Gents,

After a couple of years of owning the Evo, I finally decided to start modding it with the intention of making it my ultimate daily driver... To achieve this, I will be try to mod it in a way that I can have what for me is the best of both worlds, a car is fun in the streets and that will see some autocross sessions/track days and that achieves a good level of SQ (Sound Quality), probably competing next year in a couple of audio competitions.

I will be using this thread to keep track of the changes made to the car and will try to load it up with pictures as we go along... It will be an slow build, because I will try to do most of it myself and my skills and spare time are limited (I travel quite a bit for work)

The Car: 2010 Graphite Grey MR





Power Goals: Never been fixated in a number and really don't care that much about how much whp the car has, but I have a good idea of the mods I will be performing to it down the road:

Engine/Powertrain Plans:

- 2.2L Overbore Build (Speedcircuit or MAP)
- Pistons and Rods (TBD)
- Cams (MX1's or AMS TMP)
- Springs and Valves (TBD)
- Turbo (MAP EF2.5 or the new MHI turbo... One between a green and a red)

Engine/Powertrain Done or to be done next month:

- AMS Intake
- AGP Intercooler
- Cobb Hard IC Piping
- Greddy Ti-C CBE
- Perrin Downpipe/HFC
- Grimspeed 3port
- AEM Analog Gauges

That's the plan in terms of Power Mods as we speak, hopefully it will end up as a fun daily driver

Regarding the Audio part of the build, the following is the system that will be installed:

- Head Unit: Pioneer ODR Combo P9 (Dex P9 and Deq P9)
- Front Stage: Dynaudio Esotec 3way system (MW172, MW142 and MW102) in a full active configuration... 8'' midbass in doors, midrange and tweeters in kick panels
- Subwoofer: 1 JL Audio 10W7 (still thinking about a Morel Supremo 12 as an other option)
- Amplifiers: 2 JL Audio 600/4 (one delivering 300rms to each midbass, the other one delivering 150rms to each midrange and tweeter)... 1 JL Audio 750/1 for the subwoofer
- Deadening (several different materials/brands)

During the audio build, I will also work on trying to improve the look and feel of the interior of the car, for which I will be using the help of no other than the famous IKT for some "one of a kind" CF parts for the EVO... We have already been bouncing ideas and there are some interesting things that we believe could be done and keep it as classy as possible... I will also be upholstering some parts in Alcantara or Suede... And trying to figure out if I should go for a fun color scheme on the car to highlight some accents or stitching, but totally undecided at this point in time

When discussing with my wife (which of course believe that is a total waste of time/money, haha)... The "boss" allowed me to go through with the plans, as long as I did it in 3 stages:

Stage 1: Bolt-ons installation (done)
Stage 2: Audio installation (in progress)
Stage 3: Engine Build/Turbo change (planned for the end of 2013)

So... With the above been said, I will start updating this thread as I move along with the project... I hope to use this platform to also ask for ideas and advises from all of you :nerd:

Regards,
SS

 

Let's start with the audio build log... As with everything in life, a good foundation is the basis for success, therefore I started with the sound deadening of the car as my first step

Due to how time consuming this project could be, I decided to do it in 4 stages:

Stage 1: Front Doors and Trunk
Stage 2: Floors
Stage 3: Rear Doors and Roof
Stage 4: Front Fenders

Stage 1: Front Doors and Trunk

The EVO trunk is minuscule, but I figured that if I can relocate the Windshield Wiper Reservoir as well as the battery... I could install my sub as well as the amps against the backseat and gain substantial space... I will go into more detail when I get to work on the trunk itself... From a deadening perspective, the trunk is very easy to work on and shouldn't take a novice (like myself) a lot of time to complete it in a couple of hours

I used Dynamat Superlite in the trunk because I knew I was going to be using substantial amount of it and wanted to keep the added weight on the low side... Suggestions to anyone doing this is to pay special attention at the wheel covers and try to get material into that area, which would reduce a lot of the road noise... Between the exposed sheet metal and how thin it is, it actually acts like an speaker "multiplying" the amount of road noise... I also place deadener on top of the OEM one and applied the "knuckle" test and added layers where needed (the knuckle test is just hitting the sheet metal with your knuckles and applying more deadener if vibrations or resonances are found

