Motors Project "Franken-IV" Mitsubishi Evo Forged Track Car! (PIC HEAVY)

Some on track pics from Rally Day @ Castle Coombe

 

EVOs are always nice.Freaking awesome car you have, man!

 

Not done much more to it at all at the moment with work, bad weather and Xmas etc but we remapped it with different cam timings and the "Virtual Dyno" (First pic - yellow and green dashed lines) said it made approx 432bhp and 440 ft/lb but then I went to a rolling road day the other week it made 426bhp on the rollers although the torque was down to 403 ft/lb due to a low down mis-fire as it was soooo cold outside, you can see the torque dip circled in red on the pic.

More to come next year

 

As snow is relevant atm, how is it in the snow? Fun I bet

 

Didn't take it out in the snow this year mate as been too busy and seats havn't been in it, see below lol but I have been out playing in the 2009 snow and yes its a lot of fun

 

Not done much over the last month or so as just been really busy with other things but have took out most of the sound proofing now which is an ass of a job but has saved a fair amount of weight, will put it on the scales for an accurate figure once I've took the last bit out.

Roll cage is ready to go in so just need to sort the dash out then I can fit the cage and get back on track, heres a few pics of sound proof removal and my mate working on refurbishing me track wheels for this year

 

Mmm getting there! Needs more dash chopping and doorcards replacing with cf/fibre ones.

Like the white wheels too. Very sexy.

 

did you remove it the 'easy way' ? I saw a guy online who put dry ice over it which made it easier to remove as it cracked when frozen

 

Pro tip! I suppose the effects would be even better with LN2. Soak it and smash it to splinters with a hammer.

 

Yeah I remember the thread. Other guys were pissed they didn't think of this first and wasted week ends trying to destroy the sound proofing with chemicals and other crap. I swore myself to remember the dry ice trick as it might come useful someday ...

 

Cheers fellas

The car is normally garaged but I actually left it out in the freezing cold when we were having -2 to -8 degrees at night and then literally it just chipped off with a hammer and chisel/big flat head screwdriver, then went went over it with a wallpaper scraper when the worst was off, not too bad at all

In the summer without dry-ice would be a whole different matter though, and saying that there's still more I need to get off but not had the time, need to do it before the weather gets better I suppose!

 

These well looked after Evos are lovely.

I can't help thinking though, that the whole point is to have a 4-door, 5-seater sedan is that besides track days it can also be used as the everyday ride. If it's just track stuff you're after, why start with something like this? No offense ofcourse, it's just me being cheap

 

Start with an Evo because it's a really well-sorted 4WD car with epic tunability.

 

I would understand if he had started with a BMW 7 series but an Evo ? I don't see the problem

 

Yeah your probably right. I don't really know how much any of this costs, etc. And I bet it's a real pleasure to drive.

 

I bet it is too. I can't even imagine how much fun 420 odd bhp is to have at your foot in a 4WD car... I've driven both the 2008 Clio 197 and the 2010 Clio 200 Cup - the sport models of both my old 2007 Clio and my new 2010 one - which have less than 200bhp each, and they were stupidly fast, so I imagine this stripped out monster is just insane on the track!

 

I actually kinda agree, now that I've thought about it. Admittedly, the Evo - and similar Scoobs - are terrifically fast point-to-point cars. That's not unusual - there are a lot of fast cars around - but the banzai-saloons' strength is in being able to do that across varied terrain, in the wet, snow, mud, etc. What I'm trying to say is - the cars are renowned for being capable on less-than-perfect surfaces, like back country lanes - actual roads. They're also famous for being capable as actual vehicles for moving people and things about.

Most of those amazing abilities are wasted on a billiards-table-smooth track, no? You lose the massive advantage of genuine everyday usability when you strip the interior and fit a 'cage, and some of the things that don't hold the road car back are inconvenient at best when you're after a no-holds-barred track toy. The small engine displacement, necessitating a massive turbo, for example. I've never driven this example but with 420bhp (still from 2L?) there must be not a small amount of turbo lag - the factory cars with this sort of power were famous for it. The advantages of the road car are also turned against you - what use are the rear doors in a car with no rear seats?

I don't mean to denigrate the awesome abilities of this Evo, but I do agree up to a point. If you want to build a car for more or less solely for the track and hang the practicalities, why not start with something that doesn't have four doors and a boot? I can't imagine an Atom is much more than the total cost of this build - and I know an Ultima GTR kit currently hovers around £16k +VAT minus the engine (though I don't think you could have one finished for less than £30k).

 

Double post, sorry.

 

Yeah but modding your car and buying an Atom isn't the same thing.

I guess my (dream) project would be good then (NSX)

 

Interesting comments guys and all totally valid

Basically this out an out right toy now, I bought it imported basically standard and drove it around as an every day car for nearly 3 years and it was fine with a few mild tweaks and 360bhp on the standard spec engine made it a fun road and point to point car but having done a few track days with the big boys and seeing what they had done to their cars and then getting destroyed on track I developed the bug, started with mild mods, then an engine upgrade and before I knew it the interior came out, cage in etc and im still going lol...

Before I decided to go for it I weighed up my options of selling the car as it was and loosing what I had spent on it (always the case) strip it and sell the parts making me back maximum money or as IV's were getting pretty cheap to buy now just say sod it, spend the money on the engine/transmission and where it matters (forged engines keep good value on re-sale) and just have some fun as if the shell got a bit bashed it wouldn't be the end of the world where as if it was a newer Evo 8/9 then it would be very bad, I've built this slowly with spare money I've had so its not broke the bank or anything, literally is just a toy/hobby

I have a Golf GT TDi 150 for everyday which is a superb all rounder and travelling to London a lot from Bristol 6th gear returns very good MPG, then when I feel the need for speed I just go out for a play in the Evo which generates a nice big smile

Thing I like most besides actually driving it though is the fact its a learning curve as well because I've done all the work myself and yes I've made mistakes and learnt from them and finally once I've had my fun I will strip and sell all the parts then look at something smaller like a 2 seater Caterham/Ultima etc.

Oh and im running a stock Evo 9, 80 series turbo at the moment which is more or less at its limit with the boost im running though it but its surprisingly less laggy that you may think When I can afford to blow me spare cash on the big Garrett GT3076R turbo to hit 500bhp that wont be toooo laggy either as it has a ball bearing core so spool is greatly improved!
If any of you are basing the lag on the Top Gear test when Jeremy drove the Evo 8 FQ400, that had a very laggy turbo on compared to what's out there now

Anyway sorry for the life story haha, cheers for the comments, its all good