New member so-cal, road race mighty max

First time owning any mitsubishi. I bought a 1992 mighty max. Not even sure what size engine it had, 2.0, 2.4, or 2.6. The second day i owned it the motor and trans was sitting on my shop floor. The plan is to build a CHUMP CAR race vehicle.

This is the plan:

Lexus 4.0l V8. basically all stock. AX15 5 speed manual trans. Making my own bell housing, and not sure if I will use the stock rear diff. Engine is already sitting between the frame rails. Im picking up a used AX15 out of a 2wd jeep tomorrow. Working on bell housing, should be done soon. Roll cage, simple suspension tweaks, and so on......

Truck is completely gutted, cut out the inner fender wells just to make it easier to work on. Not sure if there is some sort of factory brake upgrade i can figure out. Bigger rotors and calipers. Also looking for a stock clutch pedal assembly. Was automatic. Going to cut the roof off soon to properly make and weld cage.

Im amazed at how well this chassis is made from the factory. Tough little truck. I will post picks from time to time. Really never have been good at keeping up with stuff like that. Im always open to ideas, or thoughts.

Main thing is to remember that this is a way low buck build, everything is out of a junkyard, keep it simple, and have tons of fun. Ok almost everything is out of a junk yard.

Not sure on wheels, have never run anything with a 6 lug pattern, thinking of changing pattern to a more common 5 lug?

:welcomewave:

Sounds good. Brake upgrade is not the easiest thing to do. Toyota 5 lug swap is easy enough if the wrecking yard has parts trucks. Search around and youll find info on this site and others.

For sure keep us updated with some pictures of the project along the way. Welcome to the forum.

Rear axles and leafs from 2nd Generation Montero Sports are a direct bolt ins except for a 2" wider track with 4.XX ring and pinions, Mitsubishi's copy of the Ford 9" rear diff. Some of these axles came with lockers or LSD and 6x139.7 disc brakes. The stock 8" rear end is very tough as is (drag racers with 4G63T swaps have no complaints about it) but the larger Monty Sport rear axle assembly should handle anything you can throw at it behind a V8 in endurance racing. Best of all they're common and dirt cheap in the yards. You can also find the Mitsu 9" rear end with a 4.22 R&P on 1 Ton/long bed trucks but they came with drums.

I narrowed a Ford 8.8 LSD which also helped with the 5 lug swap in the rear. Perfect for racing since the parts are beyond dirt cheap and very plentiful any time you need them.

Ya, I want to stay away from any c-clip axle. At least for this build. I've used the 8.8 before. They are cheap and strong, but just can't get over the c-clip. I will start looking for a LSD diff as a upgrade. Any more info on Toyota brake upgrade? I will keep looking

Get c-clip eliminators. Problem solved lol.

Read my build thread for brake swap and 5 lug info.