I'm an autocrosser with more desire than time or money. That being said, I have race rubber and attended the test & tune event this year - my first in my Evo. Paying for tires and wheels is tough enough, but once paid I will get my next desired mod and that's an ECU flash - this thread is NOT about flash vendors nor the virtues/negatives of having it, btw.

Then I will be in ESP I'm told. Otherwise, a stock Evo w/race rubber and an ECU. What is the next best mod for ESP? I can NOT do it all at once nor will I - you will NOT talk me into it. But I do want to slowly become more and more competitive (there's an STi in that class that's handin' folks their lunch and had me by a bit at the test & tune). I assume that the most popular recommendations are going to be struts or exhaust or some-such.

Could you please list your most desired mods IN ORDER? and if you know an estimated cost please supply it?

Thanks!

 

With a reflash, you in no way need to do more power mods. I ma going to have to check the rules on the reflash bumping you to ESP. IF it is not a Boost pressure change flash, I fam not sure that youc an not still run AS.

 

OK..
You are right-- Flash=ESP, but then again so does race rubber so you were there already. If you are not already flashed, I would start on suspension mods before flashing, but that is personal preference. The car has more than enough power stock to drive outside of the suspension limits, and for your money will get you bigger AutoX gains putting that money elsehwere initially.

My suggestions in order I would do them:

1. A good alignment, with the camber bolts flipped to allow max - Front Camber. $60-100
2. Rear Strut tower bar (Preferably Cusco with the Triangulating bars.) $150 - 275 (w/ triangulating Bars)
3. Front lower brace replacements (cusco Type I and Type II, though the typeII is more important to start). $155 - 230 (w/ both bars)
4. Trunk Bar (Cusco or other manufacturer) $75
5. Racing Harness for at least the drivers side (sounds dumb I know) , but being locked into the seat aloows you to focus more on drivign and less on sliding around the seat. Will also eliminate the unconcious bracing (grabbing steering wheel tighter, elbow against door panel. $150-200 per side
6. Rear Sway Bar (preferable adjustable i.e. Cusco, Perrin , Works) $225-299
7. Front Sway Bar (adjustable if possible) $225 - 279
8. PolyUrethane Sway Bar Bushings. $???
9. Either lowering springs or higher spring rate, or quality coilovers. Be careful of Tein with EFDC or EDFC or whatever it is, as that will bump you to a Modified Class and out of ESP). $$ depends on how wild you want to get.
10. Flash ECU $200-600 depending on who...
11. SS Brake lines, New High Quality Fluid (Motul RPF600, or equivalent) and better severe street, or Racing brake pads. SS Lines $125, Fluid 35-50, Pads $too vired to mention
12. Slotted Rotors (If you want to stay in ESP, you are going to have to go with 1 piece) Brembo has there for $380 per axle, or there are some that are different venting vanes for $500-600 a pair.

Then you can start working on the more power angle of things. The EVO has enough power to be competetive in ESP. The suspension and brakes will make a far greater difference in your times than an extra 20 Ponies from exaust or some other power mod.

 

Wow, thanks...!

Perhaps I misspoke when I said race rubber - they're R compound is all and don't bump me from stock in themselves (VictoRacers).
I got a max-negative camber 4-wheel alignment but didn't know about the trick of flipping the camber bolts - thanks!
I have a Schroth Rallye-4 harness installed already as well - came from a BMW racer to my Celica GTS to my Evo - I STICK in the seat!

You'd go straight to the rear for stiffness mods I'm interpreting, and even before going to sway bars. This is just about stiffness, yes?

What may cancel out the inside-rear wheel lift in tight turns?

Thanks a BUNCH for the input!

 

Now my car is as far as step 5, and I am more than competitive in my local club. I have won TTOD for both of our events so far, and finished 1 and 2 on PAX time (granted the one in the rain was no real contest as I beat the field by over 2 seconds on PAX time). And this is on the stock Advans. Switching to Hoosiers or Kuhmo's R compound rubber would make things even better at this point, but I am going to fully get through the suspension before i get a dedicated set of lighter rims and R compounds. I will most likely do that even before i get a reflash, so it would go as number 9 on my list above.

