Normally I am a die-hard road course guy, but was curious as to what I could pull off at the ¼-mile. Never having launched my car before, I was very nervous. Not only did I not want to break something (as EVO's are expensive enough to maintain, let alone fix broken drivetrain components) I also didn't want to make an *** out of myself at the track. Everyone expects EVO's to be fast, I didn't want to go out my first time and smoke to clutch or run a 14.

I practiced a couple of launches a couple hours before the event. The first was a stinky clutch smoke show, the second better, but still too much slippage. My third launch was my first run at the track. It hooked pretty well, but still slipped it a little bit. My first run was a 13.2 @ 107MPH with a 2.1 60ft. My second run felt a lot better, the moment I felt my car start to move and knowing the slack was out of the drivetrain, I quickly let the rest out and it HOOKED, it felt great! It ended up being a 12.9 @ 108MPH with a 1.9 60ft. Being a die-hard road course and autocross guy, I felt pretty good about running a 12 and quit before my luck ran out. I have videos of both, but below is a link to my 12.9 run.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TQ8bWwZa8U

Mods are a K&N cone filter, JESTR tune, and 22ish PSI - pill removal. What should I expect out of my car? Mid 12's?

 

You are running 22psi on the stock exhaust with indirect boost control (it's erratic with the pill removed)? If so, then yeah, mid-12s would be expected. Your 108 is good for a 12.5 with a good launch. 12.9 is more like a stock Evo, but your 108 is a little more powerful than stock.

 

Would using a MBC smooth out the fluctuation and tapering? For now, I want to stay below 24-25PSI because I've heard there is a tendency to stretch headbolts or blow a head gaskets at that point. Thoughts?

 

You don't stay below 24-25psi to avoid stretching head bolts. You do it because of the octane of your gas. If it's 93 or below, it should be below 24-25psi.

An MBC would make the boost more linear and controlled, but it would still taper - that's normal.

 

So, lets say I get ambitious and want to run race gas, would it be safe to run more boost? How much boost can the stock headgasket/headbolts hold before flexing or stretching?

 

I wouldnt run more than the boost you are currently running without head studs. Throwing in race gas and raising boost blindly might not make any more power.

 

I would tune accordingly of course, but wanted to reaffirm that headstuds are needed if I wanted to go down that path. My next route is MBC and TBE, no sense in trying to set any records without the basics.

 

Throwing in race gas and raising boost will make great power and will not stretch the stock head bolts. It's better to get tuned, but if you do it, only turn up the boost 2-3psi.

I still have stock head bolts and have run alky@26psi for over a year and a half. Before that, I put in race gas and turned up the boost to 24-25psi every time I went to the drag strip.