Being that the evo has been down for MONTHS due to spark issues, it has been sitting in the garage collecting dust .

Thankfully that has all changed thanks to great black friday deals from JD Customs! I ordered myself a coil on plug conversion and hoped and prayed that it would solve my issues. After installing them I can say that the Evo is running again, and better than ever! From the first start up I could tell that the Evo just had a better sound and idle. Being able to drive this machine worry free after so long is beyond satisfying. I am hoping to keep posting more updates on the car but everything has just been so busy. Either way, I will post here whenever and as much as I can... Here are some pics of everything that was done.

Beautifully packaged shipment by JD Customs



The OEM coil plug set up that lasted about 105k miles. Thanks to KT motoring for the tip to replace them as it is a common issue at this mileage. Being that OEM coil packs would have cost me just as much, if not more, than the coil on plug conversion I figure why not go for the upgrade.



Dropped in perfectly with no issues what so ever!



Decided to put the OEM cover back on for that "sleeper" look.

 

Awesome to see another Socal Evo. Seeing fewer and fewer around. Great read, Missed the days here on Evom following people builds. I'm currently building my Evo aswell just don't have the discipline to make and update a build thread. Instagram will have to do. Keep it up

 

I can't believe how long it has been since my last post but I promise you it is for a good reason. Two things happened in January, one good and one bad. I think I will start with the bad.

In January, I wake up to a text from my younger brother at 4am pretty much saying that he took my evo out on a date, was driving crazy fast on the highway, and now my evo wasn't running. Not wanting to believe what I read, I simply ignored him and went to check out the car the next day. Upon initial inspection there was oil all over the engine bay, and floor of my garage so I immediately thought the worst. After talking to my brother, he said he was going about 160mph on the freeway, threw the car in neutral to slow down, and the engine just died. He said he was able to crank it a few more times and drive it home (less than a mile). That gave me comfort that there isn't a hole in the block! And upon a quick inspection I am comfortable there isn't.

Being that I have been crazy busy with work, I haven't had a lot of time to check out anything and the Evo just sat in the garage collecting dust. All I could do was talk to @SoSoEVO and tell him how much I missed the car and that I couldn't wait to fix it. Fast forward to April, my work hours have finally settled down and I had time to do a compression test. My hope was that my brother simply lifted the head and all it would need was a head gasket job and studs. I drained whatever oil was left and noticed it had a greenish hue to it, smelled pretty bad, but was not super milky. I checked the radiator fluid and thankfully it was still green! Another good sign was that when I drained the oil, I noticed no metal shavings. The only thing that scared me was that the spark plug on cylinder was seems to still be broken off even after my coil on plug upgrade. Anyways, compression tests came back as seen below...
Cylinder #1

Cylinder #2

Cylinder #3

Cylinder #4


As you can tell, there is no type of compression being made. Hopefully confirming my theory that the head lifted. Now I am stuck with what my next step should be. I want to take it to a shop to get a leak down test and they can tell my exactly what the car needs and how bad the damage is. If anyone can recommend any shops that would be appreciated! Or if there is anyone who has built their own cars and is local to Long Beach, CA area let me know and I am more than willing to pay you to check it out. I just want to get my car running again.

Well, that is part one of why my Evo has been sitting. In January another positive thing happened and is super off topic and not Evo related. I ended up buying a brand new car! A 2020 Acura RDX AWD A-Spec. Long name but I have to be as specific as possible! For those not familiar with the car it has the same engine as a Civic Type R (different turbo and detuned) but is AWD. I just have a thing for AWD 4 cylinders haha. Let me say this car is a blast to drive and I personally think it looks amazing! The handling on this is crazy good and confidence inspiring (nothing compared to the feel of an Evo though). This is just a daily that I treated myself to.



Anyways, I will try and post more now that i have more free time and am planning on fixing the Evo soon! Like I said let me know who you would trust to take your Evo to or if you do your own work let me know and we can work something out!

 

@Lumpy Sticks I need your knowledge!

 

Have you checked the timing belt / timing marks?

 

I'm agreeing with biggie. First thing to check is the timing. If it's off, well let's hope it didnt bend any valves. Worst case, the head is coming off.

 

Dang Jeremy I thought you were gonna bring the Evo by Raw Power? Last we spoke it was a few weeks ago...get that thing fixed so we can get a drive going .

 

@Biggiesacks @Lumpy Sticks As always, I appreciate your guys' feedback! I finally got the diagnostic as to what the car needs

@SoSoEVO Let me know when I can hire you to help me get my Evo running again so we can finally go on a cruise!

