New Galant VR4 Owner

[Kurt Holsinger]

Hello all! I just purchased #1772 from a member on galantvr4.org here: (#1772 for sale thread). It looks like it has been taken very good care of. Aside from some rust underneath and a few minor door dings everything appears to be in good shape. As far as I can tell the only thing done to the drivetrain has been upkeep (a lot) and some BC264's. It has a shimmy once I get over about 65 mph that comes and goes. I'll need to diagnose that. And the shifter was like rowing with a wet rope.

My first fast car was a 4 bolt/6 bolt Talon. I pulled the motor and had it built, and did all the normal bolt-ons. I always loved that car and have missed being a part of the DSM community. I always loved the sleeper aspect of the Galant, and knew I would buy one when the right deal came along to get back into a DSM (after reading around the site I have learned the GVR4 is not a DSM. I apologize if I offended anyone). With that being said, it has been more than 10 years since I had my Talon and have forgot a lot. I see a lot of good information on this site, and continue to find little gems of information the more I search. I would like to learn the latest and greatest out there for things like the shifter, suspension, fuel supply, turbo, tranny/transfercase, axles, 4 lug vs 5 lug.

My goal is to build a reliable car that can be autocrossed on the weekend but also be occasionally driven to work or up on mountain roads if I feel like it. I have a friend with a 2G that just made 493 hp to the wheels on 93 octane (no meth) with an FP Black, so I will be leaning on him for some help. I would like to make similar horsepower. ~500 whp with suspension and drivetrain to sustain some "spirited" driving on the autocross track and in the mountains, while still being relatively livable on the street is my goal. Any help or opinions would be greatly appreciated.

A few recent things done per the previous owner:
Engine:
Timing belt just done 6,000 miles ago, timing and balance shaft belt, idler and tensioner pulleys, rebuilt stock cylinder head, pulled the head to change valve stem seals and upgrade cams, the surface was perfectly smooth and had never been machined a single time (see pictures) - at that time the car got:
-New NGK Plugs and wires
-New head gasket
-ARP Head studs
-Repainted valve cover
-AMG plug well cover
-Crower 264 cams
-2G exhaust manifold and heat shield
Also has:
new bosch o2 sensor
2G lifters
K&N drop in filter
Aluminum radiator
Eliminated FIAV
Drivetrain:
New front axles
New moog ball joints and tire rod ends
Alignment done 10/14 at firestone
KYB GR2 struts on stock springs
New Front OEM calipers, pads with outlander brackets and slotted rotors (minor increase in braking power)
New Rear Calipers pads and slotted rotors

INT / EXT
Thule Roof Rack and three bike carriers
2 inch hitch receiver and trailer wires
93 headlights
AMG corners wired for turn signal and runner lights
JDM Front bumper with projector fogs
JDM Eterna Grill
JDM Full time AWD badges (front and rear)
JDM Door stickers
Carbon fiber trunk
OZ Superleggera 17x8
6 month old Continental DWS
Rally Armor mud flaps
Conquest head rests
89 glove box and under dash
Evo DIN gauge cluster
Manual seat belt conversion

My first project was the shifter. I ordered a 3kGT unit and sent it to JNZ for modification. It is MUCH tighter now. In fact I am thinking of putting a short extension on it, or at least a weighted knob to help with the increased effort to get it into gear.

I also just recently installed a Fullblown 340-2 pump, FPR, and 950cc FICs.

I am now running the ECMlink chipped ECU that came with the car along with an AEM EUGO wb for tuning.

I should be getting my 3" catless exhaust from CM Performance this weekend. I also just bought a little thing called an FP 68HTA from Street Surgeon, whatever that is.

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Here's how it sits, more or less now. Without the roof rack:

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For those of you who are interested, here's a picture of my previous DD. It's an 09 SRT8 with a Procharger. It make ~570 to the wheels. I love my boosted AWDs!!

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[Kurt Holsinger]

So I love to pull up old logs and "race" my previous vehicles to my current one. I've started logging the VR4 so I figured I would throw it in the spreadsheet. It looks like I definitely have some room for improvement to catch up to my previous standards. I had a B5 S4 with pretty much every bolt-on including RS4 turbos. My other vehicle, as I mentioned above was a Procharged SRT8 Jeep that I put L/T headers on and had it retuned over the course of me owning it. I plotted their speeds along with the VR4 and how far ahead (red line) the Jeep would be since it was my fastest vehicle. The VR4 is still running pig rich and I'm dialing in the WOT MAFcomp and fuel still.

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[Dsmkauai]

Welcome bro! Looks good and super clean vr4. Welcome to the family that hta will really wake the beast up!