were in cali are you... maybe you should put 1k down... then pay for the next few months till June(summer)... that would be another 2k at 500/month. That's 3k and a non i'c kit. From there you can be boosted and have some fun.

Then just find an intercooler and do some custom piping... then invest in supporting mods... before you know it, it'll be christmas and tax time again and you'll be putting stage 2 on. At least you'd be boosting sooner rather than later that way?

 

Or if you are knowledgeable enough and comfortable enough, you can get yourself a custom kit. I spent about the cost of an RRM non-ICed kit for my entire turbo kit, and that included intercooler, stainless steel, mandrel bent piping AND electronics.

 

I payed around 1100 to get the RRM intercooled upgrade so basically I spent 4100 for everything and that's intercooled. How much does it usually cost to just custom pipe and intercooler the damn thing? Oh, I also got my turbo inlet tube to point the other way for the intercooler setup.

 

Seeing as the answers that this thread was initially created for have been answered I figure I might as well post here rather then starting another turbo thread. I was going to go via PM but at least this way people can see it for future referance, so here is my question for Rock and or Boe and or Mike:

My lancer is a 2003 I have put 11000 km (68350 miles) on it in that time. I want to start saving for a Stage 1 IC turbo. I do a lot of driving as you can tell. Is my car still safe to turbo. Would you recomend turboing a high milage car? I take pretty good car of my car following all the routine maintance but I dont want to run into a problem where I Lose my engine before I'm done paying for the car.

I just want to know your recomendations having faith that you wouldnt sell me something that would get me into trouble down the road. From what I hear about RRM (havent bought anything from you before, cause its usually been cheaper to buy from a Canadian supplier) you do what is best in the customers intrest, rather then the sale, I respect that a lot.

 

i think at 60k+ you might wanna reconsider a turbo.

 

At 12,000 miles i put a turbo on my car... its not 25k on my car... n my turbo was used from another person... my Car runs great... no problems, a couple of leaks that you could easily fix in like 5 minutes... I also drive at least an hour to work on freeway, of course at full boost cuz i am spanking wrx and mustangs

 

Thats what I'm wondering, now I just have to wait for a knowleged backed opinion.

 

you should be just fine... in all reality mitsu built the lancer motor very well. It is made to go the distance NA. I did an install for a guy and he had 45k miles. He upgraded his pistons as well. When i popped the head i could still see the factory cross-hatch. This tells me that there has been very little wear on the cylinders.

Every time i've torn my motor apart it still had the cross-hatch. The engine is pretty bullit proof as long as you don't play were your not supposed to... something it took 4 times for me to learn!

Anyway you should be fine... just keep the boost at stock settings and be happy. Also check your fluids weekly if you drive a lot. This will keep things in check and you'll stay on top of any things that arise. Show the car the love and it'll be good for you turbo'd or not. I say go for it and be happy every day with what you got. The second you want more slap yourself and wakeup since you want this thing to do 300k miles!!

 

There is nothing wrong with turboing a high mileage car. People do it all the time. The things that you have to be wary of are how well maintained was the car, and how well you maintain it after the turbo kit.

At 60K though, I would recommend a "refresher" when you turbo your car though. That would include replacing all the gaskets and seals, fluid flushes etc etc. And when you turbo your car, dont be insane like a lot of people - run your car conservatively OR get your car tuned to a level where you can be aggressive and safe.

 

This is basically what i said... run it stock and be happy.

The seal refresher i would not recommend. Mitsu put this motor together well. I was never able to pop a head gasket nor had any leaks unless i popped a piston and spit oil into my catch can. The seals are good and as long as the car has been kept descently you'll be just fine. Go for it bro and RRM will be there to back you 100%!

 

Turbo is good, gredd is bad. New motor or old, your only problem is detonation. Old motors hold up just as well to turbo so long as it is tuned right like ours is. Tune is still very conservative and safe.

ROAD/RACE

 

Hey, its Marc. Cant wait to get my turbo!!!

 

cant wait to get EGT!

 

True that most of the seals are okay and the stock headgasket seems excellent. But there are some traditional seals like the rear main seal that leak with age. Stuff like that could use a refresher.

 

you'll find that the seals used won't be leaking for a long, long, long time. The composite material they've used resists not only wear but also the degredation caused by the oil. In fact i've seen similiar seals used on other cars never leak even after 300k miles.

Mitsu changed some design's as well as seals in order to step up warranty values. It was a safety thing that didn't really add to production costs but added incentives to buy their products. Mitsu is trying to corner the market with not only dependable engines/cars but with service gaurantees/warranties. The consumer does reap the benefits for a slight cost(extended warranty costs).