Evo V beat down stage rally car to street machine build thread

[9!'clipseDOHC]

Hey guys! It's Nathan from www.DirtyEvo.com. I recently purchased a 1998 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution V RS. It was raced as a stage rally car in Mexico during the 2000's. Somehow it's racing career was abandoned and it changed hands a few time before I picked it up. My plan is to turn it into a mean street machine and occasional autox car.

Here are a few pictures of it from its prime:

2002


2003


2005


2006


Here it is when I bought it in 2013




And here it is today as I am tearing it down to clean, paint, and then put back together!






My goal is about 400 hp with an FP Green on the stock block. The car will be painted white with an all black interior, except the cage will also be white. Sparco seats with 2" 4 point harnesses. Bilstein coilovers and 17x9.5" Enkie RPF1's. Stock looking on the outside. Clean on the inside. I'll be posting more updates as it progresses. For the full build, check out www.DirtyEvo.com.

 

[Billy MR]

Nice

 

[9!'clipseDOHC]

Nice

Thanks man!

I wasn't originally planning on doing much of anything with the engine bay but painting everything else and just leaving the bay looking nasty just didn't sit well with me. I had a free day today so I pulled everything off the firewall and the sides of the bay, pulled the intercooler and radiator, wrapped everything up, and rattle canned the engine bay gloss white. I'm quite happy with how it turned out for an impromptu paint job!





I also painted the strut bar red. I am going to repaint the valve cover the same color.

 

[Billy MR]

Come on we need more pictures

 

[martinthegooner]

Welcome,keep up the good work.

 

[GKITCH]

Welcome nice providence good luck with build

 

[supamario666]

Welcome to EO! going to be a nice thread this!

 

[9!'clipseDOHC]

Come on we need more pictures

Welcome,keep up the good work.

Welcome nice providence good luck with build

Welcome to EO! going to be a nice thread this!

Thanks so much guys! I'll be working on the interior next. I need to flatten the floors, deep clean, paint the cage white, paint everything else black. I've already removed all the aftermarket wiring, it was everywhere!

 

[9!'clipseDOHC]

First off, I have an important update! My parts order from the UK is in the same country and state as me! However it is still in Dallas and has to clear Customs and then be loaded on a truck and driven the rest of the way. However this is very good news and a big relief!

Second, I was able to finish cutting, grinding, sanding, welding, taping, and cleaning the cage and was able to get it painted! It look amazing! Now just imagine black carpet, black seats, and a black dash... That cage is going to shine!

 

[Tom2741]

Great build mate! These are rare old beasts your side of the pond! Good to see you returning it to a nice state.

Now, I'm sure I'm about to open a can of worms here BUT. 400hp on a stock engine from an fp green, surely a time bomb? Unless it's guna be the magic e85 doing it's work?

All the best!

Tom

 

[9!'clipseDOHC]

Great build mate! These are rare old beasts your side of the pond! Good to see you returning it to a nice state.

Now, I'm sure I'm about to open a can of worms here BUT. 400hp on a stock engine from an fp green, surely a time bomb? Unless it's guna be the magic e85 doing it's work?

All the best!

Tom

Thanks man! They certainly are rare over here.

It will be on E85; Both my DSM and Evo VIII run E85. I think it should be fine at those levels with ARP head studs and E85.

 

[Tom2741]

The head studs arn't a problem at that power, its the rods. They tend to make a break for freedom, in 2 bits, after much above 350ftlbs. With e85 I guess you can make the power with less boost and more conservative timing so you should hopefully be ok.

 

[9!'clipseDOHC]

Things are coming together!

First, I received my parts order from the UK. Unfortunately I am missing a few little things (the center piece of the front lip, the airbag on the steering wheel, the corner markers) and one of the fog lights was broken. After contacting the company it doesn't look like they are going to do anything about it. I'm going to keep trying, but it's very frustrating. I do have nice bumpers, sideskirts, wheel arches and an OEM gas tank now though.

