Hello evolutionm,

just picked up an 03 WW evo with 100k for a really good price. Car came with a few mods, down pipe, exhaust, aem intake and lowering springs.

it did also however come with cams, i have no idea which ones but the car idles at -14 psi and has hks adjustable cam gears.

just curious if there is a way to tell what cams are in the car without actually having to remove the valve cover if I were to take it to a tuner?

secondly, I'm looking to mod it a little bit more but still be able to pass smog, the car actually passed california smog with the cams in the car and catalytic converter installed. i was surprised myself

My goal isn't too high, maybe around 400whp, i want to daily this as I commute to school.

Im looking into getting the following, just asking if anyone has any other recommendations or substitute certain things I've chose for the future

walbro 450 fuel pump
evo 9 turbo and then ported by curt brown
exhaust manifold ported by curt brown
intake manifold ported by curt brown
throttle body ported to 65mm by curt brown
and then lastly just a LICP,

should I look into a fmic upgrade as well?
I see map has a 02 housing that also allows for an EWG, would that be beneficial?
I seen an evo 9 turbo with a 3'' compressor housing upgrade, worth it?

just curious if any of these is not worth the cost vs performance gain. I think with all these mods the car will easily still pass smog both visual and sniffer with the stock catalytic converter installed for smog purposes.

thank you for your time evolution

Jamal

 

just talked to a few tuners where i am from, most of them say if I'm sticking with the evo 9 turbo don't even bother porting anything, the gains are not worth the cost vs performance and i am looking around 5 whp since the stock 9 turbo can only flow so much,

any opinions?

 

I think you're on the right track. I would definitely upgrade the FMIC too. Make sure you get a reputable brand too (AMS, ETS, Buschur, etc.). Don't bother with any E-bay garbage, but definitely check the used parts section if you're looking to save a few dollars.

Upgrading the O2 housing is a good idea as well. If you're looking for the most power and don't mind the noise, an O2 dump is the way to go. But that may not be doable if you're wanting to keep it SMOG legal.

If you get a ported TB make sure the shaft seals are upgraded.

 

Even with all those bolts it's going to be tough to hit 400whp with the stock cat unless you run E85.

One other thing I forgot to mention above... the greatest mod you can ever do is to learn how to tune!! It takes some time and a lot of reading, but there is a ton of info on this forum and several other sites on the internet. Read, research, and read some more... it'll all start to make sense eventually. At the very least, get yourself a Tactrix cable and learn the basics, so that if you do have someone else tune your car, you'll know if they did a decent job or not. You'll also be able to do your own test pulls and pull logs so that you can always make sure the car is running properly.

 

Im idling at 14.5 in. vacuum with my Tomei 270 cams. I would probably guess that your cams are a similar spec to those.

As far as telling what cams they are, if you cant tell from the oil cap off, then your gonna have to physically see for a manufacturers mark with the valve cover off.

You can pass smog with aftermarket cams and tune, just make sure you have the stock cat on. I passed with cams untuned, but I had the stock cat on.

I too am looking to hit 400, but it wont happen with Cali 91 on a evo 9 turbo.

 

got it guys, thanks for the help!

 

If you dont mind me asking how much did you pay?

 

thanks for the tip guys, i paid 12 for the car