Damien's 83 Mitsubishi Sigma Wagon

[OSM Garage]

So, continuing on from my last post I fixed the clutch issue.

The post before that I mentioned that I had other plans for the wagon. Get ready for the anti climax.....

***TWIN CAM***

I picked up a 4G63 DOHC from Christchurch thanks to DJZ. Came with almost everything to make it run. It was looking pretty weathered externally so I bolted the engine to an engine stand (thanks Chaos) and started wire brushing the block ready for paint.

I also removed a few parts that I would be re using and sandblasted them ready for paint.

I had a set of RWD extractors lying around and thought if I got some FWD extractors I could make a FWD/RWD set.

Difference between the two extractors.

Chop chop

Not pretty but functional (hopefully)

For the inlet manifold mod, I got DJZ (lovely bloke) to do the cut and shut thing.

Decided to replace the timing belt and tensioners. Also replaced the water pump. The seller had written on the rocker cover "Engine gets hot. Headgasket?" but as I removed the old water pump the issue was the pump had rusted out and broke most of the fins/blades off.

Doing the cam belt.

All done

The hardest, longest job doing this conversion (so far) were the water pipes. I still want to use the heater so I made some new water pipes that should do the job. Relocated the thermostat housing to the side.

Took this week off work to test fit the engine in the wagon. I wont be fitting the DOHC permanently yet. Just wanting to see what the issues are going to be and then pull it out again. A lot of work for bugger all but meh.

So, old engine out.

New engine in.

Ive got the ol man coming over tomorrow to help me figure out the wiring side of things.

Still have a bit to do to get this going. Ill list them for my sake.

• Fuel pump
  
• Ignition leads
  
• Accelerator cable
  
• Fan
  
• Other bits that ill forget
  

[OSM Garage]

First major issue.

Nothing Mr Hammer cant fix.

Been shopping at Pick a Part the lats few days. Man they've jacked their prices up.

Brought a pretty sweet external fuel pump setup with mount.

Modified my AFM box thing. Never liked how massive they were and thought I could fit the unit inside an air filter.

This is the AFM chopped up.

This is it in its new home.

Got a 45 degree silicon joiner yesterday. Had to cut it shorter to work but works fine. Had to stretch the joiner on the AFM side as its just over 3"

The ol man came over and had a look at the wiring.

Its a bit of a mess but im trying to get some order with it at the moment.

I dont think I could cut it as an auto sparky

[OSM Garage]

So, the powerhouse SOHC is back in the hole and running.

I started on a new exhaust system and have almost completed it but will wait for my muffler to arrive from Chch.

I have a few things to sort out for the engine swap.

• Fuel Pressure Reg (aftermarket)
  
• Smash firewall
  
• Make accelerator cable
  
• Tidy up wiring
  
• Finish exhaust
  
• Source radiator hose
  
• Fan
  
• Do skid
  

If I dont have to do family stuff during the easter weekend I think thats when the swap will commence.

[Guest Damien!]

Started the engine swap last weekend.

Pulled the SOHCa out of the car. Poor lil engine had done some work. (370,000+ kms)

Tidied up the wiring on the DOHC (believe it or not) ready to be slammed in the hole

Made a shroud out of ally for my radiator fan.

Didnt really get much done last weekend but bolt the engine in. Sunday was a complete mess due to the weather as was most of the week.

Was able to get some help yesterday with putting the car together. Had my father on electrical duties and a cousin finishing the exhaust as I pretty much supervised.

Mounted my fuel pump and filter in the only possible position under the car.

Exhaust sorta done.

2 1/2" pipe, 2x resonators, 1x flowmaster muffler.

Engine in the hole

Radiator shoud worked out well

Stiil need to sort out a top radiator pipe so cant fill with coolant yet.

Scored an A/C unit from a Starion with the help of Prozac.

I brought a FPR to run on the engine as the factory reg no longer fit in the rail with the throttle body at the other end. The FPR I got was a chinese copy of a Sard type. I made a last minute decision not to use it as I didnt really trust it. The finish was shit.

So, I made a remote housing for the factory reg to fit in.

The ol man finished most of the wiring so I made a 5pm dash to Repco last night to get some oil and a oil filter and tried to see if the engine would make an attempt to start.

Had a slight hick-up with the fuel pump wiring. One bridge wire later.....VROOOOM!

She runs....Loud! Louder than I hoped.

