Tom's

Hi all,

This is a bit of a copy and paste from a UK evo forum but just in case any of you guys in the US are interested I'll put it on here. There are a few posts so bare with me.

Tom

Tom's

Hi all,

Been meaning to do this for the past few weeks but keep getting side tracked. I want to get a big 1st post written up before it becomes too big and I forgot more stuff than what I already have.

Ok so here goes.

In 2012 I was deployed over seas with work, I had all good intentions of buying a nice a6 or 5 series with my savings. However, I had a real hankering to try an Evo as a daily driver for a bit.

Whilst I was away I kept looking at various 8's, until 1 day a red tme came up for sale. Seeing the price it was at I promptly sent the mrs and father in law round to check it out. Everything checked out as genuine, mint and completely standard. Seen as pretty much the only Evo seming to be in high demand at the time so I wouldn't lose money on it I transferred the monies and the mrs picked it up.



A month later I came home and fell in love. The car was awesome to drive straight out of the box and felt much tighter and more planted than our 4.

I promptly got a track day booked and loved it even more.





This did throw up 1 immediate problem , in that the standard brembos were far from upto the task of anything other than fast road. Luckily at the same time Ryan! Was selling his k sports.





On the next track day these were a massive improvement. Now all the car needed was a tad more power and some suspension. The tein monofelx and edfc suspension was proptly stollen from out 4 and I decided to do something that I had just spent 7 months away with work reading about. Learning to geek map.

Firstly I installed an aem wideband and made some det cans. Almost as soon as I started I noticed the fueling couldn't get as rich as I wanted so thinking not a lot of it I got a walbro 225. All was well, I installed a 3 port and seemed to be making some good gains whilst remaining very safe with my map.

I then drove to jae and back and the problems started. Having some fun on the way home my cel light flashed. I immediately checked the wideband and noticed it was very lean. I then spent a month or 2 checking everything I could for obstructions, vac leaks, you name it I checked it (this included going back to standard.....but completely forgetting my standard pump had been struggling in the 1st place!!!!)

Finally I remembered and bought a brand new walbro from Rossport. Having fitted it I went out to do a log. Hallelujah!!!! It was rich as hell lol. I pulled over to put a proper map on it but as I pulled away again a built a bit of boost in 2nd....pop tap tap tap. I pulled over to see if it was something daft. I noticed straight away the vac that goes to the fuel pump solenoid had popped off but nothing else. Feeling sick and expecting the worst I limped the few 100m home.

I thought a bearing had gone to start with so checked them. They were fine. Top end was all in order. A few days later I decided to give it a compression test. It was down on cyl 2!!!! I then pulled the hear off expecting to find a valve damaged or cracked piston.....nope. So out came the pistons and I found this.



Spot the odd 1 out



This meant an engine rebuild. At first I was going to do a drop in, so I sent the head away to start with so I know that was all tip top and slimed etc.



This lasted about half hr of laying on my back getting the exhaust etc off I decided the engine would come out lol.



I then then stripped it all down to go away and be machined to 85.5 and decked if needed.



Here you can see where the bent rod was hitting the cyl wall!



Before I sent it away I thought I'd delete the balancer shafts. What a pita!!!



Whilst all this was going on, i had assembled quite a nice collection of parts from Rossport.







Hopefully I'll get the block back this week as the assembly will start.

Now the whole "race car" business will start in the next post as I think I've ran on enough in this 1!!!!!

Tom

Tom's

Thanks Ryan. The rods are bridgway, recommended by Ross. They are good for around 600 so plenty for me.

Now before I start the next bit I really must thank a few people who have helped. First is Simon Norton. He has the paitiance of a saint and must have spent hours on the phone talking me through stuff and checking logs etc. secondly is Ross W for advising me on parts and also helping me out with the building of the car. I must also thank starkers for getting me up and running with the whole geek mapping thing, a whole day on Skype was emotional but got there in the end. And lastly all of my immediate friends for lending a hand here and there and of course the wife for letting me spend hours tinkering!!!

