Hey there! I'm new to Evo ownership, I've wanted one since going to the DSM/EVO shooutout back in 2007. I've owned plenty of 4g63 along the way and am so excited to finally have my own!

My first DSM was a NT 92 Eclipse Automatic, my brother rolled it doing 80 straight off a ditch into a farmers field, rolled probably 3/4 times, he walked away unharmed and we drove the car home from the junkyard it was towed to, just put the busted windshield in the backseat and drove it home, ran great, pulled the aftermarket stuff off and waited to find another one.

My second DSM came from trading a 1999 Cavalier Z24 to an older gentlemen in northern MI, It was my first turbo car, 1990 Eagle Talon FWD, that 10 lbs of boost was something I quickly came to love, I was 17 at this point and hadn't necessarily honed down on the whole "CHECK EVERYTHING BEFORE BUYING A CAR" thing, so needless to say after a week of camping at sleeping bear dunes I was driving back to southern MI and lost all oil pressure, so I went and checked the oil level, sure enough, bone dry, not really sure what happened my step dad and I just left it on the side of 127-S for a tow truck to pick up. Dang it! haha

My third DSM, the one I should have kept... So I was scanning craigslist and xceedspeed for a new dsm, nothing, so I checked the autotrader... low and behold this man had a 1992 Plymouth Laser RS AWD 5 Speed, "Not Running" for 600 obo, just needed rent money.. I had never dialed a phone so fast in my life, luckily for me he was less than 15 minutes away, I took a battery from my garage with me and a couple gallons of gas, I got there and he walked down in his pajamas it was probably 5 in the afternoon, no judging, haha. So anyways he pulls the car cover off and tells me how his grandmother just passed away and he couldn't afford to take the car to a mechanic to have it checked out so he hands me the key to try and fire it, dead battery, so I put my known good battery in and turn it on, it's below E, like way below E, So I dump some gas into her, crank her over a few times, after a couple minutes she fires right up! I take her for a test drive and I am absolutely in love, I NEED this in my life, I don't even try to talk him down, I hand the man 600$ and am on my way!
Here is the 3rd DSM:







That's right, she had 46k ORIGINAL Miles on her, I didn't even notice when I originally bought the car, I was so excited. I started off doing a manual boost controller setting it to 14 PSI Dejon Hard UICP and DEJON LICP then added a boost gauge and narrowband (I know they don't do anything, didn't then though). I was absolutely loving it, it looked like a turd for the most part, most kids in my highschool drove GTPs or mildly built S10s, and mustangs. So we lined up a few times in mexico and they just couldn't hang, despite me explaining that my car is basically stock. We had a little DSM group in no time haha.

So the 3rd DSM is still up and running to this day, it's a garage queen outside of Detroit currently a GT35R and a whole schlew of other parts are attached to her. The current owner was a friend of mine off of xceedspeed and had traded me his 93 Eclipse GST, No rust, came on nice 18s with Kumho Ecstas, and he let me keep my Dejon pipes, his already had a MBC so no need to swap that over, it was gorgeous! I loved the FWD almost as much as AWD. I ended up trading at a 7-11 in Holt MI and then onto #4.

My Fourth DSM, 1993 Eclipse GST, ran great shifted great, I took it to the DSM shootout with DaveGroff 99GST and a few other MIDSM/Xceedspeed members, probably still one of my favorite trips of all time. This car just slowly started to get boring as I was in college and broke as hell so I ended up trading for a 1986 Trans Am GTA, not sure what was going on in my head, that was an awful deal for me, the Trans Am literally died in the first month.

My 5th DSM was one I had picked up that the owner claimed it had 16k original miles, I'm pretty sure some ****ery was involved with that one, however it ran great, other than the turbo had more play than my girlfriend at the time, I don't even remember who I got this off of, weird point in my life... Here are some pics of this one..












This was my first AWD Car with a Heavy *** clutch, ACT 2600 kicked my ***, I ended up trading this for a Turbo EF Sedan..

My 6th DSM was a 1993 Eclipse GSX With a blown turbo, I had traded an Infiniti something or another for it that my grandma gave me, no pictures of this one, I drove it home from MI to my then current house in Savannah GA, Had it for maybe a month then money got tight living so far from family and no longer being a server, So I Enlisted in the USAF and my Fiance's parents bought us a 3000 GT to get around, we were riding our bikes 5 miles each way through Downtown Savannah while working on River Street just trying to make ends meet, I was pretty thankful for their help, haha it was always very sketchy considering we lived in a notorious neighborhood.

My 7th DSM this came after my time in the Air Force, I got it from my little brother stationed in San Diego while I was stationed at Pt. Hueneme just north of LA, it was a 1996 Eagle Talon TSI AWD and he gave me a hell of a deal, i think he felt bad for totalling my first dsm many years before, here are some pics of #7.
























This was by far my favorite car to date, I absolutely loved this car! I did everything i could for this thing, however one day the shifter cable decided to go out while we were in Flagstaff AZ and I lost 2nd 4th and Reverse.. I used to have a really short fuse, I definitely regret this more than most life choices, however I ended up trading this for a low mileage 2000 Dodge Dakota 4x4 that needed a Power Steering pump.

