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So in 2015 my girl and I picked up an Evo X, replacing my 09 Lancer GTS. I drove it for a while finally realizing that I really didn't care for how big the car was, and that the safety features were over-encumbering; I ended up buying my old Celica Alltrac back, but it was in rough shape.
April '16 my girl sends me a link to a local Evo 8 for sale, needs to sell to buy a bigger vehicle for kids and hauling. I originally (as a kid) wanted the CT9 platform, so I couldn't pass this up.
We talk the price down a couple thousand due to the front passenger suspension being out of whack and in need of some repairs. The tire on that side was overly worn down leading me to believe there was an issue with toe, the pull to the right solidified that. We took the car to a local shop, threw some money at an energy suspension bushing kit and high mileage tune-up to get the car back in good order.
The car came with a few goodies, below is the list of what I could find.
Fast forward a few month, July16th. In the past I had done media for NW Rally Association, who brought back Rally Sprints under SCCA. I learned they would be hosting an event for people interested in Rallycross, called RallyX fest. The RXfest was a two day event at the local Dirtfish Rallyschool, one day of learning car control and how to get the most out of your car on a loose surface and another day of competition. This may have been one of the most fun weekends I had in a long time. There were 19 cars in my class and I did not place .
Here are some photos of the 8 during the weekend.
I ended that weekend realizing I need under car protection, so i ordered up a TRF skid plate in hopes to make the next rallyx. However the stock suspension apparently did not like the beating and decided that it was going to be loud over every bump while I drove to work (weekend overtime). The car stayed in the shop we previously used, for the tune up, that weekend so we were unable to attend. The shop was unable to find an issue and tightened everything up just to make sure; the sound didn't go away, so we planned to get coilovers the next time there was money laying around.
Until the day we had a spare $1500+ I decided to attend the last Rallyx of the year, a scant 198 mile drive one way...
The crew drove down to Riverdale Raceway before the break of day. I think it was still dark when we arrived, 4 hours after we set off. It was an interesting day, first proper competition I had been involved with and unfortunately my first DNF, and on my first run which can be seen
in 360*.
During the time the car was getting checked for suspension issues I had changed out my Tanabe Boost gauge for a PLX all in one touch gauge. The PLX has computer boxes that connect together and need to be tucked away. Due to the roughness of the terrain, and the placement of the boxes above my throttle, the boxes would come down stopping the top of my throttle from going back more than 30%. I drove off thinking it was my throttle cable since I pulled that out of the way to change plugs right before the race. Fortunately I had a spare vinyl applicator card that I was able to tape to the steering column bracket and wedge the boxes up and out of the way. The card is still there until i get time to relocate the boxes.
The rest of the runs went smoothly, though the DNF put me out of the running. I got faster and faster as the day progressed, eventually able to slide through chicanes and a couple corners without actually braking. The bad side of the day was there were 2 straights that rutted out very badly making it difficult for me to reach make speed knowing my shocks were not happy. Though I was faster in the corners, i couldn't push it through the straights.
Now its December. The car has been used as a weekend car to get me to work. It's been a full month since the last time I raced and the oem shocks are on their last leg. We had some snow earlier this month, was able to get out and enjoy it a bit by practicing "car control" in a secure lot.
As part of the upcoming christmas, and having to ride in the 8 while the X was being worked on, my girl got annoyed with how bad the thumping was from my shocks and decided that I was getting coil overs for christmas. I had my sites set on Fortune Auto 600 series only to find out they were discontinued. My budget being $2500 I was out of luck and thought I would have to settle for KSport Gr series, which is run by a local Stage rally car.
Long story short, and through the power of Facebook, I managed to find a sponsor to help me with the cost of rallycross specific coilovers. The owner of Flatout Suspension, who I guess is friends of friends that I do rally stuff with came across my post complaining about fortune auto discontinuing the 600 series, and talking about how Flatout was just out of my price range. He had me message them and I ended up getting the $3000 coilovers for the same as i would have paid for the Fortunes, $2300.
That pretty much catches the car up to today. I have to wait at least 4 weeks for the Flatout coilovers to be hand built and shipped. A friend of mine wants to help plastidip parts of my car, for protection and to make kind of a livery. Any more updates I will post here, including a possible 360* video of more car control practice in the snow next week!
Thanks for reading and dont forget to check out the FB and youtube pages!
Looks like you're putting that Evo to work, that is awesome. Do you run those same tires for the dirt? What's next for the car?
I have a set of OEM evo 8 enkeis for offroad/ winter wheels. I forget the tire I ran last year (still currently on the wheels), but I plan on picking up a set of nokia snow tires for this season.
As for upcoming things to do:
New brake pads all around
New tires
Receive and install Flatout RX coilovers (sponsor)
Pick up and install high flow cat along with straight pipe I picked up from a friend
Possibly get a retune, as the car was tuned in California
Repair Heater controls
Plastidip for areas that need protection and as a sort of livery
I have a set of OEM evo 8 enkeis for offroad/ winter wheels. I forget the tire I ran last year (still currently on the wheels), but I plan on picking up a set of nokia snow tires for this season.