On to some good news! I got the engine wiring harness installed and everything is there except for the fuel injector resistor pack and fuel pump relays. I guess they removed those with the whole fuel cell setup. I also installed the entire air conditioning system (condenser, dryer, evaporator, and blower) except for the compressor because I need a different bracket to mount it. Everything else is installed under the hood now except for the radiator and battery.



On the inside I had to cut out the front seat mounts because they had welded the seat bars of the cage to them. I cut out a new set and welded them in this afternoon.





Next I will be cleaning out the interior out one last time, installing the new interior harness, and then I can put the black carpet down. I'm also swapping over to power windows and door locks (at least up front). Things are coming together!

 

[Tom2741]

Coming together nicely mate.

What company did you use for the parts?

 

[9!'clipseDOHC]

Coming together nicely mate.

What company did you use for the parts?

Thanks Tom! The company is AS World. When I opened the package I was missing the corner markers, center section of the front lip, the center section of the steering wheel (airbag),and one fog light was broken. When I contacted them they said everything was there except for the airbag because the airline sent it back to them and basically sorry about your luck. However I was never notified about the fact that they still had the airbag. I was never offered a refund for the airbag that I had paid for. Alternate shipping was never offered. I am still communicating with them and hoping for a positive outcome but so far it doesn't look too good.

Edit - after talking to them this morning they are supposed to be sending replacement parts. That is good customer service indeed. I will keep you guys updated.

 

[9!'clipseDOHC]

The interior is moving right along! I just finished installing the carpet, dash, and center console. I have also ordered the Sparco seats. I'm excited about how it's looking!



For comparison's sake, this is what it looked like on the inside when I bought it:

 

[Tom2741]

Massive difference mate well done. Is that dash from a Mirage? Just that all the heater controls etc are analogue where as evos have digital.

 

[9!'clipseDOHC]

Massive difference mate well done. Is that dash from a Mirage? Just that all the heater controls etc are analogue where as evos have digital.

Thanks Tom! The dash i put in is from a Mirage, but even if you look at the original Evo dash it had the analog dials as well. I'm not sure if its a LHD thing or an RS thing. I do know that all the LDH V's were RS's. That was the only way you could special order them.

Here is a LHD VI RS2 that also has the analog controls: http://www.*******************/showthread.php?t=465292

 

[9!'clipseDOHC]

Time for some updates on the Evo. I have a few different aspects of the project going on at the same time.

First, the trunk. I pulled out the fuel cell and started stripping out all of the silicone sealant that was applied all over the place. I swear this car was built with RTV and zip-ties. Once that was out of the way I started welding up holes that had been drilled into the trunk. Just in the bottom of the trunk I welded shut 52 unique holes. That's 52 holes that were drilled into the floor for mounting who knows what in addition to the fuel cell. Thats not counting welding in the spare tire and jack mounts from the Mirage. I'm going to throw a coat of white paint over everything to keep it from rusting, add the rear speaker wires and trunk light to the wiring harness, and install the trunk carpet/trim from the Mirage.


I am also working on mounting the seats in the car. I am going to be using hacked up stock mounts, Sparco sliders, and steel bar to make the mounts. I can't wait to get these in. I had originally wanted to use the Mirage seat belts but they won't fit because of the cage so instead I'll be using these 4 point harness until I can save up for the Schroth AutoControl ones (I really like the white tiger edition).


On to the suspension. I was originally planning on sending the coilovers into Bilstein to have them rebuilt but I decided instead to just pick up a set of used Bilstein struts and Swift springs. The rears will drop right in but I need to make spacers up front for the lower mounts because the knuckle is slightly thicker on the VIII/IX compared to the V. In preparation for these going in I cleaned out the wheel wells and throw on some paint, again to keep things from rusting.

 

[ElDopesta]

Good show Nathan & welcome along buddy!!!

Question:

What's the under side looking like?