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I had an Evo X for 7 years as a daily, and it worked great. Traveled for several 1000 mile road trips through snowy Canada and across the East coast. First car I tracked when it was FBO, and I was amazed at its capability to pass M cars and some Corvettes in the intermediate and advanced groups on an NJMP HPDE day. Before I got rid of it, it had a stock engine and built tcase, 8374 on 93 oct tuned by CBRD, about 450whp and lowish torque.
My favorite Evo is the IX and I found a fairly low mileage example in CA and was able to trade my S2k for it + change. Took a quick flight to San Francisco, made the deal, and had the car shipped within a month to the East coast.
My traded S2k
The Evo has a Boostin Performance built engine (block and head), an ETS 6466 kit, built trans, tcase, and rear diff by Jack's. Previous owner had inadequate blow-by venting and used a zip tie on the dipstick which kept popping out previously. Caused leaks from several gaskets, like the valve cover gasket and rear main seal. He did throw in a tranny mounted STM catch can and two -10AN vents in the VC to try to correct the problem.
Also had a remote tune for CA 91 oct
Gauge setup had some room for improvement too
Regardless of a need for better crankcase venting, some voltage drop issues, abysmal wiring jobs and organization, this was an excellent car
I relocated the battery to the back and swapped out the charge harness, from DC5creations.
Had a LiFePO4 group 35 lying around (~10 lbs).
Hood was shaky at highway speeds, so I added aerocatch pins.
Alternator was causing me voltage issues so I swapped it out with an ARD 150 amp alternator. Voltage issues fixed.
Some advice for the alternator swap: not too horrible of a job. Unbolt the ABS module (some nuts) and AC line and dipstick. I jacked up the engine/trans just a little and after removing the belt via the passenger wheel well and unbolting the alternator (2 bolts), it's possible to maneuver it out. I had to articulate a lot but there was enough room to take it out from the top.
My idle was wonky after going WOT, and found records that my IACV was replaced with some aftermarket unit, so I replaced with an OEM one, car idled well afterwards.
I replaced the STM catch can with a battery-location mounted one, from Euro Logic. I like that the can is positioned higher than the previously trans mounted can. Had lines made by Improved Racing (nice company with quick turnaround). And found a solution to also vent from the balance shaft inspection hole at the front of the block using an m10x1.25 banjo bolt and -8AN banjo fitting.
In that time, I sent out my turbo to Boost Labs in FL since it had a leak from the oil feed and return lines at the fittings on the turbo. I replaced the exhaust manifold studs and coated them with oil resistant thread sealant (the BOTTOM ones are the ones which are exposed to oil passages).
Got Boost Lab and STM oil line fittings for the return line and had Improved Racing make the -10AN line.
Turbo received, and threw on some fender braces from Ultra Racing because I was planning to replace the front fusebox harness to put on some JDM HID headlights anyway.
Here's a tip when installing the fender braces, use a magnet:
A nice Billetworkz weighted shift knob.
Bought a front fusebox harness from an Evo IX MR partout (with HIDs) and placed in some conduit tubing to clean up the harness area. The harness is not hard to install, though you'll have to remove the front bumper and preferably the driver fender. If your radiator is out, it'll make it much easier to drive the harness along the lower rad support.
Cleaned the heck up out of the wiring and taps from previous owner. Wired in several gauges, used the far passenger side firewall hole for the oil temp/pressure and boost gauge wiring, wired the wideband via a passenger side floor hole, and threw in a voltage gauge as well.
Interior as it sits now. I replaced the OEM rearview mirror with an auto-dimming Gentex mirror with Homelink function (Mazda RX8 mirror), and it's one of my favorite mods . Wired it with a hardwired Valentine V1 gen2.
Hochman Fabrication extinguisher w/mount.
I had right and left torque solution engine/trans mounts and replaced the front lower with an STM crossbar with the smaller mounting point. Replaced the rear engine mount with a Boosted Fab dogbone. Both the front and rear engine mounts weren't hard to complete on jackstands, though I used a swivel joint on an impact for the rear mount.
The car came with solid rear diff mounts, but not solid driveshaft bushings, so I replaced those. The OEM rubber mounts had a LOT of play in my driveshaft. OEM Donut bushings were still good.
