Mitsubishi Lancer RalliArt

[Supra_Natural]

Car's looking great man! One thing I keep forgetting to ask is whether the Ralliart is AWD like the evo? I presume it is... Also, any plans to bump up the power?

[Davy]

5 hours ago, Supra_Natural said:

Car's looking great man! One thing I keep forgetting to ask is whether the Ralliart is AWD like the evo? I presume it is... Also, any plans to bump up the power?

Thanks machan! Appreciate it.

Yes, the RalliArt is AWD and has Mitsubishi's All Wheel Control (AWC) and Active Center Differential (ACD) systems which allow you to select the surface you are driving on (tarmac, gravel or snow) and it electronically adjusts the power distribution based on which mode you're on. The only thing that the RalliArt lacks is Active Yaw Control (AYC) that the Evo has.

I have no immediate plans of bumping up the power, mainly because I'm happy the way things are for now and because my wife drives it frequently. If I ever do, I'll probably go for an upgrade kit. Whatever I do, I will keep this thread posted.

Edited April 4, 2017 by Davy
Corrected typo

[Komisiripala]

So should I start the “chooned by Komi” section and go on about evo Conversions and whatnot? 

Congrats man! Highly belated but hey, the ball-licking lion is back! 

[Davy]

21 minutes ago, Komisiripala said:

So should I start the “chooned by Komi” section and go on about evo Conversions and whatnot? 

Congrats man! Highly belated but hey, the ball-licking lion is back! 

lol Thanks machan!

[Komisiripala]

coilovers! i've been telling you from day one! where? where?? damn you!! 

[Davy]

3 minutes ago, Komisiripala said:

coilovers! i've been telling you from day one! where? where?? damn you!! 

I know I know! I've already selected a set (this one) and been putting off buying them due to other priorities.  This is the first thing I'm gonna do, I promise you! I am actually embarrassed of that huge wheel gap. I don't know what Mitsubishi was thinking when they signed off on the stock height of the RalliArt and the Evo. It's just hideous. 

[Supra_Natural]

2 hours ago, Davy said:

I know I know! I've already selected a set (this one) and been putting off buying them due to other priorities.  This is the first thing I'm gonna do, I promise you! I am actually embarrassed of that huge wheel gap. I don't know what Mitsubishi was thinking when they signed off on the stock height of the RalliArt and the Evo. It's just hideous. 

I'm guessing they were thinking "It's going to be a rally car and people will drive them on gravel and other unimproved roads, so best give it some height".

[Davy]

13 minutes ago, Supra_Natural said:

I'm guessing they were thinking "It's going to be a rally car and people will drive them on gravel and other unimproved roads, so best give it some height".

You have a point, but take the WRX from the same era (or even the new one) for example. Also a rally car but it sits much better than an Evo in it's stock form IMO. I guess what I meant was the gap between the wheel and the fender, not the height. The stock tyre profile of the WRX for example (245/40R18) is better than the RalliArt tyres (225/45R18). This fills the wheel well nicely, leaving only a little gap.

The gap on the Evo is actually much much better than the RalliArt. If you check my photos with Evo X wheels on, you can notice that the gap is a bit narrow. It appears this way due to the higher positive offset of the rim, making it sit closer to the lip of the fender.

[Supra_Natural]

On 1/9/2018 at 12:55 PM, Davy said:

You have a point, but take the WRX from the same era (or even the new one) for example. Also a rally car but it sits much better than an Evo in it's stock form IMO. I guess what I meant was the gap between the wheel and the fender, not the height. The stock tyre profile of the WRX for example (245/40R18) is better than the RalliArt tyres (225/45R18). This fills the wheel well nicely, leaving only a little gap.

The gap on the Evo is actually much much better than the RalliArt. If you check my photos with Evo X wheels on, you can notice that the gap is a bit narrow. It appears this way due to the higher positive offset of the rim, making it sit closer to the lip of the fender.

Fair point, does the ralliart have longer suspension travel than the Evo? That could explain the extra clearance. Also is the ground clearance figure the same between the Evo and the Ralliart? If I had to guess I'd think that they made the Ralliart softer with a bit more suspension travel to make it more livable. 

