FTO AUSTRALIA

Does anyone know of any different final drives available that fit the fto manual box?

the standard gpx is 4.3, but i have read somewhere that a 4.6 exists that will fit.

thanks

The 4.625 is from the 1.6 MIVEC gearbox which will fit.
There have been aftermarket 4.9-5.1 final drives too

thanks for that. now the hunt for one begins

TBH, what I did and I suggest you do the same, is try to find the 1.6 MIVEC gearbox.
Because it has a taller 1st and 5th gear as well compared to the FTO, which means:
1st gear isn't too short, so traction is still not a problem
1st to 2nd rpm drop is less
5th gear cruising rpm remains as with the FTO gearbox

However...
The diff is different, hence the driveshafts do not fit
I've heard mixed reports whether it is a direct fit or not

The internals definitely transfer over, and what I did was use the gearset from the 1.6 MIVEC in your FTO box, and use your FTO diff (I used the Cyborg diff as it turned out it was a Cusco, but needed new driveshafts as well). By now though things are starting to get pretty expensive if you're paying for labor...

The auto GS (1.8L, 4 banger) had the 4.62 final drive, but that'd be as rare as hens teeth to try find.

Next longest was the crown wheel in the auto GR (non mivec) at 4.4

As Spetz said, may be worth while looking at other Mitsis. The larger 27 spline FTO diff is the same as a 3rd gen Magna, that might be a good spot to start.

If your car is primarily used for track, then consider getting an aftermarket 5.0+ FD

The FTO gears are stupidly long for some reason. 4th goes past 200km/h which is completely pointless. If Mitsubishi used better ratios the car would be much quicker in my opinion.

Search for a gear ratio calculator, and play around seeing what max rpm in each gear you'll get with different final drives, and decide which suits you and your car best.

To give you an idea, these are the max speeds with the Cyborg box and FTO FD and stock wheels (remember 1st and 5th are longer than the FTO ratios):
4.312 FD
1st 69
2nd 109
3rd 154
4th 207
5th 277

And the speeds with 15" wheels and 4.625 ratio, as I have:
4.625 FD
1st 62
2nd 98
3rd 138
4th 185
5th 248

Speeds are @8,000rpm

Top gear is purely over drive. It's not pointless as you don't want to be redlining it on the free way.

I meant the rest of the gears mostly.
There is no need for 4th to go 210+ km/h on a car which is speed limited at 180km/h

spetz wrote:I meant the rest of the gears mostly.
There is no need for 4th to go 210+ km/h on a car which is speed limited at 180km/h

unless u don't have a limiter

I think overall the FTO would have been a much better car had a few things like the gear ratios been better suited.
It would be much quicker to 180km/h with shorter 2-4 gears not to mentioned it would be good to drop back into MIVEC range from 1st to 2nd.

spetz wrote:TBH, what I did and I suggest you do the same, is try to find the 1.6 MIVEC gearbox.
Because it has a taller 1st and 5th gear as well compared to the FTO, which means:
1st gear isn't too short, so traction is still not a problem
1st to 2nd rpm drop is less
5th gear cruising rpm remains as with the FTO gearbox

However...
The diff is different, hence the driveshafts do not fit
I've heard mixed reports whether it is a direct fit or not

The internals definitely transfer over, and what I did was use the gearset from the 1.6 MIVEC in your FTO box, and use your FTO diff (I used the Cyborg diff as it turned out it was a Cusco, but needed new driveshafts as well). By now though things are starting to get pretty expensive if you're paying for labor...

Bumping this, hello Spetz are you there.

Does it matter that the diff is different... if we're just going to use a 27 spline FTO diff? (or a Wavetrac in this case). i.e. Can I just drop the Cyborg 1st and 5th gears, and the 4.6 FD into an FTO box with FTO diff?

No it doesn't, because the final drive in FWD transmissions is not like RWD which it is all one unit more or less.
The diff take a crown type gear which is what is replaced to change the FD.

I've linked a picture below that shows what is needed to change your final drive. As you can see you just put the crown gear on your current diff + install the output shaft:

Ah, cheers for that. Should the crown wheel be the same height (as in, physically) as the FTO one? I know the Wavetrac LSD wouldn't fit with a Cusco crown wheel and caused a lot of headaches for poor Tim. only after realising it was different and using the stock one would it spin freely.

I couldn't say, but I'd assume being OEM parts everything should fit fine but that's just an assumption.

Don't forget that putting a higher FD on the FTO box will still have downfalls, in that 1st to 2nd drops it out of MIVEC range and 5th will rev quite a bit.
Ideally you'd be looking for a Lancer/Mirage/Asti CJ4A box

Would a regular Mirage box bolt up directly?

I've read that it does, and people claim that they have done it without issues, but in my experience it didn't.
I had a CJ4A (1.6 MIVEC) transmission and it wouldn't bolt up onto the FTO motor.
The internals from the CJ4A had to be transferred over into the FTO casing.

What didn't fit?

What about a regular 4G13 or 4G15 box, or a 4G93? Mirage also came out with a 6A10 somewhere, but I don't know where. Surely that would have shorter ratios.

I don't know exactly what didn't fit unfortunately. Perhaps starter motor location? Not really sure.

You can download the transmission manual and it tells you what final drive and gear set each transmission has, and you can identify this by the transmission number on the casing

You guys just need more power.

It's not what you've got, it's what you do with it.