Caradise Project Car Part Deux: Defusing a Live Bomb with $2,600

As the Tiger King wisely taught us: “I am never going to financially recover from this” but we had a chance of catastrophic failure staring at us at every mile I drove Project Gwen to its very short trips. Let me tell you cold sweat is the worst.

Why? All the DOHC versions of the 3000GT require a timing belt change. The Twin Turbo engine version requires a new timing belt every 60,000 miles. The Non turbo DOHC is recommended to do this every 80,000.

Now, There were some Carfax notes indicating the car received services 2-3 times at the Mitsubishi dealership around the 64,000 mile mark, and the car only has 89,000 miles.

However, that service was done…in 2006, so 17 years ago the car got a new timing belt, and while it only had done 25,000 miles on it, I knew it was a matter of unfortunate timing away from becoming an expensive failure.

From the potential rupture of the timing belt, to the likely scenario of jumped timing, a small jump in the timing belt will result in very expensive valve damage. I once had a VR4 with a slight timing jump and paid dearly for that mistake.  The kind of issue that is just cheaper to swap a replacement engine vs. rebuilding it unless you would do it yourself. But that would cost nearly 2/3rds of the going rate on VR4s

So, since getting the car, it hasn’t been driven much. The largest trip was the one to the shop last week (about 25 miles away) but mainly 1-10 mile trips has been the norm for months. Every time I cranked the engine and drove the Spyder, I was praying the timing belt wouldn’t blow up.

After nearly 3 months, I finally saved some money, but not enough. One place wanted $2,900 to do the job. Two shops turned me down, and found one that would do the “12 hour” job for $2,600 including parts and gives a 2 year, 20k mile warranty on the job. I could not do the job myself, I don’t have a place to lift the car and do what is needed. The job is a bit more complicated than a regular timing belt, since the belt has two separate banks to travel, so I don’t think this can be my first timing belt all by myself.

I had to add two credit cards, but I let the shop do the work. I’m very happy with the results and speed (3 day turnaround) and the service was great and fast for an indie shop. Some of the staff had Mitsubishis so that felt good.  I can recommend A+ Japanese Auto repair of San Carlos for their service.

Finally, I drove it back with a big smile. No longer carrying a live bomb, I enjoyed a spirited drive back home, and the car performed flawlessly. I shifted every gear, boosted those Turbos.  It was a very expensive but worth it.

Once home, I added some beauty parts to the engine, that I was saving until the belt replacement was done. Today was that day!