Sry I'm sorta new to an evo 4 days actually. I know a lot about turbo cars but seems this one is different. 03 evo 8 has had a tune and its mainly stock other than exhaust and boost controller I believe. I'm gettin 22 psi and its not really dropping off at redline, it holds. But in 5th I'm pullin 23 which I'm used to less boost in last gear. I know there a billion threads over this topic just wanna hear it straight forward from someone who knows more than I do about it. Is it safe and reliable as a dd ?

 

The answer you will get is, it depends. IMO, no, it's not safe for a stock setup. Get some ARP headstuds installed. I blew my headgasket on a stock setup tuned for 21 psi.

 

Ya I was afraid of the answer and forgot to mention intake and different bov not sure the brand. Intercooler piping is aftermarket as well.

 

Isn't this just a bad tune?

How often are you running through the whole RPM band in 5th gear that you need to worry?

 

headstuds for 23 psi? seriously? boost wasn't the cause of your blown HG, most likely the tune was.

OP, if the tune is good then there's no problem with that boost level.

 

Iv never topped out lol its gsr not mr it's only 23 psi in fifth and its seems more 22.5 but tries for 23. 22 max other gears. Iv only ran slightly past 7k never touched rev limiter so I don't know how much it will drop off at that high of an rpm. Dyno was 280hp 276tq 3rd gear

 

28 psi on stock head gasket here. It's all in the tune.

 

Guess I need to specify it more. 22psi through 4th gear never dropped off at 7k rpms 23 psi in 5th max rpms was only around 5k most likely 95 mph to 100. I just want reliability and was curious if 22 psi is safe on the few mods I have plus if its normal for fifth to spike a little higher like I said 22.5 to 23 max

 

If the car is tuned for 23 psi then its safe. I daily drive my evo on the stock turbo @30 psi. Its all in the tune, and supporting mods. And normally the spike will be higher in higher gears especially if the o2 housing is stock. Get an aftermarket o2 housing and it should fix any spiking or creeping issues that evos have with the stock o2 housing.

 

It sounds like a manual boost controller, I wouldn't worry about it. Pretty normal for that to happen with those, mine does it from time to time and I'm at 24 psi

 

Thanks for the replies. I'm just paranoid I blew I'm my s2k 2 weeks ago but it had 180k on it still dunno what's wrong with it. I would really like the evo to make it to atleast 140k+. It's at 34k as of now.

 

Something else came to my attention after all the research iv done. I'm told its mainly stock but the owner beefier wasn't positive because neither was the owner before him and nobody knows how to contact the first owner. I'm told exhaust and intake is all it has but here's the dyno u guys give me your opinion. Contacted the guy who tuned it and he said he thinks he remembers cams in it. Tuned to 22 or 23 psi he can't remember but it's gettin around 22 psi on 93 oct.

 

That power looks about right to me for just intake, exhaust and conservative tune.

 

Awesome so safe then ?

 

I would say yes, my car and I'm sure many others have 80k plus miles on setups like yours. I believe safety comes down to tuner and how bad of a driver you are, hell I still the original clutch in my car and I have made 350 for about 50k miles. If the tuner is reputable then I wouldn't worry about it.