Hi All,

I have just bought a completely stock Evo VIII with 45k miles on the clock.
This will be the first car I have ever attempted to tune.

I have read through the "Tuning for dummies" articles and those similar but it is all going straight over my head.

Could someone please give me a "First 5 things I should do to the Evo"?

Much Appreciated

 

While I do not consider myself an Evo expert at all, here is what I would do first:
1) Lower Intercooler Piping
2) Small Battery Kit
3) Upper Intercooler piping
4) 02 housing upgrade + exhaust
5) Tune (from a reputable tuner or attempt it yourself)

That's my 2 cents! Enjoy your Evo!

 

First, figure out what direction you want to take your car (daily driver, autocross, road racing, or drag). Decide on a comfortable level of power for your needs. Talk with a reputable tuner to decide on a build path, once all part are installed get a retune and enjoy. Don't go cheap on maintenance. That's all I have for you.

 

change every fluid in the car: trans, tcase, rear diff, coolant, oil. Inspect every bushing under the car. Look for rust, have that fixed.

the cost of fixing most of those things (like trans/rust) can be very very pricey. For all you know you having a ticking time bomb in the diff or trans, and that mod money could be better spent on maintenance.

After that? air filter, high flow cat, tune from a good tuner. enjoy the car for a year then decide what you want to do to it.

 

I'm pretty much in the same place: Stock Evo 7. I've been piecing together parts and will be fitting and tuning this week. "Minor Mods": Downpipe, TestPipe, induction, Evo 9 BOV, Walbro Fuel Pump, AFR & Boost gauges, Evo 9 Turbo, Grimmspeed 3 port boost, Omni 4 Bar and most importantly TUNE... Will let you know how it goes!

 

1-full turbo back 3" exhaust
2-turbo O2 housing
3-Lower ic pipe
4-3 port boost solenoid or MBC
5-k&n drop in panel filter
6-walbro 255(if you can do a number 6)
7-replace the stock plastic 8 bov with the 9 bov (if you can do a number 7)

dont forget a tune!

 

If you are new to cars faster than a Camry, I suggest you only get a tune.

 

Plan out what route you want to take with your car, have it inspected, and get advice from your local (reputable) tuning shop. Then start down the road of parts, bolt-ons as listed above

 

figure out what you are doing with the car.
1) change all fluids and check bushings etc
2) perrin intake
3) evo 9 metal BOV
4) lower ic pipe
5) tune

that is pretty much what i did, except #5, i did o2 housing, downpipe, hfc and exhaust then tune. cuz the intake / bov / licp to me were considered the "same" bundle lol.
in all honesty, i wouldnt do a tune until you got all the stuff i listed, otherwise its just a big waste of tune money if u changed those stuff out after u already got a tune, cuz u would need a retune.

 

MrFreddieA,

I too like you was a beginner pretty much a year ago, I bought a dead stock 8mr and told myself that it would be a slow build...OOOOOO how I was wrong. Best piece of advice, before you do anything to it, if you plan on tracking it, take it there stock. Before I touched my evo, I took it to Winton here in Australia to get a proper feel for the car. I did this twice before I modded it.

Do this because once you start modding, you tend to not stop hahaha. List and order of mods below!

1. Tomei Expreme Front/Dump Pipe, decat (test pipe) and Fujitsubo RM01A exhaust
2. HKS Racing suction intake pipe
3. Walbro 255 Fuel Pump
4. Grimspeed 3-port boost controller
5. Tune (upgraded my spark plugs to BPR8ES)

Next up

6. Enkei RPF01's (18x9.5 +15) to be put on this week
7. Coilovers (locally made) to be put on when wheels go on

I find that intercooler piping is not a necessary mod at this level, but it depends on what your goals are. I wanted a car that was decently powered, which I could drive day to day and take to the track 2-3 times a year. My current setup nets me 215kw atw, yet with no exhaust drone and a car that is comfortable enough to drive in traffic daily. On the track, it performs pretty well too, but there is a lot of improvement in my driving ability to go, which will result in much faster times! I will get back to you on this once the coilovers go in haha

Welcome to the evo world, your life will never be the same!

 

My advice: learn the car, what its like, what it likes, figure out what you really want to do with it, and ask questions. At the same time, fix everything broken or worn out.

Only after you do those things should you start modding.

 

what mrowka said i did the same thing

 

Thanks all for your responses! Really helpful!
Prior to this I had a brand new Golf GTi running at standard 220BHP
I have gone for the GSR 260 so a slight step up

I want to be able to drive this every day and gradually increase the power as I enjoy the car

I have found a local reputable tuning shop and plan to take it there

Once again many thanks!

 

1. Fix the broken
2. Drive it like you stole it
2. Autocross it until you get scared
3. Learn the car
4. Mod it

 

This, minus #2 and #3.