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1988 Starion Partial Restoration


Colin
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This thread is dedicated to the restoration of my first car, a 1988 Mitsubishi Starion. I bought it on December 8th, 2012 (2 days after my 18th birthday) from a local man who was selling his project because he wanted to spend more time with his grandchildren. On the way home it wouldn't hold any RPM's and eventually stalled out. Luckily we weren't far from home, and we're friends with a local tow truck driver. At first we thought it was a bad fuel pump or a dirty tank, but upon giving it a fresh battery, it started and ran fine. Since then I've put on 2 front tires that hold air (they were used tires from our pile, but hey, they were free), since the old ones were rotten and leaky (I will be putting on a set of brand new ones before I'm finished the project). 2 weeks ago I pulled the radiator before starting a 2 week long condensed college course, so i was unable to do anything aside from ordering a new radiator. Today I discovered that my new radiator does not have the two holes at either side of the bottom of the tank where the coolant temperature sensors for the fans plug into, which brings me to my first of many questions, how should I go about solving this? Is there a way to have the coolant temp sensors somewhere else, or do I have to buy a different radiator? I also need to get the wastegate working properly. Should i be able to move it freely without the car running or should I not be able to move the linkage at all? right now I haven't seen it move with the car off, idling, or running at a higher speed. I know the vacuum lines are routed wrong, but does it sound like I will need a new wastegate solenoid? Anyway, thing still on the list of things to do:

  • Front Wheel Bearings
  • Strut Rod Bushings
  • Drain and fill differential/trans
  • Brake hoses
  • Fix parking brake
  • Complete brake job (drilled and slotted rotors?)
  • Sway bar bushings
  • Tires
  • Polish wheels
  • Paint-(going with Summit's Acrylic Urethane System-Merlot color)
  • Possibly an aftermarket intake
  • Fix an exhaust leak at the flange behind the second catalytic converter

Some parts I could use some help finding:

  • Wheel center caps? I cant find them anywhere...
  • Rear wiper motor
  • Rear wiper arm is rusted and bent

Here's a picture of the day I brought it home, as well as a picture of the paint color I'm getting

If you have any suggestions or answers to my questions, your help is much appreciated.

Colin

post-25510-0-43254800-1358819841_thumb.jpg

post-25510-0-48360400-1358819855_thumb.jpg

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Got my radiator back today, had the fan mounts soldered on and the coolant temp sensors mounted in the bottom tank. Also had the bottom outlet turned to a different angle because the fan shroud would interfere with the hose. Also cleaned my K&N air filter and ordered my radiator hoses. I hope to have it up and running again shortly!
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  • 2 weeks later...
I finally put my radiator in Friday and put everything back together. I took it for a drive on Monday and everything felt great. i only went down the street and back but I couldnt resist riding the gas and slamming through some gears haha I also ordered a boost gauge from Jegs and I'll put that in once my mounting bracket comes in.
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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

Been a while since I put anything up, but I'll update it now.

Radiators in and works

Finally got the car running right

Changed the turbo, got an aftermarket downpipe, waiting til after I paint to do exhaust (custom)

Brakes

Sway bar bushing

strut rod bushings

brake hoses

sway bar links

new gear oil in rear and trans

sanding the car down for paint right now, just primed the hood today :)

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Boost Gauge


Installed a Jegs boost gauge


Interior


Interior Disassembly to remove side spoilers


Hood


Hood primed


Downpipe


New downpipe + Fresh turbo Edited by Patrick_Starion
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  • 4 months later...

Havent updated in a LONG time. here goes.

Car is at home now, mechanically sound, just need exhaust bent.

Bumper is off, side spoilers, mirrors, front valance, everything is off

 

Washed the car after sanding:

Washed

 

Primed the whole car this time:

 

Primed

 

Threw on some steelies i got from a friend, took mine to the shop and am gonna sandblast and powdercoat them. also been doing some block sanding.

 

Black Wheels

 

I'm hoping to get a lot done this weekend as well and possibly update if anyone is interested

Colin

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  • 4 weeks later...

Ok time for an update. I got all my body and prep work done and started laying down some color this weekend. Here are the results:

 

 

 

photo 1

photo 2

photo 3

photo 4

 

As you can see I still have some work to do. I couldnt get my gun adjusted exactly right so it was spraying a narrow pattern. I didnt get even coverage so i'll have to wet sand it and go back over it this weekend and hopefully get it done right this time if I can get my gun to spray right. The bumper turned out decent but you can see in the close-up of the hood it left a bunch of tiger stripes and light spots all over the place.

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Teeny update- sandblasted a wheel and gave it to my uncle to powdercoat. Turned out pretty good for what they looked like before. Today I sandblasted the other 3 and will give to him tomorrow to finish.

 

photo (12)

Edited by Patrick_Starion
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  • 4 weeks later...

Okay here goes. Progress has been fast and updates have been slow so here we go.

 

http://i1366.photobucket.com/albums/r767/colinturbo88/IMG_3093-Copy_zps2d350fa7.jpg

Got her all painted and cleared a few weeks ago

http://i1366.photobucket.com/albums/r767/colinturbo88/IMG_3104_zps00cfd497.jpg

http://i1366.photobucket.com/albums/r767/colinturbo88/IMG_3100-Copy_zps256d1583.jpg

http://i1366.photobucket.com/albums/r767/colinturbo88/IMG_3098-Copy_zps573a99c8.jpg

 

http://i1366.photobucket.com/albums/r767/colinturbo88/IMG_3139_zpsf6e0002e.jpg

The other three wheels back from my uncles house

 

beautiful 245/5016 Uniroyal Tigerpaw GTZ tires on the rear 8's. This is our favorite tire to put on customers cars as well. Cheap, durable, and the plain flat sidewall looks sexy IMO. They only cost around 90 bucks apiece for the rear and 80 something for the front two.

http://i1366.photobucket.com/albums/r767/colinturbo88/IMG_3171_zps0186aab8.jpg

 

http://i1366.photobucket.com/albums/r767/colinturbo88/IMG_3140_zps7a455b6a.jpg

 

Battery died while I was putting the front end together (oops)

http://i1366.photobucket.com/albums/r767/colinturbo88/IMG_3173_zps54d0e7ec.jpg

 

Home sweet home

http://i1366.photobucket.com/albums/r767/colinturbo88/IMG_3181_zps7c1059d1.jpg

 

Sibling pic with my buddy's Prelude (forgive the HonDUH, he wants a Starion now too :) )

http://i1366.photobucket.com/albums/r767/colinturbo88/IMG_3185_zps9adbbf53.jpg

 

Thats how she sits right now, just need to finish scraping the ugly tint off and get tags and insurance and it'll become my daily.

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the paint looks good.. are yo planning to wet sand and buff? would probably shine that up real nice and take any orange peel out

yes i will be, It's my first paint job so it's really peely and i'm nervous about wet sanding it haha

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