A couple of pictures of the deadening job in the trunk:

Starting to lay some deadener:



Trunk almost done:



I also applied deadener on the trunk lid (trying to get it against the outer skin as far as my hand could reach)


My sweet baby girl giving her approval:


I haven't applied any Closed Cell Foam or Neoprene in the trunk yet (which should further reduce exhaust drone and road noise), because there is still work to be done back there and wouldn't like to have to tear it apart... So, it will be finished when the sub and amps installation starts

Doors:

As with the trunk, I also used Dynamat Superlite... It is very good, specially with vertical surfaces that will be against heavy heat in the summers... I placed deadener in the whole outer skin and applied additional in some areas, especially where the back wave of the midbass would directly hit the sheet metal... I also deadened and sealed the inner skin of the door... I can ensure that even the OEM speakers sound way better with just this step done, I am not blown away, but really happy with the improvement... As with the trunk, the doors still are missing one step, which is the installation of Closed Cell Foam and Neoprene... For the doors I will be using a material from Focal called BAM, it is actually deadener + CCF + Neoprene sandwiched together, so only one layer is needed, since I will be cutting part of the sheet metal of the inner skin, I don't want to install it just yet (it is a PITA to cut through deadener)

Some pictures of the door deadening:

Inner skin:



Outer skin:



The following is an small video clip of the sound difference between the front doors deadened and the back doors non-deadened:

 

Once I got the doors and the trunk deadened and waiting on the actual speakers, sub, amps installation... I started with Stage 2, which is the deadening, road noise treatment and rattle attack on the floors and part of the dash

I have to give an special thanks to IKT for bearing with me during the whole process... This was the first time I gutted the interior of the Evo and had tons of questions on how to take her apart, thanks mate for all the advises and quick text how-to's!!!

Anyway... Let's get into it... the first step of course was to take everything out, which proof to be very time consuming if it is the first time you do it... A good piece of advice for anyone doing this is to buy a box of ziploc bags, have a notepad near you and write down where every screw and nut go, it will make the re-assembly process way easier and you won't either lose parts or have spare ones by the time you are done

Gutting the interior:







Taking the center console was the trickiest part of them all... In order to prevent breaking clips, I decided to take it all as one piece... Therefore, had to take the trim on top of the glove box, the glove box itself and the A/C controls out... With everything out of the car, I started laying Raamat, which is a great material to work with and way cheaper than dynamat too... It did a very good job... Some pictures of the deadening process:









Driver floor area:



After all the deadener was applied (I couldn't do the firewall at this point in time, unluckily the dash is bolted on top of the carpet backing (noise barrier) and in order to get it out, I would have had to take the whole dash out and seemed like a little bit too much at this point in time)... Well, once the deadener was done, I applied to layers to the car, one of PS Ensolite, which is a closed cell foam with a an adhesive which makes it very easy to apply... and 1/8'' Thick neoprene, less dense than MLV (Mass Loaded Vynil), but does the job well and is lighter at the same time... I applied the Neoprene to both the floor and the back of the carpet for a total of 1/4'' thickness of noise barrier... For the ones thinking about doing this, keep in mind what each product is made for:

a) Deadener (Dynamat, Raamat, etc.) are meant to absorb and reduce "Panel Vibration", of course if the panels vibrate less, the less noise you will have... But they aren't really a noise barrier (they don't help much reducing road noise)

b) Closed Cell Foam: It is just that, Foam... and it's purpose is to act as a "decoupler" between the deadener and the noise barrier (in my case neoprene, but a lot of people recommend MLV)... It is also used between 2 panels to avoid rattles between themselves

c) Noise barrier, which could be MLV, Neoprene or that carpet padding you find OEM... It will block the external noise (as well as keep your sound inside)

A couple of pictures of PS Ensolite application, as well as Neoprene:

PS Ensolite on top of the deadener:



PS Ensolite on top of the back seat area and Neoprene on top of it in the passenger floor:





Ensolite on the AC ducts below the seats and neoprene already in the floor:





Covering the back part of the carpet with Neoprene:





Carpet is back in!!!



