4g61t.org

So i wasn't really planning on doing a serious project as funds are very limited now and im headed back to school in january but a REALLY good deal fell in my lap.

A guy i know in San Antonio, TX happened to have a 93 dodge colt sitting around that was converted to an electric car... I guess the batteries took a dump and the previous owner left it in a parking lot and my friend happened to snag it. His plan was to get it running again but since he has about 4-5 other project cars it got put in the back and he kept putting it off.

SOO. i traded an AEM Fic engine managment unit for it (worth about $320) and an old apexi turbo timer i had laying around.

Best part is, it has 1200 miles on the odometer which i didn't believe at first, but the title staes back in 2001 that it had 782 miles on it...

Anyway the interior is kinda shot besides the dash and center console, and most of the wiring was butchered and converted for the electric conversion. I decided to yank the interior and gut EVERYTHING including all wiring on the car. I plan on re-wiring the car from scratch (only the basic stuff). I also removed everything behind the dash (ducting, wiring, hvac stuff and heater core) and re-installed the dash skeleton and center console. im shooting for sub 2000 lbs without driver or fuel.

As for the stickers on the car, most of them came off with the exceptions of the ones on the trunk and hood and drivers door. im having to sand them down literally to primer or bare metal to get them off but i figure i can get a cheapo Maaco paint job if i sand and prep the body myself.

Anyway here are a few pics of the progress so far. The engine and engine management is still undecided but im leaning twords just doing a 4G63T swap. I have definatly considered a 6G72 and did measure to see if it would fit and it will. Only problem is if i decide to go with a 6g72 i dont think i can use the turbos, id have to use n/a manifolds or custom ones and go single turbo. Then again im not exactly sure how much the 4g63 weighs compared to a 6g72. i thought i heard they were close in weight but it doesn't sound right.

Anyway, i spent most of the day today scraping off sound deadening material (total bitch btw) and wiping down portions of the interior with mineral spirits to clean it up. Id like to move on to cleaning the engine bay next and then the underside of the car along with sand blasting the subframes (front and rear) and painting them again.

Stay tuned. im sure this project will take a LONG while to complete. Ill try to keep this thread up to date with new stuff as it slowly progresses.

Update:

I spent most of the weekend cleaning the engine bay as best i could with mineral spirits and finished the day off by removing all the components and taping off everything. I then sanded the entire engine bay and then shot it with primer and then painted it and threw a coat of clear over it to finish it off.

Ive also got the subframe removed so i can sandblast and paint it as well and re-install it.

Here are a few before and after shots....

Update 9/23/10 - Bought new upper strut mounts and a 15/16 brake master cyl from a mitsu expo. I plan on doing the 2 piston calipers up front and converting to discs in the rear as well. I also bought a new clutch master cylinder for a 1.8 hydraulic clutch setup and got a set of pedals from a 1.8 with hydraulic clutch car from 89Mirageman. Ill update with more pics when i get a chance.

I'm excited to see how this pans out. Looks like you're doing good work so far.

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91 GSX - 511fwhp and 352 lb/ft 25psi 110 octane, 7.68 @ 95.9mph 1/8th 21psi 91 octane, 11.93 @ 112.9mph, 117.7mph best trap speed, 20psi 91 octane
98 Volvo S70 T5 - DD

http://www.facebook.com/captaintonus

Looks great man! You may be able to get it down to 1800 lbs, the 4g cars are super light to begin with. Engine bay looks perfect.

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93 Mitsubishi Expo LRV 1.8/manual
95 Eagle Summit DL Coupe 1.5/manual
01 Mitsubishi Mirage ES Sedan 1.8/manual

Thanks guys, im working hard on making it look nice and clean. Right now i'm waiting on selling a few parts to continue funding some small things here and there for the car. Im having a hell of a time finding a place here in town that will sandblast stuff so i can get the front knuckles, subframe, and frame rail sand blasted, painted and re-installed. Plan is to re-do all the front suspension with new bearings, seals, bushings and balljoints.

Clutch master cylinder came in and i just have to snag a hole saw thats the right size and drill a hole in the firewall to allow the rod to fit through to the pedal assembly.

Anyone have suggestions for struts and springs?? im thinking of using use new stock struts, but im not sure if i should run stock springs up front or ebay crap coilover sleeves to drop the front end only (drag racing). I'm going to have NASTY wheel gap with the car being gutted and weighing nothing, but id like to not have the front end hop around like a honda with springs cut in half and running on the bump stops. i may run it down the street once or twice on certain occasions

I'd also like to add swaybars as well. i don't honestly know if there is one in the rear or not, but im going to assume there isn't. I know when i previously had a 94 mirage with a 4g63 and 16g that it was scary un-controllable over 80 mph without swaybars.

As for the engine setup, im thinking of getting a rebuilt longblock 4g63 from http://karking.com and bolting on a PTE 5031e probably. im hoping with the car weighing nothing i should be able to hit 10s at 130+ mph fairly easily.

Try DSM AWD KYB AGX's. They'll bolt up without too much hassle... take a look on www.mirageforums.net, and search. Brakes work without a whole lot of work as well, it's well-documented on MPF. Then either cut some stock DSM springs or get some ground controls. You talk like you have lots of financing for this project, so putting down some bills for AGX's and GC's should be no major issue.