[Davy]

5 minutes ago, Supra_Natural said:

Fair point, does the ralliart have longer suspension travel than the Evo? That could explain the extra clearance. Also is the ground clearance figure the same between the Evo and the Ralliart? If I had to guess I'd think that they made the Ralliart softer with a bit more suspension travel to make it more livable. 

Spot on! The RalliArt does have different dampers and they're more or less the same height as the ones you get in the base Lancer (Lancer Ex in Sri Lanka), but with stiffer springs. In fact, the entire suspension system is far more superior on the Evo with alloy control arms opposed to the RalliArt that has steel ones. 

[Davy]

It's been a bit quiet on this thread since last year. Nothing much to update about on the car as I have taken up some other personal projects and the past couple of months (and the upcoming months) will probably be spent on that.

I've done a few long trips though. Went camping towards the end of last year and it was a great drive. Did a couple of cruises with friends and one of the local Lancer clubs here in Melbourne. 

Did a snow trip again last weekend. Here's a (very rough) video of the drive. I made the mistake of speeding up the dashcam footage, and it certainly doesn't like that. Should have had my actual camera running, but I was too busy enjoying the drive.  Again, sorry it's blurry.

 

[kmeeg]

19 minutes ago, Davy said:

 

Did a snow trip again last weekend. Here's a (very rough) video of the drive. I made the mistake of speeding up the dashcam footage, and it certainly doesn't like that. Should have had my actual camera running, but I was too busy enjoying the drive.  Again, sorry it's blurry.

 

Beautiful drive mate..!! I think its good that you speed up the video (may be a tiny bit slower would have been awesome).

[Davy]

7 hours ago, kmeeg said:

Beautiful drive mate..!! I think its good that you speed up the video (may be a tiny bit slower would have been awesome).

Thanks mate!  

[Davy]

I finally bit the bullet and bought a set of Bridgestone Potenza RE003 tyres! For the past four  years, I've been running on a set of Kenda tyres the previous owner had put (God knows when) and they had some meat left in them, but I the rubber was too brittle and old and it felt like the car was riding on plastic tyres. Anyway, these tyres are.... just incredible! The car handles like it has never done before and responds to steering quite well. Here's a shot with the Evo X BBS rims and new rubber. I need to put the centre caps on. 

A bit about rim and tyre size. The original rims on the RalliArt are 18" and 7" wide with a +46 offset. The Evo ones are 18" as well, but 8.5" wide and +38 offset. This meant the rims sit about 8mm closer to the wheel arch.  So after extensive research, the tyre size I went for is 235/40/18 which sits flush with the wheel arch, but not too close to cause rubbing. They're also the best tyres with the closest rolling diameter to OEM.

Yes the front fender gap is still there and I need coilovers, which I will be getting soon (might sound like a broken record now because I've been saying it for about 3 years). I have more reasons to get them now, so it will happen soon. 

Lastly, a bit of jewellery for the lady. She maybe driven on roads in Australia, but inside, she is all Sri Lankan (pun intended)!  

More updates soon!

[Davy]

I'll leave this here for now... A little teaser. ?

 

[kmeeg]

1 hour ago, Davy said:

I'll leave this here for now... A little teaser. ?

 

Nice..!! Are going to do your self or taking it to a shop?

Edited November 9, 2018 by kmeeg

[Davy]

8 hours ago, kmeeg said:

Nice..!! Are going to do your self or taking it to a shop?

I only have the scissor jack from the car, which makes it a bit difficult and time consuming to install these, so I'm taking it to a friend's place and getting it installed myself. It's just 5 bolts per shock, so shouldn't be that difficult. 

[kmeeg]

5 hours ago, Davy said:

I only have the scissor jack from the car, which makes it a bit difficult and time consuming to install these, so I'm taking it to a friend's place and getting it installed myself. It's just 5 bolts per shock, so shouldn't be that difficult. 

Man you guys are pro.. I'm damn scared of touching shocks and brakes.

Are those for asphalt or gravel? (I really loved that video of gravel run with Subi)

 

[Davy]

18 hours ago, kmeeg said:

Man you guys are pro.. I'm damn scared of touching shocks and brakes.

Are those for asphalt or gravel? (I really loved that video of gravel run with Subi)

 

Haha! Comparing to how my father used to work on cars, this is nothing. It's literally plug and play.  I'll try to capture some photos when they're going in. Still trying to get some time organised to install them.  Until then, here are some photos of the unboxing.

