My Mitsubishi Evo 6 - 12 years of poor financial decisions
Discussion
After spending way too much time browsing on here, decided to start this thread to document my adventures with the blurple pig. It's come a fair way over the last decade and a bit!
It started off in 2008, 20 year old me had just gone through a couple of turbo Subaru's, and this car came up for a relative steal. The colour was divisive, the red mudflaps were...interesting, but mechanically it was sound, so I decided it was the perfect car to get as a uni student working part time...
The mudflaps got donated to a mates red TME, and I did the basics like an exhaust/ intake and it got a remap up to ~270hp at the wheels, it cleaned up OK and did well for a pretty standard car, and at the time compared to the cars I was used to it was a rocketship!
Until this point the car was dead reliable. Then the drag racing bug bit. The clutch started slipping after my first event, so a 6 puck replacement went it. After spending 2 weeks convinced I had ruined the car, I figured out how to drive with it and it was happy days again. Ended up getting pretty consistent with that setup, and the car was dialled in running mid 12 second quarters. Even ended up winning the dial your own season.
However the racing took it's toll (and tbf I was probably a lot harsher on the car off the line than I am now), at the cost of a couple of transfer cases and a gearbox, so with that the car got a bit of a break while the finances recovered.
Then, once all my money was NOT being spent on drivetrain bits, it got expertly diverted to things I definitely didn't need, like a JUN exhaust manifold and 272 cams, a second hand FP Red turbo, intercooler etc etc.
Got it all back together and this time around it made 360hp at the wheels, and it boogied! At some stage in there it got some RPF1 wheels, and in general it was a good street car.
Then, I got greedy. My tuner had advised that we were pretty much where he would stop pushing a stock block. This was partially due to the nature of the FP Red, it hit a lot sooner and harder than the T3/4 frame turbos that were a lot more common in NZ at the time, so it was a lot harder on the motor than the lazier Garretts etc. However, I obviously knew a lot better (because I had read the internet you see), and knowing the Yanks were making 400hp at the wheels "reliably" (without knowing they tuned the cars to be lazy down low etc), I asked him to push it - note: these guys were the only ones that had tuned my car since I'd had it, I know them well, they know me well enough to know I wouldn't blame them if things went pear shaped.
So up went the boost, and we made around 410hp on 27ish psi. The combo of response and top end was mental.
The car was an animal and I couldn't have been happier.
Back to the drag strip to see what it could do.
Then I could have been happier. I could have been much, much happier.
Part 2: New motor and where we are now.
It started off in 2008, 20 year old me had just gone through a couple of turbo Subaru's, and this car came up for a relative steal. The colour was divisive, the red mudflaps were...interesting, but mechanically it was sound, so I decided it was the perfect car to get as a uni student working part time...
The mudflaps got donated to a mates red TME, and I did the basics like an exhaust/ intake and it got a remap up to ~270hp at the wheels, it cleaned up OK and did well for a pretty standard car, and at the time compared to the cars I was used to it was a rocketship!
Until this point the car was dead reliable. Then the drag racing bug bit. The clutch started slipping after my first event, so a 6 puck replacement went it. After spending 2 weeks convinced I had ruined the car, I figured out how to drive with it and it was happy days again. Ended up getting pretty consistent with that setup, and the car was dialled in running mid 12 second quarters. Even ended up winning the dial your own season.
However the racing took it's toll (and tbf I was probably a lot harsher on the car off the line than I am now), at the cost of a couple of transfer cases and a gearbox, so with that the car got a bit of a break while the finances recovered.
Then, once all my money was NOT being spent on drivetrain bits, it got expertly diverted to things I definitely didn't need, like a JUN exhaust manifold and 272 cams, a second hand FP Red turbo, intercooler etc etc.
Got it all back together and this time around it made 360hp at the wheels, and it boogied! At some stage in there it got some RPF1 wheels, and in general it was a good street car.
Then, I got greedy. My tuner had advised that we were pretty much where he would stop pushing a stock block. This was partially due to the nature of the FP Red, it hit a lot sooner and harder than the T3/4 frame turbos that were a lot more common in NZ at the time, so it was a lot harder on the motor than the lazier Garretts etc. However, I obviously knew a lot better (because I had read the internet you see), and knowing the Yanks were making 400hp at the wheels "reliably" (without knowing they tuned the cars to be lazy down low etc), I asked him to push it - note: these guys were the only ones that had tuned my car since I'd had it, I know them well, they know me well enough to know I wouldn't blame them if things went pear shaped.
