The Mitsubishi Pajero Owners Club®

Matts evolution · Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2009 16:50 Post subject: Evo pajero build plates

Just out of interest was wondering if the last 6 digits on the build plate mean where it came of the production line as mine reads as a group of 12 letters and numbers followed by 000001

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Gerard · Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2009 20:50 Post subject: easy counting

I would love to know how many Evo were built.
mine finishes last 5 digits 00142 so I reckon an early version

nik1973 · ** Joined: 06 Apr 2006 Posts: 71 Location: manchester

The actual vin number should look like V55-440***

This is on the build plate under the bonnet on the bulkhead and stamped into the chassis behind the right hand rear wheel, if you have V55-440001 then i would say it is the first, the ones i have here range from in the 900's to 2500's

Gerard · Posted: Fri Jul 24, 2009 16:15 Post subject: japanese counting

Yes your right V554400142.
I was being lazy as I thought everyone new the first numbers Embarassed

It would be good to get to the bottom of this Question

!
Cheers

DAKAR990 · Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2010 14:51 Post subject: would like to know !!?

Just how many were made ?

I thought for a while it was 200 ! but that can't be right since my vin ends in 1034 !!
but if all vins start with V55-440 ... then that only leaves 4 digits after ie... up to possible 9999 ??

thanks

Gerard · Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2010 15:00 Post subject:

I reckon is was about 1500 built
Some say as high as 2000, but I wouldn't think it would be cost effective beyond that number for homogaliation purposes.
Ok there a few in UK some in Russia and very few in USA
It would be good to get a real answer Wink

Evowner · Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2010 13:17 Post subject:

There are 4 for sale in NZ at the moment (so must be another 20 at least).
Maybe Mitsi would answer the question if someone asked on their website??

Gerard · Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2010 18:32 Post subject:

I have tried speaking to various sections of Mitsu and much of the problem is many who were involved at the time have moved on.
But I suppose it is down to making contact with the right person.
maybe someone from POC could try at least they could apply some pressure Smile

Can you try ~ if you are listening on behalf of the members Rolling Eyes

evoaus · Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2011 20:34 Post subject:

Gerard · Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2011 20:52 Post subject:

Thats right I got an email from Japan customer services confirming that

Thank you for your patronage of Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution.

Please kindly be informed that approximately 2500 units of these cars were made in 1997.

We hope this info. can be of any assistance to you.

Best regards,

H.Kaiho for M.*beep*,
Customer Relations Department
Mitsubishi Motors Corporation

evoaus · Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 2:50 Post subject:

heh that sounds like a typically polite japanese response Smile

did they also mention there were 1000 white, 1000 silver and 500 red?

Only figure I'm unsure of is the ratio of manual:invecs2 transmissions made. Seems as though there are a lot more autos about, but who knows. Maybe all the ones still in Japan and not for sale are manual Smile

Gerard · Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 7:57 Post subject:

I don't know about colours But there seems to be far more silver ones than anything else and very few reds Cool

I don't know if you have read other threads.
But my Evo is being completely rebuilt, body wise, chassis galvinised etc and we have dressed it up to look identical to the Dakar winner of 1998
Even got original A1 and A2 sand tyres but I couldn't afford the 7 spoke speedline wheels. Fortunatley got spare nearly new engine and gearbox as well.
Plan still to use it as a second carrather than save it for shows and the like Very Happy

evoaus · Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 10:35 Post subject:

nice, it would be awesome to do that kind of restoration. mine's in pretty good shape but sadly its been well over a year now since it has even left the garage

i'll post some pictures sometime. It's been heavily upgraded in Japan, which was a bonus to the fact I had never expected to actually own one... even though completely obsessed with them since high school, some 15 years now Cool

I've had mine since 2005 and have put 37,000kms on it so far. It's an awesome car, and I miss driving it!

Gerard · Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 10:59 Post subject:

what upgrades have been done?
I converted mine to run on lpg which is a great saving, especially as I done 70,000 miles with it
I did make contact with the guys who built the original Dakar cars in France and got some pictures of the rolling chassis cars which was quite interesting.
I tried chasing where the orginal rally cars are but that seemed a struggle to get any answers
I hope they will become one of the first Mitsu Classic cars due to numbers and history Wink

evoaus · Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2011 15:31 Post subject:

Well there's a number that i'm aware of, and probably some i'm not. This car was seriously kitted out before i got my hands on it... theres still remnants of electrical/other mods which were removed. Anyway, the things i know of (and can recall) are:

- 9 point Roll Cage
- 2" Body Lift
- POS Bilstein custom shocks, dual remote resovoir
- Springs +45mm
- POS Complete custom SS exhaust, headers, no cat
- POS Replacement performance front & rear LSD
- POS Induction box (dual filter) & intake chamber
- POS Custom ECU
- POS Custom Quick Shift
- Custom bash plates (full length of car)
- Front light bar + 4x 130w PIAA Driving Lights
- 16x6.5" POS Racing 'Baja Spec' Alloy Wheels
- 285/75/16 front 305/70/16 rear mud tyres

I'm pretty confident that it's had engine work done as well - i just don't know what. Power wise, it's comparable to my friends BMW Z4M which puts out about 250kW (however 600kg heavier). Fuel consumption is terrible, its definately tuned for performance as it gets around 5-6km/L on road no matter how i drive or wether in 2 or 4H. If i run the 75L tank dry i get around 400km. I've been contemplating a gas sequential vapour injection system for some years now, problem is i refuse to have the tank inside the car (mainly due to space), and a custom petrol tank so i can replace the existing one with the gas cylinder is mighty expensive.

As for the original dakar entries, pretty sure they are just stock evo's (they sure look that way from the old footage ive seen). I dont believe the dakar rules of the day allowed performance modifications to the factory class, just ones for safety and nececcity. For instance, I know that the Dakar Evo's had no rear compartment or seats, due to the 900L fuel tank they shoehorned in there. Guessing with the centre diff locked and 180km/h+ on sand 75L wouldnt go very far Smile

What I find so amazing is the speeds they are doing with stock suspension and those tiny tyres, especially launching off sand dunes. Nowadays the dakar entries are just glorified dune buggies and the course is far less treacherous, but theres still some original Evo's going.

One thing I would be really interested to know is just how many of the 2500 built have been destroyed over the years. I would think at least several hundred have been destroyed or otherwise butchered for parts, maybe more.