Galant VR4

Galant VR-4

People often ask "What have you done to the car?".... We normally just shrug our shoulders, as over the years of owning this car we have done little bits and pieces here and there but we cant remember or it's too trivial to mention. Lately people have been wanting to know everything.

The car was purchased out of necessity. We use to have a 1987 Nissan EXA with a 1.6L motor. Although it wasn't quick, it was versatile and we loved it.

Then we decided to have a rug rat... about 3 months into the pregnancy we decided to see how the baby seat was gonna fit in the back seat of the EXA.... (September 1997) Quite simply it doesn't fit at all. The back seat of a EXA is like a parcel shelf. We tried to jam it in every single way possible, this car was not gonna be sold for a child that hasn't even arrived here yet. No way!

A friend we had at the time suggested we take a look at this list of 4 door, Turbo, AWD's / 4WD's. We took a look at the list and we were impressed with a few cars.... but mainly two of them. The Subaru Liberty RS Turbo, and the Mitsubishi Galant VR-4.

We hunted around for either car calling all the Subaru Dealers, and all the Mitsubishi Dealers we could find. We asked them all if they had either of the cars we were chasing. Most of the Subaru Dealers seemed helpful, and said they would ring should one come in. Some of the Mitsubishi Dealers laughed and said they would put us on the list.

(March 1998) One dealer rang back...... Paceway Mitsubishi.... They had a Galant VR-4 and we still had the Nissan EXA. Still not having driven either as yet, we went straight in for a look. We were happy with the look, we were happy with the performance. "We will take it". Just in time too... The wife has just given birth to our daughter, and we needed to have the car seat in and I had to pick them up that night.

The 1991 Mitsubishi Galant VR4

So this is what it looked like when we first bought her way back in March 1998

Standard Stats:

Body	4 Door Sedan
Brakes	(Front): 276 mm Ventilated Disc's (Rear): 265 mm Disc's ABS
Drive	Front Mounted Engine, 4WD, 5 Speed.
Engine	2.0-litre, in line four, DOHC, 16 valve with air/air intercooled turbocharger TDO5
Power/Torque	148kW @ 6000rpm/279Nm @ 3000rpm, 7.8:1, 7000rpm redline, 7PSI. 74kw / litre
Suspension	(Front): Independent Macpherson struts with coil springs and anti roll bar (Rear): Independent upper and lower arms with coil springs and anti roll bar
Bore x Stroke	85 x 88 mm
Weight	1492 Kilo
Length	4680 mm
Height	1435 mm
Width	1695 mm
Fuel	62 Litres
Wheel Base	2600 mm
Wheels	15" Alloys
Tyres	195 / 60 RZ15
Performance	0 -100 km's - 7.1 Seconds 0 - 400 meters - 15.0 Seconds

Interesting Facts

The Australian model had to have larger bumpers both front and rear to meet Australian Standards.

The Australian Model also had to have side front fender indicators added.

Only 315 of the Galant VR-4's were sold in Australia.

Price when new: $44 990.00

The Galant VR-4 made it's WRC debut in the 1989 Monte Carlo Rally and was coming second outright until it ran out of puff just four stages from the end. Three Rallies later at the 1000 Mile Rally in Finland the VR-4 claimed first prize..

Rally Australia Stats:

Year	Car	Placed	Drivers
1988	Galant VR4	6th	KenjiroShinozuka / Fred Gocentas
1989	Galant VR4	7th 9th	KenjiroShinozuka / Fred Gocentas Ed Ordynski / Lyndon Wilson
1990	Galant VR4	7th 9th 10th	Tommi Makinen / Seppo Harjanne Kyoshi Inoue / Satosha Hayashi Ed Ordynski / Jeremy Browne
1991	Galant VR4	2nd 5th 7th 10th	Kenneth Eriksson / Staffan Parmander Timo Salonen / Voitto Silander Ross Dunkerton / Fred Gocentas Ed Ordynski / Harry Mansson
1992	Galant VR4	5th 7th 8th 9th 10th	Ross Dunkerton / Fred Gocentas Ed Ordynski / Mark Stacey Tolley Challis / Rod Van Der Straaten Kyoshi Inoue / Yoshimasa Nakahara Craig Stallard / Graeme Jesse

After 1992, everyone switched to the EVO Lancers. But what a run they had... Five out of the top ten places in 1992,

What's Been Done....

