Chris' Mitsubishi Colt CZT

[hoodedreeper]

With the Micra K11 sold it was time to look for the next project.

With a reasonably small budget and no clue to what I want, it made the task a tiny bit difficult.

On the way home from work one evening I followed a stock trim Mitsubishi Colt, I remembered they did a spicey version called the CZT, a 1.5L 4 cylinder turbo hatchback. I did some research and found a couple local. A work colleague has the convertible model and kindly travelled over to Norwich one evening so I could have a look about and a test drive.

I was impressed! I couldn't test out the handling too much as it was soaking wet and I didn't want to push the car beyond my limits. Even with stock suspension it seemed to have good handling along with some decent power delivery.

I got in contact with a seller in Felixstowe (approx 62 miles away) and had agreed to go view the car on Sunday. Unfortuantely this meant having to sacrifice not attending JAE show but I'm sure it would be worth it.

The car was per the advert although the paint work needs some attention (overall its not bad for 16 years old). Theres a few minor things that need sorting, for example the passenger side repeater and door mirror glass, radio display doesn't work (a spare was included) and the air con needs re-gassing.

Although not noticed on the initial test drive, it does need a wheel alignment. One of the front strut top mounts is knocking so I'll get that done at the same time (I'm sure some lowering springs will be thrown into the mix at this point too)

These engines are good for approx 250hp from what I've read, my aim is to achieve a nice safe 220hp which I think will be more than enough (a vast improvement over the Micra's 80hp)

Here are some photos when I arrived home

The headlights could do with a cut back and polish

Damage on the passenger door, hoping this will polish out

Rear bumper scuff

Key scratches above the driver side door handle

Aftermarket door mirror glass lifting from the factory baseplate

Side repeater lens missing

After a quick wash

Let the project begin!

 

[hoodedreeper]

First update is a boring one I'm afraid

First thing to do with any car is to do a service IMO. I dont think the oil filter has been changed in a while though

(changed at 82,900)

I noticed the windscreen wasn't clearing too well and it didn't smell too great either. I drained the screenwash, flushed through with water and refilled with pre-mixed fluid. Also fitted new Bosch wipers

One of the things mentioned in the for sale advert was the dashboard display wasn't working. It seems this is a common fault, luckily the seller supplied a replacement which was untested. Swapped them over and at first it didn't work. Got the soldering iron out to have a look at the original, that didn't sort it so re-tried the spare and it works.

I gave the engine bay a quick clean as I had some spare time. I could do with removing a few things for better access but its a start

Here are some comparison photos

 

[hoodedreeper]

Having been using forums for quite a number of years (I think I started using them circa 2004) I've always enjoyed the whole process.

I'm abit late to the party, but I've decided to attempt a Vlog along side the forum posts. It's going to take some time building up my confidence because I hate talking infront of a camera but I'm sure they'll improve as time goes on.

https://www.youtube.com/c/hoodedreeper/featured

The first intro video can be found here



The first proper video was a 'How To' for Colt owners on removing the front suspension, in preperation for changing the springs.



Coilovers were out of my budget as I wanted to purchase a couple of other modifications. I went with some 35mm H&R lowering springs.

When I first purchased the car, the LH strut mount was knocking badly. A pair of pattern parts along with new bearings were purchased from eBay along with new dust covers from my work.

Not owning a pair of spring compressors I asked a friend to help out

Although the shock bodies look absolutely terrible, they work and don't leak. So I wire brushed them and gave them a coat of black hammerite spray

Gave the wiper arms a coat of paint in Gloss tough black paint that I used on the Micra

While the shocks were removed I took the chance to wire brush, rust treat and underseal the inner arches. I won't bore you with photos of every arch so here's just one

Once the car was back on the ground, I took it for a test drive. Thats when I encountered a new noise. Here's a video explaining it and how I've fixed it for now

 

[hoodedreeper]

Had this fitted a little while but struggled to find time to go get videos

Scorpion cat back exhaust is now fitted

 

[hoodedreeper]

Although the factory side mount intercooler performed faultess, every likes a front mount right?

