I have a 94 Expo SP 5-speed with the 4G64 engine. Unfortunately it's not AWD. It's my daily driver right now (my project car which used to be my daily driver is a 92 GVR4). Only mods on the Expo so far are a K&N air filter, Oilguard filter and stock GVR4 wheels.

One thing to watch out for is the crank pulley which will fail just like on the 4G63 engines and can result in bent valves. The AWD Expo is also covered by the same transfer case recall that affects the AWD DSMs and Galants.

There was an Expo specific site a bunch of years ago that covered possible mods but unfortunately the guy that ran it sold his Expo and the site disappered.

I think what jas3113 is planning is putting the 4G63T head, intake and exhaust on the 4G64 block resulting in 2.4L turbo. A bunch of people have been doing this on the DSM's and GVR4's and making some sick power on regular pump gas.

Thank. I will update as oftern as possible, currently the car has developed an overheating problem and looking into an all aluminum Koyo radiator for the Evo I,II,III.

Depending what year your Expo is your tranny may be interchangable with the DSM's (Eagle Talon, Mitsu Eclipse and Plymouth Laser). I'll list the different tranny codes when I get home from dinner tonight.



The SP is a 5 door. So far it's been grea to drive :).

I acutually lucked out and have the G64B in mine. It's a 6 bolt block, which is suppose to be less prone to crankwalk.

I have most part to do the conversion already, just need to order a set of pistons and rods. I'll be checking to see if the DSM harness will plug into the the other harnesses.



Hey Ray,

Good to see another GVR4 member here :) :beer: . How's the car looking with the GVR4 wheels? I'm thinking about going with 16's or 17's with mine but unsure yet.

BTW if anyone needs any thing from the factory workshop manuals let me know.

John

Hey Everyone.. I registered because I have great interest in a 3-door AWD Expo/Colt Vista/Summit Wagon as a project. Though I don't have the resources to make it happen soon, I'm trying to get information for when I can. I've searched high and low for info.

I've found some info on www*dot*4g61t*dot*org (won't let me post links? remove *dot* and replace with .), a site dedicated to Mirage/Colt turbo's and 4G63 swaps. I guess the Japanese Expo's came with the turbo 4G63 powerplant, which is what I would like to do.

Here is post from that site on the subject, as well as pics of a New Zealander's Turbo Expo AWD.

www*dot*4g61t*dot*org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?highlight=4g63+expo&t=13645

Someone on that site mentions that the 4G63 is a direct bolt-in, but that the expo shares mounts with the 2g DSMs so a 7-bolt fits. I wonder if a 6-bolt could be made to fit.

Anyway, I'm just excited to see some relatively current discussion on the prospects these mini-mini-vans as sleeper projects. Maybe we can use this a place to post up our findings/info as we come across it.

-Jeff

Hey Jeff congrats, it depends on what year your RVR is, if it's a early 92 RVR a 6bolt will be a direct fit. 7 bolts bolt in to 93+.

you can go to dsmtalk.com or dsmtuners.com and search on there for some conversions.

There was a RVR at the Buschur DSM shootout with a 4g63 swap.

Also the tranny's on the RVR's are not as strong as the DSMs.

John

Cool, Hey thanks for the leads. Did the RVR at the shootout run in the 1/4?

I'd like to someday have a stroker 4g63 Expo. :grin:

Is it possible to swap out transmissions as well? Thanks again.

No problem. Yeah heard it ran 13's.

After I finish my Celica All Trac motor, I'll be taking out my 2.4 from the expo and building it up.

It may not be possible to swap out the tranny unless you swap out the rear also. The trans used in the RVR is the same as the Galant GSX which has a different final drive.

John

Hey John, just wondering if you ever got those tranny codes. Thanks

-Jeff

hi bobc,

too many brats in my house on the computer....many thanks for your help, will definitely try getting one, it should give my tired engine some breath. your extensive directions have given me more much than i had asked, or even hoped for. thanks again!!!

Hey Jeff,

Yeap here's the link

http://www.mitsubishi-forums.com/t7005-expo-tranny-specs.htm

John

hi bobc,

took your advice and followed your nicely detailed directions, and installed the same intake you have, today. i only took it on a short ride around town, so i couldn't judge all-out acceleration, but i noticed the engine 'gained' about 150 to 200 rpm's at any given roadspeed in the highest appropriate gear, though idle speed was up about a hundred.

i'm anxious to see how it is on the highway on my way to work, but with 225,000 plus on the engine, any increase in mileage through freer breathing is improvment enough.

many thanks for your help!!!
jim

does your car look like mine??
sorry but you didnt mention the year



ALSO DOES ANYONE KNOW WHAT TRANSMISSION WILL FIT IN MY SPACEWAGON i have a talon sittin in the back yard as a donar if it fits....