At the same time we had only just bought a business, so doing her up a little came at a very slow rate.

Interior

Tinted the windows (of course)

Alpine / Momo Steering Wheel

(Only 100 of these were ever made in the world)

Alpine CD Player - CDA-9815

Momo Gear Stick Knob - F16 EVO Silver.

HKS Boost Gauge

HKS Turbo Timer

I really wanted to keep the interior as original as possible. I'm not into thumping stereo's and so on. I do like clean crystal sounding music of course... but I don't need 15 subs and cross over speakers to have it sound great.

Exterior

ROZZA 18" Rims

(You cant buy these buggers anymore. I tried, but... no dice)

KONI Performance Adjustable Struts Front & Rear

Kings Springs Front & Rear

I don't know that I will go for these next time. But that's next time.

Engine Stage 1

Turbo: Twin Scroll EVO III (TDO5H) - The Turbo spools up quicker.

Manifold: - Upgraded Galant VR4 - 49 to 54 mm's - Increases air flow out.

Boost Controller: - To up the boost from 0.75 Bar to 1.2 Bar

K&N Air Filter - Increased airflow in to the motor.

Lightened Flywheel - Revs up faster, comes on boost faster.

RalliArt competition clutch. - This grabs... like nothing else.

Blow Off Valve - Group A Rally Spec - Holds boost longer

EVO VI Injectors - More fuel where / when you need it.

EPROM upgrade - Gotta have this with new injectors.

Dump Pipe - "Action Dan" (Ceramic Coated) - Allows the air to flow out of the turbo faster and cleaner.

2- 1/2" Exhaust all the way through. Resonator, Muffler, and Hi Flow Cat in place. Painted Matt Black

This is her... 2003

Drag Times:

31st of March 2004

Reaction Time	0.489 Seconds
60'	2.090 Seconds
330'	5.982 Seconds
660'	9.264 Seconds
1000'	12.155 Seconds
Elapsed Time	14.610 Seconds
Terminal Speed	148.09 Kph

Not flash... but I knew I had more to go....

Engine Overhaul Stage 2

4 x EVO II Pistons - Widely considered the best pistons

Competition Head Gasket

Overhauled Cylinder Head

Big End Bearings

EVO III Knock Sensor - These are the Knock sensors to get guys

Set of Rings - Of course

Balance Bearings

Modified Conrods

Polished Crank

This is her again in July 2006

Engine Overhaul Stage 3

At this stage you will be thinking I am some sort of car junkie... This isn't the case.

Stage 1 was done thinking that was the final stage. This is it... no more. (Well maybe just a little more but bugger all really)

Stage 2 was done because I thought the car was blowing oil past the rings... turns out this wasn't the case... it was the wrong fuel regulator that I had fitted some months earlier and it was blowing unused fuel out of the exhaust... Don't ask how much that cost... I'm too embarrassed to admit it.

Stage 3... well... that's a long story...

Engine balanced - Why not, we were there, might as well make it perfect.

20G Turbo Fitted - Flowed and balanced wheel

EVO III Intercooler - Fits beautiful

Mandrel bent stainless Intercooler pipework

Cold air intake box

Battery relocated to the boot - For the straighter lines in the intercooler pipework.

EVO VIII MAF

Ostrich Computer

Aeromotive Fuel Regulator

Greedy Catch Can - Again :-)

HDI EBC-R Boost Controller - Awesome

Walbro Fuel Pump

EVO 8 BOV

RS Throttle Body Elbow

New Coil Pack

The car felt great but we were getting too much knock. It seemed like not enough fuel.

