Hi all,
Merry Christmas everyone, hope you all had a great day!
I'm after info on anything to look out for (any problems) or any easy mods that I should be looking at for the 1995 Magna TS Executive (the 4 cylinder version).
The reason I ask is that a friend's parents bought my friend the Magna, now they gave it to my father and I to clean/detail/polish etc. Now we're both car enthusiasts, however, we're Holden fans (just the way we were raised :) ). So we did the car up and it looks fantastic, however, not knowing anything about this Mitsubishi (always keep up with the Evo and Ralliart which are quite nice :) ), we didn't know if there was anything specific we could do to the engine. Natrually, we wrote out a nice list for my friend of what he needs to do (exhaust, shocks, etc etc the standard stuff). So what I'm after is info on:
- Any mods to the engines etc that are worthwhile, an example is (sorry, only one I can think of) is in the VR - VS Commodores there was a plastic 'bellmouth' that was placed in the manifold to reduce air flow, removing this would allow better throttle response :) So is there anything Mitsubishi did to the engine we should be looking at messing with :)?
- Any problems/concerns that we should keep an eye on specific to this model?

Thanks in advance for any help :)
James

Edit: Sorry, I should have put this in the TS section but when I first registered I hadn't researched how the models worked and in the time it took for my account to activate I forgot about that section!

Don't worry, took me a little while to figure out what classified as "first gen", "second gen", etc...

I've got the V6 not the 4cyl so don't know much about that, but figured I'd give a "welcome" and get the ball rolling!:D

Let's see... manual or auto? Sedan or wagon? That'll give people a bit more to work with as to what to look out for.

Being FWD, a usual thing to keep an eye on is the CV joints; check the rubber boots for cracks or tearing, if you catch them early and replace it can save the hassles/cost or replacing the actual CVs. That said, sometimes it works out almost the same cost and less agro to just pull out the entire shaft/joints and replace with a new one.
Find a big empty space and do some slow full-lock turns, in both directions, listening for any "click-click-click" sounds; this is one indicator of whether there are problems with the CV joints.

Engine work depends on how far you want to push it, and your finances; apparently the 4cyl is good for doing a turbo conversion, but it'll cost quite a bit to do.
Only "simple" things I can think of off-hand are changing the filter to a freer-flowing air filter (eg. K&N panel filter), maybe bigger exhaust system, err... that's all I can think of at the moment. The 4cyl isn't known as a powerhouse, unless you do some serious work to it.

There's lots of cheap (but good) cosmetic changes you can do though, to make the car just that bit more unique; simple things like tracking down a dash clock from a Verada, retrimming the cloth inserts on the doors, changing the instrument and interior lights to LED (looks much cleaner), retrofitting an illuminated ignition-barrel ring, changing the exec headlights and grille to the parabolic lights and matching grille, things like that. Numerous lists have been made in the 2nd-gen section over the years, do some searches and you should come up with enough simple mods to last you a lifetime!lol

Hope that helps
Lee

Look out for blue smoke on start up, or from take off, very very common issue the valve stem seals dry up, crack, and let oil seep in. That's a nice few hundred dollar job to fix.
The auto's arn't great either.....make sure it shifts perfectly hot and cold. If not, Most probably stuffed.
Paint fade - again to those magnas who weren't particularly looked after the sun got the better of the paint so just keep an eye out for that
water loss - asstrons are known for doing HG's so take it for a good drive and keep a note on water/oil level. also check out the welch plugs at the back as these are also known for corroding.

What else, to make them "better" wise, what you could do is hunt down a set of extractors from the wreckers for $50 or so and get an exhaust put on. Besides that, these motors dont have any performance upgrades readily available (welcome to old magna country) and everything is pretty much custom made.

Oh, also keep an eye out for the chain rattle. If you get chain rattle, you'll need to do the timing chain on them, fun fun fun!

The 4 bangers are good for what they are. But if you wanna make it go "better" you either spend the $600ish on usual exhaust-intake-K&N filter or you spend $15K turboing it :P

So yeah.....All In all I'd say hunt down a V6 at least..
Hope that helped
Paul

']So yeah.....All In all I'd say hunt down a V6 at least..
Hope that helped
Paul

make it worth while and get the DOHC one, not the ****tyu 12 valver.

make it worth while and get the DOHC one, not the ****tyu 12 valver.

And add some snails to it while your going :bowrofl:

For the price though, you can nearly get a early model 3rd gen magna/rada for close to what 2nd gens are worth now, and have a nicer, smoother engine, parts are easier to come by, more refined (veradas).

Thanks fro the help. It's an auto sedan. My friend (who has the car) isn't much for power so I don't think he'll want the engine replaced or a turbo put on :) But I was curious as to anything specific to the Magna's that would give it a little boost :)
It's been kept in good condition (came up great after a clean) so the paint work is good atm :)
We actually forgot to check the oil and it hasn't been for a long drive so we can do all that, so thanks for the tip!
Thanks again,
James