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AWESOME! I finally have found the information I've needed to get my 92'Expo LRV Sport where I need it. I'm hoping to do the same thing the author of this thread was thinking. SO, change the intake, put better suspension as I thought, and she will be there mechanically as far as I think I want to take her.

Thanks,

Joanthan
http://www.rallyboy.com
Rallyboy.com

The Mitsubishi Expo Lrv is called RVR in Japan, Europe and Australia. The HSG, (Hyper Sports Gear) came with a 2.0 DOHC Turbo with AWD. xspeed.com.au is a performance tuner in Australia that has pictures and some info on the car. Most everything else will be Japanese web pages. There is a place called Sigma Speed Shop in Japan that is an exclusive RVR performance retailer. I have inquired as to purchase and shipping of everything from the body kit to the lowering spring kit for the car but as yet have had no response. I haven't had much luck finding a source in Europe either. There used to be a Japan-based web site devoted to RVR racing. Yes, they actually race these in Japan. I think the biggest problem now will be the fact they crush these cars when they are a few of years old. Something to do with the cost of registering cars older than 3 years.Why someone there has not thought of stripping the body kits and accessories from these and import them here I do not know. The HSG is a mean looking little van. I think had Mitsubishi not been so conservative in their marketing plans. They probably would havesold 10 times as many of these as they did. I'm always looking and if I find anything I'll post. Good luck.

For those of you interested in improving the rather soft suspension, here's a lil info.

You can use KYB AGX struts from the Galant VR4 up front or GR2's. There is no AGX application for the rear but the GR2's fit just fine on my AWD summit. The AWD's aren't listed in many application guides but the standards fit just fine and take only a few minutes to install.

I have a 1996 Eagle Summit AWD 5spd that I'm trying to prep for rallycross. Even with the AGX's up front and a set of GR2's out back it's too soft and has too much body roll. Here are the plans I have.

1. cut stock rear spring to lower about 1" to 1 1/2" in the rear.

2. have a rear strut tower bar made to help stiffen the rear.

3. have a custom rear sway bar made and new bushings installed. (the stock bar appears to be 22mm but hollow. i plan to have a solid bar made to replace it)

We'll see how those things work to eliminate body roll and wallow.

if you can have someone, anyone, fabricate a stiffer rear sway-bar for these animals, let us know!!! you might need some more buyers to make it worth their efforts, so keep us in the loop!!! good luck, and thanks for the shock/strut info. now, if i could only get more rear roll stiffness in my 2006 outlander....

There are several people that will recreate a sway bar for around $150. You just send them your old bar and they bend you a new one in whatever size you need. There was a place in florida last time I checked.

Here's an update on my rallyx suspension.

I'm currently running LRV (FWD) springs up front with the AGX's. The FWD springs are almost an 1" short than the stock awd springs. I cut one full coil off the rear springs and it has really helped handling. I purchased a rear strut bar for $25 off ebay. You can buy the exact same strut bar that fits a 2g DSM and it fits perfectly. This really helped firm up the rear. It doesn't appear that any Summit's came with a rear LSD but it's a 3 bolt rear like the GVR4 so I'm gonna see what swaps.

I ran my first rallyx with it last weekend. It did surprisingly well and never felt tippy or out of control. The LRV springs simply aren't stiff enough so I plan to buy whiteline control springs for a GVR4 and use those with the AGX's up front. I ran with the AGX's set to 3.

I picked up a set of GVR4 wheels that I plan to install rally tires on. The 14" Michelin Weatherwise sport tires just have too much sidewall flex even when aired up to 45lbs.

I also plan to start working on front end bushings. Currently, it just doesn't have the steering feel and predictability you need in a rallyx car.

all the New Zealand and Australia guys say the AWD RVR / Expo LRV / Plymouth Colt Vista / Eagle Summit Wagons all share the same wheel base and track with Evo 1 2 3. Apparently all kinds of Evo 1 2 3 stuff fits our cars. I've looked at the rear suspension, its not exactly the same so I'm skeptical on that part but who knows..



i was thinking Evo 1 steering rack, that would be nice. but im going to look for some GVR4 springs.

