I bought this car yesterday off Totopop, who had had enough of it! As I'm a masochist who loves pissing away cash I was down there like a rat up a drainpipe and had it home by 5pm.
I got looking at it last night, and this morning went about narrowing it down, which wasn't that successful, but it's getting fuel (lots)!!! The inlet was full of the stuff. I resoldered all the componets on the ECU and the Control Relay that looked corroded (water had got in through the Air Con), and put it all back together again. With the fuel pump disconnected, I started it up and with a bang it sort of farted into life running off the fuel in the inlet!
Mr Pop reckoned it was the fuel injector, but it's giving the same results if each of the injectors are operating, I'm starting to think there's a problem with the coil or one of the number of ignition modules. There's a few wires which don't match up as well.

Sounds rough dunnit?!
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=6DuLPSObY1o

Here's the engine, complete with broom handle shoved in waste gate pipe.


Throttle body:


Interior is awesome!!

Nice one mate, glad to see its getting done up, have you drove it yet?
Its rapid!

Exellent car matey.

Stu macs matey has a fully race sorted one of these he maybe able to give you some info on them if you get stuck.

He came round when I had it at my folks.

I haven't had it driving yet because it's misfiring. I've ordered some new parts which are coming this morning. I've got the repair manual as well, which says a few things it might be, but will only find out when I start isolating things. The main thing is it starts, so that's good. There's a diagnostic plug behind the dash board which would be nice if you could do some kind of paper clip test.

Where did you get the fuel pump Steve?

Er, there's NO SPARK!

Last pics!

Bill board pics

Looks nice though

Spark is weak, or non-existant, there is no reading from the coil, and no spark from any of the leads.
It has two grey injectors, when it should have a grey, and a blue injector.

And a bulb isn't working inside.

unlucky!!

the lady who owned the car before me put the fuel pump on,

I got other bits from senars lvw on cleveland street, they can get you anything wihin 24 hours.

Like that last pic of the interiour mate, looking nice now.

Don`t give up on it like i did.

How long was it running for when you bought it, less than a day?
I'm just checking everything, and I've ordered two new injectors, coil, and ignitor. There's something definately wrong with the coil though, there's no spark 95% of the time.

Coils / plugs / injectors tend to either work or not work rather than be intermittant...

The coil amp is funked and no long switches, but occasionally give spark depending on humidity and temperature (they're worse when it's hot), injector 'works', it's fully open and is short circuiting (no resistance across circuit).

The only solution is to put these new parts on.

Finally received new injectors and coil, a new control relay and ignitor unit, and an ebay throttle body (with fuel pressure regulator).
Previous frequent removal of the TB cracked the gasket and coolant was getting into the inlet, so I spend most of today in work cutting a new one out of blank gasket paper, and it worked!

The car started after 1 minute of turning (water was still in inlet!), but finally started without hesitating, and now starts on the button.
It was getting late when I was attempting to set up the igntion timing, but there is a lot of blue smoke coming from the exhaust, the sparks are black as well. Not sure if this is from poor timing, but will do it properly tommorow.
At the moment, evening attempting to open the throttle cuts out the engine, it's not getting any fuel under load.

Keep Going...I want to see this thing running, and hopefully at a a meet soon. Love the Starion (Or without the Spelling Mistake, Stallion)

I want it running, I'm not sure at the moment.
Blue smoke = oil.

...check for an air leak on the inlet track.

That's very possible, there are so many hoses going into the inlet! I'll have a look at that in a bit.
I actually drove it for the first time this morning. It was running fine, but idle was a bit off, but it was okay. Got about 1 mile before it was back to normal again (and had get a tow).
It's 'intermittent', the worst thing you can have.

Here's that needle!!

[youtube]xbDTdvoYZdU[/youtube]

Control relay is going ballistic, ticking and rattling which leads to the car cutting out? Otherwise, when there's no ticking, it's fine! Think this may be the problem, it's not mounted properly on the body at all!
Here's a further video if you really really want to watch an engine revving up a few times. At least it works.

[youtube]ZFG2t2-qeSs[/youtube]

Same story so far, I've changed the injectors round and had it running, but saw smoke coming from around the turbo and switched it off immediately. Check oil and found it to be replaced by some grey watery liquid. Underneath the car -was- a big patch of what I thought was PAS fluid. There is NO level on the dipstick, the engine has pissed out whatever of this grey pissy stuff that it is using as lubrication.