So up went the boost, and we made around 410hp on 27ish psi. The combo of response and top end was mental.
The car was an animal and I couldn't have been happier.
Back to the drag strip to see what it could do.
Then I could have been happier. I could have been much, much happier.
Part 2: New motor and where we are now.
So, with a lump of scrap metal pretending to be an engine sitting in my car, it was time to start researching what to do next.
Given the car is primarily a street car, I decided that responsiveness would be important, and given that I know myself well enough to know that I wouldn't just dial things down and leave it, the engine had to get stronger parts. So built 2.3 sounded like the way to go.
BUT. If there's one thing I am better at than being dumb, it's being cheap. The more I read about the 4g64s, the more sense it made.
2.4 litre, so more torque. Check.
Evo head (for the most part) bolts on. Check.
Off the shelf rods and pistons available. Check.
I could get a bare block for a hundred bucks, vs 1500ish minimum for an Evo 5 up block. DOUBLE CHECK.
The credit card was thrown at the rest of the parts (Manley rods, Wiseco pistons, ARP studs throughout, ACL bearings etc. etc.), and everything was dropped off to the engine builders.
More research was done, and in the interests of being able to keep the car in 4th gear across the line at the drags, we decided to run a later model VR4 gearset in the car. Longer gears would also mean it would have lower rpm at motorway speeds etc, so it seemed like a good idea. However it is relatively hard to come across them. Found one for sale 300km away in a car that had been sitting on a farm for god knows how long, and after tiptoeing around ALL of the cow poops the box was off and in the boot of the daily.
One of my mates went over it to make sure it was OK, swapped bellhousing with the Evo one, threw some paint at it and it was looking pretty good! In case you're wondering by this stage we'd also gone to a twin plate Tilton clutch, and the lines coming through the top are for the hydraulic release bearing.
While it was all apart, we also decided to "update" the transfer case. For some reason Mitsubishi decided a 9.5mm hole is the way to go for a 8mm bolt. The transfer case was drilled and tapped for 10mm bolts with helicoils.
Had a chat with the tuner about the future plans for the car and we made the call to go with a Link g4+ ECU. The stock one did the job, but the tuner was more comfortable with the Link, and could set up more failsafes etc etc.
Late model evos have a known issue with oil starvation turning right with enough grip and g-forces. While I'm far from a circuit racer, the car does see the track now and then, so a new sump was picked up and a swirl pot was fabricated to help a little bit. Ideally you would go for a winged/baffled sump, but at this stage my bank account was pretty much ready to revolt.
Got the call from the engine builder and boom! Spot the difference:
In hindsight should have done more about the wiring, but meh. Too late now.
Accessories got bolted on, and hallelujah, it resembled a car again!
Then, back on the dyno it went. End result? A VERY responsive 455hp at the wheels and 623 Nm of torque. Happy days again. Ran the motor in etc. and it was a weapon on the street.
Even managed to get my mug into a magazine!
Then we went to the strip again. And it was slow. SLOOOW. Slower than the old setup by around a half second, and down on mph as well. Not ideal. Checked the logs (yay for the Link!) and the intake temps were through the roof. The tune started pulling power at ~40C, top of 4th gear we were seeing close to 80, so no surprise it was a slug. To be fair to the old intercooler, it was rated to 400hp, and we were making well more than that at the wheels.
Out with the old, in with the new (with a 4inch core) - fitment was...not bolt on...
Temps back under control, but we started finding the limits of the rest of the engine set up. What worked well on the 2 litre just wasn't up to the task for the increased capacity (and tbf parts were starting to get old as well). Sitting on a shelf for 9 months while I collected all the engine bits had not been kind to the turbo, and combined with some blow by the car started making a very impressive smoke screen every time I got off boost. Oh and the JUN manifold also decided to crack around all the runners. Oh well. Nothing some more $ can't fix.
New FP Red ordered, and a new big runner exhaust manifold was added to the parts collection as well. Also added in a catch can to make sure any blow by had a place to go.
