New member with too many daughters

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4WJive
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Hi all.  Well up until last December the only Mitsubishi that I had owned was a Triton Dual Cab 4x4 2.8 NA Manual Diesel.  I had always liked the (full) Pajero's with their larger capacity 4 (3200 diesel) and had forgotted about the existance of the little IO's (only saw one or two back in the day) - but largely they had flown under the radar.  Besides I was a farmer back then and a diesel man so if it didn't soot then it didn't exist in my world.

One exception was a VL Commodore Turbo with a few mods which pumped out 225Kw all day every day for the 320,000 kms that I put on it from new - back in 1987 when the Aussie 5L (308) engine was only good for 112Kw because of all of the anti-polution gear of the day (unleaded fuel and cats had just come out).  I thought I was King of the West !

Well after finding that sensible modding of a car could reap rewards I set about owning many different 4x4 Diesel Utes / Dual Cabs (Landcruiser cab-chasss with 1HZ, Navara D22 with 3.0, Hilux KUN26 SR5 with 3.0) - all with aftermarket suspension, chips, exhausts, snorkels, tyres/rims etc etc (all sold now).  My current daily driver is a D40 Navara ST-X 550 with the Nissan/Renault built 3.0 V6 Turbo Diesel and 7 sp auto - 170Kw & 550Nm from the factory - which is now over 200Kw and 650Nm with simple mods.  It rarely sees the front axle engaged but as you can imagine it tows boats pretty bloody well.

So I met my current girlfriend 18 months ago and popped a more serious question only a few weeks ago - silly cow said yes!  This is behind me joining this forum (she has 4 daughters between 9 and 19) and the ex doesn't want to pay a cent and certainly not toward something as extravagent as a first car.  Well I can't do things by halves and we live in a rural town near the beach.  So what can I buy that is a cheap 4x4, reliable, not too much power, economical, easy to insure and it has to have that cool factor that their teenage friends will like?

Bugger me - Mitsi turned out this thing called an IO !

So I read reviews, forums, more reviews, looked at pictures of modded IO's and talked to my mechanic who looks after 13 other cars for my business.  Turns out his wife drives something called an IO and she won't shut up about how much she loves it.

OK - Gumtree here we come.

This was always going to be a mistake as looking for cheap Mitsi 4x4's I come across an imported red 1992 Pajero NJ J-Top SWB 5sp 2.5 Diesel.  Images of sooting around in this thing take over and ........  well that's another story in parallel to this one - and another build alltogether!

Can you believe within another few days I find a local IO (1999 LWB Blue over Silver 1.8 5sp) at $1500 not registered.  I leave work early with jumper leads and a compressor - it starts and idles rough, the tyres hold air and so I drive it home constantly looking for constanstable plod in the rear view mirror (luckily it is only 10kms and he makes no appearance).  It goes to my mechanic for some TLC.  Weeks go by as my mechaic is chasing down a second hand ECU and the matching anti-theft module.  All I can remember is that I loved the way it drove and I have more adopted daughters to worry about anyway.

So I find another one (2000 LWB Green over Silver 1.8 5sp) at $6,500 in "perfect condition" - owned by a mechanic in Brisbane and purchased for his son 3 years back who grew like a bean stalk and now at 20 years of age and 6' 6" is driving Dad's Colorado way too often.  After a 6 hour trip home I still have a smile on my face and can not believe what a handy car they are (this one is near perfect) and renews my faith in my choice of transport for the girls.  Actually bugger the girls - I love this thing myself !!!

So I still don't know whether it was fate or just good (or bad) luck but my saved Gumtree search turned up another interesting IO.  The guy (just South of Sydney) had only just purchased it a few months before - but he had fallen upon tough times and already wanted to unload it.  I believe that he had only driven it once or twice.  This one was a 2002 ZR SWB 2.0 5sp in the colour of silver and with many many mods already done.  It turns out that this one has featured heavily on this forum and was owned by a crazy Frenchman called Claude (anyone know this mad bugger)?

Hello Claude - I now have your baby enlightened

12 hours of driving this little rocket and I am finally home.  Wow this is one nice unit !  I see what it has done on all of the vids on this forum but let me tell you - it still sounds like an angry rally car, it handles beautifully, it didn't use a drop of oil and I reckon it has hundreds of 4x4 battles left to fight.  Claude this thing is the bomb and I love it.  There is no way that any learner driver is going to get to drive this.  This is my car and it will only be pulled from my cold dead hands when I go to another world.

While all of this is happening my mechanic was correct about the electronics on the blue/silver IO and it is now on the road and running sweet as.

