Hello


Well finally bit the bullet and bought an evo. I have been looking at them for a little over a year now and I've done my share of research over this time, and I finally found one that I liked.


Got the car last weekend and been loving it since. This is my first car that wasn't a cheap/beater one. Last car before this was a 02 volvo s60 that Ive had for the last 5-6 years, actually was a really reliable car for having 190k when i bought it. This will be my daily haven't decided if ill drive it in the winter but one the the reasons I wanted an evo is because I can drive it all year round. I've been looking into the fluid film and woolwax undercoat so the under body wont get trashed after one winter. And I guess I would have to move the ayc pump.


Just wanted to come share experience and maybe get some tips and some knowledge maybe some things I haven't read or heard about yet. The car only has 39k miles on it and is stock other than a cobb turbo back and cobb intake with a stage 2 access port tune.


So far I've only bought the fuel pump relay kit and some weather tech floor mats for it. Not sure on the clutch life so I figure that might be something in the near future I will be needing. Also read taking out the clutch pill could help. Is there any other things that are a must do that i should do?


For my goals for it I would like to get a different exhaust I don't really like how quit the one i got is, I'm leaning towards the ets quite exhaust. Not too sure if i should keep the intake on it or get the ets with the heat shield on it. I would like to get the full boltons done and get a tune from the TPG since they are kinda close and seem like they do good work. Eventually i would like to shoot for 350-400whp but since I don't have e85 that close 400 might take longer to achieve from what I have read. Also was wondering how much of a difference short throw shifter would make?


Also wouldn't mind checking out some car shows if theres anything going on around me I'm about 40min north of Pittsburgh.


Any tips or anything let me know.


Thanks


Bill

 

Way to go there Bill @willrit87

Nice looking X for sure. The wheel / tire set up really sets it off

Im a 9 owner & not really up on the X but there are basics that cross both models

Stay connected w/us on the boards

Joe

 

Sup man. From the eastern part of the state.

Did your car come with records(receipts) of previous service maintenance done? Did you buy it from a dealer? A private party? Because a full fluids change is done at every 15K miles interval. Because if it hasn't been done in a while or you don't know, It'd be a good idea to do this service. Full fluids would be transmission fluid, differential fluid and t-case fluid.

Let me ask you this. How does the car drive now? Does it feel good? Drive good? Inspire confidence to push it harder?

Sweet ride. And nice wheels.

 

Welcome to the forum dude. Would hold off on the pill until its time for a new clutch, then do the evo9 master cyl upgrade alongside the clutch install. Coming from a 350z, I didn't like how soft and sloppy the shifter felt when I first picked mine up. These were the very first things I swapped to tighten things up:
1. Works short shifter. ~$180
2. AMS Gate selector bushings. ~$27
3. AMS Under hood shifter bushiings. ~$40
4. TorqueSolutions shifter base bushings. ~$22
Everything is super crisp now. A noticeable difference I feel in every shift, so totally worth the $260ish bucks.
You might want to look around on your car before buying any of these though, since they may already be installed. Just look to see if these are rubber or if they are solid, you want solid.
Later on I swapped out the front motor mount with the TorqueSolutions aluminum mount with the 75A durometer bushing (~$90). 75A isn't too bad, a lot of folks regret anything stiffer since the interior starts to vibrate/rattle.
All of these things are really easy to install.

 

Hello

Thanks for the replies. The car feels great to me and it sure makes you feel like you can do more than you should. I did take a bend fast enough the traction control came of for a second so there's that, but I'm still feeling the car out so I try not to get too crazy. The car fax showed the fluids being changed once with the first owner and the second owner said he only did oil changes so it defiantly needs fluid changes. Ive ordered all the fluids i need to do everything, and I will be doing them at the end of the week.

I'll have to check all the parts for the shifter but the guy i got if from said he didn't do anything to the car other than the things listed. I did forget it has h&r lowering springs tho.

My clutch engages about the same place as the brake pedal just wondering if that could be used for how much the clutch is worn.

Thanks again

Bill

 

Forgot to add, might as well put in a fresh cabin air filter and an air filter(engine) if you still have the stock intake. New spark plugs would be a good idea too.

