Hey everyone,
Firstly just want to say I'm happy to be here. I've come across the opportunity to buy a long time dream car of mine, an Evo! 04 Evo 8 to be precise. The car has pretty much all the parts my dream car would, but I'm a bit hesitant to buy one that's already heavily modified.
Of course it saves me a TON of money by buying one with the components I want, and I'd have a shop look it over before pulling the trigger. But still, a car like this can be intimidating without knowing the full story.
As a quick run down, the car has a built motor with forged pistons and upgraded rods/rod bearings. Dog box 5 speed transmission, built transfer case recently done, precision 6466 turbo on a custom s.s manifold, coilovers, ported head with cams and springs, etc. Owner claims around 500 hp on pump and over 700 on E85. Definitely felt like 500 on pump. Revs to 9k, sounds amazing, drives well.
My question is, should I be worried about the car being so heavily modified and making gobs of power or if it's built right, should I not need to worry too much?
Of course if I were to take it home, first thing is to swap all fluids for fresh ones and give the car a once over. Should be noted that id be selling a 2022 Hyundai Veloster N in replacement for the Evo. The Hyundai is a daily but I have another car id daily instead, the Evo would become my new weekend car.
​​​​Thoughts?
Thanks in advance!
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I'm going to being up drivetribes recent evo 8 purchase. They spent over 30k usd. The chassis is about a 5-6/10 with some undercarriage rust and corrosion. The engine was torn down and in need of a rebuild with metal shard in the oil pan and turbo was all chewed up and nearly blown. They asked their mechanic if they spent too much and his answer was immediate no.

Here is what I learned about older evos. You will not escape the money needed for a proper build. If you're spending 30k on an evo today, you're going to need another 20k easy to bring it up to reliable working condition. There is no way around it. I say pull the trigger because these cars chassis are only getting more rare as it is and money shouldn't be a huge deal when talking about your dream car. It's all technically "wasted" money.

This all depends on the evo you're interested in of course. The mods sound high quality and quite extensive so I'm guessing the price is reflected of that.

 

Thanks for the input. It is definitely all "wasted money" as a dream car/project. The car does seem very solid and a really good deal with the car overall. I'd say the chassis and body is a 6 or 7 out of 10, no rust that I've seen yet. Drivetrain feels really healthy but without a shop going through it no way to know yet, and sounds like a deal compared to the Drivetribe example. It's extremely tempting XD

 

I'm reckless, buy the car caution to the wind!