What’s your real name? (What’s your screen name?)
George Billings

What do you do for a living and where do you live?
Aurora, CO

What do you do for a living?
Services Coordinator

What Mitsubishi(s) do you drive? How long have you had it/them?
4g Mirage Sedan, 90 Talon Tsi, AWD Original 89 Turbo Mirage v2.0, 1993 Dodge Colt 4g63t.

What’s your build philosophy/goals for your Mitsubishi? How do you use it?
Maintenance, do it or it’ll break. 

What originally attracted you to the Mitsubishi?  What keeps you going today? 
AWD & Turbo

Got a favorite story about your Mitsubishi?
I was just at local car meet with a bunch of nice cars.  I look over and there is crowd around my car.  It’s like an antique to the DSM community.

What are your goals for your Mitsubishi and how close are you to achieving them?
This one, I just want to keep it stock but it’s hard.

What was your favorite modification and why?
Act 2600.  So I can launch my car…although this car is stocker then stock. 

Your mod list:  Pioneer Avic-D3
Tell us about something really exciting you’ve done with other Mitsubishi owners.
Photoshoots & Cruises.

What’s the best part about being a Mitsubishi owner? The most challenging?
Going Fast &  Breaking

What excites you about the coming year? (Your Mitsu and your community)
Nothing really…well, Bandimere is open again.

 How often do you get together with other Mitsubishi owners in person?
Often, some of my closest buddies own Mitsubishi’s.

Your thoughts on those who part out otherwise salvageable cars?
They should lose one extremity for each part removed.

How has your Mitsubishi build benefited from your involvement in the community?
You get the trial without the error. 

What’s next for your Mitsubishi?
Nothing I’m either going to get Gvr4 or 2g Spyder Gs-t.

Whats the current state of your Mitsubishi?
Supa Stock

Who has helped you the most along the way with the car? Any mentors?
Marcus Martinez, he introduced me to DSM’s

How have you paid this forward and mentored others?
I help where I can.

Is there a particular shop you’d like to recommend?
No, I like them all.

Do you spend time on any Mitsubishi sites? Which ones?
4g61t.org, Galantvr4.org, Dsmlink.com, Rmdsm.org, Codsm.org

Are you on Twitter? Facebook? How can people find you online? 
www.facebook.com/billings.george

This Eagle Talon is a time capsule of the 90′s. Once George had the car he looked through the stack of records the previous owners have collected over the years, he found something very rare, the window sticker. Finding a window sticker in a car these days is rare, let alone a car that thousands apon thousands were produced. I had the pleasure of being able to drive this TSI and let me tell you, I felt like I had just drove off the dealer lot. No a rattle or squeek as i drove over the harsh Colorado roads. Every DSM owner will tell you they are full of rattles. This truly is a beauty.

What’s your real name? (What’s your screen name?)
Jason Campbell (Killin1)

What do you do for a living and where do you live?
I am a plumber and stay on the outskirts of perthshire in a wee village called killin.

What do you do for a living?
I started my own plumbing & heating business locally which is growing from strength to strength 3 years ago.

What Mitsubishi(s) do you drive? How long have you had it/them?
I drive a evo 4 which was bought from japan by a aqaintance of mine.

What’s your build philosophy/goals for your Mitsubishi? How do you use it?
I would say getting it up to 400hp/400tq and still looking fairly standard. Use it mainly at weekends or the occasional cold scottish night.

What originally attracted you to the Mitsubishi?
A freind of mine bought 3 evo 4s a few years back to rally them and since he took me out in one, I had to have one. So years later I fufilled that desire.

Got a favorite story about your Mitsubishi?
As I said before, been taking out in one that is been driving properly is awesome.

What are your goals for your Mitsubishi and how close are you to achieving them?
Very close to acheiving the fabled 400hp/400tq! Some reliabilty at this would be good also.

What was your favorite modification and why?
kelford 272.272 cams, sounded amazing with the titanium exhaust

Your mod list:

Tell us about something really exciting you’ve done with other Mitsubishi owners.
Rolling road days are good crac!

What’s the best part about being a Mitsubishi owner? The most challenging? meets/being different
Where i stay no one has anything similar to it. The most challenging is working out fuel consumption as the shell garage is 30 miles away.

What excites you about the coming year? (Your Mitsu and your community)
Meeting more and more people who have similar interests to me.

How often do you get together with other Mitsubishi owners in person?
Half a dozen times a year.