Back to vroom noises, and a few more months of fun and games just enjoying the car with the boys.
My mates have some mental cars - the white Evo 3 makes just over 800whp, the red Evo in the back is one of the most successful show cars in the country, but also packs 700+ whp and runs lazy 10 second quarters, and the orange 323 is running an Evo box and runs 10s as well. Mine is DEFINITELY the runt of the litter here!
But the car still felt super average on the strip or track, ETs were still pretty much the same as with the old stock block set up.
Did a lot of soul searching and decided that in my quest for "response" I had gone too far. The Red was great on the old setup, but it was definitely out of puff with the 2.4. This meant the car was great on the street, but on track, higher up in the rev range, it was out of its element.
Looking at the dyno charts below (sorry, the old one is very hard to make out), you can see that the new setup was great till about 5.5k rpm, and then fell harder than ... something that falls really hard. I am bad at analogies.
I had managed to end up with a car that you couldn't use anywhere near it's full potential on the street without losing your licence (younger me has done this before, do not recommend), but wasn't really that great at the track where you could open it up. Not ideal.
It was also becoming clear that while the longer VR4 ratios were great in theory, with the current setup the "keeping it in 4th across the line" wasn't worth the trade-off in acceleration through the gears. We could go back to the Evo ratios, or we could keep throwing power at it until it made sense. Guess what we went with...
Part 3: I think we're getting there....
Given the car is primarily a street car, I decided that responsiveness would be important, and given that I know myself well enough to know that I wouldn't just dial things down and leave it, the engine had to get stronger parts. So built 2.3 sounded like the way to go.
BUT. If there's one thing I am better at than being dumb, it's being cheap. The more I read about the 4g64s, the more sense it made.
2.4 litre, so more torque. Check.
Evo head (for the most part) bolts on. Check.
Off the shelf rods and pistons available. Check.
I could get a bare block for a hundred bucks, vs 1500ish minimum for an Evo 5 up block. DOUBLE CHECK.
The credit card was thrown at the rest of the parts (Manley rods, Wiseco pistons, ARP studs throughout, ACL bearings etc. etc.), and everything was dropped off to the engine builders.
More research was done, and in the interests of being able to keep the car in 4th gear across the line at the drags, we decided to run a later model VR4 gearset in the car. Longer gears would also mean it would have lower rpm at motorway speeds etc, so it seemed like a good idea. However it is relatively hard to come across them. Found one for sale 300km away in a car that had been sitting on a farm for god knows how long, and after tiptoeing around ALL of the cow poops the box was off and in the boot of the daily.
One of my mates went over it to make sure it was OK, swapped bellhousing with the Evo one, threw some paint at it and it was looking pretty good! In case you're wondering by this stage we'd also gone to a twin plate Tilton clutch, and the lines coming through the top are for the hydraulic release bearing.
While it was all apart, we also decided to "update" the transfer case. For some reason Mitsubishi decided a 9.5mm hole is the way to go for a 8mm bolt. The transfer case was drilled and tapped for 10mm bolts with helicoils.
Had a chat with the tuner about the future plans for the car and we made the call to go with a Link g4+ ECU. The stock one did the job, but the tuner was more comfortable with the Link, and could set up more failsafes etc etc.
Late model evos have a known issue with oil starvation turning right with enough grip and g-forces. While I'm far from a circuit racer, the car does see the track now and then, so a new sump was picked up and a swirl pot was fabricated to help a little bit. Ideally you would go for a winged/baffled sump, but at this stage my bank account was pretty much ready to revolt.
Got the call from the engine builder and boom! Spot the difference:
In hindsight should have done more about the wiring, but meh. Too late now.
Accessories got bolted on, and hallelujah, it resembled a car again!
Then, back on the dyno it went. End result? A VERY responsive 455hp at the wheels and 623 Nm of torque. Happy days again. Ran the motor in etc. and it was a weapon on the street.
Even managed to get my mug into a magazine!
Then we went to the strip again. And it was slow. SLOOOW. Slower than the old setup by around a half second, and down on mph as well. Not ideal. Checked the logs (yay for the Link!) and the intake temps were through the roof. The tune started pulling power at ~40C, top of 4th gear we were seeing close to 80, so no surprise it was a slug. To be fair to the old intercooler, it was rated to 400hp, and we were making well more than that at the wheels.