I got in contact with a local company called Stealthwerx who are an Airtec dealer who ordered it in for me.

Here's the latest video now up on my Youtube

[video]

Here are some photos

Before

Installation finished prior to bumper re-fitting

Finished

Fitted black mesh and tinted the fog lights yellow

Fancy photos for Instagram

 

[hoodedreeper]

I had last week off work, half of that was spent indoors because of typical british weather. But I did manage to sort some jobs out on the Colt.

First on the list was to restore the oxidised headlights



Here are some after photos

By far a perfect outcome as the passenger light is still hazy but I think thats down to the lacquer. But it's certainly much better than before

Next job was to replace the extremely worn droplinks for some polybush versions

The final job on the list was to fit some new silicone boost hoses

While everything was dismantled I painted the hard pipes in the same Steel Grey colour I painted the BMW Bottletops I had on the Micra

I didn't make a video on this because its pretty boring and swapping the hoses is quite straight forward

A package arrived, I'll let the photos do the talking

A big thank you to Dynodaze for the fast delivery on all of the parts (polybush droplinks,silicone hoses and exhaust manifold)

The stock manifolds are known for cracking, I thought I'd get it replaced sooner rather than later. I just need to order replacement gaskets and hardware from the main dealer before I can make a start.

And to finish the update, have a sunset photo

 

[hoodedreeper]

Last Wednesday I swapped the manifolds over, things weren't as simple as I originally thought.

I also took a visit to the main dealer to purchase new manifold > turbo gasket and new hardware.

The next job to do immediately after was to replace the coolant hoses. The design of the new manifold meant the hose sits against it, so I used some heat wrap to help prevent damage (I understand it could have been done less bulky but wanted to make sure it was covered well enough)

The last video is a short review on the new Ring Automotive 200% bulbs. After restoring the headlamps I wanted to upgrade the lights. Working at a Motor Factor I was able to grab a pair as soon as they landed on the shelves.

A friend kindly printed me some new social media stickers. Rather than the typical logo and user name, I went with my new logo to match

 

[hoodedreeper]

I added some more colour to the engine bay by painting parts of the engine cover

Inbetween the rain showers I managed to get the car jacked up and rust treated the boot floor

Primed with Zinc primer

2 coats of underbody seal

This time of year makes for some great photos

Back in October I made the mistake of taking the car to a hand car wash the day before a car show. I would normally wash the car myself, but the lack of spare time leading upto the show meant it was much quicker to get someone else to do it.

We arrived at the show and everything was fine until the sun beamed down onto it at lunch time. Revealing the horror of what they had done

Luckily I've known the owner of the hand car wash for a few years so hoping he'd actually do something to help. He admitted liability and agreed to sort it out. Fast forward 6-7 weeks and the car was taken to a well known bodyshop in the area. The car was dropped off just after 4pm and it looked clean and shiney.

I got home and purposely parked infront of our other car (which has factory xenon lights) and this was what I was greeted with

I got back in contact with the car wash owner and he would speak to the bodyshop the following day. They wanted the car back to sort it out but I refused. If they can't do it correct the first time, who's to say they'll do it the second time?

I contacted a local paint correction/vehicle detailing company DLB Detailing Services to seek help and to try and rectify this huge mess.

Dale had the car for 3 days and the results are unbelieveable.

I made a short video (apologies, it repeats what I've typed here)

I can't thank them enough for all of the time and effort they've put into bringing the paint back. For 14 year old paint I don't think its looked any better. Unfortunately it's now highlighted all of the stone chips,lacquer peel and inperfections lol

 

[hoodedreeper]

Choosing a set of wheels for a build is an important and daunting task. There are alot of factors to consider (well, depends how fussy you are) which include design, fitment, colour and price.

The Colt CZT has a PCD of 4x114.3 with a factory wheel size of 16x6.5j ET46

Initially I thought of all the cool JDM wheels that are common with this PCD but they're mainly 13" and 14", bugger!

