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So I have owned a number of cars over the years. DC2 Integra(s), EG Civic, E36 & E46 M3(s), Porsche Boxster (which was very boring), Mk5 and Mk7 GTi(s), Bugeye WRX and finally a Range Rover Sport
Made decision in 2018 to finally get back to 2001 and buy a JDM car again. My dailys currently are the RRS and Mk7GTi but I wanted something Japanese and from the 80s/90s.
First off - how do I pay for it! For the last number of years I have been collecting Japanese arcade machines and games. I had even bought a few PCBs while in Japan on holidays. I noticed that these had seriously shot up in value, and as such I began selling off most of my prized collection. I've kept one Sega New Astro City, and CPS2 SSF2 and a handful of of others. Still have my retro console collection too, but that might get converted into another car !
Anyway - I needed to settle on a car. AE86, R32GTR, FC/FDRX7, or Evo 5.
The car I picked is obvious by this thread ! I spent from roughly May 2019 searching for a white Evo 5 to import on the Japanese auctions. I wanted it as close to OEM as possible, but I wouldn't mind if a nice set of CE28s were on it or other what I consider tasteful parts. I would also mention that I was not aiming for a show car, track days and spirited drives were/are planned and not to put the 5 into storage never to see the light again.
So 2 cars appeared in July/August on the USS auctions - I missed out on both as they went way past my budget. My importer then began searching outside of the auctions and found my now Evo 5 from a private seller.
Not a perfect car but it had the following :
Fairly standard scotia white with sunroof & undersealed, fujisubo exhaust, hks induction, tein coilovers, blitz bov. From the CARVX report the car had never been auctioned, and has a pretty decent service history. Which is unusal for me, as all my previous japanese imports, this sort of information was always missing. I paid over my money and then began the long process of getting the car to Ireland. This took longer than normal, but the car eventually arrived in January 2020
This is where the car sat in Nagoya waiting for the RORO boat.
While I was waiting for the car to arrive - I was able to discover its original registration number. I then ordered a plate from Germany to match (its next to impossible to get the Japanese plates when importing)
End of January/February - I began the process of legalising the car in Ireland. This is a super pain in the hole and ends up costing a stupid amount of money. You can see below how the car arrived.
Once that bill was cleared, I began fitting parts I had hoarded. Works bell slim hub and Nardi corn wheel. Also replaced the gear knob and gaitor with Tomei knob.
I was able to drive around for a little bit on the Japanese plates
The previous owner had left a few toys in the boot of the car for me. The original suspension, the wind deflectors (which I fitted below). The evolution V decals were also missing, so I purchased and fitted them.
I gave the car a service also - changed the plugs to HKS, changed the air filter also HKS, HKS oil filter also. The engine bay is quite scruffy, so I have been changing out bolts, but also replacing parts where possible.
Below was the last drive before the dreaded Covid lock down - I took a spin half way up the east coast and back again.
The fujitsubo I have always owned a fujitsubo exhaust on all my JDM cars. The sound great and aren't overly loud.
Also being a nerd anime initial D fan - I had to fit the Emperor decal, sure I'm there age now too.
I'm also a sucker for Monster sport parts - so I bought a turbo heat shield and rad cap (not pictured)
Then I needed to settle on wheels. I originally was going bronze CE28s or TE37s but like everything I tend to repeat myself. An Irish JDM parts importer happened to have a new shipment in stock, and in that shipment were the limited edition BBS LMs in the correct fitment, give or take a mm in the offset I had previously had BBS LMs on both my E36 and E46 M3s, and just loved how they looked. However I had not seen any on a Evo 5 before. I eventually found a guyin Australia with a slightly different fitment, and messing around with Photoshop I decided to give them a shot. They arrived promptly and I wasted no time in test fitting. The are 17x8 +30 - and as you can see from the photos came very close to the caliper, but luckily cleared. As they are a two piece wheel it is possible to reverse mount them for +15 offset, which might come in handy for my next car
I went with some slightly fat boy tires - 235/45/17 on Michelin PS4s - so should be more than capable on track but als on damp roads.
I plastidiped the silver clips for the wind deflectors - it can be easily removed, but I prefered the more subtle look as the silver stood out too much.
So the last few parts I've fitted recently have been to remove the foglights and the absolute tonne of cables for the HID ballasts/bulbs in both headlights and fogs. I fitted LED headlight bulbs, but also fitted the RS foglight covers.
A package arrived from Japan - this is proving hard to do, as Japan Post won't send to Ireland, but other delivery companies will.
A HKS duct cover - hopefully when the weather improves I'll get a chance to fit it !
The rain has been quite relentless the last month or so. I've had the car covered for most of it. It was sunny on Saturday - so I took the cover off - within minutes, it rained. Thought it looked kind of cool though with all the misting.
Fitted the panel - but one of the studs snapped (top left) - hopefully its just a bolt that I need to replace, but didn't get a chance to investigate further. You can see how much water pools on top of the turbo heat shield. This should alleviate it some what.
Thanks for the comments folks ! Alas I haven't done much recently because shipping from Japan has been restricted. still loads of parts I want. Stupid feckin covid!!!! The car was also due to go into storage but my area is on lock down.
so finally some post has arrived - not even sure what you would call this part, but I guess a chasis suspension brace (MR412407). I believe it comes standard on the RS model ? not sure though !
Easy to fit - unbolt the 2 nuts that hold the rear bumper on. Slide on the brace, bolt up again. Some issues - I didn't want to trim anything, so its a little awkward to get access to the spare wheel but not impossible.