Out with the old, in with the new (with a 4inch core) - fitment was...not bolt on...
Temps back under control, but we started finding the limits of the rest of the engine set up. What worked well on the 2 litre just wasn't up to the task for the increased capacity (and tbf parts were starting to get old as well). Sitting on a shelf for 9 months while I collected all the engine bits had not been kind to the turbo, and combined with some blow by the car started making a very impressive smoke screen every time I got off boost. Oh and the JUN manifold also decided to crack around all the runners. Oh well. Nothing some more $ can't fix.
New FP Red ordered, and a new big runner exhaust manifold was added to the parts collection as well. Also added in a catch can to make sure any blow by had a place to go.
Back to vroom noises, and a few more months of fun and games just enjoying the car with the boys.
My mates have some mental cars - the white Evo 3 makes just over 800whp, the red Evo in the back is one of the most successful show cars in the country, but also packs 700+ whp and runs lazy 10 second quarters, and the orange 323 is running an Evo box and runs 10s as well. Mine is DEFINITELY the runt of the litter here!
But the car still felt super average on the strip or track, ETs were still pretty much the same as with the old stock block set up.
Did a lot of soul searching and decided that in my quest for "response" I had gone too far. The Red was great on the old setup, but it was definitely out of puff with the 2.4. This meant the car was great on the street, but on track, higher up in the rev range, it was out of its element.
Looking at the dyno charts below (sorry, the old one is very hard to make out), you can see that the new setup was great till about 5.5k rpm, and then fell harder than ... something that falls really hard. I am bad at analogies.
I had managed to end up with a car that you couldn't use anywhere near it's full potential on the street without losing your licence (younger me has done this before, do not recommend), but wasn't really that great at the track where you could open it up. Not ideal.
It was also becoming clear that while the longer VR4 ratios were great in theory, with the current setup the "keeping it in 4th across the line" wasn't worth the trade-off in acceleration through the gears. We could go back to the Evo ratios, or we could keep throwing power at it until it made sense. Guess what we went with...
Part 3: I think we're getting there....
Edited by Rbha027 on Wednesday 29th April 04:24
Now we're at around 2 years ago, and I've realised that the current turbo setup is definitely sub-optimal. However (as far as the engine and accessories are concerned) it also all works, so other aspects of the car get a bit more love.
The old Evo 9 Bilsten struts that we'd adapted to run in the older chassis had seen better days, so a decision was made to go coilovers. Again, street car, so couldn't justify spending mega bucks but based on feedback from people I trust I got a set of Fortune Auto 500s, and so far they've been excellent. I'm sure other options would work better at 10/10ths, but the biggest drawback with the car is definitely the driver, and so far the suspension can cope very well with what I can throw at it.
Now, keep in mind the gearbox was essentially one that had been sitting in a field for who knows how long. It had held together, but between the torque and the abuse the synchros were on the way out. Luckily I was over in Canada for a conference and heading back through the US to visit some family, it only made sense to get Jack's Trans to send some syncros and bearings to the fam, and chuck them in the carry on luggage.
Pro tip: Would recommend putting them in your check in luggage, had to have a ~15 minute conversation with TSA agents about what they were. Apparently they look suspicious. Always fun when US airport security start asking who the owner of your bag is...But I digress.
Managed to find another gearbox and one of my mates rebuilt it using the new parts. Spare box good to go!
More hanging out with mates not breaking parts
Life was good, until a truck made some mistakes. Right into the front of my parked car.
Insurance paid for a nice new Plazmaman intercooler, and a massive PWR radiator replaced the old Chinese special. Internet baller points through the roof! Relatively painless, and we were back in business. The ONLY downside is that the radiator is too big for the aircon line to fit, so I am sans AC for now. But it's definitely on the list of things to sort.
More car hangs were engaged in, including with another blurple 6 (side note: the colour has REALLY grown on me)
HOWEVER. None of this was helping with me going faster. Orders were made, partners were lied to about how much things cost, packages were received.
FP Black turbo, and we replaced the dump and front pipes with Invidia ones as the old ones were a bit of a bottleneck. Once you go black...
Anyways, the turbo went in, and once again my entirely too accommodating mates adapted the old exhaust to work with the new bits.
