So she is here. Ended up not being as bad of a snow as they predicted so the driver made it in tonight. For reference, that's a subaru outback in front of it. So yeah tiny car. Got her all tucked away for the night after wiping most of the grime off her.
Thats a fun pair of 90's Japanese cars tucked away in the garage. Looking forward to hearing more about this Mitsu. All I can recall is there was a hatch version called the Cyborg years ago, likely from playing Grand Turismo.
So first thoughts. Overall really good shape. Not a #1 but I wasn't expecting that and TBH I'm glad it's not so I can really use it. I would feel guilty ripping it up if it was a #1.
So couple things off the bat. Information on the model in general was sketchy at best so cataloging the car will be tomorrow. Want to get the transmission code and a few things off it. Really just figure out what the story is overall.
I wasn't sure if it was 4X100 or 4X114 as they did both in that line. It was 4X114 so that means I'll have an interesting time with wheels. But it also means I need to upgrade to the Evo 1-3 front brakes on it too so I have an easy supply of rotors. There is also a guy in the UK that does a 4 pot Wilwood upgrade meant for the Evo 1-3 but will work great with my 2100 LB mirage. So I have a feeler out to them to see what they are using for rotors with that kit mainly to see if I need to stock up or not. Seems like the perfect solution.
It has adjustable rear shocks. I'll see what they are tomorrow when I get it up in the air and do mod #1 and put my steering wheel on it. That's it for tonight. She is wiped down and resting.
In reply to mr2s2000elise :
Cheap Fiberglass Replica. They are known to crack before they land. I want an OE or carbon one. Trip to the malaysian breaker yards may be in order.
In reply to Nitroracer (Forum Supporter) :
That's this one. The starter car was the "luxury" version of this which was the Cyborg ZR. I know it was in GT6 and a few others too. I air quoted luxury because that one got a radio, recaros, clock, power windows, locks, and mirrors. Oh and silly stuff like sound deadening.
So on further inspection, it's a pretty solid car. Not perfect but hey it's a now 27 y/o econobox at it's core. So can't ask for the world.
Got to work on it today a bit.
Started out with an easy win. New steering wheel.
Never was a fan of any of the steering wheels with the big yellow stripe on them so it had to go.
Got into the overall inspection of the car and it needs a lot of rubber replaced. Motor mounts, clutch slave, and a few bushings right off the top. Lucky for me, the parts all cross to US made cars as well so I can get them locally. So I got all of those ordered and will have them next week.
So now to a couple of decisions.
1. Brakes and wheels.
2. Do I put a stereo back in it?
So for the brakes, it really has the worse possible combo for a performance Mitsubishi. They are the same fronts as the evo 1 with a 4x114 hub. Then on the rears are an odd size with no really good matches. I have options if I re-drill but not sure if that is the way to go. The biggest issue is replacement parts and consumables. I do intend on this seeing the track and autox so they will be used. So I can change the hubs to 4x100 and use Mini Cooper rotors. There is a group in the UK that does wilwood setup for pretty cheap overall that gives you 294mm front rotors.
I would need to change wheels if I went to the 4x100 hub but it would also open up a lot of wheel options. I'm leaning towards the wilwoods and the 4x100 because that would let me use mini cooper JCW rotors. That and the wilwoods are soooo much lighter.
So I made the decision on the brakes last night. I'm going with the wilwood option. It gives me the most flexibility and the lightest weight.
And to be honest, with Brexit and the deflation of the pound, it was only $873 to my door for the calipers, rotors, the new mounting brackets, DS2500 pads, and stainless brake lines. Basically a steal on something that gives me so much flexibility.
Next major decision is what wheel tire combo to use. I'm leaning strongly to convert to 4x100 and that opens the entire miata wheel options.
So today was all about taking out JDM electronics that don't work here. I took the heavy nav radio out and all of the toll pass hardware. Nothing too exciting.
Today was more about making a plan.
So one of the fun things about mirages is that they are like legos. They are very similar to a bunch of cars. They never really caught on in the US so there isn't a lot of aftermarket stuff in the states for them. So you have to get creative.
With my last FSP car, I had the choice of either off the shelf stuff that was average at best, decent stuff that was only offered overseas and no US support, or custom. Well fast forward 15 years and surprise surprise, nothing has changed! So the last time I went custom. Built a set of coilovers based off a VW A1 strut housing and ground control coilover sleeves. Then we stuffed them with Koni 8611 double adjustable inserts. We then cut off the mounting ears from a stock shock and welded them together. See below for our great handy work. So fast forward 15 years, and I'm looking at making another set. This time I'm working with a guy out of Cali to set this up but really excited to work this out. This way I have parts literally 70 miles away vs halfway around the world. The racing season is short enough here. I don't need it made shorter by not having parts.
