1998 Evolution V: "The Classroom"

Malibuguy: Agreed!  Still quite reasonable too...until the inventory dries up, no doubt.  With such a small production, very surprising more parts are available than not.  And the parts manuals are quite good!  Evo 3's are importable now, I believe...order one up!  ;-)

Ordered a MAF delete pipe back on 30 Oct...finally arrived after 100 days!:





Since we are using a Link ECU in Speed Density, no longer any use for the OEM MAF. It may not help on our ~400 CHP project, but it seemed like the right thing to do.

Road dried up so pulled it out for some exercise:

Ran well after r and r'ing all the drivetrain fluids with Motul 300 gear lube. 

Opening day of the Nurburgring...with the Evo untuned, we wheeled the winter machine 3 hours to make the 0800 green light for a fast lap!  All went perfectly, little 78 HP 1.2 Liter Jazz did ok with lowering springs - a somewhat willing partner.

2 laps to knock the rust off and handed it over to the young'n to learn to 'really' drive!  He didn't want to leave, but school events dictated only 3 laps - in the rain!  Great fun...and still got 30 mpg!

Great fun!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m5ewr71HPU

Spring is here so Evo is out.  What a fun car to drive especially in the urban areas.  Wish it was quieter...  Nonetheless, last fall, Jay stated we needed larger injectors over the OEM 560cc's.  So ID 1050 were purchased and installed.  Such an easy car to work on!



Also added MAF delete pipe to eliminate any restriction the unused MAF sensor might cause - possibly none at our low HP level (~400 CHP).  Fit pretty well although a gasket around the air cleaner housing had to fabricated (both sides)...:







Additionally, I had hoped to connect the Evo 8 oil cooler to the engine...with fabricated oil lines - unfortunately, I mixed -6 and -8 parts up and ended up with ~$100 of worthless parts.  Will wait another 3 weeks for proper pieces!:

Couple more weeks and finally:

Assembled!:

Installed at the cooler:

Installed at the engine:

It runs and the cooler gets warm around 150 degrees on the oil temp!  Excellent!

I'm not 100% confidence on the aluminum fittings...also used -6 sizing so do wonder if I gained anything at all over the Evo 5 installation!  But that decision was made couple of years ago with the Evo 9 oil filter adapter purchase.  We will pay close attention...

Tuner gave the approval to do a bit of circuit driving...maybe the Ring here we come???

Oil Cooler Installation:

Evo 8 OEM Cooler (MR464630): $422.93
Evo 5 OEM brackets (2 of 3): Existing

Russel Twist-Lok hose (-6 / 10 feet / PN: 634143): $52.99
Russel Twist-Lok 90 tubing (-6 / 4 / PN: 624163): $55.96
Russel Metric Adapters (-6 to 18 MM / 4 / PN: 670540): $63.96
Fragola External Clamps (-6 / 4 / PN: 999156): $11.97

Total: $607.81

Hate to add things up...hurts the wallet!

Back on the road:

A good day!  450 miles today in the Evo...Ring and back after 50 miles on track!

Arrived 15 mins after opening and knocked out 4 laps...low traffic, no lines, and cool temps.  Car hit 215 degrees on the oil at 6/10 pace - Evo 8 cooler appears to be working...no leaks noted!

Funny - copilot wasn't feeling well on the first two laps...so we picked up the pace and the adrenaline thrill kicked in - more fun that a roller coaster!  Will see when she gets behind the wheel...

Lap #4!

On the way back to Stuttgart, we hit McDonalds for a treat!...Remember my co-pilot is a 14 year old!

A few observations from the Ring visit:

- Ohlins much too soft / car much to low...put holes in the front right inner liner (it was new!)

- Boost cut in 4/5th gear so kept it at 75% throttle and 6000 rpm max

- Rear diff thumping on hard rights especially if I was not powering out of the corner

- Love the quick steering

- Felt very lightweight and nimble - more neutral that I expected - excellent!- 2 nice jumps, but no photos were taken!

