1994 MM 2.4 EFI - Tow Truck for the Race Car

[Fordubishi]

Wish I could find the pic Laser that we have running around the city in the summer, Guy put a blown 440 in it full tube chassie and would run low to mid 10's fully street legal. (3600ft elevation at track). In the 30 years I've been doing this I have built stupid 4cyl turbos, monster V8's and blown V6's each have their place and it still comes down to power to weight. Best one we built so far was a Omni GLH that was pushing just over 400hp at 31lbs boost. the damn thing would eat Vipers and spit out Corvette's.

Finnie one day we'll race and see how a 2200lbs 380hp D50 does against your car. probably kick my butt, but it would be fun

[LethalEthan]

we need video! There was a video of a single turbo ls1 conquest floating around a little while ago, it was a monster. But I haven't been able to find it.

[Finnie3d]

I'm just saying, I feel like Mitsubishi 4 cylinders are strong enough to compete with American V8's all day...WITH the proper care and attention in the build. You're right Ford, it does come down to power/weight, but I guess I'm a bit of a purist... Would you put a Ford V8 in a Ferarri? Or an LS1 in an Aston Martin? That's how I feel about putting an American V8 in a Mitsubishi anything. Yeah, they're super fast as a result, and I'm sure a blast to drive and all of that. But come on man? Where's the pride in the brand? Does anybody at Mitsubishi believe anymore? I do. So, if It's a Mitsubishi truck, it gets Mitsubishi parts and engines, period. At least for now. Once we show what THEY can do, then I might branch out and cross brands. But even then, I'd probably put another Japanese manufacturer in the engine bay before I go American. When I buy a 69 Camaro, please believe, it will be red white and blue through and through. (How would you feel if someone took a classic American muscle car like this and put an Infiniti V8 in it?) I'm sure it would be fast as hell. But something just seems wrong about that to me.

The Laser makes it hard because Mitsu already blended with the Plymouth body, but that was more business move than mechanical join. For all intents and purposes, it's still a Mitsubishi Eclipse.

Ford, I love competition and look forward to racing you. Hell, I might even win! lol
At the end of the day, even though we may do it different ways, we're all just a bunch of people who like going fast. #winning

[camoit]

Here is the one I would love to get. Oh the things I would do to get one.

[LethalEthan]

ehh thats no skyline

[Fordubishi]

Yep I'm kind of the same way for brand loyalty for the most part,but it is fun to do different things too. Also remember here in Canada till 2002 we didn't get "Mitsubishi's" so we were stuck with the Dodge versions and parts were stupid money. When I first got the POS with the blown 2.0L in it, it was cheaper to drop in a Domestic engine then what the parts alone for the 2.0 would have cost (pistons were $128.00 each) and I happened to have the 5.0 sitting around the shop at the time.

Friend had a 1st Gen EVO that he brought over from Japan and we did a bunch of work to it and OMG was that thing fun and fast. 4000rpm launch 4 wheels spinning, car drifting sideways and leaving a ZO6 Vet like it was a 10 speed bike at the lights.Guy in the Vet lost so bad he slammed on the brakes and turned off at the next intersection.Guy must have been crying his $100.000 penis extension was beat by a "Dodge Colt 4 door"

One day I would love to drop a Toyota Crown V-12 Twin turbo into a mid 80's Celica Notch. then put the 5.0L badges on the side. it would confuse the crap out of everybody thinking I dropped a 302 in it till I open the hood.

[Finnie3d]

Alright, these are from the wayback machine a little bit. This was a few weeks ago now, but it was interesting Camoit had just talked about the GT-R... must have talked it up. Enjoy!

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[Finnie3d]

Here is the one I would love to get. Oh the things I would do to get one.

Cam, This one's for you. Video still doesn't do it full justice. Awesome exhaust note. (Driver said he had a cutout switch to go from muffled, to direct out 3" open.) Enjoy!

[Finnie3d]

Spotted some Mighty Rams on the ride back. #family

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[Finnie3d]

Ok, back to the build. We talked about the oil pan for the Laser. Never did find a reasonably priced aluminum replacement, so I had to sniff out a tried and true OE. Gratefully there was an AWD Talon with just what I needed. (hated to see an AWD like that, like it was an awesome horse left for dead in the open plain to get picked apart by vultures...) Well, it is what it is, so I had to be the vulture this time. Pan had a nice pickup baffle already in (not sure if the OE Laser pan had that too - long time since it's been off), but that will help when I'm on the road course. I've decided to campaign the RS-T in NASA Pro Racing's "Performance Touring" Class -(final mods determine who you actually run against on track, as long as there within that base class). But a stock '90 RS-T is classed PTE.

