History:
It all started when I bought my car December 4, 2004. A Tarmac Black 2005 Evo 8. I was 21 years old with no credit to my name and I was ecstatic when they told me they would finance me. Anyways, because of the steep monthly payments and insurance, the car remained stock for the first 2 years. Not much happened between then and mid 2006.

Then come summer of 2006, my reenlistment window opened up and guess what? I was currently deployed in Afghanistan. So what does that mean? Tax free reenlistment bonus. So, the smart thing would have been to hold onto that money, use my bonus and money I saved up during deployment to pay off as much of the car as I could. I probably could have paid it off. But then I thought to myself, "Well I already know there is an Iraq deployment coming soon after this one, so **** it. I don't want to die with a bone stock evo."

So I got to ordering a bunch of stuff, covering everything. When I got back, I slapped all these parts on all the bolt-ons, minus the downpipe (I don't remember why I didn't get one but whatever,) a set of BC 272 cams, Tanabe pro7 coilovers, vortex generator, 18x9 Volk GTU's wrapped in Falken Azenis.

The car was tuned by Doug at Topspeed January 2007






For the next 11 months, that's how I enjoyed it. Then I was deployed to Iraq November 2007. Nearing the end of my deployment, I came across a dilemma. Do I:

1. Pay of the remainder of the Evo?
2. Not pay off the Evo and put a nice down payment on a truck that can tow the evo?
3. None of the above and buy a used Dodge Viper.

Well I chose to pay off the Evo October 2008. I still have a good chunk of change left over, so I decided to buy parts for the Evo. Then I was stuck on whether I should build the engine and not have much left over for anything else, or go faster and hope the engine stays together in the meantime. I chose to NOT build the engine. So I decided to purchase:

Shearer T3 kit with a PTE 50trim
replace the old style ETS UICP with a BR UICP
replace the turbo inlet pipe with BR one
PTE 880 injectors
ACT XTSS clutch kit
tactrix cable
AEM wideband
CBRD slim radiator
and a butt load of OEM replacement and maintenance parts

With it all on the car it looked like this:







Tuning was handled remotely by Mellon



I got back from Iraq January 2009, so that fun lasted from February 2009 to December 2009. Then, the power bug hit me again. 403hp just wasn't doing it for me anymore. I just moved to Ft Benning, GA and hadn't even started working again. Then I found out there was only one E85 pump within a 65 mile radius and it was on Ft Benning. I knew what I had to do. I ordered a set of PTE 1200cc injectors and emailed Mellon for a tune.

We cranked the boost up from 25 psi to 30 psi and this is what I got (an overlay of pump vs E)



The car stayed in that outfit from January 2010 to October 2010. I wanted more. I think this was right around the time the PTE 5857 showed it's face and there was a lot of hype surrounding it. It sounded good to me. Decent spool and decent top end. So I said, "**** it, I'll test one out."

I knew I was going to need more fuel, so I fabbed up a double pump. I pretty much copied BR's and stumbled across the pumps on accident. I did it just to see if I could do it. And it works great. But if I had to do it again, I would just buy the BR's double pumper. I actually didn't save that much money doing it myself.



This time I decided to tune it myself as I had a little more experience tuning.




And that's how it sat from December 2010 until June 2011

 

Between December 2010 and June 2011, I always already planning my next step. This time I was on the hunt for great parts and bargain deals. The first of two major purchases were an STM FF manifold new for $750 shipped I bought off a member. The second was the AMS 2.3L stroker kit BNIB I found on ebay for $1200 shipped. Boom I was set and just sort of sat on it for a while until I could build up a cushion fund for the entire build.







Towards June 2011, I decided it was time to start tearing down the evo. Really I just wanted to fit up the STM manifold.

Then came the fabricating. I ordered some flanges and piping for the exhaust and the dump.





I also discovered I needed to notch out the tab on the radiator support where the condenser or fan bolted to



Then she waited. For a while. A few months and I said, "**** it, it's now or never." I yanked the motor out and took it to Ball Engine in Atlanta for machine work and short block assembly.





a few weeks later I got the block back

 

During my wait for the block to come back, I ordered parts. When I say I ordered parts, I mean it. I mainly went through Jordan at www.definedUSA.com. No one has taken better care of me than Jordan in the two years I've known him. Only if I can't get something through him, do I go elsewhere. Time was ticking away, and I needed to get this done in less than two months before I start to pack up all my stuff to make my move to Ft Campbell on the KY/TN border.

I ordered:
From Jordan www.definedUSA.com
exedy twin
OEM master gasket kit
OEM timing belt
OEM BSE kit
cases of AMSoil and break-in oil and plenty of filters
AMS SG and MTG
diaqueen
ARP 625+ head studs
OEM TO bearing
ETS UICP 2.5" brushed steel
ETS 4" FMIC
Kiggly HLA
JMFab wheel spacers and extended lugs
I'm sure there was more but I can't remember

From AWD:
BR stage 3 head
ID2000 injectors and pig tails
D2 drag coilovers
BR ported intake manifold
BR ported throttle body

From STM:
STM catch can with fittings and hose
STM clutch fork stop

From SpoolinUP:
SpoolinUp COP

From Amazon:
Taylor battery relocation kit (cheapest place and I have free 2-day shipping)

From various EvoM members:
BNIB shep trans evo 9 1st gear and 4.11 FD
Tial BOV
Kelford 272's
Rota grids with QTP's

And I think that's it.

 

Here is a build video I made.

http://youtu.be/q-c7VKSiBAE

Tuning was done by JohnBradley aka Aaron@English Racing



And then I packed up all my **** and toys, and moved north to TN. Yes they are all my vehicles. Well except the trailers and Uhaul



This is one of my dogs, Bear, chilling in the U-Haul like a BOSS



I hope you've enjoyed reading my saga.

UPDATE February 20, 2012:



Well I finally got the motivation to wash my car today. First time in TWO YEARS.

Anyways after the wash, I put the QTPs on and took them for a spin for the first time. With the street tires, It wouldn't even go anywhere in 2nd gear. It scooted down the road today though. Saw some action on the sidewalls too.







UPDATE: Videos from Test and Tune at the local 1/8 mile track

http://youtu.be/89_pwqySs6Y

http://youtu.be/kMz9hYS1wJI

To be continued in the near future...

 

Killer build, nice video also.

 

Very nice.

 

My favorite quote

 

Haha. I'd rather deploy broke than with a stacked savings account. True story.

 

Great assortment of parts and great choices

And good load of AMSOIl,,, too bad I.missed out on that sale


GL with the work

 

I hear you, been there done that, since you have done a "little" motor work a jdm rear would complete it

 

I just picked up a case of 20w50 too. I use on my truck and motorcycle too.

 

Yeah I would love a JDM rear. One day. Maybe next deployment.

My credit card needs to recover from this round.

 

how did you find time to build a car AND instruct?!

 

It's hard to tell in my video, but it was mostly done at night. An hour or two a night. Haha.

 

Awesome build and more props to Jordan@Defined... Im one of his O.G.'s and I gotta say, If there is anything he can do for you, he will. Hell, he even calls me out of the blue to B.S. sometimes haha... now how many guys do that with customers. Great build!