Although there are a handful of wheels available on the market, not many of them took my fancy. Higher price wheels like Works,Volk etc are well out of my budget .

Browsing through eBay and Facebook market place I came across a set of these

TSW Venom 17x7j ET42

Having grown up through the Max Power era I couldn't say no to these. Plus its good to be abit different to everyone else (for good or bad reasons, you decide lol)

A good friend of mine offered to refurb them for me if I provided everything. Can't say no to that offer

I have 2 tyres which are fitted which allowed me to trial fit them. I'll get another pair in the spring time ready to fit them all properly

I attempted to make a fancy video for the Youtube channel, which confirms I need to invest in a gimbal

[video]

 

[hoodedreeper]

The Colt Ralliart is a facelift of the CZT which came with tinted tail lights. I found some at a reasonable price and they look much better.

[VIDEO]

Next up I bought some cheap eBay 'mods'. The first were some eyelids/eye brows/light brows how ever you wish to call them. I wanted to try and cheap and cheerful 'mods', with a low cost if I decided I didn't like any of them it wouldn't hurt the bank too much.

The other 2 (not very exciting) can be seen in the Youtube video

[VIDEO]

The next upgrades were a K&N 57i Induction Kit and a Forge RS recirc valve. It's a 50/50 chance whether the car goes into limp mode because of the air filter. Luckily mine has been fine, but it is advised to get the MAF recalibrated with a remap.

I cable tied and taped the air feed hose to the original cold air feed. Ideally this needs addressing later on

[VIDEO]

The rear bumper was removed ready to underseal. I was pleasantly surprised to see it was all body colour and not full of corrosion. The bumper re-inforcement bar was very rough, so I took it back to bare metal with a wire brush and gave it a couple of coats of black hammerite.

While the bumper was off I tinted the bumper reflectors

The biggest update was the fitting of my new dual friction 'Stage 1' clutch supplied by CG Motorsport.

Having never changed a clutch I seeked help from my friend Mikey who has helped me in the past with a couple of bits. Having access to a ramp certainly made thnigs easier. The only tricky part was removing the gearbox with the subframe still attached.

I replaced the rear crankshaft seal, output and input shaft seals with genuine seals. Mitsubishi couldn't get the inputshaft seal quick enough, luckily my local Mercedes dealer got it within a week. Thats one bonus of these cars sharing the engine and gearbox with the Smart Brabus Forfour

[VIDEO]

These suffer from bad input shafts on the gearbox, mine was a tiny bit noisy before but with the new clutch the noise has been amplified and its quite loud once its hot. I first noticed this while out on a drive putting some miles on it. Replacement second hand gearboxes range from £250-£450 but it's always going to be a gamble with condition. I have a friend who works at a local transmission company and he can help with the repair if I supply just the box. That may be abit tricky with Mikey's work, if not I'll have to man up and do it on the drive way (won't be looking forward to that one)

While the car was on the ramp doing the clutch I also checked the rear wheel bearings as one has become noisy. Found the culprit on the driver's side so that will need replacing very soon, luckily they are a bolt on hub unit so wouldn't take much time at all.

The car is booked in at Dynodaze on the 6th April for it's 3 port boost solenoid fitting and remap. So hopefully it's good news for the next update

 

[hoodedreeper]

I've had a noisy wheel bearing for lil while, diagnosing it as the driver's rear corner. Luckily these are a bolt on hub unit so fitting should be straight forward, so they say!

Here's the YT video, probably boring to most but I've uploaded everything so far so may aswell carry on. Plus, I couldn't find a video on the topic so hopefully it may help someone in the future.



The following week was the MOT (annual inspection to those outside of the UK,who aren't familiar). It passed with flying colours which was a relief.

This Sunday just passed I gave the car a clean to wash away the Sarahan sand that had blown across. This gave me a great excuse to finally fit the TSW Venoms and to take some photos.

I gave making a cinematic a try. I used my Galaxy S21 Ultra,a Zhiyun Smooth Q2 gimbal (loaned) and edited with InShot. Its not perfect and theres much to learn and practice for future videos but I think its a step in the right direction.

