On the Road – California and LA

Time for Service

Today the Evolution hit 30,000 miles so I had to bring it in for service this morning.  Fortunately there are plenty of Mitsubishi dealerships around and I drove to one that was about six miles from my hotel.  It used to be called Duarte but is now known as Aspen Mitsubishi.  The folks there were great Larry and Adrian got me into the work bay right away.  While I waited for all the work to be done I had a chance to talk to Alex Pastor in parts.  He told me about an air-cooled VW he had as well as a VW pick up that his father restored.  Later I met the technician Jay who worked on my car as well as another tech, Orlando.

I had a chance to look at the new Lancers that they had in their lot.  They give you a hint of what the new Evolution will look like.  I was hoping they had a Lancer with the CVT and paddle shifter, but not yet.

All the work was done and the car was in great shape.  The only advice the technician had was to have the alignment checked on my next stop.  That should be no problem.

I had them get a sample of the used oil from the crankcase and that will go off to Blackstone Labs for analysis tomorrow.

Advanced Composite Products and Technology, Inc.

Then I was off to ACPT.  When I had my 1997 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX one of the last major modifications I did was to replace the heavy three-piece drive shaft with a single composite drive shaft made by the folks at ACPT.  It made an amazing difference and here was a chance for me to see the place where it was fabricated.

James Martin of ACPT was nice enough to give me a tour and show me some of the latest drive shaft technology they were using.  He and I talked about how cars are starting to come from the factory with composite drive shafts – such as the Nissan 350Z, the Mazda RX8, and even a Mitsubishi SUV.  ACPT makes drive shafts for many cars.

Here is a photo of some ready to be shipped out that day.  They are also making shafts to fit the Corvette C5 and C6 now.

Road Race Engineering

After that I headed over to Road Race Engineering.  These guys know Mitsubishis and were a fantastic source for parts and technical advice when I had my red GSX.  Now I had a chance to meet them in person and pick up some parts for my Evolution.

They gave me quite a tour and I finally got to meet the guy who put together the cylinder head for my GSX.  That was ported and set up with titanium springs and retainers as well as a fantastic valve job that really allowed that engine to breath.  It turned out very strong and on a good day (a cool one) it would put out over 400 horse power.

RRE is in three facilities grouped together, the RRE work shop where sales, engine work, and car modifications and service is performed; the suspension shop; and the race car prep shop.

Here is the latest in turbo swaps for the Evolution.  The stock turbo is on the right.  Believe it or not the big one has no drivability issues either.

Jason – here are your parts to make an AWD Mirage:

I have one more day and night and then I am off to Reno and the next museum.  Tomorrow I will be taking in the Peterson Museum in downtown LA.