Alright, hopefully I'm in the right forum here - from what I can tell, the K-car forum is sort of home to the Spirit/Acclaim as well.

That said, I am the new owner of a 1993 Spirit 3.0 with the 4 speed. It's got a 144k on it, as has been my grandmother's car since it came off of a local Dodge dealership's lot.

I also happen to be a "car guy," like I'm sure many of you are as well. I usually drive a Ford Focus SVT, but it's on what we will call a hiatus right now. It's being repaired as I have the time to do so (I was in an accident, it was totalled and I bought it back - damage was minimal, totalling it should have been a crime. I'm shooting to be back on the road next Summer). Anyway, I had a brief stint with a 1998 Ford Ranger - it was claimed by a pileup on the freeway the day before Thanksgiving - which brings me to the "beast" that is my new ride.

Anyway, all that background aside, I'm just looking for some basic info on the Spirit, and the Mitsubishi that powers it.

The cars got, as I mentioned, almost 150k miles on it. I have to say, that it really drives pretty well for its age. Also, it may just be because of the fact that my previous vehicle (the 1998 Ranger - 4 cyl/5 sp) was exceptionally slow, but I'm impressed with the power that the ol' Mitsubishi puts out. I've been going easy on it, as I just want it to stay together, but it feels strong overall.

Now for the not so good: I've got no idea if the transmission fluids been touched. Do I bother at this point? My faith in Chrysler automatics is less than strong (I know this is a Dodge forum, so this is probably considered blasphemy, but I'll take my chances). My little experience with any sort of a Chrysler automatic from the 90's is terrible.

Oil has been changed regularly, as far as I know. What weight is recommended? Any other pointers on fluids?

Any other general maintenance stuff to look out for and be aware of? I need this thing to be reliable for me through the ice age of a winter that we typically get here.

Alright...and now the fun stuff.

The aftermarket support for my Focus is nothing special, but I'm sure its awesome when compared with that of the Spirit. However, does anyone have any performance tips? I don't have any short-term plans, but who knows what I may want to do with this thing once my SVT is back on the road.

I saw some threads mentioning turbo setups and DOHC heads...

 

First off, welcome to DF. Spirit/Acclaim are 100% K car. They were the last of the mighty K's and my favorite. The Ultradrive was the only tranny that was problematic and they were all fixed by recall unless people just didn't bother. The tranny in our K's are pre-Ultradrive and are Chrysler and not Mitsubishi. I used to think they were Mitsubishi trannies, but Allpar says they were Chrysler, so I'll take them at their word. If nothing else, it wouldn't hurt to drop the pan and replace the filter and 2 or 3 quarts of fluid that will spill out. It has been a common issue with these trannies to get hard shifts and hung up between shifts when the filter is dirty, so that would help in that regard. My 94 Acclaim is just under 200k and kicking Honda and Toyota butt, so durability is not a problem. Unless you want to go to the DOHC heads, there's not a lot you can do. You could go turbo, but then you'd have to change the ECM. The main thing is to maintain the fluid levels. These cars will last dang near forever, but they are prone to leaking-oil, tranny fluid and coolant. But I guess the same could be said for any old cars. The CV boots get dry rotted here in Az(on ever old car) and I had to replace a half shaft, but again, it's common to old FWD cars. I love my Acclaim. The interior has held up remarkably well and I get a consistent 30-33 mpg in mostly rural highway driving. I can see me driving mine another 200k. It still feels tight and powerful and it is just danged reliable.

 

Thanks for the reply. I just changed the oil and filter today. I was going to do the ATF too, but was unsure, given the mileage. It seems like some cars really don't like having the trans fluid changed if it has been in there for a real long time

I'm only getting about 23 MPG right now. That's a mix of about 60% city and 40% highway, I'd say. I'll probably do the plugs some time this week, as the back three look reasonably easy to reach if you pull the airbox off.

The airbox, by the way, had me thinking. I may find some sort of a plastic/rubber tube to come off the throttle body and eliminate the airbox (throw a K/N cone near the fender, or even up in the grill if I want to run tubing that far....has anyone done any cold air intake type mod?).

 

Some of the early 3.0 liter engines had a design problem with the valve guides and oil getting sucked in through the valve guides. The problem may have been corrected by 93. If you should ever change the water pump or timing belt, its a good idea to do both at the same time - as it is not an easy job. In general they are pretty reliable and durable cars.

 

The 3.0L was upgraded in 90 or 91. The valve guide seal issue was resolved then. Back when I turned a wrench I did a few of those. Not a good job to be working flat rate, that's for sure.

 

Thanks for the replies. It's good to see there's still a *few* people out there with some interest/knowledge on these things.

Also, I perused the owner's manual...turns out it's a 1994.

I'm trying to think of what I can use to run from the throttle body inlet over to the fender to eliminate the airbox and put a K/N cone on the end. The inlet is only 2.x inches, while the filter I have laying around is 3.5ish...

 

I never thought about going cold air intake on mine. It would probably help a little, but I'm cheap and maintain mine religiously so as to extend it's life and spend as little as possible. These cars were engineered for the 2.2L and 2.5L I4, so there's not a lot of spare room under the hood. I read up on the turbo and a couple sites said there's plenty of options, but as I thought, the ECM and entire fuel injection system would need to be replaced. I just like having a car I can drive without any worry or concern, get decent mileage and have no car payment. The fact that I haven't lost a stoplight race to any Civic or Accord is just icing on the cake. Nothing makes my day more than smoking a ricer in a car with half the paint sunburned off.

 

lol. Yeah, this thing does get up and go for what it is.

Anyone have links to the turbo stuff? Not that I'm realistically thinking of it right now...just want to do some reading. I'm interested in how the ECM is modified. Theses things are ODBI, so I'm assuming you have to piggy-back the computer with some sort of chip, or replace it entirely (stand alone, or is there a more "tune-able" OEM piece). My Focus just gets reflashed to whatever programming you decide....I'm assuming a simple reflash is not an option on these cars though.

 

From my experience the 4 speed is very solid.
I have a 95 Acclaim w/ the 3.0 3spd. I have done some work including: built trans, 52mm throttle body, port the intake, 3" exhaust, sr intake. I have more plans for an all-motor build this year. The way it sits I can eat 5.0 stangs 0-70, gotta love the look on their faces when an acclaim wastes them.

Ed Kelly at kmperformance does a bunch of stuff for these motors.

www.turbododge.com/forums/f69 for turbo info.

Welcome, hope this helps.