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Just bought a Galant VR4

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GST with PSI

DSM Wiseman
2,728
1,503
Jul 27, 2005
San Diego, California
So last Saturday I picked up a 1991 Galant VR4. The last thing I really need is another 4G63, but I couldn't bring myself pass up the opportunity. To me, owning a VR4 has just always been kind of folklore. The boxy little 4 door shell is just another ugly sedan to the majority who see it. Only those who actually know what they are looking at can really appreciate it for what it is. I have always been one of those individuals. I'm lucky I could finally get my hands on one.

The BAD: Sadly the car needs some work before it will run. There is currently no fuel pump in the tank. The wiring harness has been hacked in places by some idiot whose wiring jobs consisted mainly of butt connectors and scotch locks. The CAS has been rigged up all stupid and will probably have to be replaced. The ricer before me decided that a junk ass red silicon hose kit from autozone would be a great upgrade. Consequently the vacuum routing is all screwed up and all the junk red hoses will have to be replaced. Those are the major things that I can tell are wrong right now. I'm sure there will be 100 other little things I find as I begin fixing odds and ends.

The GOOD: The motor was fully rebuilt the Road Race Engineering. 2G pistons, 1G rods, ported and polished head, ARP studs....the works. The guy I bought the car from had over 5k worth of receipts from RRE. Also installed by RRE was a Big 16G turbo, Front mount intercooler, ACT 2600 clutch and lightened flywheel. Additionally the suspension has KYB AGX adjustables on all four corners. An Ebach pro kit was added and new bushings and such we also replaced. The paint is descent and the body and interior are in fairly good shape. Hopefully a few trips to the junk yard and some internet shopping can take care of most of the cosmetic issues.

I'm planning on returning the car back to stock for the most part. There are some parts currently on the car I may get rid of. I have a home brew full 3 inch exhaust that I'm looking to either sell or trade for a stock system ($make offer). I have a old school SAFC (with the tuning knobs) complete with the wiring harness ($100). I also have a set of Greddy boost and EGT 52mm gauges with white faces I may get rid of ($100 each). I can send pics of the items upon request, just PM me with your number.

Hopefully I have the time and money to get it running before I deploy in November, but who knows. I'll post some pics of the car below and you guys can tell me what you think.

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Looks alot better than I though Brett! Welcome to the club buddy. Def gotta bring it out the next time we have a meet bro.
 
Go register yourself on GalantVR4.org and introduce yourself, you'll find lots of VR4 parts on there than any other place man.

And if u ever need any help with it or have any questions text me.

Also Wjats the badge number on her?
 
Go register yourself on GalantVR4.org and introduce yourself, you'll find lots of VR4 parts on there than any other place man.

And if u ever need any help with it or have any questions text me.

Also Wjats the badge number on her?

Will do I'll check GVR4.org out . She's #1813/2000.
 
If u want a keychain replica of your badge, check in the for sale section of that forum on the very top. They are called key fobs, and only cost like 15 bucks
 
So I was tinkering around last night and randomly decided to turn the motor over by hand. The results were not so good. I got about 90 degrees and felt a solid clunk. I am assuming it's probably a piston hitting a valve, but I can't rotate the motor over far enough to line up the timing marks to confirm one way or another. I can't really think of anything else it could be. I think I'm going to pull the head off this weekend and see what I can find out. This project is starting out just as I had imagined. More problems than I can imagine.
 
Join the club, only difference is that we are a rare breed of headaches LOL.
-shane
 
So I have an update. I finally got the motor to turn over far enough to get the crank to TDC and check the cam timing marks. The intake cam appears to have jumped time quite a bit. I'm sure to have a some bent valves. I guess I will be looking for a head now :toobad:. Luckily the head already has ARP studs installed. I can reuse them without having to replace the head bolts. I pulled the exhaust manifold and trubo assembly today. I will try and pull the intake later on this week. Hopefully when I pop the head off the damage isn't too severe. Updates to follow soon.

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Poor VR4... well hey i found that fuel sending unit you needed, it'll even come with a walboro 255 for only 170 shipped. so just let me know man, because these dont last long, people always snatch em up real quick due to the fact that nobody makes them anymore.
 
you front end picture looks frighteningly similar to my missing galant. man i miss mine!
these are a blast to drive. the visibility is fantastic. and 4 doors, you never have to let someone in behind your seat through your door. tops man.
good job on getting a nearly finished project!
what color is that?
 
