Austarion

Hey Guys.

I recently acquired my first 1982/1983 JA Starion! I'm so keen to get stuck into it.. My purpose for this vehicle originally was to set up for drift and just flog it all day with some decent power to the ground. After realising the rarity and worth of these particular motor vehicles i decided to not do this. Instead it will become my weekender and when i decide to go down brisbane way for the practice events at QR. So i want to keep it clean but at the same time putting decent power down being able to slide.

So it comes to my first question, are lockers for the JA's open diff easy to obtain? or in this case is it better i look into another cheap lsd diff or weld my current one? Throw as many options at me here..

Secondly, the only thing that bugs me the most after purchasing this vehicle i think is the fact its a sohc. Now i've been told the dohc conversion to the starion block is fairly straight forward. Seen bits of info all around the place but i think i need a definite straight up what will fit and where can i get it. Now my original plans for the engine mods was to find a vr4 complete head for the swap, a 87 magna mpfi intake manifold? correct me if this won't fit been told it would, bigger turbo such as a gt30 or gt35r w/ t3 manifold to suit, 3" exhaust from turbo back, 3 - 4" intake to apexi pod, fmic setup with 2.5 - 3" piping, aftermarket ecu for tuning and basic boost gauges and such for knowing whats happening under the bonnet. If anyone see's any complications with these items or thinks i should head in a different direction based on my purpose then let me know. All posts are muchly appreciated so please speak your mind.

twin cam "head" swap:

http://forums.austarion.com/viewtopic.php?t=11874

or you could buy the conversion that mitsumadness has for sale here.

there are 2 LSD diffs for sale on here at the moment, they usually go for between $600 and $1000 depending on condition etc.. they are well worth the money, they rarely come up for sale, though this has been helped recently by a number of diffs coming in from the USA..

GormzZ wrote:So it comes to my first question, are lockers for the JA's open diff easy to obtain? or in this case is it better i look into another cheap lsd diff or weld my current one? Throw as many options at me here..

First off, Welcome GormzZ! :beer

I have looked into "Welding" a Diff before, and as much as it's cheap and easy, it can be rather annoying not perform near as well..
As for LSD's tho, Check Buy/Sell on this forum as some every now and again, but LSD's can be expensive..

GormzZ wrote:Secondly, the only thing that bugs me the most after purchasing this vehicle i think is the fact its a sohc. Now i've been told the dohc conversion to the starion block is fairly straight forward. Seen bits of info all around the place but i think i need a definite straight up what will fit and where can i get it. Now my original plans for the engine mods was to find a vr4 complete head for the swap, a 87 magna mpfi intake manifold? correct me if this won't fit been told it would, bigger turbo such as a gt30 or gt35r w/ t3 manifold to suit, 3" exhaust from turbo back, 3 - 4" intake to apexi pod, fmic setup with 2.5 - 3" piping, aftermarket ecu for tuning and basic boost gauges and such for knowing whats happening under the bonnet. If anyone see's any complications with these items or thinks i should head in a different direction based on my purpose then let me know. All posts are muchly appreciated so please speak your mind.

You basically want to do everything I dream of doing to my JA in the near future.. As for the DoHC, the VR4 big port heads from a Galant go easy and there are a ton of information on the "twincam" section of the forum..

Happy hunting!

ps the dohc swap is only really worthwhile if u are chasing over 350rwhp, the sohc is perfectly fine for less than this.

300rwhp will get you into the 12's btw, and 350rwhp is more than most SR drift cars have..

plus u get to spin people out with how much HP your sohc has..

thanks for the link redzone :), just need pictures to make it easier for me now haha. i will look for the conversion mitsumadness is selling also. those prices are reasonable i guess, and ahh i see seems these days the U.S stocks up on everything.

yeah i was afraid of this also bruz.. hence why it could've been my last option if a LSD didnt come into my possession. yeah what i mentioned are the parts i believe will give me a decent power output which can be monitored also. I was talking to a local fellow mitsu fanboy who owns a colt with a 4g63t in it! He claims i can use the head of a excel, sonata of the older generations for a bolt on.. but then i would need a custom intake manifold to suit our rwd setup (sonata is fwd manifold), is this so? thanks

yeah i like to keep my options open redzone, i will eventually keep building upon it until im happy.. im sure 300hp at the rear wheels to slide would be plenty though.. but i guess on the street for some fun or dyno's i wouldn't mind a bit more with a tad more psi going through her to make it. But on that note what mods would be needed to make the sohc 4g63 motor perform up to 300whp?

About the diff, instead of welding you could get a mini-spool. You'll have to see if there's something to fit or get something made.

Here's info on a mini-spool:
http://wiki.r31skylineclub.com/index.ph ... Mini_Spool

We have 25 and 28 spline axles, so something like this may fit:
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Mini-Spool-B ... 3cc0940fea

Mini spool not an option for starion open diffs..

Read the dohc thread, it's not a simple head swap, colt boy doesn't know what he's talking about when it comes to rwd dohc 4g63's..

Search my orange car thread on here for tips on budget big hp sohc power..

hmmm options are getting a bit slim..

the dohc swap thread you made? its a bit over the place and the pictures don't work if thats the one your talking about it.. but i'll give it a proper read soon. yeah his is obviously fwd but its all the other way around if we were comparing to a sr fwd to sr rwd.. obviously it turns the opposite way..

will have a find for your orange car thread then.. cause at first i will be getting some more power out've this.. until she dies or when i got more money to throw at it.