Back on the dyno, and now we're talking! 522hp atw; 713 Nm. Approx 32 psi boost. Power was still falling off at the top end, but I think that's just a restriction inherent with the factory twin scroll flange.
The car was night and day different to drive. I had gone with the smaller turbo for spool, but from the drivers seat I honestly couldn't tell much, if any, difference, and the top end was awesome. The setup was finally starting to work.
Back to the strip we went. Finally into the 11s, with an 11.5@123mph.
Now (and I probably should have specified this earlier), the goal with this car is to run into the 10s. But in FULL street trim. Exactly as it's driven, so no DOT radials, no weight reduction, nothing. I want to be able to go get a warrant of fitness(MOT for you guys?), drive to the track, run a 10, get stopped by the police at a checkpoint to go over my car with a fine toothed comb and then drive home.
While the mph was knocking on a very high 10, the 60ft (1.73) was pretty good for what are essentially street tyres (Michelin PS4) and I decided that a perfect pass might get very close to that 10, but it might be pushing it. I have no doubt the power would be enough in a lighter car with sticky tyres and a gun driver, so the options were 1. Sacrifice "streetness" and get it done, or 2. More power.
"Street car"
I definitely didn't want to go bigger turbo, so the obvious solution was to go to ethanol. The car already had injectors that would be up to the task (1600cc), but the rest of the fuel system wouldn't be up to the task. Now to do it "correctly" you would go with a surge tank etc. but I think I've already mentioned I was cheap, so the call was made to see whether we could get an in tank setup to work. It's a piece of cake in the later model Evos as you can get off the shelf hangars for dual pumps, but the shape of the older tank means they don't work. However the published numbers suggested that the big Walbro 525 pump might be able to flow what we needed, so we decided to try it. I also got a Radium fuel rail and FPR, and a new flex fuel sensor so we could retain the ability to run 98 octane (e85 is VERY hard to get at the pump in NZ).
However this is an area I am not 100% happy with, in the future I think we will go surge route just to have a bit of a safety buffer. But it does the job for now.
From the engine bay photo you might have noticed that I was already running a coil on plug ignition setup with Denso/Toyota coils, but after one of them packed up the setup was replaced with r35 coils, and it now runs sequential ignition rather than wasted spark.
More dyno time, and it's gotten a bit stupid.
The fuel setup wouldn't support more than 30psi, but it made 465kw (623ish hp) and 830Nm. With a ~20% drivetrain loss it's verging on 750hp at the engine. Out of a 2.4 litre 4 cylinder with some semblence of streetability. 3rd gear is...fun.
Oh, and I decided to get a new dash. I justified this because having all the info in one place is handy, and having massive warnings configured is safer than having to manually check the gauges while the red mist is doing its thing.
I'm not ashamed to admit the first thing I did was this:
So, did it do what it needed to?
Not quite. It's sitting on 11.20@128mph first time out. The mph is more than enough for a 10, and the 60ft is pretty much there as well (I managed to get a 1.69 out of it). However I can't seem to get the thing to stay on boost shifting into 2nd, so the car seems to fall on it's face on the 1-2 shift, then picks up and HAULS. If we can sort that I am confident it'll run the number.
BUT. There's more issues. The clutch has given up on life again, while it's not slipping there is clutch drag, and this has killed the synchros in the newer box. We tried launching without boost (in case the issue was with the rpm falling off too much when the car stopped wheelspinning off the line), and it seemed to like it without killing the 60ft too much, but then it wouldn't let me shift into 3rd or 4th.
I still have the old farm box sitting spare, and we will get it rebuilt, but unfortunately with the COVID lockdown in NZ that's not been possible.
I also think it might have done a head gasket, or it's lifting the head on e85. The radiator seems to be pushing water into the overflow, but it's not pulling it back as it cools down. During the lockdown I've been using it on petrol (I work at a hospital and need to go in a couple of times a week, might as well take the fun car, right?), and it doesn't seem to have the same issue, so will need to assess it further (it's well beyond my capabilities).
And that brings us up to date. All in all it's not a bad nugget, and full testament to my epic, epic mates! The quest for full street 10s continues.
Yell out if you have any questions, and I'll try to keep this updated as we go!