It was a milkshake that brought this Talon to the yard... Water/Oil mix in the pan when I pulled the plug. Good sign that it still held fluid. I pulled the pan, and the bolts, and kept the cut oil return line. All threads good, plug good, even filled it with water and let it sit for a while to ensure no cracks before I bought. #allgood

So hopefully, that will put the day the Laser is on the road, that much closer. Thanks for "tuning" in!

[Finnie3d]

You know how you can buy the ground wire kit from Hyper Ground? Well, if you're on a budget, but want to improve performance (for real) make your own. You need 4GA wire, copper or gold plated ring type end connectors, electrical tape, a compatible battery terminal and some time.

It's actually pretty easy, and you save a decent bit of money off the $100-$115 retail price tag. Pick your mounting points ahead of time, cut your wire to length, put connectors on each end and hook it all up. *IMPORTANT* Daisy chain from the battery to your first point, to your next point, to your next point - instead of making one wire from the battery to each point. I decided points based on some crap I read on the net. But i found out from an audio installer, that if you want to be more scientific about choosing points, get your multimeter and check resistance between the neg terminal and the potential point. If the number is like .00045 or something super small like that (or super small like the motor in a Honda), then you're good. It's as simple as that. If you pick different points, you get different results, and they have been proven time and again on the dyno. If you dyno each time you change points, you can get a specific read on how it affects your power and torque curve. My daisy chain looks like this - Battery to Coil to Distributor to Exhaust Manifold to Wheel Well(Body) to MAF Sensor. (Honestly I haven't checked the function of the MAF wire. I copied somebody who said it worked for them.) I'm looking forward to a new Dyno Run to see the true effect. I'll definitely repost when I get the results.

*NOTE* There is no way I can tell you how much HP and TQ this mod will gain for YOUR truck. Depends on your truck and your chosen mounting points. But it DEFINITELY does work. Don't listen to those nimrods on the net that say there's no way these few wires will help performance. THEY WORK!!

Thanks for stopping by. More to come... Stay "Tuned"!

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[tanzytinkerz]

I don't think it beats my record of 9 people in my truck, that sucked, at least we only had to go a mile. There were three in the front and six in the bed, the truck hated that, lol.

I had 9 people in my 1991 geo storm gsi. that was horrible. if you know storm's 2+2 back seats, you knew my buddies pain. same night I blew my turbo

[Finnie3d]

OK, so I know our stock exhaust is already a little anemic, but MAN! There's no way a proper Mighty 50 engine can breathe through the nasty "last bend" in the tailpipe... (maybe it was just my truck), but it was hardcore. See...

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So, if you've got a nasty bend like this, here's a low-buck way to beat the system...
You'll need:
1 Reciprocating saw with a metal-cutting blade
1 Can Lubricating Spray (no judgement on where you might get this from) I used PB Blast
1 12mm socket and Rachet

That's it. Take the passenger rear tire off (make sure to support with jack stands), slice the pipe above the bend and free up some flow! (for the newbs) Make sure to spray the lube as you cut to save your blade and keep your cut as smooth as possible. You can cut yours wherever you want, but I tried to catch a place in the pipe that was as open as possible and points toward the ground as much as possible. That way it won't blow directly on the spare, it still uses the heat shield at the top and is easy to get to with the saw.

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Here's why you need the socket and ratchet... If you want to keep a stock appearance so you don't have the "fuzz" wondering why you don't have a tailpipe , attach the pipe to the bottom hole of the bracket that the doughnut was on before. It bolts right up and looks stock. Voila...Magic!

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*NOTE* Do not expect this action to gain you 20WHP!! But it may get you 2 or 3 and help you smooth out your powerband. It definitely has made a difference for me. Try it out and see.

More to come. Thanks for "Tuning In"!

[Finnie3d]

Soooo, the wire ends I hooked to the Exhaust Manifold Heat Shield started corroding - especially after the electrical tape at the very end of the connector started melting from the heat...

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So I got a stiff wire brush and some battery terminal sealer from Wally World and cleaned it all up. Hopefully it holds, I'll let you know...