New Walbro, 3rd gear 6000RPM. - 4 Knock :-) Happy Days

And again in April 2010

This boost controller is the dux nuts gents. It fits into this little spot like it was made for the job. It's a very professional bit of gear, extremely well made, and it comes with silicone tubing and brass fittings, all for $183.00 AUD. An awesome bit of kit. Get on this if you don't already have a electronic boost controller.

They are so easy to fit.

Still to be done

So here is where it's at right now....

We put the little compressor on the front of the turbo looking for air leaks.

0.5 Bar - we started getting leaks out of the silicone joiners and no matter how hard we tightened up the hose clamps we simply couldn't get the air to stop leaking out of the gaps around the silicone joiners. In some cases we snapped the hose clamps. We bought some flash ones from Pirtek that we could tighten with a socket set. This got us to 0.6 of a bar before the next leak.

0.6 Bar - Found a leak in the one of the welds of the stainless pipework shown above. Got that welded up.

0.65 Bar - Found a leak in the wastegate silicon pipe that went to the electronic boost controller, cut that at the crack and rejoined it

0.7 Bar - Found an air leak around the electronic boost controller solenoid. The brass fittings need to have some teflon / plumbers tape around the fittings.

1.5 Bar is the goal if the little compressor can make it. :-)

Dyno again.

EVO Bonnet - Found, paid for, we are now waiting for the respray to happen. Friday 2nd of July 2010

and...

Not long now. :-)

She's done... everything I have ever wanted to do has been done. It's taken over 12 and a half years... but... it's done.

AUGUST 2010

Last things.... back to the dyno for a final run right after that final critical tune... then off to the drags.... Who cares how she runs... She is dead sexy.

We have wired up the electronic boost controller to have a valet mode. "Standard boost (0.5 Bar or 7 pound) and "Give It" mode. "Give It" runs beautiful at 1.6 Bar. (23 Pound), New turbo, new motor, new clutch, everything is working extremely well... just that tune for perfection awaits... to make the car accelerate effortlessly. I have felt it in this car before before I replaced the seals on the injectors. With the slight fuel / air mixture change we need to possibly throw in some more air. Whatever the tuner says... :-)

I didn't know if I would like the bonnet either ... took the gamble... and love it.

The paint work was done by Como Panel and Paint... Great work guys... really great work.

Como Panel & Paint took some progress pics for me as well. If your interested drop me an email info@cannonballrun.info and I'll send you a few.

September 2010 Update

We tracked down the original owner of the car that's listed in the log book this month. We just wanted to drive past the house. Out on the front veranda was an elder gent that could have been a "Sam Elliot" but he had a walking stick, and was feeding some birds from his chair. We drove past and thought, "I wonder if he is the original owner from 1991 - 1998." (We are the second owners from 1998 till now) so we turned around and went back. We pulled up out the front and I walked up to the elder man. I said "Hello is your name Samuel Elliot" "Yes it is" came the reply, "This use to be your car" well, you should have seen the old guys face light up, he said "It's like having one of your kids come home, It looks great, you have really looked after it" I spoke to the nice old guy for about 20 minutes and he shared a storey with me that nearly made me laugh out loud, respect held the laughter back, when he said "That car is very powerful you know" (He said this to me quietly like it was a secret.) I just nodded and smiled, he then added... "I spun the wheels in the gravel once... frighten the life out of me" :-) if the guy was 10 years younger I might have said "Get in and check it out now mate, I'll take you for a spin." hahaha, he "spun the wheels on the gravel..." the car would have had a heart attack the day I took the car for a test drive. Incidentally he says he should never have sold this car, he traded the Galant for an Audi turbo. The man knows his cars.

December 2010 Update

So..... we had smoke coming out of the exhaust... white smoke. (At one stage it had engulfed the car in white smoke) Not good. Options, it could be that we are running high enough boost that we could be ever so slightly lifting the head and coolant is getting into the cylinders. Okay, order a new Cometic (Competition) head gasket, new ARP head studs. These were put in, but we didn't trust the 5000 Km old turbo, so we pulled the turbo out and had it checked. The main man at Performanz Turbos was right onto it and in less than 24 hours we had the turbo back. When he handed the turbo back he told me that one of the bearings had score marks in it from a minuet piece of steel. These small score marks would have most certainly caused the smoke. Okay, so we have the turbo back and recon, the motor that was bullet proof before has now been Kevlar coated.

