for those that have bought a "built" evo as described which have just been finished basically how have the cars turned out to be. ie lots of little issues or pretty ready to go?

 

I would personally never buy a built evo. There are so many things that can go wrong and little mistakes that could have been made by who ever built it that can cause expensive damage. I built my car myself top to bottom including building the engine and drivetrain. The car puts down 660hp on a mustang dyno. A bone stock evo puts down 204hp on this particular dyno. So far the build has about 6k miles on it with with no major problems. It would have a lot more miles on it if E85 wasnt so hard to come by here. I do not drive it every day but usually put a few hundred miles a week on it. How long a car with this much power will last depends a lot on how its driven, everytime you put you foot down and hit 40PSI you are putting wear on parts no matter how built the car is.

 

If it was built by a reputable shop (that you can call and verify) and it is built the way you want it, then go for it.

If it was built in someone's garage, then probably pass on it.

 

I was just trying to figure out if im better off buying someone elses built platform and going from there or starting from scratch with a new one. both sound good in there own ways. can buy one already done and save a bunch of money and just fix the things that break, but no way of know what all has "really" been done. or start fresh and get exactly what I want but will cost quite a bit more but at least know nothing was hacked together.

 

^
You want the truth....
I recently went through the motor build/swap process so listen carefully to what I have to say as I will not BS you. In fact some of what I'm going to tell you is embarrassing but I'm an honest guy that wants to share the tough love experience I have gone through.
I absolutely loved my stock block 450 whp EVO. I could hop in the car, give it a minute or two to warm up and then beat on it without a fear in the world. I had 100% faith in Mitsubishi build quality and therefore wasn't nervous about anything going wrong that wasn't a direct result of my own stupidity. Basically the car put a smile on my face every time I left the house.
Then something bad happened and I had to decide how to move forward. Wanting to play it safe I decided I would simply purchase another built motor and swap everything out. I thought this would surely make me feel better about running 30psi during track events. I was also certain that it would strengthen my love for my car. After all what’s not to love about having a bulletproof motor right?
WRONG! Here is how I feel after going thru the process.
First thing about it ... up until the point of the build at least 80% of the money "invested" in mods could be recovered via resale. This is not the case with a build. Whatever you put into the motor should be considered a complete write off. I recognized this fact and because of this I didn’t go crazy but instead made what I considered smart decisions by going with a 2.0L build.
Surprise number one: Having a built motor means you have to drive the darn thing for at least 10 minutes before you can beat on it. I have about a 10 minute drive to work and prior to the build I'd be power oversteering one block from my house. This is not the case anymore. Built engine components simply do not come up to operating temp as quickly as one would expect and it sucks. This removes about 60% of the fun factor as the majority of my non-track day joy rides are short trips to get food, go to the gym or even commute to work.
Then there's the confidence level of the build. Was the engine builder having a good or bad day? Did he remember to torque every bolt? Was the motor clearanced and balanced or was it tossed together by some shop rat that barely knows how to reassemble parts in a particular order? Should I have reinstalled balance shafts? I have tons of voices in my head causing me to question how long the engine will last not just long term but even more so initially. As mentioned above I can’t really enjoy short trips and now I’m even worried about taking longer trips for fear something will happen.
On top of all the above mentioned crap, you get to sift through many conflicting posts about engine break in. For example... should you break it in hard or take it easy? How many miles does it take 20 or 1000? What kind and weight of oil should you run? How often should you change it? The list goes on and on.
After all is said and done I recognized a number of things. The first thing is be prepared to spend enough to get exactly what you want. If you don’t you will regret it. Being responsible on spend I didn't take the stroker plunge like I should have. I thought I would prefer the higher revving, longer lasting, less expensive 2.0L but what I ended up with was the same exact car I had before that now takes longer to warm up to fun run temperature
For me, having a built motor has nearly completely eliminated the short drive/cruise fun factor. Not going with a stroker has created regret. And … until I get 5000 miles on this motor I will have little or no confidence in the build.
I believe this is why you see so many fresh build for sale threads. People are simply burned out from the process both financially and mentally. I also suspect that many people cut corners on the build due to lack of funds or straight up refusal to invest in all required repairs.

 

Every single word is truth!!!! thanks!

 

Most of this is pretty accurate.

My car was THE most fun with a BBK-B Kelford 272's and bolt on's. If my motor didn't go (due to actions not my own) I'd still have my blue Evo.