I just recently bought my forst mini. 1999 Mitsubishi, 4 spd. I've ran it up to 100 kph on the road but it sure seems to be wound tight! I dont do it any more just because I'm scared to hurt my investment. Any insight on this would be helpful. Also should I install a tach? And what is red line for these trucks. Thanks The newbie
100 is fine for a good condition, well maintained unit. I have had units cruise at over 130 for hundreds of KM with no issues. (Not to say I havent seen blown up trucks that were driven nicely either) My personal recommendation is 90-95 for long term highway driving, although I drive quite regularly at WOT and havent had any problems with my truck. Use decent oil, make sure everything is lubed and greased and adusted the way it should be. It should last you a lifetime as long as something odd doesnt happen. (Sucking in dirt or whatever) I have a customer who puts on nearly 30,000 km a year in his truck, 75% highway. No massive failures yet, just the usual maintenance items.
I also run mine at wide open most of the time. normally that is around 90kmh with one rider. the fastest i have had it goin was 117 down a hill and it didn't sound like it was liking it much. that sounds slower than what everyone goes on here. what could be my problem?
Could be many, many things. Alignment Tires total weight gear lube / trans lube engine oil carb setting timing plugs compression It does not take much to affect the truck significantly. Not much of a headwind will knock me down to 90kmh. I would do a health check on the engine (Compression for sure) and start there. I run regular oil in my engine, but I have 75/90 synth in the diffs. The trucks come with real thick stuff from japan in most cases. If you arent in a warm climate, it gets too gooey at colder temps. I had a truck once that would NOT drive unless in 4-low when it sat outside in -40 Once we switched the gear lube, it became a driveable unit.
its either a 94 or 96 suzuki and i have noticed that the front tires toe in a little bit but the tie rod is frozen solid. I mostly drive on gravel roads so the tires don't wear so bad. I have changed the engine oil to 10w-30 and the tranny has regular gear lube. i have not touched anything on the engine. I live in North Dakota so we usually have wind and if it is windy at all the truck hates goin fast. my tires are street legal so i don't have lots of drag like a knobby would have. Also my 4 wheel drive starts making loud noises when i drive over 30kph more than just the normal 4x4 noises. Would the diff oil make that much of a difference?
It doesn't get driven in the cold weather. it sits outside in the cold which im sure isn't good for all the seals and such but thats how it is. It sees action in the nice summer weather. Its also lifted like 2" in the back and 1" in the front
I've noticed something similar on my subaru. Doesn't like the cold, things seem really stiff for the first few km. I don't have a guage for checking compression, so I'll probably have my guy do that. I agree, though, it doesn't take much. We had a really windy day a few weeks back. I was driving around 80km/h, the gusts of wind dropped me to 55km/h pretty fast. once I have my guages installed I'll feel a little better knowing what's going on inside that little thing.
they are perty gutless when i meet semis on the road i have to hang on cuz it wants to suck me towards it and my mini slows down lots. it takes like a mile to get back up to speed. I'm thinkin about getting a tach too but i need some other things first.