I'm almost about to say the engine is totally f*cked, but I'm going to change the oil as I'm sure it was contaminated with water from a dodgy gasket on the throttle body. I'm pretty very sure it's water getting in, as it's grey and not 'head gaskety' if you know what I mean?

Ste/Totopop showed me what was petrol in the TB when I bought the car, but I think it was petrol AND coolant.

Didnt Clarkson kill one of these on topgear?....

Oil/filter/Spark plug change should be your first priority.

You need to find out if the 'tapping' is from the head or the block. Starting the engine knowing water was in the inlet wasnt a good idea and I fear you may have goosed the engine.

Dont worry too much about the mixture just yet, but dont rev the balls off it.

Tapping is just a 21 year old engine! Had new spark plugs, and 10 quid Tesco oil is going in tommorow to clean it out, and then some decent is going in.

Mixture could be fine, but I have to sort other things out! Have new CTS to go on and a few other bits to come.

...I think Neil will still be interested should you decide its not feasable

I'm pretty sure the engine's okay, I'd put something else in if it wasn't.

Something else....

If your thinking "Evo" its no where near a straight swap - the main problem being which gearbox

No, was thinking more of another Starion engine. Evo engine might interest me in the future, that's pretty obvious, but four figures just doesn't interest me.

I have a bit of experience with all that though, it was something I did with my dad in the summer holidays when I was growing up.

No need now, as Starion is running fine.

How you getting on bud?
I wanna see this out and about

I haven't tried it at all for a couple of days now, as it keeps cutting out at random. I'm talking about idling perfectly, throttle response is spot on, and then it just feels like it's not getting spark and it either cuts out, or as on the motorway the other night, flooring it prevents flooding the engine.

I bought injectors for it, the second of the two is pumping too much fuel I assume. Other than that, I can't fault it, it's been so well looked after.
I've bought new sensors from Mitsubishi for it, they still have all the parts available, most in the country.
If the injector doesn't cure it, I'll replace the engine.

when it was cutting out on me there was a `clicking` coming from the ECU, is it still doing that? (it does`nt do it all the time)

Yeah, it's actually the control relay that's above the ECU, it has a relay to switch on the coil, fuel pump and injectors. It's switching the injectors on and off for some strange reason. Did you notice any strange things going on with the boost gauge before it cut out? The gauge isn't accurate, it just guesses off the fuel and air pressure, and goes STRAIGHT to the ECU, which makes me think something is knackered on the ECU ... I opened it up and there was a big line of lime scale down the circuit board where water had been coming through ... It's the only thing on the entire car I haven't gone over with a multimeter! :z

How long did you have it running for maximum?

1988 Starions had the ECU's inverted so the connectors go in underneath! Wah.

Gearbox to Evo III engine:





Pics taken off Australian Starion site.

Ohhhh - nice

The modifications to make the Starion Box fit the Evo block are quite tricky.

hmmm, interestin ! good work though bud.

I received my first ticket today!!

I wasn't even driving it. Some c*nting job's worth planted a sticker on the car, which is taxed and MOT'd (and still on Totopop's trade insurance) for the heinous crime of:

"Reg. not conf. to regulations'

He must've been too busy as he has used punctuation to shorten his infant school scrawl. I think he means: "The registration plate is chavvy". There, it took me 3 seconds to write that.
So what this means is my perfectly readable numberplate, which was on the car I just bought, and is not being in use, while meeting the general criteria of being on the road (even though it's not in use!), will get it confiscated and crushed if I do not pay the 30 pounds fine within 14 days.

There is nice, dark place where they can stick this Fixed Penalty Notice. Up their AR$EHOLES. And it'll give them something to do retrieving it, instead of scoping the area for victimless 'crimes' such as this one. Jesus christ!

Pay it and contest it.

Every f*ckin "civil enforcement officer" is an assnut

had it running all night when i went to visit scott in work (cheshire oaks), was driving it all night fine then turned it off when saw scott and it started getting worse with the clicky thing on way home.

blame scott

No dnt blame me at all

Scott, you will be receiving my repair bill v soon.

Should I just pay the fine, and then go to court, or write a letter?

pay the fine so it doesnt increase, but send an email to [email protected] contesting it.

Pay the fine and leave it

Unfortunatly, common sence says you shouldnt have got the ticket, but where your plates legal style / spacing / lettering etc?

To issue the fine he will have taken a pic of the plates on the car on the road. Contest it, go to court, pics get shown.... Your car is on the road with illegal plates fitted - with only your word its not being used.

