Hello everyone! I live in CA and I recently found an evo RS for sale for a fairly good price. Its a white 2005 evo 8 rs with 180k miles. The car has two owners, one that put 175k and the current owner that put 5k on it. The car is fully stock except for an exhaust and an HFC. The interior is fairly clean, but with worn seats obviously. The problems are that the tranny grinds downshifting into third gear. It doesnt grinf upshifting unless you redline 2nd into third. Also, i dont know if this is an issue, but the t case whines when the car is cold and only in first gear. The clutch is also getting worn, catches high but still feels great. The current owner put a new timing belt on it, valve cover gasket, and water pump. On the carfax at 125k the whole radiator was replaced and im sure plenty of other stuff has been done. This is the part that scares me though, or moreso stumps me. I had a shop check everything and do a compression test and the car got 185, 180, 175 and 190 which seems wayy too good to be true. The shop is also a fairly reputable tuner shop in san francisco. The report also stated that the car had low power steering fluid, worn drive belts, dirty brake fluid, and dirty oil. Pretty much the owner hasnt changed the fluids in a while. But the compression seems fantastic for a 180k mile evo. I see 60k mile evos with 175s across the board and even that is fantastic. Any advice. I am fairly certain the engine is stock and there is no reason the compression would be really good. I got the guy down from 12k to 8k and i could pay cash tomorrow what do you guys think? I know the RS’s are extremely rare but does that make them worth way more considering they are pretty much gutted evos???

 

Looks interesting for sure. Im an RS owner! @Mcoffeyevo8

After that many miles & the noted issues, expect a rebuild of drivetrain. I would go into this w/the expectation of doing a full rebuild of the Engine / Trans / Front Diff & Rear Diff as well as the supporting members (bushings etc)

At $8K you cant to too wrong IMO

 

Yeah, im expecting to do a tranny rebuild for that synchro for sure. I just don’t understand how the compression looks so good, is there any way to tell something has been done to it? It looks stock, idles fine and drives fine. Is it ok for the case to whine a little in first when the car is cold?

 

Yeah, the EvO9 manual shows a compression value of 145 psi. Its possible their gauge is not calibrated properly?

Sure, a bit of whine may not be an issue. Keep in mind the RS has no sound deadening material so the mechanicals are a bit more present

$8G sounds like a bargain in my book. You certainly could not piece together all those components running or not for that kind of money.

 

Do It!
Buy for 8k, drop trans, "rebuild" trans (new syncros), new clutch. Enjoy running driving 10K evo.