Coupe of Q's for the 1st gen experts out there, hydraulic clutch, 9.5' rear brakes...

I've got an 81' L200 Sport over here in New Zealand. It's a great truck, I absolutely love it, out of all my vehicles, its the one I'd never sell. My wife has an 07 Outlander, and I've also got an old Starion I'm doing up, so I guess you could say that we're a mitsy family through and through :-).

I was wanting to put the taller gears from a widebody starion in the back of my truck (3.54:1), and an LSD while I was at it, as I do a lot of highway driving. I came across a complete rear axle from an 85' L200, the last of the 1st gens and snapped it up. I've got an LSD center (LOM83) from a 2nd gen, and got a bloke over in the states to send me some 3.54:1 8" starion gears. It's all looking like it'll go together without any major hiccups.

The axle from the 85 was pretty rough when I got it, and didn't get any better sitting in my garden on its end for a year... I've got it totally torn down and have bead blasted all the brake components ready for zinc plating, and its all come up nice. I've got new drums (Bendix PDR0420), new shoes, cylinders, bearings and all the other misc hardware... But I've broken the cardinal rule of brake jobs, which is to to one side at a time so you can use the other side as a reference for how it all went together!

Anyone have any pictures of the setup knocking about so I can figure it out? Everything I can find is for either the 10" stuff from the montero/pajero, or the early 9" stuff like the 81' axle that is currently in my truck.

I've attached a couple of photos, one of the truck and a couple of the brake bits to help identification. Cheers!

Oh, yeah, the hydraulic clutch part... Is there any well trodden path to fitting a hydraulic clutch setup to these? I'm going to throw an injected SOHC 4g63 in it as the 4g52 is pretty tired, and was going to put a starion transmission behind it, to get the same ratios as the cars (one again, lots of highway driving). The block I'm using is from a starion also, so is wideblock, but the starion transmissions use a hydraulic clutch setup.

I also have a 5 speed from a 2nd gen, so is setup for cable, and is wideblock, but apparently (and this is hearsay), the ratios are shorter than the cars, not what I'm after.

You could just use the complete 2nd gen diff. They bolt right in. They use a slightly different style of brake set up, the brake shoes are cheaper and more available off the shelf (I have a 2nd gen lsd unit in my 81)

There's some basic pics in the manuals section (I think you have to donate to get access) or show some pics of what you have, I have had both apart

Hi and welcome to mightyram. Sounds like you have your plans in place to mod your Gen 1. If you're upping the brakes, swap your front steering hub assemblies for Gen 2 stuff from a Triton. Thicker vented discs. As for going hydraulic on the transmission, it 'can' be done but requires surgery to the bellhousing on the L200 (isn't the Starion 5 speed hydraulic? :shrug:) Using the Starion 5 speed and engine is a no-brainer swap - easier than setting up a FWD 4G63 turbo engine. If you want to use a narrow 5 speed from an L200, look for one with the G63B engine. A reinforced sump will prevent the trans case from flexing if you plan on pushing big numbers through it.

Cheers tortron, just using what was cheaply available at the time. I've got new drums and all the bits for the late 1st gen housing now, so it should last the next 15 odd years ;-). I'll have a look at the manuals section to see what's what and if I can get any info there. No worries donating, good info is worth whatever is costs. Read through your thread, great to know the starion power steering boxes will fit on, I've got a couple knocking about, so that will be worthwhile, and mean the other half will find it much easier to drive on the odd occasion she needs to.

Thanks Geezer. You're spot on with the front brakes, I did them in the last birthday I gave the truck; a set of drop spindles, new bearings, 2nd gen discs and new calipers. Did all the bushes, shocks, ball joints and steering components while I was under there too. It's actually all pretty muchbrand new underneath, sans the 2500 odd k's I've put on it since.. I did notice that the drop spindles throw out the suspension geometry a little, and I need to make up some shims to get the camber on the front back into spec, but it still drives fine as it is. I'll sort that out in the next round of mods, while I'm fitting this diff. I think I'll trim half a coil off the stock front springs too, get the front down just a tad, but hopefully without upping the springrate too much. I like it nice and comfy like it is now.

I re-read my post, and I was a little un-clear about the starion stuff... I'm wanting to swap a starion transmission into the truck (along with the starion wideblock motor), which uses a hydraulic throwout system, so I'd need to fit a hydraulic pedal and master cylinder setup to replace the cable system in the currently. I was wondering if there was anything that was commonly done?

Another option, which when I think about it might actually be a better way to do things, is to fit the starion gearset into a 2nd gen 5 speed KM132 case (from a 4g54 engined truck, so wideblock). That'll keep the shifter in the original spot too. I've got both boxes sitting around, so maybe that'll be the next project after the diff is back together and the motor is built. It's all hearsay that they have different ratios, and the starion boxes have wider, stronger gears, so maybe it would be good to have a look myself. The thing isnt going to be making huge power in any event, I just want it more reliable and better on gas.

Cheers!

The drop spindles shouldn't have thrown the camber out (I say shouldn't but who knows...) Dropping the front end by using 2.5" lowered springs will increase the camber to 1.5 degrees which will improve the handling. Check the front stabiliser bar too - there were different thickness bars used and it depends on what options the truck had (I think my L200 had a 22mm bar - my donor wreck had a thicker bar which turns out to be the same as the ones used in Gen 2's/Triton 2WD) As for a hydraulic clutch, I have recommended to another member to maybe look at master cylinders from FWD cars. Should be easy to adapt and gives the option of installing a remote reservoir (and a huge variety to choose from)

Mounting the master to the firewall wouldn't be super hard, but adapting the pedal box would be the tricky bit I think, going from a 'pull' setup for the cable to a 'push' setup for the master... I wonder if there is enough space behind the dash to mount the master inside the cabin, facing the other way, so the cable end of the pedal could be drilled for a clevis.

