Mitsubishi Starion - I Checked It Out, Was A Complete Joke

[GTS4WD]

S12 gazelle notchback with IRS. $2000

CA18DET engine with loom computer + clutch $900

after conversion wind the boost up to 12 psi and you have a 130rwkw 900kg drifter that will be a lot of fun.

I have driven quite a few s12's and they are not a bad car.

just a shame the CA20E is only good as a paperweight..

[niZmO_Man]

get an old Z bro! keep it nissan

[TurboX]

for daily, you'd better hope you daily go to a workshop.

just like any bitsamissing from the late 80's to early 90's, they are an expensive adventure..

Yes they have power steering..

and the steering is too light..

There seems to be a small following (as with any car I guess) in japan..

you can find some pretty good looking ones.

but it's a money pit.

see if you can find one with a 4g63 conversion.. but then again, that will be over $10K..

if you want a daily driver/drifter you'd best stick to an S13.

Typical responses from people that know everything but have never owned a STARION!

The standard Australian delivery Mit Starion has a 4G63BT that is near unbreakable!

I am not even going to bother saying much more except I am selling my Skyline but I will NEVER sell my Starion!

[NXTIME]

Dean,

www.austarion.com has plenty of info about Starions with a healthy forum. I agree that Starions do have their pitfalls (as do most cars of that era). However, with the right advice, these can be overcome and not necesarily be too costly. As with most manfacturers new parts are expensive, but good used parts can still be found if you shop smart. Alot of the electrical/efi issues can be repaired/relaced by going to the MPI + aftermarket ecu set up which replaces the throttlebody + two injector factory "electronic carby".

I can recommend a good mechanic or two in Vic who know Starions inside out and whole also have one or two clean examples for sale.

Btw, this is my rare JDM widebody Starion:

[WPN-O33]

Damn that starion looks familiar, im sure i had a very similar starion with wide body & dished rims behind me one day on Henry Lawson Drive in sydney....could that have been you Charlie??

[NXTIME]

Yeah, that would have been me as I used to drive it daily to work down south.

[DC_GTST]

Those are some wide tyres on that back of that thing!

What do i know about them?.... Jacky Chan drove one in Cannonball Run

[Mulkers]

very cool underated car, with lots of potential. 4g conversion easy. should be good

[WRRR]

As said up the thread the Aus spec JA (bonnet scoop) and JD (no bonnet scoop but with LSD) Starions had the 4G63, single turbo, TB injection, pwr steer (light), AC, elec glass, leather front seats, 5 sp man, etc.

For their time good strut susp with good solid wishbones, reasonable brakes, styling was a matter of opinion. From memory about 125kw std, 1240kg(?)

The 4G63 was good for about 360hp before rods (?) got a bit sad. Original spare parts were exxy. They take an Astron 2.6 conversion easily.

Some of the guys punted them in the production class on the track and they performed well.

I pushed one around for a while with bigger turbo, aux inj, crude eng mgt, intercooler, big brakes and 16" Simmons and it was good for nearly 180rwkw and a heap of fun to drive (if a bit peaky) and there wasn't much around then (mid 80s) that would touch it.

Actually miss the old girl at times.

I don't know how you would go these days getting one in any reasonable condition for the $ you're talking. Hell a replacement tubo will cost you more than half that.

Lots of luck though.

[NXTIME]

I agree, for $3K, you won't get much. However, if you look around enough, you can find ones that have had alot of $$ spent on them to rectify the old "eci" issues with MPI and ECU upgrades. Ie, find someone who has already doen the hahrd work and buy theirs

[Dean_HR31]

Can someone explain to me what the MPI and ECU upgrades are exactly??? What does MPI stand for?????

Whats it cost to roughly get that stuff done anyway? Please let me know, cos ive pretty much bought one........

[NXTIME]

The Mitsubishi G63B 2L SOHC engine in the Starion uses a throttlebody injection set up that consists of two injectors mounted inside a petrol chamber. This is fed fuel which fills the chamber and the two injectors then inject and spray the fuel into the head. Its an "electronic carbie" and is not ideal, with a few problems that develop over time. It can still be used effectively, especially if you do not want to go to the expense of multi point injection (MPI) as this means that an aftermarket ECU needs to be fitted to control the fuelling of the MPI's 4 injectors.

