Dom_J

What's up EvoM,

I have an Evo4 giving all the right signs for that infamous crankwalk(apparently anything thing 4G63 related in the late 90's is susceptible to bad engineering). I'm kind of lost on where to head w/the build from here.

Pretty much, fuel, air, spark have been verified, its not cranking for the life of it. I'm almost sure the little "chattering" type of sound I was hearing was the crank eating away at the CPS now that I think about it, and the car was getting rather hard to shift. I also just replaced the clutch etc etc.

My question is what do I do from here? I'm in a foreign country where no only do they lack great mechanics but most of the tuners are stuck in the fast and the furious PART 1 era! I want to see the Evo hit the streets again, I would also like to bring it back to America. Only motorsports activities I can get into are circuit track related which I don't have problem getting into as I think it can be fun.

Soooo, what's the "easiest" way to get this thing back on the road? Is it as simple as buy an Evo 8 short block, slap the old head on and go? Im a drag strip guy by nature so If I ever hit the track I would love to see 10's out of it. Should I build it now? Is buying a built short block my best bet? Orrrrrrr if I found a "Super Mechanic" out here, could I buy all the components for a stroker kit build and go from there? I'm all over the place...sorry

I'm just want to get this thing running again, running strong, and I'm all about doing it right so I don't have to do it twice. Power goals 450-500whp / 10 sec. 1/4 Miles which I'd probably have to shoot up to the UK events to even test out. But overall fun *** dd would be superb. Thanks for any input. I'm trying to limit myself to a budget of about $3500.

X91EVO

iTrader: (17)

Im pretty sure your 4g63 and the newer 4g63s run opposite, so it would be alot harder than you think to just throw one in. I would say the easiest would be to disassemble your block and reassemble it with what you can from there.. From what I hear there is a way to stop the notorious crankwalk, But I havent looked into it so much

Murf

iTrader: (2)

Evo4 and up are all in the same direction. evo1-3 are in the engine bay like a 1g and 2g dsm. That is one hard choice to make. Sorry can't be of more help. but you can get a good range of short blocks for your price range from many us companies.

evoliam

iTrader: (15)

The easiest route is just to pick up a used shortblock. However, if you have the funds- right now is the best time to build the engine up.

3bar_dc2

iTrader: (11)

I'd say swap an 8 or 9 shortblock in depending on your budget. I'm not familiar with the older 4g63s at all but I would assume it would happen again after rebuiliding the evo4 block. Or is there a way to fix the thrust washer issue?

Dom_J

Yea, Just like Murf said, all Evo 4-9's have the same setup w/4g63 facing the same direction. I've also heard that there are many ways to prevent it, sucks I only had the car running a few days before it walked on me.
Yea I'm still doing a lot of searching, I do see them popping up, I'm just looking for that great deal I guess. I don't want to order one from Japan because I've seen how they operate in person ie: Track the hell out of the car, engines on its last leg ok "let's pull the engine and sell it." Not all but most do that...
I thought that'd be the easiest route...The UK also has a heavy Evo scene and they've been getting them since day one. I'll probably have to source a block from there and go from there.
I was wondering the same thing as far as rebuilding it, I'm sure there has to be more than enough companies selling the right parts to keep the crank from moving into the engine again. The Evo 9 shortblock won't work I believe due to different cooling lay-out if I'm not mistaken. I honestly I see just as much Evo 9 engines for sale as any other 4g63, thought about doing the conversion but passed, I'd rather take on something like that back home.

Thanks for the input fellas...I'm hoping to find a built short block for a decent price. Best case scenario. Worst case scenario, stock 8 block at a steal. I've heard of an English mechanic about 2 hours from here who supposed to be awesome, I'll get in contact w/him see if he even knows what "crankwalk" is lol. I know any others out here look at me crazy when I mention it.

3bar_dc2

iTrader: (11)

The stock 8 blocks have proven to take a beating so you can't go wrong there.

Good luck

grayw

The design of the center thrust bearing/oil feed is on the IV is different to the V>. Easiest way to check if you have crank walk is to check for play at the crank pulley.
There are tuners in the UK who offer a fix for this issue, but for the costs involved you are better getting a new short block from a V>.

3bar_dc2

iTrader: (11)

What all is involved for the fix? Is it like the old subaru ej20 where they machine the thrust washer in a different location?

Dallas J

iTrader: (1)

Crankwalk was way over hyped in the 2gs. I personally dont know anyone who has had true crankwalk and Ive been around DSMs since 99'. Mostly its seen in built motors in <5k miles which is generally related more to assembly error. Yes they require a bit more attention to detail than a 6-bolt, but its not as scary as people make it out to be. So the fact that it happened to your Evo4 is probably a fluke IMO.

Unfortunately though, the chances of re-walking that block if rebuilt is high since its already done it once. Time to get a new block, do you guys have "JDM" importers?

Dom_J

Yea, I've heard...I'm going to keep an eye out for all shortblocks for sale.
How much play though? Any play at all? From what I understand, there is some play that is allowable, I want to take a crowbar to it and see what happens.
You don't know how bad I wish I could write this off as a fluke and wake up and figure out something else. Just turning over completely fine with fuel, spark, timing, and compression good to go. That leaves very limited options left over, a few of which could be temporarily handled w/push starting the car. The car wouldn't even crank on the push start. And when it was dying, it lost all power, RPMs wouldn't budge and pressing the gas pedal yielded nothing, and the week before I did notice the car being harder to shift as said earlier. I'm definitely open to any other suggestions.

But we do have a few shops in Spain that are JDM importers but I've used the UK ebay for most of the parts I've ordered for the car thus far, and any American based company that would ship to my APO address. Idk many that'll ship me an engine block ?!

djikonatx

iTrader: (33)

it sucks too hear this happened to you since im also evo 4 powered on my8. honestly not just because you put an e8 engine in there its gonna prevent it...i sold a block to this evo 8 guy who had crankwalk.so really no matter what year model you get you could be at risk for it.just another problem to the longggg list that the evo has.

Dallas J

iTrader: (1)

Im not 100% convinced it is crankwalk at this point. Could just be a spun and frozen bearing. Only way to see if the cranks sensor got chewed up is to pull the timing cover. Id tear into that before making to many assumptions.

RSMike

iTrader: (1)

evo 4's are notorious for crankwalk, as someone has already said Mitsi fixed the problem with evo 5 and up.
We have a lot of Evo 4's here in NZ, there are posts all over the forums about it.

Gary@MellonRacing

iTrader: (74)

the evo 4 thrust bearing is different to the evo 8