I honestly dont have a ton of cash for the project its just kinda as money comes along ill put a little twords it. Again you dont have to have a ton of money into the car, just have to know how to spend it correctly.

currently headed back to school for two more years, so funding is slow and limited, but i'd rather do it slow and right than rig it. ive got plenty of time to work on it and hopefully once i finish up with school ill be able to devote alot more money to it.

ANYWAY, back on the subject of suspension. I thought putting the dsm struts in using the csm knuckles would throw the alignment off or something? i thought i read that on the lancerproject page somewhere. Anyway, i might just do stock struts and springs for now and figure out what space/wheel gap i have left with slicks up front and 15" rims and ill just go from there. im sure with the car being alot lighter and the stock struts being rated for a full weight car that they'll be "stiffer" as they're not supporting soo much weight anymore. rebound rates will be quicker and such.

Hopefully i can update here with a few pictures soon. been VERY busy but i've mae quite a bit of progress.

I decided to go with replacement KYB GR2 struts in the front and use the stock springs for now. New strut mounts were also installed and control arms with ball joints and bushings as well.

I Scrubbed the entire subframe thouroughly with a wire brush to remove any loose rust and paint and cleaned and grime off of it. I then shot it with rustoleum type primer that seals in and prevents rust from spreading and then shot it with black engine enamel. everything looks nice and clean. i did the same for the front knuckles and the crossmember as well. The suspension and engine bay are really starting to look very nice.

I also managed to pick up a sway bar with hardware from a 96 mirage for $37 bucks from a local junkyard and i went to autozone and bought the energy suspension poly bushings to replace the stock crappy rubber ones on the end links.

I Might be moving into a house here soon and if thats the case the project will be on hold for another month or so until i can get the car back to a rolling chassis so i can tow it over.

Eventually ill be removing the rear subframe and all suspension and going through all that as well to see what needs to be replaced bushing wise (thats if i can still get bushings for the rear suspension anymore) worse cast is i just clean it and re-install with new struts and strut mounts and call it a day.

Brakes are on the list next after all initial suspension work is done and then ill move on to the body electrical system and fuel system probably. Im leaving the engine and transmission for last probably and will either run DSMap, or Megasquirt for engine managment if i cant find a good un trashed dsm engine harness thats not crispy.

Ill do my best here to update with pics soon.

Ok guys here is how the car currently sits. just moved it to my new house i bought last month in my garage but had to seal the garage floor before i put this in here.

Anyway here is the car as it sits currently right now.



Little shot of the engine bay with new mitsubishi expo master cyl for as required disc brake conversion in the rear. I only plan to run twin piston calipers up front and single piston dsms in the rear.

Also drilled holes in firewall and added hydraulic clutch master cylinder and pedal assembly to car. originally was cable clutch setup on this car.

Ive also sanded and repainted the entire subframe and replaced the control arms with re-manned units with new control arm bushings and ball joints. Also not pictured ive had the knuckles sand-blasted and re-painted and new brearings pressed into the knuckles as well.



Here is a shot of the wheel well showing some small effort in cleaning the crap tar and junk off and one of the new KYB GR2 struts with new strut mounts and cleaned up stock colt springs. You can also see the addition of a front swaybar to the car and poly end link bushing kit for the bar as well.



Interior currently... most of the sound material has been scraped up and removed with the exception of some of the front portions of it. still need to get that crap out. Currently the only parts inside are the dash skeleton (which has been gutted of everything behind including wiring), center console area, a,b,c pillar trims and the drivers stock seat brackets and obviously the door panels.



Here is a shot of the trunk area where ive started to cut out the trunk for the AWD conversion. still need to do more cutting but im getting there slowly.







Small shot of the rear drum breaks and all bs associated removed. need to remove these trailing arms and trash them and install the EVO3 rear trailing arms that have splined hubs for rear axels. Currently waiting for these to show up from the UK. $300 shipped seems a bit steep for them but... then again they're pretty hard to get ahold of these days. thank god the bushings and bearings in them can be replaced with expo parts. Still need to remove all the suspension in the rear and clean/sand + repaint along with replace struts and strut mounts in the back. hopefully it'll look just as nice as the front suspension when im done. Might even clean the underside of the car heh.

Scary part is this car is REDICULOUSLY light.... i can lift the rear end of this car up from the trunk off the jack stands without much effort...

This is going to be sweet. Thanks for the updates and keep it up.

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Jason Veraldi
Scammer
http://www.4g61t.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=34532

Here's a little tip that might help ya out.

When scraping that sound deadening, heat it up first with a propane torch or a heat gun. The stuff gets really soft and swipes right off! Then use some adhesive remover or mineral spirits for clean up.

Good luck!

Better yet, dry ice. It breaks off in peices and no glue is left behind.

The 4g coupes are 150 lbs lighter than 3g hatches iirc. Either way they are the ultimate 4g63t swap car. You will be looking at a 2400 lb car with full interior in awd turbo form. I didnt buy a 4g car until well after my awd colt was built, And when i weighed it in i thought. Damn, i wish i woulda built one of these!!!

I second that. Avoid the messy route.

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Jason Veraldi
Scammer
http://www.4g61t.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=34532