whipfer

Currently I drive a 06 WRX with light engine mods 320whp/339ftlb. To get my car into the "reliable" 400whp range it would take close to 10k in upgrades. My thought is I could get 12k for my car and throw in another 8k and get a pretty nice EVO. That being said I've been lurking the F/S threads on here looking at 03-06 built EVO's. My question is what kind of things should I be looking for in terms of well built/reliable 400+whp EVO? Thanks in advance.

evo8426

iTrader: (27)

well the car doesnt have to built at all to be in the 400whp range. all that is needed is e85 and the basic bolt ons on stock turbo. as for reliable i guess i would say one that hasnt been beaten to death and has all maintenance taken care of

SRTRaceR04

iTrader: (24)

When it comes to buying "built" cars the general rule of thumb that I stick to is making sure people have receipts. If the car is built I would like it to be built by someone who knows Evos. Not some random shop in some random town that might not know Evos from Civics. IMO chances are greater that the job was done right if a shop that specializes in Evos (or at least has a good amount of experience with them) built said car.

Plus check out the modification path. If some of the modifications don't make sense then I would be a bit more weary of that car. Not saying that Megan parts and the like are bad, but again you're probably in a better situation if someone payed the money for quality parts because they wanted to know they were getting legitimate parts for their car. I'd feel more comfortable buying a car with ETS, AMS, Buschur, etc parts over a car ridden with Brand X and Y. Plus if the car is covered in Weapon R and other knock off products....yeah I would rethink it completely.

If the car is tuned find out by who. Anyone knows that the tune can make or break the car. And if it's from somewhere that tunes aggressive to make good numbers with no margin of safety or worse the owner of the car self tuned with too little experience.

ALWAYS get the car checked out. No sense investing in something just to have it go KABOOM on you a few weeks after owning it. Evos are great cars, but any car is a ticking time bomb in the wrong hands.

68wsteve

iTrader: (11)

My biggest is advice is be patient. There are alot of over priced Evo's out there. If your willing to spend 20K you should be able to find a damn good one. I was patient and was able to find this.

https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/ev...-mr-today.html

whipfer

That's a nice buy. I've noticed there are a lot of 06 GG MR's for sale right now. Pretty much perfect for me since that's exactly what I would want.

BuBBasEVO

iTrader: (7)

my thing is be careful.. there is a reason why there selling it.. maybe a problem or maybe not... i would try to get a less modified car than fully built... plus when you build your own evo at least you can say you built it than saying "i dunno it was on it when i got it"

savagejay1

Exactly.

I bought a stock evo and put all the mods on myself so I know exactly what is on it.

It really won't take much effort to get an evo into the 400whp range even if you are starting from stock.

whipfer

trust me I would love to start from stock but how reliable are those few mods going to be at 400hp? My thinking is find something with a built motor that way I don't have any worries and won't have to spend that money down the road.

chaotichoax

iTrader: (149)

if you look for an evo 9 and add cams and e85 into the equation (in addition to full bolt on's) you'll hit your 400 mark on the stock turbo

you could also throw on an fpred with cams and run pump gas to get to your mark

the stock block can tolerate 400 whp/wtq for a good chunk of time if not heavily abused

once you get into the 500 club the stock block is on borrowed time IMO...obviously there are plenty of members that run 500 whp/wtq on a daily basis to prove me wrong

chaotichoax

iTrader: (149)

your best bet is to hover around the dyno results section and see what people have to achieve their desired results

IMO if you want reliability, stick with the stock turbo (or a stock frame upgrade) and keep it to bolt on's

stay away for running meth/alky as well...it presents a lot of added variables to result in failures

whipfer

Thanks for the advice. I hope it all works out and ill be spending a lot more time over here Haha.

How about transmissions ? Anything to lookout for there?

evo8426

iTrader: (27)

if you dont treat the transmission like crap then the transmission will treat you right, 6 speed everyone says is weak but yet 98% of those people have never owned teh 6 speed and jump on a bandwagon as if they have first hand experience with one breaking. most choose to go with the 5 speed because they drag race their car. i personally prefer the 6 speed, i have driven 3 evos with the 5 speed and driven 2 evos with the 6 speed. my car is used for street duty and for autocross on occasion

3bar_dc2

iTrader: (11)

Good choice moving to the evo from a wrx. My last 2 cars were an 04 STi and a 98 2.5rsti and I prefer the Evo over both of em. Granted the rsti was faster because of the fpgreen and being lighter, I get more joy from the Evo. I say follow everyone else's advice and buy one with minimal mods w/o any ebay crap. Also finding one that's on stock boost level and pump gas w/ minor bolt ons is less likely to be beat on compared to one with e85 and higher boost levels. Just my opinion.

Brew City Evo

iTrader: (1)

I agree - I bought mine in April (355 whp) The previous owner had all work done by AMS and had receipts. Also took it to a mechanic to have it inspected. The car has been trouble free for the 12,000 miles I have put on it Good luck, these are incredible cars.

whipfer

Thanks for the help everyone. I really hope it works out that I can sell my car and join the EVO crowd.