- No cruise for the 6 hour drive at 3800 rpm/82 mph was painful on the foot (I'm getting old)

- Custom exhaust sucks on the autobahn...3800 rpm...but my daughter lost some of her hearing...must switch to something more reasonable - drone is quite significant...

- Very little oil consumption however open breather on valve cover isn't going to work - need a catch can which can be expected

- Drained oil and found very minor glitter...thankfully!

Amazing nothing fell off or failed on this true test!

30 months in the making!

Next is to continue to work on the tune - 23 psi boost and 8000 rpm mapped.

Still need a dyno test and top speed run...

Excellent pic!

It would be so amazing to be able to drive the Ring! How many times have you driven it? I think it would take me many, many passes to drive there at the speed you drove. Much respect!

Driving 6 hours at 3800 rpm would be uncomfortable in almost any car! My Civic Autox car spins about 3K rpm at 70 mph, and with a performance exhaust I really don't want to drive multiple hours in it.

78 Cobrall:  The camera makes us look fast...we were definitely slow ones on the track!  What a hoot it is...the camera does not give the altitude variations - which is unfortunate.  Likely my favorite aspect.

Likely I misrepresented the issue with 3800 rpm - engine was smooth and willing.  It was the exhaust howl!  I wonder if the custom exhaust maker forgot the 'packing' within the muffler!  Very nice workmanship, lightweight, and full 3 inch tip to tip, but way too loud for the autobahn.  This car is geared pretty short...to think the RS version is even shorter!

Fixed one challenge - squealing brakes!  Super easy...Brembo part for $20...squeeze them in and done!

Install:

Wish all repairs were this easy!

Living the dream over here. Great work with this car. 

tperkins:  No complaints!  And thanks - Mitsubishis are surprisingly easy to work on.  Really enjoy these 4 door rockets!

Became a bit annoyed looking at a slightly scarred speedo surround thanks to a previous owner with a column mounted something rather...so in from Japan:

Two screws and it is out and in.  Love Japanese assemblies.

We also addressed the 'lowness' of the car and bottoming out in the wheel wells on the track...by raising the Ohlins coilovers.  Incredibly simple to do other than deciding how how to unscrew the coil over bodies.  Did 7 turns on the front and 3 in the rear (no clearance issues).  Checked the heights and found the front back to the original installed height - suspension had settled .75 of inch!  The rears rose .25 of an inch.  I think enough clearance now at full compression...although will see eventually.

Alignment tomorrow just to confirm tracking - would like to get a smidge more negative front camber, but the tire to coil over is the limiting factor.

Will also hope to install an oil catch can as the current stick on breather has sprayed a bit of oil at the track - nothing on the street!  We'd prefer to not port it back into the intake track to avoid oil ingestion.  So Amazon had a small unit that we will try (~$50).  Small is preferred...but did add some 'media' to the internals to grab more oil before exiting the can.  I'm not very familiar with these so will give it a try:

Also a chassis dyno appt is set for Friday!  Quite a facility with 100 mph wind blowing thru the AWD setup.  Would love to see 400 CHP, but inreality a reliable engine is #1.  Our last project...American muscle pounding out 655 CHP and beautiful noise doing it!

Alignment was near spot on...just a minor tweak in the rear...possibly it slipped (Nurburgring Carousel???):

Proper hose arrived from Amazon.de to install the oil catch can...we will see if it works or pukes oil everywhere:

Look to install new plugs, clean the air cleaner, and change oil...prior to Friday!

Heart breaker failed this time around...4 runs on a French made dyno facility with a huricane force wind blast part of the deal...

Average of 390 CHP with a best of 394!  A solid 100 CHP over stock - seems logical and is a good push on the backside...

YOUTUBE Video

1800-7300 sweeps.  21-20 PSI in 4th gear. 

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Love dyno visits...seeing the harmony of all the systems work after 30+ months.  Drive home was most satisfying with a buried speedometer (note it only registers to 125 MPH!)

Been a bit...driving it daily - with a smile!

Cool weather means another trip to the Ring tomorrow!

