I bought my Evo Sept 17th 2008 from forum member here Mistaken. Since then I've changed the car a lot and gone through several different setups chasing, what I consider, the perfect setup. I've also had a lot of advice, help, and input from Aaron @ English Racing. Many thanks to Aaron. I've put a lot of thought into this car and hopefully it does what I intend it to do. I've had a few turbos in the past, Evo 9 (355whp), old skool FP Green (360whp), 64mm FP Red(482whp), 80mm FP Red (540whp), HKS7460(488whp), EFR7670 (560whp) I'm a drag racer at heart, I've come to love auto-x and road courses, and want something that is hard to beat on the street.

This thread has been created in part because I'm moving to a bigger turbo...but that's happening because I had a valve train failure in March of 2013 and I bent an intake valve. My best suspicion at this point is that my lash adjuster was failing/not bled down properly by myself and began to tick. Upon hearing the tick (when I finished my exhaust) I ignored it and told myself I would take care of it when I swapped to the R2 cams) Well I didn't want to swap cams until I did some dyno work on the s3's to get fair back to back comparison. I didn't want to put the car on the dyno until I figured out what my misfire issue was... I had convinced myself it was ignition related, and that got me chasing low voltage issues I was seeing (12.x volts during boost). That resulted in a new alternator from Excessive Amperage and more shenanigans. That however still did not fix my misfire issue. I was ready to pull out the old credit card and get myself a Sparktech CDI Sequential Ignition kit when the car lost cylinder 1 during a pull. I thought it was a failed coil, but after a small amount of diagnosis...I realized I had no compression in cylinder 1 and I was missing a rocker arm on one of my intake valves. Bore scope showed PTV contact as well. So here I am pulling the head off. I found out what my misfire was, a failing lash adjuster that was ticking prior to failing... telling me to replace it. So my bad for not taking notice and caution...and now I'm spending money to fix it. This car and project continues to teach me humility and more and more about engines and cars.

That being said... rebuild goals are below.

My High Level 2013 goals
Trap 140+
Get on track at Road Atlanta and Mini Talledega
set FTD at a local auto-x event.
Beat a liter bike from a 60mph roll.

Low Level goals
make 600+whp for more than 3k rpms.
weigh 2800 lbs even

Hardparts
Borg Warner EFR 8374 1.05 A/R Divided T4 EWG (from 7670 EFR)
Ceramic Coated Hot Parts (from rust)
GSC No tick lifters (from stock)
GSC R2 Camshafts (from S3's)
Ferrea valve guides (custom Head Games units)
Head Games refreshed Cylinder Head (repairing my current head)
Hand Fabricated Trailing links (to billet aluminum trailing links)
Squash Performance Billet twin pump hanger
Walbro 467 Fuel pumps
Fairclough aluminum Tranmission mount
Godspeed Front ARB (hollow)

maybe's (as in I might make these swaps)
V88 Vi-PEC (from V44 PnP)
Seimens Ethanol Content Sensor (to tiny ethanol sensor)


2013 Mod list!

2006 Evo 9 GSR

ENGINE
ER Machined 4G64 Long Rod 2.235L
Machined for Evo oil squirters
R/TErnie MIVEC Feed Line
Cosworth 87mm Head Gasket
Wiseco HD 9:1 1.13 CH pistons
R&R H Beam 159mm Rods
Eagle 94mm Crank
MAP L19 Head Studs
ARP Main Studs
R/TErnie Balance Shaft Delete (thanks ER)
Clevite Race Main Bearing
Clevite Race Rod Bearing
R/TErnie modded Water Pump (thanks ER)
OEM Water Pump
OEM Oil Pump
Earls Oil Cooler
AMS/Moroso oil pan
Fluidampr UDP
R/TErnie -10AN catch can setup

HEAD
Evo 9 ForcedFed/ HeadGames Cylinder Head
GSC S3 Cams - Hope to replace with GSC R2's
GSC No tick lifters
AEM TRU Time Cam Gear
Ferrea Valve Guides
Ferrea Comp Plus Valves
Ferrea Seals
Kiggly HLA
Kiggly Springs, Retainers, and seats

EXHAUST
R/TErnie 1.5" sch10 Divided T4 Turbo manifold
R/TErnie 3.5” SS v-band downpipe
R/TErnie dump tubes
R/TErnie 3.5” Titanium Exhaust