February 2011 Update

The Galant performs beautifully. Just to be sure we fitted a Air / Fuel ratio sensor. Now we can test everything without the need for a dyno.

Described as "Ridiculously Tidy" by a young guy working at the BP petrol station he asked me what I had done to it... "Narr seriously man... what have you done to it" is what he said... Too much to list off the top of my head so I gave him this website address to have a look at. Then I noticed there is a heap of stuff not listed that we have done to the chip... so here goes:

No Lift Shift

This allows you to change gears over 6000rpm without taking your foot off the accelerator. How it works in simple terms is like this... your foot is flat on the accelerator, and you engage the clutch... the chip only lets the revs drop to 6000 RPM whilst you change gears... this kicks you in the back when you make the change and keeps the turbo spooled up.

90% Aircon Cut Out

So picture this... you want to overtake a road train... you put your foot down to get around it on some lonely country road and you see a car coming the other way, too late to back off and go back now... put your foot flat to the boards on the accelerator and your aircon cuts out automatically ... the fan is still blowing but the aircon cuts out to give you every horse possible at the trough.

No Boost Cut

This was annoying... :-) had this taken out of the chip... "Boost Cut" who ever thought of such a thing.

Remapped airflow

To allow for the EVO 8 air flow meter

Phantom Knock

Mitsubishi in their wisdom thought this would be great to add in should we get a does of bad fuel... basically if you get to much "Knock" for the next 80K's your car has retarded power... on top of this... your car would sometimes register knock and there was none.... We remapped the chip so that every time you push the clutch in, it zero's the knock...

Launch Control

Saved the best for last... Your on the starting line.... your concerned about getting wheel spin or a bogged down launch... don't be, simply floor the clutch and accelerator at the same time. You would normally think... "My God the car will redline and blow the motor" not with this chip... This chip will only allow the car to get to 5500 RPM and have a sort of "Antilag" noise.... simply drop the clutch with the drive line loaded up and your car will launch without wheel spin, without becoming bogged down perfectly every time you launch.... most races are won at lost from the start line... you wont loose again :-)

Anyway... that's a brief going over... I am sure I would have forgotten something... but...

May 2011 Update

We fitted new front slotted rotors the other day, with some new AFM pads. Very nice. Whilst we were there we fitted some new tie rod ends and a couple of new suspension bushes that are meant to help with the way the front end corners. These items certainly stiffened up the front end. She feels like a brand new car. Just as I start to sit back and enjoy the fruits of our labour the 20 year old alternator decided to pack it in. How rude. Out with the old 75AMP alternator and in with the new 90AMP. Heres looking at another 20 years hey :-)

August 2011 Update

Well, we finally got the car down to Damo for the absolute finest of tuning for the old girl. After a few hours we discovered a few things were holding her back. The Group A Rally Spec Blow Off Valve is working very well... probably too well... A EVO 8 BOV was ordered and has been fitted. The second thing we found, the 20 year old Coil Pack was not really packing much coil.... it's done it's 20 year tenure and it's time to put that into retirement and get a fresh new one to deliver new spark to the relationship between Spark, Fuel and Air. :-) We bought a new one and have fitted this. The ride is sooo much smoother. The last thing we found that is holding the old girl back was the elbow just before the throttle body intake. It's too small, we need a bigger one. Damo bought a wrecked VR-4 this week... BINGO... he had the bigger Rally Spec Elbow in his hand when he called me. The tuning is perfect, based on what is in the car right now she is good to go. I even bought 4 brand new shoes for her. Hankook Ventus 18" 225/35's. Even old girls like new shoes once in a while.

There is a bit more boost leak / drop than we would like. One more fault to track down. Pressure tested to 30PSI no problem, no air leaks in the cooler system.

Last little bugger to find.... We're onto it. :-)

Russ

0438 345 835