Official Mitsi weirdo buys another weird Mitsubishi

[mjrstar]

Interesting,  I did the 276> 294mm upgrade using evo 4 rotors on my turbo airtrek with the evo caliper bracket. It was a plug and play affair. The knuckle architecture must be different. Or is there an alternative sensor which takes up less real-estate?

[fuel]

 

After fitting a took the car around the block and did some hard braking and I can definitely notice a difference. This now means the wagon has almost the same sized brakes as the GTO (294x26 twin piston vs 295x30 four piston up front and the same 284x20 single piston in the rear) which should help slow down its heft.

[fuel]

On 10/01/2025 at 02:13, mjrstar said:

Interesting,  I did the 276> 294mm upgrade using evo 4 rotors on my turbo airtrek with the evo caliper bracket. It was a plug and play affair. The knuckle architecture must be different. Or is there an alternative sensor which takes up less real-estate?

yeah the Airtrek, Evo IV, later Galant/Legnum VR-4 and anything that uses that rotor has the ABS sensor reading off a tone wheel on the CV axle shaft, while my Diamantes and earlier Galant VR-4 have the tone ring attached to the back of the hub flange and the ABS sensor sitting outside of that. 

The weird thing is the turbo JDM CU2W Airtrek has the smaller 276mm rotors whereas the poverty spec USDM 2.4L SOHC N/A 2005-2006 of that same generation has the larger 294mm rotors. I think the caliper carrier brackets from the pre-facelift 8G Galant/Legnum VR-4 are the same too, but for me it was easier to grab a pair of the USDM Outlander ones from a junkyard I was visiting in Toronto.

[Thousand Dollar Supercar]

I've been getting some use out of fuel's Diamante wagon for over a year now - it's more practical than an XJ-S for carting stuff around. It has the occasional electrical drama, but you just have to carry a jump-start battery and a hammer for hitting the starter motor and you're fine. 

Last summer, fuel fixed a stuffed front shock and fitted remote central locking, which were appreciated. The car no longer smells of gear oil, it's fairly driveable and it looks fairly respectable from a distance. 

Also, it has found a new custodian: @Camel, your chariot awaits.

[alfalfa]

It almost looks like an E34/E39 wagon from that angle!

[fuel]

it definitely has a few overseas folk scratching their head wondering what it is haha. 

[fuel]

I get rid of the GTO to get me down to a reasonable 7 cars and then....





Basically I was in the right place at the right time and was offered this 2004 Diamante VR-X for basically free because the owner wanted it to go to a loving home rather than end up in a junk yard. 2004 was the first and only year they were available in Canada, and they probably sold only a few hundred of them so getting parts in these neck of the woods is a little difficult.

Beyond a little bit of roughness here and there that can be tidied up, it's fairly solid and only has 170k with two owners - the last of which has owned it since 2008.

It's a bit of an oddity as despite being a 2004 with the last ugly Olivier Boulay facelift, it still has a 90's 4 speed auto and gauge cluster with mechanical odo which the Australian models ditched in favour of 5 speed and digital in the turn of the new millennium. Being the VR-X it has a bit of a sporty flair with a black leather interior, but seems to miss out on the side airbag seats outside of North America markets received

It has a few little issues which I hope to resolve over the coming months, such as:
- fuel gauge doesn't work, am hoping it's just a dirty/bung level sensor or wiring connector, seems to be a common enough issue that's easily sorted
- handbrake doesn't work, feels like a cable is snapped given how floppy and loose it is
- bonnet struts are toast, already have replacements ready to be swapped on
- paint on the spoiler is fucked, needs to be resprayed along with some other body work tidy up here and there
- roof head lining is no doubt going to fail at some point, it leaves a permanent imprint when you touch it
- headlight bezels inside the housings have melted, I suspect too high wattage headlights were fitted
- TCL light is permanently on, usually it's just a solenoid but may look at just bypassing it completely as it's fair low tech anyway
- has some rust on the underside, for NZ standards it's a bit of an issue but for Ontario standards it's basically mint

Some common issues for these cars that I no doubt will have to sort at some point:
- wave spring in the transmission which likes to fail sending shards into the oil pump that basically explodes the whole transmission.
- heater core leaks from plastic fittings, right on top of the engine/transmission ECU
- it's a Mitsubishi so probably valve stem seals lol


More to report when I actually have it in my grubby hands this weekend. I still have to sort out putting it through the equivalent of a WOF, insurance, new plates etc

[Thousand Dollar Supercar]

You're right about that being the ugly facelift - the 'bird beak' VR-X (TJ Magna?) looked better, whether it had the 'wine rack' front valance...

..or the snow plow / cowcatcher of the Ralliart model. Pity about the Ralliart's garish interior though.

I have @fuel's manual-swapped Diamante wagon back again:

Camel and fuel put ~10,000km on it over the summer. Camel replaced the starter motor and fuel attended Wagnats in it and had the windows tinted (the photo above was taken pre window tint). Its current niggles are the return of the left front suspension clunk, and some electrical stuff - the passenger side wing mirror now constantly folds itself in for aerodynamics , the radio sometimes acts like its speaker wiring is shorting, and the battery goes flat if I don't drive it at least once a week. I guess it did get flooded a few years back... It needs a WOF now - can it fail on the wing mirror?

