My VI is starting to look just the way I want it, so I figured now would be a good time to begin my build thread. I've got this build thread on MLR as well, so I apologise if you see it twice!

A little about me: my name is Jamie, I'm 26 and working as a systems engineer in Sydney, Australia. I've been a car enthusiast for as long as I can remember, and have tinkered with and worked on cars since I was given my first car (a 1999 Mitsubishi Lancer GLi sedan, the closest thing I could get to an Evo VI at 16 years old).

I previously owned a 2003 Evo VIII, which was my first foray into Japanese turbocharged cars, and I couldn't have been happier with it! At the time, I was looking at buying an apartment, and with the pricing of the Sydney housing market at the moment, I had to part ways with the VIII. As it turns out, I'll be renting for the remainder of (at least) this year, so I figured I'd get back in an Evo. I wanted to try something a little different this time, and reasoned that by spending less on the purchase of the car, I could justify spending a little more on modifications.

Here's my VIII as I knew and loved her:


I had received the VIII in more or less stock condition, the only major exceptions being the OEM front and rear Evo IX bars. The majority of the work I did on the car in terms of modifications was cosmetic and for improving handling, including the wheels (Lenso Project D Spec E 18x9.5 +22), HSD MonoPro fully-adjustable coilovers, the carbon side skirt extensions, the OEM weathershields and a (very) dark tint. I spent the majority of my time doing preventative maintenance on this car, as I seem to get more enjoyment out of working on/under/in the car than I do driving it! (I know, there may be something a little bit wrong with me.)

With the context out of the way, let's get started on the VI. I had looked for several months for a clean VI in Sydney, with decent examples seemingly few and far between. I was particularly hoping for either a silver or black version, which were even rarer still. I ended up finding a very clean and very stock example in silver, which I bought without too much hesitation. As with my VIII previously, the VI was in basically stock standard condition. It had some (rare) Bridgestone BE0/SO3 wheels from Japan, a newly installed Viper alarm system, an intake snorkel in the left fog light position and an Ultra Racing front strut brace. That was it. The interior didn't appear to have ever been used, with no visible marks, scratches or rips/tears in any of the seating or carpets. A perfect starting point I think!

Here's how she looked when I drove her home (excuse the Instagram collage):


The first thing I did with my new toy was replace the battery, as the existing battery was completely dead. From there, I gave the car a thorough inspection, and ticked off a couple of easy maintenance tasks:

1. Replaced the spark plugs with NGK BPR7ES, gapped at 0.6mm
2. Drained, flushed (with Penrite radiator clean) and refilled the entire cooling system with Nulon long-life concentrate at 50/50

It was at this point that I also picked up a custom stainless steel 3" catback exhaust, which tapered to meet the stock down pipe, allowing for a simple bolt-in installation. The catback has a relatively small cannon muffler without a resonator, so it was a noticeable (read: loud) change from stock. A brief before/after video (on Instagram) can be viewed below:


The VI had had a major fluids service immediately prior to being sold, including engine oil, transmission, ACD, rear diff, etc., so at this point I was very happy with how the car was running. As with the VIII, the next step was to turn my attention to the look and feel of the car.

Being on the taller side (6'2"), one of my favourite modifications on the VIII was installing the [BINARY] seat lowering brackets. It completely changed the driving experience, and dramatically increased my level of engagement on the road. The stock CP Recaros seem to sit even higher than the CTs, so lowering the seats became my first goal.

I removed the driver's seat and was somewhat dismayed to find that the seat construction on the CPs varies greatly from that of the CT. Where the CTs mounting tabs were simply bolted into the seat frame/slider, the CPs mounts where riveted to the rail, which made lowering brackets more or less impossible with the stock frame/rail. I briefly considered removing the frame/rail altogether, opting to hard mount the seat to the floor, but decided against it for the time being. I've been looking at aftermarket seat options, and will likely purchase a matching set to replace the stock Recaros in due time.

With the seat modification over before it started, I moved to my first cosmetic modification on the VI: one-piece headlights. I'd seen countless pictures of CPs with the one-piece headlight conversion prior to buying mine, and knew it would be one of the first projects I tackled. I managed to find some 'new' (brand new headlights which had sat unused in a box for 4 years) Depo headlights, which happened to be the exact 'version' of the one-piece lights I was after.

