Evo VIII Build in The Mitten State
Dec 3, 2012, 10:24 AM
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Evo VIII Build in The Mitten State
Hey guys- I'm fairly new to the forums and finally picked up an Evo after a couple months of searching. I'm from Michigan and have been dinking around with cars for about ten years. Here are a couple of my previous projects:
2003 Toyota Solara- TRD supercharged 1MZ V6, 5 speed manual. Fairly basic mods for the most part:
Sadly, I was rear ended just before graduating college and the Solara was totaled. This allowed me to pick up my next project: a 93 Nissan 240SX. I spent four years building this car and had a blast with it:
When I bought it:
Some pics I took just before I parted it out about a month ago:
My wife and I had our first child five months ago, and the 240 really wasn't seeing much use anymore. I loved that car to death, but I really didn't have much time to work on it anymore with the little one around. It was also a bummer that I couldn't take my family with me too meets or on a cruise. That led me to part out the car, sell my daily driver (a 2003 Toyota Matrix) and pick up my Evo for year-round daily driving duty.
I actually bought the car from a listing I found on Evo M. The seller was located outside Chicago, so I made the five hour trek out there two weeks ago to grab the car and bring it home. I am the third owner and the car has 69k miles on it. It has light mods including full exhaust, front mount, intake, cams, lowering springs, wheels, etc.
I'm in the process of removing some of the items to get some things that are a little more my style and make the car my own. I have sold the wheels, tail lights, and eventually the exhaust. The car is in great shape though and is a blast to drive so far! I am really enjoying it.
Here are some pics from when I got the car home two weeks ago:
Whew! Long post, lol. I am really looking forward to tinkering with this car and being a part of the community. Lots to learn. I'll use this thread to track my process with the build.
Damon
2003 Toyota Solara- TRD supercharged 1MZ V6, 5 speed manual. Fairly basic mods for the most part:
Sadly, I was rear ended just before graduating college and the Solara was totaled. This allowed me to pick up my next project: a 93 Nissan 240SX. I spent four years building this car and had a blast with it:
When I bought it:
Some pics I took just before I parted it out about a month ago:
My wife and I had our first child five months ago, and the 240 really wasn't seeing much use anymore. I loved that car to death, but I really didn't have much time to work on it anymore with the little one around. It was also a bummer that I couldn't take my family with me too meets or on a cruise. That led me to part out the car, sell my daily driver (a 2003 Toyota Matrix) and pick up my Evo for year-round daily driving duty.
I actually bought the car from a listing I found on Evo M. The seller was located outside Chicago, so I made the five hour trek out there two weeks ago to grab the car and bring it home. I am the third owner and the car has 69k miles on it. It has light mods including full exhaust, front mount, intake, cams, lowering springs, wheels, etc.
I'm in the process of removing some of the items to get some things that are a little more my style and make the car my own. I have sold the wheels, tail lights, and eventually the exhaust. The car is in great shape though and is a blast to drive so far! I am really enjoying it.
Here are some pics from when I got the car home two weeks ago:
Whew! Long post, lol. I am really looking forward to tinkering with this car and being a part of the community. Lots to learn. I'll use this thread to track my process with the build.
Damon
Dec 3, 2012, 10:29 AM
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My first purchase for the car was the revised heater control gear set and cable, since my car had the common issue of the gears stripping out when I bought it:
My next move was to remove and sell the knock-off IX tails that came with the car. They looked decent enough, but I have my heart set on some VII tails when my man Russell at MitsubishiParts.net gets them in in a couple of weeks:
Next, I sold the XXR wheels and tires that came with the car. Not really my cup of tea. I used the cash to pick up a set of OEM wheels and lug nuts:
They came with some snow tires on them, but they were pretty worn. I ended up replacing them with some new Hankook snow tires:
Some of the center console interior panels were damaged when I got the car, so I picked up a couple of replacement items. My other new pieces from MitsubishiParts.net should arrive this week, and then I will be able to install everything in the interior:
My next move was to remove and sell the knock-off IX tails that came with the car. They looked decent enough, but I have my heart set on some VII tails when my man Russell at MitsubishiParts.net gets them in in a couple of weeks:
Next, I sold the XXR wheels and tires that came with the car. Not really my cup of tea. I used the cash to pick up a set of OEM wheels and lug nuts:
They came with some snow tires on them, but they were pretty worn. I ended up replacing them with some new Hankook snow tires:
Some of the center console interior panels were damaged when I got the car, so I picked up a couple of replacement items. My other new pieces from MitsubishiParts.net should arrive this week, and then I will be able to install everything in the interior:
Dec 3, 2012, 10:30 AM
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Cyber Monday got the best of me...
I was browsing on FR Sport and saw that the Blitz LM Type CS intercooler core was on sale for about $220 off. I had been hoping to sell the ETS core that came with the car to pick something else up, so this was too good of a deal to pass up. The core is a bit thinner than the ETS, and I am sure there are reasons related to performance that show that the Blitz is not as nice, but as you guys will see soon enough, I am a sucker for Japanese products.
Always fun to come home to a big ol box!