Poor VR4... well hey i found that fuel sending unit you needed, it'll even come with a walboro 255 for only 170 shipped. so just let me know man, because these dont last long, people always snatch em up real quick due to the fact that nobody makes them anymore.

didnt you see the how to on 1g dsm sending units? it can be done as well.
 
you front end picture looks frighteningly similar to my missing galant. man i miss mine!
these are a blast to drive. the visibility is fantastic. and 4 doors, you never have to let someone in behind your seat through your door. tops man.
good job on getting a nearly finished project!
what color is that?

Sorry man that sucks. Good luck finding it. The color is some kind of blue. It has been repainted by one of it's past owners I suppose. I actually don't love the color, but the car makes up for that.
 
I have another update on the Galant. I pulled the head yesterday and my thoughts were confirmed. The intake cam did in fact jump time causing the valves to strike the piston faces. All four pistons had marks in the intake valve reliefs where the valves had made contact. Luckily, there was no damage to the pistons themselves. The markings caused by the valve contact was hardly visible. Also the exhaust valves do not seem to have been damaged at all, as there were no signs of damage on the exhaust side of the piston. I haven't disassembled the head yet, but I'm sure that all the intake valves are bent. I guess I'm in the market for a new head now.

After disassembling everything and seeing the condition of all the pistons and head, I definitely have some questions about how this happened. Because the intake cam is a driven component, I can't think of any way it could possibly jump time. Unless some physical force actually momentarily prevents the cam from rotating all together, the cams will always be in time with each other. Not to mention, given the size and the large overall surface area of the cam gear itself, I would think it almost impossible for a timing belt even tensioned remotely near spec able to slip 4 plus teeth on the camshaft cog. Before I took the head off the belt had good tension. This leads me to believe that the belt never actually slipped, that it was instead installed incorrectly from the very beginning by whoever changed it last. Additionally the pistons are brand new and the cylinder walls are still freshly cross hatched from being honed. It doesn't look like the car has ever even been started after it was rebuilt. This just adds to my theory of an incorrect timing belt installation rater than the belt jumping time.

The head is in very good condition. I was obviously also rebuilt before it was installed. If you look at the picture, you can see where some of the valves were replaced. Oddly not all of them were replaced. You can see on the bottom of the valve faces where some valves clearly look different than others. Why only some were replaced is beyond me. Maybe they were all replaced with new dissimilar looking valves? Who knows. All I know now is that I need a new head or have to get the one I have reconditioned.

I have a few questions. Does anyone know a good reputable machine shop in the area? Also a round about cost to get my head reconditioned. The deck mating surface is fine so I wont have to get it redone. I basically just need all the guides checked and replaced if necessary and new valves installed and lapped. Secondly the car had a 4 layer metal head gasket installed. Can you reuse these? Thanks in advance for any info.

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You can see here on the right side (intake side) where the valves left very small contact marks inside the valve reliefs. The other side is blemish free.
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You can barely see here the small damaged spot on the left side of the valve.
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Notice the mismatched different looking valves.
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Brett, Kris knows a good place to get machine work done. pm him (banishedmunk) and as for the headgasket, i wouldnt recommend reusing it man. just get a stock one. they have a more more of a limit for like .008 as opposed to the metel one .002 when it comes to head warpage
 
hey just wanted to stop in and say hi i live by qualcomm stadium if you need any help...

oh and i took mine to "hopsing machine shop" havent picked it up yet but supposed to be great with these engines
 
im just going to ask, is "HopSing" owned by an Asian man? just wondering. I am Chinese and Hopsing is a word used in our language.
 
use hopsing, dont reuse head gasket and get the ebay ss valves best price.

I would never use any engine parts bought from eBay man, those are things people should not cheap out on. And are the main reason that's killing the DSM industry.
 
My guess is it was assembled and when they tried to start it, that's when it may have happened. May have also been the reason they sold it and failed to mention that to you. Good buy. I want to get one myself.

Just a suggestion pour a little gas or oil down each port and check for it to leak through. It will give you a better idea of how many valves are bent.
 
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