Hello guys,

I wanted to find out from all the various knowledgable members here, what is the most logical way to go with the Evo on a fixed budget,
although most of us mod our evos one item at a time, if given a fixed budget, what will you do to get the biggest bang for the bucks, for instance, at price points of 5,000, 10,000, and 15,000.
If you have a budget of $15,000, what is the correct way to upgrade the evo's performance, stereo system excluded?
The overall idea being to be completely street usable, not to be just for track, or drag, etc, and using 91-93 gas.

Do you go with a reflash, exede, or any of the various aftermarket engine management system first,then do your HKS cams, turbo upgrade,etc
And what about suspension, upgrade with coilovers, lowering springs, etc.

As anyone can see from all our threads, everybody is taking off at various directions, if we can somehow consolidate all these into a useful thread that newbies and experienced members alike can refer to for infomation and direction would be a tremendous help

Wilson

 

I don't think the Evo has been out long enough to have a Civic-like mod route. Companies are still coming out with products and people are still testing.

 

5000 is a large first step. You might want to break it down to 1000, 2000, 5000.

I don't own an Evo yet, but here's the order of mods I would do, grouped together.

MBC
Boost Gauge
Panel Filter
Ground wire kit
Turbo Timer
Driving School

Brake Pads
SS Brake Lines
SS Clutch Line
Clutch Slave Cyl. Restrictor
Tint

EGT Gauge
AFC or E-manage or Xede
Wide-band O2 sensor

Blowoff Valve
Turbo-back exhaust with high-flow Cat

Coilovers

Cams

Larger Intercooler with piping

Where you go from here is up to your imagination.

 

Wilson,

There is actually no definate best path on how to upgrade your car. There are many manufacturer and vendors in the market. They all have it's own theory.

IMO, just stick with one manufacturer. If the manufacturer do not have the item you need, then find an alternative manufacturer. i.e. Stick with HKS mod. If HKS do not manufacturer some upgrade parts that you are looking for, then choose other competative manufacturer such as greddy, jun, tomei, .....

With 15k, you have a long list of mods. Turbo kits with large intercool...... Don't forget to do body kits too since it's important to make your car pretty too.

 

1) Groundwire Kit
2) Short Shift Kit
3) Clutch
4) Exhaust
5) Piggy Back or replacement computer
6) Turbo - if you've got the cabbage (then FMIC aswell)
7) Everything else is "misc"
gauges... hard pipe kit... stereo... speakers... ss brake lines... sway bar... ...

 

Just to help you out with some figures, here are the current items I have purchased and the total price:

Tein flex coilovers w/ EDFC
Cusco Front OS Strut Tower Bar (Triangle)
Cusco Rear OS Strut Tower Bar
Cusco Version 2 lower arm bar
Cusco 23mm rear sway bar
Cusco 25mm front sway bar
Perrin adjustable rear sway bar links
HKS Type 0 turbo timer w/ harness
HKS EVC 5
Greddy E-manage w/ ignition, injector, and support tool

Price: $3,700 shipped to my door

7 Autometer Phantom gauges:
Boost
EGT
A/F
Water Temp.
Oil Temp.
Oil Pres.
Fuel Pres.

Price: $665

Hope this helps

 

This is what I'm doing:

18x8.5 Volk LE28n's (16.5lbs) and forged lug nuts with Nitto nt555's and Tanabe springs
remove spare tire and jack
lightweight battery
Grounding wire kit (regain 2-4whp?)
K&N drop in filter (2-4whp?)
lighter weight Turbo back exhaust (25-30whp?)
Works throttle body (8-10 whp?)
SS Clutch line

Then I'm waiting on Works Brain flash
with the timing, fuel,
rpm flash, and boost flash. (40 - 50whp?)

I'm hoping for an additional 80-90 whp with this basic setup. And I estimate I will also be a 100 lbs lighter as well.
I know #'s don't mean much..but I would love to hit that magic 300whp with these basic bolt ons. I think it is very possible to do so.

 

This is what I have:
1. Blitz DTT turbo timer
2. grounding cables
3. Pioneer headunit
4. Infinite Kappas speakers
5. stainless steel clutch line

This is what I want in the future:
1. SAFC-2
2. boost controller
3. EGT guage, A/F guage, oil pressure/temp guage
4. 3" catback and downpipe
5. front LSD
6. lightweight battery

 

Performance upgrade path for a daily driver:

Turbo Timer
Exhaust
Boost Gauge
MBC/EBC
Fuel Controller
Intake
cams/intercooler (depending if the slight difference in idling will annoy you)

Suspension Upgrade Path:
Springs/coilovers

Audio/Security:
Head Unit
High-end components front
Mid level coaxials - rear
4 x 50watts for Front and Rear
300watt Sub amplifier
10 or 12 inch woofer
Alarm/Remote Start

 

Honestly, if i had $15,000 to play with, i would force some payments on the car first. then use what ever's left over on stickers.

 

Great replies, keep them coming!
BTW, what kind of power gains can one expect from say using HKS 272/272 cams?

Wilson

 

IMO driving school (or a similar high performance driving event) is the single best upgrade you can do...

 

i ran 13.2@102 before the hks cams and denso660 injectors.. and after i ran 12.2@113mph

my next upgrade path is:
Fuel Pump
AEM EMS
Larger Intercooler (dont know yet)
Dynoflash
Works Throttle body
Turbo Kit(dont know yet)
ARP Studs
Fix my exhausts leaks

 

This is a great thread. I wish all the vendors would post there path here and we can see what we like best. So far it's about all the same, turbo back, intake, computer, cams, FMIC, etc. I think it will be a lot better in 6 months when all of the bugs get worked out and then we can see what everyone ends up with. I bet Vishnu has a 16,000$ stage 3 lol sorry shiv I had to do it lol. I may end up with your stuff whonose.

 

Rollaway,

That means it's must be worth at least 30hp for the cams, wow!!
I thought about getting those cams too, but i just sort of gotten lost with all the options out there, and that's why i started this thread.

Wilson