Oh and these are street/tarmac coilovers. More info about them here.

 

Decals, installation manual, warranty info etc.

 

Tools for height and preload adjustment together with the damper adjustment extensions for the rear shocks since after the rear shocks are installed and trunk upholstery is installed, there is no access to the damper adjustment knobs. These extensions are to be plugged onto the damper adjustment knobs and routed outside the trunk upholstery so that they can be adjusted easily. 

 

Camber plate visible for the front struts with 30 level damping force adjustment knob on all four struts. 

 

Stay tuned for the install and after photos.  

[kmeeg]

4 hours ago, Davy said:

Haha! Comparing to how my father used to work on cars, this is nothing. It's literally plug and play.  

Ohh man..!! The only accessory I have fixed my self is Running Boards / Side steps to my vehicle. Even that is not 100% leveled..?

[Davy]

Happy Saturday gentlemen!

Two hours, two bleeding fingers and one burnt hand later, I have managed to get the coilovers installed at a garage of a friend. Would have taken longer if not for the hoist, air tools etc. Let's take a look at how she looked before:

The top photo actually looks like the car is on a jack or something. But that's how bad the wheel gap was. And as seen from the two photos below, I can *clears throat* put my fist in the front wheel gap and and three fingers in the... um.... rear. ? 

I was too busy bleeding from my fingers trying to get the rear damper extensions installed, so no pics of the install. But here's a shot of the front and rear coilovers installed:

 

And here's the top view of the front. My friend mistakenly installed the camber plate diagonally and had to remove them again to install them properly!  

 

This is the damper adjustment extension routed into the trunk through an opening in the strut tower. Had to use a screwdriver and a hook to pull it into the trunk. Those metal edges are really sharp. Should have worn a pair of gloves. BC racing has really thought about this tbh. If not for this extension, it's impossible to adjust damper force as the top of the strut isn't visible from the trunk due to the chassis design. 

 

And voila... here she is after the install. Couldn't be more happier. This is not the final height. I'm still playing around with it. The rear tyre rubs on the wheel arch when going over bumps and uneven road surfaces, so I will have to roll the rear arches a tiny bit. Fronts are perfect. I think I like the front height more than the rear, but I might change my mind. Enough of the chit chat. Here you go...

 

Close-up of the wheels with the centre caps on finally! No room for fists or fingers now.  I can't even park the car in my parking bay the way I used to anymore because the front is low. It hits the stopper on the floor of the parking bay (see first image). So I park the car the other way. I used to park like this because it's easier to take the car out, but now I need to do a three point turn to take the car out.

The million dollar question - does it handle better? The difference in handling is pretty significant. The RalliArt handles pretty well out of the factory, but the new coilovers has transformed the car's handling to a whole new level! I can now confidently throw a tight bend at the car at much higher speeds and expect it to effortlessly take it. And the car stays planted on the road. Such a massive reduction in body roll. Out of the box, the factory damper setting is set to about  75% (8 notches down from 30) hard. I cranked it down two notches so now it's a bit more soft and surprisingly comfortable as well! I'm still playing around with that as well though. 

Overall, it has certainly been a worthwhile upgrade. I wish I had done it sooner. The car sits so nicely now and I'm really happy with the outcome. Stared at the car for about half an hour before driving off.  

Next up, I want to wrap the roof in black. Not looking for anything fancy, just cheap vinyl stickers from eBay. Cut to size and paste. Will probably DIY that as well. Also, after the BBS rims were installed, the brake calipers are really visible. So I want to paint them (red) and give a general clean  up under the wheel wells. Stay tuned for those.

Lastly, I have the BC Racing stickers that are still in the packaging. I'm in two minds if I want them on the car or not. If I were to install them, they will be going on glass (rear windscreen - one sticker, small glass on rear doors - one per side) unless it's under the bonnet. Thoughts?  

Thanks for reading! Comments are always welcome.

[trinity]

Great Stuff bro! She looks pretty damn stunning now. 

And kudos for the DYI man. And in just 2 hours?? are you effin kidding me?? Just wow!!!

Im not a fan of pasting stickers, so its a no no from me. If you are going to do so, might as well find some Brembo, Recaro and BBS stickers and paste them too.

