I have a never installed prosport evo boost gauge I can sell you if you want it. I live in MN also, let me know if you're interested.

 

Very nice. Keep us posted with how it all holds up. That is some fierce numbers for a daily driver.

 

I have the same exhaust on my x. Also did my downpipe in the garage, broke 2 bolts in the turbo, let's just say I'm never doing that job again.

 

I've already got my boost gauge, thanks tho.

 

I broke one as well. I ended up just installing with the 4 bolts I had left and limping it in to MAP for them to fix the broken one. That set me back about $500. The downpipe install is not to be trifled with.

My one bolt that broke was an interesting case, it came loose just fine but would only come out about 1 full turn before it bound up again. "Luckily" it was in a place where it was possible to get the impact wrench on it. So we were met with a choice, do we try to run it out with the impact or do we just run it in and sheer it off so we can pull it out the backside. We decided to try and run it out, the bolt sheered off immediately and I was left with the remainder embedded in the turbo housing. If you find yourself in this situation do yourself a favor and just run it in and snap it off. Replacement bolts are available for far less than the $500 or so you could be spending to get the sheered bolt extracted.

 

KVandy15,
When considering your evo MR did you look alos at MR, I have been through the posts on both cars and I am still undecided on th model that is best for me I love the MR but I miss the MT. Thought I would ask someone who is currently Driving an MR do you regret going for the MR over the GSR? I like the thought of the wife being able to drive it in a pinch, however we live in a small cow town in NORCal so mods will be limited due to smog and traffic with MT not an issue. Catch you on the flip.

 

I like your set up is simple. After tuning do you mind PM me your dyno sheet. Im in the east side of St.Paul may be we can cruise sometime and I'm on EVO MN too same username. If you need any help LMK I might able to help you with some stuff I'm not pro but I do alot of stuff on my car except tuning.

 

I grew up driving manual transmissions and I am a huge fan so I struggled greatly with the decision between getting a GSR or a MR but I do not regret going with the MR one bit. I really enjoy the benefits it provides on both ends of the spectrum.

If I want it to just be a normal car for a bit I can leave it in normal mode and it does a fantastic job of subduing the car. Shifts are smooth and early generally keeping the car out of boost RPM range, I would have no reservations about letting my grandma drive it. It only gets crazy when you ask it to.

On the other end of the spectrum putting it in Sport/S-Sport modes will delay upshifts and perform aggressive downshifts to keep the RPMs up in the boost range. It becomes a completely different experience, like a dog pulling at the end of a leash just begging you to let it stretch it's legs. When tracking the car I often end up leaving it in one of the auto modes because quite frankly I just cant compete with how brilliantly it shifts.

Of course you can intervene at any time using the paddle shifters or by flicking the stick over into the manual position (which is oriented properly so that pulling back gives upshifts and pushing forward gives downshifts). It's worth noting that in manual mode it performs as such, it will not shift unless you tell it to, period. The most it will intervene is by releasing the clutches if you are stalling out.

Calling it an automatic is doing it a disservice, it is much closer to the kind of gearbox you would find in a Lambo or a Ferrari than a traditional automatic.

So by now you are probably wondering what the catch is. You will find it in maintenance and upgrades. Every 30K it is going to cost you around $500 to replace the fluids, that's about it for maintenance assuming you don't break it. Most likely cause of breaking it will be putting too much power to it without upgrading it accordingly.

For upgrades it can be pretty expensive and the ceiling is a little lower than with the manual. Up to around 350whp you should be good to go with stock. Once you start approaching 400whp you are going to need to upgrade the clutches to the tune of at least $2500 parts and labor, if you want to make as much as 600whp you can move that closer to $6000. Beyond 600whp you pretty much have to start gambling that what you have is going to hold up because there really isn't much left that you can do to it. And lastly lets assume that you do wreck it well and good and it's time to replace it, get ready to drop about $13,000 for a brand new unit. For comparison the manual can be built to handle 1000whp, more than you are likely to be able to get the engine to put out even with huge investments.

So with the in mind the only reasons that I wouldn't recommend the MR version would be if you are concerned about keeping maintenance costs low or if you are planning to build the car to make more than 600whp. Other than those 2 scenarios the MR with it's SST Transmission gets a glowing endorsement from this owner.

 

Stock baseline runs, no parts or tuning


After parts and pro-tune