In an effort to pay homage to the Evo roots, I want somewhat build my IX more towards a rally/off-road car while still being able to handle the tarmac twisties very well.

Has anybody here aggressively setup their Evo to do such? I always see track/autox cars but not so much on the off-road side other than the parking lot snow drifters...

 

http://dirtyevo.com/

I believe this forum is what you're looking for

 

That was quick! Thanks! Do you have a username there? I'm registering now.

 

Yep, same username as here

 

Special Stage Forum is the largest rally forum I have run across. http://www.specialstage.com/forums/index.php

 

The single biggest problem with setting up any car to be both an off-road and tarmac vehicle is the brakes. A serious rally car has brakes that fit inside a 15" wheel. A serious tarmac car has brakes that require a 17" or 18" wheel, preferably the latter.

You can, of course, own two sets of brakes and swap back and forth, depending on the next event. That's what the dreadfully serious do. But a low-effort car that is intended to run both on- and off-road cannot be optimized for both. You have to make a decision which is more important to you.

 

Are you going to race with any of the well-known organizations or just go off-road for fun?

If the former, then the first step is to read the rules several times. Then decide on a level of preparation and start deleting mods that go beyond the allowances and start adding the mods that are allowed but you don't have.

It goes without saying that tightening the nut behind the wheel is the most important, but that's true for all motorsports, so I won't mention it here. (oops)

 

No racing, just off-road for fun... I was looking to see if anybody had a rally setup and then I would gravitate towards that to give me better performance off-road when compared to stock. In the spectrum below, I'd like to sit in the 3 or 4 area. I'm thinking suspension and tires would get me there, but I don't really know what exactly I should be targeting. Any suggestions?

1 - Rally
2
3
4
5 - Stock
6
7
8
9 - AutoX

 

Well, tires are the most important mod for off-roading, followed by shocks and springs. If you have an Evo IX, then you can get 16" wheel on right? If so, then a set of Blazzaks or Winterforces on 16" wheels will get you started. If you're lowered, however, then that must be undone. Then you're set for seat time seat time seat time. The only other change that you might need to do is a skid plate. That depends on the surface.

 

Smallest wheels that clear the brembo's on the VIII/IX are 17", not 16"

 

Bummer. But better than the 18" I must have.

 

For the time being, I'd probably use my stock 17's with higher profile tires.

I started looking at suspension and read up on some Tein Type HG's. They look good and suitable for what I want to do. Height adjustment is 0.6 to -0.2" and 0.5 to -0.3 for the front and rear, respectively.

Some people on other forums were saying that they use the rally type coilovers combined with different sway bars to improve off-road vs tarmac handling. So basically I'm thinking that the rally coilovers will give a "softer" ride for off-road, and if driving on the road using sway bars will tighten up the car a bit. Does this sound right or am I missing something?

 

Well, it's not just the springrates that are different, it's the valving in the shocks. Many would say that the valving is much more important, too. Do you have anything like a force-velocity plot for the Teins that you're thinking of?

Sorry to harp on it, but if preparation rules don't affect you, then downsizing your brakes is much more important than coilovers. With regard to ride height, a skidplate is 10x the protection of raising the car a half-inch. Cheaper, too.

 

I don't have a force-velocity plot. Maybe I'll start with a skid plate and some mud flaps and just drive it in the dirt for a bit. Then go from there to see what my needs are...

 

That's the route I'm taking (but mostly because I want to run the SCCA's Stock class). A TRF plate, RallyArmor flaps, and Blizzaks on the OE wheels. You can also have a drop-in filter and cat-back, but power isn't the issue and I hate loud cars. The one thing I haven't figured out yet are shocks (which can be anything that was (a) intended for the car in question and (b) have no more adjustments than stock). Might get the Bilsteins from an MR; might just stay stock. I'd just watch it on Asian shocks. They usually have way too much high-speed compression damping which could be a huge negative on a rally car.