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

Not sure if any of you guys would be interested but as I got all the pics etc up on other forums etc I thought I might stick some up on here as well, project has been going on new for about 4 months but still plenty to go


Quick run-down - had my Evo IV about 3.5 years now and its mostly a toy/track car/weekend run sort of car, I've replaced all sorts of parts over the years where I've broken them IE: I've managed to break 2 rear diffs, the standard one had 80k on so not surprised it broke but the VI one I replaced it with lasted under 1000 miles and destroyed itself (so much for being in mint low mileage condition eh!) so im now on a Evo VIII rear diff from a trader rather than 2nd hand!

To cut a long story short, I had some gearbox woes last year, bought one, turned out to be bad so had my old one rebuilt so it needed to be swapped over again and paying out labour all the time (even though I get a good rate) was getting expensive so I decided to do it all myself and then the money I would have spent on labour could be put towards an engine upgrade!

Decided to sod everything and just go for it once and for all, the work im now doing while its in bits = 2.0L Forged engine internals (MA Developments built = 600bhp capable bottom end) bigger turbo, standalone ECU with anti-lag & launch control, stripped interior, a roll cage and adding a couple of racing bucket seats and 4-point harnesses etc etc, should be good fun!

A quick breakdown of what is in/on the car right now:

• 30k Engine from a Tommi-Makenin Edition Evo
• Evo IX 80 series turbo (good for 2 bar of boost)
• Evo 6 ported exhaust manifold
• Evo 6 Gearbox currently being rebuilt as we speak
• Rebuilt Evo 6 RS transfer box
• Evo 8 rear AYC rear diff
• Evo 8 Brembos all round
• Tein Monoflex fully adjustable coilovers
• HKS Turbo Elbow and 3" Downpipe
• Magnex De-Cat & full 3" Fujitsubo Exhaust
• Walbro 255 fuel pump
• Autobahn88 Large FMIC & ally piping
• Ecutek'd Evo 5 RS ECU, 560cc injectors & Sard fuel regulator
• Loads of other bits and bobs

List of parts I've had sitting around for the last year+ but never had chance to think about installing:

• Garrett GTX3071R Ball Bearing Turbo (when funds allow)
• DNP (American) equal length tubular manifold
• RC engineering 750cc Injectors
• Kelford 272 high lift race cams
• Fidanza lightweight adjustable pulleys
• Hydra Nemesis Stand Alone ECU with Lunch & Anti-Lag
• HEL 19-row oil cooler
• S90 70mm Throttle Body
• Many many other parts!

Hers some pics of "Part 1 - the strip-down"

How its been for the last couple of years:


Bumper removed:


Before the part removal:


Before the part removal:


New HEL oil cooler brackets made ready:


Strut-brace, Air filter, Intercooler & piping removed, Engine loom disconnected:


Coolant drained, Radiator & pipes off, downpipe & Turbo off:


How it was left yesterday, next stage to re-remove oil cooler, fuel rail, starter motor & alternator wiring and PAS & Aircon pump:


Some of the new shiny parts going on

 

8 hours of errrr fun, a good 1.5 of them trying to disengage the damm clutch!! (instructions I had were wrong grrrrrr)

Eventually got it all out but managed to fall down a step in my garden carrying the transfer box, really badly twisted my ankle and cracked a curbstone with my elbow but saved the transfer box haha!

My attempt at making an "engine dolly" although seemed pretty good at the time turned out to be way too wide and not high enough! Oh and one of the castors self destructed!

The engine crane decided it didn't like my VW Golf and decided to smack it in the boot lid, needless to say I was a tad peed off so in anger I kicked the stand with my swollen ankle, then proceeded to hop about shouting loud obscenities, calmed down, had a word with myself and carried back on with it!!

Anyway, some pics of the days events with a couple of mates helping me:

Quick home made engine dolly:


Wheels off, oil cooler & aux belt removed:


Drained last of fluids:


Drive shafts popped out all ready for lowering the engine/box/tx-box:


Engine sort of sat on dolly with some 2x4 helping balance it lol:


Bricks came in very handy, glad I had a load left in the garden!


Dolly caster = fail!!!


