Well a few months ago I decided that it was time to get rid of the S60. I couldn't justify fixing it to keep it road legal, so I went car shopping. I was originally looking for a newer 1500 Chevy truck, but it was next to impossible to find a decent one with a monthly payment that I was comfortable with. So I started looking at other cars. I prefer AWD and alittle spunk in a car for a DD. GM doesn't offer a car like that and I'll never buy a Ford or Dodge, but like almost every tuner out there WRXs, STIs, and EVOs interested me. The problem with them is that they are either beat, high mileage, or more than I was comfortable paying. IMO a car payment shouldn't take the majority/most of your weekly pay. I started looking at the latest generation Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliarts, 2.0L Turbo and AWD with the SST automatic transmission. I found this 2010 ~100 miles away with only 28,000 miles on it and the payment was right in my comfort zone.
I found a great deal on a slightly used Evo X turbo(twin scroll TD05, the Ralliart has a single scroll TD04) and couldn't pass it up.
And I picked up 3 Enkei Raijins. Why 3? Apparently no one else has a 4th gunmetal grey 18x8 Raijin with a 40mm offset in stock. So it looks like I am going to have to order another color and have them painted. I'll wrap them in some 245 Hankook V12s.
I also have a set of Swift lowering springs, rear camber arms, and Whiteline rear diff. bushings for it. Future plans include sway bars, bushings, AEM intake, AEM charge piping, AEM intercooler, Ultimate Racing full turboback exhaust, maybe tweak the front and rear bumpers to give it alittle more of an "EVO" look, and the rest of the parts to swap a EVO X turbo on it. I am just looking to make a good handling 300-350awhp DD.
"Project 69'"
1969 Chevrolet C/10, 1/2 ton, 2wd
-Boosted LS1?
-Richmond ROD 6-speed(will get sometime)
-Posi 12-bolt(built w/eaton posi unit and richmond 3.73 gears)
-Disc brake and 5 lug swap
+little extras
Can't say I have seen those. Should have room for a DD.
Where were the pictures taken?
FU Tuning
I took the pics along Rt. 29 North of where I live. That is a fun section of road.
I really didn't know about the Sportback model until I started looking at Ralliarts. It isn't a common car and I like that.
"Project 69'"
1969 Chevrolet C/10, 1/2 ton, 2wd
-Boosted LS1?
-Richmond ROD 6-speed(will get sometime)
-Posi 12-bolt(built w/eaton posi unit and richmond 3.73 gears)
-Disc brake and 5 lug swap
+little extras
Raijins are gorgeous! Probably a silly question, but have you checked eBay for a fourth one?
Great call on the Hankook V12s! I had them installed on my Vibe's OEM 18" wheels back in March and they have been awesome so far!
I will definitely be keeping an eye on this thread! Enjoy the new ride
!
I got the 1st 3 Raijins off of ebay, but I did just order one off of Tirerack(says that it is in stock). Hopefully they have it in stock. Also I have been running the V12s on my cavalier for the past few years and I do not have any complaints.
I did just find a good deal on the Evo X exhaust manifold(need it to run the Evo X TD05), so that should be arriving later this week. That knocks off the 2 most expensive items needed to do the Evo X turbo swap. I don't plan on turbo swapping until I have all of the power mods so I only have to send it to get tuned once(hopefully).
"Project 69'"
1969 Chevrolet C/10, 1/2 ton, 2wd
-Boosted LS1?
-Richmond ROD 6-speed(will get sometime)
-Posi 12-bolt(built w/eaton posi unit and richmond 3.73 gears)
-Disc brake and 5 lug swap
+little extras
I ended up finding a matching 4th Raijin. I haven't lowered it yet and am thinking of going with coil-overs instead. No one makes "performance" struts for Ralliarts. I can use the Evo X front struts, but the rears are different and won't work. The swift springs are advertised as ok for stock struts and supposedly the stock struts can handle lower springs, but lowering on stock struts just doesn't sit right with me.
I did end up getting another set of wheels/tires for winter. 16x7 Sparco Terra's wrapped in 205 Blizzaks. What little snow we did have in my area it made it thru like a camp.
Also last year before I moved someone backed into it and put a hole in the front bumper and broke the chrome trim. Obviously it bothered me, but I gave me an excuse to pick up a different front bumper.
It is an Evo X knock off that is made to fit the narrower bodies of the Ralliarts and base Lancers. The goal is to confuse alot of people. We never had an Evo X hatchback over here.