Cleaned the K+N filter for the Australian ATP intake set up:

And drained the oil catch can...after 600 miles - seems to work and nothing out the breather!  I think an acceptable amount (tablespoon worth):

Looking to go a bit faster now without boost cuts, etc.

4 laps completed - all fouled with an Audi TT in the wall - bummer! Still great fun and only casualty was an injector clip popped off and car started to miss - ended the ~500 mile day.

-Brakes were excellent...after 'cleaning' the rotors of PMT the initial shudder disappeared.
-Suspension still too soft - bottomed out on the carousel, but didn't scrap the inner fender.
-Oil temps didn't exceed 240 with the Evo 8 cooler.
-Touched 7300 rpm in top gear on the fast part of the track - bit over 150 mph...seems quite short geared!
-Quite happy with the BFG Rival S tires
-Catch can didn't work as well as hoped...some oil residue came out the breather...
-Any secrets to keeping the backside clean due to all the soot?
-Should I be concerned with melting the rear bumper? Gets discolored...
-Still need to work on my driving skills! Really fun car!

Nurburgring Video Link

Your drive to the 'Ring is like my drive to Tail of the Dragon, 9hours at over 4000rpm one way...i know its engineered for it but damn.

Awesome build thread.

I want to get over to Germany sometime to run one of the hillclimbs they have. Have you been to any of them?

malibuguy:    I agree with you - the car is a revver!...lots of moving parts, but seems to do fine.  Others wonder if I have an RS transmission due to the low gearing...but it likely is just my low aspect ratio tires.  9 hour drive is serious dedication.  I've never been, but my experience on HWY 1 in California...likely made the long trip worthwhile!  9 = 18 hours though...

dr_strangeland:  Embarrassingly, I've only done Nurburgring and Hockenheim...no other events.  I've actually not heard of hill climbs in Germany (not saying there aren't any).  I see more advertisements for roll racing and car shows.  I do want to visit a couple of tracks (Spa and Salzburgring) and hopefully as my schedule settles it will happen.  The UK is mad about hill climbs - I looked into that when I lived there and they required significant safety gear to participate.  I elected to just do track days (Cadwell Park, Bedford Autodrome, Snetterton, and Donnington).  Currently, the Ring is the most convenient and flexible.  Appreciate the comments - we fortunately lucked out on a great project.

Attempting to address the insufficient catch can dilemma...4 laps on the ring fills one of these canisters full!  Interesting, on the street hardly anything is caught. 

Added a second as a reservoir more than doubling the capacity, theoretically.  Maybe I'm just jerry rigging it...



Installed:



Also installed the OEM fuel injector clips - to avoid another engine miss because a clip came ajar...

May get a lap in tomorrow...putting my son in a Swift 'race' car to turn a few laps on the Ring.  See how he heel/toes that thing!

So there are at least a few active hill climbs in Germany although the FIA European hillclimb championship doesn't go there. Switzerland has some very active hill climbs and it's quite close, including St-Ursanne - Les Rangiers where people hit 200+ kmh.

Osnabrück is active for sure:

https://www.trackandtuner.com/2022/09/26/msc-osnabruck-2022-hillclimb-at-its-best/

It can be hard to find information in English. Yeah, safety is a pretty big thing since speeds are so high and there are trees by the courses. Typically the FIA sanctions the events which means FIA full cage in basically every modern class.

I would at least try and spectate and see what they are like. The UK hills tend to be quite short (and boring, sadly) but some of the ones in Europe are epic.

Of course, the Ring is fantastic and I don't blame you for going there every chance you get.

dr_strangeland:  Thanks for posting!  I'd like to try such an event, but as you said the safety gear becomes the limiting factory - not so much disagreeing with, but modifying the car so permanently - I've shied away.  I looked at it heavily in UK when living there, but just not conducive to the street car participating.

If all goes right, will pursue other tracks - Salsburgring and Spa seem logical.  The Nurburgring is 'convenient' with its opening times...not so much the 7 hour round trip...

Lately, I've been focused on another car that has been on jackstands for 2 years with a damaged LT1 engine.  Last weekend it came to life finally!

Thanks!