I picked up my first Evo a few months ago. I purchased it from the 2nd owner, and the first owner had it for 20 years. It was not a garage queen, in fact it was an NYC daily driver. All 4 doors are dinged and both bumpers severely scratched. At some point in it's life, the car was broken into and the front seats were stolen. The owner opted to replace them with base model lancer seats I'm guessing so it wouldn't happen again. An interesting thing about the car is that it has remained unmodified and mostly original it's entire life. Even the exhaust looks to be original. The paint is so faded it's practically a pink Evo and it appears someone ran over a bucket of white paint splattering it on the sides too. But it's not all bad. It's running and driving and I see the potential.




My plans with the car for now are to first do a budget restoration fixing all the little details that have been neglected.

First things first. This Evo is so ugly and I need to do a paint correction. I'm by no means an expert at this and I'm sure there's hardly any clear left. But if I can shine it up and extend the life of it, it'll be worth it. I spent a long time with the clay bar removing all the paint splatter and other contaminants. It came out good! Far from perfect, but a presentable 21 year old high milage Evo.



There was an EVAP leak code present. I tracked it down to some rotted evap lines under the car which I bypassed with new rubber hose. Car passed state inspection!

Intercooler Sprayer: I really want to get this quirky feature working. The hinge on the interior switch was broken. I fixed it by 3d printing a replacement hinge piece and super gluing it in. The pump is also completely rotted. After searching through windshield washer pump images, I found one that looked very similar. When it came, it's a direct fit. I did have to swap the 2 power wires in the electrical connector because it was rotating the opposite direction.

If anyone needs to repair their IC pump, here's the one I used
Heat/Cooling Blend door stuck. It took me about 8 hours to replace it. I was able to mangle it in a way where I didn't need to remove the box from the car and drain the heater core or release the refrigerant. Pretty terrible job to do but it's getting cold so it's really nice to have working heat.


I was disappointed to see you cannot buy new floor mats and the cost of used mats is insane. The mats had deep heel holes. I went the DIY route and covered the holes with a heel pad. After a deep clean with a carpet wet vacuum it's smelling a lot better and looks great. I also picked up two Recaro seats locally.



Other issues: Replaced super worn radio antenna. Fan control module broken. I replaced it with an OEM Nissan part that is the same functioning part and saved $210 versus buying OEM mitsubishi. Radiator fan was sounding clunky from rotating constantly due to failed FCM. Replaced with OEM fan. Side mirror spring broke - replaced spring from a junkyard lancer mirror. Trunk Lock Broken (maybe another failed break in attempt?) - replaced.



A little bit of surface rust in the engine bay (and some more underneath), but she looks great from 100ft away!

I'm in about $2k in parts (as budget as it gets for an Evo) and I have a semi-presentable Evo with everything working. I've been enjoying cruising it around town and taking it to work on my 80 mile commute. So far so good!

I have more planned for this car next year. I want to paint all the window trims, repaint the calipers, and re-clear the wing. I would like to get the rims refinished also. If it continues being a good car, down the line we'll see about body work and new paint, and maybe even an underbody restoration.

 

Great work, take your time & slowly the Evo will get up to par.
Where in NJ you located?

 

Thank you. I'm in Hunterdon County.

 

ok, I'm in Morris county, very few Evos out here.