I’ve had my IX for nearly two years. I’ve owned enough cars to know that buying anything with modifications is usually going to require some cleanup, because inevitably, the previous owner either cut corners or paid someone who in turn cut corners. Most of the mods on my car were put there by the previous owner. Nice enough guy, but I think the shops he used took advantage of him. I’ve spent the last two years or so cleaning up other peoples' eff-ups, and spent some $$$$ doing so. I’ve gone through two tuners (and four tunes, and probably about another three “touch-up tunes”). One local, one in Southern California. The entire time I’ve had the car I’ve been afraid to drive it how it’s meant to be driven. That doesn’t mean I haven’t, but every time I’ve gone out for a spirited run I’ve essentially expected my car to blow up. I just never had a full sense of trust in my local shop, or either of the tuners. I felt like their goal was bulk business. As many in and out as they could get.


After cleaning up a bunch of crap on the car (rebuilding the rear diff, fixing a bunch of boost leaks, new injectors, lifters, 60k tune, installing a couple more parts, etc.), I decided it was time to find someone capable and willing to spend some time tuning the car. I just never felt like my local shop, or the SoCal guy, really cared all that much. After reading around the forums, I found people singing Christian’s praises. What particularly swayed me to give him a shot though is he had fixed the EXACT SAME problems on another forum member’s car that I was having. And guess what?! Surprise, this forum member had been tuned by the same local shop. He too was constantly told it was the car, not the tune, that was causing the problems. The local shop’s solution to fixing my “car keeps dying when I put in the clutch, or when it’s hot, or the idle bounces around like crazy” problems was to constantly raise the idle, or tell me modified cars drive this way. They don’t. I’ve never owned a car that does, and I have had plenty of modified cars.


So I emailed Christian at Pure Drive Performance, told him the problems I was having, and that I hoped he could fix them. He told me he could. He also put me in touch with a local (Anthony [xXANCHORMONXx]) who graciously agreed, for a small fee (it was really small and felt unfair so I took care of him), to assist in the remote tune. He also wired up my wideband for data logging and installed a MAP sensor. A few hours later, my car drove better than any stock Evo I’d ever driven, and just as good as—if not better than—the best modified Evos I’d been in. I love driving it. I’m not afraid to drive it. I know that if something goes wrong, or if something’s just not quite right with the tune, Christian is gonna make it right. And the bonus is I ended up with a new local mechanic, both cheaper and more passionate about Evos than the local shop I’ve been taking it too. Major takeaway: a person sitting behind a computer thousand(s) of miles away trading MAPs via my local help’s cell phone hotspot while we logged on the street—not a dyno—was able to make my car drive right. I couldn’t be happier. At one point I was so frustrated I actually thought about just selling the car. Now, this thing isn’t going anywhere. I think it’s gonna be around for quite some time, and I hope Christian is around to tune it as long as it is.

Power Mods:

Apexi World Sport exhaust
Titec O2 housing
HKS 3" Downpipe
RRE Stealth Cat
AEM Intake
Cosworth M2 cams with Supertech springs and retainers
ARP head studs
FIC 1150cc injectors
Walbro 255lph fuel pump

 

Good stuff. It's always a pita sorting out problems, especially in you case because they were from a combination of the previous owner and shops who don't know what they're doing when it comes to tuning. Evo is such a great car once you know how to go about tuning it...they will start up every time and take so much abuse once built, tuned and serviced right.

Congrats on the new found power....and more importantly: reliability.

 

Good power

 

Good numbers considering 91. Congrats.

 

Nice to see a tune with Cosworth M2 cams. Not a popular cam choice now but makes good power. When does the turbo start spooling up?

 

good power