hey

great title, huh? um... I'm buying an 86 mit mighty max in 1 ton, 2.0 auto, 2wd flavor next week from a guy for $500. He said it was running and then quit, so he put a new fuel pump in it, changed the distributor(WHY?) and did a couple other things to it. Keep in mind he doesn't know a lot about automotive work. I'm pretty sure the carb needs pulled apart and cleaned, and I know my way around an engine. I don't know why but I'm itching to get my hands on this truck and play around with it. Its 2wd unfortunately... I'd prefer a 4wd because I love to off-road(owned 2 jeep wranglers and a toyota 4wd pickup in the past) but hey.. its $500 and I can throw a locker in the rear(um, maybe? do they make one for mitsus? or will I need to swap in a yota axle to get any locker options?). I am torn between off roading it 2wd and just bagging and dropping it. either way I love this truck... if I bag it I was thinking about getting another bed and EXTENDING the current full size bed by cutting several feet of the 2nd bed out and welding it in between the wheel well and tail gate portion, thereby creating a true land yaht.. well sort of... picture a 10' or 12' bed instead of 8'... I don't know why, but the idea appeals to me.. not for any useful reason. just to be different.

one thing I was wondering about... the guy said it wouldn't do much past 55 on the highway. is this a normal thing for this engine/truck or is there an issue? What head swap options are there for this engine? I've been searching for a couple days and can't seem to find anything definite, let alone exactly what engine it is. 86 2.0l is all I know so far. I looked at the wikipedia entry on mitsu engine family, but it doesn't list 86 in the astron engine family. I was thinking the astron 4g52 but it says that engine has a timing chain instead of the belt mine has.. I know 86 was the last year of the gen 1 trucks so I'm a little confused..

You have a g63b. It will go faster then 55a on the freeway if its running right, mine would hit a steady 70 no problem, 80 if i put the pedal to the metal. A dohc head from a 1st gen eclipse(with 4g63) will bolt up but there is much more to it then just bolting the head on.

I know there is a LOT more to it than just bolting it up, I was just inquiring if there were options. Is there a writeup somewhere on that particular headswap?

There isnt one for dohc to 2.0(g63b) as most people(me included) who have this engine just swap the whole thing for a full turbo 4g63. But there are write ups in putting a dohc head on the 4g64(2.4 that came in trucks) on projectzerog.com that will help out as it will be almost the same as that swap.