Now... In retrospective, I shouldn't have placed Neoprene on the sides of the carpet... This made the plastic trim parts suffer to get back in place (and made me break a couple of clips of the passenger kick panel cover)... So, my suggestion is to only do it on the "floor" parts and not on the ones the "walls" of the carpet

Finally... Here is an small clip of deadened floor against non-deadened floor (keep in mind that in the non-deadened part, I am actually doing the test on top of the OEM deadening)



Of course... With the neoprene on top... There is almost no sound

This is as far as I have gotten... Will update when I get to do the roof (this weekend)

 

I managed to keep on working in the car and continue the deadening process... It was time to do the roof of the car and it wasn't really hard to get it done (probably just a little time consuming)

For the ones that might try to do this in a Lancer, the following are the steps to remove the headliner:

(Note: You don't have to take the pillars out completely, in reality, probably the B pillar could stay in its place too, but I removed all of the pillars because I was planning on working on them too)

a) Take the C-Pillars and A-Pillars out: Pretty simple and in both cases, it's the same procedure. Start by pulling from the top of the pillar towards the interior of the car... Here comes the tricky and PITA part, there is a rubber clip that holds the pillar so that in the event the airbags deploy, the pillar won't become a projectile inside of your car... Twist it around until you can get it out... Then it is just a matter of pulling towards the front of the vehicle for the C-Pillars and back of the vehicle for the A-Pillars to completely take them out

b) Take the dome lights: The dome light on top of the rear view mirror just needs to be pulled down (4 metal clips are keeping it in place)... you will also have to undo 2 wire harnesses (one is for the Bluetooth mic and the other one for the lights themselves)... For the dome lights in the center of the headliner, you will have to open the clear cover of the dome light, this will expose 2 screws that are keeping it in place... Get the screws out and just pull it out

c) Before we take the rest of the parts, it is time to take the front seats... Especially in an EVO, since we don't have removable headrests... In retrospective, removing the bottom part of the back seat might help a bit, but is not needed at all... Once the seats are out, make sure to also take the driver seat belt bolt out (the passenger seat belt is attached to the seat, so that one will be out already)

d) Now that the Front seats are out, it easier to take the B-Pillars out... First pull the bottom trim part towards the center of the vehicle, then with a flat screw driver or trim tool, pull on the sides of the small circular cover on the upper part of the B-Pillar... Now we will need a 10mm socket to take 2 screws out, one in the top (where the circular cover was) and one in the bottom (that was covered by the bottom trim panel) and just take the pillars out

e) Now we will take the sun visors out, pretty straight forward... the clip where the visor "hangs" was an SOB to take out... I ended up using a big set of pliers to pull it out, with minor cosmetic damage to them

f) There are 2 clips close the rear window, pop those out

g) Final pieces to take out are the "Oh ****" handles... Just pull them down, there are plastic lids covering the screws, unscrew and they are out

h) Time to take the headliner out... What I did (after several tries) was to take it out through the driver side back door, it was the easiest way to do it... Some help might be welcomed to do this and afraid someone comes out with a better technique, you will end bending it a bit (some nasty noises of it breaking will be heard, but you won't really be damaging it... Just be careful and patient)

With the Headliner out, I finally had access to the roof... Which as you can see in the next picture, is absolutely bare and been aluminum it even deforms itself while going through the dryers of a car wash



After a layer of Dynamat Superlite (it was pretty cold in the garage... between 17F and 21F, so I had I did "warmed" up the material with a heat gun before applying it



Once the whole roof was deadened, I applied a couple more layers where I could still hear big resonances (I applied additional at the center of the each roof panel... I considered the roof as 2 panels divided by the center beam)... PS Ensolite was applied on top of the Dynamat:



Afterwards, I applied a layer of 1/4'' Thick Neoprene... I attached it to the PS Ensolite using heavy duty double sided tape (My car was without the headliner for 6 days and it never fell off, so now that the headliner is holding it, I don't expect any issues)

A couple of clips of the sound difference before and after the deadening project:

Before any deadener:



After the deadener:

 

Since I had the headliner and the Pillars out, I thought it would be a good idea to improve the interior a little bit so I decided to wrap it up with Suede

I have to admit that I went through several yards of mistakes while doing this... The biggest ones were:

a) Over spray: I was using a very heavy duty material recommended by my friend Pete (IKT) 3M 8090, but I ended applying too much of it and didn't adjusted the nozzle for the amount of spray and it went through the fabric and had this nasty glue spots on it

b) I used the wrong material for the headliner... In my first attempt, I used material that didn't had backing... Went back to the fabric store and got one intended for Headliners that actually has a foam backing in it

Non backing material:



Material with foam:



What I did was to do it in sections... Laid out the material on top of the headliner and applied glue to both, the headliner and the material... Then when it came time to do the other half, I made sure to pull about 1 inch of the material already glued and applied glue to that section in the middle as well as well as the other half of it... I left about 2 inches of material in each end to wrap it around



Headliner glued:



Wrapping it:





Headliner finished!



