Shop Tour: 3SX Performance - Part I

One of the things I'm trying to do in an effort to bring more interesting content to you, the reader, is cover more local items. There are plenty of places you can read a rehash of the latest press releases, but here at CarThrottle we strive to bring you coverage and features you won't find anywhere else.  So to get the ball rolling on this, I introduce our new "Shop Tours" series, where I'll be traveling around the eastern seaboard of the US, highlighting the best and brightest of performance and modification shops our country has to offer.  First up is 3SX performance in Concord, North Carolina.

If you're familiar with the world of Mitsubishi performance, chances are you've heard of 3SX before.  They are the leading aftermarket authority on the 3S cars - the Mitsubishi 3000GT (also called GTO in some countries) and the Dodge Stealth, specifically the VR-4 and R/T Twin Turbo models.

For those not familiar with the VR-4, or who have forgotten, a basic history: when Mitsubishi replaced the aging RWD Starion in 1990, they split the car's replacement into two seperate chassis: the 4-cylinder "DSM" (which stands for Diamond-Star Motors, since it was a collaboration between MMC and ChryCo - think Eclipse, Talon, Laser) and the 6-cylinder 3Si cars (3000GT/GTO, Dodge Stealth.)  The regular 3000GT was a stylish car - low slung, wide, smooth and futuristic looking - but the VR-4 was the one that got all the attention back then, and rightly so: it was perhaps the most high-tech car the world had seen since the Porsche 959.

Tell me you don't want some of this.

Seriously.  Up front, the 6G72 3.0L V6 featured dual overhead camshafts, four valves per cylinder, twin turbocharger with individual side-mounted intercoolers, and an even 300bhp/300lb-ft of torque.  It sent the power through a 5-speed transmission to all four wheels - and of course there was ABS, all-wheel-steering, adaptive dampers - and some goofy "because we can" stuff like active aerodynamics, variable-sound exhaust systems, etc.  It was like the Swiss Army Knife of sports cars - capable of banging off mid 5-second 0-60 runs without a hint of wheelspin, or shuffling four people around in a snow snorm.  It received some minor facelifts and mechanical upgrades over it's life, ditching the popup headlights and some of the why-tech and gaining a six-speed Getrag 'box, an extra 20 horsepower, as well as a very rare ASC-McLaren designed folding hardtop version.

Good 6G72.  Sit.  Stay.

3SX comes into the story in the mid-ninties, when founder Steve Burrows started out developing heavy-duty motor mounts (shown above on a built VR-4) for the VR-4.  When power was increased in the 6G72 engine (which was not an infrequent occurence), the stock rubber motor mounts would twist and warp, screwing up shifts and hurting driveability.  A series of polyeurothane mounts were designed, fabbed, and put on sale - and started flying off the shelves.  Other 3Si-specific performance parts followed, the customer base grew, and 3SX opened their first physical location in 2000.

Since then, expansion has been steady.  The company opened their showroom and service bays in 2000, and a new 12,000 square foot distribution center in 2004.  A big step was the installation of a SuperFlo four-wheel-drive dynomometer in 2007, capable of logging up to 1,500 horsepower and 200 mph, along with all the proper hook-ups for dyno tuning.  This means that 3SX covers basically every facet of the aftermarket industry - mail-order performance parts, an in-house service bay with enough lifts to maintain an entire fleet of VR-4's, a dyno to tune them on, all the parts needed to build them, and most importantly - the expertise to know what they're doing with these (let's be honest) absurdly complicated cars.  Working on VR-4's is not for the faint of heart - it's one of those engine bays where you could pour a cup of water on top, and maybe a few drops would fall out below.

The sticker says it all.

In addition to VR-4's and R/T Twin Turbo's (which are the bulk of 3SX's business), they also work on anything that goes fast and has a turbocharger.  They opened up a sister site - WRXEVOlution - in 2007, serving the Mitsubishi Evo and Subaru WRX/STI go-faster crowd.  While the bulk of the cars in their shop were VR-4's, there were some other non-3Si projects going on, as you'll see.

3SX is a big business - two seperate buildings, one housing the main showroom, service bays, engine-building room, dyno, and a big back room, and the other with the business office and inventory - so this Shop Tour will be split into two parts.  We'll start in the showroom and service building, where all of their current projects can be seen.

I'll take one of everything.

These are just a few of the goodies 3SX sells to make your VR-4 go from "nice" to "holy %@$#, I need new underwear."  Downpipes, Y-pipes, catbacks, racing springs, huge intercoolers, whatever you need they've got.  And the quality of the fabrication on these parts, stuff you'll never even see once you install it, is incredible.  If all tuners made components this good, the world would be a better place.

My, what big pipes you have.

There's one car sitting inside 3SX's showroom, and it's a rolling demonstration of the badassery that is considered normal around 3SX.  Clock this beast, and see if you notice anything... unusual.

A nice Viper GTS from the '90's, with some more recent Viper wheels.  Still nothing to set off the raid sirens, though.  Look closer.  Closer....

My, what big teeth you have.

Hrrrm.  What's poking out?  Is that... an intercooler?

Where do those pipes lead?

