My "No it's not a Supra" Build

[N1vek]

Allo! My name is Kevin and this my Build Thread.

This is going to be my 1st official Project car. Yay me!

It's a 1986 Mitsubishi Starion ESi-R.

WTF is that you say?

"The Mitsubishi Starion is a two-door, turbocharged four-cylinder rear-wheel drive four-seat sports car that was in production from 1982 to 1990. It was also marketed in North America as the Conquest under the Chrysler, Dodge, and Plymouth names " Gotta love Wikipedia.

Just like the KA24E, the Starion's G54B is also a truck engine. The Starion came with a 2.6L SOHC 4 banger. The same engine found on the Mighty Max, Dodge Ram 50 and early Caravan models minus the turbo. From factory, it came with an LSD, ABS, independent suspension on all four and a bunch of other mumbo jumbo like "Turbo" written all over it.

Now initially, when I went to Seattle for the summer, I was looking for a Datsun 240z or a 1st Gen Celica, but most of them were rusted beyond my repair skills to restore, or out of my price range. Same goes for the 510 wagons/2 doors. I also searched for notch back Foxbody Mustangs, but just like Calgary, the notch backs prices are inflated like crazy. Also, all the MK3 Supra's I wanted were non-turbo, automatic and those gaudy red interior. I searched for E30's, S13 coupes, FCs, and Corolla's but they all had the stupid drift tax on their price.

Now, the 1st time I ever saw a Starion was on Cannon Ball Run 2. It was driven by Richard Kiel along with Jackie Chan as a Mitsubishi Engineer. The car in the movie was pretty much Japan's version of James Bond's Aston Martin. Seeing how I never saw the car in person before, I decided to search it up on Craigslist to see if there's any for sale. 1 result came up. Upon viewing the add, I fell in love right away. Unlike the Cannon Ball Run 2 Starion, this was the newer, WIDEBODY model. The wide fenders, factory wheels, interior and the pop up headlights, I MUST HAVE IT.

I emailed the guy and to my dismay, someone was already coming to pick up. Now that hurt. Went to sleep early that day and was awoken the next day by a phone call... The guys who were going to pick it up couldn't make it, so I grab my stuff and drove to Olympia, WA with my Dad and Cousin.

The owner told me that he bought it from some lady and that it had a blown gasket. His plan was to transfer all the parts to his other Starion, but was swamped with his other projects so he decided to sell it. (He had Volvo 240 wagon turbo, an old Dodge A100 Truck, and some old VW car in the garage.) I ended up buying the car for a steal. Oh, and the car WAS purple, but the clear coat kinda faded so It's like a matte finish dark purple now.

Being parked for almost 2 years, we decided to rent a car dolly to tow it back to my Cousin's place. Went to the nearest U-Haul and tried to rent a Tow Dolly, but apparently, the Ford Explorer: the SUV we brought, was notorious for rolling over in the past, so U-Haul pretty much told us to scram. They did though, tell us another rental place down the street so we decided to go there. Pulled up the place and the 1st I saw was an Orange Datsun 240z parked on the other side of the street with a FOR SALE sign.



It was For Sale for $2000 and some guy from the rental place told me that it's been there for a while now. Oh, the guy I talked to drives a 1st gen Celica liftback. WOW. Freakin' Olympia... Anyways, towed the car back to my Cousin's place and parked it. Bought a battery for the car and on the 1st click, it started. Had major compressor surge and A LOT OF WHITE SMOKE coming from the exhaust, so we decided to park it while we worked on my cousin's KA24DE swap on his S13.

Long story short, this is the start of my 1st ever, official project car!

Holy wall of text Batman!

Now finally, I would like to introduce ya'll to my car.

[Kloubek]

VERY cool. It looks like it needs a fair amount of TLC, but a nice find nevertheless. The engine should respond well to a build.

This car never got the exposure it probably should have - considering how competitive it was in its class back in the day. They look a little odd, but totally original, and nothing like the Supra imo.

[N1vek]

Originally posted by Kloubek
VERY cool. It looks like it needs a fair amount of TLC, but a nice find nevertheless. The engine should respond well to a build.

This car never got the exposure it probably should have - considering how competitive it was in its class back in the day. They look a little odd, but totally original, and nothing like the Supra imo.

Haha thanks! Definitely needs a new paint and a few electrical bugs worked out, but nothing major. Gotta love the fact that the body has no rust whatsover. It's kinda sad that the Starion sales never really "bloomed" that much. We could have had a 4WD version

[Neil4Speed]

Very cool man! Love those seats

[zipdoa]

More shots of the interior pls. Are the knee supports extendable? Those seats look nice.

Being a german car enthusiast, I can totally see how you'd mix it up with MK3 Supra. Looks almost like an FC rear end too. All in all it's a good looking machine, I really like the fenders.

[N1vek]

Well, after we finished my cousin's KA swap and found out that he has a defective engine harness, we decided to work on my car. Pulled out the tiny 12a turbo and exhaust manifold, only to find cylinder 4' exhaust port covered in oil. Didn't get a picture, but heres an engine bay shot.



As you can see, the engine bay needs some love. Paint and organizing the wires is in order. The weird thing about these car is their Throttle body injection system and the fact that it only has 2 injectors. I believe the stock ones are rated a 850cc?

