| Subject: | Mitsubishi 2.4liter motor |
| Question: | Anthony, I have two Mitsubishi vans ('88 and '89) both have the 2.4 L motor, fuel injected, non turbo. As you may have discovered with the Mitsubishi aluminum cylinder head, they often develop cracks at about 150K miles – or at least mine have. I have the opportunity to purchase a Mitsubishi Gallant motor, it is the same size and will only require slight modification to go in my van. Question is this, can I substitute the 16 valve head for the 8 valve head? The van originally came with an 8 valve. If my current intake manifold will mount to the 16-valve head (and I don't know that it will yet) will it function OK. The only problem I can foresee is that there would not be enough fuel provided by my current fuel injection system for the 16-valve head. I cant see any problems on the exhaust side. I don't think size will be a problem either. Please not that I will keep all the original stuff and will just mount my present intake manifold to the new head. Appreciate the help |
| Answer: | Mark, The early model Mitsu engines did have a tendency to develope cracks. I haven't seen too many on the engines I've worked on, but I haven't seen much of the engine your van uses. The engine that came with your van is the 2350cc G64B engine. Mitsubishi had also put that same model engine in their Galants for a few years, but they used a 12-valve system instead of the 8-valve that your van came with. The 16-valve Galant engine I believe you're referring to is the 4G64 engine model. Swapping just the head may not work. If you had the 12-valve engine, you could probably get away with it. Your assumption would probably be correct; you most likely would not get enough fuel due to the fact that your intake manifold probably would not be able to allow for enough air flow. Plus, I doubt your current intake manny would match up nicely with the new 16-valve head. You may save your self some time in trying to use only the 16-valve head
with your existing engine, but I don't know if it would be effective in
the long run. You should consider using the entire Galant engine. It's
much more efficient and powerful than the engine that originally came
with your van. |