I personally got lowering springs but will be replacing them with coil-overs when money permits. Lowering the roll center of the car with higher rate springs at this point was cost effective, but I know there is a lot missing without coil-overs and adjustability on the dampening rates.

 

OK, you still have a chance to stay in stock for a while then if you have not flashed yet. and might want to consider your options there. Though until they move the EVO to another class, ESP has a better PAX multiplier.

I will post a link to a chopped out section of the service manual that details this for the front.
the move to stiffen the rear right away was more of a balance issue than anything else. The car under steers from the factory, and stiffening up the rear, even without a sway bar change, helped to neutralize the car, and make it a lot more stable in transition (read that Slalom).

A sway bar change will help that, as will lowering springs with higher rates. I changed the springs before sway bars simply because the higher spring rate affect all turns, and also help with slalom stability.

You are more than welcome. I would tell you this though, if you have not been following it, there is a HUGE feud to move the EVO to BSP from ESP, and that will make being competitive an entirely different $$$ proposition.

 

That is the piece of the EVO service manual dealing with front end alignment and the flipping the camber bolts.

Front End Alignment Info

 

FYI, any ECU reflash bumps you out of A Stock. Any ECU reflash which changes boost parameters bumps you out of ESP (to Street Modified).

To keep the inside rear wheel from lifting, go with a stiffer front sway bar. This is legal in Stock (or in any other class for that matter).

I agree with Kyperion's top suggestion -- along with R compound tires, you need a good alignment. I've heard it said that the top three modifications to make a car competitive in autoX are tires, alignment, and the loose nut behind the wheel (that's you!).

After that, I would deviate. Don't add any chassis bracing yet. There are legality issues with some of these in ESP -- Kyperion, are you sure that the Cusco front lower brace replacements are SP legal?

Go for weight reduction. You can save a ton of weight with a new exhaust. The stock exhaust is very heavy. Also, you can gain extra HP this way. And despite the fact that you may feel like a stock Evo has plenty of power... I've got an extra 100+ HP over stock, and it does really help. The car is much easier to rotate now, for instance. And with AWD, it's still pretty hard to get yourself into trouble.

 

I run ESP in Milwaukee region with my Evo on street tires (we have a street tire class for all Front wheel and AWD cars). I have done a lot of research on how to be more competitive in ESP. To be honest, I am doing very well on a stock Evo. But there is always room for improvement.

Reflashes are legal for ESP, but not AS. Reflashes are only legal for ESP if they don't touch boost settings. Dynoflash should be legal for ESP, and that is what I use. As soon as you touch the boost, you are in SM.

I am just now focusing more on suspension mods. I too wanted to stiffen the rear end as it was hard to get heat into the rear tires and make them carry their share of the load. I just put on a Hotchkis 24mm adjustable rear swaybar $196 that I will experiment more with this weekend. I can already tell it helped stiffen the rear end. I also just ordered a set of Tanabe GF210 lowering springs $139, but have not installed them yet. I want to check what the swaybar does first before I throw on the springs. Coilovers would be a next logical step, but only after the stock shocks are worn.

I also put on an AMS catback this weekend and am very happy with it so far $595. I will eventually go turboback which is ESP legal still.

A minor mod that I love is switching to Penzoil syncromesh in the tranny and replacing the underhood shifter bushings $30ish. It really helped with shifting and getting rid of the 2nd gear grind.

Hope this helps. Come up to Milwaukee and check me out to see if you like my changes. I'd be happy to help you out.

Tim

 

Oh yeah, thanks for reminding me Jbrennan, I did an alignment too. Stock settings were very bad for autocross. Not enough front camber at all.

 

15.2.C. Strut bars are permitted with all types of suspension. Strut bars may be mounted only transversely across the car from upper right to upper left suspension mounting point and from lower right to lower left suspension mounting point. No other configuration is permitted. Additional holes may be drilled for mounting bolts. Only bolt-on attachment is permitted.

