Greg's iO
Valid question. - Hard to
Valid question.
- Hard to find low KM/good/great condition cars like that locally, espcially in provinces with lots of snow/heavily salted roads.
- Many MANY models sold in Japan that were never sold here, like the Pajero, all the awesome Kei cars, and my turbo Legnum wagon (that I love so very much)
- I can buy a car over there in better condition vs. a car here for basically the same or less money if you do the paperwork yourself
What are your plans for spares?
The question I want to ask is what do you do for spares? The last Canadian I chatted with on this subject was griping about the lack of assistance from Mitsubishi Canada, and I'm not certain that he even grasped the differences between owning a used JDM vehicle and owning a Canadian market product - you already have a Legnum, so you should have some idea of what you're getting into.
What engine does your Legnum have - do you have any experiece with the Mitubishi GDI engines? Your iO has a GDI engine, try finding a cam belt for it (it's due a belt change in the near future), try finding basics like the correct spark plug (BKR6EKUC), or an ignition coil.
I'll admit I don't often consider Canada when looking for parts, but if there is a way to source GDI spares in Canada, I'd certanly like to know about it.
Spares...Haven't got that far
Spares...Haven't got that far yet, but worst case scenario, I ship from the UK or Japan. I find that there are a lot of parts that cross refrence to North American cars. Not saying that it's a perfect solution, but it's doable.
As far as my Legnum, it has the 2.5l V6 twin turbo. Parts haven't been hard to get...so far...Lots are the same as the North American Eclipse. That, and as difficult as dealers can be to work with, I made a 'friend' with a parts guy, and he'll find me parts if he can, as long as I have the Mitsubishi part number.
Georgetown, Guyana, S. America
The only english speaking country on the South American continent - we are geographically latin american, but economically & culturally Caribbean - the US is the easiest place for me to ship parts from - which is why I prefer a "North American" source, I can make Canada happen without too much difficulty if I have to, UK can be problematic.
And my iO, like yours, is a RHD, 1.8 GDI with automatic transmisson, used JDM - you have the Pearl package, I have the Sorrento
Boat finally arrived, cleared
Boat finally arrived, cleared customs, all that fun stuff. Picked it up yesterday. I gotta say, it's pretty nice! For 'only' a 1.8l, it holds it on at highway speeds. Sounds good, feels good. First order of business will be an oil change, since it's FAR past it's prime, and some other bits like wipers, brighter headlights (but it just needs some nicer non-faded ones). After that, I got a timing belt kit for it, and some new spark plugs to go in.
Quite a bit shorter then my wife's Prelude, measured by my perfect 'thats about backed up even' measuring system...
As far as parts and an online retailer, check with Ryo at JDMParts. They're located in BC, but they might be able to ship to Ontario for you. http://jdmparts.ca I've bought loads from them before, and he just sent me out the timing belt kit for the iO.
Looks good.
As far as parts and an online retailer, check with Ryo at JDMParts. They're located in BC, but they might be able to ship to Ontario for you. http://jdmparts.ca I've bought loads from them before, and he just sent me out the timing belt kit for the iO.
Looks good - I have the timing belt kit on order from the local dealer - should be getting it any day now - I'm waiting on that before tackling my next project - the leaking crank seal.
I just bought same type of
I just bought same type of deal in Alberta, Canada. Cool car but I already have been looking at parts to see if there are some I should be keeping an eye on. Story is there appears to be almost zero support for this car. I already got a damn chip in the windshield so I went to the glass shop to get it filled but on the way there is spider cracked top to bottom.
It is a sweet little 4x4 but I can tell it is going to be a challenge. Expecially if I decide to lift it and change my wheel offset. If I start wearing out a hub I don't even know where to start looking for parts.
Any ideas?? Experience? Even ebay seems....empty. I found toenail clipping of Elvis on ebay, but no windshield for a pajero.........dear god. What did I get myself into. lol
ebay
OK - search world-wide for starters - not just canada etc.
Loads of parts in the UK,
get a german mailbox redirect for german "pinin" wreckers
"elady" seller in japan is great for parts i.e. doors / knuckles etc and super cheap postage (entire door + glass etc purchase+delivery $500)
auto-parts.spb.ru/cat/mi/mi2.mycat is a great site for working out the part number for your part - then drop that into ebay
amayama.com is a great site for mail-ordering them if they are not on ebay,
FEBEST in California sells loads of re-pro parts
the plymouth laser uses the same engine parts
just keep looking :)
Hi, You can buy any spares
Hi,
You can buy any spares online from this website, and get it delivered to you door, anywhere in the world:
Truly a magnificent website - you simply enter the chassis number and it would even tell you the date your car was built, as well as colour and trim specs. And you can choose between genuine or OEM parts.
Hope this helps.
Be sure to give it some
Be sure to give it some protection before the winter comes and it gets its first load of salt! The Pinin has corrosion issues. Over here in Germany I basically only consider buying one from the northern German states which have less snow and hardly ever use salt any more.
Undercoating
Yes, I have found a shop local enough to me that I will be chatting with soon about getting it in for an undercoating. As my exporter told me 'Mitsubishi seems to use WWII Russian tank metal.'
Pistonhead - I like Ryo at JDMparts.ca. He's been good to me for getting stuff. That and try searching ebay.co.uk, ebay.com.au, etc...Just make sure they ship worldwide before you get your hopes up. PM me if you have any other 'local' questions if you'd like.
One of the nastier corrosion
One of the nastier corrosion spots appears to be the fuel filler neck assembly, by the way. There's a cover inside the wheelarch ('filler neck protector' as per the workshop manual) which is not sufficiently tight to keep moisture and crud out, but once they've worked their way in, it helps them stay there very nicely. Of course nobody checks such a remote spot unless they know about it, so typically the first thing you notice, after years of service, is the increasing petrol smell when the neck has finally rusted through.
Luckily though it's not a death sentence for the car (unless the petrol leak causes a fire), just a hassle to replace and the part's overpriced.
A 99 1.8 GDI
Welcome - and enjoy.
I do have a question though - why are the canadians interested in RHD used JDM vehicles?