 

[hoodedreeper]

I was getting bored of the plain black and grey interior, so I spruced it up a little by painting the air vent trims and speedo cluster rings in Nissan Bayside Blue

While it was apart I swapped the climate control bulbs for some blue LEDs.

Wednesday just gone, it was finally time to visit Dynodaze to have the car remapped.

I gave the car a wash before the travel up (this was a waste of time in the end lol)

The infamous Hot Wheels inspired wall inside the work shop

The wheels look huge in this photo

The Turbosmart 3 port boost solenoid was fitted and was ready for the dyno. Unfortunately they didn't do a power run prior to the boost solenoid.

Dynodaze pointed out an error I made in the video. It was the wastegate duty on 50%, not the injectors (even though I'm certain they kept saying injectors....anyway)

I predicted 210bhp at the flywheel and anything more was a bonus.

The car made 216hp at the flywheel, 193bhp at the wheels and 229lbft torque, very very happy with that!



The car has totally been transformed. It pulled well before ,but its much smoother which is to be expected. Having both cats still fitted is a restriction, which is something I'll possibly look into later on.

 

[hoodedreeper]

I've been putting off updating purely because of the lack of major updates, I'm sure the first couple below wouldn't have been worth it. Anyway... get comfy, grab some snacks and a drink...its a big one The first change was some more painting of the interior, this time the climate control rings and the centre trim where the cig lighter is. This time I painted it in Ford Panther black, its got a great mix of metallic and pearls and its sparkly lol

] While I was pulling the centre console apart, I also pulled apart the instrument/speedo cluster to add some upgrades. I seeked help from my friend Danny (who happens to have a black Colt CZT too) to solder the new SMDs to the board. I can solder, but this was far too intricate for my skill level, Danny does this for a living so it made sense.

I purchased a replacement cluster not knowing the mileage, luckily its 6k out so the original cluster is back in so the odometer matches, then this will go back in. The factory dimmer still works which was very useful because these new ones are very bright!

The next not so exciting update was the painting of calipers. We all know the process and results so this doesn't need explaining (nor another Youtube video)

Much better

It wouldn't be a build of mine without making something, starting with a heat shield for the K&N filter I started off with some CAD (cardboard aided design) to get an idea of what entails.

It covers the back area of the engine bay nicely so thats two birds with one stone. My friend Justin kindly gave me a large stainless tray, perfect for this. Although the side casing of my old PC was going to be my first choice lol By no means do I consider myself a fabricator, even claim I know what I'm doing, most of the time I just wing it and I'm lucky enough it comes out semi decent. I don't own a welder, let alone a tig and I was on a budget that month so I had to use other means. In this case, it was using rivets. Not too shabby.

The battery tray had a decent amount of room left once the battery was pushed further forward. I cut a hole in the battery tray and fed the ducting underneath and down towards the front. I was originally hoping to use a fog light hole but the ducting wasn't long enough.

The next task was to modify the top radiator hose. Any keen reader/watcher may have noticed how close the top hose was to the aftermarket manifold. I did use some heat wrap to help prevent the hose burning through but I wanted something permanent. Justin to the rescue again and he found me a piece of 25mm stainless tube with a 90 degree elbow. With it cut to size and a contractor at his work putting an average bead of weld around the ends, it was ready to be fitted

Sadly I don't have a before photo to hand, but the heat wrap was against the manifold branch

I still need to source a smaller P clip with a long enough bracket so it reaches the radiator, but for now it's supporting it enough

 

[hoodedreeper]

The next bright idea I had was to carry on with the fog light duct idea, but this time use them for brake ducts. I called upon my Paul (@pollyp } who is very knowledgable when it comes with making things from scratch, and hes a dab hand at 3D modelling. I gave him some dimensions and explained the idea and he got to work. A day later he sends me these...

