Ok so I’m thinking of buying a mk1 GTO/3000GT. It seems like most of the cars on sale have around 100 000 miles.
On average, how much per year would it cost me to maintain this? I am no macanic either. Could the servicing and parts replacement be done at a regular garage or would it need to be a special performance and/or Mitsubishi garage? Or, would I have to learn how to do all the maintainance myself and learn a load ■■■■ load of stuff?
Also on a more stupid note, how much would it cost to tune a mk1 up to 500hp?
I know these questions are difficult to answer definitively but can someone with experience give me a rough guide? Cheers :-).
Owning a decent GTO would make me feel on top of the world, but, struggling with something that I don’t have enough time or money for would make me feel the opposite.
Some rough guides in terms of £ per year would help me decide whether I can afford to go for it. Also, just as a side note, I intend to use it for a 4 mile commute everyday. Would I need to run the car on idle for 5-10 mins before every journey? I live by a dual carrige way and I drive fast on my commutes.
Getting to 500hp isn’t cheap if you want to do it reliably , the other factor in at is obviously as its tuned there will be more maintenance to do as wear and tear levels increase .
I’ve said to people in the past regarding high horsepower cars , best thing to do is go for a red in a standard car then a tuned one you may decide that you no longer want or need 500hp .
Mine was running 468hp and it was a pain in the butt around town due to tuning and the clutch it needed that could handle the torque .
Maintenance wise at the end of the day it’s a car with an engine , however they do frighten the life out of some garages , personally there’s only a few places I trust with my cars so I tend to use what I know , let us know where in the country you are and there is likely to be someone recommended not to far away
In about 3 1/ 2 yrs ive had a battery and a starter motor brake rebuild and new exhaust front section. Which isnt bad for a 23 yr old uk model with 114k considering everything was original except the battery discs n pads. I have had some other bits done but these have either been due to objects that have caught the underside or cosmetic due to age. My round trip would be similar to yours but i havent got the carriage way in that amount of distance its rarely given a hard time. Personal opinion would be thats too short a distance to go hard on any car unless you reduce service intervals if you drive hard most of the time ( some cars computers reduce service intervals due to certain driving styles) my local garage services mine although the initial once over and belt changes were done at eurospec in guildford. Although thanks to @martyk i now have a garage that i trust in cirencester that rebuilt my 4 wheel steer when the lines got damaged. If my local doesnt fancy taking on the next belt change i will ring them instead. Mine is a standard uk spec model and is quick there are quicker things on the road but they dont look as good as mine ( imo) so i tend to stick to the limits and let people gaup as something they rarely see burbles past. I was working on my roof the other day and a kid walked past with his mum. " look mum its like daddies lego car!" Laffed my head off! But people hardly see these beasts few know what they are.
I get about 25mpg out of mine mixed driving but most of it is 4 miles one way with a bit of start stop. Servicing 100 quid every 5k or yr ( gets to a yr first 4 me) that will get you decent oil and filter and pay for your hrs labour to drop the oil. Major servicing is alot more look at eurospecs servicing page for an idea and what you get for your cash. People do have varying issues with these so use the buyers guide fo your homework and try and find one thats been looked after and had the main bits done and if possible other bits replaced.
As I just copied the link for someone else here is Eurospecs servicing costs for some idea:
The question is why 500bhp? As craig said 500bhp you are talking big money and chances are it wont be much of a weapon anywhere but the drag strip. For a road car I would suggest a 13T setup which is what I have. With the right supporting mods it will see you through to 450bhp+ and will have amazing road use. pushing that boundary into 500bhp will probably cost double what a 13T set up would cost and it really isn’t worth it.
To help you with some research a list of the required mods is below. Talk to Rob at Evil Empire Performance (trader on here) and he can give you some prices. Or better yet have a look on his website.
13T turbos
550cc RC injectors
Hard “Y” pipe (standard plastic ones pop off)
Fuel Pressure Regulator
Fuel Pump (walbro 255 or similar)
Engine Management (I have a Maf-T pro piggy back mapped on speed density but speak to whoever is mapping before choosing this)
Exhaust system
Intake (if you go speed density you can get rid of the MAF sensor and fit a much bigger air filter)
Spark Plugs (colder heat range)
Clutch to handle extra power
That should see you to a reasonable figure. Don’t forget to include something in your budget for labour and tuning. If you want an idea of how a 3000GT at this level will go then get along to a meet and speak to those who have done it. You may find a kind sole willing to take you for a spin!
500 HP because it would be nice to see the car to up to about 185 mph, at the end of the dial, but I’m sure 450hp would be more than enough for me anyway. It would definitely appeal to both sides of the brain then, looks and performance. Any ideas how much all that stuff would cost to buy and install?That blue mk1 looks amazing by the way.
The only problem is that I live in the Chester area so eurospec and evilempire are quite far away. Purely on a servicing and maintenance basis, would £200 a month be OK to maintain such a beast?
I wrote to my local performance shop about an idea I had for an exhaust system, unfortunately they were unable to install such a thing. Let me know your thoughts:
Dear Sir/Madam.
I would like to enquire about the possibility fitting a special de-cat exhaust on my car, if it can be done and if it’s possible for demon tweeks to fit it.
Basically I would like to keep the stock exhausts on the car but to have a by-pas pipe that can go around the catalytic converter. Ideally, the by-pass pipe would have a valve on it which can be opened or closed by the flick of a switch from the drivers seat. So when I would like a quieter car with less emissions (and for mot testing) I leave the valve closed and when I want a louder car with a couple more HP I open the valve.
The car in question is a MK 1 Mitsubishi GTO.
Also, what are the legal implications of running a de-catted car on the UK highway?
I have a 3000gt and a GTO, both 1992 MK1’s.
My MOT tester said The 3000gt would need a cat for the MOT but the GTO wouldn’t because it was an import.
I used to have a TVR Griffith 1992, TVR pre registered all their chassis in early 1992 as the cars would meet the emissions so there were no TVR’s registered in 1993 or early 1994. So I would presume that any 1991 3000GT’s should also pass.
A lot of this depends on the condition of your car to start with , some tuners won’t tune high if your on standard internals either as they like a safety margin in the car ,
If you have a look at Max’s list then go on Evil empires site price it up , sometimes the parts come up second hand but they don’t stay around long , all of mine when I sold the tuning side went within a few weeks .
You also need to think whether you will go for more too ? If so then you should consider forging .
Before even contemplating though you need to find out how good the engine in the car is to start with , otherwise it will be short lived .
Brakes and suspension need to be sorted too otherwise it’s an uncontrollable missile .
Been a while since I’ve done it but I would say your easily going to put 3k plus into it to do it properly in one hit
I have 1992 GTO currently running at 450bhp on Boost 1 and 540bhp on boost 2
These cars are so much fun to drive also cost a lot to repair if something goes wrong especially being old cars none of the local guys can diganose the problem unleas you take to performance guys so definitely not cheap to run.