The two bolt on options for MPI are a 1987-95 Mistsu L300/Starwagon 2.4L G64B intake manifold which doesnt require any mods, or a Hyundai Sonata MPI manifold, which requires a few mods to work as it will face the firewall. Most who do these mods usually also add an intercooler at the same time to amalgamate efficient cost savings in manufacturing the piping and also tuning in the one go.

Having said this, going to MPI is not necessary, but most people do it as both a power upgrade and also as a means of getting rid of the troublesome fatory ECI.

Which car are you buying, Dean?

[Dean_HR31]

Thanks alot for that info mate! I've just sent u a PM....

[Dean_HR31]

ok guys i checked out the starion.. was a joke.

Supposedly had a rebuilt motor & gearbox and oh guess what?? No receipts.. hmm guess he lost em?

-Before i had gotten there, the guy had, had the car running for a while so that it runs.. barely.

-Took the car for a 2 minute drive, once back the rocker cover was a pool of oil.

-Power steering rack was drenched in fluid. Apparently he topped it up every 1-2 weeks & admitted he had gotten

quotes of no less than $1,200 to fix it cos parts were so rare/expensive.

-Interior was a joke, driver seat was all torn, plastics missing everywhere, wires hanging from everywhere.

-Car honestly had no more than 40 rear wheel kw's. He showed me a dyno sheet from NT performance showing 82.6kws!,

LMAO this car was honestly slower than a n/a 200b datsun that had just finished being thrashed & overheated on a farm.

-Sunroof was aftermarket, not genuine, hence leaking.

Honestly this car was a MASSIVE turn off on the starion. Im not going to bother looking at another one again.

Can someone please find me a worked Gazelle any other small rwd, RELIABLE manual drifter!?

[swanny180]

KE70 corolla perhaps?

4AC engine is supposedly a bit gutless, but you should be able to pick one up for around 2k if you look, and then factor in 1k to throw a 4AGE into it...

[Sarumatix]

pay peanuts, get monkeys.

[VB-]

R31 out of the question? very cheap to buy, plenty of grunt, and S13 parts (suspension/brakes) bolt straight on, so cheap and plentiful aftermarket support, aswell as VL turbo parts for massive power-ups

but if u want the small lightweight thing, then definately keep it toyota as mentioned above ^

Edited July 20, 2007 by VB-

[Starionturbo]

A starion turbo was my First car, i bought it almost 6 years ago.

To this date, I cant stress what a great car it was, and what a great car they are. It rarely gave me trouble and I thrashed the hell outta it, I was a year 10 student at the time so I couldnt afford anything else. Imports were few and far between and extremely expensive back then. I had it for two years!!

Ive had quite a few imports, and even still, i have to rate Starions as one of my favourite.

The sad thing is, 90 percent of starions left, are all neglected, bodged up and tired. In melbourne ive noticed this anyways.

They have so much to offer that most cars built in the 80s hadnt heard of - and there rare.

Everyone these days are going the skyline, silvia, R31, Corolla for slide cars - what about something a bit left wing! Dont be put off because you seen a hack, theres many types of the abovementioned cars that ive seen that are in similar condition. The single cam motors are strong, the turbos are good if they are looked after, good oil, a seal kit etc.

In a few years I will buy a widebody Starion to Restore from the ground up, they are the Forgotten Classic Japanese sports car.

It puts a smile on my face every time I see one out and Im glad that there are people out there that value the old Japanese classics.

Edited July 20, 2007 by Starionturbo

[FordyR31]

4AGZE datto or corolla FTW! Loved the 4AGZE I had, genie extractors, 2.5 inch exhuast and a pod filter and it was beating VR/VS SS manual commodores in an AE82 heavy as SECA! Awesome little build that would be and the engine is so powerful and responsive, way more impressive than my RB20 lol.

Liam

[Bliksem]

I guess the starion will probably become a collectors item in a few years...

Edited July 20, 2007 by MintR33