Hi everyone, I'm a new owner of an '04 Evo VIII GSR SSL and stoked!

Purchased @ 94k with an "engine noise", oil leaks out the tranny area, and otherwise super clean, non-modified, one owner car. It still has the stock front rotors, so I'm hopeful it wasn't beaten too bad.
Once I got it home, I replaced the timing belt(s) and all the pulleys / tensioners / water pump / cooling hoses / plugs / most fluids. Oh, and cleaned the TB... Yeah, learned real quick about that one. The engine noise was a mis-timed balance shaft.

Big thanks to the EvoM community for the vast wealth of info. As a newbie it's actually hard to justify posting because just about every question can be answered with a quick search...

I did find a few w/o easy guidance though:
- Is there a good super-flat black dash mat available? My dash has about a gallon of Armor All soaked in making it dangerous to drive during the day time.
- There is tons of backlash in the drivetrain, especially when 'givin her. Even over a real bad road at constant speed the bumps will bounce the driver around enough to stutter the throttle and get the driveline into this occilation that leads me to just completely lift.. I'm guessing the motor mounts need to be replaced, but not sure if there are other bushings to be replaced as well. Trans, rear diff, etc? Powerflex seems to have replacements for everything, I'm just not sure what all I'll need. This must be a common issue. Any tips or link to the thread I can't seem to find?

Thanks again all! I'll do my best to improve the signal/noise ratio.

 

Here's a picture of the car the day I picked it up.