At the end of the day, you'd lose and have to pay costs on top of the fine

Not sure what I'm going to do at the moment, half of me just thinks I should pay it, and the other half is sick to fooking death of the sheer stupidity of this law on this just purchased, parked, 100% road legal car which is not, and has never been, in use

It appears now I need a new MAP sensor (Manifold Absolute Pressure) which takes vacuum readings etc etc. The boost gauge has a mind of it's own, and influences the way the car starts and runs. I could need a new ECU, and I could need a further two injectors, and of course, it could need two fuel filters. The actuator arm doesn't really move that freely. I burnt my hand on the turbo. etc

lol

lol well hope ya get the car sorted mate be nice to see it on the road

cheers dude

Oh, should've said, I've only received the log book.
I understand you have to have the V5 if you want to have new plates made up?

Anyone know of a 'Phil Unsworth'? He came round to my folk's house (knowing my name!) on the weekend saying the Starion was getting welded (which it isn't) and is then being sold? I haven't got a clue about this!

I bought for the beasty:

New fuel filters (there's When fuel is really low, it won't run properly. I've been told to flush the tank - take it out and fill it with carb cleaner. Jesus, can I be arsed!?

A few dials - boost gauge to replace the crappy one in the dash, an air/fuel gauge, a lean gauge for the turbo, an exhaust temp gauge, and a dump valve (to replace the broom shoved in it). I've also changed injector connectors, earthing cables, etc etc, can't remember what i've put up here!

I'm still waiting for some bits from Ausralia, after which it'll be on the road properly.

Getting new parts for it is a nightmare. The car is a 1987. But the engine? It could be 1988 - 1990, and all those years the sensors are different. Argh.

Have you recieved the V5 yet?
i had a letter off the DVLA last week thanking me for letting them know i sold it etc.

Who was that guy did you find out?

Over the engine mate, i`d goto the garage in Liverpool where it was replaced as it was only last year! (they may remember what year vehicle it came from)

You seem to have done well with finding parts man, you have a lot more patience than me

Yeah, go the V5 a couple of weeks ago! I didn't find out who that guy was!

I was going to try that garage place, will give them a bell later.

It's been a while, I've spent a fair bit of money on it so far!! It's not wasted, but the hours I've put into it, I'll never get back!
The car is running A1, it's perfect, but I'm still at square one as it keeps ++++++++++cutting out++++++++++. I have replaced everything it could be - working MAP sensors and ignitors (some all the way from Australia - one from Mr Philpotts who has just got one in to break ), new filters, new injectors, throttle body, TPS, ISC, MPS, fuel pump, flushed fuel tank, vacuum lines, wiring loom, gauges, wires, plugs, distributor, belts, etc.

I now think it is definately the ECU now, I am totally certain this is it!!

well done bud keep up the good work

I dunno about that, it's still the same as it was!

well ye but your not givein up like mr toto

lol

lol

Keep up the good work my man ;

Nice retro motor not too many of them left .

Stick with it mate the hours of work will be well worth it, will be well different to todays insignificant traffic

Thanks, got a new engine for it, will be, hopefully, be on the road properly next week.
I couldn't be assed messing around with it anymore, I don't even think it had the correct ECU.

GET OUT!

Four more bolts to go.

exellent vid, youtube if you may?

No vids yet, I had some when it was moving!
I picked the engine up today. It was a disaster, but to cut the story short, I had no van to transport it, nor an engine crane to remove it from my poor Astra, which had it's rear tyre shreedded on the arches!!

I abandoned the idea and decided to use my own intiative, a chain and loads of wood. And loaf crates.

I used brute force getting this out, but managed it, with one person and a single chain!! It's now dragged in the corner of the driveway.





I also plopped my wheels on, hated the old ones, the car only really looks good with the originals. The rears are immensely wide (Esp with spacers )









Put engine in tomorrow (with engine crane), hopefully have a test drive in the evening. I'm bushed.

Today I took engine out, and put new one in, and knackered the release bearing and clutch cylinder (( think), so have to take the lot out and buy a new clutch.
Nothing is ever straight forward with this car!!!!!!

May not be straightforward....but the pics look UBER SUPERB....What a sexy looking beast

Thanks, I do like the new wheelz!
I got the old engine out, and put the new one in (2 hours), however, aligning the gearbox took me a mammoth two days. I finally get it aligned and then bolted together, and then connected everything as per requirements of running car.
The car still runs like shit, I think the filter or pump is at fault. I saved the release bearing on the clutch, but have ordered a new slave cylinder, which comes tommorow!
Will order new pump and filter while I am in there.

good work bud keep us posted

....did you get the motor from Neil?

