Are you sure someone didn't just put on a set of DSM cam gears, assuming it has aftermarket adjustable gears on it? I would look into that before I pulled the head off it since it had good compression. I know atleast one company made gears with 2 dowel pin holes for use on either a dsm or evo and the dowel pin locations were 90* off from each other. This is again assuming it is not running the stock cam gears.

 

i dont believe my car has adjustable cam gears on it...john would have to respond. the heads being pulled regardless to determine the condition.

 

No adjustable cam gears. Whoever did the cam install obviously had to put the cams in time as they did to avoid contact. There is no MIVEC, so it is a static timing value.

I would agree, a bent valve could show up on the comp test, a leak down would have been a better test for that. Either way, we need to remove the head to properly diagnose and fix the issues.

 

Well this went from bad to almost really bad pretty quick time to send the head to BR or GSC

 

We use Headgames for the major headwork. I am going to have the HKS cams checked out as well.

John

 

Headgames does good work I guess. The Owner goes to a bar I go to and always wears a head games shirt. I sold some Corvette parts to someone who does side work for them. If you have to get rid of the HKS cams get some GS2's

 

Yesterday we got the head off and we were able to see what was going on and our findings are as follows. When we attempted to time the car properly the valves were in fact contacting the pistons. We are sending the head out for further investigation.

 

Wow that sucks OP.

 

yeaa but if i get s2s i need springs, im already looking at valves and possibly a head after this is said and done im lucky if i can put gas in the car anymore lol. If anyone has or knows anyone with an evo 8 head might as well have it ready to ship incase i need it

 

Somebody has got to manufacture thicker head gaskets to accomodate for decking...right?

OP: Rough luck bro. Always do your homework when buying a used car. ESPECIALLY a sports car. Hehe. Wish you the best.

 

ive been on this site way before the time came to buy the car. no one knew this was coming the car ran good for the most part, seemed like a good car. the seller is still in contact with me so i dont believe he really had anything to do with this and if he did then its bad karma. i bought the car for 12 so putting some money into it is not as devastating as it may seem. The only part of this im really mad about is that i wont have my car for a while, and at least my evo will be 100% when it gets back home. if i payed 16,000 for the car then had to do this work it would have been a complete fail

 

Finally we have reached a conclusion. The valve train was replaced, valve job, seals, guides, decking, etc.. We got the car back together and timed properly and the results were just as we had thought.

I realize it is hard to see the dyno number so i will post them below:

Before 195whp/187wtq @24psi
After 290whp/286wtq @21psi

The car is running smoother and is making more power now on lower boost. When we first had the car here we were running 24psi and it was struggling to make power. It is now making 100whp more with less boost. I'd have to say we are very pleased with the results

 

So where was the issue? What did Headgames find in the head? Were the cams for the correct application?

Glad to see the car is back to making power!