So I now own 3 IO's and because I want to be a greedy twat and keep the SWB to myself I still need more.  Good old Gumtree reveals a 2002 LWB Solid Dark Blue 2.0 5sp at a wholesaler in Sydney that is again - in 'perfect' condition.  $5000 later and I am again driving an IO home.  It turns out to have been meticulously looked after by a North Coast nurse and I doubt that 4x4 was ever enguaged.  Now I am seeing that the 2.0 motors do have significantly more mojo than the 1.8's and I do like the solid colours more than the 2 tone so I do rate them as highly collectable.

Anyway it tuns out that today as I write this post, I have purchased my last IO (hopefully) for some time as a 2002 LWB Solid Red 2.0 5sp has also fallen to my favour and I will pick it up in another week or so.  But owning 5 IO's is simply too much of a good thing (and I have my J-Top) so I have already sold the original blue/silver one to one of my adopted daughters best friends - another girl.  And you have not heard about the list of upgrades that it and the green/silver one have already had - and the upgrades that Claude's Paji has also had.  Apparently all of the 50 teenagers (16-18 yo's) we had to a party last weekend thought the IO's were the 'perfect car for them' !  Who said IO's don't have the cool factor ?

So stay tuned for next weeks' post from a complete IO convert (nut).

 

 

He who dies with the most toys wins

Claude io
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Welcome

If this is not the best presentation....I don't know what is ....!! I can tell you that you bought a very very good io, that it has been over serviced and looked after and I am very happy to see that she is in good hand and that you seems to enjoy it as she should be. 

You seem to have a very nice turn in your life, new wife, plenty of io around and a very special io for you....well done.

If you need any info about the car, I will be more than happy to help.

Almost forgot....WELCOME to the forum....and yes, I am crazy :)

Happy io

4WJive
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Thanks Claude, I will keep in

Thanks Claude,

I will keep in touch with any questions.

For now back to some of the builds and in this case a photo of the before and after with several mods done to the Blue/Silver IO.

Now it looks like this

So what was done ?

Well - the most obvious was the rims and tyres - the details for which are in the below photos

The Tyres are of course the BFG AT KO2 in 225/75R16 which is the size that I will use for all of the IO's

The lift kit is detailed below

As is the wheel arch flares (not essential - but adding to the cool factor)

And for extra lighting I don't like to impeed on the frontal area for the radiator - so I always go with a slimline LED which is near

hidden in the existing profile of the grill.

Keeping in mind that this is for a teenage girl the most essential accessories were the ones that make noise (both exhaust and stereo).

No photo of exhaust however it consists of mandrel bent 2.25" with high flow cat. 

The stereo was more extreme - with a replacement head unit, 4 channel amp for 4 new speakers and a mono amp for the sub.

A special sub enclosure was built by my best mate Nathan (a carpenter) which conforms to Alpines enclosure specs for the 15" sub.

The enclosure is secured in the RHS corner of the rear cargo space and also has both amps attached.

 

Besides the above mods every fluid and lubricant was changed as well as plugs, leads, K&N air, A/C regas, new brake pads all round, new windscreen and new tint on all windows.  

I still need to polish the fading out of the headlights, paint the front and rear hubs (because you can nows see more of them throught the wheels) and replace the wiper blades (faded) with the full holder types.

This pretty much will round out the blue/silver IO and it is now getting sold to my adopted daughters best friend (lucky girl) !!!

 

He who dies with the most toys wins

4WJive
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Hey guys - I am not going to

Hey guys - I am not going to bore you with details on this build as it has been near exactly the same as the blue/silver IO above - same mechanicals and same stereo gear and exhaust.  The only difference is the rims which may interest a few.  They look almost the same however they are a simplier design so cleaning is easier and they are also available in the 7x16 instead of 6.5x16 which I prefer for the 225's that I put on them.

A link to the rims is provided below and some simple before and after shots of the build.  This IO will shortly be for sale as I am only keeping the 2.0L versions.

He who dies with the most toys wins

4WJive
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The next build will be the

The next build will be the single colour blue 2.0 5sp LWB which has a build date of 08/2002 and compliance date of 02/2003 (this will be a keeper) - below is the car as delivered from the Sydney wholesaler and driven home from Brisbane.

This morning it went in for the tyres/rims and the suspension lift. 

While it was on the ramp I grabbed a few shots of front jackshaft angle, rear setup and tyre clearances with the previously mentioned 30mm lift kit.  Keep in mind this is with 225/75R16 BFG KO2 All Terrains

Apart from the above, a towbar gets bolted on and a full new set of lubs, fluids, brake pads, filters, plugs and leads.

I should get to drive it home this afternoon.

It still has heaps of mods coming - stereo like the others, extractors, cat & exhaust, LED light bar, AC regas, wheel arch flares and a few other pretties.

