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speedyrr's 1972 Mitsubishi Colt 16L


Speedyrr

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Firstly be patient for the pics, I'm in the middle of getting them sorted. Secondly I'm new to this site and thought there might be a bit of interest in this old car.

This is "little Red Colt". I picked her up from an elderly couple in Palmerston North about six years ago, still running, rego on hold, $200, puffed a litle blue smoke on startup but ran ok. If I'd done a bog job on the guards on both both sides it would have past a warrant. So it was a bit of a score...especially as this was my first car.

This actually sat for a while in my flats garage while I still zoomed around on my bike.

Not happy with the calfs%$t brown paint I ended up having the thing stripped to bare metal, any cancer removed from the body and repainted in Mexican red. Servicing the head and replacing the valve stem seals solved what problems I had with the engine and the original radiator was recored to help keep it cold.

After taking it for a blat in the wet I found it was a great car for drifting but the factory rims with 155 biscuits had to go. Hence the 14" with 195's. This improved handling a lot and kept it on track even in the wet.

I didn't want to ruin the looks with bucket seats so I got a set of seats out of a gs version recovered and those went in.

This car is in very original nic and I don't intend to be changing the powerplant or anything major with the suspension either, as its got the original engine in it still.

At the moment the cancer is coming back in spots, I've been naughty and it ends up outside a lot, so many other projects take up a lot of room, so it'll be due for a little touch up attention.

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Well one of the front inserts gave up the ghost the other day, and I decide to try something out considering so many of the different colt models have interchangable parts. Sooooo...... I grabed the front towers out of a spare GTO GS2000 I've got, the lower half is identicle and the top part where the spring is housed is 15-20mm shorter. Swapped straight over bolting all the old brake and bearings etc in. The cool thing is the car sits at the same height due to the lighter 16l engine, the front end now handles better and there is less body-roll which is a bonus too. Such a simple swap for a great improvement.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 4 months later...

Well it's finally time to take the old girl off the road for a while. Everyday use and not always being garaged has taken it's tole on the paintwork. The 16L has the spot rust raising it's ugly head. Problem is whether It will get the quick fix or the full restore back to stock.

The GTO is getting used a lot more often now but the paintjob on that has turned out to be shite. There's signs of little bubbles all over the car's paintwork now, less than a year since I brought it with a near new paintjob. So that's going to have some "time out" in the garage as well in the near future.

I've collected way to many colts in the last few years and the project options are numerous to say the least.

My next mission may be a 1850 fixed up to use as my runabout, with a for sale sign on it. If I get the right offer, cash in the pocket. This'll free up space and mean I can have the other cars off the road to give them the attention they deserve.

I've sourced a crash damaged 95 fto, which will be a donor car for the GTO in the end. V6 2L 6A12 engine, theoretical 180hp standard, with 120k's on the clock. Biggest mission's there is fitting in the engine bay and the connection to a rwd gearbox. Might be a bit of a nightmare in the end but I want something different.

By doing this I will have the sirius dash engine from the GTO to put into one of the 16L colts. I intend to upgrade the turbo and intercool as well if there's enough room. I'm wanting to do this one up with all the GS badges and interior.

So all in all there's a lot of organising and time required. But at least the plan of attack is in writing now. So much to do :wink: ....so little time :cry:

I've included some more pics comparing my 16L and GTO front ends to make up for those that would rather look at my cars, than read my crap.

http://img366.imageshack.us/img366/3442/v22le.jpg

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/8872/v30vl.jpg

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/3488/v42cu.jpg

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/809/v59qj.jpg

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/9003/v67wh.jpg

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/4711/v72kj.jpg

http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/8350/v80ov.jpg

http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/9123/v99we.jpg

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  • 1 month later...
Guest 71colt

lovin the colt good 2 c there r sum stil on the road i got a 71 16l with a g26b in it with the original moter in at work with the twin carbs on in still. i got a 73 16l i got given as wel for a parts car i towed it out of a paddock at sum farmers place. im tryin 2 get photos of mine put on here but i got to figer out how

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