Anyway, after taking off the exhaust manifold, turbo and valve cover, My dad found out what was causing the smoke problem. The valve guide on cylinder 4, intake side, was broken some how. For shit and giggles, my Dad and I tried to glue it back on with JB weld. It worked! For 15 minutes, but during those heavenly 15 minutes, I was able to drive it and rip through the back roads of Kent Wa. Boy was it fun! Just before I reached my cousin's street, the JB weld came off and the smoke once again began.


Look at how clean the head is! The previous owner said that the owner before him had the engine rebuilt.

The plan after that was to put the car on a trailer and tow it back to Calgary, but due to the insane fee U-Haul tried to charge us and the fact that our Exploder is banned from pulling U-Haul trailers, I decided to leave the car in Kent, WA while I return back to Calgary. I also registered the car under my name in Washington, there would be less hassle at the border. In the mean while, I worked and I got a full Engine Gasket Kit, a Timing chain/balance shaft kit and valve guides for the intake side.

Now the story leads to present day.

Tomorrow, on Sept. 11, my Dad and I are flying back to Washington to fix the car and hopefully drive it back home. The plan is to pull out the engine, replace the broken valve guide and change all the gaskets and the timing chain. Also, I plan to clean and prep the engine bay and paint it, sort out the the tiny electrical bugs, and organize the engine bay wires. Until then, PEACE!

Oh, heres a clip of the Starion on Cannonball run 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8qAkUA8ZF0

[kvg]

Cool car. I have only seen one of there once

[N1vek]

Originally posted by zipdoa
More shots of the interior pls. Are the knee supports extendable? Those seats look nice.

Being a german car enthusiast, I can totally see how you'd mix it up with MK3 Supra. Looks almost like an FC rear end too. All in all it's a good looking machine, I really like the fenders.

I don't have any more interior shots right now, but will try to get some tomorrow and I believe they can extend and you can change the angle too.

Every time I showed the car to people, the 1st thing they think of is a Supra. Kinda got tired trying to explain that it's a Starion and they always end up with a puzzled look. So I just tell them that it's not a Supra.

[schocker]

I like your supra

I have always thought the starions were neat. Keep us updated.

[b_t]

very sexy car, one of the most underappreciated 80s cars out there.. so good looking and they can be real quick too. I've only ever seen one in person

[black13]

Interesting. Never knew about this car.

But yea does look alot like the supra. Mix of the MKII and the III. I'd say get some newer mitsubishi badges for the front and back and I'm sure people will stop bugging you.

[know1edge]

1st two pictures look like an FC

[ekguy]

Starion? It's what it looks like. Could be wrong. Knew someone with one a while back.

[Twin_Cam_Turbo]

Those things are pretty rare, I've seen like two in my lifetime rolling around.

[Maxt]

The starion is a pretty nice looking car actually, I always liked the exterior... The bad part is that 2.6 litre... My Father had a Dodge Raider with that motor, it ate itself on a regular basis, broken cylinder walls, heads, head gaskets etc etc..
Perfect car for a 1uzfe swap..

[A3GTiVR6SC]

Sweet/rare car! Perfect car for 4G63T swap!
That engine bay was made for it..

[N1vek]

Thanks for the support fellas!

The plan for the car is to get it running reliably, freshen up the suspension and update the exterior/paint. Basically the "Restoration" stage. Then maybe go for 250-300whp once everything is settled. As for the 4G63T Starion, outside of NA, Starions came with it, but the older SOHC version.
See below:


Maybe when the "Mighty" G54B kicks the can i'll swap a modern 4G63T, but for now let's just hope the car makes the drive back to Calgary next week.

[StreetRacerX]

Good luck! Thats a rare find, hope to see you out and about and at some meets

[N1vek]

Originally posted by StreetRacerX
Good luck! Thats a rare find, hope to see you out and about and at some meets

I'll try to make it to the weekly Honda/Beyond meets as much as I can once it's driveable in Calgary. I was planning on bringing it out on the Sept. 11 Cruise, but it took forever for the Car Title in Washington to arrive so everything got postponed.

[N1vek]

Sept. 11, 2001

So, after being stuck and questioned by the US Customs for a good hour about my big box of car parts, my Dad and I finally made it to Washington. 1st thing we did after we got picked up by my cousin was hit up Autozone and grabbed me some paint, sand paper and a gallon of degreaser.

It was nice seeing my car again. As requested, I took some interior pictures.
Note: The car's interior hasn't been cleaned for years, but it doesn't look that bad actually.

That tear on the right needs some lovin'




I plan on replacing the steering wheel and painting the silver bezel black once everything is running.



This is currently how the car looks under sunlight. Faded clear/paint, damaged air dam, and a tiny dent on the fender. The wheels needs some restoration attention too.



So while my Dad and cousin worked on the S13, I started taking off the exhaust and intake . After sometime, this is how it looked.


When I took the head off, I got a pretty neat surprise! The car has some aftermarket forged pistons. It also seems like the car is running pretty rich or consuming oil. I'm just going to replace the valve seals and hope for the best.


It's got a HEMI!



I also found out that my head is an M28 casting, meaning no Jet valves. The stock head came with jet valves and were knows to crack because of them.




1G DSM BOV I bought from the junkyard a while back. I figured it will be better than the ebay BOV that came with the car, plus the piping is the same size as the soft pipes on it right now.