The old Evo 9 Bilsten struts that we'd adapted to run in the older chassis had seen better days, so a decision was made to go coilovers. Again, street car, so couldn't justify spending mega bucks but based on feedback from people I trust I got a set of Fortune Auto 500s, and so far they've been excellent. I'm sure other options would work better at 10/10ths, but the biggest drawback with the car is definitely the driver, and so far the suspension can cope very well with what I can throw at it.
Now, keep in mind the gearbox was essentially one that had been sitting in a field for who knows how long. It had held together, but between the torque and the abuse the synchros were on the way out. Luckily I was over in Canada for a conference and heading back through the US to visit some family, it only made sense to get Jack's Trans to send some syncros and bearings to the fam, and chuck them in the carry on luggage.
Pro tip: Would recommend putting them in your check in luggage, had to have a ~15 minute conversation with TSA agents about what they were. Apparently they look suspicious. Always fun when US airport security start asking who the owner of your bag is...But I digress.
Managed to find another gearbox and one of my mates rebuilt it using the new parts. Spare box good to go!
More hanging out with mates not breaking parts
Life was good, until a truck made some mistakes. Right into the front of my parked car.
Insurance paid for a nice new Plazmaman intercooler, and a massive PWR radiator replaced the old Chinese special. Internet baller points through the roof! Relatively painless, and we were back in business. The ONLY downside is that the radiator is too big for the aircon line to fit, so I am sans AC for now. But it's definitely on the list of things to sort.
More car hangs were engaged in, including with another blurple 6 (side note: the colour has REALLY grown on me)
HOWEVER. None of this was helping with me going faster. Orders were made, partners were lied to about how much things cost, packages were received.
FP Black turbo, and we replaced the dump and front pipes with Invidia ones as the old ones were a bit of a bottleneck. Once you go black...
Anyways, the turbo went in, and once again my entirely too accommodating mates adapted the old exhaust to work with the new bits.
Back on the dyno, and now we're talking! 522hp atw; 713 Nm. Approx 32 psi boost. Power was still falling off at the top end, but I think that's just a restriction inherent with the factory twin scroll flange.
The car was night and day different to drive. I had gone with the smaller turbo for spool, but from the drivers seat I honestly couldn't tell much, if any, difference, and the top end was awesome. The setup was finally starting to work.
Back to the strip we went. Finally into the 11s, with an 11.5@123mph.
Now (and I probably should have specified this earlier), the goal with this car is to run into the 10s. But in FULL street trim. Exactly as it's driven, so no DOT radials, no weight reduction, nothing. I want to be able to go get a warrant of fitness(MOT for you guys?), drive to the track, run a 10, get stopped by the police at a checkpoint to go over my car with a fine toothed comb and then drive home.
While the mph was knocking on a very high 10, the 60ft (1.73) was pretty good for what are essentially street tyres (Michelin PS4) and I decided that a perfect pass might get very close to that 10, but it might be pushing it. I have no doubt the power would be enough in a lighter car with sticky tyres and a gun driver, so the options were 1. Sacrifice "streetness" and get it done, or 2. More power.
"Street car"
I definitely didn't want to go bigger turbo, so the obvious solution was to go to ethanol. The car already had injectors that would be up to the task (1600cc), but the rest of the fuel system wouldn't be up to the task. Now to do it "correctly" you would go with a surge tank etc. but I think I've already mentioned I was cheap, so the call was made to see whether we could get an in tank setup to work. It's a piece of cake in the later model Evos as you can get off the shelf hangars for dual pumps, but the shape of the older tank means they don't work. However the published numbers suggested that the big Walbro 525 pump might be able to flow what we needed, so we decided to try it. I also got a Radium fuel rail and FPR, and a new flex fuel sensor so we could retain the ability to run 98 octane (e85 is VERY hard to get at the pump in NZ).
However this is an area I am not 100% happy with, in the future I think we will go surge route just to have a bit of a safety buffer. But it does the job for now.
From the engine bay photo you might have noticed that I was already running a coil on plug ignition setup with Denso/Toyota coils, but after one of them packed up the setup was replaced with r35 coils, and it now runs sequential ignition rather than wasted spark.
More dyno time, and it's gotten a bit stupid.
