This
1983 Mitsubishi Scorpion is my first car, and I suppose being any rev-heads
first car it's been through a lot! Modifications have been few and far between
due to a lack of cash, but hopefully that will be solved soon enough. I must
say I didn't think much of the Scorpion until I started driving one. It used
to be my parents car and they have had it since new,
so
I know it had always been looked after. The only problem with this car is the
paint-job, which has faded on the bonnet, the boot and the roof, which is quite
common for this colour Scorpion. The car was always garaged so its a bit of
a disapointment. In May 2001 the car required a full engine rebuild after the
big-end bearing in the motor let go. This is caused by either lack of oil or
high revs, so I'm told, and so since that expensive outing I've decided the
redline is there for a reason. When the motor was rebuilt it was rebuilt at
Southside Engine Centre in Perth, who build a lot of racing motors are quite
good. Unfortunantly we didn't go for a performance rebuild, but just a stock
rebuild. It was still quite expensive at $2450 all up. It needed to be run in
for 1,000 km's and after that time had passed I was very disapointed at the
performance of the engine, but it was just because it was very tight. That week
I got some new 215/65 R14 tyres (should of gotten lower profile 60 tyres, but
thats the beauty of hindesight), and took it down the drags to see what it could
do. My best run was a 17.521 @ 124.85 km/h with a 2.785 second 60 foot time.
That time wasnt too bad, seeing as Gemini's and the like were getting 20 second
runs and I was beating brand new Lancer's, and was only 0.6 seconds off a turbo-charged
Hyundai coupe. I was disapointed with my launch each time, and feel a 2.5 second
60 foot time would be possible.
A
little while later I decided to get an exhaust fitted. This was done at the
local Ian Diffen (yes dodgy it may sound, but I had heard a few cars they had
already done, and they sounded very good for their respectice models). The system
was a 2.25 inch press bent, mild steel system with one high flow muffler and
one resonator. I also liked the look of the tip on the grey Scorpion
on
the cover of Zoom magazine (issue No. 28), so I decided to get a 4 inch chrome
dump-style tip. The car now sounded very good from inside the car (and as no-one
else drives my car I haven't really heard it from the outside), and made it
rev a lot easier. However it still died around 4500 rpm, but up until then it
drove a lot nicer. There wasn't really any noticable increase in power, and
I found myself going through a lot more fuel as the "loud pedal" was
now getting used even more. That day I purchased some second-hand "Low"
Kings Springs for the front of the car. The car doesn't look that low, but compare
it to a stock Scorpion and it definetly is lower, if only by around 30 mm. The
handling of the car got quite a bit better after fitting these springs, and
there was less understeer and a much sharper turn in. Next modification was
a set of 4-2-1 Genie extractors. These made quite a noticable difference and
the car's natural shift point (when giving it some) moved from 4500 rpm up to
around 5000 rpm, and a lot more power from around 2000 to 5000 rpm. The car
sounded a little bit quieter with the extractors, and in my opinion, didnt sound
as good. After a while I decided I wanted it louder, so I got the resonator
removed. The car backfires more, and I think sounds a little bit "ricey"
now, and also makes a stupid noise at high revs when changing gears or backing
off, and didnt increase the sound by much, so looking back maybe I should of
kept the resonator on. Well it was around time to go back to the drags, but
in the mean time my clutch has started to slip something chronic. Oh well I'll
have to wait until I get more mods and a new clutch to go back down. I am confident
that with the exhaust, extractors, a decent(ish) launch and more km's on the
motor since last time a 16 second 1/4 mile time would be achievable. Now thats
pretty decent for what's basically a stock 4 cylinder carby car.
Other
"modifications" include a silver painted centre console, Remtek brake
pads, de-badging, resprayed wheel centre-caps and a radar detector. Future modifcations
planned include a 250 cfm Holley carby, a cam as wild as sanely possible for
a street car of this type, a port and polish to the head, more lowering, a decent
steering wheel and a heavy duty clutch. The goal is a 15.99
second
1/4 mile time (or better) for as little outlay as possible. Then it's on to
save for a 250 rwkw, low 12 second, race-style handling, 2.6 litre EFI turbo
Scorpion - hopefully the best one in Australia. That or convince "Big Gav"
to sell his grey turbo Scorpion (from Zoom magazine and Autospeed.com) to me.
If you wish to contact me you can do so via e-mail at WReXy_STi@hotmail.com
or on ICQ #64744932.