GormzZ wrote:hmmm options are getting a bit slim..

the dohc swap thread you made? its a bit over the place and the pictures don't work if thats the one your talking about it.. but i'll give it a proper read soon. yeah his is obviously fwd but its all the other way around if we were comparing to a sr fwd to sr rwd.. obviously it turns the opposite way..

will have a find for your orange car thread then.. cause at first i will be getting some more power out've this.. until she dies or when i got more money to throw at it.

orange car thread:

http://forums.austarion.com/viewtopic.p ... e&start=15

rundown:

JE forgies to suit 6 bolt VR4, stock rods & crank, balanced, stock head bolts, 2.4 head, graphite head gasket, MPI conversion with sonata manifold, custom exh manifold with KKR430 turbo (though could have used stock exh manifold with TD0620G for same result), good clutch, lsd diff.. ended up making 289hp atw with a fuel only computer!!

yes the dohc thread has all the info you need, sorry about the pics not working, but they were hosted on the austarion.com server which was taken down by the owner due to people hosting shit for other forums on it etc.. if i can find all the original pics i'll put them up on my photobucket account & reload them on the thread..

the fwd and rwd dohc spin the same way, the difference is in the water routing etc and the fact that the fwd blocks are a narrowblock which uses a smaller clutch and doesnt suit the starion gearbox..

If you want to do a DOHC swap, why dont you buy mitsumadness's conversion that is forsale here: http://forums.austarion.com/viewtopic.php?t=14391

Or if you want to have a look at a well done SOHC have a look here at John's build: http://forums.austarion.com/viewtopic.php?t=13787

righto redzone that is some decent power for the little upgrades you did on the sohc *thumbs up*. yeah will do a bit of reading now.. but if i come with any issues i'll just ask again i guess.. sorry for being a bit of a newbie lol.

yeah it seems his motor got bought already of ebay, all good but :). yeah will take a look at his build to.. will start looking at other builds and getting the know hap for what most people are doing.

found in the rear of the owners manual for this car.. that it had a full service history up until 150,000k's or so.. then after that they wrote on the last page.. it's had a new water/oil cooled turbo fitted and serviced car, new ring bearings, new head valves, timing belts, all front seals, power steering pump seal, distributor cap, leads, plugs, fan belt, silencer, hose, clutch slave cylinder kit, new clutch complete with thrust etc... now im really curious to find out from the owner who got this done whats in this motor.. rumour has been said the fella before harty1065 used to drag race this car or something? and would explain the engine mods.. anyone got insight on this vehicle.. redzone etc?

redzone wrote: the fwd and rwd dohc spin the same way, the difference is in the water routing etc and the fact that the fwd blocks are a narrowblock which uses a smaller clutch and doesnt suit the starion gearbox..

yeah found this out today.. nonethe less i can just use the head and run a longer coolant hose to the rear and mount the thermostat in the appropriate direction so it feeds around the passenger side of the motor and feed into the radiator?

GormzZ wrote:found in the rear of the owners manual for this car.. that it had a full service history up until 150,000k's or so.. then after that they wrote on the last page.. it's had a new water/oil cooled turbo fitted and serviced car, new ring bearings, new head valves, timing belts, all front seals, power steering pump seal, distributor cap, leads, plugs, fan belt, silencer, hose, clutch slave cylinder kit, new clutch complete with thrust etc... now im really curious to find out from the owner who got this done whats in this motor.. rumour has been said the fella before harty1065 used to drag race this car or something? and would explain the engine mods.. anyone got insight on this vehicle.. redzone etc?

Flav mentioned in a post about harty's car that an old bloke owned it...it was dead stock...and slow for dead stock (I never drove it but I know the car as I considered buying the car way back then) The old bloke's son-in-law ran an engine reco place and he was apparently into drag racing. Not with your car though. The old guy was pretty fussy about it, but when he died the car just sat around slowly going to ruin. The son-in-law had ideas of turning into a drag car but his wife wouldn't let him so they sat on the decision to get rid of it for ages and then when they went to sell it, it was overpriced for what it was and so it sat around even longer...it was local to me, in my suburb.

GormzZ, yours was unique because of that shade of burgundy paint and the grey/blue interior...and the cruise control and instead of a front spoiler, it sported a nudge bar...and looked funny.

At the time yours was for sale here in Melbourne, there was another one for sale only a few streets away. That car is now a shining example of a race-going Starion - now proudly owned and restored by JJH.
So there's some inspiration for you.
http://forums.austarion.com/viewtopic.php?t=14140

ahh well thats a pity.. just thought that this owners manual and list of things done at the certain mileage could've been forgies or something.. but i guess their just the stock new headvalves and such.. least its got some sort of history for it though.. yeah its got a burgundy colour.. so least we on the same page :P. has cruise control, its got a air dam but there is no nudge bar.. unless thats what the black thing is half way under the motor but looks like the air intake goes to it. and so you guys think it was slow? maybe thats why im not feeling the boost pull as much as i've felt in sr20's etc.. it does feel nice with rev range but you would think at first it was n/a... any idea to why its slow? or is it cause its been babied its whole life and not really given a beating?