Now, here's where things get interesting. I must apologise to the purists amongst you, you may want to stop reading. I know it's a tme and I know it's red. But the fact of the matter, despite toying with the idea of selling it, I don't need to or want to so I'll keep it, use it and abuse it lol.

I've been wanting to get into a form of competitive Motorsport for years now. I've tried so many times to get into the mlrss but work always dictates that I'm busy etc.

However, I have very recently discovered that work have their own race series !!!! Can not believe I didn't find out earlier bit hay ho.

I will be competing with the BAMA and RAFMSA in their various races in the coming year hopefully. Thankfully it's heavily subsidised which makes it accessible to mear mortals like myself.

The main thing I really have to do is get my car upto MSA safety regs. Here's where Ross has stepped in again with this little lot lady night!!!





Today I've been hard at work getting the interior stripped and ready for the mock up of the cage.







Also took out a few unwanted bits like rear wiper and sound detening.





After all this was finished I still had some energy so thought I'd get another job that I fancied having a go at and that's porting my manifold.

I started off by laying over the gasket and the etching around it. Can't believe how much metal you have to trim out!!!





I completely forgot to take pictures of the finished article but I doesn't look too bad. I'm sure there will be a gain in doing it but it was a proper tedious job! I'd want paying to do it again let me tell you!

So yeah, that's where I'm at , at the mo. I'm hoping to get it back to a rolling shell tomorrow as I don't think the garage is wide enough to fit the rear of the cage in for mock up !!!

Tom

Tom's

While I'm on here I may as well do a quick update if today's progress.

First thing I did was get all the old tar stuff off from removing the sound proofing. Mucky old job but someone's gota do it.



I then thought id tidy up my manifold with a finer bit.....the bit I was using to space out the chuck in my die grinder broke.....

Thought I'd do something that can't really go wrong and put all the standard interior in the loft. Also weighed it all on the way up totalling just under 85kg!!! Combined with the rear wiper assembly and air con bits and bobs that should be around 100kg shed from the car. All well and good considering 50 or so kg of cage is going in it!

I then thought about fitting the cage. In preparation for a few spot welds before a steel fabricator friend does the proper welds I thought I'd have a bit of practice.....the welder wouldn't turn on!!!

A few hours later and a faulty on off switch by passed, ghetto style, I got it grafting.

A few mates then turned up so I thought I'd use them to get the cage in. This required 1 door to come off but it eventually went in ready for mock up.







By the time I'd finished faffing about fixing tools etc it was dinner time so I didn't even get chance to tack it in! But at least it's in and all the paint around the feet is off so it's good to go!

Oh, and a word of warning, if you're guna be climbing around the in side of a car for most if the day, wear knee pads!



Tom

tsidrift1

iTrader: (46)

That last picture is a bit.....odd lol

I cant begin to tell you how jealous I am of you for being able to own one of these! I have been doing a lot of research over the last few days on mirage to evo 5/6 swaps. I want a 5/6 badly!!!

mitsubeastlee

iTrader: (3)

this is going to be a nice thread. keep it up!!

Evo_Someday

I love the looks of the TME. Unfortunately they really don't have them here in the states.

Also like your GSD picture on the wall.. I have 5 myself.

tsidrift1

iTrader: (46)

A damn shame!!!

roadace

Subscribed to thread.

2003s were the first Evos available to us Americans so a TME is always a delight to see. I look forward to this thread.

Tom's

Thanks guys. As per my sig, we also have a 4. I did really fancy an 8 but them this all happened and the rest is history as they say.

Yes the GSD is out baby. I'd love 5 but I think he'd leave home having our attention on anything other than him!

wjamyers

I approve of this thread.

Tom's

Nice to see so many of you showing interest. This is going to be, by no means, a thread like you guys are normally used to. The British government think it's fine to pay their soldiers pittance to do a job so funds are very limited.

Bit of an update for today tho. Got the block back today!!!





Tom

IzzyRS

iTrader: (8)

The U.S. military isn't much better unless you're an officer. Keep up the good work

Tom's

Im friends with quite a few USAF guys and they get bloody pop star wages lol!

GDChoi

iTrader: (1)

niceeeee