The Evo has always been a dream car of mine ever since using it as a kid to beat the seemingly impossible final boss of Need For Speed: Carbon and represented a paradigm shift for me that maybe sometimes it's best to humble yourself and try something new to tackle a big problem, and often it's better to have more control than raw power in a given circumstance.
Buying this car was a nightmare at the dealership, where I had to paperwork duel/race someone else in an ethically dubious sales practice... 4 hours away from home. The dealership nearly left me holding the bag with a failed inspection, but were fortunately convinced to pay to fix the spotted problems. However, there have been some ongoing issues that tell me this thing was not very well-maintained by the previous owner. However, like a rescue dog I plan to show this old girl (almost 100k miles) that her golden years can still be the best ones. She came with an aftermarket DP, cat-back exhaust, and intake already.
I started by tackling some lingering issues like old brake fluid, dirty intake filter, etc. and did some preventative/catch up maintenance on all the fluids, including the fun expensive ones. Surprise! AYC pump is busted... Luckily that was still under warranty (up to 100k for those curious). The first real mods were some personalization of the interior/exterior with some touches of red; my plan emerged to keep things pretty understated. It's already a bit unusual for an Evo since theres no wing, so a few small otuches of red on the interior and exterior would be classy.
Eventually I found I had the dreaded cracked stock manifold. I also found more exhaust leaks around the DP. New gaskets and a ceramic coated manifold from MAP that won't crack did the trick! However, it didn't come easy and I had to disassemble much of the exhaust system to make it work. I also nearly broke off a stud in the head and had to call a machinist buddy to save me... several new rounds of exhaust leak whack a mole later, she was running again.
With so much disassembled around the turbo, I figured why not replace the intake as well? The one she came with appeared to be AMS, but was in rough shape. Bad rubber grommets and a trashed K&N filter. I don't have big HP goals for the car so I decided to go back to the OEM style with a Cobb airbox and Tomei hose. I don't know why but Tomei has always epitomized peak tuner tech and I just wanted something with Tomei on it... the airbox was just to help keep water and hot air away from the filter while still allowing WOOOSH PSSH sounds to be heard in the cabin. Nice.
OEM style intake hose also meant relocating the BPV which allowed for the next phase: Red hoses. The plan is a white engine cover surrounded by red all over the engine bay (to contrast the all-white with tinges of red exterior), so naturally I also had to replace the charge pipes with the red ones from MAP and a red Mishimoto BPV hose.
A tune is on the horizon as well as some other reliability mods like a catch can. It's a daily and my kids love it so I hope it can be around for a long time. Shooting for around 350HP and hoping to take it to some local shows/meets eventually and maybe the occasional track day if I can manage it.
