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NikoFab's 1986 Starion ESI-R


NikoFab
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1986 Mitsubishi Starion ESI-R

Purchase Date: February 2011

Location: Houston, Texas

 

As you can see, the body was in pretty decent shape when purchased. There was some slight pitting in the paint and the paint on the C-pillars was all but gone. Not to worry...the whole car is going black sometime in the future.

 

The '83 style hood was FRP and the fitment wasn't very good, so I purchased it with the stock '86 hood instead. The front air dam is a single-piece and was in great shape.

 

The interior was that nasty '80's maroon (not my favorite), but I had plans to change it to black anyway.

 

The motor was in decent shape but was obviously going to need some work. Same with the suspension, brakes, etc. etc.

 

But I was committed...and so it began!

 

 

I'll post more of the progress later.

 

http://i1073.photobucket.com/albums/w396/Nikolaya77498/photo0754j.jpg

Edited by NikoFab
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1986 Mitsubishi Starion ESI-R

Date: 2/17/11

 

Went ahead and started really dissecting in order to find out where I stood. Didn't take long to realize that there were a lot of basic necessary maintenance items that needed to be addressed.

 

Got an alignment done which helped immensely.

 

The headlights wouldn't work (go up and down)...thought maybe it was a motor issue but eventually found that it was the fusible link...easy fix.

 

Also noticed a braking noise from the rears...ended up being a problem with the rear master cylinder...so I replaced it and bled the system. Noise went away...problem solved!

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1986 Mitsubishi Starion ESI-R

Date: 3/26/11

 

Noticed some play in the steering...must be the steering coupler...a common problem from what I'm hearing. Impossible to find the part, so I'm waiting to see if I can find an aftermarket solution.

 

Windshield wipers stopped working a few days ago. Ended up being a bad motor so I replaced it.

 

The stance was a little off and there was some play and noise even during straight-line travel. Replaced inner and outer tie rod ends, replaced idler arm, replacd lower ball joints, replaced CV axle. Man what a difference all this made!

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1986 Mitsubishi Starion ESI-R

Date: 3/29/11

 

Car started running rich and bogging down. Sputtered for a bit and then cut off and wouldn't start back up. Ended up figuring out that the coil was arc-ing to the inside of the wheel well. So took the time to freshen up the ignition with a new coil, spark plugs, wires, distributor cap and ignition rotor. Felt like a whole new motor afterwards.

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1986 Mitsubishi Starion ESI-R

Date: 5/2/11

 

Did some hard driving on Highway 59 South and felt a slow return rate on certain movements. So I upgraded to KYB's all the way around. They helped a lot but I'm still looking for options to obtaining a better ride.

 

Suggestions?

Edited by Nikolaya
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1986 Mitsubishi Starion ESI-R

Date: 6/6/11

 

Upgraded to CB cross-drilled and slotted rotors...very big improvement. Gave me a lot more confidence on the road.

 

Also replaced front inner and outer wheel bearings and races while I was doing the brake upgrade...knocked out two birds with one stone.

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1986 Mitsubishi Starion ESI-R

Date: 3/1/12

 

Found a G54B engine in SW Houston. Went and drove the car, and it held boost well. Had it compression tested...all was good...so bought it for $500.00. Will eventually build this motor up.

 

The guy I bought it from was going to do a 302 swap...I need to call him and see how that's going!

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1986 Mitsubishi Starion ESI-R

Date: 4/3/12

 

Started to notice the clutch pedal beginning to fade. Sure enough, had a leak coming from the slave. Replaced it and took the opportunity to replace the master as well.

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1986 Mitsubishi Starion ESI-R

Date: 4/3/12

 

Installed Auto-Meter boost gauge and Pro-comp narrow band. Not crazy about the placement, but there in for now at least. Will work on another placement solution soon.

 

http://i1073.photobucket.com/albums/w396/Nikolaya77498/000_0073.jpg

Edited by Nikolaya
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That break noise you had in the rear...was it when you were braking or just when you were driving you had some rear end noise? I have something similiar on my Auto i have and i am planning to change out the oil in the rear end but just curious on the sound you were getting. Plus did it only happen when you went straight or turning?
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That break noise you had in the rear...was it when you were braking or just when you were driving you had some rear end noise? I have something similiar on my Auto i have and i am planning to change out the oil in the rear end but just curious on the sound you were getting. Plus did it only happen when you went straight or turning?

It was only when I was braking about half to 3/4 effort. When I pushed the pedal hard it didn't do it at all. Did it no matter if I was straight or turning.

