Guest Blog:robert Gordon>>low Down Starion

Hello Speedhunters, my name is Robert G and I roam the streets of the Portland Oregon area.  I bought this 86 Mitsubishi Starion as a wounded animal, miss treated and abused.  I saw it as a blank canvas to paint my dream car and could not resist.  This would be my 3rd 1986 Starion, 3rd time's the charm I guess.  I gave away my first two to fellow Starion addicts, but I still see (and maintain/modify) them regularly.  I am addicted to cars, and Mitsubishi Starions are my drug of choice.  They are understated, and sophisticated.  They are bold, and confident, without being too ostentatious.  Just my style.

This is my car last year, I used a set of stock rear wheels in the front, 16×8" -10 offset.  And added 25mm spacers to the rear.  I have it lowered on MK1 suspension and camber plates.  But this just wasn't low enough for me.

I sliced my strut housings by nearly 2" and used shorter Tokico Illumina shock inserts from a Mr-2.  I also wrote a detailed how to guide on how to do this for fellow Starion owners, and anyone interested in using MR-2 struts, on my site DriftAbility.net.

This gave me my injection of low that I was craving for badly. I couldn't drive it this low without major modifications for wheel clearance.  I raised it, BARELY.  My exhaust at the time was turned into a permanent spark machine. So I built a 3" exhaust and tucked it high up so I could roll low on the daily.  Yes, daily.  If I don't drive it daily I get withdrawals.  Once when I blew a tire, and then my spare, far from home and had to leave it, I could not stop worrying about it.  When I came back later that day, I had butterflies in my stomach when I was reunited.

A quick snap next to a few of the local guys/close friends, from NWStarQuest.com at my shop.  Mine is just a touch lower… haha.  I’ve owned all of these cars at one point in time, believe it or not.

Ben over at JapaneseNostalgicCar.com called it pure evil ; however, for me it is heaven and a dream come true.  If I were allowed to love something more than my wife, this would be it.  From what I can tell, she loves me back.  And I'm sure I'll never leave her.

Here is how she sits now, I took off the rear spacers so I could go lower and plan on getting another set to bring the wheels back out to flush.  After adding a rebuilt 2.6 when I first got it, I've upgraded her with a 6 bolt Ralliart LSD/rear end, Porterfield Carbon Kevlar brake pads, custom hard pipes, and a Walbro fuel pump.  A TurboXS RFL Bov backs up the factory “Turbo” door handles.

Almost every time I stop at light, a car in the next lane will talk to me about my Starion.  When I pull into a gas station, attendants ask "What the hell is that thing?!”  Without the current members and great friends at StarQuestClub.com, I would not have found this beast, or any of the 5 Starions that have passed through my hands.  I currently stable 3 of them, one for the wife of course, and the other… that'll be a surprise.

-Robert Gordon

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1

DOPE, god damn, I'm in love!

2

You my friend, are what i like to call i true car lover. And by the way nice ride.

3

Very nice Starion. I've always liked those cars.

4

I'm not a fan of slammed rides, but I certainly have great respect for the Starion. Great job.

5

You chopped 2 inches off the coilovers and reweld them? Isn't dangerous?

6

Awesome car. I've always loved Starion/Conquests, and at one point I almost bought one, but I cannot get over the interior. It's soooooo freaking 80s. I felt like Night Rider.

7

im not a fan of slammed rides either, but WOW you know what your doing!

8

I miss my 88 Starion. That car was so fun, now I own a DSM which isn't as fun and doesn't look nearly as cool. I wish they didn't have throttlebody injection on the Starquests, but the car was real easy to work with.

9

more, more, more

10

Damn that is low and tight!



Welldone!

11

There should be more people like you around, TRUE car enthusiasts.

12

Great car.who said you can't make the starques looks good

13

Awesome car. On the fence about those coilovers though : |

14

I dig these a lot. I know the stock wheels are sought after, but I'd love to see one with some wide 18's to fully utilize those flares. Yummy!

15

Cot what exactly does "On the fence about those coilover" mean?

People have been fabricating full coilovers for a long time. I have the same setup on my S130 and have done it previously on my track driven AE86. Japanese Nostalgic cars ftw! :-)

16

best starion around

17

I love the Starion. It's the Japanese Trans Am!

18

Nice to see some Portland love. I'm from across the river in Vancouver.

19

hey robert! did you see my write up on speedhunters!??! LOL. glad to see you representin the SQ's. xoxo

20

it looks fantastic! much love goes out to those keeping the Starion alive & kicking! great write up too..

21

YEEEEAAAA!!!!!!PNW comming up!!!!keep it up.We need to see more Washington and Oregon here on SpeedHunters



!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!BRING DRIFTING BACK TO P.I.R!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

22

YEEEEAAAA!!!!!!PNW comming up!!!!keep it up.We need to see more Washington and Oregon here on SpeedHunters



!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!BRING DRIFTING BACK TO P.I.R!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

23

Such a beautiful car! And good job on the suspension, I love it slammed like that!!!

24

Beautiful , absolutely beautiful. I remember that there was one in my town , the first and the last one i ever saw , the stupid owner sold it and bought a Peugeot station wagon , if only had the money it would be mine now

25

I saw that car in his website, is an amazing Starion!

26

That's pretty key man, looks superb in that second last picture

27

Starion.. such a badass car!

28

That thing is ridiculously cool. I've always loved Starions and that's one of the best examples I've seen. The rims... are those the stockers 'cept for the gold powercoat/paint?

29

This Starion is hot, Hot, HOT! I love it!

30

omg another rwd member on speedhunters yeaaaa!

31

Jon Anderson +1



Vancouver, WA FTW!!!!

32

Clay, I am still jealous of your rolling shots... they look so awesome. You should post full size ones for desktop wallpaper quality/general awesomeness.



I'm gonna get the car lower, soon!! It rides GREAT, in case some of you were wondering. Springs (8k/6k) are bit soft for full track use, but they are perfect for daily driving. The wheels are stockers painted bronze.



I'm glad you guys enjoy the car as much as I do!! Thanks!! And thank you Speedhunters!!

33

knight rider

34

Jon Anderson +1



Vancouver, Wa FTW!!!



PNW in the hayouuuseeee hahaha

35

dang, starion's getting a cult following now...there's this kid that has a white one where i go to school at and everytime he drives by i find myself staring with my jaw on the floor. i actually drooled one time car is a beauty

36

what black is this?

type or code-series? brand?



thanks man.

37

robert. I'll get some big desktop shots of my car from the photographer. the rolling shots require teamwork lol. you gotta have a good driver in the camera car, and a brave photographer. we probably went through that tunnel like 12 times both ways trying to get a good shot with minimal background traffic. i think next on the agenda is to build a hard mount for the camera and take the car down some crazy dirt mountain roads out here.

38

I miss my '87 Conquest TSI

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