"Project 69'"
1969 Chevrolet C/10, 1/2 ton, 2wd
-Boosted LS1?
-Richmond ROD 6-speed(will get sometime)
-Posi 12-bolt(built w/eaton posi unit and richmond 3.73 gears)
-Disc brake and 5 lug swap
+little extras
I love everything about it I plan on getting on when I graduate college. Any more info on that bumper? Is it urethane or fiberglass?
It's urethane and I just found it on eBay. I am not sure who makes it but it comes with everything(grills, fog light surrounds, Evo X center trim bar, black or chrome trim like the Ralliart). I also plan on swapping the bumper support and crash pad with the Evo X. It already has the holes in it to allow the center holes to be functional. Plus it is aluminum instead of steel.
"Project 69'"
1969 Chevrolet C/10, 1/2 ton, 2wd
-Boosted LS1?
-Richmond ROD 6-speed(will get sometime)
-Posi 12-bolt(built w/eaton posi unit and richmond 3.73 gears)
-Disc brake and 5 lug swap
+little extras
Picked up an exhaust for it. Ultimate Racing 3" with resonator and ceramic cat. I went with a cat because it is the DD and it is easier to get it inspected with it. Plus it is advertised as "efficient up to 450hp" and I don't plan on making that much power with the car.
I am looking into tuning the car myself. I just picked up a cheap laptop and next weekend I'll try to get tuning software set up on it. Once I get that done and order the "boost pill" and an AEM Uego I'll toss the exhaust on. The one forum I have been reading shows that guys are picking up 20-30whp with just a tune and a ~$20 "boost pill".
"Project 69'"
1969 Chevrolet C/10, 1/2 ton, 2wd
-Boosted LS1?
-Richmond ROD 6-speed(will get sometime)
-Posi 12-bolt(built w/eaton posi unit and richmond 3.73 gears)
-Disc brake and 5 lug swap
+little extras
I finally got the car back after 2 rounds at the dealer. 1st an axle seal blew and dumped most of the trans fluid on my driveway and 2nd a pump for a differential started going. While it was there for the 2nd time I had them look into why the car never idled correctly(like it had a set of aftermarket cams w/o a proper tune). They ran a bunch of tests and everything cam back ok except for that the car isn't making the proper vacuum(another issue with larger aftermarket cams). I had my suspicions that the original owner had modded the car, but couldn't confirm it. Well the dealer pulled the cam cover to see what cams were in it. Turns out the reason it was running like it had aftermarket cams in it without a proper tune is because it actually has a set of Cosworth cams in it and is on the stock tune. The dealer wants ~$2500 to put a set of stock cams back in it, but a Cobb Accessport is $500 and a professional dyno tune is $500-$700. So in 2 weeks I have an appointment to get the car dyno tuned and sometime before then I'll be putting the exhaust on the car along with a Cobb electronic boost controller. I could be looking at a 40-50whp gain with this car now instead of the usual 20-30whp that I have read about.
Today I also replaced the bland stock center hood scoop with one from Rexspeed. It isn't 100% prefect, but I like it better than the stock.
"Project 69'"
1969 Chevrolet C/10, 1/2 ton, 2wd
-Boosted LS1?
-Richmond ROD 6-speed(will get sometime)
-Posi 12-bolt(built w/eaton posi unit and richmond 3.73 gears)
-Disc brake and 5 lug swap
+little extras
I think I like the stock scoop better as it blends better.
FU Tuning
Last week I decided to toss the exhaust on the car since I had made a tuning appointment and loaded Cobb's Stage 1 tune on just to get me back and forth to work. The car ran like crap, wouldn't idle and stalled out at redlights.
The day before the tuning appointment I tossed on a Cobb electronic 3-port boost controller to replaced the junk factory one. Loaded the Stage 2 Cobb tune to drive the car to the tuning shop. Still ran like crap.
My dyno results: 250whp/256wtq on 93 octane at 22psi.
I have seen baseline pulls for other stock Ralliarts and they are around 195whp.
I have only just driven the car 3 hours home, but so far there has been a massive improvement in drivablity. It actually idle nice now, doesn't stall, no hiccups when cursing, and the power comes on nicely. I am happy with the job they did.
I picked this rear lip up to address the issue of a single outlet exhaust system on a dual outlet car/bumper. It is made for the sedans, not the wagons but I think that I can get it to work on mine.
"Project 69'"
1969 Chevrolet C/10, 1/2 ton, 2wd
-Boosted LS1?