TURBO SETUP
BW EFR8374 EWG 1.05AR
TiAL Sport MVS wastegates
Magnus v5 Intake manifold
Full Blown Throttle Body
R/TErnie Garrett FMIC 24x12x4
R/TErnie IC piping

FUEL
Injector Dynamics 2150cc's
Wilson Manifolds D Fuel Rail
Kinsler FPR
Squash Performance Double Pumper
Twin Walbro 467 Ethanol pumps
-8AN Feed Line Earls Pro-Lite and SS hardline under car
-6AN Return Line Earls Pro-Lite and SS hardline under car

ELECTRONICS
VIPEC v44 PnP Evo 9 ECU
Turbo speed sensor
Ethanol content sensor
5 bar map sensor
OP and FP 10 bar sensors
AEM 3 port EBC Solenoid w/ .040" restrictor
IAT sensors pre and post intercooler
AEM 6 in 1 Wideband

DRIVETRAIN
AMS shifter bushings
SS braided clutch line
QM 8 Leg 7.25” Twin Disk Clutch - race friction w/ heavy flywheel
TRE MAX LOCK Rear Differential
Evo 9 Trans with Evo 8 3rd&4th
OEM Transfer Case
Gruppe-S ACD reflash & Testing New ACD controller
R/TErnie Relocated ACD pump
Torque Solutions Driveshaft Bushings
Torque Solutions shifter base bushings
Braille Rear Diff bushings
AWD Motorsport 2pc Aluminum Driveshaft

SUSPENSION
Ohlin DFV R&T Shocks
HyperCoil Springs with Tender springs
Robispec - R/TErnie Trailing Links
Whiteline F&R RCK
27mm Rear ARB
CCW Classics 18x10.5 +38
285/30/18 Advan AD08's
R/TErnie CNC'd 22mm spacers
ARP Extended wheel studs
Aluminum lug nuts

BRAKES!
Girodisc 2pc front rotors
Girodisc 2pc Ultra light rear rotors
Girodisc Ti shims
Raybestos ST43 Pads
Motul RBF660 fluid
Girodisc SS lines

OTHER STUFF
.020" Thick Titanium Hood prop
Odyssey Mini-Battery
Removed Rear Wiper Assembly w/ new Glass
Skunk2 weighted shift knob
5000k 55watt HID kit
JDM Rear bumper
Evo 7 Tails
JDM side markers

Links:
March 2nd Update (you're already here! scroll down)
March 23rd Part I Update
March 23rd Part II Update
March 24th Update
March 28th Update
March 29th Update
April 2nd Update
April 23rd Part I Update
April 23rd Part II Update
May 8th Update
May 10th Update
May 23rd Update
May 30th Update
July 9th Update
July 25th Update + start video!

People I need to thank
My wife, son, and family- for putting up with my habit and all the car parts in the house.
Aaron Oneil & English Racing for the incredible insight and experience
Raffi and Geoff at Full-Race for hooking me up with an EFR.
Brock @ BW for bringing such a great product to market.
Michael, JR, Erica, and Chris for great deals on parts, fab components, and INTERCOOLER CORES!
Russell at Mitsubishiparts.net for the best place to buy OEM Mitsu parts online.
Jon @ TRE for an AMAZING rear diff. I love Jon's work. I will own his T/C and transmission someday!
Chad and Brent @ CBRD for the support.
Robert @ ROBIspec for the great talks, advice, and support.
Andrew and Myles @ GTWorx/RaceCompEngineering for the Ohlins and their suspension guidance.
Sean Ivey and Sam @ IveyTune. Great support for my HKS purchase, well respected, and nice guys all around.
Tony and Mike @ T1 Race Development for some badass Injectors, advice, and support.
Marco and Seann @ Magnus Motorsport for a badass intake manifold, advice, and support.
Mikey and Freddie @ SPEC-Ops - My NW Evo friends with which we've had lots of good times. Many Thanks
Justin @ ForceFed for the CNC ported head. Same port...every hole... everytime.
Adam and Nate @ MAP for the hookups on parts.
David Buchur for being a great rabbit to chase.
Martin @ Girodisc for some great brakes and technical insight.
MrFred - Mychailo - For the OEM ECU work and material property education.
jid2 - Jared - For the inside scoop, advice, and insight.
Indy - Jim - Thanks for the words of advice and insight.
Bill and Bob @ Drift Office for the Dynojet time and VipeC
Eric @ Compulsive Motorsports for the MD Dyno time
Brian Green @ Forged Performance (Oregon) for the MD dyno time and c16!
Mike @ R&R Rods for the custom work
Nero @ Titan for some great advice.
Don Smith - my good friend, wheelman, co-worker, and certified racing nut!
Don *** - my good friend, machinist, and engine junky
Mark Powell - my good friend, mortician, facilitator of my metal fab and racing learning experience.
Adam Baxter - my good friend, wheelman, and fellow fabricator (FSAE teammate)
Matt Nucci - my good friend, Catia jockey, and suspension GENIUS (FSAE teammate)
Trevor Hull - my good friend, machining expert, and aero junky. (FSAE teammate)
Paul Marsh - my good friend and MoteC data junky (FSAE teammate)
Scott O'Farrell - my good friend and wheel man. (FSAE teammate)
Trever McDermott - my good friend, wiring junky, and all around eccentric car junky (FSAE teammate)
Guillaume Marceau - my good friend and exceptional Honda & Transmission builder
Ben LaVelle - my good friend and amazing body/paint man.
Marshall & Stu Hagen - for a great trip to Texas for TX2K12 and being great friends.
My sweet home Alabama - For being a great place to live and have a family
APR LLC - For paying me to do what I love every day.
Dennis & Nick @ APR - For towing my Evo home so I can work on it!
Grant, Joel, and Joel v2 - For not giving me too hard of time for having a broken Evo!

