Hey guys,

I'm kinda new to evos, i've had a fully built 9 for a while, but I just had to go through my first rebuild. I've poured so much money into this thing and I made the mistake of buying it built straight out of college. A rebuild later, I'm still torn as to whether I should keep the car or sell it with fear of it breaking again. The few months I've had with it were the most amazing I've had with any car, and all the cars I have test driven pale in comparison both in handling and power. Have any of you been in a situation like this and how did you justify keeping or selling your evo? The thought of spending over 8k on a rebuild and not being able to enjoy it is depressing.

 

<p>Hi!</p><p>I'm going to move your post as&nbsp;I think you will get a better response in Evo General. You are certainly not the first to ask that question, good luck!</p><p>Bob</p>

 

Properly aligning your goals with the reality of what you use the car for is important, and often where people go wrong. If you build your car like a race car then you will have to maintain it like a race car.

 

Thanks Bob.

As a follow up, I'm a year out of college and make a decent salary. Being left without a car was the only issue though during the rebuild process. Is this just a never ending money pit? I know some might say buy another car in addition to it, but I also don't want a car that sits. I knew I was making a poor decision when I got into this but I certainly don't regret it. I just need to know if I should take the hit of paying for a rebuild and selling the car for a loss, or if I should keep it and enjoy it.

 

You gotta pay to play. If you simply compare the cost of maintenance against something like a corolla its always gonna look like a money pit on paper. If you want a reliable DD you probably shouldn't take it further then what the stock bottom end will support. Even though your stock bottom end is probably gone, i think its still a good rule of thumb. Once you push it past that limit everything needs to be upgraded to cope.

 

Sorry if I wasn't clear, everything fully upgraded and built, but I find no pleasure in the standard DD that everyone generally drives, and obviously can't afford an 80k car. I don't intend to track it, I just find pleasure in going to work every and having fun while doing it. Isn't that what driving is for in some regard? To make commutes pleasureable? I'm just wondering if there's anyone else in a similar situation and what they are doing / what they decided. Obviously I don't compare the maintenance cost of a built evo to a corolla. That's not the issue. The issue has primarily been with reliability and time in shop vs. amount of immense fun in driving the car.

 

I would never build an Evo without another car to drive. I wouldnt do anything on you evo until you do that. Get something good on gas like a Honda Fit. Whatever ETA your given add another 2-4 weeks just in case, because something will come up...

 

This is the reason I had an early 90's Corolla for-ever. Just gave it to my in-law now but I still have access to it just in case. :}

 

You drive an evo, enough said, but in reality you can't have a race car that is also a reliable DD. If you start wrenching on the car yourself it will allow you to push that envelope a lot further though. My suggestion was to keep it at around 500whp to keep it somewhat reliable. This is basically the max of what a stock bottom end will support with bolt-ons. That should allow for plenty of fun.

 

What kind of power is the car making and does it already have internal engine work? and do you know what failed in order for it to need to be rebuilt now? Just asking to figure out how the rebuild is going to cost 8 thousand. As I'm imagining that you are not going to be the one doing the work. any "built" car, I don't care what it is, I never say is a reliable daily driver. I tell people if they want to build a car, they should plan on having a back up car as well.

 

Its all relative. I work in the veterinary field (wait for it) and people always ask when should their pet be put down. The answer is its up to you and your opinion on quality of life. If you're cool with paying the expensive built car maintenance then do it. However, selling a built evo can be tricky, people want as close to stock as possible. In order to keep it reliable turn it down a little. How much power do you really need for the street? I obviously dont know your work schedule but most people commute during rush hour and there isnt much room for play. Also, using all that power is dangerous on a public road (despite how empty it may be) the issue of the law and insurance hopefully not all 3 at once. If it were me, i'd daily a truck so i had something to tow the evo to the track/auto x. If you really dont want to do as such, turn it down keep an eye on your fluid levels make sure its properly warmed up and log your data. It can really help your tuner/builder especially when something goes wrong. Finally, always listen to the tuner about what the car can handle. Good luck

 

yo arash, its Stephen. hope youre well. I know you've been looking to get out of your car but have you thought about maybe de-tuning your car to a more reliable power level? or changing the focus of your setup to produce power in a different way? I don't remember what your setup is but I was thinking if maybe you had like a big turbo setup, you could sell some of that stuff off, run a stock frame turbo and a stroker kit or 4g64 block setup, might be able to keep a similar power level but put the car in a position to be beat on daily without having as many issues. have you talked with a builder or experienced evo tuning shop about what kind of failures you've been having and what way you can still enjoy the car without breaking the bank or being without the car for long periods of time? what issues are you having anyways?


I think the evo and 4g63 powerplant are among the most reliable platforms you will be able to find for making power and not blowing a completely ludicrous amount of money doing it, im not sure what other platform you would switch to in the same price range and similar driving experience.






anyways, I hope you stay with your evo cause i definitely still have and love mine, though ive barely driven it this summer. I was planning to take a trip to your area this summer with my gf but just moved into a house and couldn't find the money for it, but im sure ill be around soon and hope to see you and hang out and drink a bunch and scream at people on the street.

 

Haha great to hear from you again man, funny that you found my post. I currently do have a 4g64 and it's got an FP black, so everything is as you suggested. I basically had a blown headgasket and turbo needed a rebuild as it was just blowing smoke. Think there was something wrong with my timing belt tensioner which caused me to be a few teeth off, and once they looked they saw the previous owner hadn't resurfaced the block properly. Later they saw my cams were screwed up and so was my mivec gear. At that point I was pretty far in I figured I'd just go for a rebuild for the peace of mind and to make sure a potential buyer wouldn't have to suffer through what I did. Hope to see you soon man. It's been too long.

In regards to the other questions, power was at I think 430/460 on a mustang dyno with the timing belt being off a tooth. (not sure how much impact) but yes it had all internals done. Yes all work is being done at a professional shop, and the 8k I mentioned is all said and done including the tune and the turbo rebuild etc.

Thanks for the response guys.

 

Yah thats a totally reasonable amount of power for that setup. Sounds like its just bad luck that the previous owner's shop cut corners on the 4g64 swap. Being a tooth off can have a pretty dramatic effect too. Your lucky if you didn't do any damage to the valves.

 

Im going to have to say that after years of being here at Evom I will say that the 4g64 is prob the worse bang for buck that I have seen. Their are only a few that have built good solid 64 setups and they all have had some learning curves. The head gasket is prob the biggest issue that I have seen with this setup. Most of the guys I know personally all had over heating or water pushing issues. I would say first get a civic as a dd (best evo mod you will ever do lol). 2nd find your self a good 4g63 engine to rebuild and so a simple build. Basic internals and tune can net you 400-500hp all day long for years on end. 3rd take very good care of the car, stay on top of routine maintenance and you should be good.