Since the bar I have on is from lower a-arm to lower a-arm it should be legal. The rear STB should be legal as well, I do not have the triangulating bars, so I need to check on those.

 

Still looking on bracing, but the cusco front lower brace is not excluded by this rule from stock classification guidelines.

13.7.4. No modification to the body, frame or other components to accommodate anti-roll bar addition or substitution is allowed, except for the drilling of holes for mounting bolts. Non-standard lateral members which connect between the brackets for the bar are not permitted.

Since th cusco bar has nothign to do with the swaybar, it should not be disallowed by that rule.

 

Triangular strut bar is a huge no-no. Only 2 mounting points allowed.

 

The Cusco Type II brace is definitely prohibited in ESP. The Type I may be legal, but I'm no expert. A discussion on the Subaru forums (forums.nasioc.com) seemed to indicate that it probably is legal.

I believe that the Trunk Bar is prohibited in ESP, unless it is the trunk bar from the Evo RS -- that trunk bar should be permitted under the update/backdate allowance. Otherwise, there is no Street Prepared allowance for additional bracing in the trunk, other than a rear strut bar going from strut top to strut top.

Most reflashes for the Evo are SP illegal, because they modify boost control parameters. I believe that includes DynoFlash, XFlash, WORKS Flash, etc. If you want an SP legal reflash, be sure that your "flasher" understands that the stock boost control parameters must remain completely untouched. In addition, any mechanical boost control mechanisms are illegal in SP. You can't install an MBC, you can't change the configuration of the boost control solenoid, you can't remove the "restrictor pill" near the BCS. Basically, if you touch anything between the turbo outlet and the intake valves (the entire boosted intake path), you are in a grey area at best unless there is a specific allowance for your modification. Installing a boost gauge or a replacement intercooler (or even an extra intercooler) is permitted, but probably not much else. The wording in the rules:

Note that even any vacuum line which is in the boosted portion of the intake plumbing could conceivably be called a "device which ... serves to limit or otherwise control boost" -- best to leave all of the stock plumbing in.


One more thing -- I am running 10 kg/mm springs (front and rear) with stock sway bars, and I'm still lifting the inside rear tire. Stiffer springs alone won't keep you from lifting that tire, although they will reduce the height that the tire comes off of the ground.


More advice for the original poster:

The stock Evo is a very capable car. Don't expect that a set of ESP mods is going to wildly transform the car into something much faster. In fact, it will generally make the car harder to drive well. Guess wrong on your suspension setup and the car will behave worse than stock. Add any significant horsepower and you will learn very quickly that throttle modulation becomes very important -- with stock power, I could usually go full throttle plenty of places on a typical autoX course, but now that's become a rarity. Add wider stickier tires, and you'll find that the car brakes harder, which means you can drive deeper into the corner, which means there is less room for error.

All in all, I would suggest getting very good with the stock car before rushing to make a lot of mods. Locally, I've seen Evo (and STi) drivers move from A Stock to higher classes, and they typically are now finishing in their new class about where they were in A Stock. Those who won regularly in A Stock are winning regularly in higher classes. Those who were top 5 finishers in A Stock are top 5 finishers in higher classes.

If you want to mod your car, go right ahead. It's fun, and the Evo has a lot of potential in a lot of areas. But realize that Street Prepared and beyond that, Street Modified, are classes where being competitive takes a well-prepped car and a well-prepped driver. I would suggest sticking with a Stock or nearly stock Evo until you are driving the car really well. I believe you'll learn autoX driving sooner in a stock Evo than you will in a prepped Evo, and you'll be better prepared to handle the challenges that you'll find when you start changing the car. I attended two local novice schools last year, and the novice school attendees who did the best in local competitive events all ran Stock classes.

 

Hey Kazz

Had a chance to look at the rule book after work and dinner and as far as I can tell the basic mail-in Dyno Flash, WORKS P1 and Xflash (without boost control) are all legal in ESP.

Rick