Hi my name is Dayo Ademowore. My car is a silver 90 Dodge Colt Hatchback with a 4G63T swap.
Me:
I own and have operated a small auto repair shop in Tonawanda, NY for the last 18 years. When I started off in the auto industry, I was majoring in Automotive Technology at the local community college in my county, while experimenting on customers cars at the nearby Sears Automotive. After college I was THE mechanic at a very small used car dealership for a couple years, and I served a year at a muffler chain. In 1990 I quit the muffler shop and never looked back.
My intrests are building six million dollars worth of options into the confines of a six hundred dollar vehicle. (My first real project car was a free 76 Gremlin. By the time I was done it had a 304ci V8 with a manual three speed and a 12 bolt AMC posi rear behind it. The TV in the dash came on automatically when you sat on the seat.) I also enjoy participating in any outdor sport that involves standing on a board going 30mph, or that tests the structural limits of a bicycle. I also recently purcased rock
climbing equipment to partake in my latest hobby.
The Car
I have a few cars, three that are currently on the road. (thank god for classic insurance) You guys will bash me for saying this, but I have to admit I really like my daily driver, a 93 Honduh Accord. I also own a restored '51 Buick (it was an offer I couldn't refuse), and the car that
pertains to this forum, a 90 Dodge Colt Hatch.
I bought the Colt as an impulse buy about IDK, 6-7 years ago. Gas had just gone up exponentially, and I was commuting 50 miles each way to the snowboarding mountain in an 84 Dodge van. Needless to say, it was killing me. I decided I needed something efficient, so by the end of the day I was stranded halfway home in my new $400 Colt with a failing ignition coil. It had a 1.5, and a 4 speed manual, and 92 HP that pulled like 112 HP easy. The way it drove and handled like it weighed 2.5 grams was what sold me on the car. When it was in stock configuration I once drove almost 500 miles on a tank of gas. We were going snowboarding in VT, and at some parts of the journey we hit 112 mph, so I wasn't babying it either.
After the transmission exploded for the second time, I decided that JB welding the bearings into the side of the case wasn't going to work twice, so I went searching the junkyards. I ended up towing an 89 mirage 1.6 N/A (4G61) 5 speed (KM206) back to my shop and the conversion began. It was nice having the whole car there, because I had no idea I was going to be pulling the whole dash and replacing the brake and clutch pedal assemblies before I started. Now with that sorted, I was pleased by my new found power, extra gear, 4 wheel disk brakes, tach, and GT style seats for a few more years.
Then one day I started playing "Need for Speed Underground". It was fun upgrading the cars and so on, but then I realized that it would be more rewarding if I did it in real life. Prior to playing that game, I never really took a 4 cylinder car seriously as a performance vehicle. I started with a 4G63 N/A engine which was a quick easy upgrade now that I had the 4G61 in place. Then I had to do something with those ugly black bumpers, so I modified two Eclipse bumpers and some Storm Tsi side skirts. I also had a 79 Kawasaki snowmobile that had pissed me off, so I excised a part of it's cowl and grafted it into the Colt's hood. While I was painting it my birthday came up, so my girl bought me some NFSU style vinyls for the sides.
Fast forward 4 years and I don't know how many thousand miles: Now the car has been put on classic insurance (no longer a daily driver), and I've been taking it to the local 1/8 mile strip. I've been trapping a measly 68 mph, with times of 10.50 seconds. I was however able to beat a girl in a totaly stock 93 Saturn SL1, but I think that was because the GIANT wing on her trunklid was slowing her down. I also blew the doors off a V8 Aroura, but needless to say the tubbed out Maverik, and the AWD Hemi Charger with four people in it walked me without a problem. They didn't beat me by as much as the Maverik, but I think they were taking it easy so as not to spill the bong in dad's new car. The Maverik had me by just under an eighth mile.
After a few times being outclassed on the dragstrip at the local cruise night, I was driving my Colt around town and some jerk in a Lincoln yelled out the window at me "Your car sucks!". I thought, "He must've seen me race... I need to fix this car!" I bought a used 4G63T engine and all the parts to make it fit, and I started scouring the forums to determine what I should do with the engine. I came up with the following:
Engine / powertrain mod list:
1991 Eclipse 4G63T 6 bolt bored .020 over
CP 9:1 pistons
Eagle H-rods
Balance shaft removal
BC 272/272 cams
BC valve springs and retainers
Cometic MLS head gasket
ARP headstuds and rod bolts
Crank balance
Gates racing timing belt
DSMlink
FIC 650cc injectors
27" x 2.5" x 7" FMIC with 2.5" aluminum hard pipe
Ported Evo 3 16g turbo
Hallman pro manual boost controller
3" exhaust from the O2 housing back
K&N filters
3/8" fuel lines from inside the tank and back
Walbro 255hp pump
Mallory fuel pressure regulator
Phantom grip LSD insert
Other mods:
Custom made short throw pistol grip shifter
Mirage 4 wheel disk brakes
Carputer system with navigation, wifi, bluetooth, etc...
two LCD monitors, one touchscreen vga, one for dvd and games
Game console
Colt Gt seats Re-upholstered by my girlfriend
GMC safari headliner console
white face guages
a-pillar boost, oil pressure gauges
16" Proline alloy wheels
205/45 R16 Ventus HRII radials
Body color gauge bezels
custom body kit
Mirage larger front sway bar
Custom air cleaner box sealed to custom hood scoop
Future Mods:
After my KM206 transmission explodes I would like to tackle an AWD conversion.
Here's a photo of the car before the turbo upgrade, I'm almost done, and hope to fire the new turbo engine this weekend.
Here are a few new pictures of the car:
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