Greetings,

Purchased a one owner 2004 Evo 8 with 106 k miles. Car is stock at the moment but had a few questions.

Already ordered a few basic bolt ons. Car will be tuned on 93. Just curious on head gasket change and head studs are necessary to run on e85 on my higher mileage Evo.

The car has a slight grind going into third. It's very strange, only happens if you hold the shifter a certain firm way. WOT high rpm shifts shift like butter. Part throttle is where I'm having this issue. Already tried trans flush, and adjusted the clutch. Any other ideas?

 

Try looking at your shiftere bushings to see if they are worn out, stainless steel clutch line with the restrictor removal helped my shifting a lot also. I just did the redline cocktail transmission fluid change and my shifting improved a lot also. It feels a lot less notchy and no grinding at all. I used to experience some 5th gear grinding and not anymore. hope this helps.

 

Thank you for the tip. I just just mt-90 and it didn't help much. Then I switched to amsoil and it feels better than mt90. Have not tried the cocktail

 

Since you're set on using E85, I assume you're going to be running higher boost levels. If that's the case it might be a good idea to switch to higher strength studs.

 

Yea. Was hoping to be able to hit around 320-330 whp. And I have plenty of e85 stations around me. Just would hate to pay labor for head studs

 

Not necessary honestly, but it's always a good idea to replace old things with new.

 

Head studs are a must in my opinion if you plan on modding the car. The last thing you want is to unexpectedly blow a head gasket.

 

I was trying to hold off on taking apart the head until next year when I can do cams, head studs, gasket all at once.