We are very impressed at how easy the engine started, no smoke and how quiet the engine ran (Mitsi tick) bar the cambelt whine. The cambelt whine is loud. No need for gilmore drive. Sadly I havent got a vid of it running as I cant run it for long with no coolant.

Should have it on the ground running by next weekend. Skid vid then.

[Guest Damien!]

Worked hard last Sunday to get the car running but ran into an issue with my alternator.

A massive thanks to ProZac and DJZ for sorting out a replacement alternator.

Bolted the replacement alternator on and took the car for its maiden voyage last night.....a short maiden voyage.

Took the car up to the gas station, grabbed some go juice, drove out of the station and the car started backfiring and generally running like shit. Pulled to the side of the road and decided to journey back home. Turned around and coughed and farted some more and pulled over again.

It was dark time so I couldnt see much but smelt fuel. Popped the bonnet and felt my fuel lines.......split hose

It drove ok in the short distance I traveled. A whole lot more torque than the SOHC but I dont think its running at its maximum. Im suspicious of the FPR and the fuel pump as theyre not factory items. Will do some tinkering in the weekend.

[OSM Garage]

Replaced the fuel pump for a higher flowing pump (Bosch 950 to a Bosch 910) and a FPR suited for this engine. Not sure if its made an improvement but I can sort of rest at ease that the engine wont be running lean.

It is back to being my daily driver now and im pretty happy with how its going. A bonus with this engine swap is that it seems to be almost twice as economical as the old motor (if that makes sense)

As promised, skid vid.

All thats left to do now is get it certified. I may be looking at selling in the near future. Weighing up the pros and cons






Happy.

[OSM Garage]

Couple pics from that drag day

 

 

 

 

[OSM Garage]

You know when you see people joke about Mitsis with the "Blue smoke" comments? It aint no joke - and this car proves it.

 

At the moment im spending more on oil than fuel! NO SHIT. Roughly 4L of oil a week..... sadface

Praying that its just valve guide seals but im thinking engine overhaul time.

 

And because im lazy as shit I havent got this certified and now the WOF is out. FML.

 

Parting pic

 

[OSM Garage]

One step forward, 5 steps back.

 

Decided to try and get a WOF without a cert and succeeded.

 

Decided to try and fix the smoking issue - Did not succeed.

It seems this engine does not want to be cured. Ran into problem after problem.

 

Brought a valve spring compressor tool to do the valve stems but turned out that this particular tool wouldnt fit in. So, I made one.

 

 

 

 

Didnt work too bad. Took a bit of getting use to. 

 

 

Replaced all the valve stem seals which was a massive drama but I wont bore you with the details. Lets just say theres a collet in the sump and its staying there.

 

The ol man said that it will still smoke for a while due to oil in the exhaust system and to drive it and monitor the oil level. The smoking was marginally better.

Took it for a hoon out to Katikati this weekend and monitored my oil pressure gauge. Level was high when I left home. Got to Paeroa and the level was pretty low. Brought 4 litres of oil and it took the whole lot. F...M...L!

 

So, I guess it can only be rings. Joy.

 

Im going to switch my concentration on to the maroon wagon now to get that road legal and sold to fund for a new engine/rebuild.

Anyone have or know of a 4G63 DOHC long block somewhere? 

[OSM Garage]

Engine number 3

 

 

Brought another 4G63. Was going to put this in and see if it runs but I might actually rebuild this one.

[OSM Garage]

Ive stripped the engine of all the bits I dont need. I just need it down to a "Long block" situation.

 

Spent today pulling it down some more and degreasing.

 

 

The rebuild idea is on hold. Going to slam this motor in and see if its an OK runner.

 

I pulled the exhaust manifold off the engine thats currently in my wagon and found a lot of oil around port 4 and a lot of build up. The oil feed for turbo'd motors is just above this port. I have a feeling the head is cracked in this area but im unsure.

 

 

 

 

I will inspect better when the engine comes out. Ive got a bit of time off work over the break so will crack on with the swap then.

[OSM Garage]

Motor out time

 

 

 

Im in the middle of putting all the bits from one motor to the other.

 

 

The motor on the left is the next victim. Im going to be doing the valve stem seals regardless. A lot easier to do with it on an engine stand. Waiting for my cambelts to arrive from America. Once they arrive I can full assemble the engine and slap it in.

 

Still havent found out what the issue was/is. The EGR port was clogged with oil gunk.