I had done some research into the conversion prior to buying the headlights, and knew that the wiring needed some attention to make it all operate as it should. I had read some threads at the time, where the OEM lighting wiring harnesses had been spliced/diced and more or less destroyed during the installation process, a process I was planning on avoiding. I set about planning a 'kit' of sorts, which would contain the necessary relays, cables (all cut to length) and connectors to simply plug-n-play the one-piece headlights into the OEM wiring harness. Sounds great, right?!

I'm glad to report that this plan executed perfectly, with the custom loom plugging directly into the OEM harness, without any soldering, crimping or cutting at all! The only issue to note at this point, is that the one-piece headlights don't come with a side light, so the OEM side light connector is unused. I've been asked by some of the Evo guys here in Australia to look at putting together this custom loom kit as an option for those that want a no-hassle installation of their one-piece headlights, which I'd be more than happy to do.

Here's how she looked with her new set of eyes:


It was on this same weekend that I did a little bit of restoration work to some of the previously painted bits on the bonnet and front bar, namely the bonnet vent and scoop, as well as the front grill/mesh. The paint was in reasonably good condition, so I didn't strip it back to bare, but I did give it a decent sand and clean, before respraying with a high-temperature satin black. It came up just as I'd hoped :smthumbup

 

Next up on the agenda: battery relocation.

This is something I had really wanted to do on the VIII, but knew it wouldn't really add anything to the car given that I was keeping it in more or less stock condition. Given that I've got some extensive modifications planned for the VI, it was easily justified! Now, I've seen some fairly average relocations on the various forums in my time, and wanted to make this one was as clean as possible. I'm looking to do as much fabrication/custom installation on this car as possible (as opposed to buying kits etc.), the battery relocation being no exception.

So, what was the plan? Firstly, I wanted the boot install to be as clean and secure as possible. Secondly, I quite liked the idea of having an aftermarket power distribution block with integrated voltage readout in the engine bay, if not purely to satisfy my inner engineer (read: nerd). Lastly, I wanted the cabling to/from the battery, as well as to/from the distribution block to be as clean/OEM-appearing as possible. This included being adequately protected from the elements, as well as from the various metal surfaces in the engine bay.

With the context established, let's get relocating! The first step was to remove the battery, the stock battery tray/mount, the airbox, and any associated intake/vacuum tubing to have some room to work with. With the stock airbox out of the way, I had a fairly sizeable area to use for a custom distribution block setup. I ended up making a distribution block mount plate out of mild steel, which utilised the factory airbox bolt locations. From there, it was a matter of cutting the fusible link cables to the required length, and mounting the distribution block on the plate. I installed some 50A AGU fuses in the distribution block for the two fusible link cables (AYC and ABS), and then set about running the 1/0 gauge cable I'd bought for the positive battery lead.

Now, my first plan was to run the battery cable from the distribution block, around the strut tower to the firewall, across the firewall, and down underneath the engine bay, to then run alongside the brake lines. I spent a good hour under the car tracing out the possible ways of doing this, but eventually determined that going through the cabin would be a lot easier, and arguably safer as the cable wouldn't be subjected to damage or the elements. With that realisation made, I spent what must have been 2 hours looking at all possible means for passing the cable through the firewall. It's probably worth noting at this point that the cable I had chosen had extra thick insulation on it, and I had also covered it in ribbed split loom tube, as well as an ample supply of electrical tape. In short, the cable was thick!

As such, I couldn't find a suitable OEM hole/grommet in the firewall to pass the cable through, and with the layout I'd selected for the distribution block, passing the cable through the front fender and then into the cabin wasn't possible either. In the end, I found and drilled a hole in the firewall, just behind the block, which led to an unoccupied space in the upper section of the passenger footwell. I had planned on putting a rubber grommet in to prevent any wear on the cable, but was unable to do so given the size of the cable. In the end, I added extra protection to the part of the cable that passed through the firewall, which ensured a nice snug fit, and eliminated the chance of the firewall rubbing through to the copper wire underneath.

With the cable passed through the firewall, all that was left to do was to remove some interior carpets and panels, and run the cable through to the boot. I was amazed at how easy this process was! Even with a rather hefty cable, the interior looks 100% stock, with no indication whatsoever that the cable is in there. With the cable in the boot, I mounted the battery box, and ran a similarly thick 1/0 gauge ground cable to a nearby bolt in the boot floorpan. I also added a 150A inline fuse for the positive lead, to ensure that the engine bay circuits would be protected in case of a short. I'm really happy with how the boot install turned out; the carpet remained in excellent condition, and there's only a slight hint of cable tracing around the left rear strut tower.