I am still unsure about ceramic coating the extractors - exhaust shop says yes (even though I will get it done elsewhere) but mechanic says no - waste of time.

Since this should be a keeper - what do you guys think ?

 

 

He who dies with the most toys wins

Claude io
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exhaust

I wouldn't bother ! it won't make much difference if any. You might be better off to spend that money in a better muffler, quality exhaust system. Also be careful to not over size the tubing, I was told that over 2 inches (on my 4g94 MPI), unless you intend to fit a turbo, will be counter productive.

Your avatar is my former io, isn't it ? 

Happy io

4WJive
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Hello Claude, Thanks for your

Hello Claude,

Thanks for your comments.  I am looking at 2.25" tubing at present - but I do also have in mind with your IO and the new red one that I just got to go to a custom stainless snorkel tube (large cross section than the black poly one that you got from Brazil) and larger throttle body (all intake plumbing) and a stage 1 Cam with some slight head work.  My mechanic has built both drag and race motors before and has a lot of experience in this area.  I am not looking for any more than a 10-15% torque increase and not after the complexity of a turbo - thoughts so far!

Yes your silver SWB is my avatar - I have 5 IO's but I love yours the most !!!

He who dies with the most toys wins

4WJive
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OK - I did get to pick up the

OK - I did get to pick up the 2.0 Blue IO from my mechanics yesterday and it had to tow a boat trailer home on its first voyage with the lift kit, tyres and rims.  I was worried that the larger diameter (225/75-16) would knock the performance around (like I think it has a bit with the 2x 1.8 IO's) but it still hammers and motorwise it is still stock.

So I got time today to take some happy snaps - this is the best looking LWB I have and the exterior paint is just like new.  Anyway feast your eyes on the below pics.

And just to keep Claude happy - some snaps below of his previous baby with the new rims and tyres :)

He who dies with the most toys wins

4WJive
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The fleet grows. I have now

The fleet grows.

I have now finalised the purchase of a 2002 2.0 5sp LWB Cherry Red IO from the Gold Coast at $5,000 with pictures below.  It will get picked up this Wednesday and so I will post some better photos after that.  This should be the last IO that I need to buy for a long time and I will be putting the Green/Silver 1.8 for sale after Christmas.

It looks very stock but also very tidy and has the 2 litre motor.  It will get the same tyre/suspension mods as well as stereo gear, extractors, exhause and some more.

On another note - 2 of the 3 sets of extractors turned up today (looks like 1 was lost in shipping).  I don't know why they didn't wire them together but the hunt is now on for the missing / fallen 3rd set (news I didn't need). 

Claude's 2.0 litre IO has such a racey / angry / crisp / healthy note so that I want the other 2 litre IO's to sound the same.  I should have just bought extractors and no stereo gear as I love the sound that much  !!!

Extractor details are below -

He who dies with the most toys wins

Claude io
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exhaust sound

Even if you built it exactly the same, it will sound different for a while, the sound when new is not as nice ( abit more girly !!). If you check the video on my built thread, you will notice the difference. I have to say that this exhaust was custom fitted for performance, and it has done that but that noise is also a great bonus !

Happy io

4WJive
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Exhaust Music better than

Exhaust Music better than stereo

Hello again Claude,  Yes I agree that any new exhaust will sound a bit tinny until it gets an internal coating of soot.  I already have 2 other IO's with 200 cell cat, 2.25'' mandrel bent and free flowing expensive exhausts but they do not have the crisp racey sound of a system with extractors like yours.  Anyway I should find out soon when the extractors are fitted - but they should then sound very similar.

Did you like the new rims and tyres on your old IO ?

 

He who dies with the most toys wins

4WJive
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Some light duty

Some light duty accessories.

Hey guys I haven't been on this forum long so I don't know exactly what should be posted under members rides?  However if we are also trying to make these cars look good then the following should still be relevent.  Besides - don't we want our cars to also appeal to the softer sex?

The following door edge protectors will go on all 3 IO keepers.

 

The following gear is just for the LWB Red IO

 

The following is for the Blue LWB IO

 

And even Claude's old baby can be spruced up a bit :)

Not exactly fluffly dice hanging from the rear view mirror - so I hope no one objects ?

He who dies with the most toys wins

fordem
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The member's rides

is commonly used to showcase what you've doing to your iO, so your posts, whilst admittedly different, do fall within the definition.

Most owners describe the way their vehicles have been modified and "built", which is what you're doing, with the difference being that you're showing the product as it would be sold, rather than after installation, personally, I like your style because it gives me a sense of what is available.

4WJive
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Advice Wanted   Hey guys I am

Advice Wanted

 

Hey guys I am considering getting a couple of these rear spoilers.  Has anyone already purchased one or something like it and able to give me some feedback?

He who dies with the most toys wins

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