Devo's Adventures/Mötörshed - Scratch-building a car (pg 5)

[Devolution]

Yay new shop logo and colours!


In the end, i'll just make this about all my dumb cars now, since i'll be working on them more often. so yeah, this will contain at least 4 Mitsubishi Mirages, a half busted Kia, and two Rover P6s i bought for some inexplicable reason.

From the grand land of Canada, I present to you all my 1992 Eagle Summit. Basically a badge engineered Mitsubishi Mirage/Lancer, they sold this generation(3rd) from 1989 to 1992 in Canada under the names Dodge Colt, Plymouth Colt, Eagle Summit, and in the US under those names + Mitsubishi Mirage.

I bought the car 8 years ago from the local tire shop, which was getting ready to scrap it having removed the two good front tires already. 99$ later, it was in my lane way, and my automobile adventures began. Now, up to this point, I'd only owned FWD automatics, early 90s Cavaliers and Oldsmobiles. So my automotive knowledge consisted of changing spark plugs, oil, tires, and maybe brakes if I was feeling ambitious. My lack of knowledge had been kept stagnant by the complete boredom of ownership in regards to these cars. I had no idea you could do anything to a car other than drive it, and maybe put shiny curse word on it.  The Summit was what kicked me in the ass and made me WANT to learn.



There's a lot in between then and now, but needless to say, nowadays I probably know more about Mitsubishis of this vintage than anyone should ever want to know. I spent a lot of money, gave a lot of it to folks off 4G61T.org, a small, but very friendly forum specifically for mirages of this generation, even had a bunch of stuff shipped over from New Zealand.  At it's peak, it sat like this...



That was 3 years, 2 blown motors(both my own fault, you live, you learn), a failed engine swap, and a very long, very difficult bout with severe depression ago. It currently sits in my lane way, dirty as hell, on two Revolutions and a pair of steelies that don't actually fit properly.

I'm a jackass, and a fool for treating what is essentially my favourite car ever like this. I've finally got it in my head to get off my ass, and i've finally got garage space as well. So I'll be diving back into this over the next few weeks, getting things stripped off it to go onto a cleaner, lighter shell, and then movin forward into an engine swap, body work, new suspension, megasquirt and a whole pile of cool stuff I'm planning.

[darrenh]

well! assuming you have it, i for one would enjoy reading and viewing the "in between" of those two photos

[79cord]

That is an unusual look, suitably purposeful. These always stood out with that somewhat 'formal' rear roof. Sounds like they had plenty of different engine options between different markets & Mitsubishi's parts bin.

[doctorblack]

Get to it!

[WillCarter]

I agree with the above, I would love to hear the story of an unloved car done good.

[Devolution]

Nov 9, 2013 11:42:58 GMT doctorblack said:

Get to it!

i'ma gettin, i'ma gettin, just gotta finish cleaning out the garage, then it's new motor into the daily, and then drag the sedan inside.

Nov 9, 2013 11:10:27 GMT 79cord said:

That is an unusual look, suitably purposeful. These always stood out with that somewhat 'formal' rear roof. Sounds like they had plenty of different engine options between different markets & Mitsubishi's parts bin.

i never even knew what they were when i bought it, didn't mind the look, but didn't love it either. nowadays? i am in love with how these cars look, can't get enough of them.

as for options, FWD/AWD Mitsubishi's of this vintage(i'd say 84-97 over here, not sure what the corresponding years across the pond are) are made of LEGO. lots of fun picking out motors, brakes, and suspension, among other things

Nov 9, 2013 10:50:48 GMT darrenh said:

well! assuming you have it, i for one would enjoy reading and viewing the "in between" of those two photos

Nov 9, 2013 15:09:36 GMT WillCarter said:

I agree with the above, I would love to hear the story of an unloved car done good.

after reading these, i went digging through my old hard drives, and managed to find some 220 pictures of the car in that 'in-between' phase, so i'll sort through them, and write up a timeline/what happened post in the next day or so.

thanks for taking a look folks

[jpsmit]

Glad to hear of another Canuck round here - where are you located?

[Devolution]

long time no see RR, been busy with my Mitsu curse word boxes, but still no work on the sedan

i did, however, make a possibly terrible decision about different cars and ended up putting a down payment on these:




a pair of crunchy Rover 2000TCs! the reason i say this is a terrible decision is because they are like hens teeth in Canada and the US, and finding parts on this side of the pond may be a bit of an issue.

either way, there's no engine in either, so i'm thinking something stupid needs to go between the red one's fenders. like a rotary. or a Ford 302.

also moving in the next month, so all the cars in my herd are going to get worked on, or sent on a trip to the crushers, so i'll have pictures and dumb stuff to post soon.

thanks for taking a look folks

[Deleted]

Like the mirage, also love the rovers, Since these old rovers ended up with v8's over here , Which was derived from a buick design, It would be cool to go buick or olds maybe?

[dikkehemaworst]

ROTARY ROTARY ROTARY ROTARY ROTARY ROTARY
WOOHOOOOO !!!!!!!

sorry , bit too enthusiastic , BUT LOVE THE IDEA!!!!

[jpsmit]

Ontario plates - where are you located?

[Devolution]

Apr 23, 2015 6:16:46 GMT @daaaaaan said:

Like the mirage, also love the rovers, Since these old rovers ended up with v8's over here , Which was derived from a buick design, It would be cool to go buick or olds maybe?

thanks, i'm looking forward to getting back to work on the Mirage, it has sat for way too long now. as for the Rovers, i was considering the Ford 302 or just finding a Rover 3.9L V8, but i've seen some of the work needed to put a V8 in the 4Cyl car, and that's more cutting of the frame rails than i'd like. though if someone can tell me otherwise, i'd be happy to throw a V8 into it, since they're much cheaper to make power with than the other idea i had...