And finally got the ASA catalog to pull up so I have all of the information.
So it solved a mystery for me. I thought the rear wiper was odd. Never seen one with it on it. I honestly thought it was wrecked and not reported. But nope. It was an option. Along with the most important one, LSD. Also, No option for the rear spoiler from the factory which makes it a bit of an odd duck in that regards too.
So another day of discovery yesterday. Started out easy and changed out the clutch slave cylinder. It's a good sign that you are using the OEM brand when you pull it out of the box and it's exactly the same down to the color. I thought Aisen was the OEM brand and I was right.
Then I started on motor mount replacement. Got the hardest one done yesterday, the right hand motor mount. I am waiting for the second transmission roll stopper to come in so I'll do both of those later this week.
So another interesting thing, I have a Clutch LSD and not the factory LSD in it which is Helical. Now the question is which one? I'm guessing a Kaaz.
On a side note, My 21 Y/O nephew came over last night and his response was just cool. You can tell he liked it.
At least your nephew takes the Mirage when you die, I can have the gS-R :D
Back to the car - have you driven it at all or you just playing with it in your garage?
Not this one. The clutch slave was bad on delivery. Seal was dry rotted. Didn't want to go anywhere with that leaking. So now just waiting for the ice to melt off from the streets. There is a rule here that snow under 2" they don't have to plow. Well what happened is there is now an 1 and a half of ice on most of the streets because the snow/slush froze to a rink.
Shoot, It was so bad I wiped out hard just trying to walk across the street.
Well as much as I want to be in your will - dont die yet.
Be careful out there.
71F right now. I am gonna go get a sweatshirt and sunglasses.
In reply to mr2s2000elise :
Hush. I'm reminded how nice it is there every night. Glad it wasn't a busy street as I was quite a sight laying there in the middle of the road.
So finally the weather is turning decent for a few days and I've got Friday off so I'll be stretching it's legs some. Burn through a tank of gas if I can.
I pulled up the history and It looks like it hasn't gone more than 50 KM in the last 8 months. I have the Shaken from last July and very little miles since then.
Got some plates today. The state on NE actually made it easy. It was just like registering any other car.
I drove it some. The front brakes are dragging pretty bad so I didn't get a lot of time with it. I'm not surprised with the amount of time it sat. So good thing I have a new set of brakes coming my way.
Happy Birthday Mirage! It was built 27 years ago today at the Okazaki Plant. Not much else to report. Just waiting for some parts to come in to fix the brakes. Lot of dry rotted rubber so working through all of that boring stuff.
So the weather has been beautiful this weekend by MW standards so I got a lot done and found a nasty surprise on the way.
So I didn't take too may pictures but got the roll stoppers changed. You can tell I've done this job a time or 2. Had them done in 30 minutes. They were factory original for sure. Still had the factory P/N on them. Did some other things as well like spark plugs. Had OEM Mazda plugs in it which made me laugh. But they are both NGKs anyways so no biggie. Put a fresh set of NGKs in it with new wires and boots. Probably not needed per say but given that it's been a while since this drove, cheap insurance.
Also did an oil change. I'm sure that DriveJoy is a great oil filter brand in Thailand but I feel better knowing there is a Wix in there with some fresh fluids.
So I mentioned a nasty surprise.
Nice crack in the left front rim. Way too long and deep to use. And this is a pretty rare set for the US so even scraping the net didn't yield a replacement So that brought me to today's mission. Get a hub off a US mirage. I have a few sets of 4x100 rims floating around and the US mirage are all 4x100 while this is 4x114. So the question is can I swap them easily?
Well I remember why I hate pick and pulls in the midwest. Everything is rusty and they don't allow torches. But after a bit of muscle and a few words, i got one off and now will need to look and see what I need to do to switch them over or if I can. So that is the afternoon after finishing fueling my system.
I realized I've been bad about updates as I've just been working away.
So those wheels. All trued and wrapped with some Michelins. My wheel guy did an awesome job on them.
Then I dug in and put in a short shifter into it:
I remember why I enjoyed messing with these cars. So easy to work on.
Then I got a pleasant surprise when I tore into it. Ohlins:
I knew I really loved how it rode and drove. I found out why. So just going to leave those right there. They were a japan market exclusive and kinda rare.
Found the missing rear wiper blade in europe. After paying more for shipping than the part, the rear is complete now.
Took it out to autocross last weekend. Totally out classed in XB on what is basically a G Street car but that didn't matter. I haven't run regularly in 15 years so the driver is rusty as all get out. I kissed a few cones, had a good time, and the car worked good. You know you have a high winder when your at 5200 RPM at highway speeds.
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