The relocated battery:


The distribution block with integrated voltage reader:


As you may have surmised, with the distribution block utilising the OEM airbox mount, re-fitting the OEM airbox becomes quite challenging! In fact, the only way to make the car driveable in the short term (i.e. from my workshop at my parent's place back to my place), was to remove the airbox and filter entirely, and leave the MAF/intake completely open. This was obviously a compromise, and only came about because the relocation took longer than expected. The plan was to tackle the relocation and custom intake setup in a single weekend. With that said, I only drove the car ~20km with the intake setup as pictured below, which isn't the end of the world.


As hinted at above, with the distribution block taking the place of the OEM airbox, I was in need of a new intake setup. I had looked at the various aftermarket intake systems available for both the CP and CTs, but ended up making my own. As mentioned above, I'm trying to do as much fabrication on this car as I can, simply because I enjoy the challenge and honing my skills. With that decided, I sourced some 3" mandrel aluminium (U bend) as well as a 1m straight 3" section, which I didn't end up using, as well as all the required silicone couplers and t-bolt clamps. I don't have access to a TIG setup at the moment, so I ended up measuring and cutting the various segments of aluminium tube to the right size and specification, then positioned them in place with tape. When I was happy with the fitment of the tubes, as well as the position of the vacuum barbs and the 34mm BOV recirculation fitting, I handed it over to a fabricator from a nearby performance shop to TIG it all together for me.

Here's the mocked-up intake sitting in the engine bay, coupled with the MAF adapter and K&N pod filter which I picked up for this project:


And here's what I received back from my fabricator:


All that was left to do at this point, was to fabricate a small bracket which supported and secured the MAF-end of the intake pipe in place, using the existing battery tray mounting holes. From there, I painted the intake pipe, the MAF adapter and the bracket in the same satin black high-temperature paint I used on the distribution block mount (as well as on the bonnet vent, scoop and front mesh). Here's the finished product:


Note that I moved the stock BOV mount from the stock pre-turbo location to the pre-throttle body location. This was primarily done due to the ample room towards the throttle body, and allows for the recirculation pipe fitting on the intake pipe to maintain a low profile. The BOV is currently installed backwards, as this offered the most discrete vacuum hose install from the intake manifold to the BOV, but this is only a temporary measure as I'll be looking to upgrade to a dual-port unit in the near future. And the intake system all hooked up and ready to go:


I plan on making a nice aluminium enclosure for the MAF and filter in the coming couple of weeks, but for the time being the intake is complete. With the intake all done, it was time to tackle the first (and arguably my favourite) of the handling modifications: coilovers.

 

It's probably worth noting at this point that I've got a set of MadMac's famous rear wide arches on order, and will be procuring a set of the GP Sports wide front fenders from Japan shortly as well. I've had a preliminary look at the geometry and space available for wide wheels, but won't put any serious effort into it until the wide arches and fenders have arrived. With that said, an adjustable suspension setup would be a must to accommodate wide wheels/rubber, as well as to ensure proper ride height and handling characteristics.

I managed to score a very nice collection of suspension components, made up of the following:

• Ohlins PCV front coilovers
• K-Mac Camber/Caster plates
• GP Sport G-Master rear coilovers
• Swift springs all round (10kg front, 11kg rear - to be confirmed)

First of all, I was really excited to receive the Ohlins, given their legendary heritage and capability for both street and track work. As mentioned above, I'm looking at adding some GP Sports parts to my car in the near future, so felt it fitting to include their G-Master coilovers in the rear as well. The Ohlins are fitted with some (seemingly brand new) camber/caster plates, which were advertised as being from K-Mac, but I'm yet to make that determination.


As you can see, all components in this setup happen to be in my favourite colour, which also happens to be the chosen accent colour for this particular build. Neat!

Now this install wasn't as simple as removing the stock struts and installing the Ohlins/GP Sports coilovers. This suspension setup was taken from a CT, which requires a little bit of modification to fit on an earlier CP. The rear suspension remained unchanged between the CP and CT models, but the front strut design had 2 notable variations:

1. The size of the bolt used to secure the bottom of the strut to the knuckle increased from 12mm to 14mm. As such, the corresponding bolt holes in the knuckle increased from 12mm to 14mm.
2. The width of the knuckle and therefore the width of the strut bottom flange mount increased by approximately 4mm.

