Jalopnik: super potential

ENGINE SUPERNOVA POTENTIAL!

Mike Bumbeck — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 14:30:00 EDT

Every now and again we have to revisit the reasons sinking endless hours and buckets of coinstar trappings into our rides somehow worth the effort. Last week we motored down to Torrance from Montrose in the mighty Starion for some wrenching, a late cobb salad down at the Hof's Hut, and to pick up a turbo heat shield bracket that had snapped after twenty years of heat cycling. Kelly was prepping Mario's car for the trip to sin city, and Mark came over to suggest propane turbo engine swaps for the Starlet. After some more wrenching on our own Starion we're off to SEMA today. If you see a mushroom cloud on your way out to Las Vegas don't worry. The nuclear test ban treaty is still in effect. The Star of Astron has merely gone supernova, and I'll need a ride.

Workhorse Engine of the Day: Mitsubishi Astron

Mike Bumbeck — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 14:30:00 EDT

From a distant galaxy of single overhead cam engines comes the Mitsubishi Astron series. The mighty Astron began life in 1972, and is still ticking away under the hoods of everything from Mitsubishi Starions to the panoply of Chrysler K-Car variants. In the beginning, the Flying Sikh himself pummeled an Astron equipped original Lancer to numerous rally victories. Patented silent shaft technology canceled out harmonics as the engine grew in displacement from 1.8 to 2.6 liters of four pot fury. The last production car to pack the Astron was either the the 1991 Pajero or the 1990 Starion, but only if not counting the diesel version of the Astron - which motored on with turbo until 1993 amid Galants. 21 years of Astron! In sourcing a new cylinder head sans jet valves for one of the two 2.6L G54B turbo variants of the Astron in our garage we learned that the 'ol G54B aspirated on propane with propane accessories serves in many forklifts to this day. The odd marriage of Mopar, Mitsubishi, and K-Car station wagons also led to some innovative badging - as seen in the bonus pic after the jump. [Mitsubishi Astron]

Starion Bar-B-Que in Motion

Mike Bumbeck — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 15:45:00 EDT

Not so long ago we rolled down to the KDM Starion Bar-B-Que for some Carne Asada and turbo goodness. While we snapped stills, mini DV cameras spun to capture the event. One Mitchell Spacone spent hours and a toasted motherboard getting this together, splicing in some stills courtesy of the Jalopnik in the process. The ~~523~~ 539 horsepower king of the turbo and motherboard frying StarQuests is featured with motion and realistic hi-fi sound!

Mitsubishi 500 Super Deluxe!

Mike Bumbeck — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 16:00:00 EDT

The popularity of the Fiat 500 really is transcontinental. The guys with the triple diamonds on their white lab coats developed this Mitsubishi 500 during the late '50s, with a production model hitting the roads of Japan in the early '60s. This particular example represents the first racing victory for a Shin Mitsubishi Heavy-Industries automobile. Kazuo Togawa took the 750cc class in the 1962 Macau Grand Prix behind the wheel of a 594cc Super Deluxe 500. Three more Super Deluxes right behind him took 2nd through 4th place, setting the stage for super performance! [A Glorious History via Mitsubishi]

523 Horsepower Starion Bar-B-Que

Mike Bumbeck — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 15:00:00 EDT

The coolest thing about owning any automobile is almost instant membership in the club of the car. The less ubiquitous the machine, the more esoteric the club. In the case of the Mitsubishi Starion, aka Chrysler Conquest, a membership of peers is required just to keep the twentysomething year old StarQuests rolling. That same community is also there when it comes time to squeeze more horsepower than the factory ever intended out of the 2.6L Mitsubishi mill, or chow down on some tasty BBQ.

When it comes to the West Coast the man to talk to about Starquests is Kelly. It was Kelly and the rest of the KDM Performance crew that pulled together with tuner Chris from DC Performance and organized this BBQ dyno pull bonanza. Starions and Conquests showed from all over the western regions for some Carne Asada, and a chance to post some dyno proven numbers. DC Performance usually deals in Mopars less removed than the StarQuest - Vipers and other V-10 powered machines are their specialty.

In stock form the Starion makes about 140-something to the wheels. What does it take to squeeze more juice from the SOHC 2.6L Mitsu? Fuel and air supplied courtesy of more boost. A little nitrous doesn't hurt either. Or at least it didn't this time around. With 18 PSI, a Mitsubishi Super 16G turbo, and a 100-shot of nitrous oxide Mark's StarQuest spun the rollers to 326 hp. All this using the stock two-injector throttle body injector system and a good measure of driveway ingenuity.

With an extra injector piped into the intake upstream from the stockers and some tuning, dyno-man Chris knocked out near 320 hp without use of the bottle. Adding in a fourth injector and a modified intake from an Aussie 2.6L variant was Ivan. This multipoint injection along with a turbo the size of a watermelon helped Ivan's yellow screamer kick out 523 horsepower on the dyno. At the end of the day Ivan was king, and got to eat the part of the cake that said "500" on it.

KDM plans to throw another one of these SoCal StarQuest deals next year with a added bonus. Along with plenty of grub, prizes, and general good times, the crew announced that next year's shindig will feature a 88-89 Starion as a giveaway! Right after the announcement and within relative earshot of the crowd Mark also added "with rod knock!" - complete with accompanying sound effects. While that last part was good humor, it could pay off to come to the 2008 KDM BBQ. – Mike Bumbeck

KDM Performance; DC Performance [External]

Related:
More Starion Madness [Internal]

SUPER CUSTOM! Toyota Hi-Ace on eBay

Mike Bumbeck — Thu, 10 May 2007 13:30:00 EDT

Falling directly in the center of the odd intersection between nineties Japanese Space Wagons and seventies American Custom Vans is this Toyota Hi-Ace Super Custom. Packing a total of four captain's chairs and at least five Plymouth Caravelles worth of burgundy velour - this Hi-Ace is loaded, Johnny. Cool and hot box with ice maker and digital dash control give this space wagon supreme potential. – Mike Bumbeck

Toyota Hi-Ace 4WD Super Custom Limited on eBay [eBay.com]

Related:
Mitsubishi Delica Space Gear SUPER EXCEED! [Internal]

SUPER POTENTIAL! The Ad That Launched a Million Random References

Mike Bumbeck — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 13:04:44 EST

Anything with lasers has got to be good. Space queens from galaxies of the distant future shooting blue lasers from their fingertips are that much better. The star of this commercial is of course the turbo specialty sports coupe called Starion. If Mitsubishi would just take whatever engine and turbo they're going to put in the EVO X and stuff it into an updated and slightly lighter version of this rear-drive icon, they would once again have a vehicle with SUPER POTENTIAL! We know of a few laser sporting space queens from the distant future who are now available for commercial work. – Mike Bumbeck

Related:
Starion [Internal]

SUPER POTENTIAL! Older than Starion, Younger than Mitsubishi

Davey G. Johnson — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 21:15:00 EST

Mitsubishi began as a shipping firm founded by Yataro Iwasaki in 1870. The theory of superpotential was first posited by E. T. Whittaker in a series of papers dating back to 1903. The Starion was introduced in 1982. It took a war between Japan and Russia, two World Wars, a stalemate in Korea and a debacle in Vietnam to finally bring the two together. Oh, and a space in what was originally a compound word. But we sure are awfully glad they found each other. – Davey G. Johnson

Superpotentials, Scalar interferometry, and Internally Structuring of Fields and Potentials [The Tom Bearden Website]