The fuel setup wouldn't support more than 30psi, but it made 465kw (623ish hp) and 830Nm. With a ~20% drivetrain loss it's verging on 750hp at the engine. Out of a 2.4 litre 4 cylinder with some semblence of streetability. 3rd gear is...fun.
Oh, and I decided to get a new dash. I justified this because having all the info in one place is handy, and having massive warnings configured is safer than having to manually check the gauges while the red mist is doing its thing.
I'm not ashamed to admit the first thing I did was this:
So, did it do what it needed to?
Not quite. It's sitting on 11.20@128mph first time out. The mph is more than enough for a 10, and the 60ft is pretty much there as well (I managed to get a 1.69 out of it). However I can't seem to get the thing to stay on boost shifting into 2nd, so the car seems to fall on it's face on the 1-2 shift, then picks up and HAULS. If we can sort that I am confident it'll run the number.
BUT. There's more issues. The clutch has given up on life again, while it's not slipping there is clutch drag, and this has killed the synchros in the newer box. We tried launching without boost (in case the issue was with the rpm falling off too much when the car stopped wheelspinning off the line), and it seemed to like it without killing the 60ft too much, but then it wouldn't let me shift into 3rd or 4th.
I still have the old farm box sitting spare, and we will get it rebuilt, but unfortunately with the COVID lockdown in NZ that's not been possible.
I also think it might have done a head gasket, or it's lifting the head on e85. The radiator seems to be pushing water into the overflow, but it's not pulling it back as it cools down. During the lockdown I've been using it on petrol (I work at a hospital and need to go in a couple of times a week, might as well take the fun car, right?), and it doesn't seem to have the same issue, so will need to assess it further (it's well beyond my capabilities).
And that brings us up to date. All in all it's not a bad nugget, and full testament to my epic, epic mates! The quest for full street 10s continues.
Yell out if you have any questions, and I'll try to keep this updated as we go!
hman said:
Great write up - that’s some serious power, wouldn’t a short ratio box give you what you need?
Cheers! Shorter gears will give me better acceleration at the cost of top end. When we did the calculations, with my tyre size, the factory Evo 4th gear would top out at 123ish mph, whereas the current setup should be good till the low 130s (ballpark, can't recall the exact numbers). The best mph I've gotten out of the e85 setup is 129.xx so I would definitely have had to shift into 5th. This would definitely slow the ET, but whether the increased acceleration through the gears would outweigh this, I don't know.
I would like to stay with the longer ratios as it does make it nicer when you're cruising on the motorway etc, it's not revving its head off haha. But I still have my Evo gear set in the garage somewhere. The engine/power set up is going to stay how it is now, it's epic, but if we can't run the 10 we will start playing with the drivetrain side more. At the moment it's just got a basic alignment, ride height is at "oh yeah looks pretty good" spec, once we're allowed to start playing again it'll be time to fine tune the rest of the setup!
Nice read, thanks for sharing. Too bad I couldn't show this to colleagues at work who thought I was building a car with the parts I would get delivered, and no where near as many as you 
I like the dash display, the reasoning for it and the configurable warnings.
When you bought it I assume you weren't even part of the PS2 Grand Turismo generation, was the choice car., I'm still tempted sometimes.
I like the dash display, the reasoning for it and the configurable warnings.
When you bought it I assume you weren't even part of the PS2 Grand Turismo generation, was the choice car., I'm still tempted sometimes.
V6todayEVmanana said:
Nice read, thanks for sharing. Too bad I couldn't show this to colleagues at work who thought I was building a car with the parts I would get delivered, and no where near as many as you
I like the dash display, the reasoning for it and the configurable warnings.
When you bought it I assume you weren't even part of the PS2 Grand Turismo generation, was the choice car., I'm still tempted sometimes.
Appreciate that. Spent a bit of time on GT3 in my youth 😃I like the dash display, the reasoning for it and the configurable warnings.
When you bought it I assume you weren't even part of the PS2 Grand Turismo generation, was the choice car., I'm still tempted sometimes.
To be fair the parts collection did snowball a bit with the engine. Before that point I was a bit jaded, and was tossing up listing it for sale. My dad had just bought an E63 and I was (and still am) a bit smitten.
Then the motor went boom and obviously it only made sense to make it better, and that reignited the love.
Ended up replacing my daily with an E550 for my old man car fix. I will own an AMG one day though!