Your thoughts on those who part out otherwise salvageable cars?
Not everyone can afford brand new parts so it gives people a chance to buy discount parts, I for one do.

How do you feel building a Mitsubishi compares to building a Mitsubishi community?
I have noticed with things I’ve been stuck with involving my build that I can always ask a member of the community for help. So with this build I dont feel alone!

How has your Mitsubishi build benefited from your involvement in the community?
The help and advice I’ve have received have been invaluable.

What’s next for your Mitsubishi?
Just going to enjoy it hopefully!!

What’s the current state of your Mitsubishi?
Just got final checks after engine transfer,also seats are removed for roll cage fitting

Who has helped you the most along the way with the car? Any mentors?
Evonut270 aka jon

How have you paid this forward and mentored others?
If I can help someone I will do.

Is there a particular shop you’d like to recommend?
Stevie from unit 8 and paul from in car on bike

Do you spend time on any Mitsubishi sites? Which ones?
Lancer Register  

Brandon Ruiz currently owns 9 Mitsubishis.  His 10th car is a Honda, but it’s got a Mitsubishi engine in it.  He’s out to make big turbo power – without the turbo. No, this isn’t an all motor Mirage.  What makes this Mirage run 10 second quarters?  Throttle and bottle, baby. 

What’s your real name?
Brandon Ruiz

(What’s your screen name?)
HSR98GST

What do you do for a living and where do you live?
I am a Branch Manager for Wells Fargo Bank and I own Holeshot Performance. I am a native of Phoenix, Arizona.

What Mitsubishi(s) do you drive?  How long have you had it/them?
I currently own 3 Mitsubishi GSX’s, 4 Mitsubishi GST’s, 2 Mitsubishi Mirage’s, and 1 Honda CRX with a 4G63 swap.The length of time I have had my cars ranges from 1-13 years. I still  own the 1998 Mitsubishi Eclipse GST that I purchased brand new. My  most recent purchase was a year ago-My Mitsubishi Mirage- which is the car I am currently racing.

What’s your build philosophy/goals for your Mitsubishi?  How do you use it?
My build philosophy is to keep everything as simple as possible.

My goal is to make as much horsepower as possible with nitrous instead of using a big turbo.

What originally attracted you to the Mitsubishi?  What keeps you going today?
I was originally attracted to Mitsubishi 13 years ago in my pursuit towards finding a car that was gas efficient. Today, I am still attracted to Mitsubishi’s because of their versatility in performance and if built correctly have been proven to be a reliable car.

Got a favorite story about your Mitsubishi?
The first time I raced and beat a Mustang 5.0 in my Mitsubishi Eclipse GST, I started to realize how fast the Mitsubishi’s were and how much potential the car had. A few days later I raced another Mustang and won again. When I was talking to someone else at work about the wins-he insisted his Super Sport Camaro would beat my car. We raced and I won again! That’s when I decided to use what I knew about nitrous on muscle cars and apply it to imports.

What are your goals for your Mitsubishi and how close are you to achieving them?
My goal is to run a 9 second pass with my current Mitsubishi mirage using nitrous instead of big turbo. My best time is currently is 10.8 at 137 mph. I have changed my set up to a progressive 2 stage direct port nitrous system which has 8 foggers, with a total estimated 480 horsepower shot of nitrous-which I am hoping will help me achieve my goal!

What was your favorite modification and why?
My favorite modification is adding nitrous to my set up on all my cars. I like the nitrous set up because it is less expensive and very consistent.

Tell us about something really exciting you’ve done with other Mitsubishi owners.
Going to race events.

What’s the best part about being a Mitsubishi owner?  The most challenging?
The best part is when I am able to race a non-believer and win! Often times when I race a Honda and win-the Honda owners become very interested in my set up.

The most challenging part of being a Mitsubishi owner is finding parts for the  2^nd Generation Eclipse  because they didn’t make that many GST’s and GSX’s.

What excites you about the coming year?  (Your Mitsu and your community)
I am excited that the possibility of meeting my goal of 9 seconds may be getting closer and I look forward to the race events in 2010.

How often do you get together with other Mitsubishi owners in person?
I collaborate almost weekly with other Mitsubishi owners. I try to attend a DSM meet bi-monthly.

Your thoughts on those who part out otherwise salvageable cars?
I hate to see it but on the other hand it makes it easier for me to get the parts I need. If someone weren’t passionate about building or maintaining their Mitsubishi then I would rather the parts go to someone that is.