-Richmond ROD 6-speed(will get sometime)
-Posi 12-bolt(built w/eaton posi unit and richmond 3.73 gears)
-Disc brake and 5 lug swap
+little extras
New parts!!!!!
I tried putting the coil-overs(Fortune Auto 500s) on last week, but ran into an issue with the front sway bar end links(they attach to the strut) not wanting to break free. I also noticed that it is getting time to replace the brakes on it so why not upgrade a little bit. Hawk HPS pads(my go to pad), StopTech slotter rotors, and StopTech SS brake lines. So I picked up a new set of stock end links and tried again this week. This time I beat the end links, a sawzall *might* have helped, but I won. I have 100-150 miles on the new coil-overs and I must say that I am very happy with them. I got rid of the wheel gap and they ride very very close to stock. I'll get pictures next week when I toss the brakes and summer wheels on. I ran out of time this week for the brakes and I didn't want to kill a brand new set of Hankook V12s with a bad alignment.
Also the car is still running pretty good. It still has a few quirks that need to be ironed out. I think I am going to ditch the Cobb Accessport and go open-source and go to a different tuning shop.
"Project 69'"
1969 Chevrolet C/10, 1/2 ton, 2wd
-Boosted LS1?
-Richmond ROD 6-speed(will get sometime)
-Posi 12-bolt(built w/eaton posi unit and richmond 3.73 gears)
-Disc brake and 5 lug swap
+little extras
It's been a bit. The car is paid off now. The TD05 turbo is still sitting on the shelf. I have everything to go open source tuning, but I *might* be having the engine/transmission rebuilt to handle a ton more power. The Raijins were killed a few years ago do to unmarked roadwork so I replaced them with a set of Work T7Rs(18x8.5") and jumped to 255 Hankook V12s. I took the car to the dealer again awhile ago for a transmission fluid change and they replaced the battery and that seemed to have "fixed" a bunch of little quirks that the car had. Sometime in June I replaced the front brake pads(HPS's again), both front calipers(locked up), finally installed the SS brake lines, and changed out the old junky DOT 3 brake fluid for fresh DOT 4. I swapped out the stock sway bars out for Whiteline's 26mm front and 24mm rear bars. That was a huge PITA. I had to drop the rear diff out of the car just to get the rear bar out. Thankfully the lift at the new shop at my family's farm was available.
I think that is about it. I have no plans on getting rid of the car. I am thinking about blowing the car apart and refurbishing the suspension along with maybe a built engine/trans.
"Project 69'"
1969 Chevrolet C/10, 1/2 ton, 2wd
-Boosted LS1?
-Richmond ROD 6-speed(will get sometime)
-Posi 12-bolt(built w/eaton posi unit and richmond 3.73 gears)
-Disc brake and 5 lug swap
+little extras
Something funky happened and the left front sway bar end link mounting point on the coil-over broke off around a month ago. So I swapped out the stock stamped steel control arms for a set of OEM Evo X aluminum control arms. That allowed me to run much shorter sway bar end links and mount them to the control arm instead of the coil-over. Plus with 96K+ miles on the car, new control arm bushings and ball joints where not a bad idea.
"Project 69'"
1969 Chevrolet C/10, 1/2 ton, 2wd
-Boosted LS1?
-Richmond ROD 6-speed(will get sometime)
-Posi 12-bolt(built w/eaton posi unit and richmond 3.73 gears)
-Disc brake and 5 lug swap
+little extras
Great to see that you're still working on your Lancer.
Your DD looks great. I will be running Enkei Raijin’s on my Civic soon because I just ordered a set from 4wheelonline. I chose the copper finish since my car is white.
Whelp, the timing chain guild broke. The engine jumped time and dropped both intake valves on #1 cylinder. Block is ok, head is trashed. I'll be rebuilding it with Manley rods/pistons, a refreshed used head with Supertech valvesprings, and all of my Evo X turbo goodies that have been laying around for years. I am going to try to get the money around to send the transmission off to get rebuilt to hold more power. Should be 350ish awhp when I get it done. Then next fall I'll send the Evo X turbo off to get upgraded so I can be at the 500-550awhp area.
"Project 69'"
1969 Chevrolet C/10, 1/2 ton, 2wd
-Boosted LS1?
-Richmond ROD 6-speed(will get sometime)
-Posi 12-bolt(built w/eaton posi unit and richmond 3.73 gears)
-Disc brake and 5 lug swap
+little extras
