Let's face it the Evo is a horrible "car"

The interior is made by Rubbermaid
It is not very comfortable
It has a pretty stiff suspension
It has very little to no techno-whizzie bangs
The radio just does its job... barely
The road noise makes it so you can not have a conversation
It is just plain and simple... Raw

BUT these very reasons are what makes an Evo enter another level of "car"

I fell in love with everything about Ewa, my '05 Evo MR, it suits me in every possible way. What most people see as cons - I see as pros. It may be the engineer in me, but if I had to build a car from scratch - I would take inspiration from her.

So many people told me that I would absolutely hate having bucket seats and to go reclinable. Funny thing is that I have my Recaros almost all the way up - it's the only way I can get the proper driving position and also the only seating position that doesn't kill my back.

I absolutely hate talking on the phone in the car, so the fact that I can't hear in it is a huge plus! The more road noise the less I have to hear of girls' nagging

Ewa is so easy to work on because she doesn't have all kinds of new wave technology that everyone seems to be cramming into cars these days. Times are changing, but I will never let this car go.

I got her as a baby with only a few transportation miles. She is now 6 years old and the longest I have every kept a vehicle. Never totaled a car, just always kept upgrading and switching around. I had a bad case of car ADD. Actually had an '03, but had to sell it to afford college. I missed the Evo so much that when I got scholarships I went out and bought a second one.

Over the years she definitely stuck by my side, a little too well. In the chaos of my studies I neglected her

Doesn't mean she didn't deserve it - from the get go she put up a fight. Weird issues I had to keep going back to Mitsu for. The paint was flawed in the shifter so they replaced the whole shifter. The steering wheel was off center. The Brownbos. The bolts for the spoiler rustingand destroying the trunk. The clear faded off the carbon fiber. The stretch-to-yield head studs giving and causing the freeze plug in my water pump to blow out. All of which Mitsu took care of.


She got dirty, exhaust leak - random things wrong here and there

I had to commute to Chicago 60 miles round trip a day, everyday. Then I moved to Chicago and was forced to leave her outside. I was blessed to live next to some crazy hillbilly neighbors that had a nice view of the car from their second story apartment - which they kindly threw beer bottles at.



You can barely tell, but there is a nice big dent in the Aluminum Roof.

So here we are at 84k miles, needing the 60k service still

I have had a bunch of random parts lying in my closet that I never had time to put on or couldn't sell.

Car has been good to me, so now it's time to take care of her and to do it right!


Tear down


There it is


Getting her naked


Why not add some new springs, retainers, and cams for good measure


Made sure the head was FLAT. Springs have right pressure. All valves seat fully.


New ARP Head Studs. Cleaned off the block real well and put a fresh new OEM head gasket.


Gates kevlar Timing and Balance Shaft Belt. New OEM Water Pump, Idler Pulley, Balance and Timing Belt Tensioners, and Hydraulic Tensioner


Putting it all back together


We have a new product coming out


This allows a Tial BOV to mount onto the stock UICP, just need a longer vacuum line


And a butt plug we whipped up real quick - Don't mind the dirtiness

So this is where we are at with the car right now. Just needs serpentine belt, oil, and coolant. Should fire her up tonight

We are finally going to do this car justice! She deserves it!!!

-Erik

 

I see no reason for this to be in Off Topic. It's about an Evo... moving back to the mainland.

 

lmao, loving it. i especially like the Tial BOV hose mount. bump for boomba and nice work.

 

Nice thread there Bro. Good read & descriptive pics

 

Agree with you on that one. Must be all the late nights and Red Bulls messing with my comprehension skills. Sorry about that.


The car is back together. Also a LOT cleaner.

Fired her right up. No CEL. Running WAY too rich. Idle was very rough and the car would die every time I would let off. Terrifying coming up to the intersection or merging and all of a sudden she shut off. Kris raised the idle on Friday and all has been well.

Took it easy over the weekend to let the head studs go through the heat. Will be going back in and torquing them this week. Tune to follow.

Also remembered to do a few baseline pulls before the project went underway - here is one I grabbed.


Employee Shop Day:

Coilover Install


Changing Belts

 

Knock knock Mr. Rogers, it's Mr. McFeelie
I've brought you a letter - speedy delivery


This just showed up


Cam Shield and EF2








3 Inch all the way! O2 Dump


Came with gaskets on both ends, and bolts for the cat/test pipe




Check out the Runners




Collector Seks

Also some FIC 1050's

These actually look like the pictures on the website!!!

I have been grinning all day so mesmerizing. I'm looking at the pics like I'm so jealous - keep forgetting it's mine.

Mad props to Adam! He got this here in less than a week! I couldn't believe it.