Oh, and the manuals section has a FSM for a D50, which has the brake info I need, cheers!

the one issue no one addressed is that the Starion 8" gears are different than the 8" gears you need for the LOM83 LSD. They are small enough that they won't fit. The whole 8" LSD with gears from a starion will fit the front diff of an l200, but not the rear.

That's interesting, I haven't slid the 3.54 Starion CW onto the LOM83 center yet, but it certainly looks the same size and bolt pattern as the 4.22 CW that came off it. I did compare the pinion center heights between the two, and they're the same. The pinion's themselves also look identical (apart from the number of teeth of course). The swap is done the other direction in the Starion world where they want the 4.2 or 4.6 gears for better acceleration, so I figured it would work in this direction also, where I want lower revs on the highway.

Possibly the confusion comes in from the fact that Starions came with two different sizes of diff's in the rear. My 1982 Jap Import Starion has an LSD fitted (factory option), but its the smaller 7.5" version.

I'll hopefully get this swap done in the next could of weeks, so I'll let you know!

Yeap, the 3.54 CW fits on the LOM83 center fine. Must be the two sizes of diffs Starion's came with which causes the confusion.

maybe the US vs NZ vehicles - they are not the same for us...

As a basic rule, if the car is an early 4 stud wheel model, it'll have the 'small' 7.5" diff. If its a later 5 stud wheel car, it'll have the 'large' 8" diff. That'll be the same for any of the models (US, AUS, EX-port, and JDM). The CW I have I got sent over from the US, was from an '88 I believe, but any widebody car will have the 8" diff.

last of the widebodys have biggest ring & pinion. They also had thicker axles plus more bolts on the CV flange. Dunno if this is where mitsu
went to bigger ring & pinion gear, the same time

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The swap is done the other direction in the Starion world where they want the 4.2 or 4.6 gears for better acceleration

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for the first 20 feet maybe.... That probably apply to non-mitsu 5 speed swap and dohc swaps
sohc= midrange torque, not hi rpm. Moded 2.6/oem 5spd ET worse with 4.22 and even 3.9. Higher revs puts the motor out of it's 'comfort zone'

The ring and pinion out of an earlier (but still 5-stud wheel, so late 85 on) starion will be the same as the last of them. They did change to 6-bolt axles and 28 spline centers in the last two years of production though, but the ring and pinion are interchangeable with the 25 spline ones. I've got an 8" diff from a 1987 EX spec narrowbody starion (5 stud wheels) which has 25 spline, 4-bolt halfshafts, but the same 8" crown wheel and pinion. The 3.9 gears I'm about to take out of my truck will find their way into that diff!

Yeah, the cars I've seen it done on are pretty highly modded, and the ol 4g54 has long been ditched. Mine will be keeping its 2.0 4g63, still SOHC, but with a DASH 12V head... Different car for a different forum though :-).

Good info on the starion & truck diff. Should be in a sticky somewhere.... maybe it is, dunno


2.0/2.4 SOHC are my favorite 4cyl. Love the simplicity and the smoothness
Hate the hydraulic tensioner on the 4G twincam. Seen timing belt 'flop around', and run loose-then-tight on so many DSMs
Wish mitsu kept the tensioner simple: my 4AG, BP, CA18 timing belt stay snug, zero problems ever


what's the point of a 12V ? Even boosted, they all still flow-limited by the single exhaust... nissan KA24E, mazde F2T, etc..

The Dash 12v is no brainer power for a SOHC engine. Hopefully it'll have the split pulse exhaust manifold for the turbo - they were a popular upgrade for 4G63T SOHC engines (Oz had wretched G62B turbo engines in Cordias and the Dash was a straight forward swap for these as well)

Going with a DASH head because they're cool and weird :-). I haven't researched this thoroughly, but I think they were the first example of a fuel injected, turbocharged engine with variable valve geometry. I've got a couple of them under the bench, and some NOS parts for the aux oil pumps in them too, so should be able to put together a good head out of all the parts. The Starion will be more of a resto-mod than anything, using mostly all the best options they came out with factory. Only major modification will be a steering rack instead of the recirc-ball box, and a multipoint fuel injection setup. Going MPI on the dash heads is a little problematic, as the intake ports are completely siamesed, but I think I'll just run 8 injectors to get around that issue, staging the four larger ones in when those valves get turned on. I'll time it to coincide with the turbo lag, and it should give me the epic 80's turbo response I crave ;-).

mitsu and their funky "cutting edge technology". Good 2 c it preserved + improved, going the extra effort with MPI
US folks that rebuilt their steering boxes or had em done, plus fresh links & ends.... say SQ steer as good as n e modern machine

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Dash 12v is no brainer power for a SOHC engine. Hopefully it'll have the split pulse exhaust manifold for the turbo - they were a popular upgrade for 4G63T SOHC engines

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That's fine for the novelty I suppose.... then u gotta deal with 'oddball' parts replacement, if....
Never seen performance or power figures surpass any 8 valve counterpart. I'd think widespread oem commitment would reflect that
2 valve per cyl can make enough power to scare you in a street car. Need more ?