 

 

 

Depending on when the cambelts arrive I should hopefully have this running next week and maybe have this back on the road. If this engine is as bad as the last one its definitely rebuild time.

 

Have a great new years everyone 

[OSM Garage]

We all like squiggly exhaust manifolds.

 

Whilst the motor was out I set out to make one of those spaghetti manifolds. When I say make, I mean take some pre-made headers and slap a 4G63 flange on.

 

Here are the headers I scored off madmitsi

 

 

Scored a stainless manifold for VR4/EVO off Trademe for $1.50. You can see ive already made the chop.

 

 

This is when I found out shit wasnt gonna be easy. Angles were all wrong and had bugger all room in the engine bay. The headers were originally 4-2-1 but decided to make my own 4-1 merge collector.

 

Long story short, finished product

 

 

[OSM Garage]

All my parts arrived over the holidays so I got the ol man to fit the valve stem seals, cam belts, water pump etc.

 

Got motor back together and back in the hole

 

The new addition to the engine bay is power steering (and the spaghetti exhaust)

 

Got it running and took it for a test hoon. Without setting the timing, idle air and tps it goes very well. Hard to gauge if it is better than the old DOHCa but is pretty awesome down low.

 

And the best news is....... IT NO LONGER SMOKES!

 

BUT, it wasnt all good news. There was a coolant leak at the back of the motor somewhere. Couldnt see where it was coming from so I had to pull the motor back out  

 

Turns out one of the frost plugs had a hole in it. Offending frost plug replaced and the engine is back in the hole hopefully for the last time. Didnt get a chance to run it tonight. Will take it for a thrash tomorrow.

[OSM Garage]

Time to bring this thing out of hibernation. 

 

My wheels were looking very sad as my dog found it enjoyable to piss on them which made the average paint job I gave them a while ago flake off and start to rust.

Decided to refurb them by having them sandblasted and powdercoated. 

 

I got the tyres stripped and rims dropped off to Malcolm at Spraywell Industries in East Tamaki - Recommended by Cletus and Threeonthetree.

 

I didnt get any 'before' pics but here they are all done

 

 

 

The old trim rings I had were all curbed and rusty. All four of them were different. Bought some new trim rings. Thanks Jarrod

 

 

Started polishing the centre caps. Had a few to chose from. 

 

 

Ive just found that one of my rims are leaking where they have been widened. Sand blasting must have opened up a hole. Im just gonna get a tube put in to fix it.

Took it for a hoon to work this week and runs so well. Took it for a WOF and passed. Im hoping to take it to the drags next sunday and see what it does. I just wanna pop some skids!

 

Heres an over-processed photo. Need to give it a clean.

 

[OSM Garage]

Decided to fix the leaky steelie following Cletus' instructions. 

Took it to a tyre shop yesterday to remove the tyre.

 

Found the little pin hole

 

 

I put my air gun up to it to see if it would bubble up on the other side, which it did.

Drilled the hole out a bit

 

 

And put some Selleys Metal Cement in the hole

 

 

Let it set overnight.

Fitted the tyre up this morning and BOOM, no more leaky leaky

 

 

Now to pray for good weather next Sunday

[OSM Garage]

 

So this is what happens when you leave your rottweiler unattended in the garage and you forget to wind the windows up in your car.

Its a miracle the dog is still alive...

 

I was so angry because id never be able to find another wagon seat, especially in this colour.

 

Many months go by with me constantly searching the usual websites for parts till just recently I found the cream wagon on Turners damaged auctions. 

Long story short - I payed WAAAAAAY too much for a hideous back seat

 

TADAH!

 

[OSM Garage]

Oh yeah, and it looks like its gonna be ok tomorrow.

 

 

Skids on

[OSM Garage]

Had an OK day of skids.

Didnt manage to improve on my PB in this car. Same time.

Had a go on the skid pad. The 4G didnt like that!

 

Anyway, pics

 

 

 

 

Because im old, the lock diff is coming out.

[OSM Garage]

Not much going on with this car. Its actually been off the road for a while.

Entered the annual Oldschool Drag Day this year which meant I had to get it road legal again.

 

Took it for a WOF and failed on pitman arm. Purchased a new pitman arm and fitted new ball joints whilst I was at it.

 

 

 

Needless to say, they needed replacing.

Obtained the drag pass

 

 

So now to install this

 

So I can do some of these

 

Lets hope the weathers fine!