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[pennyman1]

Daisy chaining the ground is only good while the connections stay tight - if they loosen up you are done. A better way for those on the cheap would be to get a grounding buss bar from a circuitbreaker panel - you can buy them separately. Then run a wire to the negative on the battery after grounding each point to the bar. Not every point needs a 4 gauge wire either - if your main ground cable from the battery is clean and tightly grounded at each point, the auxiliary grounds are extra insurance. Adding grounds are always a good idea, but they need to be neat and away from heat.

[Finnie3d]

Daisy chaining the ground is only good while the connections stay tight - if they loosen up you are done. A better way for those on the cheap would be to get a grounding buss bar from a circuitbreaker panel - you can buy them separately. Then run a wire to the negative on the battery after grounding each point to the bar. Not every point needs a 4 gauge wire either - if your main ground cable from the battery is clean and tightly grounded at each point, the auxiliary grounds are extra insurance. Adding grounds are always a good idea, but they need to be neat and away from heat.

No disrespect Penny, but any electrical connection that's loose is gonna be no good... even if you use the grounding bar... #justsaying
But tell me my friend, why do you feel a bar is better? Even less resistance? Easier installation? Looks? It's science, so there's more than one way to do everything. I definitely want to know your perspective on this.

[pennyman1]

I was just giving another way to ground to a common point without spending big bucks. The grounding bar is simply a means to attach a lot of wires together to a common point, which then goes to the negative terminal of the battery. I was in no way inferring that your method was wrong or problematic - just another way of doing it. I am running Phoenix Contact grounding connectors - they attach to a Din rail and is grounded to the body and I also have a wire run to the battery. These are industrial connectors and can take up to a 4gauge wire in the ug 4 version I am using. I will take pics and post them on here to show the way I did it. Please accept my apology if I offended you. I also am not thrilled with the daisy chain method the factory used for their grounding on the body, chassis, and block - it causes problems on a regular basis and requires yearly maintainance to keep it totally connected i.e. low resistance.

[Finnie3d]

What's up everybody. Sorry it's taken so long to post. It's a crazy time in my life right now #transition. Regardless, I put this video together to give you a glimpse at me and some of the things I've gone through to keep my Diamonds together. Here's the PR description...

Here is a history in pictures of a few of the obstacles I've overcome with my '94 Mighty Max and my '90 Laser Turbo. I'm selling myself and my dedication as I work to raise money for the research and development of an innovative aftermarket part I have a concept for. The part will be applicable to ANY aftermarket platform, but my heart belongs to the 3 Diamonds. If you'd like to contribute to my cause, feel free to transfer funds through PayPal to my email address - finnie3d@yahoo.com. Thank you in advance for any help you're able to give. I'm grateful for my progress so far, and looking forward to even more and more success in the near future. Thanks for Watching!

I won't quit until I reach my goal. I'm going to represent Mighty Ram 50 and the Mitsubishi-Powered community well!
And if you have a project that's been a pain in your bucket seat, if you really love it, don't quit. Keep building! Just believe in yourself and you can get it done! Three Diamonds (and family) Forever!

Finn

[Fordubishi]

well done Mike

[MaxinOut]

Until I just watched your video I had no clue you lived so close to me it can't be anymore than about a thirty Minuit drive. Do you ever go to jenros in the summer

[Finnie3d]

well done Mike

Thanks Fordubishi... more to come. :-)

[Finnie3d]

Until I just watched your video I had no clue you lived so close to me it can't be anymore than about a thirty Minuit drive. Do you ever go to jenros in the summer

Yeah, I haven't been going because last summer I didn't have as much done to the truck, and the Laser wasn't running yet. But I definitely plan to check it out more. How many other Tidewater MightyRams are on the board that you know of? We should get together some time.

[MaxinOut]

we are the only two that i know of

[Finnie3d]

we are the only two that i know of

My friend says he knows a couple guys w MightyRams in Richmond, and there are plenty of Mitsu family member around in general... let's see what we can organize. Might be the first, or a least a Mitsu Club of Merit in our area. Whatdyathink?

[camoit]

My friend says he knows a couple guys w MightyRams in Richmond, and there are plenty of Mitsu family member around in general... let's see what we can organize. Might be the first, or a least a Mitsu Club of Merit in our area. Whatdyathink?

Get em on here.... That will help you to organize them and put together meetings.