Woooop engine, gearbox and transfer all out in 1:


Engine crane 1, VW Golf 0: :cry: :cry: :cry:


Whos needs 500bhp when you can have 1bmp!! (he said it not me) lol:


After much swearing at the gearbox we finally got the clutch released and celebrated with some budweiser!!:


Car how its been left for the day:


Engine separated from the gearbox, little bit of gearbox oil spilt!


Engine under my work bench ready to be cleaned and further stripped ready for forging:




I look forward to putting it all back together *cough* NOT! haha but hopefully will have a better dolly this time!

More updates to follow...

___________________________________________________________


Not done that much this weekend as I was at Castle Coombe Action Day on Saturday which was depressing watching everyone else enjoying their cars but still a good day none the less! lol

Anyway managed to get a bit more stripping of the engine done today, just a few pics from today:


Engine mostly stripped ready:


Random inlet valve shot:


All belt covers etc removed:


Boot full of removed parts!:


Put turbo together with HEL braided lines and MR outlet:




More updates to follow... :smthumbup

 

After some thinking I decided to remove the aircon and then started stripping the loom back for some fresh conduit

Not done that much over the last week or so as I've been busy with work but managed to repair my corroded/rusted battery tray, not an A-class job but certainly a lot better and will stop any more rust!

Otherwise I got some new bits and bobs arrived this week and today I put the engine in the boot of my Golf, strapped it down and wedged it in place with some wood and drive it 90 miles over to Mark (MA Developments) for its forging, I even managed to do 54mpg cruising in 6th gear around 70-75mph with it in the boot

 

Forged CP Pistons and Carrillo I-beam rods being used






Not had chance to do that much recently but have fitted the new Whiteline front ARB (Anti Roll Bar) which was a git to fit!

Just waiting to get my engine back (next week hopefully) and the engine mounts from Powerflex but theres a 3 week lead time on them Soon as I have them through its time for everything to start going back together and the fun begins!










Right update time, not done huge amounts but list of done work includes:

• Engine now forged and back from MAD
• Gearbox fully rebuilt with new bearings & synchro
• Front Whiteline ARB fitted with standard droplinks
• Engine loom stripped back and re-wrapped
• Starter/Alternator loom stripped back and re-wrapped
• Air-con removed

Since I got the engine back I've painted the block and re-fitted the cambelt covers etc back on, removed oil pump blanking plugs and fitted some 3/8 - 1/8 NPT adaptors ready for the oil pressure & temp gauges.
Literally just waiting for the polyflex engine mounts to arrive (have 4-week lead time) :cry: then I can get it all fitted back together, hoping they will turn up this week and will attempt the re-fit next weekend

A few pics nothing special though:



Side of block showing balance shaft removed


Block all painted up


Oil filter housing with standard blanking plugs


3/8 - 1/8 NPT adaptors fitted for oil pressure & temp sensors


Latex glove shoved on to stop crap getting in while engine is out


Rebuilt & Cleaned gearbox & RS transfer box



The next challenge - Wiring!

This little lot belongs to the Oil temp/pressure & Boost gauges, wideband & AFR gauge, Headunit, Boost controller & alarm/immobilisers

 

Well its back in! Still missing the upper Powerflex gearbox mount (sore subject the useless bunch of idiots) but will just have to swap it out when it does turn up! (3 weeks overdue)
Anyway I made up a new much improved engine dolly and it was perfect for the job, it cleared the engine crane legs and was very manoeuvrable, live and learn from the 1st attempt eh!

Think I chose a bad day to do it yesterday though, was sooo hot I felt quite dizzy and almost passed out with heat stroke 3/4 of the way though!! Nothing a half hour break sit down and 1.5 litres of water didnt sort though! lol Ah well its back in now so I can get on with the rest of it and get it ran in, still plenty to do though!

Heres some pics from yesterdays efforts...

 

Well its alive!!!

Had the week off last week to do some DIY and things around the house but ended up mostly putting the Evo back together haha. All went pretty smoothly, everything bolted back together with new gaskets etc all round, few issues with a couple of things but all easily sortable!

Small butt-clenching moment when first starting it up for the first time, followed Mark's start up procedure (remove plugs, disconnect injector resistor pack and do a few cold cranks in 15 second bursts to prime bearings/turbo/latch adjustor's etc) plugs back in, resistor pack reconnected and the beaut fired straight away, lumpy for about 10 seconds then after holding it on 2000rpm for a little bit to clear it now idles perfectly

Drove it up and down the street without bumper/bonnet and all seemed OK besides the clutch biting stupidly high so assume I might need to bleed it!
Hopefully going to refit the bumper/bonnet this evening and then start the 500mile run in process before mapping (when I decide on what ECU to go for!)