How do you feel building a Mitsubishi compares to building a Mitsubishi community?
The effort that goes into building a Mitsubishi is similar to the effort required to build a Mitsubishi community. They both take a lot of passion, time and knowledge about Mitsubishi’s. Building a Mitsubishi sometimes requires a lot of collaboration and networking, which are also both activities that are needed to build a Mitsubishi Community!

How has your Mitsubishi build benefited from your involvement in the community?
My involvement in the community has benefited my build because it has given me a network of owners to collaborate with and also a customer base that assists me with making more money to put into my car. As the owner of Holeshot Performance, going to events and doing well is the best advertisement for my business and the financing I receive from new business really impacts what I can do next with my Mitsubishi’s.

What’s next for your Mitsubishi?
One step at a time- I will continue working towards my goal of 9 seconds!

Who has helped you the most along the way with the car?
About 4 years ago I met another Mitsubishi Owner named Jose Mendoza. His desire to go faster was the same as mine and we immediately formed a collaborative friendship that has resulted in lots of long hours working on cars together! Also, my wife who has supported me and has been very understanding about the passion I have for my cars, which has allowed me to work the long hours and not feel guilty.

Who do you look up to in the Mitsubishi community?
Brent Rau

Is there a particular shop you’d like to recommend?
Of course- my own- Holeshot Performance.

Do you spend time on any Mitsubishi sites?  Which ones?
DSM Tuners and DSM talk.

Are you on Twitter?  Facebook?  How can people find you online?
I will have Facebook site soon for Holeshot Performance and the website for my business is www.gettheholeshot.com.

What do you do for a living and where do you live?
I am a project management consultant specializing in infrastructure delivery along with marketing & communications projects.  I reside down under in Adelaide, South Australia.

What Mitsubishi(s) do you drive?  How long have you had it/them?
This is my first venture in the brand that is Mitsubishi – I have always had a soft spot for the Evolution models growing up watching Tommi Mäkinen destroying all before him back in the 90s!  I came into the turbo AWD background, driving a modified 2001 Subaru ‘bug eye’ wagon which was quite the passion, but have really enjoyed switching camps.  I now drive a 2009 Ralliart Sportback – I was considering the Evo X GSR, but really wanted the practicality of the hatch as I had to cater for my French bulldog puppies along with the wife who preferred an auto, so the SST along with the Sportback, was the perfect choice.

What’s your build philosophy/goals for your Mitsubishi?
Haha, it has been to have something special and to make my car fit the rims that I chose. I’ve always loved the volk ce28n design, so when a chance to get these rims came up, I jumped on it! However they were Evo spec (18×9.5 +28 offset) with the Ralliart having pizza cutter spec tyres (18×7 +48), there was quite the challenge making it fit.  There were many disbelievers, but never one to take ‘no’ for an answer, I had the car modified to suit the rims.  The rear guards(quarter panel) were flared by 15mm even after installing racing logic coilovers and running 2 deg of camber.  The fronts require a tiny bit of work, but it was the rears that really felt the love.  After the flaring, I took the car to the body shop to repair and smooth out the damage caused, but the end result speaks for itself!!

With the rest of the modifications, I wanted something that sounded tough and went hard to match the looks of the flared guards and dropping the car by over 2 inches.

How do you use it?
Well, the saying ‘drive it like you stole it’ springs to mind.

Have a favorite story about your Mitsubishi?
I’m always trying to explain that my car isn’t an Evo, but a Ralliart, to which I often get confused looks – the Ralliart Lancer badge (model) is only a recent addition to the Australian line up, but time will bring greater exposure.

What are your goals for your Mitsubishi and how close are you to achieving them?
I’ve split my modification into various stages – Stage 1 was the new rims, suspension and flaring the guards, Stage 2 was the upgrade in power (full 3” SS exhaust with a custom quad tips, ECUtek upgrade and boost pill which has netted 171kw@w on a mainline dyno), Stage 3 was the big brake kit upgrade – 350mm rotors! These stages have been complete with the final Stage 4 comprising of a new front mount, Evo x turbo and full race manifold (mainly because it looks awesome!)  This will have to wait for a little while as I have to go overseas which has raided up the modification fund for a while, but looking at getting Stage 4 done by the end of the year.