With the vents trimmed it was time to mark the arch liners and get drilling. Annoyingly my holesaw was about 3-4mm too small but that shouldn't matter too much. I under estimated the angle of the arch liner, so the vents aren't a snug fit as I had hoped, leaving a gap between the two surfaces

Next my attention was turned to the inlets on the bumper. I purchased some 68mm uPVC tubing and cut them down to the desired length, also cutting one end at a sharp angle to help follow the curve of the bumper

Now, behind the bumper isn't the tidiest,prettiest or the best solution. But if it works it works, it only needs to hold the weight of the tubing. I used an exhaust clamp and dexion strip to hold them in place.

The next hurdle was to tackle what was behind the bumper. In the case of the driver side the gigantic windscreen washer bottle covers the height and almost the width of the arch liner area. There was absolutely no way that any duct hose was going to get past this and to the bottom corner. So that had to go. Luckily for me, I sell a universal washer bottle kit at work which should do the job. With a pair of rivnuts now secured into the chassis rail and the bracket fixed on, the bottle slides on and now gives ample amount of room. The filler cap is accessable from the engine bay,although I'll need to use a flexy funnel to refill.

Things were going too smoothly, now it was time to throw a spanner in the works. It turns out I never paid attention to the direction of the arch liner vent. With the arch liner now refitted, I found out the vent points directly at the drive belt pulley face palm

I got back in contact with Paul and he remodelled the duct, printed it and sent it out super fast.

He increased the angle to hopefully match the true angle of the arch liner. Along with the change of inlet angle he also made it so it protrudes into the arch itself

With the arch liner centre hole enlarged and new mounting holes drilled it was time to see if v2 was a success. The cutting isn't the neatest which I'm disappointed about, but it can't be helped now.

Woohoo! It fits!

So with the driver side now finally finished, the passenger side should be a breeze! Shouldn't it?... Turns out the intercooler pipe is directly behind the bumper inlet. To get around this I used another piece of the uPVC tubing and attached it above the intercooler hard pipe in the lower grill of the bumper. Not ideal, but without changing that side of the Intercooler pipe work completely, it's the only way.

I do have a Youtube video for this, but it's currently being edited so I'll add it once its uploaded The final installment of this big update is a modification that is world wide regarded as VERY marmite, some like it, alot don't haha UNDER GLOW! I can sense you're all just sighing loudly,resting your face in your hands shaking your head at the screen. It wouldn't be a nod to the Max Power era if the car didn't have it I started by feeding the power cables through the bulk head and completing majority of the wiring inside the car before I started underneath. Full details are in the Youtube video (link at the end)

I also installed an under bonnet light,feeding the wiring through the bonnet skin and through the bulk head. The sound deadening needs tidying up but its presentable for now

I had access to a four poster ramp to allow me to underseal the centre of the car and to fit the underglow. Unfortunately due to the other vehicles in the unit, I was limited to hand brushing the underseal on. This is before, quite clean to be fair. The areas were wire brushed down followed by a coat of Kurust before the underbody seal.

The main areas sealed. The harder to reach areas will be aerosol'd at a later date

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52132396868_dc46cc7665_c.jpg[/img

[img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52132870870_6cc6fecf65_c.jpg

Also done the majority of the rear axle too. When the wheels are next off I'll finish those areas

Since the video I've added an in-line fuse on the positive battery lead for the fuse box, along with moving back the front LED strip to hopefully make it less visible.

And there we have it, I apologise again for the lengthy read

 

[pollyp]

fantastic update Chris and glad the ducting worked ?

 

[hoodedreeper]

The DIY Brake Duct video is now on my Youtube channel

 

[hoodedreeper]

A couple of updates from the past few weeks

Dynodaze sent me their new single axis short shifter to fit and review

I was lucky enough to find a new old stock Momo gear shifter, which timed well with the short shifter install

The next mini project was to split a spare pair of headlights and fit some LED lights. Unfortunately I don't have photos for each step, but please check out the Youtube video at the end of the post

I used 120mm and 90mm LED halos to go over the dipped and high beam bulb areas. The shape of the trim stopped the whole ring from being exposed, so I had to cut a slot into the side so the rings pass through. The rings were mocked up for position and to test

The inner trim/bezel were painted Ford Panther Black to match the interior parts I painted

I used 0.4mm wire to hold the rings in place. Its thin enough to bend/twist and also thin enough to be barely visible through the lens.