To a great new year and lots of good times, God Bless America.

March 23rd pics
Before going under the knife

 

Thinking ill send my hot parts to Swaintech and paint them with VHT matte silver. I'll also paint my CHRA when I get my EFR.

Turbo blanket to boot... I think I'll use a T4 "titanium" blanket.

I read a few forum threads of people having great success with the swaintech + VHT paint process.

*** Got the valve cover off to inspect. Here's what I found. Any input from the masses? ***













Picture before I take the head off.

 

I absolutely love this car well done mate..

gives me something to aim towards and Makes me wanna spend money lol

 

Sorry to hear about the valve train failure. Good luck on the new build.

 

i still cant believe the size tire you fit under there

broken rocker.. thats a first.. honestly i think it was just a fluke.. did you rev this car high, often?

 

8500 quite often... a few times to 8800. Hard rev limiter was set at 9k. Never mechanically over-reved....

well now that I think about it... I over revved it back when it was a stock 2.0L on the FP Red setup. It was at least Tarmac on the tachometer... these are the same lifters and rockers from that setup, but I did that way back in like 2010.

 

Sounds like just a fluke, I have seen cars revving higher than that for longer and never doing that....

 

For ~$300 you can have one custom made and the performance/fit is great. You will have to send your housing, but the turn around time is a few days.
Advanced Thermal Protection

 

Sorry to hear about this failiure Ernie!
Thumbs up and kudos for sharing everything, awesome awesome work.
I have reay the other build's 82 pages one by one, and gone thru it all twice!
Am building my Evo too, same twinscroll T4, but on a 3582HTA!
Keep the work up and thank you again for sharing!

 

I've had my eye on that ever since Geoff showed me what the Indy guys were using. Called them a few times too. I was contemplating this or the Titanium blankets... I'm thinking the inconel insulation from ATP will take getting soaked with rain and then driven hard better than the blankets.

Money for the budget is at 1,100 dollars right now... need to sell a few extra parts to puff that up for the stuff I want to change

 

It's gonna be a good year!

 

Did some work on the Billet Trailing Arms today. I've got to source some components, FEA the model, and check some dimensions with the CMM. Then it's off to get a CNC'd proto-type... and then production units.

 

Might I suggest billet hubs / drop spindles?

 

That looks sweet and expensive...lighter?

 

That's been on the wishlist for a little over a year. Now that I have access to a CMM... you can bet you'll be seeing some billet uprights. They'll most likely be made from steel and not aluminum, weigh the same as stock... be stiffer... and have way better geometry for lowered evo's. For the time being... I'm working on this stuff lol.

The Trailing links won't be lighter than stock given that they support a wider wheel (worse structural design from having more offset) Their main purpose is to allow 18x10.5's on the factory body. Offsets from +45 to +38 fit really well... which are Supra fitments.

As I get more measurements and get feedback from FEA'ing these... the design will change as will the weight.