Took the car on a long road trip to Boostin Performance outside of Chicago. Car didn't skip a beat. Made good power on 93 oct. They did not like the venting w/banjo bolt via the balance shaft inspection hole due to the line's proximity to the hot side of the turbo. So they welded in a -6AN bung to the dipstick, which provides for way more venting than my banjo bolt solution. Devin @ Boostin tuned the car a few PSI less and it made more power on the dyno than it had before.
Have my OEM winters on, the car spins first gear now
Readjusted the JDM headlights some. Visibility is stellar (Philips 85122XV2).
Didn't mention I had the T51R mod done when I had the turbo rebuilt. This car is a lot of fun. It is more raw than the Evo X. The Evo X feels like the Evo IX was rebuilt by Porsche--more clinical at the cost of rawness.
This is how the IX sits now.
There's a bunch of stuff I didn't list, but I'll update that eventually. I'll likely be going on flex on Haltech in the future, as my current setup has way more room for growth.
"Readjusted the JDM headlights some. Visibility is stellar (Philips 85122XV2)"
Nice write up. I'm sure every Evo has a story lol mine does for sure, "Bring some weed, I have a story to tell" Biggie
Can you show a picture of which screws to adjust your JDM headlights?
The JDM lights have an easy adjustment. You just need a philips screw driver for both vertical and horizontal adjustment. Put a philips screwdriver in the headlight adjustment motor as shown (in that little hole that has a worm gear) and turn clockwise to point up and ccw to point down. There are also the adjustment bolts on the projector housing that are 10mm right behind the fender. They aren't accessible, but that's okay because you will see that their adjustment is also accessible with a screwdriver on a worm gear. Use a philips for that: I believe ccw points the lowbeam to the right and cw to the left.
I don't have a photo of the cutoff but I adjusted the driver side more to the right and pointed it slightly more down than the passenger side. I don't seem to be high-beamed by oncoming traffic and it has excellent visibility. High beams are adjusted right above the cut off lines for the low beams, tangential to it.
Slave cylinder was failing, so I replaced it with a new one and an STM stainless slave to master cylinder line. Bleeding with a power bleeder makes things easy. Clutch pedal feel is great.
Evo doing evo things. With blizzaks and OEM wheels, this car is a beast in the snow.
The JDM lights have an easy adjustment. You just need a philips screw driver for both vertical and horizontal adjustment. Put a philips screwdriver in the headlight adjustment motor as shown (in that little hole that has a worm gear) and turn clockwise to point up and ccw to point down. There are also the adjustment bolts on the projector housing that are 10mm right behind the fender. They aren't accessible, but that's okay because you will see that their adjustment is also accessible with a screwdriver on a worm gear. Use a philips for that: I believe ccw points the lowbeam to the right and cw to the left.
I don't have a photo of the cutoff but I adjusted the driver side more to the right and pointed it slightly more down than the passenger side. I don't seem to be high-beamed by oncoming traffic and it has excellent visibility. High beams are adjusted right above the cut off lines for the low beams, tangential to it.
There is even better visibility if you switch out the JDM projector for USDM or a modern projector.
Time to modify the FSB, install a 26mm whiteline RSB, and a few more mods to ensure wheel fitment.
Drilled the FSB with ~3/8" holes and painted with black rustproof paint. Required a dremel with carbide shavers and I used Cobalt drill bits to bore out the hole with cutting oil.
Torqued and adjusted the whiteline endlinks in with the car on the ground to ensure zero preload.
Also threw in powerflex bushings for the FSB (24mm). Honestly, these were a pain to get on without dropping the subframe.
Ran into quite the doozy when removing my RSB. The driver side mount was being held on by 2 bolts, not 3, because one of the heads was broken off. And the remaining bolt piece was virtually galvanized in the whole. Had quite the time trying multiple methods to remove it, including vice grips, propane torch, EZ out, left handed drill bits, etc. I ended up drilling through the bolt and dremeling with a carbide bit, being very careful of the original threads once I carved out this bolt. I then fit in a M10x1.25 steel tap and was able to tap new threads into the hole, until....
The tap broke. I found an extractor on Amazon, and after heating the broken tap with a torch, I was able to gingerly extract the tap, rotating 20 degrees clockwise, 25 degrees counter-clockwise in tandem and progressively.
. Wired it with a hardwired Valentine V1 gen2.
. I like the fender braces. Are you having any issues with the dipstick vent pushing oil into your catch can?
. I found an extractor on Amazon, and after heating the broken tap with a torch, I was able to gingerly extract the tap, rotating 20 degrees clockwise, 25 degrees counter-clockwise in tandem and progressively.