Nice to see another Evo 6 thread. 
Looks familiar, I might be a follower on IG.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
I'm relatively standard power though, at 350bhp.
Looks familiar, I might be a follower on IG. https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
I'm relatively standard power though, at 350bhp.
adam. said:
Nice to see another Evo 6 thread. Looks familiar, I might be a follower on IG.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
I'm relatively standard power though, at 350bhp.
Yeah mate, been following your car too, it's epic! 350-400 is perfect for the kind of use your car sees, mine would probably last 5 laps on track full noise! Looks familiar, I might be a follower on IG. https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
I'm relatively standard power though, at 350bhp.
Another Evo owner here, very good write up. I used to run mine at the strip occasionally, but it was less than 400 brake. Evo 8 modified with a Mivec top end and the gubbins to run it. It ran mid 12s.
I tried to limit the possibility of breaking the transmission at launch by pre-loading it by having the clutch at the biting point, held on the handbrake. 7K rpm and let the clutch and handbrake go at the same time which seemed to limit the shock going to the box and diffs. It would just break traction doing this. My best 60ft time was a pretty average 1.8. I had to put a clutch in it at 44k miles after a few of those events, but the transmission held up ok.
Interested to hear more on yours.
I tried to limit the possibility of breaking the transmission at launch by pre-loading it by having the clutch at the biting point, held on the handbrake. 7K rpm and let the clutch and handbrake go at the same time which seemed to limit the shock going to the box and diffs. It would just break traction doing this. My best 60ft time was a pretty average 1.8. I had to put a clutch in it at 44k miles after a few of those events, but the transmission held up ok.
Interested to hear more on yours.
It's definitely a case of diminishing returns. I ran a 12.50 with 270hp at the wheels, but I was harsh on the car back then. Touch wood I haven't properly grenaded any drivetrain bits in a few years.
I have gone through a few clutches I hadn't mentioned. Like I said, the first clutch went after the first drag day. The six puck replacement ended up ok for about two years before it broke the springs in the centre. That was replaced by another 6 puck that was good for another couple of years before it started slipping. Then we went twin plate. I ended up getting too light a pressure plate so that started slipping after about a year, and now this one's worn out. Or at least needs a major overhaul.
Seems excessive, but the car sees possibly the worst scenario for a "race" clutch. It's used in traffic quite often, so there's a fair bit of stop start. I've done about 80k km in it since I've had it, so it's not a garage queen. And then when it's at the drags I slip it big time off the line to try and save the rest of the drivetrain. Probably done 60 out 70 passes on the last clutch at the drags. Easier to replace a clutch than try and find a gearbox or diff these days!
Not sure if IG links are kosher here, but here's one of the 11.2 passes. Fair bit of wheelspin in 1st and you can see it does bugger all for a bit after the first shift.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B_HuhxQgQxX/?igshid=1p...
I have gone through a few clutches I hadn't mentioned. Like I said, the first clutch went after the first drag day. The six puck replacement ended up ok for about two years before it broke the springs in the centre. That was replaced by another 6 puck that was good for another couple of years before it started slipping. Then we went twin plate. I ended up getting too light a pressure plate so that started slipping after about a year, and now this one's worn out. Or at least needs a major overhaul.
Seems excessive, but the car sees possibly the worst scenario for a "race" clutch. It's used in traffic quite often, so there's a fair bit of stop start. I've done about 80k km in it since I've had it, so it's not a garage queen. And then when it's at the drags I slip it big time off the line to try and save the rest of the drivetrain. Probably done 60 out 70 passes on the last clutch at the drags. Easier to replace a clutch than try and find a gearbox or diff these days!
Not sure if IG links are kosher here, but here's one of the 11.2 passes. Fair bit of wheelspin in 1st and you can see it does bugger all for a bit after the first shift.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B_HuhxQgQxX/?igshid=1p...
Edited by Rbha027 on Wednesday 29th April 19:58
dave2007bc said:
OP - have you considered installing a clutch switch and activating flat-shift feature on the Link to keep boost 'on' during changes?
I have, talked to a few people that had done it, but for some reason none of them liked it, and they've all removed it again. On the to consider list for sure though.
Edited by Rbha027 on Wednesday 29th April 21:59
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