To finish the build, I installed some 450mm LED sequential strips. These now replace the sidelight and indicator bulbs. The indicator lens was painted to help blend it in.

The lenses were treated to a refurb. I started off with 600 grade wet and dry and went upto 3000, for some reason the lenses are left with some micro scratches so I'm unsure what happened there? I dropped off the lenses to a body shop to be clear coated, givng a better finish compared to the aerosol lacquer I used last time.

With the lights insalled, the last time was to wire in the halos to a seperate switch

 

[hoodedreeper]

I have a few updates

The Mk6 Colt suffers from a stiff gear stick where it struggles to spring back to neutral, it also makes selecting gears difficult. The BMW Mini R50 shares the same part of the getrag gearbox and luckily they have a repair pin which resolves the issues. I helped replace the gear selector pin on a friend's CZT and the results are night and day.

I had a few days off which was a great opportunity to get some jobs done.

The first on the agenda was to change the drive belts. I hadn't replaced them since I bought the car and you can't inspect the true condition without removing them.

As you may know by now, cosmetic parts for the Colt are few and far between so some imagination is required. I wanted a front splitter, a universal Seat Leon Cupra R style splitter happen to land on my door step. After a failed attempt I turned my attention to the sideskirts. I made my own extensions using a sheet of aluminium composite aka dibond and some rubber U channel

Another small job was to add some 'bling' to the engine bay. I contacted Jass Performance who specialise in MX5 parts about their oil dipstick handle. I had one of these on my purple MX5 and really liked the look. I gave them the dimensions and it wasn't too far out, nothing a file couldn't sort

The depth on the new handle is 7mm so most of the OE dipstick was cut off

Once filed down it should be ready to slide in...thats until I tried pushing the handle on and ended up cracking it in half *facepalm*

It sits on a slight angle but its barely noticable in person. If I get another dipstick spare I'll re-do it

The last job was the next mini project. I wanted pillar gauges but a universal gauge pod wouldn't fit due to the shape. I purchased a universal triple pod from Facebook marketplace and cut 2 out.

I started off by using JB weld to glue them down followed by bridging the gap with P40. While doing so I ended up flexing the trim and the pods broke off. I gave plastic welding a go for the first time and it's seemed to have held no problem.

After many layers of P38 and lots of sanding (lots and lots of sanding) it was ready for paint. I go into abit more detail in the video.

I found a company called K2 who make a black textured paint which gives the finish of plastic. It's turned out really well IMO! (Just be careful with this paint, the nozzle blocks really quickly so make sure you have some spare)

I decided to buy some LED back lit gauges from AliExpress which promptly arrived after approx 10 days. The wiring was pretty straight forward, live and earth and a signal wire. I routed a single core cable through the bulk head along with a vacuum hose.

The single core cable was then tucked against the chassis and ran down along side the drive belts.

Theres a few ways to fit an oil temp sensor. The most common way is to remove the oil filter and fit a sandwich plate. Unfortunately the Colt already uses a stubby filter, any larger combined with the OEM heater exchange unit the filter sits too low and will be the first point of contact. Another option is to fit a sump plug adaptor, the downside with this is the reading will be approx 10 degrees cooler.

I found a blog of a Colt owner who happens to have done most things to the car, one being fitting an oil temp/pressure gauge. He points out a bung on the side of the heater exchange, with that removed and an adaptor fitted, you can fit the sensor there.

The adaptor is 3/8 BSP to 1/8 NPT, I used some liquid teflon to seal it in including the sensor.

With everything now wired and plumbed in, it was time to swap the trims and test it. Thats when I realised the wiring to the gauges were too short, so out came the soldering iron again.

This photo is with my phone infront of my face, to show you a POV from the drivers seat. The pods sit level with the trim and doesn't block any view.

I let the car idle for 10-15 minutes, no oil leaks and the gauges turn on and work, woohoo!