As for upcoming things to do:
New brake pads all around
New tires
Receive and install Flatout RX coilovers (sponsor)
Pick up and install high flow cat along with straight pipe I picked up from a friend
Possibly get a retune, as the car was tuned in California
Repair Heater controls
Plastidip for areas that need protection and as a sort of livery
Threw all that in the bin.
Actual Upcoming to do:
Braid Full race T acropolis Wheels
Maxsport RB3 Ultra Tyre 195/65 medium
'00 Eclipse Front Brake Calipers
Hawk HP+ Pads all around (eclipse up front)
New Stoptech Slotted Rotors all around
Receive and install Flatout RX coilovers (sponsor)
Detail and lay team stickers
Retune (at a later date)
Plastidip for areas that need protection and as a sort of livery
Finally sat down and changed out my battery, as it would only last around 10 hours sitting in the car. I never thought a dying battery would have such a profound effect on a cars drivability.
Wheels tires and calipers have been ordered as of 1/31/17. They're coming from the UK, so I sit here waiting. Pads and rotors will be ordered 2/16/17.
Waiting to hear back from Flatout about where my coils are at, they were getting nickle plated as of 1/9/17. So much to do, but all about that waiting!
Didnt think too many people were interested, so I havent bothered updating too often but I guess every 2 months works. haha
Update:
Swapping to the front eclipse calipers was simple, along with the Hawk HP+ pads they stop as well as the original parts.
Only broke a couple banjo bolts, but everything went well. haha
Also received, install, and adjusted the Flatout RX coilovers
Had a friend of mine, the one who owns the lift we've been using, install the coilovers. We spent another day adjusting them so the car sits 1" over stock.
While installing the coils found the newly replaced (last year) rear LCA's bushings were worn out, so I picked up a set of whiteline bushings and had a blast changing them out.
Finally received the Braid wheels and Maxsport "tyres", just in time to make one of the largest car shows in Washington. haha. No one took photos of the race cars, when there's stance all around.
Intermission:
The group that sets up rallyx, they run Rally sprints which is the middle ground of stage and rally cross. Here are some photos I took during that event.
April 1st: First RallyX of the season, first with all the new parts and I took 3rd out of 15 in my class.
And of course, because I have no other photographic proof, than the trophy itself I took home third! I should get a photo of it on my mantel with our helmets.
Having dirt tires and the coilovers lifted a full inch above stock made it possible for me to push through badly rutted corners.
The next event will be May 27th and 28th (yes, Im currently writing as though that hasnt passed) at Dirtfish Rally school. In the time between I plan to deal with intake temperatures by purchasing a APEX'i Induction box and race AutoX at Hot Import Dayz in Monroe, Wa; next update coming soon (right now!).
As some of you may know I had originally planned to rallycross a Celica GT4 (alltrac); however parts cost too much for i,t so I ended up getting the Evo 8 and planned to rebuild the Celica. Well, through contacts made in rallyx I found someone willing to buy the celica from me to make a stage car, so a few days after my rallyX win I had a familiar STI show up ouside my door.
One of the employees of Dirtfish was sold an Alltrac with a bad motor, and I jokingly told him if he wants to buy my motor it comes with a whole car attached to it; he agreed. It was a sad day, but my compensation comes in the form of a 3 day course, by Dirtfish, so I can get a license for one of the national stage rally organizations. I'll update you guys when I do that later this year!
Last proper photo my Celica had before I sold it.
Now, back to Evo stuff, right?!!
So lets see; I picked up an APEX'i induction box to deal with the fans pushing 185+F temps right in to my intake, only to find it wasn't meant to work with a Injen intake pipe kit. The kit makes it sit much higher, which in turn doesnt allow me to close the hood; time for some custom fabrication, luckily I have a sheet of AL laying around in my garage somewhere.
Until I had some time to put in to the fabrication (term I will use lightly) me and a teammate (my GF and her Evo X) took part in Hot Import Nightz/ Dayz Autocross at Evergreen speedway in Monroe.
Im sure more people here are familiar with how autocross works, versus how rallycross works so we will compare them below. *This is a comparison for where I run, this may vary depending on your location.
AutoCross : RallyCross
100% Tarmac/ Concrete : >75% Dirt/ Gravel
Best time of the day : Times added up from all runs
Pretty Smooth Surface : Loose, rough Surfaces
Smooth braking inputs : Scrub speed through sliding rather than braking
Class's are AWD, FWD, RWD : Stock, Prepared, Modified of FWD, RWD, AWD
So this was my first autox event in this car, first time autocrossing in 8 years. I managed to take 28th out of 75+ drivers, and 9th in class, 2/10ths of a second behind a friend in his Evo 9.
Dec 21, 2016, 04:08 PM