Dsm number Eight, at this point we have moved back to MI because my wife is pregnant and we are expecting our first Daughter! We both have steady jobs and loving life so we decided to get another DSM, This one I purchased for 900$ from a fella on craigslist in Flint MI. Here's a pic of this one, I think it was a 1991 Eclipse GST with a leaky oil pan, other than that it ran great!




I ended up trading this one for an automatic EG Coupe for my wife to drive and I bought a Crown Vic, not sure why, more poor choices.

DSM #9 This was my last DSM I owned, I bought it off of a guy who wanted money for his honeymoon so he gave me a killer deal, I paid 650$ for this guy. 1996 Eagle Talon TSI AWD Autotragic, I wanted to go full racecar but we decided to move, so I traded this for a zx6r+Cash then sold the zx6r to my brother in law who loves it, so it all worked out, here's a pic of that one!









After this we moved to Knoxville Tn and I was looking everywhere for an Evo, I didn't want something I was going to replace, I wanted something to Love, to work on with my daughter, to spend a questionable amount of time with. After a few months of searching I called my buddy in MI and he had one on his lot, it wasn't in the best shape but he cut me one hell of a deal on it, and to be completely honest I didn't care what I would have to do it, it was going to be mine! Thankfully our 2015 Silverado runs like a champ and is great at fetching parts haha, here are the first few days with "Allison".
2006 Evo IX SE
This was my first fill up



It was back firing like crazy, someone decided to put some AC Delco plugs in it, it was pretty bad, and everyone at the dealer was like "OOOH IT'S SO FAST, THAT HYDRAULIC CLUTCH IS A BEAR" The clutch is easier than any other manual i've ever owned, not sure what they were smokin and the car was ANYTHING but fast, I had a prius pull on me, no lie, that woman was in a hurry.

First to go was the orange paint, I'm not big on the whole south florida look, so we will just black those bad boys right out...

In the garage at my in laws for the first time




Oh yeah I had to stop by autozone because the previous Air filter was literally rusty, I didn't want anything to do with that so I put an El Cheapo on there to get me home.





I also decided that after driving in traffic and not being able to see the cars behind me all the great that the wing had to go... so wing delete and trunk shave happened. The key lock didn't work anyways and this will work until I can get a normal Apex Silver wingless trunk. Here's some pics of the second days progress
















First oil change





Wheels all done!











Trunk Being shaved









































So this was the end of my 3rd day with the Evo...










Now onto the trip home from Flint MI to Knoxville Tn





















Since this point in time I was a little scared to pull it into my driveway so I was just driving it occasionally while searching for a garage to use, as it has a leaking oil pan, a massive boost leak and no tune, as well as ****ty spark plugs.. Eventually I grow a pair and get it up this monster...

Here are some pics of a trip out to Gatlinburg..





















This is the driveway I was pretty scared to go up, it's pretty damn steep... lol.



And now it's in my garage, where it's been since pulling it up the mountain driveway, haha. More pics later =D

And my Name is Justin! Hi everyone!

 

Hi Justin!

Best Intro Ever!

Your trip down 4G63 memory lane brought back some of my own. My first one was a '94 TSI Talon which gave me the taste of a Turbo'd 4 banger then promptly put my name on 3 dealership lists for buying a WW 2003 Evo VIII when they arrived in the States. I bought one of the first Evo's on the East coast when they arrived, in fact it was 6 months before I saw another one 'in the wild'. Thank you for sharing your story and pictures, have fun and good luck with your next one!

Bob

 

Awesome, yeah mine took a little longer than I would have liked but I am just so happy it finally happened!

 

Nice ride!

 

Thanks man, it's a HUGE work in progress. A couple more months and she should be all buttoned up, for the time being, haha.

 

I read on here alot of the americaaan love affairs with this odd thing called the DSM, because I am out of town I have to ask, were these like an early turbo that guys played with instead of driving a chev 350 vette or something?

 

mostly they were gateway drug cars, AWD, Turbo, and a solid 5 speed. Cheap to make good power, handle fairly well and look pretty awesome. They also give you a huge sense of how to fix your own stuff, considering they break all the time.

 

Ahhhhh I see, a young guys smack down turbo car, you'll go well here and as Bob said, great intro I bet your new mistress will be highly modded in no time.

 

So, a little update, the car is creeping toward where I want it to be since pulling it into the garage for the first time...
So far here are the parts that I have waiting to go on the Evo. Either in the mail on the way to my house or right next to me at my kitchen table, lol. Some parts are half installed pending other parts that go around them, lol.
-Aem 5 bar
-magnus sheet metal intake
-Megan Exhaust Manifold
-Megan o2 housing
-Megan downpipe
-No name test pipe
-jdm apexi test pipe back exhaust, I need to get it bent to fit usdm bumper
- a/c delete
-mild wire tuck
-battery relocation
-egr/evap delete
-half radiator w/shrouded fan
-Muse UICP
-Muse LICP
-Injen cast intake w/adapter w/K&n filter
-Hallman pro rx boost controller
-custom 4 port catch can
-acd reservoir relocation/replacement
-lc1 wideband
-buschur style baffled oil pan
-ngk plugs
-Arp headstuds



Things I still need to get, Tactrix/Evoscan, Rpf1's w/tires, a tune.