About the rear, May i suggest you raise the rear a bit rather than rolling up the arches. That way car will have that looking down in anger stance (Which I like). Dont know how that will affect the improved handling though. Just a suggestion.

Anyways, its super cool you did this. Really happy to see the end result.

Do keep us posted of new improvements/changes.

Cheers!

[Davy]

6 minutes ago, trinity said:

Great Stuff bro! She looks pretty damn stunning now. 

Thanks bro. Appreciate it!

6 minutes ago, trinity said:

And kudos for the DYI man. And in just 2 hours?? are you effin kidding me?? Just wow!!!

Would have taken longer if not for the hoist, power tools and four hands. It was literally:

- Take the wheels off, raise the car

- The front struts are held by 3 bolts up top (as seen in one of the photos in my post) and 2 in the bottom. There's also a 10mm bolt that secures the brake line and ABS sensor wire to the strut. So those need to be removed. The BC Racing coilover has all of that exactly like the OEM strut, so just take out like 7 bolts, pull out the old strut and put the new one in. Repeat for the other side.

- The rears are held by two bolts up top and just one at the bottom. But the lower control arm bolt needs to be removed from one side (leaving the lower arm hanging from the middle of the car). To access the top two bolts, part of the trunk lining needs to be taken out. This is probably what took most of the time as those plastic clips are a b!tch to remove. The hardest thing as I said, was routing that damping force adjuster extension through the shock tower in the rear. 

- Adjust damping force as required. And that's it!

15 minutes ago, trinity said:

Im not a fan of pasting stickers, so its a no no from me. If you are going to do so, might as well find some Brembo, Recaro and BBS stickers and paste them too.

I hear you.  I'm not much of a sticker fan myself (I was when I was in my teens ). I actually held the sticker against various places and it did look pretty good. Oh and the RalliArt didn't come with Recaros nor Brembos. Only the big brother Evo came with them (Recaros were not standard even on the Evo). So the only stickers I can put are BBS, BC Racing, K&N as I have a drop in filter. That's it.  

20 minutes ago, trinity said:

About the rear, May i suggest you raise the rear a bit rather than rolling up the arches. That way car will have that looking down in anger stance (Which I like). Dont know how that will affect the improved handling though. Just a suggestion.

I was actually thinking about doing this tomorrow. If you look at the last picture in my previous post, the front wheel sits really nice in the arch because the gap between the wheel arch and tyre is consistent all round. The rears however almost touch the wheel arch at the top and the gap widens towards the bottom. I like the former. So yes, I will try raising the rear about 1 inch and see how it goes. Changing the height is really easy. Can do it at home. Even with it raised, I fear that it will still rub if there are 2 passengers in the rear and a trunk full of stuff. It just needs about 5mm of clearance! Thanks for the suggestion.

[kmeeg]

Amazing job mate..!! ????

Same as trinity said, I too don’t like wraps or stickers. But I do like red brake calipers, especially love to see brembo calipers.

planning to do anything to protect your bumper under side? I know how much it hurts when you forget the height and accidentally scratch it while parking. May be a metal plate or something matching the bumper?

If possible love to see a video around the car and inside too. Beautiful car and love to see more what you are doing to it.

 

 

[Davy]

11 hours ago, kmeeg said:

Amazing job mate..!! ????

Same as trinity said, I too don’t like wraps or stickers. But I do like red brake calipers, especially love to see brembo calipers.

Thanks! Appreciate it.

As for the roof wrap, the Evo X Final Edition comes with a black roof and looks pretty sick IMO, especially on white. Photo below for reference. This is the sort of look I want. 

11 hours ago, kmeeg said:

planning to do anything to protect your bumper under side? I know how much it hurts when you forget the height and accidentally scratch it while parking. May be a metal plate or something matching the bumper?

Haven't really thought about it to be honest. It doesn't hit the ground on speed bumps or even when leaving or entering the driveway, so it's not a huge problem for the moment. I will keep this in mind though. Thanks! I guess the solution would be an Aluminium skid plate.

11 hours ago, kmeeg said:

If possible love to see a video around the car and inside too. Beautiful car and love to see more what you are doing to it.

Thanks and will do when I get a bit of time mate. Probably next weekend! This thread has some interior photos, but not that great I think.