What was your favorite modification and why?
Favorite modification?  That is a hard one – there are 2 main mods that stand out – the exhaust for it has removed all the restrictions and sounds amazing, combined with the custom quad tips, it looks and sounds perfect!  The other modification has been the MRT big brake kit upgrade – the stopping power of the car has increased by a very noticeable amount and has relegated ‘brake fade’ to be but only a distant memory!

Tell us about something really exciting you’ve done with other Mitsubishi owners.
At clubcj.net, the community is really starting to take off and there are monthly catch ups, whether they be a cruise or other social functions, it’s good to catch up with like minded enthusiasts.

How often do you get together with other Mitsubishi owners in person?
It is starting to be once a month.

What excites you about the coming year?  (Your Mitsu and your community)
Finally catching up with like minded Mitsubishi drivers here in SA and going for a cruise / developing the community and awareness of the Ralliart model.

What’s the best part about being a Mitsubishi owner?  The most challenging?
The looks one receives when driving a Mitsubishi, knowing all  the AWD power creates a sense of envy.

Your thoughts on those who part out otherwise salvageable cars?
Don’t mind at all, sometimes it helps quite considerably when someone is parting out a car, one can get access to parts that are not always available.

How has your Mitsubishi build benefited from your involvement in the community?
I have been able to pass on my learnings and mistakes to the benefit of the community, so hopefully people can take on these on board and use them in their build.

What’s next for your Mitsubishi?
On hold for a little while and then Stage 4 – the fun stage (fmic, turbo and manifold)!!

Who has helped you the most along the way with the car?
Sean from S&J automotive – he has been a great asset in the planning of mods & mention must go to my wife for being supportive while I ventured on the modification path for the car and made her ears bleed with all my car talk haha.

Who do you look up to in the Mitsubishi community?
It would have to be Tommi Mäkinen – just watching him drive was amazing and forever changed my perception of the brand that is Mitsubishi.

Is there a particular shop you’d like to recommend?
Sean at S&J automotive here in Adelaide – they have such a passion for, and vast experience in modifying, evo’s and Subaru’s.

Do you spend time on any Mitsubishi sites?  Which ones?
www.clubcj.net ; evolutionm.net/ ; www.evolutionoz.net

Are you on Twitter?  Facebook?  How can people find you online?
Yep, on facebook – Bill Zissopoulos

What do you do for a living and where do you live?
I’m an engineering student in Durango, CO.

What Mitsubishi(s) do you drive?  How long have you had it/them?
My first Mitsu was a 90 AWD DSM. I had it from the summer of ’02 until January ’09 when I traded it for my parts car to build the Galant. The Galant any my 2g parts car are the only Mitsus I own now.

What’s your build philosophy/goals for your Mitsubishi?  How do you use it?
My build philosophy is all about a balance of fun, functionality and detail. The Galant is my daily driver, family hauler and weekend toy so the design goals had to reflect it’s multiple uses. That meant keeping it quiet and comfortable for long hauls (my wife hated riding in my noisy, bouncy 1g) but still having a suspension and engine that could tear up the windy mountain passes I love to play on. I am working to keep everything as clean and as stock looking as possible while still bringing as much performance out of the car as I can.

What originally attracted you to the Mitsubishi?  What keeps you going today?
When I decided to build the car my wife and I were talking about having our first child. I wanted a DD that would be easy to haul kids around in but would still have the fun factor of my AWD turbo 1g. Since an Evo was out of my price range and I wanted to stick with Mitsubishi it left me finding a 4 door I could convert to AWD with readily available parts. I was originally looking at doing a Mirage conversion but I found this Galant in the junk yard for $600 and saw the suspension looked exactly like a 2g DSM. The interior and exterior were in good shape and it was a lot roomier than my 1g. It also had a 4G64 I could use for a future engine build. In short, it looked perfect for my plans. I did a little digging around on the internet and found out the conversion was theoretically possible but, as far as the net-guru’s knew, no one had pulled it off yet.  So I got to work finding my parts car, traded my 1g for it, bought the Galant and got to work.

What keeps me going today is how much fun I have driving the car. It is really comfortable for commuting in but still eats up corners in the summer and snowy roads in the winter. So far the car is just what I wanted, quiet, comfortable and a total beast when I decide to push it.