Then it was time to wrap the pillars... For some of the complex curves, my advice is to stretch it out as much as possible and then apply some cuts with scissors to relieve tension and allow you to go through the curves... I used 3M 90 for the pillars and the non-backed Suede for it... The 3M 90 gave me a better spray pattern to avoid glue going through the fabric.

I also used a lot of plastic to cover the work bench were I was working... What happened to me is that I was spraying glue on the bench and then when sitting the parts on it for stretching and wrapping, I was getting that glue on the material!!! So I just used the plastic and threw it away after each time I would spray glue to avoid damaging the fabric (I threw away a couple of pieces because of this... So be careful!







All the Pillars wrapped in Suede:



Keep in mind that it was the first time I ever tried to do any upholstery job... The material ended pretty tight around the pillars, I believe it looks pretty good

Finally, some pictures of the Pillars and Headliner back in the car... You will notice that some of the plastic pieces are still in their OEM grey color... I tried to plastidip them, but I didn't got good results and when I compared the black color pieces with the grey looking pieces, I liked the contrast of the grey with the Suede way more than the black (and I didn't wanted to plastidip my sun visors and didn't knew how to wrap them in Suede either... So, at least there is some consistency in the car), the pics show the grey pieces way lighter than they really are because of the flash and the crappy Iphone camera... The "Oh ****" handles will be installed this afternoon (needed the car to come to work and it was pretty late when I finished installing everything else yesterday)

Pics of the new interior:







Now is time to work on the doors and try to fit the 8'' midbass drivers in there... I don't know when I will start work on those, but needs to be a little warmer than it is right now!... At least above 32

As always, all comments and advises are more than welcomed!

 

it was time to get a couple more WHP to compensate for the added weight from the sound deadening

The car had the following mods:

AMS Intake
Cobb IC hard pipes
Greddy Ti-C CBE
AGP Intercooler
Cobb AP (AMS Stage 2, 91 Oct OTS Map)

With those mods, we got it in the dyno and got a baseline pull... Baseline was 266 WHP and 292 TQ

The car visited Ziptie in SLC, UT for a second round of mods, which included

MAP EF2.5 Turbo
ID 1000 Injectors
DW65 Fuel Pump
Cobb EBCS
GSC S1 Cams
Cobb Downpipe
TurboXS HFC

After that round of mods, we proceeded to tune the car, which was done by TJ (UT EvoX) and I have to say that I am very happy with the results... It is making now 345 WHP and 340 TQ (on 91 Oct)

Car is running good... I was expecting it to not idle really well, but no one will probably be able to tell that the Cams were upgraded

I wanted to say thanks to TJ, not only did he worked in my car on Saturday from 8am until 2:30am and Sunday all day... He also put up with all my questions, me checking the work done in the car (I know it is annoying to have someone looking over your shoulder while trying to work)... Finally, he made this tune to be a safe one, I never wanted a dyno queen or an specific number, just wanted a reliable car that will take me to and from work on a daily basis and that I could have fun with it once in a while and it was mission accomplished

Dyno after the round of mods:

 

Nice, if you had to guess how much weight was added with the interior?

 

My guess is close to 100lbs... The current weight of the car with me driving is 3,800lbs (with half a tank of gas)... I'm at 170, so the car's weight is 3,630... The car is supposed to weight 3,600 stock, so it's 30lbs heavier

I have made some weight reduction through some components (lighter wing, lighter exhaust for example)

I will be updating the post with the current setup as it sits today in the next couple of days

 

get lighter drive shaft and lighter rotors

 

Got an aluminum driveshaft on the way... Will try to get rotors soon, although the MR rotors are supposed to be light themselves

 

can't wait to see more