2014 Mitsubishi Mirage 5 speed build thread

[Daox]

I just filled up again. I got a solid 1.5 mpg increase over the last tank. It has arguably been a bit colder out, but the WAI and upper grill block combo seem to be doing their job very well. I've always been a bit of a skeptic over WAIs. I understand less dense air increases engine load, and that should decrease BSFC. But, I really haven't seen it work this well on a car before. I guess I always figured the hot air retarded timing enough to negate the benefits somewhat. That may be true on some cars, but apparently not on this one. I think it loves the WAI.

[California98Civic]

Nice result. I have been toying with reinstalling my WAI. Maybe I will do that today. Also need to reinstall rear wheel skirts. Been too busy for much time on cars in recent months.

[Daox]

With the warmer (albeit wet) weather, I decided to continue messing around with the 3d printed mirror blank plate for the Mirage. I updated the design a bit as the holes didn't line up before. I think the overall shape is good. It still needs a bit of tweaking, but I think its mostly there.

[Xist]

Have you considered making an inside plate?

[Daox]

I may do that if I end up using an interior mirror.

[Daox]

Yesterday I put the Redline MT-LV 70W/75W in the Mirage. This new transmission oil is thinner than the OE spec fluid. My engine was still a bit warm, and the oil coming out was still thicker than the oil going in. Also, it was interesting to see that the oil is actually red in color. The OE oil was a like a slightly browned engine oil, but the new oil was... well take a look. I am guessing this oil is much more akin to ATF than traditional manual trans oil.





Initial impressions are that the transmission does shift a little smoother. Ambient temperature was about 65F though, so it was already warmish.

The car currently has 85,002 miles on it. The plan is to send in a transmission fluid sample to be tested after about 5k miles to see how things are wearing. This will likely take me about a year to do since I do not commute very many miles.

[Daox]

I got a new set of rubber ordered today! I've been waiting for a good deal on tires, and I finally just pulled the trigger. I ended up going with Hankook Kinergy ST 185/60R14 tires for the OE steel wheels I have (they currently have extremely bald Dunlop Enasaves on them). They have a decent rebate deal going on right now. I am really looking forward to having a LRR (low rolling resistance) tire on the car to see what it does for fuel economy. The current wheel and tire setup looks nice, but it really doesn't seem to roll the best. It has a set of alloy wheels with Fuzion HRi tires in the same size.

These tires are what I found after doing a roundup of fuel efficient tires that fit on our OE wheels:

Fuel efficient tires for 14" OE wheels

Here are my enasaves from when I picked up the car!

[19bonestock88]

I’ve been reasonably happy with my Hankooks, but with about 20k on them (admittedly not rotated as often as recommended) they’re just about shot... I live in the mountains though, lots of corners

[Daox]

I got the Kinergy ST tires put on the other day. I've made a few trips on them and I am liking them so far. I haven't even pumped them up and I can certainly tell a difference from my old Fuzion HRi tires at 50 psi. I can't wait to pump them up and see how they do at a higher pressure.





This also means I have steel wheels with wheel covers. I think I'd like to do smooth wheel covers. The OE covers that are shown are pretty flat, perhaps modable to be a bit smoother? We'll see.

In other news, my mirror blanking plate has not held up well to the heat of summer. It was printed in PLA material and well... you get the idea. I need to finish and upgrade to my printer so I can print this with ABS or some other material that can handle the heat. For the time being, I have a mirror again.

[MetroMPG]

Oh wow!

What's my Metro blanking plate printed in? It looked ok last I looked at it, but it's been parked with that side facing SW for a couple of weeks since I started driving the beater Miata... I should check it.

Great news on the tires though!!