 

WILLRIT87,

First, WELCOME to the Evo X club. I still remember the huge smile on my face when I got my Evo and the joy is STILL brings me to this day. IMO, I think you should leave the Evo closer to stock for a bit while you get used to it and focus more on the cosmetic/daily functionality of the car. By cosmetic, I mean ANY mods that don't add power (Coilovers/Lowering Springs, new wheels (if you don't like the white ones), upgrade the stereo, LED headlights/taillights, etc. Those are mods you can do and enjoy right away as a daily driver. Now, the reason I usually tell people to hold off on the power mods are:

1. Your car has 39,000 miles on the odometer. Unless the prior owner voided the warranty, WHY would you want to mess with a car that has parts under warranty for another 21,000 miles? I remember my buddy getting a brand new Mazdaspeed 3 and had his turbo blow TWICE in about 1.5 years. It was covered under warranty but you can imagine the repair bill if it wasn't. Wait until the powertrain warranty is over OR unless you have $$$ for repairs, wait until you have more of the car paid off. I've known too many people with Evos who got them, got all excited and got mod crazy only to blow their motor or blow their clutch and then have to put all these expenses on a credit card.

2. You said that you got the car because you can DD it. Well, more power mods are just going to add to the wear and tear of the car so you'll be replacing parts (tires, brake pads, clutch) sooner rather than later.

These are just MY suggestions. I know I'm in the minority here on these forums. I just know that personally I've been in a few situations where I was thinking "Damn, I wish I had some more horses under the hood" but those times are few and far between. Unless you love to drive fast, track your car, or find local spots to drag, you're not really going to notice that much more power on a "daily" basis. I got to drive my buddies BMW M3 for about 2 weeks while he was out of the country and while that car is AMAZING to drive, I still only got on it a few times. Other than that, I drove it no differently than I drive my Evo.

Again, welcome to the club and enjoy your new car ! ! !


Lando

 

Ya I hear you. I'm in no hurry to go crazy on power just yet. Just wanted to do the few bolt ons and get a tune for right now. First thing I'm looking to get is a short throw shifter I did a little searching around and the works with some bushing looks like something I would like. And for the warranty I don't think the car still has one thought it was done after 5 years.
Anyhow thanks for the advice.

Bill

 

I also recommend the Works short shifter. It really is amazing and provides a significant boost in the driving experience

 

Got all my fluids changed last weekend wasn't too bad. There are a lot of complaints with different things with this car but I gotta say the plastic under the front is the worst. All those plastic clips are a pain.

 

Clutch on the Evo 10 engages high up, that's normal. If it's not slipping, don't worry about it.

As for your power goals, you already have a turboback and intake. Add a 3 port EBCS and maybe UICP, get a protune, and you should make around 350whp on 93 octane. Tune is the most important mod on these cars, so make sure you have a good, reputable tuner. Might want to get a wideband gauge as well to monitor AFRs

Enjoy the car

 

Yeah been looking to buy some gauges trying to figure out how i wanna mount them. Best I've found was a replacement cluster trim with them attached to it but the only place that has them have quality issues(the ortiz one). I'm thinking of picking up a used trip piece and trying to fab my own.

Something I'm kinda excited about there is actually a place that has e85 by me they just built it last year just never went there before. So I might be looking into running some of that maybe a dual map. Anyone that runs e85 know how much cheaper the it has to be for it to cost less or the same as 93? 93 is around $3.33 around here and the e85 is $2.18.

Another thing I dont really like the cobb exhaust(too quit for me) thinking about the ets regular. But maybe ill post the cobb up for sale.

Anyways thanks for all the advice.

Later

Bill

 

I can't speak to the gauges. I just mounted my boost on the steering column and the fuel content on the dash, nothing fancy.
e85 is great, but don't do it to try to save $ on gas. You burn through it a lot quicker so no real savings.
Grab a flex kit like this:
https://www.wtftuned.com/collections...ex-fuel-system

Then get a flex tune. You can run e85 or 93 in the same tank. The kit reads the alcohol content and your tune adjusts between the 93 and e85 fuel map. No manual selecting of map/tune needed. Depending on how aggressive your tune is, you might need to upgrade other parts of your fuel system (Injectors/pump). e85 is an easy 50+whp bump though. A really fun upgrade.

 

Thanks for the reply. Yeah I'm not looking at e85 as a savings just a curiosity on the price/mpg difference since its over a $1 cheaper.

And I was just looking at some of those flex kits yesterday really nice system.

Bill