Got a favorite story about your Mitsubishi?
This last summer my wife and I took the car down to Albuquerque on its first road trip. We went to meet up with an Albq. DSM club for an afternoon gathering and drive. It was really funny watching everyone walk past the car without a second look until they found out it was AWD and turbo. Then the double takes started and a little crowd of guys came over to check it out. The hill climb we did later that day was the first time I really got to push the car. It wasn’t really tuned yet due to my wideband being on the fritz. I was still running rich and only on 10 psi of boost so I wasn’t expecting much on the power end of things. I was really looking forward to hitting the corners hard though. I had just installed a set of Koni/GC coilovers I scored from a DSMTuners member and was looking forward to trying them out. I was amazed at how well the car cornered with those and the 245/40/17 summer tires I kept from my 1g. After a few minutes I was gnashing my teeth because the Evo X at the front of the line was going too slow! I had to slow down and wait for the crowd to get ahead so I could really dig into the corners. The car just kept encouraging me to go faster and turn in tighter. It made every minute of work building the car worth while. I don’t think I stopped grinning for hours after that.

What are your goals for your Mitsubishi and how close are you to achieving them?
While I’d love to have a race car, in the end it will just be a fast daily driver and family hauler that I will eventually try to get onto a road course for some weekend hot lapping. Right now the donor engine is a bit too leaky to get onto a track with. I’ll need to get my new engine built before track days are an option. I’ll also need to work on improving engine cooling and braking before I can really say it is ready for some serious play time. The DD part is working out great though.

What was your favorite modification and why?
I would say the drive train swap but I never drove the car without it so to me the car has always been like it is now. So really, I think the engine management system has to be my favorite mod. I’m running a 91 turbo ECU in the car with Jackal speed-density tuning and a JAW 1.041 wideband controller. It was a nightmare rewiring everything but I really think it was worth it. I stripped out all the automatic transmission wiring, rewired the harness for the 1g ECU, added in the wiring for the wideband and other sensors I needed and wrapped it all up to look completely stock. The JAW setup also allowed me to run my custom gauges in the center where they are now. I’ve got digital boost, EGT and AFR displays right in the center of the dash where they look as clean and stock as possible. I still need to get an EGT probe in and wired up for the middle display.

Tell us about something really exciting you’ve done with other Mitsubishi owners.
The Albuquerque meet is really the only big gathering I’ve gone to. They were a great bunch of guys/girls and also helped me find my 2g parts donor. Unfortunately there aren’t very many Mitsubishi tuners in my area and aren’t very many knowledgeable sport-compact tuners here at all. My buddy Rick (pagosa dsm on DSMTuners) is the only other tuner I meet with on a regular basis. That has made the websites I frequent all the more important in helping me with my project.

What’s the best part about being a Mitsubishi owner?  The most challenging?
Besides driving one? The web forums with their huge knowledge base and member support have to be the best part of owning a Mitsu. I cannot offer enough thanks to Chris Raymond for building DSMTuners.com and to the founders of theGalantCenter.net and other DSM sites, including this one, for helping bring us all together. Our community wouldn’t be anything near what it is today without all their hard work and dedication.

The most challenging part has to be overcoming all the abuse our cars get over the years and getting them back into shape. Both my 1g and my 2g parts cars came to me in terrible condition and needed lots of work just to get them back to stock reliability. I still have a bit of maintenance work to put into mine before I’ll feel it is up to snuff mostly related to the poor abused engine that is in it now.

What excites you about the coming year?  (Your Mitsu and your community)
I am really looking forward to getting more body work done on my car. I’ve got a RRE hood vent waiting to go on and will be putting some more work into my front grille area and hopefully getting the car painted. I’d love to say I’ll be getting my engine built but I don’t think I’ll have the funds on hand to make that possible.

How often do you get together with other Mitsubishi owners in person?
I get together with my buddy Rick a few times a month.

Your thoughts on those who part out otherwise salvageable cars?
Every time I go to the junk yard and see a vehicle that looks great and just needed a little work I wonder why on earth anyone threw them away instead of fixing them or selling them cheap to someone who would. I do not like to see anything going to waste. Americans throw away way too much stuff. It is a very bad habit we can’t afford to keep for all sorts of reasons financially, environmentally and ethically. I believe reduce, reuse recycle applies to cars too. My wife’s ’96 Corolla came out of the same junk yard as my Galant and our ’89 4Runner was about ready for one too before we bought it. A little elbow grease and some know how got all three on the road and doing great. That means not wasting energy and raw materials producing a new car and not having to spend energy crushing and recycling the old ones. It was also a great cost savings for us. Our whole fleet has cost us less than a third of one new economy car. On the other hand, if someone hadn’t dumped those cars we wouldn’t have gotten such good deals. I strongly considered putting my 2g donor back together into some sort of drivable machine but it was past the point of no return. I had to use too many critical parts off of it and there was too much strut-tower rust, cigarette damage and body damage to make it worth buying and installing a FWD drive train into it. I’ve parted out as much of it as I think I can at this point. I’d part out more but the big stuff isn’t cost-effective for buyers to ship. I’ll be leaving the rest for junk yards to work with.

