ok hi im new here. i live in Trinidad which is in the caribbean and we have this law about importing vehicles. if the vehicle is older than 4years then it will not be able to be licensed down here. i have loved the Lancer Evolution 3s the most of all the Evos and now that i finally have the money to purchase one, it is too old to import. it only has 5 evo 3s on the island and they will not sell or anything.

there are alot of regular lancers to the evo 3 which is the CB3 i think. i can get my hands on one of those easily. i wanted to know, is there any big difference in the chassis between the regular lancer and the evo 3? i can get a EVO 3 but its licensing it is the problem. i wanted to get the EVO 3 and then just take ALLL the parts and just put it on the CB3 lancer. i heard that these two are not that different when it comes to the chassis, if not the same.

i also wanted to know if i can just take the chassis number from the lancer and put it on the EVO 3 and tell the licensing people that its a Lancer and i did the conversion. i know this may be illegal but will i get caught?

so bottom line is, i want a evo 3 and its too old to legally import to my country but i can get the CB3 lancer which is the regular lancer version to the evo 3.


any help is appreciated.

 

I'm not real familiar with Evo 3's but Evo's in general have alot of extra welding to stiffen the chassis. I doubt that they are the same.

 

hmmm i know thats the case for newer evos but i think the older ones dont really have a much different chassis. but thanks for the input.

 

please, i really need help on this ASAP.

 

Like it has been said before, we're not too familiar - unfortunately - with the older Evo's, but from what i've read in the many years of my obsession with the Evo, there will be a significant difference in the chassis and drivetrain between any Evo and it's year's Lancer. Is there any way at all for you to get around the import issue? Perhaps get the seller to retitle the car as a brand new salvage title before importing it to you? I'm not sure how the rules work where you are, but if the car is retitled as a restoration/salvage/rebuilt classic or something like that, it might come with a new 'Year model". May be a work around? I'm kind of guessing in the dark here, you'll have to look into it. Otherwise, if you go the Lancer route, remember... with a determined tuner, anything is possible within reason, but there will be compromises. Good luck either way!!!

 

thnx. well we dont have that restoration law over here. once the car was produced on a certain year then thats it.

i was talking to a friend's friend lol and he did the conversion on his lancer. i saw the car and it did look exactly like a EVO 3 but he said its time taking but not that much money. it would cost aprox 10,000USD for the whole conversion. the car will cost around 5000USD so thats 15,000USD for a EVO 3.

its in my price range. i asked him all what needs to be cut and re welded etc he said that the only thing that needed to be cut was in the trunk area to fit the gas thank and make some way for the 4WD system. other than that, the engine and suspension and all other parts were direct bolt up.

im thinkin of going in this direction but it will be alot easier and safer to get an original EVO 3 since i dont trust when you cut and re weld a car lol. he said you can take the chassis code from the lancer and put it onto the evo 3 and then tell the licensing people that it was a conversion.

so i wanted to know, when you change the chassis code, can this be noticed easily? will i get caught? whats the best way to do it? see if i get caught in an accident and they see that i switched the chassis code then they take my car, my issuance is invalid so i have to pay for all the damages done to the next car plus i get a fine for no insurance etc etc etc it goes on.

so i heard you guys do the chassis code swap or i think its the VIN number in your case. how do you guys do it? is it a flawless switch as in no one can determine the switch?

 

I think the 4-door mirage is the same chassis and ive heard of people converting those to evo 3's

 

we've got a guy here locally that did a evo 4 into mirage engine swap. Its tight in there but it fits

 

Ok so your friend said you are allowed to convert and hes done it. So that means that it would be hard for the average person (insurance people, police, etc.) to tell the difference between the converted chassis and the original unless they are a EVO god, which I doubt. So I say go ahead and get the real Evo chassis and switch the vin and some other items and say its a convert. Or an easier and maybe cheaper way is you could get a wrekced Evo 3, tear everything off thats wrecked and replace with the Lancer parts, and leave the interior intact but replace the dash since the Vin is usually etched in the dash and also swap all the other tags under the engine bay and in the door jams.

 

To convert a mirage over to a evo III takes some work. The entire rear part of the chassis is different. You will have to cut the bottom of the trunk out and fab a way to hold the rear subframe into the car. You will need to remove your stock fuel tank and run a cell. I believe you guys are right hand drive so that wont be an issue with swapping over your front subframe. I think you might have to cut your trans tunnel out so you have room for your drive shaft and make a new hump. This is just a few things you will have to do for sure. Unless you have some seriuos fabrcating skills this project is not for you.

 

well he said there is a bit of fabrication that needs to be done but not as much as some people told me. Someone told me i would have to cut the front and back off a real evo 3 and put it onto the CB3 lancer frame and then go from there etc etc.

TSI27, that is what i was thinkin to do cause i mean the CB3 can be converted BUT its gonna be a hell of alot of work and it should be the same as a EVO 3 when im done so why not just switch the VIN numbers? what i wanted to know is, what is the process that needs to be done when switching it. since i dont wanna do it wrong and they spot that the chassis number has been switched. so what is the sure fire way on doing it without it being noticed in any way possible and exactly where are all the numbers located?

 

do it and u gotta show us some pics.. or ur buddies pics..

 

if im doing the conversion then ill take pics and document it and post it up but im more looking to just switch the chassis number and done since the conversion is alot of work. i recently started doing my degree so i dont really have that much time lol