MENUMitsubishi Colt Tuning
"Turning the Colt into a galloping stallion "
The Colt has a long production run from the 1960 and some of the newer models are just crying out for more power with their pin sharp handling. The latest ralliart version R shows the potential of the Colt chassis.
They are genuinely fun cars to drive with their tight handling and light weight bodies.
They make ideal project cars and with the correct range of power mods you can have a stormer of a hot hatch on your hands.
Handling/Suspension upgrades
Handling modifications are high on most peoples lists for the Colt.
Fully adjustable suspension allows you to fine tune the handling of you Colt greatly benefitting your drive.
If you are not happy with the way the car handles you should look to uprate the suspension with adjustable shocks.
We suggest that you fit uprated suspension and lower the car by 30mm - 38 mm. Larger drops require arch work - especially on models already equipped with motorsport suspension.
Putting bigger discs and better high friction brake pads can make for greatly improved stopping. (They will brake effectively over longer periods during heavy use than stock brakes will, but grip has more of a bearing on the cars ability to stop).
Note that some performance friction pads can be noisier and will need a lot of heat before they bit.
On a road car the brakes are only used rarely and won't be as effective at slowing you up so choose friction pads which don't need to be really hot.
The Colt is already a fun car but you can follow the Ralliart lead and turn it into an economical and reliable track day car.
Smaller engines do not provide much of a return in terms of power so start with a bigger engine. Engine swaps are a good option if you have a small engine size.
Tuning modifications.
The following modifications are usually performed by our members, decide how far you want to go before you begin.
Getting the right mods for your planned usage of the car is vital. Stage 3 (competition) mods just don't work well on the road.
Please watch our video which covers the 5 principles of tuning your car. Be sure to keep up with our latest YouTube content and subscribe.
Best Engine Mods for your car
- Engine Tunes - engine tuning/remapping provides the most advantage in terms of cost savings, aftermarket ECUs, and piggyback ECUs are all alternatives.
- Fast road cams are one of the most significant mechanical changes, but they must be installed by someone who knows what they're doing and they are not always easy to source but you might find a local firm to regrind a stock camshaft.
- Intake and Exhaust - Note that on their own these mods will NOT ADD POWER in most cases, but they can help enhance power after other mods by removing the restriction.
- Upgrades to turbochargers and superchargers - forced induction is the most efficient approach to increase air supply, allowing you to burn more fuel and make more power. It is one of the most costly upgrades but provides the best gains.
- Head work - The goals of porting and flowing the head are to get air flowing into the engine while removing flow restrictions and turbulence.
Typical stage 1 mods often include: Exhaust, Panel air filter, Engine Tunes/Remapping, lighter flywheel
Typical stage 2 mods often include: Fast road cam, ported and polished head, fuel injector & fuel pump upgrades,
Typical stage 3 mods: Engine balancing, forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Internal engine upgrades (pistons/head/valves), competition cam.
Peak power is nice in motorsport but for a drivable and fun car you need a wide power band and perhaps extending the rev range.
In this article we shall give an overview and introduction to the best performance parts for your car, but we'd encourage you to spend some time on the site looking into the details of each type of performance part.One of the biggest mechanical tuning parts you can do to your NA (naturally aspirated) engine is to fit a fast road camshaft .
The exhaust and intake durations play a major role in your cars power band, but be careful here, getting this wrong can upset the idle and make the car difficult to drive in traffic. You'd need to follow a cam upgrade with other mods and finish with a tune/remap to fully realise your gains.
You will need to ensure that the engine is not starved of fuel so will need to look at the fuelling.
Most power losses, flat spots and erratic idling after modified kits are done can usually be traced to fuel delivery or timing issues. 
To get sufficient fuel you may need to upgrade the injectors on your engine.
A fuel pump will only deliver a finite amount of fuel, so you may need to uprate this if your injectors are demanding more fuel.
Intake and Exhaust modifications.
The next area for modification is the intake and exhaust. For small Colt engine sizes go with a washable panel air filter.
On larger engines and turbo vehicles an induction kit will help increase power should you find the standard air box is restrictive (generally on 35% power gains upwards).
Do not go with the biggest exhaust you can find - the best for power gains are usually between 2 to 2.5 inches and the aim is to keep the flow rate high. Larger exhausts flow more slowly! There is an optimum size of exhaust for your engines power output. read our exhaust articles under Tuning for more details on this.
A good fast road power clutch will help to keep that power going where it should. Never skimp or expect a standard clutch to cope. In 2004 there was a turbo option which was based on the 4G15 block - a solid 1.5 liter engine. These generate a class leading 148 bhp and respond well to tuning.
A tuned/remapped turbo will give phenomenal power gain. Don't forget an uprated intercooler to maximise the engines power.
Mitsubishi Colt Wheel modifications.
Alloy wheels will help the brakes cool down and are usually lighter than the steel ones.
Large Colt alloy wheels can decrease performance. If you get big alloy wheels you will be changing your final drive ratio. Although some people have gone larger we would stick to a 16 inch rim size as the maximum.
Please join us in our forum to discuss the Colt options in more detail with our Colt owners. It would also be worth reading our Mitsubishi tuning articles to get a full grasp of the pros and cons of each type of modification.
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2 Responses to “Colt Tuning”
i have a 82 mitsubish colt i would like to swup my eng for vr4 motor wot are the pors & cons ??
I have Mitsubishi colt 2003 model and I would like to increase the hp.
Thanks