Things still to do are:

• New inlet pipe with Tial BOV (know anywhere that does these at a good price?)
• Poly bush rest of the suspension & rear diff
• Install whiteline rear ARB
• Set of 272 cams & adjustable pulleys (not 100% on what make yet)
• Possibly new intercooler but not sure yet...
• ECU choices are - stick with my Ecutek'd 5RS one, install the Apexi PFC D-jet I've got sat about or save for a Vipec from MAD?!
• Garrett GT3076R turbo & full race manifold when I can afford it!!
• Strip interior & fit 6-point bolt in roll cage (on the lookout if anyone knows of any?)
• Pair of bucket seats & 4-point harness's
• Flock dash and re-do most of wiring!

 

Just a couple of pics out and about doing the 500 mile engine run in, sucks not being about to drive it hard but they do say good things come to those who wait and all that eh! lol

Nothing changed externally but been thinking about different choices etc

 

Tha'ts an absolutely gorgeous car Rob... so well kept and looked after. The work you've done on it recently is fantastic. It's really nice to see an owner of a car like this so dedicated to engine and drivetrain performance

[edit]

Do you have any idea what power these improvements will have it producing once you finish the run-in? The engine bay is a thing of beauty.

 

Nice!

I would have picked a trip over the weekend to crank up those miles in one go! lol!

 

Thanks chaps, I do enjoy it, something satisfying about doing things yourself but also theres the annoying parts like having a couple of accidents in the process like badly spraining my ankle and the engine crane taking a disliking to the boot of my golf haha

All good in the end even if it has hurt my pocket in the process but thats what hobbies are all about eh? Although having 2 expensive hobbies IE cars & computers is bad news for the bank when I should really be think about getting a new kitchen suite for my house lol

More updates to follow...

 

Have now done 600 miles, back on Silkolene Pro-S 5w-40 oil, quick remap has been done so fuelling/timing is safe and all seems to be running nice

Nothing else has been done really besides driving it about but have some more new shiny parts to go on in the next couple of weeks so plenty more updates to follow, this week I done the fuel pump hard wire as below:


Have now installed my home brew fuel pump wiring kit, all working well although my AFR went from around ~11.5 on boost to around ~10.6 LOL, turned the FPR down a bit all now back into 11's, shows how much difference it makes with the pump getting a stable 13.5v, I done this quick mod first of all which only needs to be done on a Evo 4/5, well if you really want too, I just did it for peace of mind as it only took 2 mins:







I then installed a 40A relay behind drivers seats and spliced into the Black/Blue wire which is Live feed to pump and also ran a direct ground from the pump as well. Pump is now wired direct to battery via the relay and is fused battery end with a 20A fuse as I read that the Walbro 255 can suck anything up to 15.5A on full load





More updates to follow...

 

Cams & Injectors in yesterday, timing up and mapping to follow

 

After stage 1 of mapping its now making 418bhp and 412ft/lb but theres still quite a bit of adjustment to play with on the cams, a lot of the interior is out now as well which just makes it loud, aggressive and pretty damm nippy! Still plenty to do though...

Had a quick play with the launch control the other night but its a bit aggressive at the moment http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xb-ITfF80gI

Just need a spare 3k now to get me the GT3076R turbo so I can enter the 500+ bhp bracket

 

Thank you for posting this log!
I love you!
Good luck with everything, Looking very sweet

 

Haha cheers bud, its coming along quite well, on track this sat for the first time in a while so be interesting to see how it all goes...

 

Awesome car. Awesome work.

I have a feeling you're an engineer. Only engineer minds are interested in how computers and cars work !

This is the kind of thing I want to do later with my NSX (no... i don't own one at the moment). I am in a learning process car wise. I watch a lot of youtube videos and read forums just to have a general idea of how everything works. Sometimes however I would love to get dirty and do some DIY, as you say. I am just afraid of doing anything by myself :-/

Anyways... Keep it up !

 

:O looks great.

 

I would love to do an EVO like that, has to be one of my favorite cars of all time.

 

wow shame i dont understand a thing of what is going on in there

 

+1, though I really wish I did.