Hey guys im brand new to these forums and i got some questions about my brothers evo he bought a few months ago. Id like to say right off the bat i drive a muscle car and im not too tech savy as far as Evos go but i do know a good deal about cars in general.

He bought an 03 Evo from a dealership, and was told it was completely stock other than the intake.
Car had no gauges other than stock cluster so he didnt know how much boost he was pushing or anything like that but it didnt really feel up to par.

The first time we took the car to the shop we noticed plenty of things that seemed off. The exhaust had definitely been welded back on which makes it seem like it had a custom exhaust and the dealership threw the stock back on it to resell it. The rear o2 sensor was out and had to be replaced, the AC belts were cut and the condenser? was dead so the unit had to be recharged or however that works. Apparently there should be some sort of inspection plate between the tranny and the clutch, im assuming in the bellhousing or somthing that was not there wich to us indicates the clutch was replaced, and then the stock one was put back on. The exhaust and heatshield have a considerable amount of rattle and just seem like they may not be right.

As soon as we got the pillar gauges hooked up we noticed he was pushing 25 lbs of boost and knew something was wrong. It turned out the hoses were blowing off the "wastegate"? and the turbo was just producing rediculous amounts of boost? Again im not sure how any of this **** really works but his gauges were reading 25 lbs and the car was an animal. Obviously that was very dangerous for the motor and we got the hoses fixed.

Now the real problem is the car is set at 10 lbs of boost. At higer RPMs it may reach 11 but thats it. He doesnt have a boost controller yet but im really wondering if theres any reason at all the thing would be set to 10 lbs, when im pretty sure they come stock at around 19?

Is it possible this thing was beat to **** with alot of aftermarket parts on it then they tried to restore everything to stock and lower the boost to make it seem like it runs good? Car has about 60k on it but im sure alot of beating can occur in 60k. Any reason for the AC belts being cut? The whole situation seems a little bit sketchy to us and im just wondering if anyones seen anything like this before and what we should do about the boost situation.

Appreciate any feedback and greatly appreciate it if you actually read this whole thread! Thanks.

 

Is the stock boost solenoid even int he car/hooked up? If not it will run on the wg pressure of the stock turbo which i think is 10-11lbs. I could be wrong as i have not had a stock turbo in 3 years but...I would add a mbc and turn it up to 19-20lbs

 

Get a Manual Boost controller and it will fix the low boost problem. Just like he said ^^^^

 

Is there a reason the stock boost solenoid wouldnt be hooked up? if the previous owner had a mbc in there and took it out would the stock one no longer work forcing it to run off the wg pressure of 10lbs?

He plans on getting a controller soon to set the pressure back up to around 19 but doesnt want to damage anything. Is it dangerous in any way to the car for it to be running at 10 lbs, and is it completely safe for it to be set back up to 19?

 

it should be safe at 10psi, and safe at 19psi.

 

you should look and see if the solenoid is hooked up.When you do,take it to a shop and see if it has a tune.

 

stock 03 evo doesn't come w/ boost gauge, it's always risky to buy used evo

 

19 psi kinda high without a tune? isn't it?

 

They come stock at about 19 PSI so no, it isn't unsafe in that regard.

 

Were would i look to see if the solenoid is hooked up exactly? Sorry but i'm really not too familiar with Evos yet.

 

do a pressure leak test, it could be as simple as one of the intercooler piping/hoses not sitting right.
how much did ur bro pay for his btw?

 

check where the vacuum lines go that are connected to the WGA(waste gate actuator) and the little black pipe coming off the turbo... they should lead into the solenoid

 

you asked for it here you go buddy. I have many many many pictures. this is from my mbc install guide found on my website. here are pics of the OEM boost controller and the bottom of the wastegate and turbo nipple
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/3123213

here is the bottom of wastegate and turbo nipple where oem hoses/mbc new hoses would go


here is the fame oem boost controller the gold bracket

closer

here im holding onto it in case your dont see it

yet another close up

here is controller after i finished installing MBC loop it back to itselft to close off oem one you cant disconnect it cause it will trigger a CEL

 

the easiest way to see if it has been tuned is to try and see if it has a 2-step.

 

well for the evo 8, the boost peaks at 19psi but will taper to bout 16psi, thats where the MBC comes in, being able to hold boost to redline better, but I've noticed that when I pulled a log of a stock ecu map evo, it had some knock counts even at stock boost levels, it was most likely due to the 91 oct that I run

but they do come tuned really rich from the factory, get it tuned and it'll run a lot better