The contents. I ended up reusing the couplers and t-bolt clamps that were on the car already.
It seems to be common practice for people to run intercoolers with logos stenciled on them in the Evo world: ETS, AMS, etc. This wasn't as common in the 240 scene, so I never really went through with it. The ricer in me decided to whip up a Blitz stencil for the intercooler and spray it on before I installed it:
Front bumper removal was straight forward. It's always a little intimidating to do something like this on a car you are not super familiar with, but it was off within 15 minutes:
Old core removed and new core painted and installed. My car came with an ETS lower pipe, but I need to replace the other factory piping at some point down the road. I'll save that for another day:
Some completed photos of the dirty car before I left for work this morning:
I'm getting more and more happy with the car as I have time to work on it. I've got a couple other things on the way, I just need the time to actually work on it! I had planned to get a lot more work done, but the time always seems to just slip away.
I was browsing on FR Sport and saw that the Blitz LM Type CS intercooler core was on sale for about $220 off. I had been hoping to sell the ETS core that came with the car to pick something else up, so this was too good of a deal to pass up. The core is a bit thinner than the ETS, and I am sure there are reasons related to performance that show that the Blitz is not as nice, but as you guys will see soon enough, I am a sucker for Japanese products.
Always fun to come home to a big ol box!
The contents. I ended up reusing the couplers and t-bolt clamps that were on the car already.
It seems to be common practice for people to run intercoolers with logos stenciled on them in the Evo world: ETS, AMS, etc. This wasn't as common in the 240 scene, so I never really went through with it. The ricer in me decided to whip up a Blitz stencil for the intercooler and spray it on before I installed it:
Front bumper removal was straight forward. It's always a little intimidating to do something like this on a car you are not super familiar with, but it was off within 15 minutes:
Old core removed and new core painted and installed. My car came with an ETS lower pipe, but I need to replace the other factory piping at some point down the road. I'll save that for another day:
Some completed photos of the dirty car before I left for work this morning:
I'm getting more and more happy with the car as I have time to work on it. I've got a couple other things on the way, I just need the time to actually work on it! I had planned to get a lot more work done, but the time always seems to just slip away.
Dec 3, 2012, 10:33 AM
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Thanks man! It won't be as crazy as the 240 was, but I am hoping to make it a bit cooler. 8)
So that brings us up to where I am now. My next goal is to replace the exhaust system on the car. It currently has an AMS downpipe, AMS resonated test pipe, and a Megan catback that AMS modified in-house to work with their downpipe and test pipe. It honestly has a great sound to it and looks pretty good, but I want to do something different. I'm hoping to have the new parts ordered and the old system up for sale soon!
Thanks for reading so far- I'll be sure to post up more as my goodies arrive. Suspension components should be in by the end of the month.
Damon
So that brings us up to where I am now. My next goal is to replace the exhaust system on the car. It currently has an AMS downpipe, AMS resonated test pipe, and a Megan catback that AMS modified in-house to work with their downpipe and test pipe. It honestly has a great sound to it and looks pretty good, but I want to do something different. I'm hoping to have the new parts ordered and the old system up for sale soon!
Thanks for reading so far- I'll be sure to post up more as my goodies arrive. Suspension components should be in by the end of the month.
Damon
Dec 3, 2012, 10:54 AM
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You seem to have a clean design philosophy i.e. not going crazy and all out, which made your solara and 240sx seem stand the test of time. I look forward to what you will do to the evo. I think I would have avoided the stencil on the intercooler though 
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Dec 3, 2012, 01:02 PM
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Thanks!
I try to keep things pretty chill. The 240 build kind of went farther than I ever intended, and though it was pretty cool and a lot of fun at the end, it just wasn't practical to drive and enjoy anymore. And yeah, the stencil is probably a little ricer- but I decided to go for it. 
Hey thanks Brendan! Glad you still have the seat. Wish I had one or two for the Evo now! lol.
Thanks man! It's for sure been well taken care of from what I can tell. Things like the wheels and tail lights just bother me. They didn't look so bad, but I wanted to add things that are a little higher quality and make the car my own in the process. The stock tails are far from appealing, but at least for now I have the excuse that they are stock.
I agree that genuine OEM black tails would look better. You'll see as this build progresses that knock off stuff just really bothers me. Even if the stock parts look worse, I'd rather be in that boat until I can buy what I actually want. I am just weird like that, haha. And yeah, the stencil may look like a little too much at this point. Hopefully the rest of the car can grow enough to help it look a little more at home as time goes on. 
Last edited by CamryOnBronze; Dec 3, 2012 at 01:42 PM.
Dec 4, 2012, 07:10 AM
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One of the first items I bought when I got my 240 was my ARC cooling panel. I needed a million other things for the car before that piece, but it popped up for sale and I just couldn't resist. Well, the same thing happened this time around. I thought it was kind of a cool way to remember the 240, so I once I again scooped up a part I don't need.
Please excuse the poor quality cell phone pic. I'll install it sometime this week and grab a better photo. I'm planning to add a few other doo-dads to the bay to spice things up a bit, but I won't be going as far as I did with the 240 (no shave or tuck for this car.)