Gaz86's 1994 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo II RS

[EF Ian]

Got MeisterR's in the Civic and I rate them pretty well, that thing handles likes it on rails and its not too hard or crashy. Its not great over lumpy B roads, handles it fine, just not enough ground clearance, always terrified about bottoming out my manifold as it hangs low.

 

[Gaz86]

Got MeisterR's in the Civic and I rate them pretty well, that thing handles likes it on rails and its not too hard or crashy. Its not great over lumpy B roads, handles it fine, just not enough ground clearance, always terrified about bottoming out my manifold as it hangs low.

As long as they can handle the Ards peninsula roads I'm happy The Mazda did pretty well around the roads here and this weighs about the same, just as you say ground clearance is the main issue. I'm used to the GT86's quite crashy Eibach's so anything better than that will feel like luxury to me.

 

[Gaz86]

I had a nice surprise waiting for me when I got home today

 

[Gaz86]

I know I already have a nice mirror polished spark plug cover but this came up in one of the owners Facebook groups yesterday and am sorely tempted

The past couple of nights I've been cleaning up and prepping the two upper engine mounts for paint. These unfortunately are no longer available from Mitsubishi and the only other options are uprated aftermarket items which would probably shake the car to pieces so decided to refurbish them. I've given them a good all round clean with a wire wheel followed by 4 coats of high build primer then sanded with a mixture of red scotch pad in the awkward areas and 320 grit sandpaper on the flat faces. They're currently drying after a coat of BMW Estoril Blue. Will finish them off tomorrow afternoon Pics to follow

 

[svensktoppen]

Personally I don't think these older cars need random carbon or carbon look bits.

 

[Gaz86]

Personally I don't think these older cars need random carbon or carbon look bits.

It probably wouldn't fit the theme I have in mind anyway. I don't have anything else carbon anywhere on the car. Does look tasty though. Personally wouldn't preferred it without the Mitsubishi logo myself.

 

[DJMCA]

This is gonna be some build when complete (even though it aint a Ford ). Loving the thread

Looking forward to seeing it getting built up, hopefully see it round the Peninsula or Ards

 

[Gaz86]

This is gonna be some build when complete (even though it aint a Ford ). Loving the thread

Looking forward to seeing it getting built up, hopefully see it round the Peninsula or Ards

Thanks I'm doing the best I can lol I could really do with a couple of weeks off and just work on this solid but that's not going to happen. Where abouts are you from?

 

[DJMCA]

Thanks I'm doing the best I can lol I could really do with a couple of weeks off and just work on this solid but that's not going to happen. Where abouts are you from?

It seems to take forever but it will be awesome when finished. The work you are putting in is worth it.

Live in Ards. You?

Maybe get a few old skool pics taken of the cars together when your built and running. Fix Or Repair Daily and Jap Scrap together

 

[Gaz86]

It seems to take forever but it will be awesome when finished. The work you are putting in is worth it.

Live in Ards. You?

Maybe get a few old skool pics taken of the cars together when your built and running. Fix Or Repair Daily and Jap Scrap together

Ah right, yeah I'm way down the peninsula in Ardkeen. Out in the boonies

Aye sounds good

I was on a half day today as usual, out in the garage working on the car doing a number of things. One of which being deciding what way to approach the rear panel. It's got a bit of a kink in it from being lifted with a tow strap and not looking in the best condition. I was thinking I could use an offcut from an Evo 3 I got a while ago but it would involve a bit of work and probably quite a few headaches to look 100% so I lifted the phone to Donnellys Mitsubishi to see if they could order one in for me. £261 Inc vat So I've ordered it but it likely won't be here until January/February time. This will halt progress a bit unfortunately but will give me plenty of time to sort out a number of other things like the engine and refurish numerous other bits so it's not all bad.

 

[Gaz86]

Tomorrow's task is to start refurbishing the power steering rack. I have new OEM bellows from Mitsubishi on the shelf ready to fit, olive drab paint at the ready for the pipes and even had the original Koyo decal reproduced Of course nobody but myself and the MOT guys will ever see it but sure lol The devil's in the detail as they say!

 

[Gaz86]

More progress on the Evo today. The new panels have been treated with several coats of Bonda Rust Primer + Zinc. This stuff seems to be very popular with in the car restoration community. This will be overcoated with epoxy primer in due course. Might do one more coat of this. I also treated the front chassis legs, front crossmember and scuttle panel with Eastwoods Internal Frame Coating. The phenolic resin encapsulates the rust hiding inside the chassis so it doesn’t rust its way through and destroy the frame from the inside out. Once this is completed, zinc phosphate seals the frame against additional rust Most people seem to say that one tin did their whole car but I used the whole tin on the front end alone, I sprayed it in until it was dripping out onto the floor just to be thorough

Power steering rack stripped down and cleaned for painting. New track rods and track rod ends ordered as the threads are a bit corroded. Will hopefully get this primed tomorrow for painting at some stage this week.

 

[EF Ian]

I assume you removed as much rust as possible first? With stiff wire wheel, or spot blaster?