 

Very nice but your engine bay looks crap. How is there so much rust everywhere! Is this normal for Chicago?

 

Unfortunately if you drive through all the "salt" they put on the streets during winter... yes. You lucky Cali peoples *shakes fist*

Surprisingly the underside is still in tact

 

nice build you got going! cant wait to see what the map turbo puts down!

 

It's nice to have a dyno in house

We will be updating this as much as we can. The parts are trickling in and waiting on all the small pieces now (gaskets, bolts, etc.)

Also will be systematically swapping all bolts to something more corrosive resistant (Stainless Steel, Zinc Plated, Titanium, Aluminum)

 

Time for update:


Slapped an Agency Power Catback on. Sat a bit low at first because one of my exhaust hangers is ripped, nothing a strategically placed hose clamp can't fix though


I love it. The perfect amount of loud - My girlfriend even approves!


Thought I had a test pipe laying around, but I guess I must have sold it, so I ordered one from MAP - I swear these guys never sleep. They didn't have any in stock, but still managed to get one made and out to me stupid fast.


O2 dumps are pretty difficult to make fit right, so here is a clearance picture of it from underneath the car - light means they figured it out right.

Lots of people asking how to swap an Evo 9 turbo onto an Evo 8. At the same time it would be a good idea to change your coolant and oil since a good amount can pour out, so just drain it. Also get your downpipe out of the way.

Step 1:

Locate your turbo


You have to take the intake pipe off, meaning get it disconnected from everything else. In my case - MAF Sensor, one 10mm connecting it to the turbo, two vacuum lines. Depending on level of stockness - BOV and Intake
If you have issues with completing Step 1 - you do not deserve an Evo

Step B:
The Turbo is held up by two coolant lines, an oil feed line, a oil return line, a vacuum line going to the J-pipe, a vacuum line going to the wastegate, four bolts/studs to exhaust manifold, and five bolts/studs to O2 housing. I found it easiest to leave the O2 housing on - so disconnect the O2 sensor from its connector under the spark plug cover.

Disconnected O2 sensor - my heat shields were still on the OEM O2 housing so I didn't even bother trying to get the sensor out.


Coolant line #1 disconnected.


Coolant line #2 disconnected.


Oil feed line disconnected.


When I pulled the oil return line that goes to the oil pan, I forgot to take a picture since I had to scramble for an oil pan so my boss wouldn't hit me again for the mess I made. It's the jobby on the right.


Wastegate and J-pipe vacuum lines disconnected.


To get the exhaust manifold off there are two 14mm and seven 12mm nuts. These should be studs.... but in my case they turned out to be more bolts since the nuts seized onto them. Upper radiator pipe was moved to get a bit more clearance.


Pull that rusted brat out.

Step 3 or C if you are keeping track:




Swap old bolt holding line to new one. Get the banjo bolt out of the old oil feed line and put it on the new one - don't forget crush washers. If your kit's supplier has a sense of humor like our local Mitsu dealer, then you have no idea which is what part number. Easy fix is to hold it up to the old one and compare the two... You would think this is common sense.

Repeat for coolant lines





Attach hose






Pay attention to the orientation of the gasket for the J-pipe and put new J-pipe on.


According to the service manual there is no outline for the orientation of the gasket for the oil return line to turbo, but there is for the oil return line to oil pan - protrusion goes out towards front of car.

Now repeat the order backwards.

Got new studs with the new manifold so put them on.




Tonight we are finishing up the last tidbits. Torque down the rest of it, connect the lines up, and throw the injectors in.

 

Damn, that's coming together nice!!!

 

So we were getting random knock. Changed out the knock sensor (good to have a machine shop in house so we could make ourselves the tool required) and no more knock.

Stayed after last night and Kris got the tune dialed in.

Tuned for 93 on 23 psi.

A formal Parts List:
Boomba Throttle Body
Boomba Boost Controller
Boomba Fuel Rail
Boomba Battery Tie Down
MAP Tubular Exhaust Manifold
MAP EF2
MAP O2 Eliminator Downpipe
MAP Test Pipe
Agency Power Catback
FIC 1050s
TiAL BOV
Intake Filter
Revolver Cams w/ Springs and Retainers

 

Just meant for each other!


Overlapped a before and after


And a video to get an idea of how it sounds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBr0Zy3vcs4

 

We also had some time to squeeze in the Boomba Evo IX onto our dyno for a tuning session



Boomba Evo IX Tuning Session

The IX only has a turboback and FMIC

And a sneak peak of the Boomba Evo X

Boomba Evo X MR Tuning Session

X has a fully built motor, upgraded transmission and FP Black.