If so, Ive seen that engine running and its sch-weet

oh man, good work, looks well better with those wheels on too

..seconded - the OEM starion wheels have to to be one of the best std alloys EVER!!!

Yeah Stuy, I got the engine from Neil, I saw it running (and it was schweet)! I know there's nowt wrong with it, it's the fuelling that is at fault!! It's just a little problem, will change the fuel lines/filter and pump and flush out the tank. I do love the alloys!!!

Think the new ECU replaced the bad old one. Up to now, it hasn't made that clicking racket and cutting out all the time. I replaced the fuel filter and everything ran perfect.
Unfortunately, I cannot get the clutch to work. It's not a hard thing to understand, you bleed the slave cylinder on the gearbox to make sure it has no bubbles in, and do it a few times until the pedal is hard. I spent the good part of the day doing this and the pedal wasn't going hard enough. It's just sitting at it's lowest setting. I bought a new slave cylinder (not cheap), and it didn't change anything. If things couldn't get any worse, I decided to start the car up, and it just spluttered about, as before.

this is starting to sound like a herbie film,

have you tried talking nice to it,, or tell iit, its gunna race at New brighton next weekend

I'll be racing it straight into the sea!
I'm going to try and bleed the master cylinder as well tommorow AND take the frigging tank out. There is also a little niggling thing I will have to replace - the fork that pushes the clutch release bearing is knackered and will need replacing at some point, which means either engine or gearbox out again!!!
I was told 'this car is a nightmare' when it was sold to me, and it's just bouncing around in my head!

just think of the satisfaction it WILL give u when u get it sorted out, dont give up

you will get there in the end bud keep at it

1,200 and 2 months later ...

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/684929.htm

NO NO NO NO, keep going. All that Hard work..

dont give up, jonah says u got a cracking rare care there, so pick urself up, dust yourself down an carry on with it.... u will mregret it if u do ..

told ya man
i think the car has some evil presence around it, fix one thing and sumink else crops up.
Still, with all tyhe hard work you`ve given it it would be soft to give up now, keep trying mate

I have to get things that matter sorted, took week off to go on holiday and missed it.
Someone is coming round tommorow evening. Even though he asked if it can be driven away. IT CAN'T BE DRIVEN AWAY!

Spent two days trying to get some pressure in the clutch, can't be done, and I'll have to take the engine out again, and it's running shite again. Next car is going to be new and under warranty so I never have to get under one ever again.

Like an idiot, I thought I'd check the master cylinder, and it was full of gunk. There were little stones and stuff in there, and 20 years of black gunge. Was pointed to this as the cause, so might be a cure.

Befo':


After:

hat does that bit do??

Its for the hydraulic operation of the clutch - the gunk essentially will mean the hydraulic system was seized

I have never had a car with a hydraulic clutch before! I'm going to put it back in tonight and see if it does anything. I'd love a cable, it looks do-able as well.

There was a massive difference in the pedal tonight, but had to pack it in as it was totally dark. Not enough difference to be able to change gear not like an old 18 wheeler.

Have a word with Philpotts - he may have a spare cylinder...

Do you know what time his garage shuts? I could do with heading down after work and get it off.

5pm matey.

Maybe later but dont hold me to that - I went there at lunch and he was playing with the race car...

Pretty sure the master cylinder is okay now ... the fork is beyond help, not even my temp job lasted! Was going into gear, but fork definitely needs replacing!

Got a load of fuel from the tank, pumped most of it out into the engine, and the dropped the rest out of the bottom.

What to do with 20 litres of contaminated fuel?!?


'Clean' coming out the top:



Pure filth coming out the bottom:





Concentrated evil:



Clean on the left:



This lot came out of the old filter ...



End up using this in the lawnmower or generator tbh, no other use for it, it'll last me the rest of the year!!!

Righty ho, so I took the fuel tank out today. Was planning to take the gearbox out, but couldn't be arsed. Yanked the whole thing out, and flushed it with water, as it seemed clean, just a bit silt-y.
Broke a fuel pipe, which will need re-doing (more for the list), and then the diff mount bushes tore from their mounts from being jacked up?!?!?! I heard a noise and watched as the rubber separated from the mount.
The previous owner said (the one before Ste) had put a new fuel pump in there - the pump is as old as the car!

When I bought the car:
Injector
Fuelling problem (which turned out to be ECU)

Now:
Clutch
Fuel tank
Fuel Pump
Fuel pipe
Differential mounts

Another month added on, it just continues to break again.