Apr 23, 2015 7:58:11 GMT dikkehemaworst said:

ROTARY ROTARY ROTARY ROTARY ROTARY ROTARY
WOOHOOOOO !!!!!!!

sorry , bit too enthusiastic , BUT LOVE THE IDEA!!!!

no worries, that was the same enthusiasm i had. i've wanted another rotary in my life for years now, so i was thinking maybe this could be it. but man do they get pricey in a hurry.
and i don't even have the cars home at this point so even all this is just spitballing. i like options though, so if anyone has a dumb idea for this, lemme know, heh.

the only other thing i've been banging around in my head in regards to the Rover is putting a solid-axle out back, since i've heard tell that the stock diff in the 2000TC is not good for anything other than kisses from kittens, and i've got a minimum 300hp/V8 or 200hp/Wankel goal i'd like to meet.

Apr 23, 2015 17:37:23 GMT jpsmit said:

Ontario plates - where are you located?

I am located in the armpit of Ontario! though i've heard some people call it Sarnia...

[jpsmit]

I refuse to answer..... I am in Toronto (Etobicoke) haven't seen Rovers here.

[Devolution]

Apr 28, 2015 14:00:12 GMT jpsmit said:

I refuse to answer..... I am in Toronto (Etobicoke) haven't seen Rovers here.

someday we'll have to see how many folks in ontario there are on here, maybe there's enough for a small meetup or something.
As for Rover P6s, there really aren't that many of them left on the road in Canada, as in possibly less than 50 from what i've been told.



In other news, while i still don't have the cars back at my house yet, i did obtain some fantastic wheels for them.



15x7 Eagle Alloy mesh, from many a year ago, with the right PCD, and a centre bore that could swallow small children, i'm looking forward to cleaning them up, putting some ridiculous white letter tires on them and getting them onto the Rover whenever i can.
not sure if i'm gonna leave the monster centre caps on there or not, but i'm happy with my awesome wheels

[regulator]

The P6 is a rather portly car, so a Wankel might not be the best choice...think Mazda Roadpacer AP(aka the Holden Premier sedan with a 13b rotary engine, which did 9mpg).
How about fitting a 215cui Buick V8 (and distinctively NOT it's Rover successor, which powered the P6-3500)?

[sowen]

There is a guy somewhere near LA in the USA who's fitted a Ford 302 into a 2000 shell without too many problems, the Rover V8 starter sits where the suspension tie rod is mounted, not sure

Rotary sounds cool, the P6 is a light-ish car, about 1350kg depending on model, it's been talked about before elsewhere on the internet, I don't think anyone's actually tried it yet?

Those Eagle alloys are cool, very jealous! They look like they've got a lot of offset on them, may be a problem trying to fit them on the back of the P6?

[dubbelduwwel]

Instead of Wankel, why not cheap power - Lexus V8 with own auto box?

[alfesti]

You are right about the 4 cylinder engine bay being tighter, the inner wings are different to the V8 cars, but it has been done. The easiest upgrade would be a Range Rover classic 3.5 or 3.9 engine as so many parts are similar, and its a carb motor, so no electronics to figure out. I was quoted £1000 in metal work to fit an LS V8 to a 3500 P6, plus an engine and gearbox.

The Ford V8 is heavy compared to the Rover engines, so would upset the handling and suspension - the 2000 is really sharp handling, don't spoil that! How a BMW 4 cylinder turbo, or a 6 cylinder from an E30? I was thinking of putting a N20 4 cylinder turbo diesel into a V8 P6, but the cost was going to be too high.

There are some good P6 parts suppliers here in England who do mail order, I don't see why they won't ship internationally

[Devolution]

best laid plans and all that. wow did things not go how i wanted.

guy selling me the Rovers scrapped them when he stopped paying rent at his shop, didn't even tell me what happened, had to find out from a friend. and then last year a month or so after the last post, i was evicted from my house thanks to my landlord deciding he wanted to live there instead. half my cars were towed without warning and lost, and the other half went into storage.


lived with different friends for a year or so, before being put on the street by one 'friend', which led me to finding my way to Paradise.





welcome to my less than humble abode, The Murdershed.
started with 2200sqft, now i've got 3700, with another 1500 upstairs unfinished.
rent includes a 3.5ton forklift, powered by a Chrysler 225 Slant-6, 3-phase 575/600V power, and all the industrial shelving i could ever use.

an indoor shot of one end of the building


the dilemma with renting this place though was that i had no money spare to pay off my storage fees for the cars i still had. but i'm building ailerons and flaps for Piper Cubs now under contract and that's left me with enough spare change to start paying off my storage, buy more tools, and a silly project or two.

so i went to an auction, spent 500$, and came home with a 25hp 120yr old 8ft long lathe with a 22" swing, a monster drill press, an industrial cold saw, and a 44ton punch press, all of which are run on 575/600V-3phase.

(yes the shop is a mess, rather badly needs to be reorganized right now)


and then the project...
i won't provide details beyond what you can see in the pictures right now, i have some things to confirm before i give up it's secrets, but it's here and work can start.






that's all for now, i'll post some more pictures as i clean things up and start working on the kit car.

NOT PICTURED: my friend's Alfa GTV6 in the middle of restoration, taking up the one bay.

[79cord]

Big & depressing changes, sounds like a much better footing for the future thankfully.
New toy certainly interesting.