I guess this applies to all cars rather than just the Evo, but here goes anyways. How hard is it to work on the Evo? I don't want to shell out insane amount of money to get a clutch replaced or get a rear bumper painted and what not w/ all these horrors stories of Mitsu dealerships.

I have no experience when it comes to working with cars (but I love them dearly and love reading technical stuff about them) but I'm very technically minded and can do basically anything that comes with instructions. So how hard is it? If I were to get an Evo tech manaual would I be able to replace clutches and basically maintain the car by myself w/o having it serviced? Hopefully I'll be accepted into NTI(www.ntieducation.com to learn about cars!) and be wrenching on sweet cars or work on a team if I'm lucky

 

id say its a lot easier than a subaru

they just cram stuff in there where it will fit

next time you get a chance

look under the hood of a WRX or STi... yikes!

 

Yeah, I seen the STi and WRX engine in some pictures (haven't in real life) and it does seem awfully cramped in there. I wonder what they're stuffing in their engines that makes it so cramped...but that's a discussion for an another thread

 

I thought the STI was a WRX.

 

Basically, but STi is an "upgrade" to the WRX. I guess a decent analogy would be Lancer OZ:Lancer Evo is to WRX:STi.

EDIT: Misread your post. You are correct in saying the STi is an WRX but there is a difference between STi WRX and a standard WRX. Hope that makes it clear, or perhaps you already knew that.

 

I find the engine in the evo to be very simply laid out and has plenty of room to work with. but you should keep in mind that this car is going to have higher maintenance costs than your honda is going to have. So its going to help for you to be able to do some wrench turning yourself.

 

Thanks for the replies, but nobody has really addressed my original question: is the Evo hard to work on by yourself? Of course it'd be helpful if I knew how to do all this stuff but I don't, and want to know if I'm able to do my own maintanence.

 

i installed an up-pipe on my wrx the hard way, removing the entire turbo assembly, intercooler, downpipe, exhaust manifolds. it wasn't that hard. i have to replace the trans in my LRV and after looking at the service manuals it doesn't look easy. you need special tools to remove the front drive shafts from the hubs. you have to remove the transfer case. you need to have an engine hoist/special tool to support the engine while the trans is out. it looks complicated but modern japanese cars have good engineering so ease of service is considered during design.

 

Gonna really depend on whether you can tinker with cars. If you don't know the oil pan from the tranny pan, I guess it'll be hard for ya. Only thing I can say is that some things are a ***** to get to, esp when chaning the clutch line, where you gotta wrench the banjo bolt--it's in an area where only skinny hands can get to. Having a mod friendly car will most likely turn you into a mechanic.

 

Thanks for the replies guys. So basically I should be able to do it but with some difficulty (and special tools). I'd love to mess around w/ my car or any other car for that matter but I lack money, tools and I'm afraid to screw up my car beyond repair (the Accord is my only car so I'm screwed if I kill it, especially w/ no money for anything else. Even though I do want to kill it so I can have an excuse to buy an Evo ).

Hopefully I'll be able to find our first hand the fun of tuning my own car and REALLY making it mine.

On a sidenote, can some piggy back chips(like the Xede. I forgot the proper name for them) be reprogrammed on the fly? Basically can I sit in my car w/ a laptop while driving reprogram the chip to sense the changes and optimize it?

 

no ****ing joke... took us over 30 minutes to get that ****er on...

 

I can honestly say its no more difficult than working on my race car.. In some respects its easy, in others its a little more difficult.

The car does seem to be designed with maintainance in mind.. But there are a few things to keep in mind, things that are hard to get at, usually have a few components in the way that are fairly easy to remove.. Try to plan out your approach before doing it and it should help out alot.

Getting at some of the stuff over there means you might want to remove the upper intercooler pipe, battery, air-box

Those three items should only take about 10 minutes to remove and gives you access to many of the hard to reach components... One other item to ease access is the radiator fan (if your trying to do an MBC or aftermarket boost controller) Its the only messy job since you may have to remove the upper radiator hose to remove the fan (if you removed the intercooler pipe, you probably can wriggle it out without removing the hose)

In all, its all about the approach and not the contortions..

 

Also, take note when putting things back together. Simple things like the angle and direction of a hose clamp can make things so much easier. It's been mentioned that more than a few here had to do this and that just to install an MBC, but if put back together thoughtfully, all of the extra steps can be avoided and makes it much easier the next time around.

 

Just hire a skinny kid to get his arms and hands into hard to reach places and you'll be fine

 

LOL I guess I AM The skinny kid.. ROFL

Its true though, First MBC I did on an EVO took me HOURS to try to struggle with from under the car, it actually wasn't all that hard, but would have made a contortionist proud to get installed. The next 2 times I did it from the top and it literally took longer to get the stuff apart than it was to install the part itself.. In any case, I went from 4 hours doing to about 2 hours max..

Ya know the only real PITB that I'm pondering at the moment, is an easy way to get wiring (with weatherpack connectors) into the engine compartment without drilling a giant hole in the firewall.. I found a place on the drivers side kick-panel, but then I got stumped when I was trying to figure out a way to pass it through into the engine bay.

Hoping to find an easier way than drilling a 1" hole in the firewall in the only place easy to access (above the heater or a/c lines in the middle.. not sure which they were)

My claim to fame so far has been the ease of which I've been able to put my car back to bone stock if needed... which is what I was attempting to accomplish.