Hey guys, names Dave. Little boring info about me... I've been into cars forever, but always older camaros and always into drag racing. got a little older and wiser and got into different types of cars but still american V8 powered and still drag racing. Been into sportbikes forever as well and raced my 1000RR at Miller Motorsports park. fell in LOVE with that track and wanted a car to try on the track.
Ever since the EVO's came out i thought those would be an awesome daily driver type car but never pursued the thought until now. and honestly never really knew the potential of the car. Did a little research and picked up an 03 EVO VIII the other day. performance wise its 100% stock with 61000 miles. it does have front and rear strut tower braces but thats it. no idea if the 60k service was done or not, dont really know much about it but i hear it needs to be done. so that is the first on my list of things to do. this IS my DD now so performance mods will be kept to a minimum (ha ha yeah right) only plans so far (being a complete noob i may be way off track) is a turbo back exhaust. intake. boost controller. better clutch. and tune. i say these are the only mods but i'm a car guy and can get pretty serious

the interior of the car is in amazing condition. engine bay amazing. body on the other hand has some issues someone tried to steal this car and destroyed the driver door between the handle and the rear driver side door. also 2 wheels are rashed and one seriously bent. other than that its a nice car. runs smooth. i'm assuming the wheel got bent hitting a pot hole but i will never know for sure.

i'll be searching for the mods i am wanting and maybe some direction on how/what is needed for the 60k service.

here is a pic of the car. (dont wanna show the door though its embarrassing )

i removed the silver from the letters. didnt like the look.



ps. if anyone has an oem wheel for sale could you please let me know?
thanks
Dave

 

the strut tower braces are OEM, the car looks good and good luck with it. Get the 60k service done asap cause you dont want to ruin your motor.

 

who ever had that car before you really took care of it, its super clean for an 03

 

Congrats, car looks good from what we're allowed to see

 

www.utahpace.com

Also there's a Utah Evos thread on here under the West region section.

And welcome! Miller is a wonderful track. Dunno how long you've been going out there but I had a silver Evo VIII with NTO3+M wheels, some coilovers, R-compounds, tbe and a tune and I did great. I never needed a new clutch, but I never drag raced. And with the old Evos I'd really stay away from intakes, they typically aren't worth it.

Also co-drove a mean track prepped black S2000, unfortunately both cars are sold now

Instead of clutch and intake, get some good coilovers and some cams or a set of wheels/tires dedicated for the track.

Chances are with the way our roads are it got bent from potholes. Two of my BBSes are bent from this lovely winter we just had...

Edit: Oh yeah, and if you look on utahpace or the west region here. We have started up doing mid-monthly meets. Next month we are doing a joint meet with Rally Sport Direct at their store here, can't remember the exact date. Should be pretty big though. There's also Cars and Coffee going on every Saturday morning that's just kind of a general all-cars type meet.

 

right on i'll look into utahpace for sure. i was at mmp quite a bit but only ever looked at the cars running maybe twice. i was too busy riding the apex track days or the mmp track days on my bike. i for sure want to do suspension parts preferably before engine stuff, cause just like bikes power doesnt really mean crap if it cant get to the ground properly. but at least one new wheel and the 60k service are first things to be done. i'm going to "try" and baby it for a while till i can afford to do it, i had to dump a lot of cash to get this car.
this may be discussed a million times before or not, but since you had experience at mmp with your evo do you "think" the wing helped? i honestly do not like the look but if it is functional at MMP id keep it on there. i just dont think there would be too many sections of going fast enough to use it unless it was a perimeter or full track day.
my car is in decent shape. the carbon fiber on the wing is faded but so is like 90% of other evo's i've seen. has a few scratches aside from the messed up door, but it is 7 years old so i wasnt expecting a show car ya know? its cool though. excited to do some work on it and have fun

 

Ah, the biking takes guts out there. I have little fear riding along/driving in any car, but the bikes always make me cringe. So kudos to you!

Definitely don't blame you on babying it. Dumping the money to buy this car means all I've been able to "afford" to do to it is get an AP. And for these kinds of cars, a tune is a must if you aren't doing anything for awhile. Completely different car after a tune.

While I can only answer you with a "think." Yes, I definitely think the wing helped. Even with some bits of (albeit aggressive) street driving. I did get a chance to drive a friend's RS which was wingless, but that was on the street. Still... I could tell the difference. I imagine there aren't many corners where it makes a huge difference at Miller. But I would be curious as to how big of a difference it would make in the kink.

More so, not the same car, but we did test our S2000 with and without the APR spoiler we put on it. Worlds of difference there for sure.

If you don't like it. Take it off. It doesn't sound to me like you're doing crazy wheel-to-wheel racing in it. And if you were, you'd want a bigger wing anyway. No point in driving a car around town that you don't like just so that is faster on the track. Having fun in a car you love is the most important part. Even if it is slower, I can promise it'll be more fun without the wing as the rear end steps out quite a bit easier on... uh... freeway on ramps. Namely the 600s to I-15 south entrance... At legal speedlimits, of course.

You could always get an Evo IX JDM rear bumper, which should help increase the rear downforce with the diffuser.

 

the bike wasnt scary on the track, cars seem like it would be worse, passing someone on a bike on the track is cake, but in a car you dont know what the other guy is thinkin and there seems like less room for error being much wider than a bike. i am for sure going to be heading out there though. i bought my wife a GTI VR6 which would be pretty fun as well. doesnt handle as good but its still a half way fun car. sold my bike and am missing the canyons but i think the evo will almost make up for it

 

welcome and congrats

 

You learn how to tell what the other guy is thinking in a car, just like I'm sure you had to on a bike. I'd just be terrified of crashing a bike compared to a car...

Less room for error is true, but most HPDE events don't allow passing in corners anyway.

I imagine the Evo will come close to making up for it, especially once you start modding it.

 

yeah i'm stoked to do a few things to it. just need to save my nickels and dimes.

 

hi dave same here, how do you like the power of the evo all wheel over rear wheel driven cars?

 

well this doesnt feel like "power" but its still fun. i see you have a notch i had a 92 notch at one time. having that much power you probably would appreciate the last SBC i built, 406 Dart block, callies crank, mgp rods, diamond pistons, 13.6:1 18* heads flowed 390+ 2 foggers etc etc etc plan was to toss it on my 96 cobra but got bored and poor so sold it all....oh well. onto the EVO!! i would love to feel "power" in the evo but i have to realize i need to drive this everyday and its not a drag car. i still want to make it somewhat fast but not overkill. the evo is bar far way more fun to drive, handles great and stops fast. i cant wait to make it a tad faster and take it to the track (not drag dont care what it runs).


btw. got any pics of the notch? those are my fav "drag" cars

 

welcome! thats a super clean VIII

Run a turboback, boost controller, intake and tune and you'll be really happy with power for a little while =-p

 

thats exactly what i have planned for the next little bit. i know i know hit the search button, but what is the best turbo back for these?
thanks