FTO Drivers Club, Western Australia

fuel · Joined: 15 Oct 2006 Posts: 5

Hey guys.. I stumbled across this forum while searching for more modification info for my 6A12 MIVEC.

Let me introduce myself.. my name's Phil and I'm from Hamilton in New Zealand. I have a jap-import 1993 Galant VX-R with the 6A12 MIVEC-MD engine. As I understand it's quite a rare model Galant, and was only intended for the japanese domestic market. It has the same 200PS@7500rpm and 200Nm@6500 as the FTO GPX.

The 6A12 engine in the Galant is not quite the same as the FTO 6A12, for starters it's on the other side of the engine bay (much like an Evo 1-3 vs. Evo 4+), and also it has MD which shuts off the front bank of cylinders when they aren't required (ie idling or cruising along under light load).
The car also has some other cool stuff such as a close-ratio F5M31 5-speed manual box and big brakes - 276mm twin-pot up front and vented rotors at the rear. Twisted Evil

Anyway here are some pics of the car:

So far the only mod I have done to it is a redline pod filter, but I hope to do more such as an enlarged throttle body and custom exhaust including headers.

Any comments welcome Laughing

_________________
'93 Galant VX-R V6 MIVEC-MD

RichardH · Joined: 27 Jan 2003 Posts: 804

That's AWD?

I borrowed a Galant VR4 for a couple of weeks as a courtesy car. Didn't much like the auto transmission, but the rest of it was a great little car. I see a clutch pedal in your pics, so no worries there...! Smile

- Rich

fuel · Joined: 15 Oct 2006 Posts: 5

Unfortunately it's just a front-skidder much like the FTO. And yep 5 speed manual - never again will I own a Mitsubishi automatic Twisted Evil

_________________
'93 Galant VX-R V6 MIVEC-MD

RichardH · Joined: 27 Jan 2003 Posts: 804

Yeah, I test-drove a few auto Magnas, and the transmissions were horrid. The only one which felt sharp and usable was the FTO-derived tiptronic one in the Sports version. That and the AWD goodies put together by Mitsubishi's Aussie engineers was enough to get us handing over our hard-earned cash. For a family sedan, it's pretty damn good, hehe.

- Rich

fuel · Joined: 15 Oct 2006 Posts: 5

Haha I'm afraid the AWD Magna wasn't done by aussie engineers at all. Mitsubishi Japan have been making 4WD Diamantes (what the aussie Magna is based on) since 1990. The AWD Magna is just a locally assembled variant using the same 4WD running gear as the Diamante.

Here's a '92 Diamante 30R-S 4WD - http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=73071034&key=100917

And here's a '96 Diamante 25S 4WD - http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=73216018&key=100917

The same triptronic transmission is found in the 95 onwards Diamante, the 96 onwards Galant (I don't think you get this shape), 95 onwards Lancer/Mirage and a few other models.
_________________
'93 Galant VX-R V6 MIVEC-MD

RichardH · Joined: 27 Jan 2003 Posts: 804

Same running gear as a Diamante? That didn't match with my understanding of it, so I got on my favourite source of car crap, Autospeed magazine, and dredged up their original article on the car (the one that got us interested enough to test-drive one). I'll regurgitate it here to bore you with it, hehe...

"The AWD Magna uses the floor pan, fire-wall and fuel tank from the Japanese AWD Diamante but the engine and most of the suspension comes from the local Magna. So what are the new driveline bits? Specifically, the transfer case is common with the Evo VI Lancer, while the front differential is an open unit, the same as for Evo VI RS and Evo VII. The centre differential, which gives the full-time all wheel drive, uses a viscous coupling unit which is shared with the Evo VI. The rear LSD is a mechanical plate type, the same as the Evo VI RS (motorsport version). A new steering rack and steering knuckles were required (and what a pity the engineers didn't improve the steering ratio around centre while they had this chance!) and the exhaust system and ABS calibration were both revised."

Mitsubishi Australia even won an SAE "Automotive Engineering Excellence" award for their troubles developing the Magna AWD. So please don't think it was a Diamante with a different badge on it, hehe.

A pity their crap business approach got in the way of a great niche model - they only produced the AWD for a couple of years. Perhaps that had something to do with the "ugliest car in the world" project by designer Olivier Boulay. His revised Magna styling truly sucked. I couldn't imagine anyone buying that car unless they were blind. Which would make it hard to drive, I guess. Smile

- Rich

fuel · Joined: 15 Oct 2006 Posts: 5

The 4WD Diamante uses the Lancer evo running gear from its respective year basically. 90-95 shape use the Evo 1~3 gear while the 95 to about 98 used the Evo 4/5 gear and the 98 onwards used the Evo 6 gear.

I didn't say it was a Diamante with a different badge on it, I saw the 4WD part wasn't exactly australian engineered and they have been around in Japan for years.

And yes that last shape before the 380 came out was terrible. I actually prefer the previous shape to that.
_________________
'93 Galant VX-R V6 MIVEC-MD

RichardH · Joined: 27 Jan 2003 Posts: 804

Yeah, we bought the previous shape!! Smile

At the time, Boulay the designer said "people will either love it or hate it". Well, he was half right. Never met anyone who loved it......!

- Rich

fuel · Joined: 15 Oct 2006 Posts: 5

Haha yeah. I'm glad they got rid of him. He didn't exactly help Mitsubishi's financial situation at all.

Lucky the Evo 8 just got away lightly with the beating of the ugly stick from Boulay.
_________________
'93 Galant VX-R V6 MIVEC-MD

RichardH · Joined: 27 Jan 2003 Posts: 804

Yes, but look at the "concept car" atrocity they are threatening as the next Evo/Lancer... (from drive.com.au)......

They've upgraded their ugly stick. Now with extra "ugly"!!! Smile

- Rich