Mitsubishi Colt Tuning

"Turning the Colt into a thoroughbred stallion "

The Mitsubishi Colt boasts a production run dating back to the 1960's. Some of the newer models are just crying out for more power with their pin sharp handling recapturing the fun of the classic original. The latest Ralliart version R shows the potential the Colt chassis can handle.

These are genuinely fun cars to drive with their taught handling and light bodies.

They make ideal project cars and with the correct range of power mods you can have a stormer of a hot hatch on your hands.We take a peek at Colt tuning and highlight the best modifications. Mitsubishi Colts are good project cars and with carefully chosen performance mods you can substantially increase your driving fun.

You can do a lot to improve the performance of your Colt with our step by step tuning tips. Sit down first and research Colt tuning to avoid making the usual costly errors we come across.

If you are not happy with the way the car handles you should look to uprate the suspension with adjustable shocks. We would go to a maximum drop of 25-30mm on most models. You risk rubbing on the arches if you go lower than this.

The Colt is already a fun car but you can follow the Ralliart lead and turn it into an economical and reliable track day car.

Tuning tips and articles

Engine tuning Transmission tuning Care care Intake & exhaust mods Improve handling Forums

With our tuning guide your Colt can be a track day fun car and reliable daily run around.

Handling modifications are usually your first port of call for the Colt. Drop the car by as much as 35mm and fit stiffer dampers, bigger drops will need other modifications in most instances.

Our aim in Colt engine tuning should be to increase peak power and Torque at the top end.

With our tuning guide your Colt can be a track day fun car and still be a reliable daily run around.

Sadly with smaller engine sizes you are wasting your time spending money on modifications, so if this applies to you get yourself an engine swap then apply the following mods.

Engine tuning mods.

This list of the stages and mods that are usually performed by our members, decide how far you wish to go in your tuning project before you get going.

Getting the correct grade of mods for your planned usage of the car is a time and money saver. Stage 3 motorsport parts just don't work well on the road and will make the car undriveable.

Stage 1 modifications: Sports exhaust, Lighter flywheel, Panel air filter, Remap, Suspension upgrade (drop 30-40mm), Alloy wheels.

Stage 2 modifications: Fuel injector & fuel pump upgrades, Fast road cam, Ported and polished head, Power clutch,.

Stage 3 modifications: Adding or upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Sports gearbox, Internal engine upgrades (pistons/head/valves), Engine balancing, Competition cam.

You need to keep as much low end power as you can and aim for a wide power band rather than a narrow top end power hike. The point of this article is to give a brief overview of car tuning performance parts and point you in the right direction, our forum is where you can ask for more detailed advice and tips on your project and all aspects of modding cars.Fast road cams offer one of the biggest performance gains for your money as far as a bolt on part goes on a NASP engine.

The intake and exhaust durations play a large part in your cars power band, but be careful here, getting this wrong can upset the idle and make the car hard to drive in traffic. You'd need to follow a cam upgrade with other mods and finish with a reflashed ECU to fully release the power gain.You will need to ensure that the engine is not starved of fuel so will need to uprate the fuelling. Using high octane petrol is another option if you find you are suffering from detonation or premature ignition on your Mitsubishi project after fitting other modifications. Uprating the injectors is another beneficial modification and will deliver sufficient fuel. A fuel pump will only deliver a finite amount of fuel, so you may need to uprate this if your injectors are demanding more fuel.

Intake and Exhaust Tuning.

Now we move on to the intake and exhaust and ensure proper flow through the engine. Please note that WE DO NOT RECOMMEND INDUCTION KITS, unless you have tuned your car extensively and are finding that the standard air intake has become a restriction.

For most Colt engines TorqueCars would suggest you just go with a washable panel air filter. On heavily tuned engines and turbo vehicles an induction kit will help release the power providing you address the problem of needing cold air.

Do not go with the widest exhaust you can buy this will slow the exhaust rate - the best exhausts for power gains are usually between 1.5 to 2 inches. It is the shape and material more than the bore size.

Head work including a gas flow and 3 or 5 angle valve job will really help to release the potential of the engine. In nearly all cases of Colt tuning your clutch will start to complain and this needs to be uprated - read our article on clutches for more information. NASP engines do not achieve big power gains if you remap them, unless you have done extensive modifications. With turbocharged engines this is another story. A remapped turbo will give large power gains and take full advantage of the strength of the block.

We've also come across some owners experimenting with twincharged conversions and making some impressively high power figures.

Adding forced induction will see significant power gains but this is usually too expensive to be cost effective. Superchargers are generally easier to add than a turbo. It is harder to map a turbo as the boost builds exponentially with engine speed. It is simpler to map a supercharger because the boost is directly proportional to engine speed on a linear curve. Adding forced induction will nearly always require a lower compression ratio or water injection.

Alloy wheel upgrades.

Alloy wheels can help the brakes cool down and are usually less heavy than the steel ones. We'd like to point out although they can look cool on the Colt large alloys will actually decrease your performance. The larger you go the lower your acceleration will be - this to the change in your effective final drive ratio. Due to this we would advise sticking to a maximum wheel size of 16 inches, although we know some of our members have fitted larger wheels with no problems.

For more information on Tuning your car please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss Colt options in more detail with our Colt owners. It would also be worth reading our unbiased Mitsubishi tuning articles to get a full grasp of the benefits and drawbacks of each modification.

We need your help improving this article, so please send us your feedback in the comments box below and pass on any tips, points or facts we have wrong or have not covered. We really like hearing from our readers, and hearing about which mods were the most effective for them, it helps us improve our recommendations and articles to reflect current trends in modifications and ensures that our guides and tips are kept up to date.

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