In my experience treatments applied over rust don't last for long, if any dark metal is left, it will come back after a while. I treat a lot of rust at work and the most successful areas are the ones I've been able to media blast with the recirculating spot blaster.

Of course for the areas you can't access there is no choice and we just have to do the best we can.



I have found most Eastwood products to be very good.

 

[svensktoppen]

Obviously best to remove everything if possible, but that can be near impossible without splitting panels. And even if it looks shiny there can still be stuff left.

Some rust converters seem to work quite well, especially in hard to reach places. And then a good penetrating wax on top.

Of course anything short of complete replacement will always be a compromise. Just a matter how far to take it for a project. There is literally no end to it once you start, have to draw a line somewhere.

 

[Gaz86]

I assume you removed as much rust as possible first? With stiff wire wheel, or spot blaster?

In my experience treatments applied over rust don't last for long, if any dark metal is left, it will come back after a while. I treat a lot of rust at work and the most successful areas are the ones I've been able to media blast with the recirculating spot blaster.

Of course for the areas you can't access there is no choice and we just have to do the best we can.



I have found most Eastwood products to be very good.

Yes I went over it with one of those big knotted wire wheels on the grinder first. Harder to get to areas were done with a finer wire wheel on the cordless drill. There wasn't much to start with anyway. There's only one small area on the front crossmember that needs a little patch about an inch square, the rest is fine. Will definitely get more of their internal frame coating.

Obviously best to remove everything if possible, but that can be near impossible without splitting panels. And even if it looks shiny there can still be stuff left.

Some rust converters seem to work quite well, especially in hard to reach places. And then a good penetrating wax on top.

Of course anything short of complete replacement will always be a compromise. Just a matter how far to take it for a project. There is literally no end to it once you start, have to draw a line somewhere.

Well the car is getting a brand new rear panel, can't get any better than that and I'll make sure it's very well protected before it gets painted. It's much easier to do it at this stage than later down the road. If you haven't already guessed I have a touch of OCD when it comes to building cars lol

 

[Gaz86]

Just finished off refurbishing the upper engine mounts. I really should have taken some before photo's but I genuinely didn't think I'd get them to I come up this well. They looked pretty shoddy beforehand. They were given a very thorough clean down with a wire wheel and some APC then, degreased and primed, sanded and painted BMW Estoril Blue with 4 or 5 coats of clear lacquer over the top The damper on the end was finished with black wrinkle paint and two brand new titanium, yes titanium bolts, how good do they look!! Their days of looking ****ty and miserable in the engine bay are well and truly over It's the little details that count!

 

[svensktoppen]

That's nuts, lol - in the best possible way

 

[Gaz86]

That's nuts, lol - in the best possible way

They're bolts actually

I've ordered brand new track rods and track rod ends, due to be delivered this week sometime then I'll drop the power steering rack over to Hayes Motorsport to get them fitted. I don't have the tools to do that myself unfortunately.

Next up I'm going to try and restore these Cusco strut braces. Taking everything back to bare metal at the moment. I may succeed, I may not but it's worth a try.

 

[EF Ian]

Nice work on the mounts.


Those strut braces should be easy to bring back.

 

[svensktoppen]

Would have thought so too, just look a bit dirty really. Unless there is something not obvious in the pictures?

 

[Gaz86]

Nice work on the mounts.


Those strut braces should be easy to bring back.

Would have thought so too, just look a bit dirty really. Unless there is something not obvious in the pictures?

The underside of the ends didn't look great, a bit scabby in some places. I was half inclined to bin them and order new ones but thought I'd give them a go first. After going over them with the angry wheel last night I think they're going to be ok though. A bit of etch primer and some high build should sort it out. I have new decals to go on them when they're done too

 

[Gaz86]

Another couple of interior bits from Japan after getting my full Evo 5 interior. Nothing exciting but sometimes it's the small details. The front seats were missing the covers where they bolt to the floor.

As I'm refurbishing the steering rack at the moment I noticed the 30 year old bushes had more or less turned into Haribo which would mean there could be play in the rack leading to vague steering and we don't want that! These uprated power steering bushes should ensure a better turn in The rack is going to Hayes Motorsport today to have new track rods and track rod ends fitted.

 

[Gaz86]

The Hardrace bushes didn't fit so are being returned and replaced with SuperPro bushes instead

And another bunch of parts ordered for the moneypit Again, small stuff but will like the clips that hold the brake lines onto the underside, the plastic clamps that hold the ignition leads onto the cam cover, these had yellowed and felt very brittle and lastly a new jack support bracket as I had to cut mine out.

 

[svensktoppen]

To be honest they only really need OEM bushes.

 

[Gaz86]

To be honest they only really need OEM bushes.

Agreed, but they are around the same price so figured if there was anything to be gained from a slightly harder bush I may as well. Actually by the time you'd pay for shipping the OEM ones would work out dearer. UK dealers seem to stock nothing for these cars, it's all special order from Japan.