 

I just realized that I never gave you guys an update after getting taking my car to my good friends over at Raw Power Motorworks (RPM) in Long Beach, CA .

I towed my car to RPM and they ran a leakdown and compression test on my car. I already knew that the compression was horrible on the car but wanted to get a leakdown test done to get a better picture of what is going on. After RPM did their thing, the results were truly heart breaking. Two cylinders had practically 100% leakage at 100 psi and the other two were not any better. I can't add videos here, but RPM but a small bag over the oil cap hole (not sure if thats the right term) on the valve cover and it filled up like a balloon.





When I initally found out the news, I was crushed! This was much worst than I initially thought and of course will cost more dinero! BUT being the optimistic person that I am, I looked at this as an opportunity to get the Evo running better than ever. The car just hit over 100k miles and it was going to need some maintenance done to it either way.

Being that the short block will pretty much need to be redone, I spent countless hours debating what I wanted to do. I could either go the fully built route, or an "OEM" spec rebuild. I chose to do something in between, which will consist of the following:

1. Brand new OEM Evo 9 Short block - I am going to be getting this from my buddy Larry from mitsubishipartsnow.com as he has the best prices I have seen anywhere. $2,700 shipped to my door!
2. OEM Timing Belt (and tensioners/pulleys), Water Pump, Oil Pump, Gasket kit, Lower Timing Belt Cover
3. OEM motor mounts (all 3)
4. OEM oil pan bolts, timing cover bolts, exhaust manifold studs, etc.
5. Kiggly HLA
6. Pocket port head with upgraded GSC valvetrain, lifters and Kiggly HLA. Port intake manifold
   1. There are a number of reputable shops I can take/send my head to get done but I just don't know who to go with! I am debating between a few shops Headgames, Arlington Machine, SB Machine, RS Machine (Norwalk, CA) and Portflow design. If anyone has any feedback on these shops or any others feel free to let me know!
7. ARP L19 Head Studs
8. Exedy Twin Disc
9. New fluids, spark plugs
10. Clean injectors
11. Powder coat valve cover

This is the spark notes version of what I want to do! But I promise I spent so many hours comparing parts prices to see where I can get the best deal. For OEM parts, mistubishipartsnow.com has the cheapest prices ANYWHERE. For aftermarket parts I looked at vendors such as extremepsi, MAPerformance, and STM tuned. If anyone wants to see my Excel spreadsheet that I made which compares all vendor prices let me know and I would be more than happy to send it to you.

Today (7/21/20) the car is back home and waiting for me to start taking it apart. Jeff is supposed to come over one of these days and help me get the head off as I have never done this before and could use some "expertise" hahaha. I also ordered my OEM short block, timing belt and tensioner belt which will hopefully get here within the next two weeks! I am also planning on ordering much more parts come the end of the month so stay tuned! I will try and post as much as possible to keep everyone in the loop!

 

Of course man, I'm always down to help a fellow evo owner however I can. Maybe @Lumpy Sticks will come with, he's the true beast mode mechanic lol if I have any questions or am unsure of anything I ask him!

 

Let me and Soso know when you are ready for some extra hands! We can get you back up and running better than ever in no time.

 

I have not used any of these shops... but have heard that Arlington Machine is good but has a very long lead time (6 mons). Letsgetthisdone highly recommends Headgames. You might want to ping him for his experience.

 

I am going to take the both of you up on that offer!!! It's amazing to have great friends like @SoSoEVO and @Lumpy Sticks . I will be sure to pay you both accordingly and be on the lookout for the group chat lol to set this party up!

 

Thank you for the feedback. You are 100% right about the lead time. I gave Arlington a call and he confirmed that there is about a 3 month wait to get any work done. I hear nothing but good things about Head Games and would appreciate @letsgetthisdone feedback, especially if he had first hand experience.

 

I've had 4 different cylinder heads done at head games. Mine was there twice, 1st time for the full work up, 2nd time was refresh and add orings to the deck. Top notch every time.

I would suggest getting the pocket port R package. Flow improvements to the head with Ferrea valves and porting the bowls, and chamber work to help reduce knock tendencies.

If you haven't paid for the short block yet I would HIGHLY suggest a built 2.0L.. All this money spent to still be stuck with a stock short block and ~400wtq limit is like a kick in the dick IMO. And English racing "street" 2.0L is $3,760.