir cap

 

Gearbox/Driveline:

- KM132 5 speed manual conversion [PO]

- MK1 short throw shifter [17/03/17]

- Redline Shockproof gear oil

- New OEM drain plug & gasket

- New OEM gear shift gaskets [25/08/16]

- New LHS half-shaft boots

- New OEM gearbox mount [--/08/17]

- New OEM driveshaft U-joints [to be fitted

 

Exhaust:

- 3" mandrel bent turbo-back exhaust [PO]

- Magnaflow 14815 stainless muffler & axle pipe [20/06/16]

 

Brakes:

- Braided lines front & rear [PO]

- Cross drilled rear rotors [PO]

 

Suspension:

- Ground Control coilover conversion kit w/ 4.5kg & 6.7kg spring rates [to be fitted]

- Cusco adjustable front camber tops [to be fitted]

- KYB adjustable front shocks in shortened struts [PO]

- Mookeeh shortened rear shocks [PO]

 

Wheels/Tyres:

- Full set of Sport Handling Package (SHP) wheels, 16" x 8" & 16" x 9" with new factory sized tyres

- Custom chrome wheel center caps

- 4 wheel alignment [24/03/16]

 

Interior:

- New OEM 3000GT EQ radio [28/07/16]

- New OEM leather 'weighted' gear knob [28/07/16]

- Black face climate control unit

- Black custom floor mats

- Magna Elite red door light lens

- Rubber gear boot replacement [07/04/16]

 

Miscellaneous:

- Radiator repaired & rodded out [--/08/17]

- ABS delete [29/7/17]

- A/C delete

- Secondary air cleaner delete

- Cruise control actuator filters replaced [06/12/16]

- Multiple engine bay parts sand blasted & powder coated

- Multiple nuts & bolts replaced w/ high tensile zinc plated replacements

 

Attached Thumbnails

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Edited by GSRVR, 23 October 2017 - 03:49 AM.

[bazeng]

Looks great! Would love to see it in person... Bring it to the dyno day this weekend?

[EV0300]

Missed out on buying a widebody gsr a few years back spewing i did.. love a good wide starion

[ted]

Very very cool! Love old school 4g rides!

[GSRVR]

Looks great! Would love to see it in person... Bring it to the dyno day this weekend?

 

Thank you! Unfortunately I'll be at work that weekend, but I'll see how I'm doing for time. Sounds like it'll be a great day out. 

 

Missed out on buying a widebody gsr a few years back spewing i did.. love a good wide starion

 

They've gone up in price over the years as well, to import a nice example of a wide body now from Japan it wouldn't be far off $20,000 landed. Exactly why I had to jump on this one while I had the chance!

 

Very very cool! Love old school 4g rides!

 

Cheers! Yeah I hear you on that!

[OLDIE]

Is that Daves aka Redzones white widey?????

[Dean_Vr4]

Yeh i thought it was Coxy's aswell. He loves em

Edited by Dean_Vr4, 22 August 2016 - 11:45 PM.

[GSRVR]

Is that Daves aka Redzones white widey?????

Yes, it is Dave's old Starion.

[Dean_Vr4]

Wow u got a good car there he looked after that thing. I remember when he first bought it.

[CLuTZ]

Nice one mate, welcome. I bet you are the envy of a lot of members this forum!

[GSRVR]

Wow u got a good car there he looked after that thing. I remember when he first bought it.

 

It was a good base to start with. From memory he had it since '07, so a good solid ownership on his behalf. When was the last time you saw it?

 

Nice one mate, welcome. I bet you are the envy of a lot of members this forum!

 

Cheers CLuTZ. I could say the same as there is some nice machines on here that I'd love to own myself. Good to know that there is still some Starion fans among us, it's not a name you hear too often anymore.

[GSRVR]

I've been making a habit of documenting the cars updates to my Minkara account lately (A Japanese car blog site) similar to car domain, but with a much nicer layout. There you will find a small categorized list of what I have managed to capture over the last few months when I've had my phone camera on me. 

Mostly preventive maintenance & oil leak elimination related so far as I bring the car up to my own standard mechanically before moving onto any major upgrades. It'll somewhat bring this thread up to speed with what I've been doing without flooding it.

 

http://minkara.carvi...ote.aspx?page=1

 

And talking of leaks, when Monday comes around I'll be dropping the gearbox for the first time to replace the rear main seal & every other seal/gasket under there while I've got it out to rectify a major leak which upsets me every time I look under the car. It's one job I've been wanting to do since bringing the car home but never had a good solid few days off to do it, so now's the time! Stay tuned.

