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Warning: image heavy!
Howdy folks. Going to be a long first post, so I hope you don't get bored!
Back in February of last year I became the proud and enthusiastic owner of a 1995 Mitsubishi FTO GPX. Totally stock, save a front strut brace from the Version R, and a set of lowering springs. Bought it from the vice pres' of the FTO Australia club/forum as a fix-up-and-move-on.
Quick shot I took on the over 1200km one-day journey home from where I flew over to pick it up.
First wash the day after getting it home.
Some good and bad points (like you get).
- 2.0L V6 6A12 MIVEC engine
- decent paint for age (usual dings excepted)
- sunroof (good and not-so)
- highish 183xxx kms
- 4 speed semi-automatic tiptronic gearbox
- generally tidy interior
Standard 16x6.5 +38 alloys.
Needed new rear tyres, which I sorted out before I left and had the fronts swapped to the back. And had overheating troubles on the way home, which ended up being an 80% blocked radiator. Bit of an expensive beginning to the ownership, but the guy I bought the car off gave me a little reimbursement for the trouble (he had swapped the original radiator because he believed this one was in better nick), so that was appreciated. Then I got onto the more interesting bits!
Picked up some Bendix Ultimate pads from a club member.
And a rear strut brace off another. Didn't expect the improvement in handling would be so dramatic for a piece of metal in the boot!
Bought some RDA slotted and dimpled rotors in a group buy for a decent price (neglected to take a shot of them outside of the plastic).
Then was the thing I was most keen to do. Spent a good many weeks pestering people on the FTO forum, looking at pictures and prices and sizes and consulting willtheyfit.com. Finally decided on a set of Enkei RPF1s.
17x9 +22
And then this happened:
It was pouring down rain in the city while I was on the way to a mate's place to get the rotors and pads on, and do a full bleed of the brake fluid. About halfway there it started hailing. I'd never driven on hail before, and never since, so I was rather uneasy about it, and at the end of the street is a sweeping left hand bend I didn't want to try to turn.
So, while trying to do the sensible thing and pull over, I immediately lose all traction and slide into a parked car. Was not ideal. Fortunately I had a pad of paper and a pen in my glovebox, so I left a note with my details on the windscreen of the car I hit as they weren't there at the time.
Was like that for a few months before I could sort it with my insurance company. In the meantime I trial fitted the RPF1s.
And eventually got some tyres on them too. Ended up going with some 235/45 Kumho KU31s. 5% larger sidewall than what is correct for the speedometer, but the tyres were a good $100 cheaper each (no brainer to me!)
After what felt like forever it finally made it into the shop!
And since I was already paying my $1100 excess, I negotiated with my insurance to replace the bar with another style, including the facelift headlights from the 1997+ models. The bar is from the facelift model, with a Dcuatro lip moulded on. It was put together by the same guy I bought the car off, and produced by a fibreglasser contact of his (who have now unfortunately closed shop).
I took a snap of it in the primer when I dropped the wheels off to be fitted as well.
Since the front fenders were getting repainted anyway, I conveniently had all the guards rolled before it occurred. It delayed the finish time a bit, but it meant I didn't have any cracked paint to deal with!
Also got an idea about how my calculations had gone (didn't end up sitting this low when off the stands, much to my disappointment, haha)
After a number of delays I finally received the car back (though driving their old Toyota Camry wagon around as a hire car was an interesting experience). Paint match and alignment were top notch.
A bit later I took it in for an alignment. Fortunately the FTO has some camber adjustment in the rear from the stock suspension, so I got it maxed out as far as it would go, which is about -2°.
Soon enough I had clocked over 200,000kms, and made the perhaps unwise decision of not just servicing the engine, but swapping it out to a lower km one. I had a massive screw up of an adventure trying to get one from someone interstate, which apparently got lost once it had been picked up. The guy I bought it off gave me about half back what I paid, but I never conclusively found out what happened.
So instead I got one from a local Jap parts business, around 70xxx on the clock. The same friend who helped me with the rotors and pads (and basically anything with the car; he's a former mechanic and has owned his FTO over 8 years), did the major service on the new engine while it was out; belts, the water pump, spark plugs. Then over two days we very efficiently and without much hassle completed the swap!
Out with the old.
In with the new(-er)
The only significant complication I had was the speedometer died as soon as I turned off down the street, but magically fixed itself, and hasn't been a problem since (go figure).
Aaaaand then this happened.
Was rounding a corner in the hills around my city late at night, on Christmas eve no less, and hit a kangaroo doing around 70kph. Completely shattered the headlight (the same one), put a dent in the bonnet, and a few pock marks and stress fractures around the front bar. Got defected for the headlight, but fortunately a friend had one spare and we were able to swap it around pronto so I could still drive to work.
Other than that, both the starter motor and the alternator have gone and been replaced (money, money, money haha). I have a list of things that need attention very soon, and will update, and hopefully that damage, which is still there near on six months later, will get into the shop soon. I've paid my excess, but haven't had another car to get to work with.
I take a heinous amount of pictures of my car, so expect them in droves.