Last night I spent an hour unbolting the gearbox (again), and getting it ready to be slid out of the way just to get the release fork out to perform some rescue surgery. Got it out, which was a relief. Removed the prop-shaft, and slid the gearbox backwards on a trolley jack, and just managed to squeeze the release bearing and fork out of the input shaft. I've repaired it, but might buy a new one. Pop it back in tommorow, and see if there's any difference.

I'm sure you're all dying to see my fork, so here it is!! Possibly the most exciting topic on wikiwirral this!

It has a little piece of metal 'fulcrum', which had bent into the cavity and was doing -nothing-. Bent it out and it seems quite robust now. Should work perfect (touch wood).



On the release bearing:

how much for a new one?

(get the car runnin first
)

Car runs!
Never ordering parts off Mitsubishi UK again, they're barstard! Get them from Australia, they're cheaper and arrive quicker.

sound like renault, lol, they`re gits.
Had some crap with them i can tell you

Here's what Mitsubishi are like. I needed a Boost Sensor, but didn't have a part number. Take a deep breath ...

I went into Mitsubishi Parts Department in North Wales which is a dump:



That's a xmas tree you can see in the corner.

I ask for a Boost Sensor, they ask for reg number, but having a new engine cancels that out (different sensors for different years). They take the old Boost Sensor off me and they spend 1/2 an hour in the back room, in which time I check out a number of Lancers in the forecourt. I arrive back and they say the sensor hasn't got a number on it, but they have traced the part number (which is written on the piece of paper in front of them). I ask for the part number, at which point they shield the piece of paper and say they don't give them out. They said they could order one in (£170), but it might be the wrong one. And it'll take three weeks. I say forget it.
I get onto Neil and he drops one off that very day for 20 quid and a load I ordered for 40 quid arrives from down under, so I now have five of these things!

I spent tonight getting the corrected fork back in it's home. I had to lift the box back into position and mount it up while sitting the input shaft into the flywheel. It was pure agony holding it with one hand and bolting it up with other. It's not light I can tell you.

Here's a crappy pic of inside the box bellhousing, you can see the fulcrum anchor:



And the gearbox in:


Just the fuel tank to do now I think?


And then sort this out (the car):

Fixed the fuel pipe tonight (which broke in another place), but replaced the bit in between with rubber fuel pipe from the old throttle body. It will do the job for a bit! Just did general tidying up, etc and will put the tank and slave cylinder back in tommorow night, and hopefully nothing will break.

And then I'll look at getting the 1 year old driveway cleaned.

Put the fuel tank in, connected it up, slave cylinder seized of it's own accord (one thing fixed, one thing brakes etc), everything is ready just need to find my spare clutch cylinder, and so on.
Last update now until I change the ad and hopefully sell it!

sounds liek that was a ballache.

Good to see it finally coming together

You not keeping it for a while though??

The whole thing has been a ball-ache from the moment I bought it.
I have flush the whole fuel system (fuel tank, fuel lines, new filter), and it is still running like shit. How can replacing everything produce the same results as before? There is no shit in the petrol, everywhere is clean and it just doesn't want to run.

This has gone to my mate's up in Manchester. I will see if he gets it working!

I've 'bought' this car back (I was never paid originally) and am picking it up first thing in the morning.

has it had anymore work done then matey???

Ace cars

No, none at all. It'd just sat in the garage, and probably would've been there for years. At least it was covered up, it still has my for sale ad in the window, lol. I didn't want it to just sit there doing absolutely nothing.

Did some dirty work on it today (gearbox), broke something (which is a similar theme on this car), and then came come covered in crap.

The joys of working on cars

THAT WHY I HATE IT

so its still not running pal??

It is running, but I need to get the injectors sorted as when I put the new engine, I had flushed the fuel filter and it basically chucked a load of crap through them again. I've been round in circles about 5 times with this car, but it is a lump of metal and doesn't have a brain, so I have to think it's not doing it just to piss me off! I sold it in spite really, I'd just had enough at the time.

This is all a distant memory to be honest, and I can't really remember the two months of solid work and money I put into it, so it's nice to have had a rest from it. These engines don't like contamination via fuel and have to be set up 100% otherwise they just won't work.

All I need now (which I've said before):

• Injectors unclogged (again!)
• New fuel pump
• New clutch release fork

Cool

"Sold" this three times so far, didn't realise there are so many timewasters out there who clearly either want the car, but don't have any money, or don't want it, but just feel the need to send the 'I'll buy that off you' email.

The car went not that long ago, I kept hold of the wheels though. Can't justify keeping the seven cars I had and only have two now.