It's been a long road for the owner of this wild Evo-kitted Aussie Lancer sedan. However, the fruits of his toil are finally starting to pay off. For the best part of two years, Stanley seems to have frequently had his hand in his pocket handing over some fairly serious folding stuff. Although, with ambitions as grandiose as Stanley's, the cost was always going to get way out of hand. You see, this was and perhaps still is the fastest Mitsubishi Lancer in the land. But having received a massive horsepower increase in recent months, chances are this silver bullet is going to cut some extremely tough record-breaking numbers.
During our last visit, we put Stanley's tough Lancer through its paces to the tune of a highly impressive 4.33 second 0 to 100 time, and a super low 13 second quarter. Now, with a new engine, a serious clutch and a full-on build-up approach, the ante looks ripe for some serious action. Indeed, the dyno figures indicate an amazing increase over the already tough combo, with a horsepower number approximately twice that of the factory figure. Think about that for a minute. The factory rates the little Lancer at close to 150kW (201hp) - double it and you're looking down the tube at 300kW or 400hp! Plus the Lancer is no fatso.
Stanley bought his Lancer GSR as a dealer ex-demo after deliberating over a Subaru WRX and at the time, the price of the Lancer was right - much cheaper than the WRX. Keen to up the performance ante from day one, he immediately delivered the Mitsu to AVO where the miniature factory turbocharger was tossed in favour of a radically revised version. An electronic boost controller, mandrel bent 3 inch exhaust system and fuel cut over-ride were also fitted at the same time.
Although happy with the extra performance, Stan the man was concerned about reliability - hence the subsequent fitment of a blow-off valve, large intercooler and water spray, oil breather tank, twin ancillary injectors and a HKS air filter. Utilising the engine's performance to the max is a short-shifted trans with alloy Razo knob which actually works extremely well.
Located to the left and right, fore and aft of the gearstick is an interior benefiting from Razo pedals, MOMO Competition steering wheel, HKS turbo timer, three inch Sabelt harnesses, Sparco Evo driver's seat, AutoMeter shift light and A-pillar mounted boost and oil pressure gauges. Quality sounds are also assured thanks to an Alpine single CD player as well as a MD and equaliser, Kenwood and Sony amps, a Bazooka sub box, and Polk front and rear splits. Then there's all the switchgear! This custom combo is extensive to say the least, and incorporates aircraft style switches for ancillary fuel pump, ignition and start, hi/low boost, intercooler water spray and overboost for when aviation fuel is introduced to the system.
With club racing in mind, the suspension was radically improved by Melbourne's Traction Tyres with Bilstein shocks, 60mm lowered Tanabe springs on adjustable platforms, urethane bushes, front and rear Cusco strut braces, and a Rigid rear sway bar. Both ends rely on approximately two degrees of negative camber for further increased cornering power. Braking is also up there, thanks to grooved rotors and Project U Type NA pads, while sitting between the monster 17 x 7 inch Sparco Python 2 rims and the road are sticky 215/45 Falken Azenis club race tyres. Appearances differ more than just with the wheels too, thanks to a full Evolution III body kit and a bunch of stickers.
That's how the car remained right up until the recent engine rebuild - but a lot has now changed. Read on and you'll see!
Intent on owning the fastest GSR in town, the engine was delivered to Performance Engines in Thomastown on the proviso that the cost of the build be kept to the bare minimum. In turn, the Performance boys chose to stick to the basics in prepping the block, including reaming the bores approximately 1.5mm and upping the swept capacity to around 1900cc. Nitriding, stress relieving, and micropolishing was performed on the crank, with support coming from a set of stock Mitsubishi bearings. Significant con rod modifications include resized big-ends, shot peening, electro-nickel plating, and high quality ARP bolts. The little ends have also been milled by 1mm oversize to accept custom lightweight tool steel gudgeon pins mounted high up in custom forged Arias pistons that reduce the compression from the standard 8.3:1 to a lowly 7.32:1. Piston mods consist of HPC ceramic coated crowns and Teflon coated skirts. Weighing in at just 245 grams a piece (150 grams less than the factory piston), they sit .200" lower in the bores and wear rings that are file fit chromoly coated.
Up top, the cylinder head has been ported and the chambers reshaped, there are K-line valve guides, valve seat angle correction and new stockie valves and springs. The original cams were micro-polished and dialled-in, and Performance Engines fitted new standard lifters. Fully balanced and blueprinted, the new motor retains its factory oil pump and sump.
Once sealed, the engine was sent to Amberley Autos where Ian Weightman fitted the exterior hardware, wired in a M48 MoTeC engine management computer and also 25% higher rate injectors.
While he was at it, he modified the intercooler pipes and removed the airflow meter and replaced it with a restriction-free MAP sensor.
After being run in on the Frankston TAFE four-wheel-drive dyno, the first power runs were less than impressive. Indeed with less than 140kW (188hp) produced, Ian wasn't a happy man.
Afterward, back at the workshop, the AVO modified turbocharger was removed, rebuilt and equipped with a larger (up from .5 to .7) turbine housing to bump up the airflow. The pathetic exhaust dump was another major concern, as most modified GSR owners would be familiar with. You see, the turbo's exhaust side is relatively close to the oil filter, which means that any aftermarket dump arrangement has to be a hugely restrictive, small diameter and right angled creation. Ian rectified the problem by creating a remote oil filter arrangement, which then allowed a vastly larger dump pipe to be fitted in front of the existing 3 inch mandrel bent GReddy exhaust system.
For the next dyno run, the owner asked that Ian produce two tune up levels; one to suit PULP fuel and the other aviation gas (Avgas). A couple of runs on PULP at a boost maximum setting of 1.2 Bar (17.6 psi) resulted in an extremely healthy 155kW (208hp)at the wheels. But filling the tank with aviation fuel realised a new lease on life (thanks in part to an increase in boost to 1.5 Bar/22 psi), with the maximum power reading reaching an astonishing 180kW (241hp).
And note that from our experience, figures achieved on a Dyno Dynamics 4WD dyno equate to around a 40% drop from the flywheel figure...
Rest assured, once this monster car has produced a quarter mile time we'll update you on its performance. But it should be abso-bloody-lutey blistering!
Contacts:
AVO (Advanced Vehicle Operations)
+61 3 9584 4499
Performance Engines
+61 3 9464 3929