 

 

[Starion VR4 Derek]

Don't be a stranger & forget about www.AUSTARION.COM

[GSRVR]

Don't be a stranger & forget about www.AUSTARION.COM

 

Nor have I forgotten about cordiapower.com   still very much a forum user & frequent both sites regularly. I plan to add my build on there soon.

[GSRVR]

Since my last post on here the gearbox & oil pan were dropped for the first time last month to rectify a major oil leak. I couldn't determine whether it was coming from the rear main or if it was a bad sump gasket as it was that messy, so everything came out to cover all bases. Everyone knows what this job looks like so I won't bother posting every photo that I took, but I will say the car is now 99% leak-free & doesn't leave it's mark everywhere it goes. If there's one thing I can't tolerate it's a car that leaks. So it now has a new Exedy HD clutch fitted & all new OEM seals & gaskets under there. Almost 5000 km later & not a leak in sight.

 

List of parts used:

 

- New OEM oil pan gasket

- New OEM rear main seal & case gasket

- New OEM rear gearbox seal

- New OEM clutch fork (original fork had a snapped pivot ball clip)

- New OEM gearbox pan gasket & drain plug

- Freshly machined flywheel & new spigot bearing

- Exedy HD clutch

- Redline Shockproof gear oil ( 2½ bottles)

 

 

[GSRVR]

And more recently, the semi-digital dash conversion from an early 1982-1984 jap import model Starion. This is a very simple conversion that doesn't require any digital-specific parts (unlike the later full digital cluster) all that is required for this is 2 later model '86+ loom connectors taken from a donor cluster harness & from there matching the wiring up to the new cluster, as the vast majority are the same colour & function. This far it is 99% complete, I still have a couple of warning lamps to hook up once I receive the factory service manual for this year car & to wind the ODO meter forward to match the original km's. Other than that is is flawless in operation & puts on a good light show under boost when the climbing RPM meter & boost gauge are in action. I'll eventually take a video of it, but for now here are a few pics, enjoy.

 

[Starion VR4 Derek]

Just keep in mind the LED RPM is slow to react, so when your doing 5000RPM you may be on your way to 6000RPM. Also the gauges are slow to react, OIL PRESSURE,TEMP etc.

[GSRVR]

Just keep in mind the LED RPM is slow to react, so when your doing 5000RPM you may be on your way to 6000RPM. Also the gauges are slow to react, OIL PRESSURE,TEMP etc.

 

Thanks, I will keep that in mind with the RPM meter. The oil pressure & temp gauges appear to react & sit at the same levels as the original analogue cluster did. So despite their known inaccuracy as a whole, nothing has changed before & after. I assume you are a current or ex Starion owner yourself?

[Starion VR4 Derek]

Thanks, I will keep that in mind with the RPM meter. The oil pressure & temp gauges appear to react & sit at the same levels as the original analogue cluster did. So despite their known inaccuracy as a whole, nothing has changed before & after. I assume you are a current or ex Starion owner yourself?

 

 

Not Ex.. still have mine... JBStarion 85, Gun Metal Grey with Silver, 2.4L T/C with HX35 Turbo 30PSI running Wolf V4x... Once you have a STARION, you will always have one or be pining for one!

[GSRVR]

Time flies when you are always finding something to fix.. it's been close to a year since last updating this thread, during that time the front of the engine was stripped & a new timing component kit was put through utilizing any & every OEM part that was still available. This also gave me the chance to eliminate the balance/silent shafts before they inevitably let go as well. Unfortunately despite a successful overhaul the BSE did let itself be known with some noticeable vibrations through the gearstick at particular RPM's, which could also have been contributed by some other weak links becoming more apparent now such as the (then) bad gearbox & engine mount & sloppy drive shaft uni-joints, which I will go into later. Aside from that, the next major change was the car now has the full set of SHP (sport handling package) wheels as I was lucky enough to have made a trade for my standard 16" x 7" fronts for the 8" SHP versions to match the already fitted 9" SHP rears. The car now looks much more balanced with the proper staggered fitment rather than the mismatched set that I bought the car with. Somewhere among that all I also imported & installed a short shift kit & found an extremely rare set of near-perfect condition wide body OEM mud flaps which also had to be imported from the US.

 

Since then the car continued it's daily duties up until April this year when I took it off the road again due to the never ending leaks & some suspicious gearbox noise, to which I went through a brief moment of madness & purchased a new (couple years old) daily driver & put the Starion up on the market. However it was short lived for many reasons & now I am back in full force again with the restoration, though at a slower pace as I now have the opportunity to keep it off the road for as long as needed as it is no longer the dedicated transport. 

 

I say brief moment of madness, but I am beginning to think I was just mad all along.

Edited by GSRVR, 23 October 2017 - 03:37 AM.