Aussie Unique Cars mag Annual Japanese classic buyer guide
There’s a massive new edition of Unique Cars mag out now, number 454, JUNE 2021 – including your annual Japanese classic car value guide.
As with all guides, it includes pages of real-world data, put together by Unique Cars expert valuer, Cliff Chambers.
Cliff interviews four current Mitsubishi Starion Turbo owners about their ownership experiences over time with these classic iconic Japanese Turbo Cars over pages 136 to 145. This was a comprehensive followup from a previous article by Unique cars in issue #450 advising the Starion would be a Future Classic!
These few images of the Mitsubishi Starions owned by the four people in the article are nowhere as good as the many more originals in the Unique Cars magazine so I suggest you go and buy a copy to read for the full story. Also check out their official website on https://tradeuniquecars.com.au
As a Mitsubishi Starion owner since 1984 of one of the rare 1982 JA Models with a limited slip differential from the factory, I loved to get it around a race track as often as possible on club track days. The factory stock 2 litre 4G63BT Four cylinder Turbo engine performed fairly well and the suspension and Manual Five Speed proved its pedigree.
What many Aussies dont know is that the Mitsubishi Starion Turbo had quite a good record in the Bathurst Annual Mountain Top Race, coming inside first five places overall a few times against the majority of V8 competitors. The Starion of Brad Jones also held the Fastest Speed on the track for some time prior to the “Chase”.
The Mitsubishi Starion below is not part of the above article and images from the Unique Cars writeup in Issue 454 by Unique Cars expert valuer, Cliff Chambers.
The information below is by TurboClub article contributor “Flash” – Creator of the Starion Turbo Club – S.T.A.R.I.O.N.
Gregs Mitsubishi Starion Turbo JA 1982
With only 125 Kw @ 5500 RPM developing 245 Nm of Torque at 3500 RPM the Mitsubishi Starion 2 Ltr Turbo was no ball of fire, but ground breaking at the time of release in 1982.
Although it certainly had the engineering and chassis to handle a needed extensive power upgrade. I decided very early in ownership that it would be fairly easy to extract a lot more power cost effectively without upgrading the turbo initially by enhancing all air flow in and out of the motor. I achieved this by modifying all the piping and introducing an efficient Water to Air Inter-cooling system based on two modified motor cycle radiators and washing machine water circulation pump driven from the crankshaft.
Fairly agricultural setup, but engineered for efficient intake manifold air cooling from the factory turbocharger output. The boost was also increased by modification of the wastegate mechanism and the fuel pressure increased under higher boost by the introduction of a variable solenoid. The resulting power increase was what the Starion needed to really exploit the handling characteristics of the race proven chassis and suspension with the LSD.
With some tuning the Starion was able to max out at 240 KPH plus on racetracks with awesome acceleration out of corners heading many V8 competitors on track.