::WINNER:: September Car of the Month :: Jimvr4
Congratulations to Jimvr4 & their
1995 MITSUBISHI 3000GT Spyder VR4 (3/S/GTO Spyders!)
Jimvr4's Garage Link
FIRST LOVE
I first fell in love with 3S cars in the fall of 1994. I was admiring the new 2nd gens on the lot but they were out of reach for me. A salesman suggested a test drive in a 91 TT stealth and I was duly impressed with the gadgets and the performance! A few weeks later I bought a glacier white pearl 1991 VR4 with only 17K on her. The next year I saw the Spyder on the cover of Road and Track and I told myself that if I ever hit it big I would buy one.
SPYDER ACQUISITION
Five years passed and the company I was working for had seen its stock jump 10X in the dot com boom and suddenly I had a windfall. My family took a summer vacation in August 1999 and I stayed back to work but stumbled on two black Spyders parked in front of Courtesy Mitsubishi in San Jose. One was an SL and the other a VR4. I took the VR4 for a top-down spin and fell in love all over again! It was pretty clean - I bought a new shift knob and some floor mats and had to figure out the CDs go in upside down but I was all set!
I drove it stock for a couple of years while I still had the white 91 VR4 which was BPU by now. With the growing family I couldn't justify having two GT's so I pulled the upgrades out of the 91 and installed them in the Spyder and sold the 91. I still miss the 91 with the tall gearing.
EARLY MODS
With the 91 gone I concentrated on the Spyder, first powder coating the brakes, then upgrading the leather with the CFI kit which had no Spyder rear seat pattern at the time.
Since around 1999 I was a member of Team3S and I knew Matt Jannusch had a setup where his DEI remote worked with a bunch of timers and relays to automate the top up/down. In 2004 I decided I had to figure out a way to make a remote top system. I managed to drain my battery a few times when my early prototypes left the car powered up but finally developed a prototype unit that would work with an aftermarket alarm system. When Bob Stirling (OhioSpyderman) agreed to try it out I refined the design and started group buys as JNS Engineering. To date I've helped about 40 Spyder owners get remote top systems.
From the early days of Spyder ownership I had joined 3000Spyders on yahoo groups which was setup for owners to discuss retractable top issues and fixes. Folks had read the manuals and knew there were proprietary hardware and software that the dealer used to talk to the Spyder roof computer and diagnose it. Finally some group members were able to obtain the original software and discover the company that made the RS-232 / ISO-9141 adapter to plug into the car. Unfortunately the adapter was over $200 and we could not build the cable that would connect it to the car. Further the program ran on an old school DOS computer with a serial port. In 2009 I developed the Toplink interface that runs the original software in a DOS window on a modern laptop with USB ports. More than 50 Toplinks have been sold to Spyder owners at this point, savings owners from high dealer fees to "diagnose" top issues.
MODS AND REBUILD
Since around 2008 I've steadily added and upgraded the Spyder tastefully to what I would want in a new car. In 2012 I managed to break the motor, throwing a rocker and detonating a couple pistons. Of course this was an opportunity for rebuild and I decided to upgrade several things in the process.
This was my first engine rebuild and it was successful with about 6K miles now on the rebuild. The car looks totally stock inside and even the engine bay only hints of the power inside. I'm pushing 450 AWHP on 101 octane and will probably convert to E85 to go even higher.
MOD LIST
EXTERIOR
Full repaint
Smoked turns and tails
Skillard lip splitter, billet grill, and under channel
DDM tuning 5000K HID
30% tint
3M Clearbra, full hood, full fenders, and bumper
Yantech CW134076C front camera
INTERIOR
Leatherseats.com shale seat leathers and trim with Spyder font
CIPA 36500 rear view mirror with compass and temp gauge
Passport 8500 wired into header
ELECTRONICS
Kenwood DNX-7160 DVD Nav with HD radio, Farenheit RVC-1 backup cam, Android phone integration
PAC SWI-JACK steering wheel button translator
Power antenna control and OIT bypass control
Viper 5904 remote start system with 508D proximity sensor and neutral safety sensor
JNS Engineering Remote top controller
Apexi Super AVC-R 3 bar MAP sensor
AEM 30-2310 wideband sensor
Clone ECU with adapter harness running Chrome 2.0
ECU controlled boost
Tactrix 2.0 logger / flash adapter
UNDER HOOD
Ross / Pampena forged pistons and custom rings
Dynamic Racing DR650 turbos
DrWeldin wastegates set to 14 psi
Autobahn 88 silicon IC hoses
Chrome plenum, valve cover and IC pipes
Chrome throttle body, water housing, and water neck
Chrome oil pan, cam gears and motor mount
Chrome coil plate, PTC plate, cruise box cover, and dipstick tube
3SX polyurethane motor mounts
Greddy Type S BOV
IPS shorty downpipe with test pipe
Gutted rear pre-cat
Supra fuel pump with JNS hot wire
EVO 560 cc injectors
Big bore hydraulic lash adjusters
Z06 MAF and MAF-T
K&N cone filter
Clear cam covers
Gates T195RB racing belt
Pampena polished ECS caps with diamond engraving
All hardware re-plated in clear zinc chromate
Southbend K05075 Stage 3 OFE clutch
SUSPENSION AND BRAKES
Powder coated subframe
New hubs and ball joints
New stock ECS struts
Tein S tech (front) and H tech (rear) springs
Powder coated brake calipers in Cardinal RD03 red
R1 concept rotors
Carbotech AX6 pads
Goodridge SS brake lines
WHEEL AND TIRE
Volk racing SF Challenge 18x9 with RMC finish +34mm (Disc A)
Bridgestone Potenza RE760 255/40ZR18
