If ever there's been a turbocar that's changed the face of performance motoring in Australia it was the Mitsubishi Cordia GSR. Back when it was released in late '83, even the Street Machine crowd - who despised Japanese fours - had to admit that the new arrival was pretty hot property. Today, though, the Cordia is probably one of the most forgotten performance cars of the era. When was the last time you saw a really heavily worked-over Cordia? That's why it's refreshing to see one of these rockets of yesteryear return in 2001, meaner than ever before.
And Raymond Sunder's AB Cordia GSR is mean. This car is amongst the quickest front-wheel-drives in Australia.
Raymond started off with a "bucket of rust" back in 1998, which came powered by the factory 1.8 litre turbo. It didn't stay that way for long, however, with Raymond slapping on some 15-inch Sparco rims, lowered springs and transplanting an import 2-litre 3-valve-per-cylinder Dash motor. While he was at it, the exhaust was upgraded to 3-inch mandrel (with a single rear muffler), a Toyota Celica GT4 air-to-air intercooler was plumbed in and the boost was turned up. Of course.
Rather than fumble around trying to get the most out of the stock management system (with its throttle body injection and vortex airflow meter), a MAP-sensed MicroTech Digi programmable system was wired in. Indeed, the extra capacity and lift in boost pressure could be felt - but it wasn't long before a couple of pistons cracked under the pressure. Raymond disassembled the motor, bored it out 20 thou (there had also been a little surface scoring) and ordered a set of Wiesco forged pistons.
Since the pistons took their sweet-arse time to arrive, Raymond - who's a panel man by trade - took to the Cordia shell. Whole new rear quarters were installed, all rust and dents were removed and the whole lot copped a splash of PPG Ford blue. Trims were highlighted in silver.
When the pistons did finally show up, Raymond slotted everything back together the way Mitsubishi had intended. The only internal changes were the overbore and associated forged pistons. However, the extra potential afforded by the forged piston'd motor didn't go wasted. Tony Rigoli fabricated a tubular exhaust manifold, to which they mounted a Turbonetics T3/4 sized turbo and an external Racegate. A seriously big Mick's Metalcraft air-to-air intercooler was also added. This front-mount unit makes use of all available space and has become an external focal piece. Then was also the right time to update to the latest MicroTech MT8 system and a brace of quad Bosch coils. The fuel system now uses a high flow Bosch pump fed by the stock Cordia item.
This combo went darn hard - once Tony put in a decent heavy-duty clutch that could hack it. With around 280hp at the wheels of a Dyno Dynamics chassis dyno (on 22 psi and running on C16), the Cordia dashed off to a raise-you-eyebrows 12.16-second pass. And, yes, that was done with those 13-inch diameter McCreary slicks sticking out from the guards.
The interior also received an injection of aftermarket goodies. A pair of winged Velo race seats holds the front seat passengers in place, there's a SAAS flat-bottomed twirler and an Autometer tacho, boost and oil pressure gauge. The rest is standard AB GSR.
But things didn't stop at that.
Earlier this year, Raymond decided he'd crown his motor with a DOHC, 16-valve cylinder head - that off a Galant VR4. This - we're told - went atop the Dash motor quite easily. All that was required was a new exhaust manifold (with the turbo slightly enlarged on the turbine side) and some playing with pullies. HKS adjustable cam wheels were roped in and a copper head gasket was squeezed in between the O-ringed head and block. The Bosch direct-fire ignition system was carried over. However, Raymond will tell you what an incredible rush job it was to get the twin-cam motor built for the 2001 Brisbane Jamboree. When the guys initially pulled the SOHC Dash head off, it soon became apparent that even the forged pistons had copped a bit of a floggin'. Another set of the same was ordered - but you can only imagine the frustration when they arrived in the wrong size. It seems somebody forgot about that 20-thou overbore... With the four cylinder competition event fast approaching, all that the guys could do was grab another stock 2-litre Dash block, slap in those new standard size forgies and run it as-is. It was better than nothing.
Burning the midnight oil in the Tony Rigoli Gold Coast workshop, the car j-u-s-t managed to squeeze in a quick base tune on the dyno the night before the big day. A newly installed set of Mazda high-flow injectors were mapped and the result was a very strong three hundred and twenty horsepower (again measured at the front wheels, on around 22 psi boost and with C16). Not bad - but still a fair way shy of Raymond's goal of 400hp at the wheels.
With the bonnet barely dropped down (it didn't close properly at the time of our photo shoot because there was no clearance against the exhaust manifold - no time!) the car was hustled off to Willowbank. But, once on the track, there was a major problem - the heavily lent-on standard gearbox didn't want to slide into any forward gears. A slow-shifting time of 13.1-seconds was recorded - but, of course, that's a long way from the car's capability.
At present, the Cordia is ready to receive another replacement gearbox (Raymond's already been through a couple of diffs) and return to its proper plus-20-thou motor (with the correct pistons!). Some adjustment of the cam wheels and more in-depth ECU mapping will then ensure that the car cracks an 11. Raymond says all it has to do is go faster than it did with the Dash SOHC head (which managed a 12.16-second ET). Everything looks to be on-track, coz he says the car will now spins its McCreary slicks through first gear. It's never done that before. Out on the road with street tyres, Raymond says it can torque steer all over the place!
If you think Raymond's been busy on his Cordia, you should see what he's doing to his tucked-away Mazda R100. In comparison, the Cordia's just been a "fill-in". Stay tuned for when that one's finished...
Contact:
Tony Rigoli Performance
+61 2 9726 6662
|