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How about some pics or we'll think this is just a fairy tale.

I have a ton of pics, but the one I uploaded at the beginning of the thread apparently used all my "global upload" and it won't let me upload any more. Suggestions?

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Ok, so I figured out how to insert photos by direct link instead of upload. I'm not really computer savvy. :( I'll get some more up in the next few days.

 

http://i1073.photobucket.com/albums/w396/Nikolaya77498/photo0680o.jpg

Edited by Nikolaya
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I have a ton of pics, but the one I uploaded at the beginning of the thread apparently used all my "global upload" and it won't let me upload any more. Suggestions?

Have you opened an accounbt with Photobucket?

1, then you upload your images to the site,

2, click on image you want to post

3 click on "Direct Link" bar and it will copy image

4, go to your "Reply..." section, click on photo icon, paste the URL that you copied on the pop-up and hit "OK".

Its not easy and everyone has trouble with this but hopefully these basic steps will help you through it all. Good luck, look forward to some more pics.

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Have you opened an accounbt with Photobucket?

1, then you upload your images to the site,

2, click on image you want to post

3 click on "Direct Link" bar and it will copy image

4, go to your "Reply..." section, click on photo icon, paste the URL that you copied on the pop-up and hit "OK".

Its not easy and everyone has trouble with this but hopefully these basic steps will help you through it all. Good luck, look forward to some more pics.

I appreciate it...I figured it out earlier today, but your instructions would have helped alot!

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Ok, so I figured out how to insert photos by direct link instead of upload. I'm not really computer savvy. :( I'll get some more up in the next few days.

 

http://i1073.photobucket.com/albums/w396/Nikolaya77498/photo0680o.jpg

 

Tread going wrong way?

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1986 Mitsubishi Starion ESI-R

Date: 5/17/12

 

Ok, so thanks to David Springer (thetexan88 on SQC) and a few ebay sellers, I've been able to obtain the majority of the interior panels that I need to convert to black. Time to say goodbye to the nasty maroon! I'll be working on this conversion over the next few weeks and will post pics as I get them.

 

http://i1073.photobucket.com/albums/w396/Nikolaya77498/000_0070.jpghttp://i1073.photobucket.com/albums/w396/Nikolaya77498/000_0076.jpghttp://i1073.photobucket.com/albums/w396/Nikolaya77498/000_0068.jpg

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1986 Mitsubishi Starion ESI-R

Date: 5/18/12

 

http://i1073.photobucket.com/albums/w396/Nikolaya77498/IMG_1493.jpghttp://i1073.photobucket.com/albums/w396/Nikolaya77498/IMG_1495.jpghttp://i1073.photobucket.com/albums/w396/Nikolaya77498/IMG_1500.jpghttp://i1073.photobucket.com/albums/w396/Nikolaya77498/IMG_1496.jpghttp://i1073.photobucket.com/albums/w396/Nikolaya77498/IMG_1497.jpg

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1986 Mitsubishi Starion ESI-R

Date: 5/18/12

 

Rear shoulder bolsters and lower rear sails

 

http://i1073.photobucket.com/albums/w396/Nikolaya77498/IMG_1494.jpghttp://i1073.photobucket.com/albums/w396/Nikolaya77498/IMG_1492.jpg

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1986 Mitsubishi Starion ESI-R

Date: 5/18/12

 

Driver's side door panel. I got these panels off of an '88 with automatic seatbelts. This was perfect since I'm switching to Corbeau seats with 4-point harnesses, and the '88 panels don't have the hole for the manual seatbelts, which are being removed entirely.http://i1073.photobucket.com/albums/w396/Nikolaya77498/IMG_1501.jpghttp://i1073.photobucket.com/albums/w396/Nikolaya77498/IMG_1503.jpg Door handle surround still needs to be touched up and installed.

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Glad to see some of that maroon interior gone. But I would love to see a two tone with black seats and some maroon panels someday like some of the new, modern interiors:

http://i849.photobucket.com/albums/ab51/pc85dr/IMG_1084.jpg

Like this MB 500 SL at the Philadelphia Auto show.

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1986 Mitsubishi Starion ESI-R

Date: 5/18/12

 

Another modification is for the triangular panel to the rear of the door. The one from my '86 manual seatbelt setup hangs on a dual hanger (you can see the two holes where that hanger was mounted). The one from the '88 screws into two brackets which I don't have. Going to see what I can fabricate to get it to work...maybe create a flange that mounts to the holes that the the hanger used to mount on.

 

http://i1073.photobucket.com/albums/w396/Nikolaya77498/IMG_1502.jpg

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