Howdy folks. Going to be a long first post, so I hope you don't get bored!
Back in February of last year I became the proud and enthusiastic owner of a 1995 Mitsubishi FTO GPX. Totally stock, save a front strut brace from the Version R, and a set of lowering springs. Bought it from the vice pres' of the FTO Australia club/forum as a fix-up-and-move-on.
Quick shot I took on the over 1200km one-day journey home from where I flew over to pick it up.
First wash the day after getting it home.
Some good and bad points (like you get).
- 2.0L V6 6A12 MIVEC engine
- decent paint for age (usual dings excepted)
- sunroof (good and not-so)
- highish 183xxx kms
- 4 speed semi-automatic tiptronic gearbox
- generally tidy interior
Standard 16x6.5 +38 alloys.
Needed new rear tyres, which I sorted out before I left and had the fronts swapped to the back. And had overheating troubles on the way home, which ended up being an 80% blocked radiator. Bit of an expensive beginning to the ownership, but the guy I bought the car off gave me a little reimbursement for the trouble (he had swapped the original radiator because he believed this one was in better nick), so that was appreciated. Then I got onto the more interesting bits!
Picked up some Bendix Ultimate pads from a club member.
And a rear strut brace off another. Didn't expect the improvement in handling would be so dramatic for a piece of metal in the boot!
Bought some RDA slotted and dimpled rotors in a group buy for a decent price (neglected to take a shot of them outside of the plastic).
Then was the thing I was most keen to do. Spent a good many weeks pestering people on the FTO forum, looking at pictures and prices and sizes and consulting willtheyfit.com. Finally decided on a set of Enkei RPF1s.
17x9 +22
And then this happened:
It was pouring down rain in the city while I was on the way to a mate's place to get the rotors and pads on, and do a full bleed of the brake fluid. About halfway there it started hailing. I'd never driven on hail before, and never since, so I was rather uneasy about it, and at the end of the street is a sweeping left hand bend I didn't want to try to turn.
So, while trying to do the sensible thing and pull over, I immediately lose all traction and slide into a parked car. Was not ideal. Fortunately I had a pad of paper and a pen in my glovebox, so I left a note with my details on the windscreen of the car I hit as they weren't there at the time.
Was like that for a few months before I could sort it with my insurance company. In the meantime I trial fitted the RPF1s.
And eventually got some tyres on them too. Ended up going with some 235/45 Kumho KU31s. 5% larger sidewall than what is correct for the speedometer, but the tyres were a good $100 cheaper each (no brainer to me!)
After what felt like forever it finally made it into the shop!
And since I was already paying my $1100 excess, I negotiated with my insurance to replace the bar with another style, including the facelift headlights from the 1997+ models. The bar is from the facelift model, with a Dcuatro lip moulded on. It was put together by the same guy I bought the car off, and produced by a fibreglasser contact of his (who have now unfortunately closed shop).
I took a snap of it in the primer when I dropped the wheels off to be fitted as well.
Since the front fenders were getting repainted anyway, I conveniently had all the guards rolled before it occurred. It delayed the finish time a bit, but it meant I didn't have any cracked paint to deal with!
Also got an idea about how my calculations had gone (didn't end up sitting this low when off the stands, much to my disappointment, haha)
After a number of delays I finally received the car back (though driving their old Toyota Camry wagon around as a hire car was an interesting experience). Paint match and alignment were top notch.
A bit later I took it in for an alignment. Fortunately the FTO has some camber adjustment in the rear from the stock suspension, so I got it maxed out as far as it would go, which is about -2°.
Soon enough I had clocked over 200,000kms, and made the perhaps unwise decision of not just servicing the engine, but swapping it out to a lower km one. I had a massive screw up of an adventure trying to get one from someone interstate, which apparently got lost once it had been picked up. The guy I bought it off gave me about half back what I paid, but I never conclusively found out what happened.
So instead I got one from a local Jap parts business, around 70xxx on the clock. The same friend who helped me with the rotors and pads (and basically anything with the car; he's a former mechanic and has owned his FTO over 8 years), did the major service on the new engine while it was out; belts, the water pump, spark plugs. Then over two days we very efficiently and without much hassle completed the swap!
Out with the old.
In with the new(-er)
The only significant complication I had was the speedometer died as soon as I turned off down the street, but magically fixed itself, and hasn't been a problem since (go figure).
Aaaaand then this happened.
Was rounding a corner in the hills around my city late at night, on Christmas eve no less, and hit a kangaroo doing around 70kph. Completely shattered the headlight (the same one), put a dent in the bonnet, and a few pock marks and stress fractures around the front bar. Got defected for the headlight, but fortunately a friend had one spare and we were able to swap it around pronto so I could still drive to work.
Other than that, both the starter motor and the alternator have gone and been replaced (money, money, money haha). I have a list of things that need attention very soon, and will update, and hopefully that damage, which is still there near on six months later, will get into the shop soon. I've paid my excess, but haven't had another car to get to work with.
I take a heinous amount of pictures of my car, so expect them in droves.
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