How do you feel building a Mitsubishi compares to building a Mitsubishi community?
From being a member of several Mitsubishi communities I’d say they both take a lot of patience, hard work and dedication.

How has your Mitsubishi build benefited from your involvement in the community?
Simply put, I couldn’t have built it without all the help I got from the members of theGalantCenter.net, DSMTuners.com, and Abq-DSM.com and all the knowledge they have put together on those sites. I hope I’ve been able to give back as much as I’ve gotten.

What’s next for your Mitsubishi?
I recently scored a deal on some Wiseco pistons for my 2.4 block. I’m looking forward to building that engine up when I can afford to. More immediately I’ll be finishing up the front end by adding wire mesh in the upper opening, installing my hood vent and taking care of a few dings and dents to prep the car for paint. My wife and I just had our first baby show up Jan. 28th and I’ll be staying home watching her over the summer so a lot will depend on how much time and money I can throw at the car.

Who has helped you the most along the way with the car? Did you have a mentor?
Aside from the knowledge base online my buddy Rick Cotton has been an enormous help along with several of his friends who pitched in pipe, hangers and welding skills to make my custom exhaust. My dad designed and built the center bracket for the drive shaft and helped tear down the Talon I used for a donor.

Who do you look up to in the Mitsubishi community?
I respect everyone who has the guts and skills to pull off something new and innovative.

Have you ever thought about being a mentor to a newbie?  What sort of projects interest you?
I try to help a lot of newbies on the websites. I have to admit to avoiding questions which can easily be answered by a repair manual or a quick search though. Off the web I always try to help other car guys in any way I can. I’ve gotten a lot of help and really like to pass it on whenever possible. I am always interested in projects that are unique or innovative in some way. Bolt-on projects are only exciting when it is getting bolted to your own car. I like to see what people make for themselves or adapt from another use in a way others haven’t thought of.
Is there a particular shop you’d like to recommend?
A1 Auto Salvage in Farmington, NM. They really got excited about my project and gave me some great deals to help me get it together. Lots of nice guys down there.

Do you spend time on any Mitsubishi sites?  Which ones?
I visit DSMTuners, and theGalantCenter.net daily and check out Mitsu-Media and Abq-DSM every once in a while.

Are you on Twitter?  Facebook?  How can people find you online?
I am on Facebook but I usually only friend people I know from off the web. If someone wants to find me online their best bet is a PM on DSMTuners or theGalantCenter.

Could you refer us to any other Mitsubishi owners you feel we should interview?  Please let us know here.  We’d love to tell someone they were recommended!
Ray Peters has an awesome turbo/supercharged 1g DSM with a 2.4l engine that he rally-crosses. I’d suggest contacting him. He’s made some other interesting parts for it and helped with DS-MAP.

Thank you for allowing us the privilege of sharing your story with the world!

Thanks for letting me share it .

What do you do for a living and where do you live?
I work as a senior tech in the IT department for the FAA. This has been my current job of 12 years. I live in Fort Worth, TX.

What Mitsubishi(s) do you drive? How long have you had it/them?
I drive one of two 1988 Chrysler Conquests that were imported and re-badged from Mitsubishi Starions. I’ve had my blue Conquest for 4 years. It’s more for show and events. I have also had my yellow Conquest for almost 2 years and drive it daily.

What’s your build philosophy/goals for your Mitsubishi? How do you use it?
My build philosophy is to set your goals before you make any changes from a stock running car, and stick with it. If you want big power, you may have to give up drivability, if you want show quality, you might not want to track it.

What originally attracted you to the Mitsubishi? What keeps you going today?
In the late 80s I was living in SoCal driving an econobox and kept seeing these bad ass Starions on the road. So I drove down to the Mitsubishi dealer and realized right away that I could not afford a one new. I picked up a used ’86, and was instantly hooked when I blew away a bragging Camaro owner. What keeps me going today, is knowing there is no other car out there that looks, runs, and performs like a Starion. Most people have no idea what kind of car it is and I am always being approach by people asking what it is.