Oh, yeah.  Twin-Turbo Viper.  You could never really call a Viper a "sleeper", but compared to most Vipers with turbos bolted on, this is pretty damn subtle.  There's not even a giant front-mounted intercooler to give it away.  Subtle, and probably terrifying to drive.

One of the truths about tuning is that when you increase - sometimes double or triple - a car's output, things are bound to break.  Some companies will pretend this never happens.  3SX has an entire wall of broken parts to prove that it does.  The adage "Speed costs money - how fast do you want to go?" comes to mind here.

The wall of pain.  Shame?  No, pain.

One thing you'll notice on the rack is the predominance of broken transmission guts.  This is a recurring theme with VR-4's - the fragility of the gearbox at high output levels - and it's an unfortunate fact of life.  Let's move along to the service bays.

A garage full of toys, some running

As you can see, this is a company that stays very busy.  Along with the herd of VR-4's, you can also spot a last-gen Supra Turbo as well as a Dodge SRT-4 in the foreground of the picture, and a Subaru WRX in the middle.  More on that Supra and Subie later; let's take a look at some of the VR-4's 3SX is working on.

Might be the cleanest early VR-4 I've ever seen.

This silver '91 VR-4 is a pretty in-depth build being done for a customer in California, if I remember correctly.  The goal was a whole mass of useable power, while flying under the radar in California's modification-adverse environment.  This car is impressive more for the stuff you don't notice.  Such as a huge front-mount intercooler.

Hide your kids, hide your wife.

Pop the hood, and - whoa. What's going on here?  This is a fairly high-built motor, running a set of TD04-16g turbos (significantly larger than the VR-4's stock 9b compressors) riding on 3SX upgrade exhaust manifolds, a full hard-piping kit, fueling upgrades, huge but stealthy upgraded twin side-mount intercoolers, water methanol injection, the obligatory HKS SSQV blow off valve, and probably a thousand other things that are escaping me.  Tuned on the 91-octane excuse for premium gas that California has to suffer with, this car still puts down horsepower figures in the mid-400's to all four wheels.  The guy in charge of the service department who gave me a tour, Josh, expressed disappointment in those figures, saying "normally these turbos on this engine make more than 600awhp."  Good lord, I'd find it hard to be disappointed with 475awhp.  I guess it's a matter of perspective.

Not your father's Diamante.

The interior is pretty trick, too.  Check out the Ferrari-style gated shifter, the GTO gauge cluster, and the integrated gauges on the top of the dash.  What's neat about those gauges - originally, it was actually a connected panel of three gauges that tucked behind the dash.  These are individual gauges (boost, EGT, AFR) in the stock location, which avoids the telltale A-pillar gauge cluster that tells police to pull you over.  Very clever.

Track VR-4: so light it floats.

This VR-4 was headed in an entireley different direction.  The interior was stripped out, there was a full roll-cage (welded to the strut towers, not bolted), massive suspension upgrades, and obviously some horsepower fortification.  This one was tuned for 93 octane, and uses smaller 13g turbochargers for better low-end responsiveness rather than maximum power numbers, which are sometimes accompanied by huge turbo lag.  In a road-course setting, this car's massive grip, ferocious low-end power, and lighter weight will make it a formidable track tool.

6G72 Turbo with no charge pipes installed.

stainless hard pipes, tubular manifolds... looks like snakes fighting.

This is another 6G72 in an early VR-4 in the middle of a much more aggressive built.  Big 18g turbos, solid piping, MSD ignition, water/meth injection, built bottom end - the works - and it should be putting north of 700awhp down when it's completed.  Purpose of this one?  Fun street car.  Yeah, I'd say.  Take another look at that turbo: lordy.

Any bigger and you might have to notch the firewall.

Despite the crazy output, this is a setup designed to run on 93 octane pump gas with the help of huge intercooler and water-meth injection to avoid pinging or detonation.  It's probably laggy, but who's going to complain about 700+ horsepower to all four paws?

Big enough to suck in an entire squirrell

This is one of 3SX's upgrade side-mounter intercoolers.  Unlike other cars with twin side-mounts (like the Audi TT 225, with a single K04 turbo, or the Volvo S60R AWD with a single TD04) each of the VR-4's turbochargers get their own intercooler, and the charged air is combined about 6" before the throttle body.  These units are much deeper than the stock SMIC's, lowering charge temps (more oxygen is good!) and helping to keep heat soak in check.  The ducting fits on the inside of a stock VR-4 bumper, directing cool air into the core.

This is what Charlie Sheen would refer to as "#winning"

Small arm, or huge turbo?

I'll finish of this portion of the 3SX shop tour with a picture of Josh holding a turbo.  No, he's not a midget - that's a really massive turbo.  That will eventually be attached to the stock-looking blue WRX wagon he's standing next to.

Look for Part II in the next few days, were we take a look at 3SX's engine building room, dyno, back room with various toys, office building, and warehouse!

Thanks to all the guys at 3SX Performance, especially Josh, for being gracious hosts while some weirdo with a camera walked around their shop and asked lots of questions.  If you've got a Turbo car (especially a VR-4 or R/T Twin Turbo) and you want some nasty power, check out their website here or give them a call at 704-784-3724