I just bought a 94 3000GT 5spd. Any suggestions?

65

Asked by LogiciaBil May 13, 2011 at 11:45 AM about the 1994 Mitsubishi 3000GT FWD

Question type: Car Customization

I am 19 years old and somewhat mechanically inclined. I have been searching everywhere for one of these cars and I got lucky taking a wrong road to the store and ran into one for sale. I put a deposit on it and the car is mine.

Its a 5spd and as far as I can tell there has been no work done to it. The exhaust and everything seems to be stock. Nothing looks newer or out of place on the engine to indicate a replacement/upgrade.

I am very excited to own this car and was wondering if anyone could tell me things that I can do to it. I want to replace the exhaust to a higher preforming one (nice sound is a bonus). As well as the spark plugs and I want to change the oil to a high quality synthetic. I have heard people mentioning royal purple? Also a new battery that will do the job right. I have been told a Optima Red Top is the way to go.

I just want some guidance on this. Any recommendations or no no's with this car? Maybe things I should look out for or stay away from? The picture attached is of the engine, it is the base model.

Thanks!
Crystal

12 Answers

16,925

for oil use mobile 1, ams oil, or pennzoil platinum. when you replace the plugs do the plug wires as well. a set of ngk plugs and msd plug wires will do just fine. for anything performance wise id search for a 3000gt enthusiast site and use the search function to find the answers you need. if you go for a CAI i suggest staying away from K&N as there are much better systems out there as well.

2 people found this helpful.
965

1. Do you want a full synthetic or a blend? If you want a full synthetic I would suggest Red Line. It's honestly the best oil for the money. Amsoil is also a good full synthetic. Now, I hear that Mobil 1 started making a full synthetic again. However, most of the Mobil 1 you will find in the store is a blend. Royal Purple is ALSO a blend. Do NOT waste money on Royal Purple. Pennzoil is also a blend. I run Red Line 10w40 in my Stealth and at $10 per quart it really is the best band for the buck. 2. The exhaust is pretty restrictive, and you have to ask yourself how far you want to go? Do you want a single exhaust or do you like the look of the quad tip from the factory? There are a lot of vendors that sell custom exhausts for these cars. I love the stock looks, but I want more power and better sound which is why I'm going with the quad tip setup from IPS Motorsports. However, they have a single shot as well. It doesn't end there. That's just from the cat back. These cars also have three cats. The first two simply heat up the main cat faster. They are really irrelevant I would go with the 3SX pre cat delete. They still have provisions for the O2 sensor and you will not fail emissions. You could also remove the factory pre cats and gut them. 3. Plugs, it's pretty simple. Get some double platinum which is stock, or you can go with Iridium too. However, if you plan to modify it, I would go with copper. They are great plugs, they just don't last as long. Now, if you're going to modify it you can plan on fouling some plugs. With the coppers you won't be so pissed as they are cheap too. As for the battery, anything will do. I have an Optima red top and it's nice, but they aren't cheap. 4. Things you need to look out for would be your oil pan. Look under there and check to see if it has a dent in it. It's a popular place for techs to lift the engine while doing service. Problem is, that's where the sump is. If it's dented, depending on how bad, it can obstruct the sump and starve the engine of oil. The next thing you know you spin a bearing. The next thing you need to make sure, depending on mileage, is when the last 60k service or 120k service was done. This means the timing belt, ACC belt, tensioners, pulleys, timing belt, and water pump. Also, the oil pump with a 120k. IF you can't verify that the service has been done, DO IT NOW! If you jump timing you will, at the very least, ruin your heads.

3 people found this helpful.

Buy a spare ECU for it, the capacitors are known to leak causing the car to flake out.

3 people found this helpful.
135

Good choice, naturally apsirated isnt too bad. For any in depth questions go to 3si.org, it is a 3k and stealth forum, great place for parts and advice and if your going to get an ecu it is better to just buy a complete parts car, these cars are great youll enjoy it but plan on becoming more mechanically inclined because they are in nearly constant need of maintenance, especially if you modify them

16,925

2 things. I'm not sure I agree that red line is the best bang for the buck. I would need to see evidence of it's sheer performance against mobil 1 and pennzoil platinum. I run mobil 1 0w40 in my gto because of the numbers I've seen that show mobil 1 is an elite oil in comparison to others. I'm not saying red line isn't a good oil I would just like to see some numbers verifying it if you have them? And secondly optima red top has issues. A lot of people have their batteries die in 2 years or so with them. I know not everybody does but some do and to me that kind of money for a battery should last longer. So buy at your own risk. But other than that good advice I'd say. Oh and I guess just a little fact copper plugs make the most power but their life is the shortest. You have to ask yourself if you want to replace plugs frequently or is a slightly less performing plug so you don't have to change for 100k miles is worth it.

