Hello, my names Stephanie and I'm somewhat new to the forums been searching on here for an evo for about 3 years and just under 24 hours ago I decided that I have finally found THE one.

Long story short after I graduated college I decided I have waited long enough for an evo and I was determined to find one. First one I looked at I wanted to buy, I had everything set and stone only to get the bank check and go pick up the car to find the seller sold it because "first one with cash gets the car" I remind you, it took me one day to get cash in hand. Second car I drove 11 hours to pick it up only to find the seller never mentioned the car had SEVERE hail damage and would not drop the price. Third car I looked at I drove 8 hours to pick up, only wait for the seller to arrive at the location an hour late and then tell me he is unsure of the miles because the dash was swapped out at 140k miles but the car had a price tag for the 98k miles that was on the current dash, that car was also a no go. Fourth car pops up, only an hour away so I jump on the opportunity for the seller was only asking $10k for it, had 139k miles and an awesome interior and exterior - 2003 Evo (by far cleanest car I have found yet in my price range of under $18k) What could possibly go wrong?

Test drove it, had the car looked over by two of my friends everything seemed great. The end of the week comes around and I go pick up the car, the seller states he put the stock cams back in and now its running a bit rich from the tune and started leaking oil from the cam seals from the swap - no biggie. Well, car was very hard to drive back, wanted to die every time I let off the gas coming to a stop so trying to control 3 pedals with 2 feet I got my fair share of driving experience.

I get the car home and instantly start going over everything to find along with the cam seals the oil return line was cracked spraying oil everywhere, new timing belt is toast from oil - honestly surprised I made it home without it starting on fire. Notice bolts used in the valve cover weren't the right size and the cover casting is cracked ($400 for a new one, coming from a person who has always owned Hondas thats crazy talk) Then I start digging into the engine everything looks good - decided to do a leak down test. Cylinder 1 20% leakage, 2 at 35% leakage, 3 and 4 65% leakage. Great! Air leaking into intake, exhaust and to other cylinders. Pull the head off and find pistons kissed valves and a head gasket is needed. Car has ARP head studs so that's a plus, if they are done right. The more I dig into the car the more I see the vehicle has suffered being molested by after market parts and lack of proper installation. I expected getting into these cars I would have issues but oh man. I drove the vehicle for maybe an hour, have not gotten to do one pull with it yet since the test drive. Did I mention 5th gear went out too?

Car was great during the test drive, I've been in the auto industry for 5 years and took 2 very experienced people with me to look at the car so I am pretty bummed. I am hoping to search the forums for some used parts and get this car back on the road. Just wanted to say hello to everyone and look forward to hearing the good and bad stories of all the evo builds and buys.

 

omg, some people are just retarded. Hopefully everything works out for ya. When i bought my evo x it seemed great no issues. Later found a crack in the rim, two of motors for the electronic damper control were busted and a few other minor issues that were not addressed. Not as bad as yours though :P

 

Tuff break but you got here in the end, what's that old saying what doesn't kill you makes you stronger
Now that you are older and wiser, never be in a rush to buy anything, get a feel on what you buy next before dishing out that hard earned stuff.
The experts in here will give low down on everything Evo and much more

 

Well, look at it this way. It's a great way to get started on a new built motor!

 

Terrible :/ Hope it all works out, I'm in the market myself so I'll have to be mindful

 

Car is still not on the road yet BUT hopefully this upcoming weekend. Was on hold for a oil return line, valve cover and a tune. Parts are here, hopefully bolt everything up tomorrow and get it tuned and road ready. Now that the weather has warmed up in the area my anticipation of getting this car on the road is killing me. I'm excited!

 

WOW! That's hella unfortunate but definitely perfect opportunity to start from bottom and get a fresh motor in and you can be there the entire way. I'm hoping you her on the road sooner than later.

 

That's a rough way to start...a real bummer experience. It's hard these days to find used Evos that haven't been horribly molested as you described or overly modified. A stock one a pretty much a unicorn.
GL with rebuilding the evo!


-BMH

 

Evo update: Got her back on the road! Unfortunately started to misfire, BUT some new plugs and a tune fixed that issue. On to the next issue of a grinding transmission and now add a coolant leak to the list. But hey, it runs.

 

Awesome! Have you diagnosed the grindy transmission already? It could be you clutch isn't disengaging enough to allow the tranny to fully disengage?


I would try bleeding the cluth and see if you can get an air bubble out, or maybe it just needs adjusted at the pedal to have a longer stroke.


Coolant leak should be fairly easy to fix though! If it leaks in the intercooler, throw some JB weld on that ****! If it's a hose just replace it! and boom you're good to go.


One step at a time and next thing you know you got yourself a sweet ride.

 

I'll put my money on syncro issues and a rebuild, it's a character building exercise you'll love it more when's she's finished

 

Yes it's the synchros, good milage to inspect the transmission anyways. Coolant leak is for radiator so on hold for more parts, hopefully the car is ready for its first track event by April 10th. The heat is on!

 

Take some vid of your first track day with it and show us what you get up to

 

Will do! Hopefully it doesn't break again.

 

Sunday 04/10/16 was my first track event with the evo and well... It all went good until it blew up in my face, again. Opened it up and found cam seal springs and chunks of valve cover previous owner left behind. Rebuilt the head, every thing tested good but never though to drop the oil pan. Put about 800 miles on the car, changed oil, took out to the track, got about 15 minutes of drive time before that lovely knocking sound brought me to a stop. Right back to base one. This car has been a HUGE disappointment.