The lower control arms appear to be unique to the RVR/Expo and that's where a large amount of the slack is. They are mounted in a very large rubber bushing which accounts for a lot of the mushy imprecise steering response I complained about last season. I'm hoping to find urethane lower control arm bushings and steering rack bushing from someone in japan to improve my handling.

I am taking a slightly differen approach to modding my '93 Summit Wagon suspension. I hate AGX struts, as they tend blow way too often. GR2s are OK, but not stiff enough for my liking.

Since you can use DSM/GRV4 front suspension on the Summit, you can also use the same trick that those guy use to install EVO8-9 suspension on the Wagaon!

I think that I will start a thread dealing specifically with Summit/LRV suspension. Stay tuned...

As promissed :grin:

EVO 9 suspension upgrade is very similar to 1G/GVR4 upgrade.

Front:

Knuckle connection – EVO uses 14mm bolts where as DSMs/LRVs/Summit use 12mm. Some people just use oversized washers and fix everything in the “most negative camber” position. That works OK, but because holes are oversized, things can come apart. So I welded some washers in the “most negative camber” position.

The knuckle on the EVO is 27mm, DSM/LRV/Summit knuckle is 22mm. Therefore you need two 2.5mm spacers to take up the space.

Here is a photo of welded-on washers and spacers.

(IMG:http://memimage.cardomain.com/member_images/9/web/3117000-3117999/3117423_6_full.jpg)

Installed photo:

(IMG:http://memimage.cardomain.com/member_images/9/web/3117000-3117999/3117423_7_full.jpg)

The EVO strut top mount is very similar to the LRV/Summit top mount. They have 3 mounting studs, spaced at 120 degrees of each other. The difference is that the studs on EVO top mount are located on a larger base circle. So you just have to elongate the holes a bit.

(IMG:http://memimage.cardomain.com/member_images/9/web/3117000-3117999/3117423_8_full.jpg)

On the other side, I elongated those holes to give me a maximum camper. So I will end with slightly more camber on the passenger side, which could come in handy during left turns…

(IMG:http://memimage.cardomain.com/member_images/9/web/3117000-3117999/3117423_9_full.jpg)

Next, I had to mount the brake line bracket. I simply used a ~3” extension to pick up the mounting point on EVO strut.

(IMG:http://memimage.cardomain.com/member_images/9/web/3117000-3117999/3117423_5_full.jpg)

Rear:

Springs, stock riding height was ~1” higher in the rear than in the front. Therefore, I have decided to cut out 1” worth of spring (one coil) to increase the spring rate.

For the dampers I used EVO 9 rear shocks which have received a “DSM/GRV4 style” modification in the rear (welded in stock bottom mount).

(IMG:http://memimage.cardomain.com/member_images/9/web/3117000-3117999/3117423_3_full.jpg)

On top, I simply installed Summit/LRV upper mount, while leaving out the spring.

You will also need to cut down the rear spring perch or you could kit the body and/or inside of the wheel. My original trimming was not enough and I scraped my balancing weights on the rear wheel.

(IMG:http://memimage.cardomain.com/member_images/9/web/3117000-3117999/3117423_4_full.jpg)

I was afraid that this upgrade will result in a very harsh ride. I was wrong! The ride is very reasonable and handling is great! I still haven’t aligned the car, so I am not sure about the specs that I ended up with. And I haven’t pushed it to the limit yet. But from a few miles (and on-ramps) I am very happy with this upgrade!

Final ride height:

(IMG:http://memimage.cardomain.com/member_images/9/web/3117000-3117999/3117423_1_full.jpg)

(IMG:http://memimage.cardomain.com/member_images/9/web/3117000-3117999/3117423_2_full.jpg)


Passenger side camber:

(IMG:http://memimage.cardomain.com/member_images/9/web/3117000-3117999/3117423_10_full.jpg)

I whish I would have done this on both sides.

Future plans:

- Front and rear struts bars - I am usually not a big fan of those bars. In most cases they are done purely for looks. But in this case, I have more than doubled the stiffness of my suspension on what isn’t known as particularly stiff chassis. So I think that using bars is a very good idea.
- Upgrade the rear springs - I wan’t to get stiffer rear springs. Mitsubishi EXPO (7 passenger wagon) come with stiffer version of these springs. I will get it a shot next.