Got a favorite story about your Mitsubishi?
My second Starion had a freshly rebuilt engine, a new ecu, and tons of other mods. Being unproven for reliability, but running good as it was I decided to drive it 17 hours from Fort Worth to Pigeon Forge, TN. I had my wife with me and she was encouraging but was worried. It made it there and back without a problem, although when I got back it had a noisy driver side wheel bearing.

What are your goals for your Mitsubishi and how close are you to achieving them?
My goals are to have everything about my car as perfect as possible. To make it look clean, inside and out, as good or better than when it was new. Performance goals are 350 hp and 400+ torque. I am close to achieving these goals since the bodywork and interior are mostly done (are they really ever?) and I have dynoed the car at 306rwhp/412tq.

What was your favorite modification and why?
My favorite modification is a toss up between changing the car from throttle body to multiport injection, or the thumping sound system that makes cruising so enjoyable.

Tell us about something really exciting you’ve done with other Mitsubishi owners.
We routinely get together for a some track time. While I do not always run mine, I enjoy watching other push theirs to the limit, and sometimes set records.

What’s the best part about being a Mitsubishi owner? The most challenging?
The best part is owning a car that is totally unique. I can drive the car for weeks and not see another like it, and if I do, mostly likely I know the owner.
The most challenging is keeping it running, since parts are getting hard to find, with a lot of parts no longer made.

What excites you about the coming year? (Your Mitsu and your community)
Our National meet, where we get together, B.S., race and drink. Also, fixing some mechanical issues that have been keeping the car in the garage more than it has been on the road lately.

How often do you get together with other Mitsubishi owners in person?
At least twice a year, sometime more.

Your thoughts on those who part out otherwise salvageable cars?
While I can understand a car that is “too far gone” to rebuild, I think some people don’t put in enough effort to keep these cars on the road. I have seen several in junk yards that are in good shape, but might need an engine rebuilt or a body panel replaced. As these cars age and get more rare, as many that can be saved should be.

How do you feel building a Mitsubishi compares to building a Mitsubishi community?
There certainly are similarities; the cars are unique and so are the owners but, there are those common elements; passionate about the cars and great desire to have great performance and looks that unites us as owners in the Mitsubishi community.

How has your Mitsubishi build benefited from your involvement in the community?
Definitely the info-sharing and commiserating!

What’s next for your Mitsubishi?
Perhaps having the seats recovered, tinting the windows or,tuning the car for more HP.

Who has helped you the most along the way with the car?
Its hard to pick one person that has helped the most. Several friends have spent hours in the garage with me , others have driven parts out so that I can finish a project, and others have helped with tuning.

Who do you look up to in the Mitsubishi community?
There are too many to mention, but I can say that the group of folks on 26liter.us are all the best you can find for help. They’re always willing to lend a hand, get you a part and help diagnose a problem. Its a great community of people who share a common interest in Starions and Conquests and also make good friends.

Is there a particular shop you’d like to recommend?
I don’t usually take my car to any shops, but I can recommend KAN Tuning in Fort Worth for squeezing that extra HP out of your car and Burton Customs for making your car look good.

Do you spend time on any Mitsubishi sites? Which ones?
26liter.us and Starquestclub are the two main sources for Starion parts, troubleshooting and meet planning.

Are you on Twitter? Facebook? How can people find you online?
Facebook, jross35

The turbo that John is using to squeeze out the 306whp is a Garrett 60-1 mated to a cast Turbonetics exhaust manifold. To get the correct amount of fuel John upgraded from the stock TBI (throttle body injection) to a more modern MPI (multiport injection). Reason for doing this is to get a better air to fuel mixture.

To be able to control the fuel pressure John installed an  Aeromotive Fuel pressure regulator. Pumping the fuel from the tank is a Walbro fuel pump. To manage the fuel system a Fuel injector Pro  management system was put in place of the stock unit. Keeping this thing screaming throughout the power band is a Screaming Banshee Cam. With this small mod list John was able to almost double the stock horsepower output.

John also upgraded the sound system to make cruising more pleasurable. Opening the hatch you will find two Infinity Reference subs. Also from Infinity you will find Kappa Speakers.  Power Acoustik Amps help give this car a stereo system that you want to listen to. All of this is controlled by an Alpine head unit.

John also owns another one of these beauties, a 1988 Chrysler Conquest TSI.