[fuel]

it's so weird that the wing mirror has started doing that to do - it was happening for Sam & Alice and once I got it back it didn't do it a single time for me. We think it's maybe moisture related - ie when it gets particularly wet it does it, but I did drive it in the rain a bit (especially on that last day before flying out) and it managed to not act up for me at all. from memory Sam pulled the fuse to temporarily stop it, but I think the cigarette lighter was on the same circuit so can't charge phone at the same time haha. 

[lowlancer]

Those facelifts are such a crime. I think most people could begrudgingly agree the PFL Diamante/Magnas were at least inoffensive, and lots would say they were fairly handsome. I remember my dad buying his dark green 3.5 Wagon brand new in 1999. Such a sweet wagon and got plenty of attention back then, which probably sounds mental but given the state of Commodores and Falcons, it was pretty cool and understated. Reasonably rapid too, first front tug skids I ever managed.

Love the first gens too - the front end on them is just lovely. Any truth it references the Galant GTO? 

[Willdat?]

In 1999 my Dad's cousin worked for the local Mitsubishi dealer, I had had my full for all of 2 weeks and got to drive a brand new VRX due to sober driving around wedding festivities. Was the fastest car I had driven up until a mate got a V3 WRX Sti. Still think they're pretty cool.. .

[fuel]

if I had access to an earlier parts car I would consider messing around with retrofitting the J series and earlier front end, but it's quite involved with the whole radiator support and front of the chassis legs being different. No equivalent of WOF's here other than the one safety inspection it goes through to put plates on it so I could in theory do anything to it once it's registered in my name.

[JustHarry]

It's funny how you all hate on it but i always through the front was quite handsome. Theyre a nice height in vrx trim too . The back is less good.

I did a few decent trips ik my vrx and it was always nice to drive. I do prefer the face-lift interior too. 

I did like the back of my 30m though. 

[JustHarry]

The front of the 30m was pretty uninspiring. But had good taillights.

And factory bbs wheels 

Man it went way harder than it deserved 

 

[fuel]

if it wasn't such a logistical nightmare to bring in some non-USDM bumpers I totally would do that - it seems to transform the look of the car and makes it look cleaner. Here's some guys in Oz who recently took theirs to the track and thought the cars looked good, so maybe some inspo








I think the immediate mods are tinted windows, a nice bit of low, and some wheels. 

[fuel]

Here's one in I think Japan (which is odd because they would have had to import in that whole front end and rear bumper/lights/boot lid because they weren't available on the Japanese built models) that doesn't look bad at all








 

[fuel]

I also did pick up another set of Evo X MR BBS wheels, they seem to look ok on these cars too

[lowlancer]

The bum on those look cool, and the panel softening is kinda neat too. Gives the body a chunkier vibe. 

I've always liked the PFL 2nd gen in dark colours (or at least not bright saturated colours) - I think the headlights and body shape give it a vaguely premium/VIP look that bright colours detract from. Of course, all subjective and taste-driven. I am now thinking about buying one, damnit.

Even stock they look quite good - gee how car design has gone to the dogs.

[Thousand Dollar Supercar]

On 14/06/2026 at 19:25, fuel said:

it's so weird that the wing mirror has started doing that to do - it was happening for Sam & Alice and once I got it back it didn't do it a single time for me. We think it's maybe moisture related - ie when it gets particularly wet it does it, but I did drive it in the rain a bit (especially on that last day before flying out) and it managed to not act up for me at all. from memory Sam pulled the fuse to temporarily stop it, but I think the cigarette lighter was on the same circuit so can't charge phone at the same time haha. 

The combination of the auto-folding wing mirror and the window tints were making the car too hard to reverse at night. I tracked the problem down to this module, which lives above the glove compartment:

Whenever the module and the mirror were both plugged in, they'd start conspiring to improve the car's aerodynamics. I could hear the module making random relay chatter until the mirror eventually folded. I opened it up and found that both black capacitors seemed to have spilled their guts:

After replacing them, the functionality is not back to 100% (only the left mirror folds on command, and only inwards), but at least the mirror no longer folds in by itself. 

While I had the door cards off, I noticed the front speakers were absolutely wrecked:

No wonder they sounded like arse.  I replaced them with some $100 6.5in Pioneers, which can at least make a little bass without buzzing.

The car passed its warrant prior to the electric window fix, using Camel's tactic of pulling the mirror fuse.  The warning items were oil leaks, tyre tread and another stuffed LF shock. Diamunty rides again. 

[fuel]

oh amazing thanks for that! happy to reimburse for the speakers - I knew they were going bad but didn't think they were that bad haha. I think they are the original speakers from my Diamante sedan as I ended up putting some 6.5" low profile speakers into that as the original speakers of the sedan (at the time) were fine, while the original speakers of the wagon were kaput. I replaced the rear speakers too but you're limited with just 5.25" ones there. 

and that's some good investigating with the door mirror control board, never would have thought to look there! incidentally you can still buy that unit brand new, at some $300 though haha. Same unit in early 90's Delica, E1xA/E3xA Galant but I guess even finding one at pick a part etc would be hard these days.