965

1. I don't really feel like look for the thread on 3Si but there is one that talks about a ton of different oils. A lot of people have posted UOA that shows Mobil 1 and Royal Purple to not hold up as well as a full synthetic. It's well known and documented that Mobil 1 lost a lawsuit they had against Castrol. When they lost, they did the same thing Castrol was doing. They started using a group III base which is a blend and not a full synthetic. The same was found out about Royal Purple. Red Line is only $10 per quart and is a group V full synthetic. I'd say a group V is a better oil than a group III no matter how you cut it. 2. The Optima red top is a good battery. I have one and it's been just fine. The people that are complaining are people that let them go flat. They never hold a charge for shit after that. I made that mistake and Optima replaced it without question. They didn't even ask me to send back the old one. 3. The reason I suggest coppers is because if you're tuning and modifying the car it doesn't make much sense to spend the extra money on Iridium or double Platinum as you're going to foul up some plugs. Once you have it tuned, then make the switch. That was all I was suggesting. If you're leaving it alone, then yes, Iridium or double Platinum are much better choice.

16,925

Mobil 1 0w40 is a group IV not III. Here are some protection numbers of it. cSt@40C or 140F, 80.0 cSt@100C or 212F, 14.3 HTHS, 3.60 I took time to find mine so if you could find where red lines numbers are better than those for the price tag I'll agree. I just haven't seen it.

965

I just spent the better part of an hour trying to research this and I can find NO hard evidence that ANY Mobil 1 sold in America us a full PAO. Proof exists only in the form of an interpreted GC. Strictly speaking, perhaps this can only be considered strong evidence that some (or at least the one tested) are not 100% PAO base. Likewise, there is no proof that any of the US Mobil 1 oils are made from 100% PAO + Ester base stock. Mobil has refused to offer proof. Instead they prefer to say they utilize synthetic base stocks including PAOs, which proves essentially nothing. Look, I'm not saying it's bad oil. However, I've not seen one UAO that has showed Mobil 1 to outperform Red Line. Red Line has consistently shown less wear. Besides, Red Line tells me exactly what's in my oil while Mobil 1 hides behind a bullshit law here in the U.S. and refuses to disclose what they're oil is made of. Your oil my be less expensive, however, there is no proof that it is a true full synthetic. I still stand by that Red Line is the best oil you can buy for the money because I know it's a full synthetic and I know it out performs Mobil 1 in UAO. THAT's why I put it in my engines.

16,925

I'm unsure how you couldn't find it but ok. Redline is group v which is higher and it does slightly outperform the mobil 1 0w40. Same temps numbers are 81, 15.1, and 4.0. For the price to me that's not worth the extra cash when I'm not running a race car and make sure my oil changes are done on proper intervals. If you choose to do so that's great. I just wanted to inform the OP what are some good oils and for use of application what would probably be best for him.

175

I put cold air intake on my 95, SL, and Stainless headers and even with the stock exhaust it is LOUD and I bored mine out 40 over, new rings, pistons, lifters, timing belt, water pump, plugs, wires and got it running and it's FAST. I ran it against a 66 Mustang that a friend of mine has and he got the jump on me because I didn't know we were going to do that but he only got by me by a half a car length and I caught him in less than another car length. His car supposedly runs 12's. These cars were built to compete with Ferrari's so don't go do anything crazy. I am a former racer so I know how to handle cars like these but they can get away from you fairly quickly so be safe and careful and enjoy a great car.

70

The lad asked for help and advise, he got a bunch of adults dick measuring on how much they know about oil.

7 people found this helpful.
335

go by what u feel u need done in a tune up look up forums in ur area about dsm and 3000gt's everyone has and opinion i run 20w-50 brad penn oil in my motor and redline light shock in my transmission but everyone has opinion in oil but performance wise i say air intake header and exhaust would be nice try places like horsepowerfreaks.com or http://www.maperformance.com/mitsubishi-3000gt-stealth/

1 people found this helpful.

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