I know what you mean about your car pulling timing as I have one of those evo's also.I found that the timing belt appears to be where my "noise" is coming from.I hear it alot on cold start and
once warmed up can still hear it slapping away.Took off the front timing covers and noticed that I seem to have a "weak" timing belt tensioner.The tensioner can easily be pushed back in with only hand pressure,where as any hydrolic type timing belt tensioner that I have delt with in the past has needed to go into a vice to reset.Maybe it is the problem,possibly something else,but I have not had the time to bring it back to mitsu to get another one(warranty),timing belt tensioner that is,not car.
I'll let you know in a couple days if that is what cures it.

 

Have you checked your timing marks. Put the cam gears at TDC and check to make sure that your crank pulley is near TDC. It could be that your timing belt could be off. This would cause all sorts of havoc and would make the car hate timing in a bad way. It is okay if it is a couple degrees off, but not more than 3 degrees. This is probably not the problem, but while we are brainstorming, it is a possible cause.

Brian

 

Timing belt tensioner and cam timing could be the cause of these problems. Since I'm having the cams changed as well, this would be an opportunity to look into these things..... To be honest though, I'm reluctant now to do any more changes until the underlying problem is identified and corrected.
So far, the bad gasoline theory seems to be weak (I've changed to the best gasoline I've heard about. Same as other guys use with no problems.
The fuel pump theory is likewise pruven to be wrong (unless I got another defective pump from Walbro).
There is the possibility that the car will not knock with less boost, but that is yet to be tried.
I wonder if somebody, somewhere, has isolated the cause and cure of these problems?

 

Well, dropping the boost is easy enough to see if it helps.. It doesnt exactly solve your problem though..

 

I know, that's the ***** of it.... There must be a solution. I think for now I should probably go back to stock configuration until I can solve these issues.
I suppose I could keep the open exhaust, the intake and perhaps the fuel pump and fuel rail. I wonder if I should put the stock injectors back in? I think I'm gonna take out the AEM at least until the underlying problem is addressed.

 

Well my evo was pulling timing in totally stock form,except for a cat delete pipe,other than that it was totally stock,even the factory boost controller hooked up.When I finally hooked up a boost gauge it would barely spike to 19 psi,then pull back to 16,
so I know it wasn't pulling timing from an over boost condition.

 

You are right. The knock is not related to overboost conditions. I only mentioned running loower boost to prevent the knocking and the timing pull.
Actually, this was suggested by a very well known tuner who's got about the biggest experience and success with DSM cars.... I was just parroting his words. My car when it was stock except for a cat-back exhaust and K&N drop in filter would run a 14.3XX at around 96 mph... That was it. It would just kind of peter out. After Al came down and reflashed it, I found out about the timing pull and could see it and feel it. Man, I guess I should have probably taken it in to the dealer and had them correct it or replace it.... Hell, it might not be too late to do that.....

 

Well guys, here is an update.... Looks like you were both very close to the cause. George at Boost Solutions installed my HKS 264 cams and he said that the OEM cams were misindexed from the factory . He seems to think that my timing hating car is now cured of that problem ... I guess I'll find out.... For now I'm running OK and the car seems very strong. Unfortunately, I'm still dealing with some idle issues and a good bit of smoke from running very rich. I hope to get all these issues resolved soon.

 

My car was pulling timing, but that's only because I had some bad lean spots on my powerband that I had to correct.

That's interesting about the OEM cams, hope the new HKS's do the job!

 

Misindexed? As in how? Thereis an upright dowel pin to confirm TDC unless he ment mislobbed and improperly machined. Everyone Ive talked to state that there is some misindexing on re: to the crank scale but that the engine always ends up being TDCd with the upper end regardless if its a few #s off the crank scale

 

My car too has some timing issues, it is still fast but could be alot faster. Al had to detune my car in order to make it safe.

 

FYI evo will not run right if it is miss indexed from factory. Even if the cams are of by 1 tooth that changes it 8 degrees and thats if it on the camshaft. If the crank is of one tooth its much more, Evo will barely run if its off one tooth.

 

Could there be some payoffs by spending time to make sure everything is in-spec with the factory?

I'm still waiting for the aftermarket to settle and for resolution of a few of my issues. I've seen some amazing power differences in this Evo. It's like driving a different powerband (I like it) every few days depending on where I go. If issues like this spring up it makes me wonder about all the different reports of Evos we get here. Where can you get the final spec (factory manual?) on everything Evo? Maybe a carefully put together OEM Evo will be surprising for those that need or want to stay stock, but enjoy the hell out of it.

 

I don't know about EVOs, but a Chevy V8 will run even with the cam way off, by many degrees. The EVo can be adjusted with cam gears very easily and running cams +3° and -3° is not at all uncommon to gain performance, this is a 6° total off 0°. If a cam was 1 tooth off it would only be 7.5° that seems well within a range were the car would run fairly well but if it's in the wrong direction, it might just cause sensitivity to ignition timing advance or other performance problems ....

 

Some heads also have a LOT of casting flash.

https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/sh...=propellerhead

Go to page two about half way down. Rough castings like this will cause hot spots which will then encourage dredetonation.