Given these changes, there were a couple of steps required to successfully (and safely) mount the Ohlins coilovers to my VI:

1. Drill out the 12mm CP knuckles to 14mm. This was actually more difficult than it would seem. Given the thickness of the knuckle, the drill bit had a tendency to 'bite', which would cause the drill to flick violently. This was primarily due to the drill bit not being perpendicular, which in turn was caused by less than ideal restraining of the knuckle itself once the lower control arm had been disconnected. Once the knuckle was suitably restrained, the bit was less inclined to bite, and drilling through the 12mm hole became much easier.
2. Replacing the OEM 12mm camber and lower bolts with OEM CT 14mm camber and lower bolts. I went to Mitsubishi for a set (2x camber and 2x lower) of OEM bolts, but was fairly disheartened by their asking price of ~$125. I managed to find some used bolts off a wrecked CT for roughly $40.
3. Fabricate some shims to increase the apparent width of the CP knuckle to sit flush within the 4mm oversize CT strut bottom flange mounts. I've seen some people simply add 4mm washers to one side of each of the camber and lower bolts, but I preferred to have the struts aligned with the middle of the knuckle. As such, I ended up making a bunch of 2mm shims out of aluminium; one on each side of the knuckle, for each of the camber and lower bolts. This ended up working perfectly, with absolute no wiggle room between the strut mount and knuckle whatsoever.

See below a picture of one of the Ohlins installed. You can just make out the two aluminium shims on either side of the camber bolt.


And now for a before and after picture! As much as I loved (read: hated) the 4WD-spec front stock suspension, I really wanted to have the fitment/ride height on point. NOTE: I've currently got some Ichiba 15mm spacers installed, which change the effective wheel specifications to 17x8 +15, which fill out the guards nicely on the stock CP. The picture below is before installing the coilovers:


And these pictures demonstrate how the car sits now:


I couldn't be happier with how she's sitting now. It did take about 5 iterations to get the height just right, but so far the car seems to handle much better, and isn't quite as rough on the streets as you'd expect. I'll be looking to address the inherent bump steer issues with this setup in the near future.

That's it with the introduction and modifications for the time being. I'll be routinely updating this thread with further modifications, maintenance and preventative maintenance activities, so stay tuned!

 

It's been a relatively slow couple of weeks since my last update, as I've a) been out and about on the weekends, and b) not had anything to modify/install!

As per my last update, I've been looking at upgrading from the stock BOV. I ran an HKS SSQV unit on the VIII, which performed as required, but I was never particularly wild about the design, and had decided on going with a dual-port unit this time round.

I had planned on picking up one of the tried and test GFB Respons dual-port BOVs, but happened to stumble across something far less common and far more...unnecessary

For those who don't know about GFB (Go Fast Bits), they're a local Australian company, who specialise in blow-off/diverter valves, boost controllers, wastegates and various other performance-oriented parts for enthusiast cars. This is my first GFB purchase (albeit second hand), and I'm excited to see how the product performs, as I'd always choose to support a local company where possible.

With that said, here's what I picked up yesterday and installed this morning:





As the labelling would suggest, it's a GFB Deceptor Pro. A remote controlled, electronic fully adjustable blow-off valve. From fully atmospheric to fully recirculated, on the fly, with the turn of a knob. It doesn't get much simpler than that :smthumbup

Here's a quick demonstration of the aforementioned function:


The install was relatively straight forward. The only minor modification required was to lengthen the mounting holes on the charcoal canister bracket, to allow the canister to mount a touch higher to prevent the bottom of the canister from contacting the BOV.



I ran the BOV wiring (power, ground and signal) through an existing grommet in the firewall, and used the stereo's loom for both the power and ground connections. The wiring install is only temporary, as I've come to find that most of the wiring in the dash/behind the headunit is a mess. I'll be looking to clean that entire region up, using proper crimp/soldered connections, to replace the current 'electrical tape and pray' connections.

I mounted the controller in the empty DIN tray underneath the headunit. I've got some tentative plans in development at the moment that may see this mounting location change, but it's practical and discrete, so I'll leave it as is for the time being.



That's it for this week's update. Next on the agenda is to make the pod filter enclosure, and perhaps look at fabricating side skirt extensions

 

What a nice little car. I am jealous! Keep up the good work. When I passed my battery cable through the firewall, I had the same concerns about the firewall cutting through the battery cable insulation. I ended up finding a PCV fitting to pass through the wall and eliminate the chance of cutting the wire. Just took a bit of grinding, but it was definitely worth it.

 

camber bolts can be had cheap cheap from partsouq.com

i use them for all my hard to find evo parts for my four