I immediately joined the FTO Owners Club and over the next two years set about making it my own with upgrades including:
- Uprated Black Diamond grilled and grooved front discs
- EBC Greenstuff front pads
- MAS Italy 17" alloys
- Momo steering wheel
- Aluminium dashboard dial rings and handbrake cover
- ITG foam induction filter
- R-Type stiffened and lowered springs
- Manual conversion
- Mongoose stainless exhaust with de-cat pipe
- Facelift front bumper/spoiler
This is a relatively short list of modifications compared to some FTOs out there which (in my opinion) have been over-modded and trashed. I've specifically kept my car original at its core - Mitsubishi's designers did the hard work.
Most parts fitted and work carried out on the car has been from some of the best people in the FTO community - Japco, Camskill and Eurospec.
I had the Tiptronic/Auto gearbox replaced with a 5 speed manual by Giles at Japco in October 2001. (Japco are generally regarded as the FTO manual gearbox conversion specialists.)
In April 2002 I had the cambelt changed and a Mongoose fully stainless exhaust with de-cat pipe fitted, again by Japco.
Japco also provided a facelift conversion in June 2003, bringing the looks of the car right up to date.
There has been no high-performance tuning work, no nitrous, no turbos - nothing that would degrade the life of the car.
It's been serviced with quality oils (e.g. Mobil-1 15w-50 fully synthetic) and parts throughout its life and fed on a diet of Super Unleaded and Optimax 99% of the time.
Since the facelift in 2003 the car has remained unchanged - save for new tyres and servicing as required. Fortunately for you (unfortunately for me!) the car really hasn't been used much since 2003 when it became a second car to my Impreza P1. The FTO has merely covered the following mileages each year:
Sep 2003 MOT to Sep 2004 MOT - 1632 miles
Sep 2004 MOT to Nov 2005 MOT - 1948 miles
Nov 2005 MOT to Sep 2006 (now) - 843 miles
It is for this reason that I'm selling the car. A car that's been my "baby" for nearly 6 years. A car that's attended several FTOOC meetings and shows and that has benefitted from the knowledge imparted by other FTOOC members.
In preparation for its sale, this week I have had the air conditioning re-gassed and carried out an oil/filter change.
The existing MOT runs out in mid November 2006. As stated above, the car has only travelled 843 miles since that MOT was issued so I'm confident it will easily pass its next.
As an imported car from Japan, the car had a KM to Mile conversion when imported in August 1999. At this date the car had covered 33310 km (or 20818 miles). It was converted to read in miles going forward and as such to obtain the correct mileage reading you take the odometer reading and subtract 12392. I have a certificate supplied by the converters explaining this point.
The odomoter currently reads 77845 - representing 65353 miles
I strongly recommend you come and view the car. I am available for viewings at pretty much any time of day over - please message me to arrange this.
The car is shown with my personal registration fitted. This plate is not included in the sale - the car will be supplied on an M registration (I will supply and fit new plates).